Hong Kong Island: From a small stall to a global supplier

地方武装势力一揽子解决方案做的很成功，30多个组织前前后后共计订购了160架运5，22架运12。

The sales figures for the Y-12 were beyond Wang Yaotang's expectations. At his suggestion, people in eastern and northern Myanmar formed an airline and ordered six aircraft. The Y-12 does not require a large runway; a small, simple airport would suffice, which would greatly enhance communication activities in the entire eastern and northern regions.

The other 16 aircraft were all ordered by armed groups in China and South America. Wang Yaotang didn't ask what they were specifically used for; it was none of his business.

Besides airplanes, the most ordered items were various light and heavy weapons and bullets. Other items, including clothing, hand tractors and supporting machinery, were also ordered in large quantities. The total sales exceeded 2.8 million yuan, a figure that exceeded Wang Yaotang's expectations.

But thinking about it, it's normal. After all, there are more than 30 local armed groups. They are usually constrained by the local situation and have very little in terms of supplies. They are the kind of people who have money but nowhere to spend it.

However, so many orders have also brought a lot of problems.

"The first issue is payment." Luo Haifeng later reported to Wang Yaotang: "These local armed groups mostly carry cash, so there's no way to transfer money through banks. It's better in Southeast Asia, as it's relatively close to Phuket. You can use boats or planes to transport the cash over, but it's more troublesome for these people in Central and South America."

"Leaving aside the fact that we have to distinguish between genuine and counterfeit cash transactions, international transactions are required to be made through bank transfers. Cash is difficult for us to do accounting, and tax filing is a huge hassle. In addition, there is no way to take so much cash on a plane, and shipping takes too long and is not safe."

"Another point is that some forces are also short of cash. They are in a situation where they have cash but can't spend it. They hope to use other things to offset the payment for goods. Valuation is a problem, and it is also a problem for us to realize the cash after taking the goods."

"No, on average, each transaction is less than 1000 million US dollars. Don't you even have that much cash?" Wang Yaotang asked incredulously.

"I reckon there definitely are. They must want to monetize what they have, since they have very few ways to do so. Having another way would greatly alleviate their financial difficulties. Otherwise, they wouldn't have placed such large orders on their first contact with us. It would be best if this works out for them, but if not, they can always reduce the orders," Luo Haifeng said.

Wang Yaotang smacked his lips. He could understand. After all, his fame was spread through American media. There was no trust between the two sides. In addition, he had a lot of influence in Southeast Asia. If he really cheated them out of their money, they would have no way to reason with him.

There's no way they'd cross the Pacific Ocean to come and collect a debt from me; that would be like throwing good money after bad.

"What do they want to monetize?"

Speaking of this, Luo Haifeng's expression was somewhat strange. "What they most wanted to use for the transaction was 'painkillers,' but I refused them outright."

“The Colombian FARC controls banana-producing areas, large ranches, and eastern oil-producing areas. United Fruit Company has to pay them protection money, so they hope to use these products to offset the payment.”

“Local armed groups in Bolivia control the tin and gas mines in the Cochabamba and Santa Cruz regions. They know we also have tin mines and hope to use tin ingots to offset the payment.”

"Peru hopes to sell its guano, while El Salvador and Nicaragua also produce agricultural products."

"Screw you, do you think I'm a junk collector?!" Wang Yaotang was so angry he laughed. "What were you thinking?"

“In the past two days, I have contacted Chinese businessmen in Central and South America through my fellow villagers from Fujian and Guangdong. Through them, I have learned about these forces. The Colombian FARC controls 60-70% of the emerald producing areas. In the main emerald producing areas such as Boyacá Province, it levies a 'tax' of 10-15% on the output of mine owners. There are also gold mines in the Magdalena River and Orinoco River basins.”

“The Colombian ELN controls gold mines in the state of Zulia and near Lake Maracaibo. 85% of Colombia’s gold mining is illegal.”

“The Glorious Road in Peru has controlled many small gold and copper mines in the Andes through attacks and intimidation.”

“Although organizations such as the Bolivian Zarate Willka do not control mines on a large scale, they control smuggling routes along the border with Brazil and Peru. They cooperate with hundreds of illegal mining organizations and tens of thousands of individual miners in the area and are deeply involved in gold smuggling. 80% of Bolivia’s gold exports are smuggled.”

“The Sandinista organization in Nicaragua controls hundreds of gold veins, producing more than 2 tons of gold annually.”

"Although El Salvador's FMLN has not accused the control of gold mines, the gold reserves in the controlled areas are huge, and many small organizations and individuals are mining them, and they are not short of gold."

"These organizations all have some gold, while the gem mines are relatively scattered, with only the Colombian forces holding a relatively large amount."

Wang Yaotang pursed his lips and nodded, "Now that you mention it, I remember that when the Spanish colonized Central and South America, they brought back mostly gold, jewelry, and silver. Those indigenous people had a lot of gold artifacts."

"Weren't they the Maya and the Incas?" Luo Haifeng was taken aback; the documents that had just been delivered to him were from there.

"The word 'Indian' refers to a race. Back then, Columbus thought the Americas were India, and the Spanish word 'Indios' gave rise to the term 'Indian people.' In reality, the Indians were a branch of our northern nomadic peoples who migrated to the Americas through the Bering Strait from Russia about 2 years ago," Wang Yaotang explained.

This is something that most people in later generations know.

"Maya and Inca refer to the names of countries. The Maya Kingdom was in Central America, and the Inca Kingdom was in South America."

Luo Haifeng pretended to suddenly understand and gave a thumbs up. "The boss is amazing. He's not only a language genius, but also so knowledgeable about history. He's so learned. If he hadn't been held back back then, he could definitely have become a scientist!"

Wang Yaotang chuckled, "Your flattery was a bit clumsy; you need to learn more."

Luo Haifeng chuckled.

"Let them use gold, silver, and jewelry to offset the payment. For gold and silver, we will assess their purity and purchase them at 7% of the international price, and for jewelry, we will purchase them at 3% of the price."

"Silver?" Luo Haifeng frowned slightly.

As a native of Guangdong, how could he not know that during the Age of Exploration, Spanish galleons transported large amounts of silver from the Americas every year?

“Yes.” Wang Yaotang nodded and explained, “For us, silver is actually easier to sell than gold, and the profit is also higher.”

"The gold we acquire can only be sold through jewelry stores in Hong Kong, at around 9% of the international gold price. This is even with a gold mine in Myanmar where we can launder the money. After deducting shipping costs and refining losses, the profit is very small."

"On the contrary, silver can be sold at international silver prices without worrying about being stuck with it. In recent years, the market demand has increased dramatically. Silver has better conductivity than copper and gold. A lot of silver is used in chip pins, solder, wire plating, conductive paste for printed circuit boards, relays, contactors, and switch contacts. Hong Kong alone consumes thousands of tons of silver every year."

Neither of them mentioned the jewelry issue, as its prices were ridiculously inflated. However, Wang Yaotang had already established sales channels for camels. As everyone knows, desert people have an insatiable love for jewelry, and they import about 20% of the world's jewelry every year, so there was no need to worry about it becoming a burden.

Wang Yaotang recently instructed Luo Xinghan and Peng Jiasheng to increase the mining of jadeite and gemstones, and to buy as much as they could find.

Myanmar is recognized worldwide as the "Gem Country," holding an absolute dominant position in the global market for over 95% of commercial and gem-quality jadeite, with top-grade jadeite almost entirely originating from Myanmar.

It is located in the Uru River basin and Hpakant mining area of ​​Kachin State.

Furthermore, the 'pigeon blood red' rubies from the Mogok region of Myanmar are recognized globally as the highest quality rubies, ranking number one in the world.

Sapphires from the Mogok and northeastern Mandalay regions are known as the epitome of royal blue, ranking second globally only to Kashmir sapphires.

Other stones such as spinel, amber, peridot, tourmaline, and moonstone are also produced in considerable quantities.

Wang Yaotang estimates that the future profits from the jewelry industry will exceed the sum of all his other businesses in Myanmar.

Of course, jewelry only affects the luxury goods market; it can only be used to make money, and there's no need to think about exerting any other influence.

Diamonds, sapphires, and rubies, which are indispensable in industry, are all industrial synthetic products. The pursuit is for purity and uniformity of crystal structure, while naturally occurring gemstones are not as good.

After rambling on and on, and seeing Luo Haifeng off, Wang Yaotang poured himself a cup of tea and fell into deep thought. This was, after all, the first transaction, and they had just begun to open up the market. Putting aside big-ticket items like airplanes, other everyday items such as clothing, bullets, grenades, and tractors were all consumables, and the market would only continue to grow.

Throughout Central and South America, the number of people controlled by armed groups exceeds ten million, creating a huge market demand. It's impossible to use gold, silver, and jewelry to offset every transaction, is it?

It's not that Wang Yaotang didn't want these things, but bartering was too primitive and extremely detrimental to development.

After thinking it over, Wang Yaotang felt that this was a good opportunity. He had been talking about acquiring the bank for a long time, but it had been delayed due to various reasons. This time when he went back to Hong Kong, he would take over the bank and then study whether he could use this transaction network to expand the bank there.

These local armed groups all use their own banks...

Haha, then I'll really become the head of local armed groups around the world.

With Wang Yaotang's instructions, Luo Haifeng's negotiations were put on the fast track. After discussing with his subordinates, he set a ratio: 50% of the amount must be paid in US dollars, either in cash or by bank transfer, and the remaining half could be offset by gold, silver, or jewelry.

This is a major boon for various forces in Central and South America, as they already have limited channels for converting gold into cash, let alone silver and jewelry.

In September, the four major regions of eastern and northern Myanmar successfully went public through backdoor listings. To celebrate and demonstrate their strength, they launched an offensive against the government forces. The results varied, but overall it was a victory. The government forces suffered significant losses and lost control of many areas.

Unable to withstand such immense pressure, the Myanmar military's Eastern and Northern Commands reluctantly proposed advancing the "peace" process at an internal meeting. Under pressure, Su Mao agreed, arranging for people to negotiate a ceasefire agreement with the "New Myanmar Workers" while sending people to Phuket to negotiate with Wang Yaotang, agreeing to the conditions of three exemptions and three reductions, and opening the rice market for him to enter.

As for the motorcycle assembly plant that he had previously discussed with Naiwen, Wang Yaotang canceled it outright this time. He found it too politically unstable and not profitable, so he really didn't want it.

After the agreement was renegotiated, Wang Yaotang flew to the two major mining areas for inspection. He led his troops to arrest all the unstable elements who had stood up during the turmoil. The ringleaders were hanged and displayed in public, and the rest were expelled.

The law is useless on this land; violent deterrence is the only way to solve the problem.

Let's wait until the region is politically stable and the public's awareness improves before discussing laws and regulations.

After the situation in Myanmar was completely stabilized, the fleet finally left Mottama Bay and the aircraft carrier returned to Singapore. With the help of media promotion, the first "Aircraft Carrier Park" tourism event was a huge success. Tickets were priced at $200 and all 10,000 tickets were sold out in just one day.

The tourism department expects the aircraft carrier to receive around 2000 tourists per day. This time, it plans to stay in Singapore for a week. After all, this is the first time to carry out the activity, and it is impossible to operate at full capacity in order to gain experience.

Wang Yaotang didn't pay attention to this; he had already returned to Hong Kong, where he was loyal.

When Li Menghui finally saw Wang Yaotang again, his eyes were red with excitement. He had stood him up several times, and Wang Yaotang was a little embarrassed. "The first priority of this trip back to Hong Kong is to acquire the overseas trust bank. Tell me about the situation."

Li Menghui wiped away his tears instantly, immediately took out the documents and handed them over: "On June 6, 1985, the Overseas Trust Bank had bad debts of US$89.5 million and suddenly announced its closure, triggering a massive run on the bank. On June 7, the Hong Kong British government invoked the Exchange Fund Ordinance to take over the Overseas Trust Bank and its subsidiary, the Hong Kong Industrial and Commercial Bank, and injected HK$25 billion to stabilize the situation."

"To this day, the Overseas Trust Bank remains under the trusteeship of the Hong Kong British government, managed and operated by a special agency established by the government. I have expressed my interest in the Overseas Trust Bank on several occasions, and there have been several informal negotiations, but..."

“I know, it was because of me that we gave up halfway,” Wang Yaotang said with a smile.

“Well, it’s not all bad.” Li Menghui said with a smile, “According to the exchange rate in 1985, HK$25 billion is equal to US$320 million. Including the overseas trust bank’s own assets, its market value is no less than US$400 million. The Hong Kong government has been in trust for four years, and by using the Hong Kong government’s own credit as a guarantee, it has largely restored the overseas trust bank’s own credit. Moreover, its business has also expanded to a certain extent. In addition, with the recovery of the real estate market, the value of many of its land plots, properties and loans has skyrocketed. So when we first contacted them, the Hong Kong government asked for US$700 million.”

"After several attempts to reach an agreement, nothing came of it. The Hong Kong government also felt the pressure and contacted me last time, lowering its asking price to US$6 million."

"6 million..." Wang Yaotang licked his lips. He had just made 10 billion US dollars from camels, and now he was going to have to give it all back.

After all, once they acquire a bank, they need to expand into Southeast Asian countries and Central and South America. It's impossible to develop entirely on their own. Banks rely on connections, so they will definitely need to acquire local banks in these countries.

"Who is the main person in charge? Who are the valuation parties? 6 million is too expensive," Wang Yaotang said in a deep voice.

"The price is definitely negotiable, but the scope... involves too many people, we'll see how we handle it," Li Menghui said somewhat uncertainly.

"You arrange a meeting with them, I'll talk to them personally, 10% commission, I don't believe they're all some virtuous and chaste women!"

“Okay.” Li Menghui nodded emphatically.

Li Menghui couldn't discuss such matters; his status wasn't high enough.

In Hong Kong, Wang Yaotang now invites anyone to dinner, even the Governor of Hong Kong, to cancel his engagements and gladly accept the invitation.

That evening, at their own restaurant.

After several rounds of drinks and dishes, Wang Yaotang opened the door to greet his superiors. "I'm a straightforward person. I've taken a liking to the overseas trust bank, but I think the price of 6 million is too expensive."

Thomas and the others were mentally prepared before they arrived, so they were not surprised when they heard this.

But I still had to put on an act. "Mr. Wang, this is not something we can decide. Valuation is a system that individuals cannot interfere with."

"What system or not? Even an individual can interfere in the US presidential election." Wang Yaotang scoffed, waving his hand dismissively. "In a capitalist society, everything has a price. I don't care what methods you use, or what kind of cooperation you need from me. You can communicate with Li Menghui to negotiate how much you can reduce the price. I'll give you a 10% commission. How you take that money is up to you. Company stock, gold, cash, jewelry, real estate—take your pick!"

"Hong Kong, the UK, the US, Europe, South America, anything is fine. As long as I see the results, you won't worry about any problems on my end, right? I still have that much credibility."

Answer me, yes or no.

It is said that Westerners like to speak and act directly, but such directness still surprised Thomas and others.

Thomas's eyes met Wang Yaotang's, and he turned his head away to cover his eyes; it was too dazzling.

It was as if they couldn't leave the house unless they agreed to something.

Thomas and his team felt immense pressure, not because of their professional ethics, but because their appetite was too great; they wanted more...

They exchanged glances, but neither dared to speak first; the pressure from Wang Yaotang was too great.

They were also afraid of having the means to receive the money but not the means to spend it.

"Have you thought it through?" Wang Yaotang said coldly.

“I’ve thought it through, no problem, Mr. Wang.” Thomas nodded with a smile.

"A wise choice, cheers!" Wang Yaotang raised his glass.

"Cheers!" (End of Chapter)