Era: Starting from divorce from female college student

Chapter 197, Cooperation and Two Major Events
October 13, 1959, the 12th day of the ninth lunar month.

On the street in Xidan, Beijing, Zhao Mancang and Lin Wan were strolling leisurely, keeping a social distance of about half a meter between them.

The couple hadn't gone shopping like this for a long, long time.

"Is there enough food and drink at home? I brought back a lot of flour, glutinous rice, peanuts, and raisins this time. I will make some desserts for the little greedy cat when the time comes."

"Little Baozi and Little Taozi have grown so big again? Remember to take more pictures of them. Don't be stingy with the film. We don't lack that little money."

"I'll give you a surprise in two days. Hehe, you'll definitely be very happy then."

Although the two did not hold hands, Lin Wan heard every word Zhao Mancang said clearly and was very happy.

However, when Lin Wan heard his surprise, she rolled her eyes at him.

In fact, the surprise he mentioned was naturally the Special Merit Medal, a golden ticket of immunity from death.

Since he hasn’t got it yet, Zhao Mancang naturally doesn’t dare to say it directly. He wants to create some suspense and take it home when the time comes.

Lin Wan had seen the first-class medal of honor he had received before, and then she hid it away.

This naturally cannot be discovered by the little brat, otherwise, the fact that Zhao Mancang is not dead might be exposed.

"How long will you stay this time? You won't leave again right away, will you?"

Zhao Mancang heard this and shook his head, saying, "I'll probably be staying at home for a while."

I believe Wei Huayong and others would be happy to grant him leave, and I hope he can stay for more than a month.

As for the promise he had made to Francis to complete the deal within a month, we'll talk about it when the time comes.

Right now, my wife is the most important thing!

"I can't go shopping anymore. I have to go back to feed my baby."

"We've only been strolling around for a while, how about walking a little further?"

Faced with her man's request, Lin Wan was angry and helpless, and could only coax him like a child.

In fact, Lin Wan didn't know how much she wanted to stay with him, but she had two hungry children at home. As a mother, she was very worried about her children.

After strolling for another half an hour, Zhao Mancang finally sent Lin Wan back to the vicinity of Denglai Hutong.

That night, shortly after nightfall, Zhao Mancang couldn't wait to climb over the wall and enter Yard No. 7.

Little Taozi is already five months old. Her hair has grown a lot and she looks a bit like a little girl. She is very interesting to look at.

Big eyes, long eyelashes, cute lips, either like Zhao Mancang or Lin Wan.

However, when Lin Wan heard Zhao Mancang complaining like this, she just found it funny: The child hasn’t grown up yet, how can you tell who he looks like?

The couple just bickered with each other over this, and the atmosphere was very harmonious.

The next day, Zhao Mancang returned to No. 8 Guozi Lane. As soon as he entered the door, he was surrounded by Qiu Shigui and his four companions.

"Wow, Mancang, you're incredible! You brought back 55 tons of gold single-handedly? How on earth did you do it?"

"Yes, we finally brought back thirteen tons of gold, and we thought it was pretty good, but when we compared it to you, the gap is huge."

"Good fellow, I know you're incredibly strong, Mancang, but fifty-five tons of gold is a bit too heavy. Next time you need a job like this, call me. I'm strong too, and I can help you move it."

"Mancang, you're definitely going to get a really cool medal of honor this time, right? Damn, maybe you'll be able to walk around the capital with your head held high in the future."

Yuan Zuliang, Mi Shouyang, Tie Wanzhong, Qiu Shigui and the other four people surrounded Zhao Mancang and talked in a very envious and exaggerated manner.

They were not in Guozi Lane yesterday, but were conducting a ten-kilometer training march in the suburbs.

They had just returned to the capital a few days ago and thought that thirteen tons of gold was a lot. They were even a little complacent.

But now that they know Zhao Mancang's record, no one is calm anymore.

When they were in Mindanao, they wanted to hang out with Zhao Mancang, but alas, they missed the opportunity.

In fact, if they had not met with the KGB on a narrow road, Zhao Mancang would definitely have gone to cause trouble for those KGB agents after dealing with the short Tokyo man.

All we can say is that these KGB agents were lucky that they didn't meet Zhao Mancang.

After chatting with Mi Shouyang and others, Zhao Mancang also started training.

However, in the afternoon, a car stopped at the gate of Courtyard No. 8, and Zhao Mancang was invited to go to Lingjing Hutong.

Received the reward so soon?

Wei Huayong also followed them to Lingjing Hutong. Not long after Zhao Mancang and the others came in, the award ceremony officially began.

Since Zhao Mancang's identity needs to be kept confidential, otherwise the awarding of the Special Medal of Merit would definitely not be so simple.

Now, we can only keep everything simple.

The leaders encouraged Zhao Mancang several times, hoping that he could continue to work hard and do his job well.

After receiving the reward, Zhao Mancang and Wei Huayong left Lingjing Hutong.

I had already made a detailed work report yesterday, so there is no need for it today.

Zhao Mancang deleted a lot of information about the dwarf Tokyo man, saying only that they happened to meet in a hotel, and then he had a sixth sense that there was something wrong with the other party, so he decided to follow him.

What happened afterwards was exactly the same as what actually happened, and Zhao Mancang had no intention of hiding it.

However, Zhao Mancang also said that if he has the chance next time, he can go to Tokyo to check it out regarding Ishikawa Nishijin and Yoshioka Dairo who were involved in this.

The leaders did not immediately agree to Zhao Mancang's request at that time, but just asked him to have a good rest first and deal with the next task later.

The lone wolf mission has not been completed yet. Although the dwarf Tokyo man looks like a lone wolf, he is most likely not a lone wolf.

Moreover, Zuo Changsheng and others are actually carrying out missions in Mindanao now, so the lone wolf will definitely not be able to escape.

At the same time, as long as the warriors of the 108 departments stay in Mindanao, the Tokyo people who go to Mindanao to dig for treasure will always be exposed.

Therefore, no matter where the lone wolf appears, he will be carrying out missions in Mindanao in the near future.

Of course, there is another most important reason, that is, the leaders above need Zhao Mancang and the other 108 warriors to intercept more gold treasures from the Kimura people. Only in this way can the gold reserves return to the level at the beginning of the year.

Now Ma Jiugong and the others are actually afraid that Zhao Mancang will really bring back the so-called supercomputer worth 150 million US dollars from North America, because they really don’t have that much money.

But despite being afraid, they still hope that Zhao Mancang can really be brought back.

At this time, Zhao Mancang had actually considered these issues, but for now, he still had to take it slow.

Our current domestic gold reserves consist of the 55 tons brought back by Zhao Mancang and the 13 tons brought back by Qiu Shigui and others. The rest is very little.

"Or, should I tell them the location of our gold mines in the country?"

Zhao Mancang was also worried about this. After all, when he was trading with Ma Jiugong and others, the only currencies available to him were the US dollar and gold. Other currencies were definitely not suitable.

As for other supplies, they are even less suitable.

What else can we discover in our country that can meet our needs?
To be honest, Zhao Mancang had thought about asking Ma Jiugong and others to recruit some college students to complete some technical work for him, such as computers, etc. But it seemed not that easy.

"Forget it. The leader will be coming to the Jincheng Wharf soon. We'll see if we can work out some solutions then. We can ensure we get enough experience points, complete the 'transaction' legally, and avoid any complications."

My head hurts!
That night, Zhao Mancang took the special medal of merit home and handed it to Lin Wan personally.

She cried again.

Not excitement, but fear.

Over the past six months, Lin Wan has roughly understood Zhao Mancang's current job responsibilities: soldier!

The medal of honor he brought back showed how dangerous his job was, which was definitely far beyond that of an ordinary job.

Lin Wan asked the people in the Security Department of the Grain Bureau and even Li Baoguo and others at the steel plant. She found out that it was not easy to get a third-class medal of honor, let alone a first-class medal of honor.

The First Class Medal of Honor is already the ceiling level. Many soldiers who can get such a medal are definitely the best in the army.

As for the Special Class Medal of Merit, there are only a few of them in the entire army. This is a legendary medal of merit, far surpassing the First Class Medal of Merit.

It is precisely because she knows this that Lin Wan is afraid.

After all, being able to obtain the Special Medal of Merit shows that Zhao Mancang had experienced great danger.

Seeing her crying so sadly, even little Taozi started crying too. Zhao Mancang hurriedly tried to coax them. It was not easy to coax both the big and the small.

"I was just being mean. I thought she would be happy, but to my surprise, I won't do that again next time."

Zhao Mancang felt guilty about it and also felt sorry for his wives. It took him a long time to coax them, both big and small.

Xiao Taozi is purely connected to her mother, so when her mother cries, she cries too.

It’s so hard to appease him!
After Zhao Mancang repeatedly assured her that he would not complete any dangerous mission, Lin Wan felt a little relieved, and the turmoil was finally settled.

For the next period of time, Zhao Mancang stayed in the capital, did not go anywhere, and did not trade with Ma Jiugong and others. He just participated in daily training during the day and slept with his wife at night.

Until this day, Zhao Mancang took Lin Wan's pulse in his spare time, and he was shocked by the result. It was another pregnancy pulse?

Did you win so quickly?

According to the results of this pulse diagnosis, it seems that it was the last time he secretly ran back to the capital and secretly went home to see Lin Wan, and then he got it right the first time.

Tsk, this matter of pregnancy is really unreasonable.

You know, Lin Wan gave birth to Xiao Taozi on May 16th, and she left the confinement period in mid-June, after which the couple resumed their sexual life.

Then I didn’t win in July and August, but I secretly came back in September and won.

Where to go to reason?

"I'm pregnant again, and you're going to be a father again, so you have to remember the promise you made to me a while ago."

After confirming that she was pregnant, Lin Wan told Zhao Mancang about it as soon as possible.

What else could Zhao Mancang do except nod in agreement?

Now the world is big, and my daughter-in-law is the most important. No one can mess with her.

"Wan'er, although you've already had this experience, you must remember what pregnant women should and shouldn't do. Also, go to Union Hospital tomorrow to confirm everything again. And take the confirmed medical records to your employer and mother-in-law to see."

However, Zhao Mancang still became nagging, and Lin Wan's mouth curled up when she heard it.

Although these words are not love words, they are more effective than love words.

As long as he was at home and by her side, Lin Wan felt very calm and comfortable.

As time entered the end of October, Zhao Mancang returned to the capital in the middle of the month. After staying at home for half a month, it was time for him to go out to work.

At the Tianjin Wharf and the nearby barren hills, Zhao Mancang appeared again. This time, the transaction he wanted to complete with Ma Jiugong and the others was two IBM709 vacuum tube supercomputers, each as big as several houses.

The computer is useless in his hands. It can only be useful if it is handed over to Ma Jiugong and others.

Besides, these vacuum tube computers will only be powerful for a few years. After that, only transistors will be seen in other places except Moscow.

Because when faced with the crossroads of transistors and vacuum tubes, Moscow chose the latter without hesitation.

This is mainly because people like Khrushchev are idiots, and Moscow is further along the road of vacuum tube computers, so they are more willing to invest more money in this area.

On the contrary, transistors are more difficult to develop, and they do not have the support of the civilian market, which led to a period of obstruction in their early research and development funds.

Therefore, in Moscow, throughout the 1960s and 1970s, vacuum tube computers dominated the market, and transistor computers almost failed.

Later, they still wanted to secretly bring back more advanced transistor technology and production equipment from Sam, but they were still one or two generations behind Sam and were completely behind others.

"Hello, Comrade Li, long time no see."

When they first met, Ma Jiugong, Yuan Yushan and others greeted each other politely and warmly. Although they had met many times and were very familiar with each other, there was always a gap between them.

And today a leader is here, so Ma Jiugong and the others can't do whatever they want.

After some simple pleasantries, Ma Jiugong introduced Zhao Mancang to the leader. The leader was not arrogant at all and was even more enthusiastic than the former.

"Comrade Li, I've always wanted to meet you, but I never had the chance. Today, I have to solemnly say thank you!"

The leader speaks in a strong and powerful voice, and the same is true when shaking hands.

Zhao Mancang was a little confused that such a leader had come, and he didn't react for a long time.

If he had known this would happen, he would have directly agreed to meet in the grove outside Xizhimen.

It is a real sin to let this leader make a trip to Tianjin Port.

After the meeting, he also expressed his gratitude. Although Zhao Mancang humbly refused to accept the gift from his leader, he deserved it. After all, he had traded so much food and other materials with Ma Jiugong and others, especially the accelerators, centrifuges and other equipment needed for the atomic bomb. He definitely deserved it.

But Zhao Mancang did not accept it, because this leader was different and he did not dare to accept the other party's gift.

"Boss, it's like this. Comrade Ma told me before that it's very troublesome to use gold transactions every time."

Since the leader had arrived, Zhao Mancang personally discussed with him the details of the subsequent transaction, especially the trading currency issues of gold and US dollars.

The so-called great trouble was not a transportation problem, but the problem of insufficient gold reserves, which Zhao Mancang also knew.

"We don't need RMB for transactions. In addition to gold and US dollars, we also accept rubles. In addition, we can also accept your promise."

Hearing what Zhao Mancang said, Ma Jiugong and the others all widened their eyes in shock.

The leader raised his eyebrows in surprise, but he did not ask. Instead, he waited quietly for Zhao Mancang's next explanation.

Why do you need his promise?

You can't say that his promise is more effective than the RMB, right?

"I know you might be surprised and a little confused, sir. Let me explain briefly."

Zhao Mancang explained seriously.

In fact, it was very simple. He didn't really want the leader's promise, but hoped that Beijing could help set up a company specializing in the production of daily necessities such as clothes, shoes, and carbonated drinks.

When the time comes, he will use these daily necessities to settle the payment for the various high-tech equipment he brought back from Sam's Club.

This is the idea Zhao Mancang can think of at the moment, which is to do trade.

Every time he returned to Tianjin Wharf from North America, the system space was full, but when he went from Tianjin Wharf to Sam, it was empty.

After all, things like gold and US dollars don't take up much space at all.

The current system space was upgraded at the end of August to a capacity that could hold 130 to 150 million kilograms of grain at one time, and it has not been upgraded since then.

Before returning to the capital in mid-October, Zhao Mancang's experience value balance was close to 9,000. After breaking through 10,000, he could continue to increase the system space capacity.

In this way, the amount of goods that can be loaded each time will definitely increase. Daily necessities are currently the trading items that can be produced in our country. In this way, Zhao Mancang will be able to accumulate wealth more quickly.

It is also a very good thing for us in China. After all, the current domestic commodities are at best agricultural by-products with very low added value, and there are no high value-added products at all.

Canned pork and canned fruit are currently the most popular products exported from our country to Moscow, Eastern Europe and other places. Other products, such as lotus seeds, Chinese medicinal materials, fruits and other agricultural by-products, are really very cheap.

Take IBM's IBM 709 for example, it costs more than million US dollars. How many cans of food would you have to sell to afford it?

In the original time and space history, our country will also purchase six 843 Viscount passenger aircraft from Great Britain in the next two years, and the price of each aircraft is million US dollars.

Of the six Viscount passenger planes, two are used by the military, mainly to perform special aircraft missions, and the other four are for civilian use.

So the total cost of six passenger planes is 19.8 million US dollars. How many canned foods do we need to sell in our country to pay for this money?
What's more, we still need to repay the debts to Moscow, the atomic bomb requires investment, and the current drought and food shortage problems need to be solved urgently. There are holes for spending money everywhere. It's so difficult!

When the leader heard this, he was immediately confused, but he still didn't ask, because Zhao Mancang had already handed him a detailed cooperation plan.

"Boss, our cooperation will follow the detailed rules above. For example, if the clothes are produced according to our design drawings and product requirements, as long as they pass the inspection, we will purchase them at a price of one to one and a half dollars per piece."

"In the future, we can conduct transactions at the Tianjin Wharf or the Wharf in Hong Kong."

After Zhao Mancang finished speaking, the leader had almost finished reading the materials.

After a long pause, the leader finally spoke:
"Comrade Li, we can agree to your proposal in principle, but we still need to discuss the specific details of the cooperation, and we will be able to give you an answer after some time."

When Zhao Mancang heard this, although he understood, he was also speechless.

Both parties have already established such a good foundation for cooperation, what else is there to discuss?

You know, Zhao Mancang is giving them money.

"To show our sincerity, we'll only require a $709 million deposit for the two IBM supercomputers we're bringing you this time. You can pay the remaining balance within the next month using gold or US dollars, or within six months using the products listed in the contract I just gave you."

This was the biggest concession Zhao Mancang could make.

After all, a transaction must look like a transaction. Appropriate concessions and some sweet treats should be made. Only then can a truly healthy cooperation be established.

Hearing this, Ma Jiugong and Yuan Yushan were eager to agree on their leader's behalf. After all, this was absolutely a perfect condition for them.

Comrade Li is just seeking profit, so just agree to the other party.

There are many people who take risks, but it is rare to find someone who takes risks as desperate as this.

According to the transaction details and cooperation requirements proposed by Comrade Li, although Ma Jiugong and his team don't know how much money the former will make, it is definitely a huge profit.

On the other hand, for Ma Jiugong and his team, they naturally want more partners like "Comrade Li".

The leader did not agree on the spot, but he was still very grateful to Zhao Mancang for the cooperation plan and concessions, and he promised to do his best to promote this cooperation.

Next, Zhao Mancang took them to see the two IBM 709 supercomputers he brought with him.

Wow, it’s all packed in boxes. It’s definitely very good equipment.

Since there is no electricity on the barren mountain side of the dock, experts cannot immediately check whether these devices are functioning properly.

However, since the two sides have cooperated so many times and each time there was a good trading atmosphere, Ma Jiugong and others chose to believe it.

The transaction deposit of 50 million US dollars is actually about 34 tons of gold.

Looking at the 'lost and found' gold, Zhao Mancang just found it very interesting.

However, next time, as long as the leader can push forward the cooperation plan he came up with and implement it, he will be able to make a lot of money in the future.

After completing the transaction, Zhao Mancang returned to the capital.

Little did he know that because of the cooperation plan he put forward and the two IBM 709s, the entire capital city would change dramatically.

The first to come was the Institute of Computing Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Hua Luogeng, Xia Peisu, Min Naida and others all heard the news and took action.

Next came other units such as the Institute of Atomic Research, especially atomic theory researchers such as Deng Jiaxian, Qin Yuanxun, and Yu Min. Their need for computers was undoubtedly the most urgent.

Let’s put it this way, if computers were not used for calculations, the manuscript paper that atomic bomb theory researchers spent years calculating would cover the entire Lop Nur.

It's very exaggerated, but it's the truth!
Therefore, the two IBM 709 computers brought back by Ma Jiugong, Yuan Yushan and others caused an unprecedented shock to the entire scientific research community in Beijing.

At this time, Hua Luogeng's Computer Research Institute was competing with other research institutes. Why?

Because their computer research institute wanted an IBM 709 for their subsequent research, they hoped to replicate the IBM 709 so that Beijing could produce such high-end computers on its own.

This caused a sharp conflict with other scientific research institutions.

Especially the institutions related to the Atomic Bomb Research Institute, these units have a great demand for IBM709 and cannot be delayed even for a minute.

Not to mention two, even ten would not be enough for them.

This matter caused a big uproar, and in the end it was the leader of the I-shaped building on Ministry of Foreign Affairs Street who came forward and made the final decision: both IBM 709s would be handed over to the Institute of Atomic Energy and other scientific research institutions for use.

As for the Computer Research Institute, let’s complete the theoretical research first.

Why did the leader make such a decision?
Because Zhao Mancang will later provide an all-transistor computer IBM7090, and this is the real future.

In the future, the cost of all-transistor computers will only get lower and lower, and their size will become smaller and smaller. This is the trend.

The leaders don’t know these trends, but it doesn’t matter. We just follow Sam’s lead.

What's more, whether it's vacuum tubes or transistors, our country is still at the "copy and paste" stage, so there's no point in talking about research and development.

It is precisely because of the confidence given by Comrade Li that the leaders made such a decision.

At the same time, the leader was also holding a meeting in Lingjing Hutong to discuss the cooperation plan proposed by Zhao Mancang with other leaders.

Three days later, the plan was approved. In Chaoyang, Beijing, several units were requisitioned and temporary changes were made.

After all, the goods that Zhao Mancang needs, such as clothes, shoes, porcelain bowls, etc., are daily necessities. They are not expensive but in large quantities.

As long as this deal can be done, it will definitely be a very good thing for the current capital.

The only thing that bothered them was that all product details had to be based on Sam's Club's requirements, and the origin requirement was to say "made in PRC".

In other words, you cannot write in Chinese, it must be English. If any Chinese characters appear, it will be a big trouble.

On Zhao Mancang's side, it only needs to happen once, then the transaction will be cancelled and all goods in that batch will be rejected.

No one can afford this result. Only by being so strict can we ensure that the interests of both parties are not harmed.

While he was busy with construction in the capital, Zhao Mancang had already checked the system experience value account information. What's more, this time's gains not only allowed him to successfully break through 10,000, but also directly reached an experience value balance of 11,000.

Among them, the ones who made the greatest contributions were naturally Ma Jiugong and Yuan Yushan, followed by Li Qizheng, Wu Shengli and Jia Dingwen, and then the leaders.

Zhao Mancang never expected that his leader would actually contribute 199 experience points to him. This was a pleasant surprise.

This was not the first time he had met the leader, but he never gained much experience each time. He did not expect to gain so much this time.

For a moment, he was a little moved.

However, the leaders are different after all, and he certainly cannot treat the leaders the same way as Ma Jiugong and others.

And who knows if it will be a flash in the pan?

In November, Zhao Mancang received a mission and was ready to leave the capital.

Lin Wan was very reluctant, but there was nothing she could do.

Hong Kong and Kowloon, it was already November 7th when Zhao Mancang arrived in this British colonial city.

This time when leaving the capital, Zhao Mancang had two tasks to perform. One was to continue tracking the lone wolf. It would be best if he could find him. If not, he would carry out the second task and go to Tokyo to check on Ishikawa Nishijin and Yoshioka Dairo to see if it was possible to dig out any information.

Zhao Mancang did not go to Mindanao immediately. After arriving in Hong Kong and Kowloon, he first met with Xu Wenlu to check on her progress in learning ventriloquism.

The second is to simply patrol his industries, including Hongyuan Holdings, four newspaper companies, Changda Real Estate and other enterprises.

Then he found a private detective and asked for intelligence information about the Keswick family of Jardine Matheson.

After checking the information, Zhao Mancang paid the balance of HK$150,000 and left the private detective agency with the other party thanking him profusely.

It must be said that this detective agency is quite efficient and meticulous.

It is quite impressive that intelligence information about the Keswick family was obtained in just over half a month.

However, Zhao Mancang was not very satisfied with the situation of the Keswick family, because this family really did not lack money.

The rise of the Keswick family is inseparable from one of its founders, William Keswick. In the 19th century, William's fourth uncle, William Jardine, had established a smuggling company called Jardine Matheson in Baiyun City.

In 1874, William Keswick became a shareholder and manager of Jardine Matheson. In 1958, the Keswick family bought all the Jardine shares held by the Jardine family. Since then, the Keswick family has become the largest shareholder of Jardine Matheson.

Although the Keswick family has spent a lot of money, their family is still very rich.

In Zhao Mancang's opinion, if he wants to plunge them into a financial crisis and then sell off Hutchison Whampoa, he still needs to take action.

Jardine Matheson is currently building several commercial buildings with Hong Kong Land Development, but the expenditure is not very large and the construction period is relatively long, so the financial pressure is not very great.

What's more, Jardine Matheson itself has a lot of cash flow, so it is unlikely to be short of money.

Of course, Jardine Matheson's money is not the same as the Keswick family's money. Public funds and private property are two different things.

Pu Weishi was right. It would be very difficult for Zhao Mancang to acquire Hutchison Whampoa!

After reading all the information, Zhao Mancang was thinking about what strategy to use, but when he was returning to Yijing Garden on the Kowloon Peninsula, he encountered two gangs fighting, and immediately a smile appeared on his face.

Perhaps using both conspiracy and overt conspiracy together would produce better results.

The next day, Zhao Mancang and Pu Weishi had a meal in Central, and then took a plane to leave Hong Kong and Kowloon.

Just the day after he left Hong Kong and Kowloon, two gangs clashed at the Kowloon Wharf Kwai Chung Pier, overturned the oil drums docked at the pier, causing a huge explosion and resulting in heavy losses to the Kowloon Wharf Pier.

The current head of the Keswick family, Johnston Keswick, who is now the head of Jardine Matheson, almost went crazy when he heard the news.

There was quite a lot of cargo at the dock, and the stored oil drums belonged to the Green Island Cement Company and the Hong Kong Electric Company.

Because these two companies, one is a cement plant and the other is an electric power company, have a huge demand for fuel.

The oil drum had just arrived at the dock and had not yet been transferred to Qingzhou Yingni or Hong Kong Electric Company when it exploded.

In this case, the responsibility lies with Hutchison Whampoa Company for its poor supervision!

The second is the other goods on the dock, the total loss is estimated to be more than several million.

This has not been completely determined yet, because if the goods of some companies are of great value, it will be even more troublesome.

Several million Hong Kong dollars is a huge sum of money. Maybe it is not worth mentioning to the Keswick family, but it is also a huge sum of money.

Losing so much money is enough to make Jiang Sidun Keswick feel painful for a long time.

Just when Jiang Sidun Keswick was busy confirming the specific losses and asking the financial backers behind the gang to compensate the relevant companies, something happened again at Jardine Matheson.

Hundreds of workers walked off the job for a simple reason: Jardine Matheson was exploiting them, causing three of them to break their legs, but the company refused to pay for their medical expenses.

There are also some previous incidents of worker casualties. In the workers' view, this matter is not over yet!

Jiang Sidun Keswick was furious and asked his subordinates to solve the matter quickly, but the matter had already been reported in the newspaper.

The Hong Kong Daily, Ming Pao, Sing Sing Daily and Kwong Fai Daily have all reported on the incident.

If Zhao Mancang knew, it was the Liberty Press that was more radical because they were too eager to succeed.

This kind of news about capitalists oppressing workers should be exposed.

For a time, many newspapers such as the Sing Tao Evening News also followed up on this news, causing Jardine Matheson to become the pariah of Hong Kong and be condemned by everyone.

"This is a conspiracy, this is a conspiracy, someone is targeting our Jardine Matheson!" Jiang Sidun Keswick said gritting his teeth, but he didn't know who was behind the attack on their Jardine Matheson.

Jiang Sidun Keswick suspected several of his rivals, but he couldn't guess who it was.

Jardine Matheson's biggest rival is actually HSBC. The competition between the two companies actually originated from the competition for business during the British colonial period.

Before the establishment of HSBC in 1864, Jardine Matheson had already been the hand hiding in the dark and controlling the affairs of Hong Kong and Kowloon, causing HSBC to be constrained in every way.

But later, HSBC seized the opportunity, cooperated with Hu Xueyan, and obtained loans from the Qing Dynasty.

However, after the 1950s, the struggle between Jardine Matheson and HSBC entered a white-hot stage.

Previously, the reason why Pu Weishi did not agree to Zhao Mancang's request was actually because he personally could not help Zhao Mancang.

Because Wharf Holdings was in the hands of the Keswick family, not Jardine Matheson.

It is a private company. The Keswick family can sell it if they want to, and not sell it if they don't want to, unless it goes public.

But Hutchison Whampoa Group had not yet gone public at that time, so Zhao Mancang naturally had no way to acquire it from the stock market.

Jiang Sidun Keswick found Paul Kadoorie of the relatively neutral Kadoorie family, hoping that the latter could help and see if Pu Weishi was targeting Jardine Matheson?

At the Peninsula Hotel, Paul Kadoorie met with Pu Weiss, hoping to get some information from the latter.

But Pu Weishi was not a fool. Before coming to the appointment, he had already guessed Paul Kadoorie's intention.

Pu Weishi suspected that Zhao Mancang was behind the explosion at Kwai Chung Pier and the Jardine Matheson workers' strike, but the latter had already left Hong Kong and Kowloon, so it was unlikely that it was Zhao Mancang who was behind it.

Besides, it was such a coincidence that the oil barrel exploded during a gang fight.

Secondly, there are usually financial backers behind the gangs. Would those financial backers agree to the gangs making such a big fuss?
Especially this time, Wharf Holdings lost millions of Hong Kong dollars, and those financiers may have already decided to make drastic measures.

After all, several million Hong Kong dollars is definitely not a small amount of money.

You should know that it was not until 1954 that Ho Ying-tung took out his own HK$1.2 million and then borrowed HK$1.6 million from the bank to buy his first building in Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Island, and at the same time founded Lixin Construction and Investment Co., Ltd.

This year is only 1959, and only five years have passed. A few million Hong Kong dollars is definitely the life savings of many Chinese tycoons, and they may not even have that much in their assets.

It's impossible that Zhao Mancang would spend tens or even hundreds of millions of Hong Kong dollars to let those gangs fight each other deliberately just to take over the Wharf Group, right?
Pu Weishi couldn't guess and couldn't be completely sure whether this was done by Zhao Mancang, but he was completely sure that it was Zhao Mancang who did it as for the Jardine Matheson workers' strike.

However, he agreed and said that HSBC was behind this.

why?

Since HSBC and Jardine Matheson are sworn enemies, isn't it normal for them to cause trouble for each other?
After hearing this, Paul Kadoorie was stunned. Was this really HSBC's doing?

Is Pu Weishi really not afraid that Jiang Sidun Keswick will go crazy?

Forget it, this is a fight between the two uncrowned kings of Hong Kong and Kowloon, and has nothing to do with the Kadoorie family.

Half an hour later, Paul Kadoorie informed Jiang Sidun Keswick of the news, and the latter was immediately furious.

It seems that this was done by HSBC, and even the Kwai Chung Pier explosion may have been instigated by HSBC.

"Fuck, I'm not a gentleman if I don't take revenge. Pu Weishi, we'll see what happens!"

(End of this chapter)