What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 436 An Unforeseen Alliance

Entering August, the biggest news in Hong Kong was the financial defense battle.

A large number of financial brokers shorted the Hang Seng Index by buying Hong Kong dollars in batches and then selling them off in a concentrated manner, attempting to suppress the currency's value.

The authorities, on high alert, could only use their foreign exchange reserves to prop up the market. Even ordinary people, worried about the devaluation of their savings, tried to exchange their money for US dollars or buy precious metals.

The authorities have a relatively friendly attitude towards Gaikin, and even hope that Gaikin can be listed in Hong Kong. The arrival of a tycoon would definitely be a great boost to morale.

However, at this critical juncture, the news of the assassination came like a bomb, shaking the entire situation.

Because Tang Wen wasn't the only one present at the Da Wan Technical School that day; there were also many ordinary people watching the spectacle, as well as quite a few prominent figures hoping to curry favor with Gai Jin.

Although Tang Wen is the most valuable person, are the others any better to deal with?
In the past, there have been robberies and kidnappings targeting the wealthy, but they were mostly for money. It is extremely rare and extremely heinous for someone to go straight for someone's life!

Local associations immediately and strongly demanded a thorough investigation, insisting that the culprit be caught and severely punished.

If this doesn't end perfectly, the business war will truly turn into a full-blown war, an outcome that no one can accept.

……

"Grand claims to be a retired seaman, but he actually served as a Marine for 20 years. According to the information we found, he is definitely a seasoned veteran."

However, he now denies it, saying the sniper rifle was intended for shooting crocodiles.

Less than a day after Tang Wen returned to the Greater Bay Area, the mainland intervened to investigate the true information about Grand.

"Your employee, Dewey, discovered that Grand was located in a warehouse next to the school. The second floor was about 150 meters from your location. The tool he used was an M24. At this distance, the success rate was almost 100%."

Because Zhao Hande lives very close to Guangzhou, he personally delivered the preliminary results:
"Everyone is now under control and detained at the Hong Kong Police Station. We are putting pressure on them to investigate, but it may not be easy to find the real culprit."

The regulations there are a bit different; if they deny it outright, they'll likely only be punished for illegally carrying a weapon.

Tang Wen didn't immediately place his hopes of catching the real culprit on the police station, but instead asked with doubt:
"Just now someone tried to bring 200 kilograms of explosives to tie me up, and now it's a sniper rifle. How can environmental organizations be so ridiculous? And I've never heard of this being one of their protest tactics?"

In fact, Tang Wen didn't believe this fact until Grand and others were actually arrested. He simply couldn't understand what the purpose of the environmental organization was in doing this.

Environmental organizations have been able to exist because they are disgusting but never illegal, and assassinations are unheard of.

In his view, it's more likely that...

"It's highly likely a frame-up."

Zhao Hande made the same judgment:

"Everyone except Grand said they knew nothing about it and explained that their original plan was to sit at the entrance of the technical school with the coral specimens, but they were entangled and failed. Grand said he suddenly felt unwell in the morning and didn't go. The breakthrough in investigating the real culprit is still with Grand."

"I roughly know who the real culprit is, but I'm not sure which one it is."

Tang Wen thought it over in his mind and had a vague idea in mind.

Old Mi would definitely not, and there are no domestic competitors. It can't be Hans BMW, which they talk about all the time, right?
But even if you know roughly who the people are, it's not easy to find the real culprit; investigations in other locations are always a big hassle.

If it were an ordinary wealthy person, they would definitely be appeased, relieved that the attempt had failed, and then keep a low profile for a long time before strengthening security measures again.

But Tang Wen's existence is special; not only him, but Zhao Hande also cannot accept such an outcome.

"No, this matter must be thoroughly investigated! Everyone outside says we're willing to make many concessions to save face, but anyone who doesn't will pay the price for their arrogance!" Tang Wendu was somewhat surprised by the resolute attitude and couldn't help but ask:

"You want to send your own people to investigate?"

"No, the authorities are enough."

Zhao Hande spoke softly:
"Don't worry, they're more anxious than you are right now."

……

The media believed that Tang Wen was anxious, but in reality, Zhao Hande was even more anxious than Tang Wen. However, he believed that the Hong Kong authorities were the most anxious.

The reason is very simple:
In addition to collective pressure from local wealthy groups, another important factor is the financial crisis.

The Hong Kong dollar is pegged to the US dollar; simply put, the amount of Hong Kong dollars that can be issued is equal to the amount of US dollars.

Financial speculators' concentrated selling of Hong Kong dollars and large-scale conversion to US dollars led to a shortage of foreign exchange for the authorities, resulting in less Hong Kong dollars circulating in the market, deflation, a sharp decrease in commercial transactions, and a sharp rise in deposit interest rates.

The only solution is to spend money, using US dollar reserves to maintain the existing stock of the Hong Kong dollar market.

Hong Kong has $800 billion in reserves, but what if they run out?
The domestic plan is to use its own $1400 billion to continue supporting the effort, bringing the total reserves to $2200 billion, making it the world's largest and virtually impossible to breach.

But now that Tang Wen has been assassinated, it inevitably makes one think:
If this causes dissatisfaction on the mainland, will the level of support be shaken?

Even though the authorities have only expressed strong condemnation and haven't said they've given up, that's precisely what's most terrifying.

If the wealthy hate the murderer out of fear for their personal safety, the authorities hate him to the core, and one wrong move could ruin everything!
In principle, the English-speaking legal system is very lenient towards suspects, and coercive measures cannot be taken unless there is irrefutable evidence.

Grand was well aware of this; as long as he insisted he didn't know, there wouldn't be much of a problem, and he could even apply for extradition back to the Empire.

But this time it was different. Under immense pressure from the authorities, the police department stated that they were not completely ignorant about memory recovery techniques.

……

智库
In fact, there are people who are even more anxious than the authorities, and that is the IAA.

The think tank will naturally analyze the major event of the assassination of the richest man, and study its possible impact and consequences.

However, upon seeing the keywords related to veterans in the Marun program, they almost exploded:

Could it have been done by the IAA?
It may not be the highest directive, but what if some idiot below takes it upon himself to do it? Such things have happened quite often in the past.

This comes at a crucial time for battleship transactions, and the impact of this major news is enormous. It also has implications for whether the WTO can welcome a heavyweight new member, and its reach is very broad.

If it turns out that the IAA was behind it, one side will be extremely angry, and the consequences will be...

When this serious problem was reported to the IAA, the latter was also alarmed.
They certainly had no reason to kill Tang Wen; in fact, there were people secretly watching him when he went abroad.

However, the IAA has too many informants and has developed countless affiliated organizations. If one of them takes on a side job and gets involved in this case, they'll be facing the wrath of a group of big shots.

Smith, who had just obtained important intelligence from India, was preparing to fly back home when he received urgent instructions during his layover in Java:
Find out who did the dirty work at all costs, and if it's related to the IAA, eliminate them immediately and clear all leads.

(End of this chapter)