What the hell is a private enterprise?

Chapter 589 A Turbulent Undercurrent
The English Channel is not wide, otherwise so many people wouldn't try to cross it using all sorts of bizarre methods every year.

This time, the gold freighter's destination is Dunkirk, a total voyage of only 730 kilometers, which would take four or five hours even at a speed of 15 knots.

However, out of respect for the $5 billion, warships belonging to the Sixth Fleet also set off at the same time, and two fighter jets were also called up for escort.

What they didn't know was that a U-boat had been waiting on the cargo ship's route for a long time.

As a special captain, Hornet was able to be carried by Tang Wen through the ship, and at this moment she was on the deck calculating the cargo ship's coordinates.

Tang Wen was quite happy to actually get 350 tons of gold, which was worth far more than just the actual value of over 43 billion US dollars.

He didn't need to try to secretly exchange the gold; he could simply use it as collateral to borrow money from Zhao Hande. At the exchange rate, it would be worth 36 billion RMB, so getting a loan of 50 or 60 billion RMB wouldn't be a problem, right?

Pay it back? Pay my ass! The bank would love for you not to pay it back.

In mid-97, in order to gain international financial trust as soon as possible, the central bank proactively disclosed to the IMF for the first time that its gold reserves totaled 395 tons, which was a tiny amount compared to the rest of the world.

The importation of 350 tons of gold from Tang Wen was like a godsend, greatly benefiting domestic economic confidence and international strength, and even significantly easing the foreign exchange shortage.
Foreigners may not recognize many other things, but they will definitely recognize gold; it is the most stable equivalent.

For Gaijin, 500 billion is an absolute guarantee of confidence, enough to simultaneously advance many investment-intensive industries such as semiconductors, automobiles, aviation, and island construction. With Tianliang's financial backing, there is nothing to fear; they can go all out and push forward smoothly.

Domestically, there is no loss at all. These 50 billion yuan in loans that are destined to be unrecoverable can be regarded as currency backed by gold. Spreading gold in large quantities is boosting the economy, and is even equivalent to doing good deeds.

And that's not all; Gaijin can continue to make money:

Tang Wen has ordered Li Zhengyang to go all out to buy up HSBC and Y-group assets at rock-bottom prices, investing all of the $15 billion he had previously earned!
After all, Britain had only suffered a setback, not been destroyed. Once the crisis of the Third Fleet passed, it could slowly rebuild its confidence. And after spending the Federal Reserve's gold to buy victories and captured warships, its strength had greatly increased. Even if the stock price didn't return to its previous level, it would at least reach 90% of its pre-war level.

Tang Wen bought the stock at 76% of its pre-war value. Assuming it recovers to 10% of its pre-war value, that is, a relative increase of 13%, and with a leverage of 20 times, he could have made at least $32 billion in profit.

However, being bullish and shorting are not the same thing. It is estimated that some big players have already entered the market to build positions and buy at the bottom. If they find that Tang Wen is also pushing up the price, they may deliberately try to suppress it. 20 times leverage is too risky. Even a small fluctuation can lead to a complete loss. 10 times leverage is more stable.

Although the profit will be reduced to $16 billion, it will be more than enough for Tang Wen. In this manipulation of HSBC's stock price, he will earn at least $30 billion in total, and possibly as much as $35 to $40 billion.

With a little calculation, that's another 260 tons of gold in hand, meaning the Emperor earned a total of 600 tons of gold.

Dai Ying believed that the remaining gold had simply ended up in the hands of the lost empire in a different form.

win!
Tang Wen, who also felt he had won big, was in a very good mood and simply made a phone call.

At 2 a.m., Zhao Hande, who had just finished his work and closed his eyes, was woken up by a beeping sound, followed by his wife's disgruntled voice:
"Who's so inconsiderate as to call at this hour? Turn your phone off right now!"

"This can't be shut down!"

Once he regained his senses, Zhao Hande retorted firmly, picked up his phone while still wearing his long johns, and went to the study.

This phone number can only be dialed by a handful of people besides one's own children, and you must answer it no matter who calls!

The moment he pressed the answer button, he heard a voice he both loved and hated:
"Old Zhao, I'm here again to congratulate you on your fortune!"

"It's you, kid! Where are you now? Look at the mess outside..."

"Alright, alright, I'll only tell you about this one chance to make a fortune, Lao Zhao, listen carefully:"
I don't know how much foreign exchange you can use right now, but make preparations now, immediately, and the moment it's light. Buy all of HSBC's assets as soon as it's light, buy low and sell high, understand?

"Let's be conservative and use five times leverage, don't say we didn't think of you when we made our fortune! Electricity leaks fast when it rains at sea, I'm hanging up now, you can sleep well...beep beep." Zhao Hande was still processing the information when his wife draped her coat over him and asked:

"Who? What major event has occurred this time?"

"I don't know if it's a big deal or not, but I'm too scared to sleep now!"

He had shaken off his drowsiness, and after getting dressed, he immediately made a phone call to have someone check if Guy King had made any major moves with HSBC recently.

It didn't matter if they didn't investigate. After using some connections to discover Li Zhengyang's operations and the flow of funds invested by Gaijin, they quickly estimated that Gaijin had made at least $10 billion just by shorting HSBC.

This immediately opened the eyes of the domestic country, which was extremely short of foreign exchange. Where else could one find such a good deal: earning a billion dollars in just a few days with a few clicks?
After some thought, Zhao Hande couldn't resist the temptation. Earning $10 billion through honest exports would be incredibly difficult; he had to resort to speculation!

Furthermore, behind Gaijin are countless Southeast Asian economists and a bottomless intelligence network. They must have made various ingenious calculations before daring to take action, and they must have some confidence in their abilities.

After consulting with his superiors, he finally obtained access to a foreign exchange account with $20 billion in funds. He directly ordered his people to operate the account according to Tang Wen's instructions, while also following Li Zhengyang's actions and even leveraging the funds!

……

黄金货船出发时间是20点，第三舰队和带英约定的击沉时间在21时30分到22时30分之间，这也是精心计算过的时间点。

If it's too late, the arrival of the warships at Dunkirk could disrupt the U-boat's operation.

If it is sunk too early, there may be unforeseen circumstances. The objective can only be perfectly achieved when the coalition attack is fully launched.

At 21 p.m., all deployments were gradually put in place. Meanwhile, intelligence indicated that the slow-moving fleet had approached the harbor and was less than 100 kilometers away. When the attack was launched, most of the main force of the Third Fleet was gathered together, with only a few civilian ships with a speed of a dozen knots not in the order of battle.

At this time, the Third Fleet launched about 200 aircraft and penetrated about 200 kilometers inland, seemingly preparing for a surprise attack and launching a landing operation overnight.

This further strengthened the coalition's resolve and compelled them to once again employ a blitzkrieg tactic:

There's no other way. If we can't wipe out the Third Fleet in one go, what if they're firing hundreds of aircraft every minute? What if they create a Category 18 hurricane?
After Wayne proposed this idea, it received widespread approval, except for Dai Ying, whose expression was quite displeased:

The "one-wave attack" tactic means that all fighter jets must participate in the battle, but at this time, the air power of the British was relatively backward, and participating in the first confirmed contact would likely result in a lot of casualties.

But that was still dozens of aircraft, and Wayne had to do a lot of reassurance and use various moral high grounds to barely convince the Royal Air Force to participate in the concentrated operation instead of staying on the second line.

Ultimately, it was Terren who stepped forward, delivering a moving speech to the lower-ranking officers and citing Flint's example, which finally convinced the pilots to take off with a death wish, leaving the other delegates deeply moved.

At this moment, everyone's attention was focused on the air force, and no one noticed that Brigadier General Filger had already arrived by train north of Edinburgh, not far from the Cairngorms.

Accompanying him were more than two hundred carefully selected outstanding sailors and marines, as well as dozens of helicopters that had been painstakingly assembled.

They received a perplexing task only after arriving at their destination:

Immediately after the victory, use helicopters to seize the warships abandoned by the Third Fleet, and in particular, make sure to protect the aircraft carrier.

This mission was highly confidential, and all communication with the outside world was prohibited before the operation was carried out, but it still made all the team members' imaginations run wild:
They haven't even fought a battle yet, and they're already thinking about distributing the spoils?

(End of this chapter)