Spy Wars: Red Shopkeeper

Chapter 264 Means
At the entrance of the stock exchange.

A group of people were cursing the Japanese; these were people who had bought cotton yarn-related stocks.

A group of people were watching the commotion and discussing buying new clothes; this was deliberately meant to annoy those people.

They missed the boat when cotton yarn prices went up, but the Japanese controlled cotton yarn prices, and sure enough, clothing prices did become cheaper.

Everyone's joys and sorrows are different, but what they have in common is that they are all waiting for the market to open and witness today's cotton yarn tragedy.

Do you think it's possible?

"no way."

"I haven't finished speaking yet."

"No need to say more. Last year, when the Japanese forcibly requisitioned cotton and grain, cotton yarn and grain prices plummeted. Today, cotton yarn prices will plummet just as much. I'm telling you, don't have any illusions. The major players might try to support the stock price later, but that's definitely a way to unload their shares. What you need to do is run as fast as you can."

"Oh no, how can we run now? Those who used leverage are bound to be liquidated."

While they were discussing this, the exchange opened its doors shortly afterward.

Suddenly, more than a dozen figures darted out like arrows released from a bow. There were young people in their twenties and middle-aged women in their fifties. They rushed towards the counters that were not yet open for business, fighting desperately for the first spot. The competition was so fierce that they almost came to blows.

Some less experienced stock market investors at the entrance were dumbfounded.

"What are they doing? Is it really necessary?"

"Of course it is. The earlier you enter the market, the earlier you trade, and the first one to report it will reduce your losses. If you have money, you can open some short positions, and maybe you won't lose money today."

After the people around them explained, they suddenly realized, "Damn it, we suffered because of our lack of experience. If we had known, we should have gone up and tried to get ranked matches too."

Immediately, a crowd gathered around the window.

But it's of no use.

"The market is open! The market is open!"

The window was still bustling with people shouting about buying and selling, bombarding the public brokers behind the counter.

The VIPs upstairs, who had dedicated brokers, immediately began quoting transaction prices.

All the stock prices in the central hall changed rapidly on the blackboard as the staff erased and wrote them.

"It's falling! It's falling! It's falling!"

Cotton yarn-related stocks and futures plummeted across the board, with prices falling without any resistance.

Major players dumped their shares and fled, while retail investors joined the fray with their bids, causing prices to fall again.

The exchange was gripped by a somber mood.

Half an hour later, the price of cotton yarn futures fell to 250 yuan.

The stock price plummeted by half in just half an hour!

Suddenly, a large number of buy orders flooded in, and all the chips sold by retail investors were absorbed, causing the price to rise steadily.

A bull trap!

no doubt!

"This is an opportunity for major players to reduce losses, run!"

Retail investors were selling while major investors were buying. If there hadn't been so few counters and windows, the retail investors would have sold out almost immediately.

Price exceeds 300!

Even if it's a trap to lure in more buyers, the price will still fall. Those who were slow to sell and missed the front of the queue will gradually become less anxious and will choose to observe first.

After all, someone who went in for over 400 yuan is still losing over 100 yuan at this price.

The stock price continued to rise with an unbelievable resilience.

The higher the price goes, the more people want to sell. These are people whose losses are decreasing, who are afraid that the stock price will suddenly turn down and plummet again, and who are afraid that they can't handle the psychological pressure. They find a loss level that they can bear and cut their losses to leave the market.

As a result, the rate of increase slowed down, but it was still rising.

Market closes this morning.

330.

Afternoon market close.

370.

Scary.

"Is this a trap set by the major players to lure in more buyers? It's too deep!" The investors were stunned.

The main players are really skilled, going against the Japanese price controls!

"What do you know? This is called luring the enemy in. He'll pull you in when you don't believe him, but once you do, he'll smash you up."

"That makes sense." The veteran stock market investors shared the same thought.

"But to be honest, if it weren't for the Japanese interfering, I would definitely think that what happened this morning was a deliberate sell-off by the major players to shake out weak hands, and that many people had given up their shares, right?"

"Yes."

"It's a pity. Without the Japanese, I could have seen it reach 600 yuan. But now, we're at the end of our rope. The Japanese have opened short positions, and the price of cotton yarn won't change to 70 yuan."

Veteran stock market investors wholeheartedly agree, while new investors eagerly anticipate the outcome.

The stock market reopened the next day.

Market closes this morning.

390.

Afternoon market close.

430.

"I don't understand."

Veteran stock market investors are completely bewildered; this doesn't seem like a bull trap.

The price is about to rebound, and everyone will soon break even. How can this be called a trap?

"You need to stay calm, especially at times like these. The big players want you to feel this doubt. If you get excited and buy, you'll get trapped. Just watch, the big players are about to distribute their shares."

Experienced investors are still sharing their lessons, while new investors are already making money. Those who believed in the early signs have already made over 100 yuan in this wave and are grinning from ear to ear!
Private rooms upstairs.

Sato spent the whole day watching the price fluctuations.

It's certain that the concession capital was trying to lure in more buyers. With a large amount of stock unable to be sold, the losses would be too great, so his actions were understandable.

Since we've been given the opportunity, let's continue to add to our short positions.

Opportunities to short at high levels are not common. In the past, you had to do it secretly, but now you can openly short sell.

One day, two days, three days, four days!

A miraculous scene unfolded: cotton yarn in the Chinese-controlled area of ​​Shanghai was priced at 70 yuan, while cotton yarn futures in the Shanghai International Settlement were priced at 470 yuan!

Even the most clueless stock market investor has realized that this is not a bull trap. The price has already hit a new high, so how could it be a trap?

But what happened really confused them. Something was wrong. There was no spot or futures market, and the difference was 400 yuan. How much was this cotton yarn actually worth?

And upstairs.

Sato had been pondering when the people in the concession would dump their properties. He thought they would, but his agent told him...

"Either their methods of unloading goods are too sophisticated for me to detect, or they haven't unloaded any goods at all. The Municipal Council has strengthened its control over exchanges and severely punished leaks, so I cannot obtain data from the exchanges."

"It's impossible not to ship the goods." Sato thought for a moment, then suddenly realized something. "Could it be that they're trying to drag it out until delivery?"

Futures contracts have a time limit. In addition to cash settlement, another way to settle them is through physical delivery.

If they settle with cash, they will lose money on all their short positions of 400 units or less. However, if they settle with physical delivery, they will still have to pay the penalty for breach of contract since they don't have any physical goods.

"No way?" The broker was startled. He knew, of course, that the next delivery was still eight days away, but he never expected anyone would want the goods in stock.

The cotton yarn costs only 70 yuan, while the competitor's cost for multiple orders is over 400 yuan. If spot delivery is adopted, it is equivalent to using over 400 yuan to buy cotton yarn worth 70 yuan.

Who would be so stupid as to exchange over 400 yuan for 70 yuan?
Behind his boss are all major cotton yarn producers. If the concession really needed cotton yarn, they would be overjoyed.

Sato immediately stood up with a serious expression. The agent was unaware that they had already disposed of the military supplies and that they had no cotton yarn on hand.

If their counterparts in the concession demanded physical delivery and they couldn't deliver, they were destined to lose.

Sato quickly picked up the phone and called his partner, "The people in the concession want to use spot delivery. They must know we don't have any goods in our warehouse, so they're doing everything they can to get cotton yarn! Yes! The more the better!"

"Snap!" Sato put down the phone and looked at his agent. "If we want to settle the transaction with physical delivery, how much cotton yarn do we need?"

The agent stammered for a moment, "That's a lot. The specific orders are all in the hands of the individual companies. I estimate it might be around 50 packages."

Sato's lips twitched as he picked up the phone and called Fu Xiao'an. "Mayor Fu, on behalf of the Military Police Command, I order an immediate inventory of all cotton yarn stockpiled in the city's cotton mills. Not a single piece is allowed to be sold!"

Including your factory!

Notify customs, docks, and stations to intercept all cotton yarn that has not yet been dispatched!
Don't ask me why, just do what I'm told!

With time of the essence, Sato then called the Military Police Headquarters and the Asia Development Board, instructing them to notify all ports to intercept ships transporting cotton yarn and order them to return to port immediately.

Then, we called the regional managers and told them to make sure that all cotton yarn machines in their respective regions did not stop and had to produce cotton yarn 24 hours a day!
Then they called their company's Nanjing and Suzhou managers to collect all the cotton yarn in the area and transport it to Shanghai overnight as quickly as possible.

All possible channels have been arranged. Even if there is cotton yarn, there is no time to travel to the farthest distance. They were almost tricked. Sato sat down. Now it depends on whether there is enough cotton yarn.

Soon, Fu Xiao'an called back with his feedback.

“Mr. Sato, I’ve asked around at all the cotton yarn factories in Shanghai, and all their cotton yarn inventory has been sold out. In addition, all the cotton yarn that hasn’t been produced in the last month has been ordered.”

"How could there not be a single one? Who ordered it?" Sato had a bad feeling, but he still asked the question.

Fu Xiao'an, "Sassoon".

Sure enough, Sato narrowed his eyes, suppressing his anger, "From today onwards, not a single one is allowed to be sold."

"It's already been booked."

"I don't care if you've placed an order or not! I'm saying you can't sell a single one!"

As time went by, all the cotton yarn factories in Shanghai were working hard to produce, and the transport ships that were originally thought to have been sold to other places were driven back.

The business owners from various regions who had originally made a firm decision to buy this batch of cotton yarn at a high price were extremely anxious as they watched their cotton yarn being unloaded from the ships and stored in the dock warehouse at Wusongkou.

This back and forth will take so much time. If they miss this opportunity, the winter market may be completely lost. The key is that they don't know what happened yet. They were forcibly driven back by the Japanese patrol boats.

The group of people bought the cotton yarn only because they listened to Fu Xiao'an. The Japanese wouldn't explain to them, so they had no choice but to go to Fu Xiao'an.

Fu Xiao'an responded by saying that this was all demanded by the Mitsui Company, and that if they wanted to resolve the issue, they should go to the Mitsui Company themselves; he would not concern himself with anything else.

These people could only rely on their own connections, making phone calls, sending telegrams, and contacting their hometown networks to try to put pressure on Mitsui Company.

However, Mitsui Company completely ignored these small fry.

There was no explanation, no compensation, and no follow-up.

Fortunately, eight days is not too long.

Things soon changed.

Day Six. In futures trading, the party seeking delivery needs to transport the goods to the exchange's warehouse, register them, and prepare for settlement.

Sato ordered his men to move cotton yarn from the Wusongkou warehouse, load it into large trucks, and transport it to the concession exchange.

Then, at the entrance to the concession, the convoy was blocked by British troops.

Why can't we come in?

"Do I need to pay taxes?"

"This is what the exchange wants! Your exchange!"

"We have to pay taxes too? How much? Is it 20% for cotton yarn?"

The assistant manager of Sanjin Company reluctantly admitted that trading with the concession through normal channels constituted cross-border trade, which indeed required paying taxes.

"70 yuan, 20% off, that's 14 yuan per piece. Here it is."

Before he could finish speaking, Britain presented the market price for cotton yarn.

"Cotton yarn costs 500 yuan a piece in our concession."

"What?! 500 yuan a piece?! 100 yuan tax a piece?! Why don't you just rob someone?!"

The British gave off an attitude that seemed to say, "You think I'm nothing?"—it was incredibly irritating.

The manager called Sato to discuss the matter, and Sato said that there was no way he could accept that price!
100 each, 10,000 pieces would be 1 million, 500,000 pieces would be 50 million!
How could he possibly accept such blackmail!

He called Fu Xiao'an and asked him to resolve the matter.

Fu Xiao'an, "Huh? Me?"

Call the consulate and demand a serious protest; this is unreasonable exploitation of Japanese-owned businesses!

The Municipal Council stated that these are market-regulated prices, and they cannot interfere with them.

To be friendly, we can offer a 5% discount.

With another day gone and only two days left until the delivery deadline, Sato made a direct threat: if the Municipal Council did not resolve this matter today, the army of the Japanese Empire would storm the concession tomorrow, and then he would not blame him for not warning him beforehand!
In response to Sato's threat, the price of cotton yarn futures surged dramatically from the opening bell, reaching 550 yuan in just half an hour!
The stock market investors were truly stunned!
I was completely stunned!
550 yuan for cotton yarn, the sky is truly the limit for cotton yarn!

"Ha ha ha ha."

The market was filled with wild laughter.

What does 550 yuan for cotton yarn mean?
If someone could hold onto their position from 70 dollars until now, simply by opening a double-leveraged long position, they could exchange that single long order for a two-story house in the Chinese-controlled area.

Countless people have become rich overnight, and those who have steadfastly held onto their long positions until now have all become incredibly wealthy.

Now, all they need to do is choose to sell, and the money is immediately in their hands.

With only one day left until settlement, whether to sell or gamble on a further rise tomorrow is up to each individual.

Retail investors will not accept delivery and will definitely choose to close their positions, so tomorrow's price will be as crazy as the end of the world.

Upstairs, the Japanese agent was sweating profusely with nervousness.

Sato's short positions had an average opening price of around 400, and with leverage, he was on the verge of being liquidated.

You either have to drive the price down, add more margin, or accept the loss and close your position.

"Add margin!"

Sato could not accept this loss. He had completely lost his composure, his expression contorted with rage as he stared at the cotton yarn futures prices, his voice icy.

"You stay here and make sure you don't get liquidated; leave the rest to me."

Sato went directly to the Japanese military camp, and soon a large number of Japanese troops were dispatched to surround the concession.

All entrances and exits to the concession were blocked, and armed Japanese troops aimed at British troops at the entrances, creating a tense situation.

The Shanghai Municipal Council immediately inquired with the Japanese Military Police Command about the meaning behind this action and whether they intended to start a war.

It was only then that the Military Police Headquarters realized that Sato had acted on his own initiative. This overstepping and provocative behavior had not been authorized by the Military Police Headquarters and would cause diplomatic trouble for Japan.

However, the questioning phone call was immediately met with a rebuff from Sato and the heads of various chambers of commerce in Shanghai.

No one understood the gravity of the situation better than these people. If the goods couldn't enter the concession, they would have no choice but to accept the loss and be forced to pay a fine to close their positions by the exchange. Based on the volume of their orders, this fine would amount to more than 200 million silver dollars.

Even if the losses are distributed among several chambers of commerce and each bears the burden, each chamber will still incur losses of at least 30 million!

This is an outcome they absolutely cannot accept.

It's not that they can't afford to lose 30 million, but that they are not worthy of representing their respective chambers of commerce in losing 30 million.

If the losses reach this amount, the lightest outcome will be the removal of the person in charge in Shanghai and being sent back to headquarters in Japan to be punished.

If we take a gamble now, at least we still have a chance.

This is a do-or-die battle.

The standoff and the oppressive atmosphere continued until evening.

At the close of the stock market, cotton yarn futures prices fell to 579 yuan.

For the Japanese, every yen increase in price means a loss of 500,000 yen without leverage. In just one afternoon, the price rose by 29 yen, and another 15 million yen was gone.

At the entrance to the concession, more and more people gathered to watch the spectacle, and the phone calls between the two sides became increasingly frequent.

As the sun was setting, someone accidentally pulled the trigger; it certainly wasn't fired by either of the opposing sides.

However, the side facing west, who couldn't see clearly to begin with, assumed a firefight had broken out upon hearing the gunshot and immediately opened fire.

If you shoot, I'll shoot too.

Gunfight is about to break out!
Both sides were exchanging fire with long guns, the Japanese army's Type 38 rifles and the British army's Lee-Enfield rifles, penetrating flesh at close range, forming penetrating wounds, and blood and flesh flying everywhere.

The Lee-Enfield rifle, in particular, has a large bullet mass, and when it hits at close range, it is very easy to create a cavity effect on the body.

When the blows hit the Japanese, large amounts of blood gushed out, and each blow was delivered without a sound.

The intense gunfight lasted for ten minutes before turning into a situation where both sides sought cover and exchanged fire.

"stop!"

Half an hour later, both sides arrived and began to mediate the unexpected conflict.

Neither side actually wanted things to come to this.

The Municipal Council proposed a solution: taxes could be reduced by 30%, but no further.

With 3500 million yen owed and tomorrow being the deadline for delivery, Sato had no choice but to accept the loss, given the enormous financial burden of not delivering.

He just thought Sassoon would give him a final chance to negotiate, since as long as he transported the goods into the concession, it would mean that Sassoon would take everything.

Why does he need so much cotton yarn?
The Municipal Council demanded cash and refused to allow any delays. Several families pooled their resources and spent several hours gathering 3500 million in cash, which they then handed over to the Municipal Council.

Pay up and get in!
The exchange has already closed; the goods can be stored in the concession's warehouse for now.

To prevent time constraints, Sato mobilized a large fleet of vehicles to transport all the cotton yarn from Wusongkou and warehouses of major factories to the concession warehouses.

After a busy night, the exchange opened the next day.

Today is the delivery day for cotton yarn futures.

After the market closed yesterday, news of the Anglo-Japanese battle at the border of the concession was already widely known.

The reason for their conflict was that news of the cotton yarn delivery had also spread.

Now that the cotton yarn that Sassoon wanted has been transported into the concession, it means that the two sides have reached an agreement.

There's no more story to tell. Retail investors who held long positions until the very end have decided to close their positions today.

As the stock market opened, large-scale buying of long positions occurred in futures markets!
It went from 579 yuan to 599 yuan in just 15 minutes!
"We need to add more margin," the agent reminded Sato.

“Add.” Sato watched coldly, wanting to see what tricks Sassoon was up to.

Thirty minutes, 630 yuan!
"You need to add more margin."

"add."

"This is the last time, we're out of money."

"If you don't have money, go get it. Do I have to teach you?" Sato suddenly roared back. "No matter what, you have to maintain this until the market closes!"

"We took the cash to pay taxes."

"Borrow from the bank!"

Sato had only one goal: to hold on until the market closed.

Pick up the phone and call the warehouse to ask how the incoming goods are doing.

His subordinates reported that although the process was slow, the people at the exchange were indeed taking stock seriously and hadn't tried anything funny, which reassured Sato somewhat.

Soon the bank called to offer financial support.

With that, Sato had no worries and watched the futures prices fluctuate without expression.

For those below, it was very exciting; the main players went crazy, going up to 650, 660, and 680.

This price is simply insane. Some veteran stock market investors are already analyzing that the major players might be trying to squeeze out the short sellers, but the short sellers are very powerful, so the major players can only keep pushing the price up. They are just riding the wave and making a quick buck.

Sato was aware of these circumstances, but it didn't matter. No matter how high the price went, he could just wait for the closing settlement.

Close in the morning.

Take a break at noon.

Opening in the afternoon.

after an hour.

Ding-ling-ling. Ding-ling-ling.

"Hello." Sato answered the phone lazily, but upon hearing his subordinate's hurried voice on the other end, his mind suddenly cleared, as if he had been pricked by a needle, and he sprang to his senses.

"Fire? How could it catch fire? What do you think?"

“A funeral procession was passing by the warehouse with music playing. It's possible that burning paper money floated up and landed on the cotton yarn, which immediately caught fire and the fire couldn't be stopped.”

"idiot!"

"ah!"

Sato's face flushed, and he swept everything off the table with a wave of his hand.

He had calculated everything, but he hadn't expected the British to dare to use such shameless means as burning the delivered goods!

"what!"

Sato pulled the gun from his waist, rushed out onto the balcony, and scanned the crowd at the exchange with bloodshot eyes, finally fixing his gaze on the cotton yarn futures price chart.

Raise your hand and fire!
Clap clap clap!

The stock market closed.

If the goods cannot be delivered, the deposit will be forfeited.

(End of this chapter)