Reborn in 2012, building a new energy empire

As soon as Jiang Haoran stepped into the gate of Jianguo Machinery Factory, a smell mixed with machine oil and rust filled his nostrils.

The old lathes in the workshop to the right of the entrance clattered and rattled, and sunlight streamed through the high windows, illuminating the swirling dust on the floor.

Master Wang Tieshan, wearing greasy reading glasses, was bending over in the yard adjusting parts. When he saw him come in, he wiped his calloused hands on his apron and said in a loud voice, "Xiao Ran is back? Summer vacation hasn't started yet, so you came back to see Lao Jiang."

"Master Wang, I just miss home," Jiang Haoran greeted him with a smile.

After the factory went bankrupt in his previous life, Master Wang used his retirement money to help his family through the crisis, and he remembered this kindness for more than ten years.

He patted the handrail of the lathe, an old piece of equipment from the Soviet era that his father had found, which had been running until the factory went bankrupt in his previous life. "Is this old buddy still so reliable?"

"Still going strong for his age," Wang Tieshan sighed, glancing at the corner of the workshop. "It's just that orders are much lower than before, and your dad's hair has turned white from worry these past few days."

Jiang Haoran followed his gaze.

The father, Jiang Jianguo, was squatting on the ground, using a wrench to repair a malfunctioning machine tool.

He was wearing faded blue overalls, the back of which was soaked with dark sweat stains. His once jet-black hair now had many gray strands at his temples, clearly a result of the factory's hardship.

"Dad," Jiang Haoran called softly.

Jiang Jianguo looked up abruptly, saw his son, and his bloodshot eyes brightened for a moment before darkening again. He put down the wrench and stood up: "Why did you suddenly come back? Did you run out of money?"

"No, Dad, I have enough money." Jiang Haoran quickly stepped forward and pressed his hand down. His fingertips touched the calluses on his father's palm, and his nose tingled with emotion. "I just miss you and Mom."

"Just call us if you miss us, it's too expensive to come back and forth." Jiang Jianguo complained, but a smile appeared on his face. He reached out and patted his shoulder. "Come on, your mom made pork rib soup today, we've come just in time."

The staff quarters behind the office building are small, and a two-bedroom apartment was kept very clean. As soon as I arrived at the door, I could smell the aroma of pork rib soup.

His mother, Chen Fang, wearing an apron, came out of the kitchen and quickly walked over, grabbing his arm: "Haoran, why have you lost so much weight? Is the food at school bad?"

Chen Fang was younger than she remembered from her previous life, but the fine lines around her eyes were already quite noticeable, and her hair was simply tied back, revealing her smooth forehead.

As she pulled Jiang Haoran into the house, she kept asking, "Are you too tired from studying? Are you out of money again? You must tell me if you don't have enough money."

"Mom, I still have money, I just miss you." Jiang Haoran sat down on the sofa and watched his mother's busy figure, feeling a warmth in his heart.

In his past life, after he achieved great success, he often thought of his mother's pork rib soup in the dead of night, but he could no longer taste it.

During dinner, Chen Fang kept putting meat on Jiang Haoran's plate, while Jiang Jianguo sat to the side, drinking and asking him about his school.

Jiang Haoran wanted to bring up Jiang Tao's matter, but he swallowed the words back—his father still trusted Jiang Tao, and if he rashly brought it up, it would only cause resentment.

He needs to find the right opportunity and produce solid evidence.

Halfway through the meal, Jiang Haoran's phone suddenly rang, and the words "Qianqian" appeared on the screen.

Jiang Jianguo and Chen Fang exchanged a glance. Chen Fang smiled and said, "Is it a female classmate? Answer her quickly, don't keep her waiting."

Jiang Haoran looked at that name, his eyes turning cold.

Gao Qian.

In his past life, he was the campus "goddess," the woman who made him squat under a streetlamp to make a humiliating phone call to his father.

He hung up the phone immediately.

"Why aren't you answering?" Chen Fang asked, somewhat puzzled.

"A telemarketing call," Jiang Haoran said calmly, putting his phone on silent and back in his pocket. "Mom, the soup is delicious, have another bowl."

Chen Fang happily served him soup, while Jiang Jianguo glanced at his son thoughtfully.

After dinner, Jiang Haoran helped clear the dishes.

The water was running in the kitchen as he washed the dishes, his mind filled with fragments of his past life.

In his previous life, it took him twenty years to stand before the chessboard where he could compete with international capital giants.

By the end of 2031, Tianqi Group, under his leadership, will have achieved a disruptive breakthrough in the field of solid-state batteries—mass production of all-solid-state batteries, doubling the energy density and reducing costs by 40%.

This meant the era of traditional lithium batteries was coming to an end. Jiang Haoran keenly sensed the fatal opportunity hidden within.

Glencore, a global commodities giant, holds vast lithium and cobalt mineral resources and enjoys hundreds of billions of dollars in trading profits every year, while also aggressively buying lithium and cobalt in the global futures market.

They have long been accustomed to being both referee and player, firmly believing that absolute control over the physical supply chain is enough to crush any speculation based on "technology stories".

Jiang Haoran decided to teach them a lesson.

His "Starsea Capital" made a high-profile entry into the market, buying up put options on lithium carbonate and cobalt in Hong Kong, Singapore and other places, making no attempt to hide its actions.

This "open secret" quickly attracted the attention of Glencore traders.

In their view, this was just another overconfident challenger like the "Qingshan Group," a piece of easy prey delivered right to their mouths.

Driven by greed and arrogance, Glencore began to frantically build up massive long positions on major global exchanges, while simultaneously releasing news of mine production cuts, intending to drive up spot prices and wipe out all short sellers in one fell swoop.

Unbeknownst to them, they were precisely stepping into a meticulously designed double trap.

"Starsea Capital" is merely a bait to attract attention.

The real killer move was the covert short position that Jiang Haoran established simultaneously on the three major exchanges over several months through a complex offshore network and hundreds of dispersed accounts.

At the same time, he quietly joined forces with several Chinese industrial capital groups, including Tsingshan Group, to lay a tight net.

When Glencore's long positions piled up to a dangerous level, it was time to cash out.

Tianqi Group officially announced that due to breakthroughs in solid-state battery technology, it will reduce its lithium carbonate procurement plan by 90% next year.

Almost simultaneously, partners such as Tsingshan Group announced that they would release millions of tons of inventory "to stabilize market fluctuations".

Two thunderbolts struck the market, causing global lithium and cobalt prices to collapse.

The series of sharp declines triggered margin calls on Glencore's massive positions. The London Metal Exchange (LME) issued a deluge of margin calls, demanding over $80 billion in additional margin or face forced liquidation.

Glencore frantically appealed to major banks for help, only to receive the same cold, consistent response: due to extreme market risks, new credit lines were suspended.

Borrowing an umbrella on a sunny day and taking it away on a rainy day—the cruel nature of capitalism is revealed in this moment.

When the news broke, Glencore's stock price plummeted 45% in a single day in the Swiss market, triggering a circuit breaker.

Jiang Haoran stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of his office in Singapore, overlooking the dazzling night view.

He did it: a Chinese private capital firm successfully targeted a giant that controls the lifeline of global resources, with unrealized profits exceeding two hundred billion US dollars, enough to support technological conquest for the next decade.

However, he underestimated the frenzy of the behemoth's dying counterattack.

Glencore was able to pinpoint his location in Singapore through Goldman Sachs's special channels, resorting to the most extreme measures.

The bullet that shot out of the darkness ended his twenty-year struggle, but it also brought him back to the starting point of his destiny.

The moonlight outside the window was cold and frosty. Jiang Haoran closed his eyes, and the smoke of the financial war and the coldness of the gun barrels from his past life alternated in his mind.

In this life, all those memories of technological iterations, industrial rise and fall, and the rhythm of capital will become his sharpest weapons.

He will not allow anyone to harm his family, nor will he allow anyone to stand in his way back to the top.

anyone.