Mid-August.
The British Hong Kong government accepted the order of the London government and announced an unprecedented large list of prohibited export materials, including metal machinery, steel products, non-ferrous metals, petroleum, petroleum equipment, transportation equipment, chemical raw materials, chemical instruments, electronic equipment, transportation equipment, food wait.
At the same time, along the coast of China, U.S. warships and Taiwanese warships were cruising around, attacking merchant ships doing business with the mainland; Taiwan Island also deployed many mines in the strait (originally to prevent recapture). Once a merchant ship encountered it, it would almost be like a ship. Destroy people.
For a time, shipping prices skyrocketed.
Japan's economy has also begun to grow rapidly. There are a large number of goods waiting to be shipped and business demand has increased, which has driven shipping prices up again.
Therefore, some people in Hong Kong say that having a ship means turning on the money printing press.
Of course Lin Zhichao knew that shipping prices would rise this year, but he still chose to sign a half-year lease. Why?
There are three reasons:
First, the rise in shipping prices is a process and will definitely reach its peak at the end of the year;
Second, we need a process of mutual trust with Japanese customers, and this half-year is just right;
Third, when shipping prices soar and mutual trust is achieved, Japanese customers will take the initiative to sign high-priced long-term contracts (refer to the first ship of the charter king).
For these reasons, he leased all 35,000-ton cargo ships (two Liberty ships and one Victory ship) to Yamaguchi Steamship. At the same time, Global Shipping also has two fixed lines, namely the 8,600-ton Gold and Silver (Tokyo-Hong Kong-Southeast Asia-Australia) and the 7,800-ton Venus (Yokohama-Hong Kong, under preparation).
Once the Venus became operational in early September, the money started rolling in. Global Shipping can repay all loans this year, including US$500,000 from HSBC and US$200,000 from London Shipping Company, as well as interest.
In this way, it is equivalent to Lin Zhichao's complete fleet of 51,400 tons of deadweight this year.
"Dong dong"
"Come in"
After Feng Yongfa walked in, he immediately said: "Boss, I found an office building on Queen's Road near HSBC Bank that can be rented on the first floor. It was left by a US-owned company that just left. The area is 5,800 square feet, and the monthly rent is 5,000. , the annual rent is HKD 60,000.”
With the issuance of the ban, it is inevitable that some US-funded companies will withdraw from Hong Kong, because they originally wanted to do business in the mainland.
"What's the building called?"
"Qiuyi Building"
Lin Zhichao understood immediately. He was familiar with almost most commercial buildings in Hong Kong and even many properties. This building is not far from the HSBC Bank. It was built next door to the Guangdong East Bank Building and later was rebuilt into No. 9 Queen's Road Central Building.
"Okay, just rent it. After renting, you arrange for someone to clean it and choose a good day to move in."
For Global Shipping Lines, which has deep pockets, renting the first floor requires an annual rent of HK$60,000, but it is just a drop in the bucket.
"Okay! With such a large area, after renting it, a special radio wave room can be set up. In the future, all ship information can be summarized at the headquarters."
Although the distance of radio waves is only a few hundred kilometers, the ships of Global Shipping are mobile. Assuming that Global Shipping has dozens or even hundreds of ships, it can easily communicate on a global scale.
For example, a message from Japan is first transmitted to a ship traveling in the South China Sea. After receiving the message, the ship can wait until it is close to Hong Kong before sending radio waves (generally 300 kilometers can reach communication), or it can be sent to a ship closer to Hong Kong. on the ship (everyone is on the same channel and can communicate as long as the distance is enough).
In short, ships are like mobile base stations, and the Global Shipping Headquarters is like a command system.
"Well, we need to prepare carefully for this matter. The information is very important."
"Okay, I'll get started right away."
Recently, Global Shipping has begun to recruit shipping talents and management talents one after another, which can be said to be developing rapidly.
Not only that, around October, the Global Maritime Academy will recruit at least 120 seafarer students for systematic learning.
Because early next year, Global Shipping's fleet will be doubled.
"Boss, there is a wealthy businessman named Tan who wants to meet you. He said he wants to entrust us to transport a batch of things!" An employee walked in and said.
Lin Zhichao immediately understood that this was the transportation of 'contraband'. He said calmly at first: "Next time a stranger invites me, don't tell me that I am in the company. Please ask for permission before talking about whether to meet or not."
The clerk immediately blushed. He understood that he had made a mistake, because now if the boss refused, it would be an offense.
"Boss, I understand. I will definitely not do this next time."
"Okay, you'll learn a lesson from the experience, let him come in!"
After a while, a middle-aged man came to Lin Zhichao's office. When he met, he introduced himself: "Hello, Mr. Lin, my name is Tan Xiyu."
Lin Zhichao looked at Tan Xiyu and heard that the name was fake. It seemed that he was from the ground group.
"Tan Sheng sees me?"
Tan Xiyu saw Lin Zhichao's eyes looking at her like an eagle. She was three points weaker than she was. She didn't know why Lin Zhichao could be so powerful at such a young age.
"I purchased 3,700 tons of rubber in Singapore and want to entrust it to you."
The words just finished.
Lin Zhichao then said: "Sorry, we don't have any boats to rent now."
be honest!
Tan Xiyu was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect this person to be so decisive. Then he said: "The price is 50 US dollars per ton, as long as you meet Yuedong."
After speaking, he had great confidence.
Lin Zhichao deliberately smiled helplessly and said: "Don't say 50 US dollars per ton, even 500 US dollars per ton. I can't use the ship to make this money, because our ships are basically long-term leases. Once the contract is broken, no one will be caught. Right on."
Tan Xiyu said without giving up: "Mr. Lin, this is..."
Lots of truths.
Lin Zhichao shook his head and said: "I am a serious descendant of Juren. What if I were still in the mainland! Of course, these are not the main reasons. It is because my ship has a loan from HSBC Bank. If something happens, I cannot bear it. There will be consequences, after all, a family has a family to support.”
Tan Xi's face suddenly turned rosy. He didn't expect this person to be so sharp in his words, leaving him speechless. As the saying goes, if you have different ways, you will not seek each other's will. The attitude of others is very clear.
"Oh well!"
After Tan Xiyu left, Lin Zhichao breathed a sigh of relief.
Although he knew he could never escape these encounters, he didn't expect someone to come to his door so soon. Rejection is inevitable. He is just a businessman and it is inevitable to consider risks.
He remembered reading a record of Dong Haoyun in his previous life. Dong Haoyun rented foreign ships and prepared to transport thousands of tons of rubber to eastern Guangdong. As a result, he was detected by a British warship, and Dong Haoyun was also banned from Singapore for an unknown period of time.
Obviously, if Lin Zhichao agrees, the risk will be huge.
He is short of hundreds of thousands of dollars!
Originally, he wanted to introduce Li Gaofu to Tan Xiyu, but Lin Zhichao decided to ignore these matters completely. His career was advancing by leaps and bounds now, so he should not get involved.
His shipping career is almost at the beginning. Even Dong Haoyun cannot compare with him. It can be said that Lin Zhi surpassed the Novice Village, and the four major ship kings in his previous life began to look for the village chief to take over tasks.
The next day.
Lin Zhichao came to Changjiang Industrial and recruited deputy general manager Wang Liang.
"Have the raw materials been put into storage?"
Wang Liang immediately said: "It has been put into storage. The raw materials with a total value of 4.5 million Hong Kong dollars are already lying in the warehouse."
After saying this, Wang Liang couldn't help but admire his boss's foresight, because the expansion of the embargo had already made many keen businessmen feel unusual. As for my boss, he had already started planning as early as May.
Lin Zhichao said with satisfaction: "From now on, imported raw materials will all go through Singapore companies, and Hong Kong's raw materials are strategic materials and will not be used until next year."
Wang Liang once again felt his boss's foresight. Now that he has the Xingdao Factory, Yangtze River Industries is simply the biggest insurance company.
"I see!"
Later, Wang Liang took the initiative and said: "Boss, do you want to slowly stockpile plastic raw materials from Hong Kong? In this way, we can advance and retreat well with only plastic raw materials; if we go forward, we can push up the price of raw materials and carry out low-price acquisitions." If you sell it high and sell it back, you can use these raw materials yourself, and our price will be more advantageous for the same product."
Profiteer!
"Okay! You can arrange for the Yangtze River Trading people to do it. Use all the profits from the Yangtze Plastic Factory to purchase raw materials from the Hong Kong market, and slowly absorb them! When the time is right, Yangtze River Industrial will support some funds to absorb a large amount of raw materials from the market. "
"Well, this trick can avoid alerting the market. Now the Changjiang Plastic Factory's monthly profit can reach nearly 20,000 Hong Kong dollars, which can absorb a lot of raw materials."
Yes, plastic products are quite profitable, but of course some small factories are struggling. After all, for large-scale plastic projects like the Yangtze River Plastic Factory, the main suppliers are wholesalers with large quantities.
After Wang Liang left, Lin Zhichao was thinking that after October, he would be able to stock up on plastic raw materials from Hong Kong. In fact, it is not considered hoarding. After all, as a large factory like Yangtze Plastic Factory, it is not surprising to buy in large quantities.
Shauqiwan.
Li Jiacheng returned to his 'Cheung Wo Plastic Factory' before lunch. He usually arrives at the factory very early in the morning, and then arranges the workers for production. In the morning, he goes out to do business in person, selling various plastic products such as divination guns, photo frames, and buckets produced by Chang Wo Plastic Factory.
"How was the production situation this morning?" This was the first thing Li Jiacheng said when he returned to the company.
The reason is simple, because the workers at CK Hutchison Plastic Factory have just come out of the farmland and have no factory experience, let alone the plastic industry experience. In the beginning, he taught everyone step by step. Although everyone is now able to produce, after all, they are just a group of workers who have been in contact for less than three months.
Therefore, the products produced by Changhe Plastic Factory cannot be sold on the market. Li Chaoren can only sell the products to grannies and small grocery stores.
Although the quality of Cheung Wo Plastic Factory's products is not good, it is cheaper because the salary of these workers is only HK$35, and Li Jiacheng wears many hats - accountant, purchasing, technician, salesman, etc., so the labor cost is very high. low.
"A lot of buckets have been produced, boss, look!" the foreman immediately expressed his contribution. Because his salary is 45 Hong Kong dollars.
Li Jiacheng looked at the results in the morning. Although the quality was as poor as ever, he didn't take it to heart. He was a little disappointed when he saw that the number of buckets was not many.
"Okay, let's eat together. When the factory makes money, it will definitely improve everyone's food." Li Jiacheng controlled his emotions and gave his employees a piece of cake to increase everyone's enthusiasm.
The working hours of Changhe Plastic Factory are very long. Production starts at 7:30 in the morning and works until 11 or 12 in the evening. Through this kind of oppression, Li Jiacheng felt that only the factory could survive.
He is not worried about people's opinions, because there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who are unemployed, and as long as they can have food to eat, they are scrambling to get a job.
In fact, the United Nations has recently begun to provide large-scale assistance to Hong Kong refugees. Various charities are like bamboo shoots after spring. People who come to Hong Kong will not starve to death. Overseas aid is much more than the donation from the Hong Kong government (refugees are not counted as Hong Kong residents). There are places to receive relief in many places. It is impossible for people to starve to death. Of course, it is only possible to survive. If you can find a job, who is willing to run around every day? It's very far away, and there are crowds of people going to get relief.
The food was almost broken rice, the dishes were vegetables with little oil, and there was a salted fish at noon for a dozen workers to enjoy. The Li family has become a morale booster, so they naturally eat together.
He can endure hardships, but he is just thinking about CK Hutchison Plastic Factory while eating.
"I'm afraid plastic raw materials are going to rise, but I don't have much money, so I can only save less." Li Jiacheng went to the market and naturally found that the raw materials were rising. Currently, it is 1.7 Hong Kong dollars per pound (450G).
He understood that there would be businessmen who would continue to purchase large amounts and hoard them. He also wanted to do this, but the funds available to CK Hutchison Plastic Factory were less than HK$3,000, so he could only despair.
Lin Zhichao came to the Yangtze Plastic Factory again and was greeted by General Manager Tao Derong.
"Boss, you are here!"
Tao Derong knew that his boss didn't care much about Yangtze Plastic Factory, but he had to make progress because doing well would be beneficial to him. Therefore, since the establishment of the Yangtze Plastic Factory, he has worked hard to develop the Yangtze Plastic Factory fairly well and has become one of the few large-scale plastic factories.
Lin Zhichao nodded and said: "Tell me, what is the current situation of Hong Kong's plastic industry? How is the Yangtze River Plastic Factory doing?"
Tao Derong immediately began to report on the spot, and while Lin Zhichao was listening to the report, he also did not forget to visit the production process.
When he heard that a newly established 'Cheung Hutchison Plastic Factory' was established, Lin Zhichao immediately asked: "Who is the boss of this Cheung Hutchison Plastic Factory? How big is it?"
There are a total of about 30 plastic factories in Hong Kong, with about 1,000 workers, and they are in the embryonic stage.
"Boss, this Cheung Wo Plastic Factory was opened by the general manager of the original Wanhe Plastic Factory, whose surname seems to be Li. It is very weak, and the investment amount is only about 50,000 Hong Kong dollars. It rented a 1,000-square-foot dilapidated factory building in Shauqiwan .”
Sure enough, it was Li Jiacheng!
It's a bit haunting, and it actually named it 'Cheung Hutch Plastic Factory'. If I annex Hutchison Whampoa in the future, wouldn't I be missing a 'name'?
If I had known earlier, I should have registered Changhe.
At the same time, Lin Zhichao felt that it was necessary to weaken the strength of 'potential competitors' to avoid continued entanglement in the future. Of course, Li Jiacheng has the temperament to succeed, but if he loses some opportunities, no matter how talented he is, his achievements will be limited at best.
"Well, the entry barrier to this industry is low, so everyone is joining in. I heard that the price of plastic raw materials has increased a bit, right?"
Tao Derong nodded and said, "That's right! Many merchants have begun to stock up on goods, probably because they are worried that the United States will not import plastics. Therefore, with this speculation, each pound of plastic particles has increased by two cents."
Lin Zhichao immediately said: "I have asked the Yangtze River Trading to also join in hoarding plastic pellets, and the funds required are to use the profits of the Yangtze River Plastic Factory. At present, the increase in the price of plastic pellets is beneficial to our Yangtze Plastic Factory. Therefore, the price of our products Don’t go up now, occupy the market first, and then go up later.”
In the warehouse of Yangtze River Industrial Co., Ltd., there are more than 500,000 pounds of plastic raw materials (1 pound, 450 grams), which is definitely enough for the Yangtze River Plastic Factory to use in the next two to three years.
"Okay, I understand!" Tao Derong said.
He knew the boss's business style, which was to be ruthless. He would first sell at a low price to seize the market and squeeze out a number of competitors; then he would consider raising prices or reducing costs, thereby making a lot of profits.
Although there are more than 30 plastic factories in Hong Kong, they are all small workshops after all. The rise in raw materials will be fatal.
Next, Lin Zhichao picked up the product and observed it. He found that there were no major problems and felt very satisfied. Today, the Changjiang Plastic Factory supports more than 100 people, and it can be considered a business, although the monthly profit is less than 20,000 Hong Kong dollars.
But Lin Zhichao believes that soon the profits of Yangtze Plastic Factory will skyrocket, reaching 50,000 Hong Kong dollars per month. After all, the cost of raw materials is low and the market is expanding.
Tang family.
Tang Zhongyuan and Song Qiaoling came to Tang Caiying's room with serious expressions. They had been feeling more and more stressed recently, so they wanted to talk to their daughter.
"Mom and Dad, why are you so serious?" Tang Caiying jumped to Song Qiaoling's side, holding her arms and acting coquettishly.
She felt a little bit humble, because recently she and Lin Zhichao had almost no scruples.
Tang Zhongyuan suddenly said at this time: "Caiyin, there is something we haven't told you. You happen to be over eighteen years old. Let's tell it today!"
Tang Caiying immediately corrected her: "Did you remember my birth date incorrectly?"
Tang Zhongyuan shook his head and said seriously: "Listen to me first! In fact, you are not our biological daughter."
Tang Caiying was stunned immediately!
Tang Zhongyuan continued: "When I was young, I had a good friend named Xu Wangcheng. That year he offended the local warlord and had to prepare to flee, so he prepared to flee Jiangnan Province with his wife and children. Later, because you were too young, he You entrusted it to me and said that we would never recognize each other in the future, so that I could treat you as my biological daughter. Recently, through a friend's investigation, I found that your biological parents have also come to Hong Kong, so I plan to let you return to the Xu family. "
Tang Caiying, who had always been eccentric, had lost her spirit at this time and cried: "I don't! I don't want to admit it. You are my parents. I don't believe what you just said."
For a while, Tang Caiying couldn't accept this reality.
Although there had been such gossip since childhood, Tang Caiying didn't take it to heart because every child would have such questions. Later she realized that people's words are scary.
Song Qiaoling held Tang Caiying's hand and said lovingly: "We didn't intend to let you admit it! But now that you and Lin Zhichao are so close, you have forced us to reveal the truth. Caiyin, you only have two choices, one is Keep a distance from Lin Zhichao and reject him; one is to recognize your biological parents. But no matter what, our attitude towards you will never change."
Tang Caiying asked: "Are you lying to me?"
Why is this such a coincidence?
Tang Zhongyuan said: "Your cousin has testified about this. It is impossible for us to find a biological parent for you. There will be no such scam in the world. What we tell you today is not to abandon you, but because of family laws, I have to Reveal the secret hidden in your heart. Caiying, mom and dad love you and will always love you, this will never change."
Tang Caiying was still confused. Suddenly she thought of Lin Zhichao, and immediately said: "I want to discuss it with him before making a decision!"
Tang Zhongyuan shook his head and smiled helplessly: "When you said this, you already had the answer! In this case, let's talk openly!"
Adjust the emotional main line!
I understand everything!
(End of chapter)
