The London Suburbs!
In a luxurious castle, Li Yi slowly stepped out of the car and, flanked by Li Yunbao and the others, walked into their London residence. Zhang Ziqiang, Zhou Wen, Pang Feiyan, Liang He, and the rest followed close behind!
This grand country estate was the property of the Li family, purchased by Li Yunbao’s grandfather.
Normally, the house was managed by a butler and servants, and the Li family only stayed there when they visited.
Upon arriving, Li Yunbao and the others made the castle their temporary base. After all, staying in a hotel would make it difficult to use a telegraph machine without arousing suspicion.
Upon entering the castle, Li Yunbao first arranged a room for Li Yi.
He had originally intended to give Li Yi the master bedroom—the room with the best natural light, the largest floor area, and the most comfort—but Li Yi declined.
After settling into a clean and tidy guest room, Li Yi joined Li Yunbao in the castle’s conference room, where Zhou Xinghua, Zhang Qiusheng, and the others were already waiting for him.
In the conference room, Li Yi naturally took the seat of honor, while Li Yunbao and the others sat on either side of the conference table.
Looking around the room, Li Yi then asked, “I’ve already been briefed on the situation here—you’ve done an excellent job. Now, let’s discuss the current state of affairs!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhang Qiusheng sat up straight and said, “Mr. Li, I’m in charge of futures investments. Currently, the price of steel has risen to 248 pounds per ton. We hold 1.52 million futures contracts, with a paper profit of 1.44 billion pounds!”
“The price of copper has risen to 1,679 pounds per ton, an increase of 101 pounds per ton compared to our average purchase price. Our copper futures investments show a paper profit of 303 million pounds!”
“The price of aluminum is currently £1,220 per ton, up £53 per ton from our average purchase price, resulting in a paper profit of HK$237 million! During our 18-day stay in London, our futures investments have generated a total profit of £1.98 billion!”
After he finished speaking, everyone in the conference room—including Zhang Qiusheng—looked utterly thrilled.
A profit of nearly 2 billion in 18 days—that’s over 100 million a day!
Most importantly, the currency is pounds—converted to Hong Kong dollars, that’s a whopping 1.7 billion!
However, surprisingly, after hearing this, Li Yi merely nodded indifferently, then turned his gaze to Zhou Xinghua standing nearby.
He had learned from Li Futao that this Chief of Staff Zhou was currently in charge of acquisitions in the spot market.
Noticing Li Yi’s gaze, Zhou Xinghua immediately stood up and said, “Mr. Li, as per your instructions, we’ve launched a comprehensive acquisition of steel across the British Isles. So far, we’ve acquired over 9 million tons of high-quality steel, generating a total profit of over 60 million pounds!”
Li Yi nodded and asked again, “How is the upward trend in the futures market right now?”
“Since the Navy hasn’t been performing very well on the battlefield, the stock and futures markets have been on a clear upward trend these past few days!” Zhou Xinghua replied.
The reason why the stock and futures markets rise when the military performs poorly on the front lines is that a poor military performance implies the war will not end anytime soon.
If this conflict turns into a war of attrition, the resources the nation must expend during this war will increase dramatically—it could even become a bottomless pit.
In that case, the prices of various war materials on the market would skyrocket!
Some might say, “Isn’t this just profiteering off national misfortune?”
Yes, but in Western capitalist countries, as long as it’s legal, it’s acceptable.
As for so-called patriotism or collectivism, they couldn’t care less!
Li Yi paused briefly, then said, “I’ve reviewed the situation. Now I’m going to announce a few things!”
Hearing this, everyone’s attention turned back to Li Yi, but what he said next left everyone present dumbfounded.
“Yunbao, Secretary Zhou, Manager Zhang, your tasks are complete. From this moment on, all of you are to remain at the estate. No one is to leave without my orders. All operations will be handed over to Supervisor Pang, Liang He, and the others!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhang Qiusheng said with a furrowed brow, “Mr. Li, why is this? Are you not trusting us…?”
Before he could finish, Li Yunbao, standing nearby, snapped, “Shut up! Apologize immediately!”
“Young Master…”
Zhang Qiusheng tried to explain further, but Li Yunbao cut him off again: “Our current success is entirely due to Brother Yi’s leadership. I believe he has his reasons for doing this—it certainly isn’t because he doesn’t trust us. So you must apologize…”
Seeing this, Li Yi was very pleased with Li Yunbao’s actions.
“Yunbao, that’s enough!”
Li Yi then turned to Zhang Qiusheng and said, “If I didn’t trust you, I wouldn’t have entrusted you with managing tens of billions of Hong Kong dollars. That sum represents more than half of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce’s cash flow. Do you understand what that means?”
“If this investment fails, the operations of nearly every company and family within the Chinese Chamber of Commerce will be affected. Do you still think I don’t trust you?”
Zhang Qiusheng quickly bowed his head and said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Li. I was wrong!”
Li Yi nodded and said, “The reason I asked you to stay in for now and had someone else take over your work is mainly because Dolsen and his people have arrived in London, and I don’t want him to know you’re here!”
“Mr. Li, are you planning to let Dolsen and his people take the fall?” Zhang Qiusheng asked thoughtfully.
He was a smart man; hearing Li Yi say this, he immediately grasped the implication.
Once Dolsons and his team learned of their existence and discovered that they had been acquiring copper, iron, and aluminum futures contracts for quite some time, they would surely figure something out.
Given Dolsons understanding of them, if he saw them offloading their positions at that point, he would most likely refuse to take the fall—and might even follow suit and exit the market himself.
Li Yi said calmly, “I hadn’t thought of that, but if Dolsen finds out we’ve already invested all that money, he might just target our company in Hong Kong!”
“But didn’t we sign a settlement agreement with them, stipulating hefty penalties for breach of contract? How could they…”
Before Li Yunbao could finish, Li Yi shook his head and said, “You’re too naive, kid. Do you really think a single piece of paper can guarantee everything will be fine?”
“Can’t it?”
“Of course not. If he wants to stir up trouble, there are countless ways he could do it. For instance, he could just send over a small financial team from here to handle the matter. Do you have any evidence linking this to him?”
Li Yi continued, “And then there’s the fact that the British-owned conglomerate has plenty of allies in East and Southeast Asia. If Dolsons were to have them step in, could we really pin it on Dolsons? Would the Governor’s Office and City Hall back us up?”
“Well…”
Li Yi spoke again: “That agreement is just for show—to tell those people not to stir up trouble, especially now that we’ve all come over here!”
“Whoa!”
Li Yunbao and the others couldn’t help but gasp. If Li Yi hadn’t told them this, they never would have imagined there were so many twists and turns involved.
After a long silence, Li Yunbao said with a hint of resentment, “Brother Yi, do you usually think I look like a fool?”
“No, it’s just that I sometimes see a glimmer of innocent foolishness in your eyes!” Li Yi said with a laugh.
Li Yunbao: @#￥%……&
Zhou Xinghua: @#￥%
After a while, Li Yunbao looked at Li Yi and said, “Brother Yi, we’ve almost spent all our money. What are you guys going to do next?”
“Look into some things!” Li Yi replied.
“Investigate what?”
A faint smile played at the corner of Li Yi’s mouth as he replied, “Sheffield Steel Corporation!”
Hearing this, everyone was stunned once again…
………..