The British Isles have four distinct seasons, and in April, London is transitioning from winter to spring, with temperatures gradually rising.
Although the occasional light rain was a bit annoying, Li Yi was thoroughly enchanted by the city in full bloom. Famous flowers such as cherry blossoms, azaleas, and tulips could all be admired during this season.
Upon arriving in London, Li Yi did not, as everyone had imagined, dive headfirst into the futures or stock markets.
Over the past few days, under the protection of Zhang Ziqiang, Zhou Wen, and others, he has been freely exploring this city, which holds special significance in European history.
Every day, they drove through the streets and alleys of London, stopping to take photos in front of every landmark worth visiting.
Occasionally, just like ordinary tourists, they would visit parks, gardens, and nature reserves to admire the beautiful natural scenery.
They even made special trips to Detroit and Sheffield to watch flower shows and parades; anyone unaware of their true purpose would have assumed they were simply here on vacation.
Li Yi’s casual and seemingly unprofessional behavior left Dolsons and others, who were constantly monitoring his movements, completely baffled.
These foreigners were baffled—everyone knew this was a rare opportunity; the sooner you invested, the sooner you could cash in on the market.
Although the guy was physically present, he didn’t seem the least bit rushed. This left Dolsons and his team both baffled and on high alert.
This time, Dolsen and his team had raised a massive 1.5 billion pounds from Hong Kong and returned to London with Smith and the others.
To salvage the face he’d lost in Hong Kong, he’d even specially brought over a dozen experienced elite members from his family to assist him.
This time, he was determined to succeed and vowed to redeem himself!
However, out of respect for Li Yi—and that lingering fear he refused to admit—Dawson did not overlook him.
He knew Li Yi would certainly not miss this investment opportunity, and besides, the man had personally confirmed he would be coming to London.
Sure enough, the very next day after he arrived in London, Li Yi showed up as well.
Upon learning that Li Yi had arrived in London, Dolsen was overjoyed—not only because he no longer had to worry about that guy causing trouble for them in Hong Kong.
More importantly, London was his home turf; the influence of the Sassoon family and their allied European financial groups here was beyond imagination.
Don’t be fooled by the fact that the guy had 60 billion Hong Kong dollars in his pocket—converted to pounds, that was only about 4 billion. While they might be able to run rampant in Hong Kong, in London, and indeed throughout Europe, they were nothing more than slightly larger ants!
As long as Li Yi dared to invest here, Dowson believed that with the Sassoon family’s clout in this part of the world, they had plenty of ways to deal with this despicable fellow.
So, upon learning that Li Yi had arrived in London, Dowson immediately had people keep a close eye on him.
In his own words, he wanted to know every single move Li Yi and his team made in London.
However, to his surprise, once Li Yi arrived, he seemed to let loose completely, indulging in nonstop sightseeing.
He hadn’t set foot in a single market in days; every day was either spent sightseeing or on his way to sightsee.
Anyone unaware of the situation would think they’d actually come here on vacation!
But the more Li Yi acted this way, the more uneasy Dolsen felt.
In his eyes, Li Yi was like a venomous snake lurking in the shadows, ready to spring out and strike the moment they let their guard down!
What he didn’t know, however, was that Li Yi was acting this way simply because he was bored out of his mind and had absolutely nothing to do.
They did indeed have over 60 billion Hong Kong dollars at their disposal, but 57 billion of that had already been invested by Li Yunbao and his team.
Moreover, most of the money he had earned on Hong Kong Island had been used to acquire Hang Seng Bank, and the remainder was needed to keep Starry Company running.
So even if Li Yi wanted to invest in the stock or futures markets now, he simply didn’t have the funds to do so.
By the way, Li Yunbao and his team did still have 200 million pounds on hand, but that was set aside for emergencies.
After all, once the futures delivery date arrives, if they choose to take physical delivery rather than simply selling the contracts, they’ll need to top up their margin—they can’t get by without setting some money aside.
But clearly, Dolsons and the others were unaware of this, and could only speculate over and over again about what exactly Li Yi was waiting for!
In the blink of an eye, half a month had passed!
Since the British Navy’s hastily assembled fleet was still en route to the Falkland Islands, although the two nations were technically at war during this period, there had been no actual combat between their forces.
Of course, this was understandable. After all, this was a war between two nations separated by over 14,000 kilometers—just thinking about it was a headache, so even the most bizarre events seemed entirely plausible!
Over the past fortnight, London’s futures and stock markets remained red-hot, with prices soaring for all war-related companies, commodities, resources, and energy.
The price of steel has risen to £283 per ton.
The price of copper has risen to £1,750 per ton, and even the price of aluminum has climbed to £1,317 per ton.
Everything seemed to be unfolding exactly as Li Yi had predicted…
Just then, the people Li Yi had sent to investigate Sheffield United Steel returned with shocking news…
………..
London. Castle Manor!
In the conference room, Li Yi looked at the people before him with a grave expression.
After a long moment, he cleared his throat and said, “I’ve just received word that Sheffield United Steel Company’s revenue last month reached 2.9 billion pounds!”
Hearing Li Yi’s words, everyone in the conference room couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.
Wow, 2.9 billion pounds—that’s nearly 50 billion Hong Kong dollars!
And that’s just their revenue for a single month—it’s simply outrageous!
“Mr. Li, that can’t be right. Is Sheffield’s marketing really that strong?”
“Is this information accurate? I just don’t think it’s very likely!”
“I don’t think it’s impossible. After all, Sheffield United Steel is the largest steel company in the British Isles. Their annual output accounts for over 60% of the country’s total steel production, and with steel prices so high right now, 2.9 billion pounds in revenue is certainly possible!”
“But it’s impossible to make that much in a single month—unless they sold a year’s worth of steel in just one month…”
As everyone chimed in with their own opinions, some thought the news was unlikely to be true, while others believed it might be.
For a moment, the entire conference room descended into chaos, sounding just like a bustling marketplace!
“Quiet!”
Just as the group was arguing heatedly, Li Yi suddenly spoke up, then continued, “The news is definitely true. I spent a full 20,000 pounds investigating this!”
No sooner had he finished speaking than Zhou Xinghua frowned and said, “But last year, the combined annual steel output of the British Isles didn’t even reach 30 million tons. Even if Sheffield really accounted for 60% of that output, it’s impossible for them to have sold that much, let alone in a single month!”
Li Yi suddenly laughed coldly and said, “Don’t forget, what Sheffield sells isn’t necessarily physical steel—it could very well be futures contracts!”
“How many futures contracts would that be? Do they even have that much production capacity?” Zhang Qiusheng frowned.
“Haha, who says you need sufficient production capacity to sell contracts?”
Zhang Qiusheng was taken aback at first, then his eyes widened in shock. “Boss, are you saying Sheffield is overselling futures contracts? They’re playing with fire!”
In the industry, selling futures contracts in advance to lock in profits is quite common.
But everything has its limits, and that limit is the company’s production capacity.
If too many contracts are issued—far exceeding the company’s production capacity—there is a risk of default.
If long positions force a squeeze and the company lacks the capacity to deliver the goods, the consequences could be catastrophic.
Clearly, judging by the current situation, Sheffield didn’t anticipate steel prices would rise this much. Once they saw prices climbing, they frantically started selling contracts.
“So Sheffield’s risk of default is quite high. What should we do? Should we force a delivery or cash out and exit the market?” Zhou Xinghua asked.
Li Yi’s lips curled slightly upward before he replied, “The Sassoon family is Sheffield Company’s largest shareholder, and they are the British Investment Group’s most important backer. What do you think we should do?”
Hearing this, everyone immediately understood!
This man had been locked in a bitter standoff with the British Capital Group for so long that he’d long been itching to crush them. Now that they’d handed him the knife, was there any way he’d back down?
For a moment, everyone in the conference room found themselves looking forward to the day of the takeover…
……….
PS: That’s all for today. I actually wrote two chapters, but I’m not quite satisfied with the second one, so I’m going to scrap it and start over!