Chapter 92: The collapse of blood is no match for the empire
The full moon hangs like a disk in the night sky, and the waves are sparkling on the dark sea.
On the high seas, two fishing boats slowly approached and soon became close to each other.
A gangplank was placed on the bow of the ship, and several tightly wrapped people carried boxes and stepped across the gangplank to another ship.
"This is the latest batch to be printed. According to your request, in addition to the 50 pounds, there is another 20 pounds."
Jacob opened the combination lock on the box, took out a few banknotes from it, looked at it carefully several times under the light, and scanned it several times with a purple light.
"Excellent, my friends, you are the most skilled money printers I have ever seen."
The other party was indifferent to Jacob's compliments and asked directly: "Where's the money?"
"Oh, here." Jacob quickly picked up two large travel bags and threw them on the ground.
The leading masked man opened the zipper, took out a handful of banknotes and examined them.
"Don't worry, they are all old banknotes with no serial numbers." Jacob added with a smile.
"As long as it's not printed by you." The masked man snorted coldly, "Where are the materials for the next batch?"
"No more."
"No more?"
"Raw materials are in short supply now, we have to wait to get them." Jacob spread his hands with a smile.
"Then can we still print it?"
"The banknotes from before are enough for a while. I will inform your boss if necessary."
"Okay, Mr. Fang wants to say hello to you." After saying that, the masked man turned around and jumped back into his fishing boat while carrying two big bags.
The few people following him slowly backed away with guns in hand, covering each other and returning to the ship.
The fishing boat's engine quickly started and gradually disappeared into the night.
Jacob looked at the disappearing fishing boat and smiled, "Have you taken the photo?"
"The photo is ready."
"If you print a few more copies, maybe our friends in Japan will need them some time."
"No problem, sir."
"How about a tracker?"
"The tracker works normally and the signal is very obvious."
"Keep an eye on them."
"Boss, is five billion enough?"
"It's enough, and there's not enough time. The Chinese may have noticed something and are desperately increasing their foreign exchange reserves."
"So, we're going to take action soon?"
"Yeah, we're almost ready anyway." Jacob showed a proud smile, "Gentlemen, we will be rich soon!"
"Hoo!"
A burst of cheers, applause and whistles broke out in the fishing boat.
"Low-key, low-key, gentlemen, you don't want Langley to know about this." Jacob clapped his hands and said, "When the banquet is over, we still have to clean up the mess. Now is not the time to celebrate."
"After we finish talking to the Chinese, Caribbean beaches, sunbathing and beauties are waiting for you."
……
"Wow!"
Qin Yi poured the money from the two traveling bags onto the cabin floor, and the bundles of banknotes piled up into a hill.
The people next to him stared at him, and Shapi rubbed his hands with gleaming eyes, "Now I'm rich!"
"Shh!" Qin Yi put his finger on his lips to signal everyone to be silent.
Li Xiangdong winked at Qi Jingsheng. Qi Jingsheng nodded, turned on the radio on the table next to him, and then turned the volume to the maximum.
Qin Yi rummaged through the pile of banknotes carefully, not even letting go of the bag.
Finally, he found a black plastic box about the size of a fingernail in a roll of banknotes. It looked very inconspicuous. If you didn't look carefully, you would think it was a part of the plastic buckle on the bag. He handed it to Qi Jingsheng.
Qi Jingsheng took out a screwdriver and opened the small box, studied it for a while and made an OK gesture.
"It's okay, this is just a signal tracker and has no eavesdropping function." Qi Jingsheng weighed the box and asked, "Do you want to block it?"
Qin Yi smiled slightly, "No need, Brother Sheng. It would be rude to eat the bait that I finally laid."
"The visitor is unkind." Li Xiangdong frowned, "We have prepared a table of dishes, but two tables of guests are coming. How can we eat this dish?"
"Just eat it!" Qin Yi sneered, "The messier the situation is now, the better. Are restaurant owners still afraid of big-bellied customers? By then, it will be a spoonful of stew, and no one will even bother to find a scapegoat."
Qin Yi picked up his cell phone and dialed, "Jian Dazhuang, inform the United States that the American hedge funds have already taken action."
After hanging up Qin Yi, Shapi interrupted and asked, "Big Boss, how did you know they were starting to take action?"
"They suddenly stopped accepting pounds, so they must be taking action, and we printed five billion for them, which is enough to defeat the Central Bank of the Republic of China." Qin Yi sneered, "Jacob suddenly stopped asking for ammunition on the eve of the war, and he also
What could be the reason?"
"Bah, Mr. Ghost doesn't have any good things." Shapi spat hard.
"The mantis is catching the cicada and the oriole is behind, it doesn't matter, let's play with them." Qin Yi patted Shapi on the shoulder, "Brother Shapi, it's not time to divide the money yet, wait until you finish this time."<
/p>
"Yes, I know." Sha Pi nodded indifferently, "Then do you want to give Fu Guang some money?"
"Of course." Qin Yi smiled and said, "You always have to give someone a consolation prize when sending someone off."
……
Many people think that the Quantum Fund’s operation was the work of Soros. In fact, the real trader and hero is Druckenmiller.
He is a legendary figure and does not like to be in the limelight, so he has always been relatively mysterious.
And Soros really likes to appear in front of the camera and enjoy the envious eyes and verbal praise of others, so he never corrects those rumors. Instead, he uses various legends and rumors to portray himself as a terrifying and invincible financial tycoon.
.
This is good for him, because reputation is charisma, and as the leader, he can gather enough sheep when attacking opponents.
The countries defeated by Soros were not the result of his victory alone, but the countless flocks of sheep following him. Almost no country could hold up under the trampling and squeezing.
Druckenmiller has long expected that Germany will follow a loose monetary policy, which will prompt the Bundesbank to raise interest rates, and the German mark will remain strong.
Then he set his sights on new prey, and while going long on the German mark, he chose to go short on the pound.
After studying the real estate in South Korea, analysts from Quantum Fund began to try to short real estate stocks and succeeded.
In this way, analysts are very sure that because Germany maintains high interest rates, the pound is already at the lower limit of the European monetary system mechanism, and the central bank can only maintain the pound by raising interest rates.
But if the central bank raises interest rates, people will immediately have repayment pressure. If they use the money to repay loans, they will have no money to spend. The decline in consumption will make it even worse for a country in recession.
All in all, the central bank will not raise interest rates.
If interest rates are not raised, the pound will fall against the mark, and the probability of appreciation is very low.
So Druckenmiller seized this once-in-a-lifetime betting opportunity, buying German marks and selling pounds.
At this time, there is only one problem facing various funds. They are not sure whether the Bundesbank will compromise due to political pressure and cut interest rates to maintain European financial order.
Various economists and analysts on Hong Kong Island have pointed out that European countries have signed the Maastricht Treaty, paving the way for the establishment of a unified European currency, and Germany is the main promoter of this plan.
A unified Europe is Germany's dream, and Germany will not sit idly by.
In order to save the crumbling national currencies, European finance ministers and central bank governors gathered together and asked Germany to cut interest rates to avoid chaos in the European financial order.
The finance minister of the United States came to Monte and took the lead in attacking. He waved his fist and said to the president of the Bundesbank: "There are finance ministers from 12 countries sitting here, and they all unanimously ask you to cut interest rates. Why don't you do it?!"
Schlesinger, the president of the German central bank, was like ten thousand grass and mud horses whizzing by. Why should I sacrifice myself to save you? But in the face of many aggressive national finance ministers, the truth cannot be told, so he resorted to Tai Chi. "Well, we have no plans to cut interest rates yet, but we have no plans to raise interest rates either."
In short, Germany said that this is the situation, and the specific situation will depend on the situation.
But facing the country that is already on the brink of crisis, even if it is a straw, it must be grasped. If you are willing to let go of this opportunity, you will immediately interpret this sentence as proof that Germany wants to compromise and publicize it everywhere.
Various experts on Hong Kong Island seem to have found a savior, repeatedly citing the propaganda of the Republic of China to demonstrate their foresight.
Driven by this good news, Huang Chengju's bonds were finally no longer unsaleable. Not only many wealthy businessmen and celebrities subscribed for some, but even citizens who considered themselves middle-class elites also bought a lot.
And far across the ocean, in an office at 888 Seventh Avenue, New York.
Soros and his partner Druckenmiller were drinking coffee and discussing the pound.
At this time, the door of the office was pushed open, and a middle-aged man walked in complaining, "George, how could you directly ask me about the pound on the phone? Don't you know that bank calls are recorded?
?"
"I'm sorry Robert, but you're going to switch jobs to me anyway, so what does it matter?"
"What's the relationship?" Robert exclaimed, "I will go to jail!"
"As long as you pay your taxes on time, I guarantee you won't."
"Damn it, IRS!" Robert sat next to Druckenmiller.
The three people sat around the small table and started plotting.
Soros asked with concern: "How big is the risk of the pound."
"The pound is very liquid. Even if you are wrong, you can close your position at any time with a maximum loss of 0.5%."
"How much can we earn?"
"If it plummets, then the profit will be 15% to 20%"
"This income is good, what is the probability?"
"Have you all read the report of the Harvard University economics expert team? It is consistent with our think tank analysis, and the possibility is 90%."
"How much does it cost to invest in Bankers Trust's fund?"
"The leverage will be increased to 5 times."
"Is 5 times enough?"
"The country only has 22 billion pounds of foreign exchange reserves, which is approximately equivalent to 44 billion U.S. dollars. The main buyer now is the Central Bank of the Republic of China. Once the country's foreign exchange reserves hit the bottom, they can no longer add to it. So the maximum size of our short position is 440
billion US dollars."
Druckenmiller interjected: "We can probably short $15 billion."
Soros suddenly showed a strange smile, "No, we should raise more, 15 billion is not enough, we can do more than 25 billion."
"You're crazy!" The other two were shocked.
"The Great Empire can't last long." Soros laughed, then picked up a table knife and cut hard on the small cake in front of him.
A war without gunpowder is no less dangerous than a hot war, and Quantum Fund is not the only player to suffer the consequences.
Other hedge funds on Wall Street and major banks are involved, and they all want to take a bite of this delicious cake.
Faced with a pack of wolves, all European countries have become delicious prey.
On September 8, the first cannon fodder was born - Finland.
Finland failed to withstand the sell-off on Wall Street on the first day, with the Finnish mark falling 15% that day.
On September 9, Sweden, the second target of the attack, fell.
Then Wall Street targeted the Italian lira. In response to the attack, Italy borrowed US$36 billion in lira from Germany in advance.
However, this struggle has not had the slightest effect.
On September 11, the lira fell below the lower limit allowed by the exchange rate mechanism.
On September 12, Italy began negotiating a formal devaluation of the lira. As part of the lira devaluation agreement, the Bundesbank promised to cut interest rates by 0.25%.
……
The Finance Minister of the Republic of China has been unable to eat anything since he came to Monte. He looked at the consultants in the office and asked with a serious face: "Gentlemen, please tell me a clear conclusion now, can the Republic of China withstand it?" Several consultants looked at each other, discussed a few words, and finally expressed optimism that there would be no problem.
"The central bank has survived August and can still withstand the shock in September. And we have raised US$14 billion. The third point, and the most important point, is that the Bundesbank has begun to cut interest rates. Although it is not much, it has been lowered.
One point is an obvious signal."
"The most important thing in the financial market is confidence, and interest rate cuts are the best booster for this."
I don’t know if Dai Ying’s market has confidence, but Laimeng gained confidence at this time. He stood up and said with a smile on his face: "I will report to the Prime Minister right now."
When he walked into the Prime Minister's Office in Downing Street with a cheerful pace, he reported his subordinates' judgment to Prime Minister Major with full confidence.
"No matter how you say it, the central bank of the Republic of China will kill me if it wants to kill Wall Street funds!"
Prime Minister Major nodded, but he still sighed in his heart, when did the Daiying Empire become like this, becoming a piece of fat and being besieged.
Think about how powerful the empire was back then.
The state of vigorous vitality and all things competing is still before our eyes, but it is a pity that the sun never sets has become the sun cannot set.
Just as the two of them were sighing, a secretary hurriedly rushed into the Prime Minister's office.
"Your Majesty Prime Minister, something bad has happened. We found two banknotes with the same number."
"What?!" The Prime Minister stood up from his chair, shook a few times and almost fainted.
Laimeng was completely stunned. He jumped up from the chair and grabbed the secretary's collar. "How is it possible? Are you making a mistake?"
"Sir, look." The secretary took out the two bills with a pale face.
Lamont grabbed the banknotes and examined them carefully. Then he found that he couldn't tell which banknotes were counterfeit. He quickly comforted himself: "No, it can't be counterfeit banknotes. It may be a printing error by the bank."
"This..." the secretary hesitated, "This kind of printing error is almost impossible."
Prime Minister John Major, who was previously the Chancellor of the Exchequer, quickly came to his senses and shouted: "Hurry up and check the newly received banknotes to see if there are any more?"
Soon, news came out that there were more and more two banknotes with the same number.
Prime Minister Major looked ashen and asked, "How many are expected?"
"Maybe more than a billion, or billions." The secretary's voice became lower and lower.
The Prime Minister slumped directly in his chair, with only one thought flashing through his mind.
It’s over, it’s all over!
Lamont was at a loss for words. He panicked for a while and said quickly: "Your Majesty Prime Minister, hurry up and announce the abolition of 50 pound banknotes from circulation immediately, otherwise the country's currency will collapse soon."
"No!" The secretary immediately stopped Lamont's proposal, "Mr. Lamont, you can't do this, and you must strictly block the news. Once the news gets out, the entire Korean economy will be ruined."
Laimont's eyes were red, "Then let the counterfeit money circulate?"
"What can be delayed is only a moment. We cannot break news that is not beneficial to the country at this time!" the secretary said harshly.
Prime Minister Major woke up at this time, his eyes were dull for a long time, and then he slowly turned to his secretary, "Then what should we do at this time, just dragging on like this?"
The secretary said seriously: "In the first stage, we publicized that nothing happened."
"So what's next?"
"In the second stage, we said that something might happen, but we should not take action because it might harm the interests of the Republic of China."
"..."
"In the third phase, we said maybe we should take action, but we couldn't do anything."
"Then what happens in the end?"
"In the fourth phase, we said maybe we could do something initially, but now it's too late."
Prime Minister Major looked confused and asked tentatively: "In other words, we are doing nothing now?"
"Yes, Prime Minister."
"May God bless our country!" Prime Minister John Major and Chancellor of the Exchequer Lamont began to pray together.
……
At the opening of trading on Monday, September 14, the central bank spent US$700 million to buy pounds. At the same time, due to Germany's interest rate cut last weekend, the pound appreciated slightly.
On September 15, Soros began to issue instructions for a general offensive and personally called to find counterparties willing to buy pounds.
After the news that Quantum Fund was shorting the pound spread, the bank traders who received Quantum Fund's sales orders also began to sell. Everyone knew that the pound could not hold up.
The pound has quickly fallen below the lower limit, and there are almost no buyers for the pound.
At this time, the reaction on Hong Kong Island became even more intense. Everyone who bought bonds panicked. They were selling everywhere and were eager to sell off the bonds.
A large number of bond-buying customers even surrounded the offices of Changhe Group and the Huang family villa.
"Pay back the money! Pay back the money!"
"Infinite merchants, return my hard-earned money!"
A large number of people carried banners and shouted loudly with loudspeakers, demanding that the Huang family repurchase the bonds at the original price.
Being stuck in the office, Huang Chengju was so panicked by the momentum that he immediately called his father Huang Jiatai.
"Father, many people are blocking the door of the company now, asking us to repurchase the bonds at the original price?"
"A bunch of unscrupulous people from tmd!" Huang Jiatai yelled, "There are no fathers and sons in the shopping mall. They are willing to admit defeat and leave the deal. Do they understand the spirit of contract?"
"We have told them before that investment is risky. If you can make money, go ahead and make us responsible. How can there be such a good thing!"
Huang Chengju wiped his sweat and said, "Father, what should we do with those people outside?"
"You can find a way to appease them and tell them not to panic. The country of Yu is so powerful, how could something happen so easily?"
"Okay!" Huang Chengju calmed down and walked out of the company with a few assistants.
Seeing Huang Chengju come out, the people of Hong Kong rushed forward, and the noise surrounded Huang Chengju and his assistant.
The loud noise made him dizzy.
"Quiet, everyone! Quiet, everyone!" Huang Chengju grabbed a loudspeaker and shouted, "I can understand everyone's mood, but I ask everyone not to panic, this is just a technical adjustment!"
"Bonds still have a lot of room for appreciation! The pound appreciated yesterday, and fluctuations are normal now. I have inside information, and the pound will appreciate again tomorrow!"
After finally appeasing these people, Huang Chengju still has to deal with the wealthy businessmen and celebrities who bought bonds. Those people are no easier to deal with than the people.
In the end, after promising a bunch of bad checks, we finally got rid of those wealthy merchants.
Huang Chengju collapsed on the sofa, his strength almost drained.
Suddenly, the secretary rushed into the office and looked at his boss with a horrified look on his face, "Mr. Huang, please read the news."
After saying that, he turned on the TV. Huang Chengju glanced at the TV screen and instantly turned pale and almost fainted.
"A large number of counterfeit British pound notes were discovered in Europe! Counterfeit banknotes may have become widespread"
"Secretary, buy a ticket to China right now!"
Huang Chengju roared out with his last strength.
……
September 16th is called Black Wednesday.
When the London Stock Exchange opened, Quantum Fund shorted 20 billion U.S. dollars in pounds, and the pound exchange rate had fallen below the lower limit of the European Monetary System.
The central bank of the Republic of China began to intervene by buying pounds, buying 1 billion pounds within half an hour, but the pound exchange rate never moved.
This declares the central bank’s intervention to have failed.
Then the counterfeit British pound incident came to light, and the British pound collapsed instantly.
At this time, the country was not losing blood, but blood was spurting out from its arteries, and someone was using a high-powered water pump to draw blood.
John Bull lay in a pool of blood.
It is estimated that China lost approximately US$16 billion in this war of the century.
Quantum Fund made a profit of US$3 billion from shorting the pound.
At the same time, they also went long on interest rate futures in the United Kingdom, France and Germany, and shorted the Italian lira, with a total profit of US$5 billion. Soros's personal profit was US$2 billion.
The seven major U.S. investment banks made a profit of US$3 billion, and various hedge funds earned around US$500 million to US$1 billion.
Qin Yi’s private equity fund profit also reached US$1 billion, of which Qin Yi’s personal profit was US$500 million.
Well, it’s the same as what he gets from printing money.
So it’s so damn right to say that the most profitable businesses are all written down in the criminal law.
After a lot of hard work, the private equity fund only made a profit of 500 million.
You can get 500 million just by printing money, so it’s better to be a thief and get the money faster.
Oh, by the way.
Qin Yi slapped his head and said, "There are still people who owe me 100 million yet to pay back."