Chapter 185 British Agent

Li Changhe was not just talking about developing in Hong Kong Island, he had seriously considered it.

When silver futures started to soar, Li Changhe was already thinking about the next development.

In fact, the 1980s were not particularly friendly to reborn people like Li Changhe, not as good as the 1990s.

Because the first ten years of reform and opening up, from 79 onwards, were the golden age for college students and literature.

College students have caught up with the country's reform and opening up, and with the younger employment standards for cadres, they can be promoted quickly in the past ten years, which is a golden period for career advancement. Unfortunately, Li Changhe does not intend to go into politics.

As for literature, it is still the same thing, it is a golden age of literature, but for Li Changhe, this golden age is too small.

It is good to build a golden statue for an individual, but it means nothing for the entire country.

The economic aspect is what Li Changhe finds unfriendly.

Although the reform and opening up is centered on economic development, the top leaders are also constantly exploring the overall direction.

The most important thing is that the economic reforms in the first ten years or so were mostly focused on the reform of state-owned enterprises.

Of course, at that time the country had no private enterprises, and it had not yet been proposed that private ownership economy was an important part of the socialist economic system.

This is the embarrassment faced by Li Changhe. He wants to make achievements in the economic field, but the private economy does not allow it.

Most of the successful businessmen in the 1980s made their fortunes through speculation during the reform and subsequent restructuring of state-owned enterprises.

Li Changhe didn't want to do this kind of thing. After all, he was not in the business just for money.

However, it is difficult for him to guide the policy direction of state-owned enterprises using his past life experience.

Because the decision of the entire country will not be made based on your opinion.

To put it bluntly, no matter how talented he appears to be, he is just a young man. Even if he writes out the correct direction, how many people will believe and approve of it?
Besides, the implementation of every policy involves the interests of too many people. It doesn’t mean that what you say is right. For some things, the right answer is not necessarily the best answer.

Moreover, in the first ten years of reform and opening up, the country as a whole focused on introducing technology and equipment to lay the foundation for various industries, which is equivalent to laying the foundation for building a house.

Therefore, in the past ten years, if Li Changhe wanted to develop, it would be difficult to make changes inside the house.

The best direction is still from the outside, such as making more money, buying better materials and laying a deeper foundation.

Another example is obtaining technology from outside, such as taking advantage of the opportunity of Britain's privatization to obtain automobile technology, and then transferring it to the country through a "joint venture".

So in the past ten years, Li Changhe felt that the best way was to be a goose that laid golden eggs, but this goose was not suitable to be placed in the mainland, because there was no guarantee that someone would kill the goose to get the eggs.

Putting aside the mainland, Hong Kong Island is the most suitable place and the best transit station for the transition in this decade.

On the one hand, he can give priority to investing in the mainland. On the other hand, the establishment of a free port also allows his funds to circulate around the world and earn profits.

Then in the 1990s, after the personal economy was liberalized, Li Changhe made a full-scale foray into the domestic market.

From the beginning to the end, Li Changhe understood that his future focus would definitely be on the mainland.

Because he knows very well that truly giant companies can only be found in countries of the size of China and the United States.

Even if places like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Western Europe achieve monopoly, their actual quality is just that.

The size of a country and region limits the scale of a company, which can be seen from the valuations of the two companies in China and the United States in later generations.

After hearing what Li Changhe said, Bao Yugang was a little surprised and surprised.

He had originally wanted to spend some time persuading Li Changhe, but he didn't expect that Li Changhe actually had such an idea.

"It seems like you already have a plan in mind. I know that a genius like you must be the one who thinks three steps ahead before taking one step."

"Since you want to be honest with me, then just tell me, what do you want to do?"

Bao Yugang put away the smile on his face and asked Li Changhe seriously.

Seeing this, Li Changhe looked at Bao Yugang.

"Mr. Bao, I want to ask, do you dare to continue to attack British companies?"

"Hmm? You want to continue to attack British companies? Which ones?"

Bao Yugang was a little surprised.

At the same time, I felt emotional in my heart, it is true that a newborn calf is not afraid of a tiger.

Today in Hong Kong Island, there is only one person, Li Jiacheng, who dares to take action against British capital. This man is really brave.

And Bao Yugang can only be considered half.

Because he took action against Wharf Holdings passively, his layout was inferior to that of Li Ka-shing.

And now, is Li Changhe going to be the second one?
Li Changhe smiled but said nothing. He was waiting for Bao Yugang's answer.

Although Bao Yu just took over Hutchison Whampoa, he will take over Wheelock in the future, thus taking over half of Jardine Matheson and the entire Wheelock Group, one of the four major foreign banks.

But Li Changhe was very clear that neither of these two acquisitions of Daying Capital was initiated by Bao Yugang.

The war over Kowloon Wharf was started by Li Ka-shing, but his appetite was too small to swallow up Kowloon Wharf, so he had no choice but to transfer it to Pao Yu-kong.

And the Wheelock Group is actually the same.

The two major shareholders of Wheelock Group had a conflict. The major shareholder originally wanted to sell Wheelock to Li Ka-shing, but Li Ka-shing had just digested Hutchison Whampoa at that time and was simply unable to take over Wheelock.

So he once again took advantage of the opportunity to acquire Wheelock and gave it to Pao Yu-kong, which was also a way of repaying the favor of Hutchison Whampoa.

So from a business perspective, whether it was Wharf Holdings or Wheelock, Pao Yu-kong was "forced" to take over and did not take the initiative to take action against Great British Capital.

The reason is that, in a sense, he is the second agent of British capital in China.

This so-called British agent was defined by Li Changhe himself. When he was looking up information in his previous life, he read some information about Hong Kong Island and felt that there were three Chinese who could represent the wealthy Chinese in Hong Kong Island.

The people behind these three people are actually closely related to British capital. Behind these wealthy Chinese people, there are British promoters.

The first generation of agent was actually Ho Tung. Relying on Jardine Matheson, Ho Tung gradually gained the support of Britain and became a representative of the successful Chinese in Hong Kong Island from the 1920s to the 1940s.

The second-generation agent was actually Pao Yu-kong, but the bank behind Pao Yu-kong was no longer a foreign bank, but HSBC.

With the support of HSBC, Bao Yugang became the representative of British capital in the 1960s to 1980s, and also stood at the top of the Chinese rich.

The third person was actually introduced by HSBC, and that is Li Jiacheng.

The rise of Li Jiacheng was accidental. Rather than saying that he was the third generation, Li Changhe believed that he replaced Bao Yugang.

The reason why Bao Yugang was replaced was most likely because from 79 to 84, Bao Yugang showed bias in the interests of the country's reform and opening up and the Hong Kong issue.

His inclination towards the mainland made him lose the trust of HSBC. The boss of HSBC, Stephen Sham, who was also the head of HSBC, had a good personal relationship with Pao Yu-kong, which was also the key to Pao Yu-kong's ability to swallow up Hutchison Whampoa.

However, Li Changhe believed that Bao Yugang's subsequent attitude towards the Hong Kong issue made him lose the trust of HSBC and even the British Capital behind the scenes. The person Shen Bi finally chose to take over Bao Yugang's resources was Li Jiacheng.

Therefore, Li Jiacheng was able to complete a series of acquisitions and expansions in the mid-to-late 1980s, increasing his assets dozens of times in a short period of time.

When Li Changhe came to Hong Kong Island, he had no intention of kicking Li Jiacheng or punching Li Zhaoji. These were too small for him.

What Li Changhe is really targeting are the British-owned enterprises in Hong Kong Island, which are the companies that truly occupy the essence of Hong Kong Island.

What's more, even if Li Jiacheng is scolded in the future, Li Changhe doesn't think anything of him. He just has no obvious patriotism and only puts commercial interests first.

But he also donates money when it is necessary to donate, and invests when it is necessary to invest.

In comparison, Li Changhe feels that these British investors in Hong Kong are the most disgusting. They made their fortunes from opium and slave trade a hundred years ago, and a hundred years later they are parasitizing the mainland.

A huge amount of wealth is absorbed every year, but not a penny is transferred overseas.

Compared with Li Jiacheng, Li Changhe wants to kill these guys more, and it must be done in the next few years.

Because after the Sino-British negotiations were completed in 84, these British companies were protected by the agreement, so it would be very difficult to swallow them up again.

Li Changhe estimated that Bao Yugang was probably still unwilling to take direct action against British capital, so he had to ask first to understand his thoughts.

If Bao Yuguang is unwilling to take action, then Li Changhe must consider replacing someone else.

But then again, if we really choose someone else, it certainly won't be as convenient as working with Bao Yugang.

Because Li Changhe also has to consider one force, and that is HSBC.

He wanted to swallow up British companies, and HSBC was an obstacle that he could not get around. However, there were not many wealthy Chinese in Hong Kong who could influence this obstacle, and Pao Yu-kong was the one with the greatest influence.

Seeing that Li Changhe remained silent, Bao Yugang sighed.

"Are you worried that I won't dare to do it?"

"Not only that, Mr. Bao, let me put it this way. If we cooperate to implement my plan, you may lose the support of HSBC."

"Of course, this is the worst-case scenario I expected, but I must first tell you the consequences."

Li Changhe said to Bao Yugang seriously.

"Oh? Even HSBC won't support me in cooperating with you. It seems like you have a really big appetite."

"Let me guess, are you targeting the Keswick family or the Shi Huaiya family?"

Bao Yugang said to Li Changhe thoughtfully at this time.

The Keswick family is the controlling family behind Jardine Matheson.

The Shi Huaiya family is the controlling family behind the Jardine Matheson Company.

"Why not Kadoorie, or the Maddens?"

Li Changhe did not admit it at this time, but asked back with a smile.

The Kadoorie family is a Jewish family on Hong Kong Island. The Peninsula Hotel where Li Changhe lives is owned by the Kadoorie family.

In addition, China Light and Power, which later controlled 70% of the electricity market in Hong Kong Island, was also their family's business.

The Madden family is one of the behind-the-scenes shareholders of Wheelock, but it is no longer a major shareholder.

"They are very powerful, but they are not bad enough to make HSBC turn against me."

"The Kadoorie family is not British capital, they are Jewish capital, and the Madden family is too small now."

"On Hong Kong Island, the only companies that can influence the relationship between HSBC and me are Jardine Matheson and Swire."

Bao Yugang said seriously.

The Kadoorie family is nominally British, but just like Pao Yu-kong, they are not Anglo-Saxons, they are Jewish, and not even European Jews, they are Middle Eastern Jews.

The Kadoorie family used to be Jewish businessmen living in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. Later, due to the crackdown on corruption, the Jews in Baghdad fled, and they followed suit.

To be honest, many major events in modern Chinese history, especially in Shanghai, are related to these Middle Eastern Jews.

This group of people first fled to India, and then moved from India to China, relying on the notorious opium business at the time.

Among this group of Jewish escapees, the most notorious was the Sassoon family.

The opium that was destroyed in Humen was mainly produced by the Sassoon family, and then the Sassoon family returned to Britain to lobby Parliament to launch the Opium War.

Later, the Sassoon family lived in Shanghai. The famous Peace Hotel was built by the Sassoon family.

The famous Nanjing Road in Shanghai was later developed by a Jew named Hardoon under the Sassoon Company.

The Kadoorie family is also a Jewish family among this group, but different from the Sassoons.

In the early days, Kadoorie seemed to have been involved in human trade, and after making his first fortune, he started a legitimate business in Hong Kong Island.

By the time of later generations, this family had become known as a very friendly and cooperative family in Hong Kong towards the mainland.

Their family assets are basically in Hong Kong Island, so they haven't done too many tricks and are relatively obedient.

This is also the reason why Bao Yugang feels that the Kadoorie family is not worthy. This Jewish family only holds British nationality in name, but is actually still far away from British capital.

"Let me guess, are you still targeting Jardine Matheson?"

"You want to swallow up Landmark, don't you?"

Bao Yugang then spoke to Li Changhe in a complicated manner.

But soon, he shook his head and showed a look of confusion.

"That shouldn't be the case. Even if you make 200 million US dollars, it's impossible to swallow up Jardine Matheson with this little money. Even if I join you, we can't swallow up Jardine Matheson."

Jardine Matheson has two major real estate companies in Hong Kong Island, the first is Hong Kong Land Development and the second is Wharf Holdings.

Among them, Hutchison Whampoa Properties is of better quality than Wharf Holdings because Hutchison Whampoa has been following the commercial real estate model since its inception.

Much of the land in Central and Causeway Bay, the most prime business district in Hong Kong Island, is in the hands of Hutchison Whampoa.

These properties are basically core plots with a term of 999 years.

Historically, Li Ka-shing has set his sights on acquiring Hutchison Whampoa three times in a row, and each time he did not act alone, but joined forces with several Chinese conglomerates.

But even so, he ultimately failed to take over the property.

In later generations, the Jardine Matheson Group could earn tens of billions of profits every year just by collecting rent from commercial properties under its subsidiary, Hong Kong Land, making it a golden goose that laid eggs for the mainland.

And now Bao Yuguang guessed correctly, Li Changhe’s target this time was Jardine Matheson Land!
(End of this chapter)