novelraw #441 - The clash of chaebols
#441 - The clash of chaebols
Anthony was silent for quite a while before digesting Ren Zhong's words and returning to reality.
Although Ren Zhong's reasoning seemed somewhat far-fetched to Anthony, he didn't deny that the consequence Ren Zhong mentioned might also occur, especially since Ren Zhong was talking about a prediction that would be verified soon. Ren Zhong had no reason to lie on such a matter.
The core interests of the Rothschild family now lie in John Bull and the Gallic Rooster, and the focus of their assets is also placed in these two regions. If Ren Zhong is correct, the loss of control over the canal by these two sides would mean they would lose their dominance in the crucial Middle East.
This is almost their last vestige of maintaining the dignity of a world power, and it is also their reliance on obtaining excessive profits in the world. After all, they are still one of the five major powers, and they still have many far-reaching former colonies in Black Africa and other parts of the world.
However, according to the mainstream public opinion and major observers in their countries, no matter what happens, Rogue Eagle will definitely stand by them. After all, they are long-term allies, so how could they stab them in the back when something happens?!
After all, during the previous World War I and World War II, they were close allies in the same trench. Moreover, many high-ranking officials of Rogue Eagle have countless connections with these two countries in continental Europe.
Originally, Anthony also saw it that way.
But now, after Ren Zhong's words, Anthony thought carefully, and perhaps those counterparts in the Americas are not all that friendly. For capital that transcends international borders, countries may not be important; making money is the most important thing. Therefore, if weakening these two countries could reduce the international competitiveness of European capital, it might truly be something that the Rockefeller and Morgan families would be happy to see.
Perhaps they are really taking advantage of the opportunity to weaken them and seize the opportunity to enter the European financial market, taking a big scoop from the bowl of European consortia. Anthony doesn't find the idea of snatching food from other people's bowls very novel. After all, the Rothschild family also wants to advance into the Americas and get a share of the pie, and they have already transferred a portion of their family capital and power there.
Putting himself in their shoes, why should he expect them to show magnanimity and do nothing?
Although Anthony somewhat accepted Ren Zhong's point of view, he didn't accept Ren Zhong just because of it.
Such speculative information is not enough to make them cooperate with Dongda.
Anthony was silent for a while, then adjusted his glasses and stared at Ren Zhong with sharp eyes, saying.
These words were very impolite.
"Our strategic observers predict that if you really launch a war because of the canal, even your close allies will rise up against you."
According to the information Ren Zhong obtained in the main world, in fact, only 3 days after they launched the attack, Rogue Eagle publicly demanded that they cease fire and withdraw their troops at the Security Council, and the Great Goose even directly provided military assistance to help the Pharaoh's resistance.
"If you cooperate with us, we will not prevent these things from happening, but we can provide you with first-hand strategic prediction information to reduce losses and even allow the Rothschild family to profit from this matter. For example, when your holding companies are continuously receiving large orders in a market filled with wailing, isn't that the best opportunity for a counterattack? Using such a weapon can easily defeat the giant crocodiles staring at you, and make them suffer a big loss in a pre-meditated short selling!"
Anthony's sharp eyes became even brighter, as if emitting golden light.
But it quickly returned to its normal clarity.
"Can you be more specific?" Anthony asked.
After sending away an old fox, Ren Zhong couldn't help but have a headache.
However, things were not so easily resolved.
As a true behemoth controlling the financial world of continental Europe, they would never make a decision so easily.
But there were some things they could start in advance.
For example, after returning, Anthony personally took charge of the acquisition of RIO (Rio Tinto), moved the company's headquarters to Misty City, and prepared to list it on the Misty City stock exchange.
And Ren Zhong did not put all his bets on one family. Next, the heads of the Barclays Consortium and the Capet Consortium also came to Yandu one after another and met with Ren Zhong.
Then Barclays ate up the Kangaroo's FMG Mining, and Capet controlled the watch's Glencore Mining.
Now, in the eyes of the truly powerful people in the Liangjian world, Ren Zhong is also a pivotal figure. After all, the Dawn Research Institute is now known as the strongest research institute on Blue Star.
As the head, even if he is low-key, Ren Zhong's position has naturally risen and can no longer be hidden in the crowd.
Therefore, facing the huge market appeal of nearly a quarter of the global market demand in the mining industry, even if they have no interest, they will be prepared.
At the same time, the Bright Sword world was in turmoil. The dispute surrounding the canal was indeed developing according to the script given by Ren Zhong. The powerful figure of Pharaoh forcefully broke the previous agreement on the ownership of the canal under unequal treaties, and simply and rudely resolved the new ownership of the canal directly through military force.
In this way, Pharaoh directly tore off the fig leaf, making the pre-war threats of John Bull and Gaul useless, and also gave them an excuse to interfere in the canal.
For a time, the situation changed, and a war of words between the four countries began. Newspapers, magazines, and television media sprayed each other daily as if they were not human, and a great war was inevitable.
London.
In a magnificent round table conference room.
"They are indeed powerful. The current situation of the canal is simply developing according to their baton." Evelyn Rothschild sighed. As Anthony's young successor, Evelyn had just graduated not long ago, but now she has begun to enter the family business.
"Fortunately, we did a hedge before. In this round of sharp decline, we reduced the risk through hedging. Only then did the family safely survive this crisis. Now, most of the other families in Europe are not so lucky, except for the Barclays and the Cape families, who also did a hedge like us to escape the disaster."
"Should we further hedge the family's financial assets according to Dongda's prediction?"
"What does Prime Minister Ai say now? Have they confirmed that they are preparing for an inevitable war?" Anthony asked.
"Yes, Father, our friends have sent news that war is inevitable and is now in countdown," Evelyn replied.
"It's time to make a decision, Evelyn. Your next task is to go to Australia and take down several iron ore mines in the Pilbara region. With the help of RIO, from now on, we must try every means and at all costs to take down those iron ore mines. We can't wait for our competitors to gloat over the spoils in the upcoming bad news," Anthony said to Evelyn after a moment of silence, "But we should not let this action trigger the vigilance of those opponents, so that our strategic transfer of capital is hindered by them."
This is a real big deal. Anthony recalled the advice of the young man from Dongda and couldn't help but feel a little frightened. This was not only because he was surprised by their accurate judgment of the situation, but also because he directly told Anthony the choices they should make, as if they were not afraid of Anthony regretting it at all.
An order for 20 million tons of iron ore per year made Anthony unable to refuse outright. Therefore, even if he did not directly agree at the time, Anthony still honestly took down the RIO Mining Group after returning to Europe. Now, Anthony is glad that he did not hesitate for too long, otherwise RIO would have been taken away by Barclays or Cape.
Although there are many mining companies, there are not many large companies with complete exploration and mining integrated talents on a large scale. Now these few within their sphere of influence have been taken down.
"Yes, in addition to buying mines, how should we deal with the construction of our mines and roads? In Pilbara, the mines are still in the wilderness. We need to build hundreds of kilometers of railways to transport these ores to the port." Evelyn obviously already knew something about this mining area.
Now, the area they are preparing to take down in the Pilbara region is the new mine that has just completed exploration.
"You don't have to worry about this. Your main task now is to find a way to take down the mine," Anthony waved his hand and said. "I will solve the construction problem."
Fashion Capital.
"We have seen Dongda's accurate grasp of the situation, and now we have no room for retreat. We must find a way to take down the iron ore in Australia. Our guests have even chosen the target for us. In this regard, you have to admire Dongda's magnanimity. Even as opponents, they can use conspiracies to achieve their goals." Lyons, the head of the Cape Bourbon family, is a middle-aged man in his forties. At today's internal meeting of Cape Bourbon, he is no longer prepared to wait and see.
"Our goal is to take down at least 3 Xio iron ore mines with reserves of no less than 1 billion tons and 2 coal mines in Victoria. In our private agreement with Dongda, the iron ore we provide each year must reach at least 20 million tons. I don't want this business to fall into the hands of competitors. Now the Rothschild family has moved to the front. The RIO mining power acquired by them is much stronger than the Glencore mining power we have taken down. Not only the Rothschild family, but now the Barclays family is also more deeply involved in mining than us. They have directly taken down FMG in Australia and already have reserves of more than 1 billion tons."
"We have already lost at the starting line, so next we not only need to take down iron ore mines, but also need to further take down coal mines and strive for coal and iron joint operations. I believe they will need coal."
"But our funds are now invested in finance and the wine industry. The current cash flow is very difficult to support so many mine acquisition projects," Pierre, the CFO of the Cape Bourbon Consortium, said with a frown.
"Then we will transfer and realize some financial assets!" Lyons said domineeringly, "Dongda has a very good reputation. The long-term agreement price we have reached is enough for us to earn more money from the mines than from finance. An order of 15 million tons is enough to support us investing one-third of our assets in Australia to delve into the mining industry."
Compared with the Rothschild family, the Cape family is much weaker in terms of power and strength. The Cape Bourbon family system alone is now somewhat difficult to invest so much, so they must also give up something in reality to gather enough resources to mine!
It should be known that the price of iron ore at this time is completely different from the overheated iron ore price in the main world.
The current price per ton is not worth mentioning compared to the main world.
Therefore, in the long-term agreement price offered by Ren Zhong, the main contract framework of 5 points plus 5 points on the current price basis basically eliminates the theoretical drawbacks of unlimited price increases.
However, based on the current low cost of mine development, the long-term agreement price given by Ren Zhong is obviously much higher than the cost, which makes this business very attractive.
Let these three families willingly undertake the matter of vanguards. To contribute to Dongda's steel industry, it is obviously impossible not to pay some real money.
Fortunately, Dongda's international balance of payments has been in surplus, and there will be no problems in purchasing and payment, which has brought a lot of help to the entire procurement work.
The financial cleansing caused by the Canal War made the three families chosen by Ren Zhong determined.
They began to actively move closer to the main direction of iron ore.