The Tyrant Billionaire

Victor continued by saying, "Of course, there are some conditions to the credits. Honestly, we're somewhat familiar with your situation. We're not sure what kind of collateral you can provide, so why don't you suggest something, and we'll see if we can accept it."

"Alright, I'll consult with my superiors and get back to you as soon as possible. Oh, and about those materials I mentioned earlier, can you provide them?"

"No problem."

"Cocaine, morphine, and penicillin—we can give you 50 boxes of each. We can be more flexible with the cocaine and penicillin once our transactions increase."

"Painkillers, medical alcohol, iodine, medical equipment—no limit. It's all based on your needs."

"As for anti-aircraft heavy machine guns, anti-aircraft guns, and heavy artillery, the quantity won't be huge, and they'll need to be routed through the Middle East first, so it'll take four to six months."

"As for the airplanes, we can't provide complete aircraft, but we can give you 320 sets of engines, along with some spare parts and ammunition for all U.S. models. The rest, you'll have to figure out yourselves."

"As for cotton, fabric, and machine tools, just bring us a detailed catalog specifying how much you need and what kind of machines. We can procure it all."

Mr. Xu was stunned.

Heavy weapons? Agreed.

Aircraft engines? They were selling those too.

This Hardy Group had such strong connections that they could obtain these materials—and they dared to sell almost everything to a group currently known as terrorists rebelling against the Chinese government.

"Are you serious, Mr. Victor?" Mr. Xu asked, almost disbelieving.

"Of course. How could I joke about such a big deal?" Victor replied.

Mr. Xu stood up excitedly. "Great! I'll contact my superiors and finalize the procurement catalog. We'll also discuss what kind of collateral we can offer."

After saying this, Mr. Xu took his leave.

The news quickly reached the upper echelons of the Communist Party.

The leadership was thrilled about the opportunity to purchase these materials from the Hardy Group, but when it came to discussing the collateral, everyone fell silent.

What could they offer as collateral?

They didn't have anything tangible to offer. The other side was providing actual goods, including items that others wouldn't dare sell to them, and they were even risking getting them delivered.

But they had nothing of value to offer in return.

Money? They didn't have any.

Artwork? The Hardy group clearly refused to buy the Chinese artwork as they weren't valuable in the western world.

Land?

They were still in a civil war, and the Hardy group wouldn't accept such risky collateral.

Open market access?

That didn't align with their sponsor, 'the Soviet Union.'

For a while, the leadership was at a loss.

People brainstormed.

"They wanted foreign bank deposits and bills of exchange, right? Keep searching; there must be more out there."

Discover hidden content at empire

"If we can't sell the antiques, we can sell the gemstones on them. Those should be of some value in the western world, right?"

"There are also the gold mines we can offer them as collateral; they should accept that."n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

"But those gold mines are the hope of the country rising after the war."

"Let's offer them as collateral first to get those most-needed items. We have to win the war before planning to rebuild the country. We can always get those gold mines back as long as we can repay the debt. Let's try negotiating a low interest rate on the credits."

"Agree, we have to win the war first; let's mortgage the gold mines in our hands."

...

Meanwhile, back in the UK.

After Victor left, Hardy turned his attention to David and the negotiations with HSBC. The real reason behind all of this was to secure more shares in HSBC at a lower price.

When a company becomes a hot potato for its shareholders, they'll naturally lower the price to get rid of it. Now that the situation at the Hong Kong headquarters was so chaotic, with widespread panic, HSBC's shareholders were eager to sell off their shares and escape the vortex.

David met with Darwell Sassoon for the second time.

Before Sassoon could even speak, David Rockefeller started, "Mr. Sassoon, I've seen the news reports about HSBC. You've refused to pay the bills of exchange and savings certificates from your other branches, causing thousands of people to storm HSBC. I've done some deeper investigation into your situation.

You've sacrificed your other branches' bad debts to make the Hong Kong headquarters appear profitable. It's certainly not the healthy development you've been claiming."

Sassoon responded helplessly, "Mr. Rockefeller, we're not refusing to pay. The branches have been sealed off, and we can't verify the bills of exchange or check the records, so it's not a refusal. It's just a temporary delay."

David spread his hands.

"Alright, that's your problem. I just want to say that artificially inflating the bank's valuation by shedding bad debts won't work with me. If I'm to acquire shares, I'll need to factor in the debt. I don't want to be the one plugging the hole."

"I've had my team reassess HSBC's capital, and by a normal calculation, even my previous estimate of 150 million is too high."

Sassoon, of course, didn't agree with David's assessment.

HSBC had the right to issue currency in Hong Kong, millions of depositors, and banking qualifications in several countries. These were all part of its assets.

The two sides engaged in a heated debate but reached no conclusion. They agreed to continue the talks the following day. However, the next morning's newspapers brought more bad news about HSBC—it had been vandalized the previous day.

Due to its refusal to honor the bills of exchange and savings certificates, a large crowd had gathered outside the headquarters. The Hong Kong police deployed a large force to maintain order, but they couldn't quell the increasingly agitated crowd. HSBC had been unable to operate for days.

And just yesterday...

The crowd had grown even more agitated, clashing with the police barricades. HSBC rushed to close its doors, but the crowd still managed to break in. In the ensuing chaos, clashes between the crowd and HSBC's security personnel led to looting.

Several security guards were injured.

Two male bank employees were dragged out by their hair.

A female bank employee was so terrified that she almost miscarried.

HSBC was forced to announce the suspension of its operations, stating it would reopen once a solution had been found.