The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

A small office in Central is the office of Vanward Line, and the ship owned by Vanward Line is the Oriental Trader.

At this time, Lin Zhichao, Li Gaofu, and Huang Tinggui were reviewing the accounts. ‘Eastern Traders’ has been operating for two months and it’s time to test the results.

In fact, from the purchase of Eastern Traders to the operation, Lin Zhichao is personally involved and occupies a dominant position. Regardless, he is still the largest individual shareholder.

"Bosses, excluding labor, fuel, losses and other expenses, the profit of Eastern Traders in two months is about 72,000 Hong Kong dollars." The financial officer said seriously, and handed the financial information to Lin Zhichao.

Lin Zhichao then looked at it seriously. To be honest, the profit was a bit lower than expected. Based on this profit, it will take two years to earn back an old ship, and new expenses and risks may also be added during this period.

However, he soon felt relieved. Shipping was a 'cyclical business'. During shipping booms, it was normal for profits to increase exponentially.

Huang Tinggui said with a smile: "Actually, this profit is very good! After all, Eastern Traders did not run the Weihaiwei route, otherwise it could earn more. Of course, Lin Sheng has his own ideas, and stability is more important."

He also has great respect for Lin Zhichao, which comes from the influence of his partner Li Gaofu.

Running the Weihaiwei-Japan-Hong Kong trade route, a ship can earn 70,000 to 80,000 yuan at a time, which is 1.5 to 2 times the normal shipping cost. It is almost an old ship per year, and of course it depends on the ship price.

For many shipowners, they would rather take risks; of course, it is useless for shipowners to take risks, after all, they do not know how to trade, so there are only a few companies running this line.

Lin Zhichao handed the financial report to Li Gaofu and said casually: "You can only make one or two trips, so it's better not to run! Assuming the risk is 10%, and you returned safely the first six times, wouldn't the risk increase for the seventh time? This is Probability, so I don’t want to take this risk.”

Huang Tinggui immediately gave a thumbs up and said: "Lin Sheng is indeed a big businessman, he even thought of this!"

Seeing that Lin Zhichao spoke frankly, he admired Lin Zhichao's personality even more.

This is also true. In business, Lin Zhichao's statement is right and wrong; if the last one or two shipwrecks occur and people are killed, he will suffer a big loss.

The few people stayed at Wanhe Shipping for a while and then separated. Wanhe Shipping currently has a total of three office staff, but there are five bosses. However, in order to prevent too many people from talking, it is usually led by Lin Zhichao, with Li Gaofu and Huang Tinggui participating. As for the other two partners of Fookhe Line, they have no management right.

Blessings and good fortune.

The four partners, Li Gaofu, Huang Tinggui, Li Fubing, and Yang Zhiqiang, were having a meeting. Li Fubing and Yang Zhiqiang proposed the meeting, which made Li Gaofu and Huang Tinggui feel vaguely uncomfortable.

I saw Li Fubing say: "There has been news from Weihaiwei that the trade has been stopped. It must be that victory is in sight and there is no need to buy those items anymore. So, Zhiqiang and I discussed it and wanted to withdraw our shares!"

Li Gaofu and Huang Tinggui were immediately puzzled. As the helmsman, Li Gaofu immediately said: "Why is this? The four of us worked together and finally made it today. We have a trading business and our own ship. It can be said that Fuhe Bank has just started."

Unexpectedly, when he heard 'there is a ship', Li Fubing immediately counterattacked: "That ship does not belong to Fuhe Bank at all. Lin Sheng is the major shareholder. He has absolute rights. Fuhe Bank has to take care of the Eastern Traders when it is selling goods. In short, This business is a little unclear. Of course, we are very grateful to Brother Gao Fu for helping us make a fortune. Fuhe Bank is the best and most profitable business in the Weihaiwei-Japan-Hong Kong trade. But now, this Now that the business is gone, we can consider going our separate ways, and we will still be friends in the future."

We can only share adversity, not wealth, and this is probably what we are talking about.

At this time, Huang Tinggui came out immediately and said: "Fu Bing, Zhiqiang, have you ever thought about who gave us guidance on this trade, and have you ever thought that 800,000 yuan can really buy such a good ship? Have you ever thought about it? , how much benefit will knowing a network like Lin Sheng bring to us in the future? Eastern Traders, to put it bluntly, Lin Sheng will quit after practicing for one year, and then we will own all of Fuhe Bank. To be honest, without Lin Sheng, this business You can’t even buy a boat.”

Li Gaofu's face was already tense. He didn't expect Li Fubing and Yang Zhiqiang to be this kind of people. He thought that everyone was like-minded, but he didn't expect to be so short-sighted. He didn't say a word, but when Li Fubing and Yang Zhiqiang brought it up, he was almost sure to separate.

If we have different ways, we will not conspire with each other!

After hearing what Huang Tinggui said, Li Fubing and Yang Zhiqiang's faces turned rosy. Looking at Li Gaofu's livid face, they knew that they had offended the helmsman of Fuhe Bank.

But the arrow was on the string and had to be fired.

Yang Zhiqiang immediately supported Li Fubing, saying: "Since it has been said, it is good for everyone to break up peacefully."

Huang Tinggui wanted to persuade him again, but Li Gaofu said cheerfully: "Okay, no problem! After the goods on the ship arrive at the port for sale, everyone will settle the settlement. Brother Tinggui and I will buy the goods in your hands at the asset price. Shares. How about it?”

Li Fubing and Yang Zhiqiang nodded with some guilt, Huang Tinggui could only sigh, he didn't expect that the four of them had already left after less than a year of cooperation.

But he must have gone to the end with Li Gaofu, and if the money is divided, what else can he do?

However, Li Fubing and Yang Zhiqiang were calculating in their hearts how much money they should divide, which could be more than 100,000 Hong Kong dollars: at the end of this trade, Fuhe Bank's accounts were almost 520,000, plus the value of 50% of the ship's shares was 400,000, plus The market value of 50% of Wanhe Shipping's cash is 36,000 yuan, a total of about 950,000 yuan. According to 12.5% ​​of the shares, two people can each share 115,000 yuan.

They only invested 25,000 Hong Kong dollars a year ago. During this period, they distributed 37,500 Hong Kong dollars once, and they have recovered the cost. Now they can still get 115,000 Hong Kong dollars. It is obviously the most profitable business.

Huang Tinggui firmly believes that he is right. His family environment has determined that he will take a long-term view. Fuhe Bank will specialize in trade, mainly with the mainland, and there is also a ship, which is simply developing far and wide; he really can't understand why Li Fubing and Yang Zhichao quit at this time.

Fortunately, the combined shares of the two are only 25%, and the dividends for him and Li Gaofu are enough to buy their shares. In this way, after paying the two people, Fuhe Bank still has a 50% stake in Wanhe Shipping and about 300,000 Hong Kong dollars in cash; the new shareholding ratio is that Li Gaofu holds 62.5% of the shares and he holds 37.5%.

It's a good thing!

Today's Fuhexing has quite a few 'old buddies' who are worth the two lost partners.

Cheung Kong Holdings, Castle Peak Road, Tsuen Wan.

Lin Zhichao sat in the spacious office and received Jian Dongpu who came to investigate.

This office is quite large, almost over 300 square feet. Of course, this is Tsuen Wan, a deserted beach with only a few factories and a large number of wooden houses.

"You took out the funds from your account and exchanged them for U.S. dollars to deposit in the Bank of East Asia. Are you preparing to import machinery, or are you?" Jian Dongpu quickly asked the question.

Cheung Kong has a deposit of US$400,000 in its account, and only a small amount of Hong Kong dollar deposits.

Lin Zhichao said frankly: "I want to order machines this year. I am worried about the depreciation of the British pound, so it is better to convert it into US dollars first!"

It's okay to tell Jian Dongpu about this, after all, he doesn't necessarily believe that the pound is about to depreciate, and it's even more impossible to exchange the deposits in the Bank of East Asia into US dollars.

Jian Dongpu said with a smile: "The pound is so easy to depreciate. You know, people have been betting on the depreciation of the pound since World War II. It has been four years. But you need to order machines overseas, and delivery in US dollars is normal. Always be prepared. That's right."

Indeed, the pound has been strong for four years. And no one would have thought that the powerful British Empire would soon have independent colonies, and the former glory would no longer exist!

Lin Zhichao suddenly made a request: "Mr. Jian, how do you evaluate the finance of Cheung Kong Holdings?"

Jian Dongpu smiled and said: "Very good! You have technology, cheap labor, and are very competitive. I am afraid it is possible to make a profit of 4 million this year."

Lin Zhichao immediately climbed up the pole and said, "In that case, I would like to borrow another one-year debt of HK$1.5 million."

Cheung Kong has successively paid off debts of RMB 400,000 and RMB 500,000, and currently still owes Bank of East Asia RMB 1.5 million (excluding interest); and based on its asset value, profits and other comprehensive strengths, it is reasonable to borrow another RMB 1.5 million.

Jian Dongpu frowned, because he knew that Changjiang Industrial was no longer short of money, so what was the purpose of this loan?

"What's the purpose?"

"Exchange dollars"

Jian Dongpu felt that Lin Zhichao was crazy. He borrowed such a large sum of money to bet on the depreciation of the pound. The interest for one year was 210,000 Hong Kong dollars.

However, this transaction can be done.

“The U.S. dollars must be deposited in our bank!”

In this way, BEA at least mitigates its risk.

"No problem, we need to release the loan as soon as possible!"

"Okay, we'll release the loan in the next two days!"

In this transaction, the loser is the financial institution that talks to the US dollar. Of course, no one knew that the pound would fall, and only a few people in London knew about it.

Soon, Lin Zhichao felt a little blushing because of his gambling. If the pound did not depreciate, he would lose more than 3% of the handling fees, plus interest.

However, he did remember that before the Hong Kong dollar was pegged to the US dollar, the pound experienced two major depreciations, one by 30% and one by about 14%. Once in the 1940s after World War II, and once in 67 years.

After getting the loan, Lin Zhichao must have immediately arranged to exchange it for U.S. dollars. There are a lot of U.S. dollars circulating in Hong Kong, many of which were brought from the Shanghai stock market. For example, people like Du Yuesheng brought hundreds of thousands of U.S. dollars, and Hong Kong also had a large amount of U.S. dollars circulating.

Fuhe Bank concluded the Hong Kong-Weihaiwei-Japan trade. After the settlement was completed, Li Gaofu and his family hosted a grand banquet for Lin Zhichao's family. The two families had dinner at the Hong Kong Hotel (Pedter Street, Central).

The big hotel in Kowloon is called the Peninsula Hotel, and the big hotel in Hong Kong Island is called the Hong Kong Hotel.

The first owner of the 'Hong Kong Hotel' was Chinese Zhao Jiuyan. It was originally located near the sea and opened in 1868. The six-story building was always the tallest building at that time. It went through many owners one after another, such as Zhao Lianbi, the governor of the Republic of China, Du Yuesheng, the Shanghai tycoon, and Hongxing Hongfu. The final ownership rights returned to the management rights, the Kadoorie family.

The 'Hong Kong Grand Hotel' suffered a fire in the 1920s, so the Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon took its place, and the original site of the 'Hong Kong Grand Hotel' was divided into two. Half of it was sold to Land and the Gloucester Building was built; the other half was built as a five-storey tenement building called the Hong Kong Hotel.

As for the current quaint Hong Kong Hotel, in its previous life it was sold to the Xu Aizhou family in the late 1950s and was newly built into the "China Construction Building", which is also known as the "Doctor's Building".

In the private room, the two families sat together and laughed, and now Li Gaofu could barely be on an equal footing with Lin Zhichao; if Li Gaofu had only been a part-time worker all his life, Lin Zhichao would have been alienated from him because of the mismatch in status.

The circle is like this, just like the airship Tai in his previous life transported goods and met a group of brothers in the past three years. At that time, they were close friends; but later, airship Tai went into real estate and became very popular, and troubles followed. These The brothers asked for guidance one after another (there were many people asking for guidance, not just brothers like this); Tai knew that once they entered into business together, they would be in constant trouble, so they would rather give them some money; later, those brothers would naturally If you curse someone behind their back, the relationship will fade away.

It is impossible to communicate with people of different social status.

For example, Lin Zhichao's current uncle can only arrange for his family to work in Cheung Kong Industries, with a monthly salary of 150 yuan (with a certain level of education), and then provide management treatment - living in a tin house.

It’s not that Lin Zhichao refused to support him, but that he hadn’t let Lin Zhichao see the value yet. For example, he said to Lin Zhichao that day, ‘I want to do some business, can you lend me some money? '

Yes, of course you can, but those who should establish written evidence still have to establish it. If you lose, I can only guarantee that your family will not starve to death.

However, no matter how poor you are, your education, children, and tuition fees for your cousins ​​are all provided by Lin Zhichao; and there are only so many children who can study in this era.

This is a very real problem!

He couldn't let his uncle's family spend his money to enjoy themselves, so he could only provide appropriate support.

Li Gaofu is different. Although his relatives are not very close, he was kind enough to take him in at the beginning. Later, Li Gaofu made great achievements in promoting zippers in Japan, allowing Lin Zhichao to see his shining point. It happened that there was a business to make money, but Lin Zhichao was inconvenient and wanted to take risks, so he lent him 100,000 yuan and gave him some advice.

If he loses money, Li Gaofu will have to work for him for at least 20 years.

"Li Fubing and Yang Zhiqiang withdrew their shares from Fuhe Bank. Huang Tinggui and I each bought 12.5% ​​of their shares." Li Gaofu said.

Lin Zhichao immediately said: "Everyone has his own choice. Many people can share adversity, but they cannot share wealth."

He understood some of the reasons, but didn't take them to heart.

Li Gaofu nodded and said: "It's okay to leave. The two of them are always lagging behind and lack of courage. Recently we plan to enter new trade and do business with the mainland! I think that New China's heavy industry will have the Soviet Union, and its light industry will definitely come from Hong Kong. For example, food, machinery, tires, chemicals and raw materials, and the mainland also has duck feathers, dry goods, bean cakes, livestock feed, etc. If these trades are opened up, I don’t say how much you can make, but you will definitely make a small profit."

He talked about the plan confidently, but in fact he wanted to seek advice from Lin Zhichao.

Lin Zhichao didn't know so much, but he also gave some pointers: "The trade you mentioned has a premise, that is, after the establishment of G, when the national economy is rebuilt, these trades will be available. For now, there is no JF in Guangdong Province, so Everything is unknown. Even when doing these trades in the future, you must pay attention to changes in the environment; and be sure not to sell fake goods, as catching them may harm the people in your hometown."

Li Gaofu nodded seriously. He couldn't digest everything at once, but he remembered every word.

During the dinner, Lin Zhichao heard that Chen Shufang was pregnant again and expressed his congratulations: "Getting rich is good! When you lived in Sheung Wan, you were thinking about Brother Gao Fu getting rich. Now your dream has come true. Do you have any other dreams? "

Chen Shufang could not hold her head up in front of Lin Zhichao, and she felt guilty that she almost missed this God of Wealth. Thinking about it now, if Lin Zhichao had been thin-skinned at that time, her husband would probably have been a clerk for the rest of his life. Therefore, Chen Shufang often suspected that everything was a dream and would be awakened by nightmares, and then she would get up and look for the land deed before settling down.

"There are no dreams now. I am very satisfied with my current life. If I have any, I just hope that I will be happy and safe."

Lin Zhichao laughed 'haha' and said: "He is the boss now, and he doesn't want to run a ship himself, nor does he go to the mainland for trade, so where is the danger?"

Li Gaofu also said angrily: "It's such a waste of worry!"

The family status is clearly visible! Looking at this, it is possible that Li Gaofu might have taken a concubine.

After all, in Hong Kong in this era, there are too many wives. Some open small restaurants or factories and have multiple wives.

Finally, Li Gaofu took out another gold gift, but Lin Zhichao firmly rejected it.

"If you can give it to me, your heart has been received; when I helped you, I never thought about asking you to repay it. Take it back!"

Seeing Lin Zhichao's resolute attitude, Li Gaofu could only take out one of the gifts and said, "This is for Rui Huan. It is also a pair made of gold."

Lin Zhichao just accepted it. Anyway, he would return this gift in the future.

In fact, Li Gaofu can be regarded as being 'trapped' by Lin Zhichao. In the middle of next year, if they want to buy 50% of the shares of the ship, they will need to pay Lin Zhichao US$100,000.

At that time, US$100,000 was almost HK$520,000.

It can be said that it takes almost a share of the annual profits of the 'Oriental Traders', plus the current funds of Fuhe Bank, to make up for it.

Lin Zhichao has no intention of sympathizing with them!

This can be considered an exercise!

Of course, in their hearts, it is impossible to think that Lin Zhichao is cheating them. After all, Lin Zhichao is not a god, so the pound is devalued.

And because what Lin Zhi exceeded was US dollars, he naturally had to get the US dollars back, otherwise he would have lost money.

If Fu Hexing can make some money in the next trade, he will not be considered poor.

By the time of the Peninsular War, they only had one ship in hand, and they had opened up trade channels with the mainland, which facilitated smuggling. You must know in which era almost everyone in Hong Kong was smuggling.

Lin Zhichao was 'forcing' them to take that path.