Chapter 393

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Protagonist:

Chen Yi

"Zhu Guangliang, help me check how many people from Jiangnan Shipyard went to the Hong Kong and Macau region." Chen Yi called Zhu Guangliang; they are among the few institutions with the authority to stop it.

Chen Congyu asked in confusion, "Who wants to bring down the shipyard?"

"Quite a few people." Chen Yi felt a bad premonition rise. If Ming An Tu discovered the safe on the ship was stolen, the mastermind behind the scenes would likely act early. It had been four or five hours since dinner; in that long a time, anything could happen.

Chen Congyu looked his son up and down and said, "Don't lightly mobilize state machinery; pay attention to phone security too."

What he cared about obviously wasn't the shipyard or such matters. Chen Congyu already had enough work; for a shipyard not within his jurisdiction, he genuinely had no interest in interfering. To put it another way, if a municipal shipyard would die from lack of attention, it would die sooner or later anyway.

Chen Yi "mm-hmm"ed twice, raising his phone: "I got it from someone else; it's been checked, it's secure."

"Good. Have you all eaten? Have some more pastries; I've eaten three meals tonight and still haven't eaten my fill."

"Drink some tea to sober up first." Fang Man Yi reproachfully brought him a cup of green tea, and said to Yin Senyong, "You'll stay at home tonight; I've already had the housekeeper tidy the room."

A Family Knight staying with the family is perfectly normal; Yin Senyong nodded without hesitation, lightly touching his right fist to his left shoulder, and said in a resonant voice, "As you wish."

"No need for formalities, no need for formalities." Fang Man Yi smiled beamingly and set pastries before him; who wouldn't like such a respectful knight?

Chen Yi leaned toward the pastries, preparing to eat a late-night snack, but Fang Man Yi slapped his hand away: "You're going to sleep; no eating allowed."

"I'm waiting for a call." Chen Yi put his phone on the table.

Chen Congyu glanced over, also took out his phone and put it on the table: "Big Brother said he'd call tonight; waiting for a call."

Chen Heng blinked, silently stood up, pulled out an Inmarsat satellite phone from his rucksack — heavy as a brick — and slammed it on the tabletop: "Those on 24-hour standby are all special forces; I'm waiting for a call too."

Little sister Chen Rongxi looked aggrieved at Mom; she wanted to eat pastries, but she obviously couldn't wait for a call...

Early morning.

Chen Yi had just fallen asleep when the annoying phone ringtone sounded.

He rolled over and pressed answer, hearing Zhu Guangliang hurriedly say, "We found two people: Jiangnan Shipyard's Factory Director Cang Xiang flew to Hong Kong this afternoon, and also Jiangnan Shipyard's Finance Manager Liu Tai; they've already booked tickets to Australia and Thailand respectively, and will board in at most an hour."

"Any news of fund transfers?"

"Too late; checking accounts still takes a day." Zhu Guangliang's department doesn't have full economic investigation capability; even with concentrated resources, the speed is agonizingly slow.

Roughly catching the drift of Chen Yi's words, Zhu Guangliang checked his watch and asked, "Should we intercept them first? I have a friend in the Hong Kong police who can help right now."

If this were handled strictly by the book there'd be no such treatment; it's only because Zhu Guangliang is a die-hard Chen Clan member that he'd use his personal connections.

"Don't rush to arrest them yet." The information matched up, and Chen Yi felt less worried instead. He asked another question: "Can you confirm whether they've signed a contract on behalf of Jiangnan Shipyard with some company?"

"Hold on." The receiver was muffled for a moment; Zhu Guangliang promptly replied, "Confirmed they have not."

Chen Yi mused: In that case, he had misjudged Mitsubishi Group's strategy. They weren't using Qiao Shan's connections to sign a contract — that route would require SASAC review and wasn't easy, with many joints to grease — they wanted to help these two abscond with Jiangnan Shipyard's cash. With Party Committee Secretary Qiao Shan and Factory Director Cang Xiang colluding, plus Japanese and Mingde Group assistance, it would presumably be much simpler.

For a capital-intensive enterprise, a cash shortage would certainly plunge it into distress; the question now is how much they'd have to siphon off to push a hundred-billion-yuan group into distress.

However, the more they siphon, the easier it is to expose; Cang Xiang doesn't have much time to raise money, especially with a sudden flight — it might have interrupted their money-getting steps. In recent years, the most fugitive corrupt officials siphoned off was 400 million USD; only a tiny few exceeded 500 million RMB — whichever figure you pick, it's hard to make Jiangnan Shipyard collapse irretrievably.

Unless...

They have no other way to get money.

Chen Yi suddenly thought of the shipyard fire a few days ago.

For a shipyard with assets of tens of billions, losing a few 10,000-ton cargo ships under construction is nothing; the problem is, before the shipyard fire issue is resolved, they'll likely find it hard to get new bank loans. Insurance payouts will be recalculated, and even higher-ups will have reason to refuse aid to this accident-prone shipyard — whatever its previous reputation was.

In recent years, there have been quite a few large state-owned enterprises that announced layoffs and shutdowns. In this way, a chain reaction might even occur.

A sarcastic smile tugged at the corner of Chen Yi's mouth: "If Jiangnan Shipyard really falls into distress over money and its credibility takes a hit, then Mitsubishi's reputation and capital injection will be the best bargaining chip."

To take, you must first give.

Swapping bonds for equity is the cheapest acquisition method.

At the start they might not need 51% equity, but if they can turn profit into loss, who knows when they'll flip the script and become the landlord.

Chen Yi believes in the Iwasaki Family's patience; waiting three to five years is truly no big deal for them.

"Zhu Guangliang, don't move on Cang Xiang and that finance manager for now; if convenient, surveil and tail them."

"Okay." Though puzzled, Zhu Guangliang didn't ask further.

After hanging up, Chen Yi didn't sleep; instead he rolled over, opened his personal computer, and began checking his private assets. If Jiangnan Shipyard really seeks capital injection and Mitsubishi gets its way, there's no reason Chinese enterprises or individuals couldn't inject capital.

Modern rich people who can produce cash are few. Countless self-made businessmen, by the time they die, are still in a situation of liabilities exceeding assets yet growing ever larger.

Chen Yi is different; he has two golden-egg-laying hens, plus precious metals occasionally brought from the West Continent to supplement cash flow, so the bulk of his total assets is cash — Chen Group still only manages it on behalf, counting as the Chen Family's joint property.

The reason Japanese conglomerates are powerful is mainly that they each have their own financial banks, able to surround themselves with ample cash to execute all kinds of plans, thereby having the patience to wait for snow, wait for the snowball to roll.

And Jiangnan Shipyard is about to face bleeding.

Checking the time, it was already 1:30 AM.

Chen Yi picked up his phone, hesitated only a moment, and still called Fang Zhong, waking him from a dream.

"Who is it?" Fang Zhong's tone wasn't quite normal. Night calls usually aren't good news.

"It's Chen Yi. Something's come up; had no choice but to call you." Chen Yi's voice was steady, with a calming effect — a skill honed through practice.

Fang Zhong hurriedly sat up straight, gently pressed down on his wife in bed, and said respectfully, "I'm awake; go ahead."

"I need you to immediately draw up an investment plan to inject capital into Jiangnan Shipyard."

"Jiangnan..."

"Hush!" Chen Yi cut off his repetition: "You just need to know this; there may be news tomorrow. What you need to do now is complete all preparations before things happen."

"Okay. How much capital?"

"I currently have over 30 billion USD in cash, but probably won't need it. You draw up the plan first."

Fang Zhong was startled, and hurriedly agreed.

Even after hanging up the phone, his little heart was still thumping away.

Three billion US dollars — to an investment manager, that's simply a tycoon as vast as the sea. As far as Fang Zhong knew, in China it seemed only state-owned enterprises could produce three billion dollars in cash. For a country that had only been reforming and opening up for twenty or thirty years, the primitive accumulation stage of capital was far from over.

"Three billion dollars, heh!" Fang Zhong let out a breath in exclamation.

His wife, fifteen years younger than Fang Zhong, was still at the age for dozing; she rolled over and mumbled, "What are you shouting about?"

"Shouting about money?"

Her eyes snapped open: "You have money to buy jewelry?"

"You go back to sleep." Fang Zhong depressedly pushed her back onto the bed and went to the study to busy himself.

Completing a capital injection is a simple matter for the boss — negotiate, sign, hold a press conference. But as for the actual work, it's complicated to a mess.

Not to mention all kinds of legal issues; just the banks, finance, accounting, and debts related to the money give one a headache. China had not yet entered the era of mergers and reorganizations; therefore many bosses, under conditions of insufficient manpower, even if they spotted a merger target, wouldn't act, fearing they'd get burned into a pancake. But to think that because of this, talent who understand mergers is valuable — that's another kind of misunderstanding. At Chen Group, Fang Zhong had nothing to do; China was covered in gold, and those who could seize merger targets mostly had good government connections. In this process of upper-and-lower-level gaming, talent's advantage was even smaller than a speck of oil.

Of course, there was ultimately still a speck of oil.

While fantasizing about a wonderful future life, Fang Zhong made calls to summon his trusted subordinates and had them come to his home to report.

Mergers are work that requires confidentiality, especially the current kind — one slip and it might be investigated by all sorts of institutions.

And from a personal mood standpoint, Fang Zhong felt that since he was getting up in the middle of the night to work, he should let his subordinates taste the joy of rushing through the night and working too.

Life lies in exercise; a company staff member still exercising at night can both do the job well and handle colleagues well.

6:00 AM.

Fang Zhong turned on the TV news and saw no reports. This instead made him more relieved.

If he could fight for one more day, preparations would be even more fully adequate.

9:00 AM.

Fang Zhong called Chen Yi: "We've done the preliminary preparations..."

"Understood."

After Chen Yi ended the call, he notified Zhu Guangliang: "Use your most normal procedures to report the matter of Cang Xiang and Liu Tai upward. Roughly how long for feedback?"

"Within 48 hours." Zhu Guangliang dared not speak too absolutely. Ever since Chen Yi helped him secure the appointment of acting bureau chief, he didn't even dare secretly step on little people anymore.

"Then that's it." Chen Yi turned and called Fang Zhong: "Final 24 hours."

The shipyard's Party Committee Secretary Qiao Shan had not fled abroad; he would certainly try his best to suppress this matter, thereby giving the gentlemen whose rhythm was disrupted a week or even longer to adjust.

But Chen Yi was not prepared to give them that long.

... (Unfinished. If you like this work, welcome to Qidian (qidian. com) to cast recommendation tickets and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)