(PS: Due to the duplication of chapters 586 and 587 before, the editor has been contacted to delete chapter 587.) In order to compensate for the big ones who have subscribed, I deliberately posted the previous chapter 597 in the form of a free chapter on the work. So you can go to the work to read chapter 597 first, otherwise it may feel that the plot is incoherent!)

The main reason why the Beijing-Beijing side imposed a strict limit on the annual land sales area of the British government in Hong Kong in the annex to the "Joint Declaration" was to prevent the British from breaking the jar at the last moment and frantically rubbing oil from Hong Kong.

But if it is really a plan that is conducive to Hong Kong's long-term development, the mainland will definitely be willing to accept it, after all, as a successor, it needs to maintain Hong Kong's prosperity to stabilize people's hearts!

"Uncle Cheng, when the Tin Shui Wai Electronic Industrial Park was established, I once proposed to the relevant leaders of the mainland central government that I hoped that the land required for the industrial park would be treated as a special case in addition to the annual land sales target of 50 hectares! At that time, the Beijing-Beijing side did not directly oppose it, but because I was eager to promote the development of the Tin Shui Wai Industrial Park at the beginning, and the Hong Kong government's attitude towards this proposal was not very positive, so in the end there was no extraneous branch!

As a matter of fact, the main concern of the mainland side for imposing strict restrictions on the annual land sales quota is that the central leaders in Beijing do not believe that the British will use the funds raised from the land sales in Hong Kong!

The wrestling over the Hong Kong issue has always been a wrestling between the Chinese and British governments, but what really involves vital interests is that the six million Hong Kong citizens seem to be on the sidelines! I think this is very detrimental to Hong Kong's long-term prosperity and stability in the future!

For example, when the target of 50 hectares of land was set for land sales per year, the Hong Kong real estate sector, which has the clearest understanding of the trend of land supply and demand in Hong Kong, was obviously not consulted during the negotiations. If Hong Kong's real estate community had had had a chance to speak out, the current land shortage would probably not have happened!

My view has always been that there should be a voice representing the will of the people of Hong Kong to come out and shout! The British are about to leave, and they have no obligation to be responsible for Hong Kong's future; and the mainland government has not yet begun to take over, and it is even more unfamiliar with the actual situation in Hong Kong! At such a time, Hong Kong needs some people of insight to stand up and take responsibility, and the most qualified to shoulder this heavy responsibility is undoubtedly the elite class in Hong Kong!

If you can unite with the real estate sector in Hong Kong and come up with a good reason to formulate a comprehensive plan, I believe it is entirely possible to persuade Beijing to relax the restrictions on land sales! If the mainland side is worried that the income from land sales will be abused, then we will plan the use of these extra income in advance.

For example, it is a good choice to build low-rent public housing, and there is no reason for both China and Britain to resolutely oppose this kind of project that will win the hearts and minds of the people! In particular, Beijing, as its successor in the near future, needs to win over the hearts and minds of the people to ensure the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong after its return!" Li Xuan smiled and gave a solution.

Li Jiacheng frowned, don't look at what Li Xuan said very easily, but in his opinion, the problem of selling land is actually a problem that affects the whole body. This is because the revenue from land sales is the backbone of the British government's revenue, and fiscal power is the basis for the Hong Kong government to maintain Hong Kong's rule. The mainland is trying to put a tight spell on the Hong Kong government's fiscal revenue by limiting the number of land sales, so as to limit the energy that the British government can exert during the transition period!

For example, in the case of the Rose Garden project, the Hong Kong government found it difficult to support the huge investment in the new airport with its existing fiscal revenues. And if there is no limit on the number of land to be sold, then His Excellency the Governor of Hong Kong can have a land auction, so as to use the budget before '97 to support the entire rose garden project, without being constrained by Beijing because the project may cross '97!

Therefore, the premise for the mainland side to agree to make concessions on land targets is that the Hong Kong Government must not increase its financial strength, and it must find a use for this part of the unplanned money so that the central government in the mainland can approve of it! This is actually tantamount to depriving the Hong Kong Government of part of its financial independence in disguise, and it is also a big concession for the British side!

Li Ka-shing does not feel that by uniting with Hong Kong's real estate community, he can easily make concessions between China and the UK on their core interests. The only person in Hong Kong who is really capable of achieving this goal is Li Xuan, the underground czar! Yes, more and more people in Hong Kong are beginning to believe that Li Xuan and the Oriental Group have replaced HSBC as the new underground czar in Hong Kong.

HSBC has the reputation of "Hong Kong's underground czar" because it has dominated Hong Kong's financial industry for a long time. As the 97th day approaches, HSBC is investing aggressively overseas, while weakening its position as Hong Kong's shadow central bank.

This gave Hong Kong's Standard Chartered Bank and Jiahua Bank an opportunity, and Li Xuan began to expand his influence in Hong Kong's financial sector as HSBC gradually shrank its business in Hong Kong and even moved its headquarters to London. After the latest round of rapid expansion, the overall strength of Standard Chartered and Jiahua Bank in Hong Kong has been able to compete with HSBC and its Hang Seng Bank.

And unlike HSBC, which only focuses on the financial industry, Li Xuan's impact on Hong Kong can be described as all-encompassing. For example, in addition to constantly infiltrating the financial industry, the lifeblood of Hong Kong's economy, Li Xuan's control over Hong Kong's public opinion is also very terrifying! It is precisely through the three periodicals of the ATV Group, ATV, Ming Pao, Hong Kong Economic Journal, and Tian Tian Ribao that Li Xuan and the Oriental Group can constantly guide the tide of public opinion in Hong Kong and swim on the tightrope of wrestling between China and Britain under the pretext of representing the will of the people of Hong Kong!

Just like this land target, only Li Xuan can quietly mobilize public opinion in Hong Kong to force China and Britain to make concessions at the same time. Li Jiacheng has reason to believe that the Eastern Group has already designed the entire plan, and Zhong Siyuan's previous statement on ATV is likely to be the beginning of the whole operation.

The reason why Li Xuan opened his mouth to say this proposal to him should be in the hope that the Hong Kong real estate industry can become a key chess piece to cooperate with his entire plan. As for the so-called self-emergence to unite the entire Hong Kong real estate industry, in Li Ka-shing's view, it is just a fancy that Cheung Kong Group has become the largest Chinese-funded real estate group in Hong Kong!

Thinking of this, Li Jiacheng's wrinkles between his eyebrows undoubtedly deepened, and his mind began to quickly consider the pros and cons of this matter for himself and Cheung Kong Company. Don't look at the fact that the Oriental Group is not involved in Hong Kong's real estate industry, but in fact, Li Xuan's influence on Hong Kong's real estate industry should not be underestimated.

In the previous battle to snatch the land company from the Jardine Matheson Group, on the surface, the Oriental Group was a living Lei Feng, contributing the most and gaining the least. But in fact, many of the implicit benefits are not clear from the surface. Prior to this, Hong Kong's Standard Chartered and Jiahua Bank were able to rise rapidly because of the huge influence of the Eastern Group on the emerging Hong Kong electronics industry.

But in fact, it has always been Hong Kong's real estate industry that has been most closely related to Hong Kong's banking industry. The land price in Hong Kong is extremely high, and the development cost of a real estate or an office building is often hundreds of millions, and it is impossible for real estate companies to use their own funds to operate, and bank credit is the basis for supporting the development of Hong Kong's real estate industry. Therefore, after the collapse of Hong Kong's real estate industry in '82, the banking industry was the first to be affected. The direct cause of the crisis of many banks is the bad debts of the huge amount of credit invested in the real estate industry.

Since Li Xuan never thought of entering the real estate industry from the beginning, the relationship between the Oriental Group and the Hong Kong real estate industry was somewhat alienated, which actually hindered the development of Hong Kong Standard Chartered and Jiahua Bank to a certain extent. After the acquisition of Hongkong Land, the entire Hong Kong real estate circle was shaken.

Not to mention the Huo family, the Xu family, the Guo family, and the Lin family, who participated in the operation together, immediately became solid allies of the Eastern Bloc. In the subsequent reduction of Li Xuan's large number of shares, several other companies traded with almost the entire Hong Kong real estate circle in order to raise funds to digest these shares released by Li Xuan.

The Hong Kong real estate circle is really not big, and everyone looks up and doesn't see it down. A moment ago, they were fighting to the death for the bid for plot A, and when they turned around, they might form a joint consortium because of plot B. Although the acquisition of Hongkong Land led by Li Xuan did not allow Oriental Group to transform into the real estate industry, it also allowed Oriental Group to deepen its relationship with Hong Kong's real estate circle. Among them, the biggest beneficiary is naturally Hong Kong Standard Chartered and Jiahua Bank, you must know that since 84 years later, Hong Kong's real estate industry has once again entered a new round of business cycle.

Of course, the influence of the Oriental Group on Hong Kong's real estate circle is not only in the control of credit financing, in fact, the strong purchasing power of the Oriental Group and its direct and indirect related parties affects almost every aspect of Hong Kong.

In the case of the real estate industry in the area around Sha Tin, because the Hong Kong Research Centre of the Institute of Oriental Studies is located next door to the University of Hong Kong's Chinese University, thousands of engineers with an average annual salary of more than HK$200,000 have targeted the surrounding areas of Sha Tin, which are closer to work, rather than the city centres of Kowloon and Hong Kong Island. This has directly led to the sharp rise in housing prices in Sha Tin area year after year, which is almost on par with the housing prices in the urban area!

As a result of the political turmoil in the mainland last year, Hong Kong experienced the most serious crisis of confidence in 84 years, and the average housing prices in Hong Kong fell by nearly 30% in a few months. A sea-view property in Ma On Shan, across the sea from CUHK, was forced to sell at a low price due to a cash flow crisis among developers. However, in the context of the sharp decline in the property market in Hong Kong, there are very few home buyers.

As a result, the engineers of the Oriental Research Institute, who were not short of money, organized a group to eat two 25-story buildings with a total of 150 sea-view houses within a week. You must know that all of this sea view properties are large units over 1,000 square feet, and the average price per square foot is 1,200 Hong Kong dollars even after discounting.

The Oriental Research Institute, which was subsequently sold, directly used 330 million Hong Kong dollars in cash to acquire the remaining four residential buildings with a total of 300 units to serve as new dormitories for some employees. The name of the entire building was also directly changed to Oriental House. The original bankrupt real estate developer was relieved of the crisis in a blink of an eye, and although he did not make money, he at least escaped!

It can be said that even if Li Jiacheng and the Cheung Kong Group do not get ahead, Li Xuan himself is also capable of organizing Hong Kong's real estate industry for his use! In fact, with Li Jiacheng's usual management style, he prefers to make a fortune quietly, rather than play the role of such a leader.

But now he has to think that if he chooses to watch the play on the sidelines, if Li Xuan's plan succeeds, then Cheung Kong is likely to be excluded from the game circle of a new round of changes in Hong Kong's real estate industry! )