Moscow, Kremlin.

"Mikhail is a shameful traitor!" Berezovsky, the richest man in the Rakshasa and the ninth richest man in the world, and the red godfather of the Kremlin, said with a flushed face and a vicious wave of his arms.

"The first priority is to find him as soon as possible and find out what he wants to do. A drop of sweat trickled down Gusinsky's fat cheek, he had never thought the heating inside the Kremlin would be so hot.

The president of the International Commercial Bank, Villagonodov, is the youngest among them, only in his early forties, and his usual arrogant expression has been replaced by panic and impatience at this moment: "Everyone! I must remind you! The International Commercial Bank has $1.5 billion in short-term debt to repay this month, and if you do not want to be collected by the Rothschild Bank, you must immediately repay the loan that should be repaid this month!"

"You bastard!" said Morensky, president of the Capital Savings Bank, furious.

Yeltsin's eyes and nose were very red, not angry, but just after a big drink, watching several oligarchs arguing in his office, trying to stop it, but the alcohol was rising, and he couldn't help but yawn a lot.

Potanin, one of the invisible oligarchs, the owner of the United Export-Import Bank that designed the loan-for-share swap and the first deputy prime minister, who had just stepped down a few months from office, glanced at Chubais, a grim-faced oligarch whose relationship with Chubais and Berezovsky, a close-knit group that firmly controlled the core of the Kremlin.

Chubais was the first deputy prime minister of the Rakshasa two years ago, and later, because of his bad reputation, he let his follower Potanin take over the position.

Potanin, like Chubais, was the object of hatred of ordinary Rakshasas, and after a year as deputy prime minister, he was forced to step down under the pressure of public opinion. After that, Chubais personally went into battle and served as first deputy prime minister and finance minister. Arguably, he is now the most powerful man in this house.

Even if Yeltsin was sitting in the very center of this room.

"If you want to be here in the future, keep your mouths shut. As soon as Chubais spoke, the scene immediately fell silent.

"Dear Anatoly Chubais, Moscow International Commercial Bank also has your shares. Villagnodov looked at Chubais pitifully and pleaded, "You must help me, if the international commercial bank does not pay on time next month, it will definitely cause a chain reaction, and you don't want to see this happen, do you?"

Chubais frowned in disgust when he heard this, and of course he could hear the threat implied in Villagnodov's mouth.

More like a university professor than a government official or a financial oligarch. As a matter of fact, Chubais still has a teaching position at St. Petersburg State Engineering University. Many of his students have also become powerful figures or rising stars in various economic sectors of the Rakshasa under him.

"We are now faced with two choices, foreign exchange protection or debt protection. Chubais looked around coldly, "All of you here, you are all sinners, it is because of your greed that our country is in such a predicament, and you need to bear the greatest responsibility and pay the price." ”

The five oligarchs, except for Potanin and Berezovsky, are really crazy, why didn't you say that when you took the money, and now you are running here to pretend to be righteous.

"We can't afford not to give up on the bond market. Morensky was the first to say, "If the government gives up its support for the bond market, it will also not solve the pressure on the foreign exchange market, but will lose trust with the world, and the capital outflow will be more serious, bringing greater pressure to the exchange rate." ”

Chubais glanced at Morensky with a blank face, these oligarchs certainly do not want the government to abandon the bond market, and if the bond market falls sharply, these financial oligarchs will lose at least half of their net worth.

Friedman, the president of Alfa-Bank, who had not spoken, said: "I don't think the two are contradictory, and the top priority is to enlarge the limit range of the foreign exchange corridor and ease the pressure on reserves, and if it continues at the current exchange rate, we will all be finished." Moreover, the government must reduce the deficit, dear Anatoly, there is a big problem with our statistical department, why is there such a big gap between the financial data information we get and the real information?"

Friedman, the youngest and least qualified oligarch in the group, is not part of the core team and, like Khodorkovsky, has no access to real financial data.

Since Alfa-Bank is not too involved with Western capital at present, it is not deeply involved, and the expected losses in this crisis are not very serious.

Of course, it is not serious and it is only relative, and Alpha is expected to lose at least $200 million this time. Even if Friedman didn't want to offend Chubais, he couldn't help but dissed in front of him.

A month earlier, the Rakshasa government under Chubais had just announced a 1998-2000 "foreign exchange corridor" policy, with the ruble set at 6.2 against the dollar, fluctuating no more than 15 percent. If the Rakshasa economy can still stabilize at more than 6.5% economic growth, and there is no malicious attack by international speculators, stabilizing this exchange rate is not a problem.

But now, Khodorkovsky's unexpected backlash has revealed the true information of the Rakshasa financial crisis, causing market confidence to plummet, and it can be expected that after the opening of the market early tomorrow morning, the stock market, the foreign exchange market, and the bond market will inevitably collapse together.

Under the nest, there are no eggs, these oligarchs have worked hard for decades, and of course they are not willing to return to the pre-liberation period at one time.

If the exchange rate is not maintained, the exchange rate soars, and their debt service costs increase, which is undoubtedly a dead end.

If the exchange rate is maintained and the bond market is not guaranteed, the banks they control will also be unable to repay their debts, and bankruptcy is also a foregone conclusion.

This kind of quarrel, of course, will not be fruitful for a while, and just as everyone was panting, Yeltsin was heard yawning again.

"It's late, let's go back first, I'm going to rest too. As he spoke, Yeltsin stretched, "Everyone should think about it when you go back, and I believe that you will be able to solve this problem." Vladimir, the wine you gave me yesterday was really good, come, come to my room, we are having two drinks. ”

With that, Yeltsin tightened his nightgown, shook hands with several people, and left the president's office with a smile on a medium-sized man who had been following him.

A kind of oligarch looks at each other, and this is the president of this country? Doesn't he know how serious the situation is in the Rakshasa right now?

Yeltsin had just walked into the palatial but somewhat eerie corridors of the Kremlin, and the casualness on his face had vanished.

"Valodya, what do you think?" Yeltsin asked the man of medium stature with a calm face.

The man said respectfully: "Dear Boris, I am just a clerk, I am not good at these financial things, and it is irresponsible to talk nonsense. ”

Yeltsin said impatiently: "Vladimir Pradimirovich Putin, you are the first deputy head of my office, you only need to be responsible for me, I want to hear your opinion." ”

This man who has been following Yeltsin and has no sense of existence is none other than Putin, the second and fourth presidents of the Rakshasa and the most powerful actual controller of the Rakshasa after Khrushchev.