……

The years are ruthless - in the past few years, just cheap father-in-law and mother-in-law, Tang Huan has sent several people in linen and filial piety. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 info and the rare meeting with my grandparents shows more and more traces of time portrayed to them.

Fortunately, this sentimental emotion, in the blink of an eye, was dispelled by the vitality of the little cousin Meng Jing.

Grandma touched Meng Jing's hair dotingly, and asked with a smile, "The eldest girl in our family, are you talking about a boyfriend?"

Meng Jing pursed her lips, "Grandma, I came back this time, I don't want to hear anything boring about blind dates." ”

"Stinky girl, how can you speak. Aunt Han Anlin patted her daughter dissatisfied.

Meng Qingguan said with some headedness: "You, just with this arrogant energy, it is estimated that it will be a big problem." ”

"Uncle, you're wrong. Han Siwei, the little cousin who was sitting on the edge with his waist straight, joked: "Many friends around me are inquiring about my sister's situation." ”

"You're all staring at me. Meng Jing complained: "It is estimated that Sining just guessed that you were going to be verbose, so he used what paper as an excuse and refused to come back together." ”

Tang Huan interjected to help his little cousin relieve the siege and said, "Siwei, your fine skin and tender meat, can you stand it when you go to the military academy?"

Han Siwei replied heartlessly: "If you don't go, you have to go, otherwise my father will beat me." ”

The eldest aunt said angrily: "You still have the face to say, if you are not so naughty and study hard, then you will study abroad like your sister and your brother." ”

Han Siwei didn't tell the difference, and smirked.

Grandpa coughed lightly, "It's not bad if you don't go to military school, so don't hold on to it." ”

Tang Huan put down his chopsticks and continued: "Siwei, when I finish entertaining for a while, my brother will invite you to drink." ”

"Brother, then you have to hurry. Han Siwei said with a blank eye: "Otherwise, when school starts, such a face-saving thing will not fall on my head." ”

Tang Huan was amused all of a sudden, and the image of the little kid with a runny nose appeared in front of him when he first stepped into this house more than ten years ago.

……

After the family was lively together for a while, they went their separate ways. Tang Huan and his grandfather, as well as his brother-in-law Meng Qingguan, entered the study.

Seeing Tang Huan's appearance of wanting to speak and stopping, Han Zhiliang smiled slightly, "At my age, I should be content to have my current health state." When you make the next trip, you'll find that some places may be closed. ”

Tang Huan nodded thoughtfully, "I'm over there, and I never talk about such issues, so as not to be seen by those who have a heart." This time, it is a regular greeting, and it does not matter whether you meet or not. ”

"And. Han Zhiliang continued to remind: "There should be some big changes in Yanjing, you should be careful to avoid it." At the same time, the so-called bad public relations problems of courtesy and exchange have also been reined in, so as not to pollute the environment. ”

Tang Huan smiled, "Grandpa, don't worry." My social interactions are all within the scope of the rules. ”

"Then I'll just believe it. Han Zhiliang waved his hand casually.

Meng Qingguan took over and said to Tang Huan: "After the failure of the Olympic bid the year before last, many infrastructure projects in Yanjing were stopped. The Oriental Plaza you participated in is also among them. My advice is to wait patiently for a while. ”

Tang Huan replied indifferently: "Then put it on hold for now, anyway, regardless of funds or time, I am quite rich." ”

Then some topics such as the purchase of decommissioned aircraft carriers from Russia began to make the atmosphere in the study serious.

……

The content of Tang Huan's official exchange with the top management naturally revolves around the economy.

U.S. exports to China increased from $3 billion in 1980 to $38 billion in 1994. Even the United States itself believes that China is one of the top 10 emerging markets with the greatest potential for U.S. merchandise exports in the future.

Therefore, it goes without saying that Tang Huan's company, like AT&T, General Motors, Boeing, and other enterprises, was attracted by China's huge market, and then became a supporter of strengthening Sino-US ties.

Compared with such regular official duties, Tang Huan came over this time, and the various non-governmental activities he was invited to participate in, especially the "circle", have also increased significantly.

As for the main topics discussed, the World Trade Organization, which was formally established on January 1 this year, and the China~US relations, which are politically cold and economically hot, are the hottest.

Regarding the negotiations on joining the World Trade Organization, Tang Huan only talked about "having skill and patience" in general terms, while on Sino~US relations, he specifically pointed out that for a long time, China and the United States have almost completely passed the traditional channel of diplomacy. to fight for their own interests, this is obviously far from enough, and even reflects a lack of understanding of the influence of the US Congress. China needs to further strengthen people-to-people exchanges between China and the United States, so that ordinary Americans can understand China now.

……

In this way, after attending various public and private events in Beijing, Tang Huan went south to inspect the projects he had invested in, and then returned to the United States after his trip to Asia.

At this time, the US stock market was already showing signs of a great bull market - in February, on the 23rd of last month, the Dow Jones Industrial Average came to 4,000 points.

In Tang Huan's view, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is like following its own original trajectory of time and space, and breaking through the 5,000-point mark in a historic way this year--the listing process of Zheru Software has really stepped on the right drumbeat.

However, at the time of the arrival of this big fortune market, a rather dramatic news also appeared in the public eye: the Bank of Baring, one of the oldest banks in the United Kingdom, announced its collapse on February 26.

You know, before that, the Bank of Bahrain had excellent performance, and the seniority was even more incomparable.

In its more than 200-year history, from its opening in 1762 to this year, the Bank of Bahrain has been involved in numerous significant events.

From 1798 to 1814, the Bank of Baring provided a guarantee for the British government~, so that the country had enough military funds to support the long war with France against Napoleon.

During this period, in 1803, the Bank of Baring provided financing to assist the U.S. government in purchasing Louisiana land from France, thus acquiring more than 22% of the land area of the United States today, doubling the size of the United States at that time - of course, this transaction indirectly financed Napoleon's military spending.

After the Battle of Waterloo, the Bank of Baring, believing that the future of Europe depended on a financially healthy French economy, decided to provide France with a loan of large reparations after consulting with the British diplomatic ambassador. At the WYN Conference of 1815, the representatives of Great Britain, France, Austria, Prussia, and Russia agreed that without the guarantee of the Bank of Bahrain, there would be no peace treaty with lasting effect.

In the late 1830s and 1840s, the European economy was in recession – in 1839, when the Bank of England was in financial crisis, the Bank of Baring helped prop up the central bank, and in 1847, the Bank of Baring, in the same situation, bailed out the Banque de France.

On the American side, the Bank of Bahrain was not idle, in addition to becoming the main correspondent bank of the federal government ~ and many state governments ~ at that time, and financing the development of the American railroad industry at that time, it also arranged financing to assist the United States in purchasing Texas from Mexico and Alaska from Russia.

It can be seen from this that the Bank of Bahrain has a lot of money!

However, as the saying goes, you can walk by the river without getting your shoes wet – the thriving Bank of Bahrain was in a serious financial crisis due to oversubscribing to the debts of Argentina and Uruguay, and it was not until the Bank of England led a consortium to bail it out.

Since then, the Bank of Bahrain has become more conservative and rigorous.

For example, it refused to provide financing to Germany after World War I, thus avoiding the huge losses suffered by other British banks in the Great Recession.

During World War II, the British government~government, through the Bank of Baring, auctioned off assets in the United States and elsewhere to meet military expenses.

It is not difficult to imagine that the Bank of Baring developed into a member of the British ruling circles – it was linked to King George V and developed a close relationship with the British royal family, which it maintains to this day.

For example, Queen Elizabeth II is a client of the Bank of Bahrain, five male ancestors of the Bahraini family are posthumously crowned nobles, and Diana, Princess of Wales, is the granddaughter of one of the Bahraini families.

In 1988, Queen Elizabeth II presented the Bank of Bahrain with the Outstanding Achievement Award in recognition of its contribution to the UK over the past 100 years.

Such an old bank that "if you don't do it, you won't die", but because of the excess trading of derivative financial products made by a trader named Nick Leeson in a branch far away in Singapore, the speculation failed, and he lost $1.4 billion, fell into the pit, and couldn't climb out.

The British Treasury and the Bank of England are not thinking about making a move to get the Bank of Bahrain, but they can't pull it.

When Zhuang Menghua talked about this matter, there was still a sense of incredulity in his tone, "Such a century-old bank, the degree of perfection of the operation mechanism can be imagined, but the regulatory system turned out to be a virtual reality, and it was hit into the abyss by the adventure of a small trader and the sudden Hanshin earthquake." ”

"It's hard to imagine. Tang Huan nodded sympathetically, "In this way, didn't the Bank of Bahrain announce its collapse, you go and ask what the price is, I want to collect it." ”

Zhuang Menghua asked hesitantly: "Is the resources of the Bank of Bahrain worth our help?"

"It's not certain yet. Tang Huan replied leisurely: "The Bank of Bahrain has never been listed on the London Stock Exchange, and the ownership of its assets is all in the hands of senior management and charitable foundations – just this is the opportunity to find out." I think the Bank of Bahrain is still very useful in terms of asset management. ”

Zhuang Menghua smiled knowingly, "This gap of $1.4 billion is really knowledgeable." ”

……

If in addition to a book of "The Road to the Future", it is a commemoration of Tang Huan's unconfused year, then the opening of the so-called world's first technology mansion, which has been hyped up, is the next gift.

The project, which is rumored to cost $200 million over a decade and is not far from Cupertino, one of Silicon Valley's core cities, is located in the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains.

It covers an area of several square kilometers, surrounded by vineyards, farms, pastures, etc., and the mansion in the conventional sense is embedded like a pearl.

This large piece of land, named "Chang'an City" by Tang Huan, fully shows the style of a big landlord who bought land everywhere in the United States and Canada.

Of course, the outside world is more accustomed to calling the 8,000-square-meter mansion "Chang'an City".

Generally speaking, Chang'an City embodies a combination of Chinese and Western architectural styles, with gardens on the periphery, bedrooms, guest rooms, banquet halls, fitness rooms, sports fields, swimming pools, libraries, museums, garages and other facilities in the middle - the "city" in the name is not an exaggeration at all.

Since it is called a "city", it must have its open side.

The surrounding landscape, although it is a private property, allows the public to play and relax.

It wasn't until near this 8,000-square-meter mansion that controls were set up. After all, the museum's collection alone is priceless.

Matching with the gimmick that has been hyped as "the world's first technology mansion", Chang'an City is full of technological elements, first of all, ubiquitous sensors, collecting all kinds of data, transmitting it to a central computer for processing and control.

One of the mysteries of Chang'an City is that although it looks a little exaggerated, in the face of technology, it is so small that it is in the master's hands.

Lin Fengjiao had already finished arranging Chang'an City, and Tang Huan, who had finished dealing with some urgent matters, rushed over and saw her accompanying her aunt Tang Yun for a walk on a small gravel road.

"Well, you're used to it. Tang Huan asked with a smile.

Tang Yun nodded with satisfaction, "You have spent so much thought, what else can I be picky about." Just this kind of clean and popular pattern is like no other. ”

Tang Huan pointed out and quipped, "If you are in the mood, you can also go to the vineyard over there." ”

Lin Fengjiao said: "Living in Chang'an City, life is like a modern version of male farmers and women weaving, self-sufficient. ”

Tang Huan nodded proudly, "This is called the unity of heaven and man." ”

Tang Yun looked at the sons of Tang who were playing on the sports field quietly, and said lightly: "It doesn't matter if the place is big, the children can run away when they play." ”

Tang Huan smiled and instructed the butler who greeted him, "Bring us all the wine, fruits, and other things we produce, and I want to taste them." ”

After finishing speaking, he walked to the sports field, only to see the joy of playing on the field, and the little people sitting on the benches off the field also cheered with relish - Tang Jiajun has already begun to see the scale.