At 10 Downing Street, Margaret Thatcher walked into the prime minister's official residence at 9 o'clock to start her day's work, and when she walked into her office and saw the thick stack of papers on her desk, she couldn't help but sigh, since that demonic 'Black Monday' came, she seemed to have endless business affairs every day, and even took up a lot of her rest time.

Despite this, she never thought of slacking off on her work, and after telling her secretary to pour a cup of coffee, she sat down and began to work on the papers on the desk, and after a long time, she withdrew her gaze from the papers, and slowly rubbed her temples in a clockwise direction with her left finger, and the lack of sleep and the long hours of continuous work made her head feel a little heavy. Then her secretary walked in, knocked lightly on the open door, and said, "Your Excellency, the ministers have arrived, waiting for you to preside over the meeting." ”

"Okay, I'll be there soon." After reviewing the documents that had been spread out in front of her, Mrs. Thatcher got up and went to the conference room, and as the secretary said, all the ministers she needed had arrived, including the Deputy Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Industry, the Secretary of State for the Interior, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and the Secretary of State for the Exchequer.

"Guys, I'm sorry I'm late." Mrs. Thatcher sat down and said to the secretary who was leaving, "Alice, please bring me another cup of coffee, thank you." ”

Deputy Prime Minister Jeffrey? Howe said with concern: "Madam, you look bad today, I think you should give yourself a vacation." ”

"Perhaps, but now that the people need me, I can't leave them behind and go on vacation. Alright, let's start the meeting. There are two issues discussed today, the first is whether it is necessary to reduce the interest rate on bank loans again. Hundreds of businesses are still failing every day, and the government needs to step up its support at a time. This is my opinion, and I would like to hear your thoughts. ”

In the past month or so, banks have lowered lending rates several times in response to the stock market crash, which has eased the wave of business failures and curbed the increase in unemployment, but also caused the signs of inflation to begin to appear. If the interest rate on loans continues to be lowered at this time, it will inevitably lead to an increase in inflation. However, if the interest rate on loans is not lowered, the wave of business failures without financial support may continue, and the economy will continue to deteriorate. As unemployment increases, more social problems arise, and it is neither advance nor retreat.

None of the people present knew how to answer, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer finally spoke: "Successive reductions in lending rates will increase the pressure on the government's finances. It will also lead to an increase in inflation. My opinion is to continue to increase the privatization of state-owned enterprises in exchange for more funds for infrastructure construction and employment growth. Similarly, the introduction of foreign capital will be increased, and the market needs capital but it is not unlimited support from the government. ”

The Home Secretary went on to say: "I agree with John that if inflation continues to rise, it is likely to create more unpredictable dangers for our economy. Under the current grim situation, it is imperative to increase infrastructure construction and increase the employment rate. ”

"Don't those companies and those factories care?" The tone of the Minister of Industry was bad: "Now the unions are making a fuss, and they are demanding that the factories be opened. Require companies to guarantee benefits, if it continues like this. I don't know what's going to happen to the road. ”

"John is right, we need to do more to bring in foreign money, and it may be more effective to replace government functions with the market's own strength." Is it Deputy Prime Minister Jeffrey who is speaking? Hao, speaking of this, a very strange expression suddenly appeared on his face: "I heard the news last night that Gu Chen in Hong Kong intends to invest at least $10 billion in the UK in the next two years. ”

"The robber?" The Chancellor of the Exchequer almost blurted out that he was in charge of the finances and finance of the whole of the United Kingdom, so he had a natural aversion to Gu Chen, a person who made a windfall through the stock market crash, and he quickly saw that things were not simple: "He may have so much money, but why should he invest in the UK?" ”

The Minister of Industry gave an explanation: "Gu Chen's Tang Dynasty Investment Company has negotiated with Jaguar Automobile Company and Luofu Automobile Company, and Tang Dynasty Investment will wholly acquire Jaguar Automobile Company and Luofu's Land Rover Automobile Company. In addition, Tang Dynasty Investment Company also intends to buy Rolls-Royce Motor Cars and Rolls-Royce Engines from Eaton, you should know what Rolls-Royce Engines means to the UK, so I called Mayer personally, and Eaton will only sell Rolls-Royce Motor Cars. ”

"Oh, I almost forgot, I heard that Tang Dynasty Investment also bought Lamborghini, an Italian sports car manufacturer, maybe Gu Chen wants to form a large automobile group."

At this time, the foreign secretary, who had not spoken, spoke: "Although I also think that Gu Chen is an unscrupulous robber, but who makes him rich, if he really combines Rolls-Royce, Jaguar, Land Rover and Lamborghini into an automobile group, it is definitely a good thing for the British automobile industry, he has a large amount of money to support the development of the group, maybe this is our opportunity to catch up with the German and American automobile industry." ”

"If we just form these companies into a new auto group, we will naturally have to support it, which will bring us a lot of jobs and a lot of foreign investment. But don't forget that Gu Chen's target is also Rolls-Royce Engines. Don't you think that the news that 'at least $10 billion will be invested in two years' was deliberately released by Gu Chen? The purpose is to tempt us. ”

The Home Secretary looked at the silent Margaret Thatcher and continued: "He knows that we need money now, so he first laid out his bargaining chips, and if we agree to sell Rolls-Royce Engines to him, he will invest in the UK. Conversely, maybe not a penny. ”

"So I think he's not just a bandit, he's a shrewd and insidious hunter who knows how to catch the weakness of his prey and deliver a fatal blow."

The deputy prime minister said with a puzzled face: "Whether he is a robber or a hunter, I don't understand one thing, why we can sell the Rolls-Royce engine company to the Americans, we can't sell it to the Hong Kong people, you must know that the current Hong Kong people are still the people of Her Majesty the Queen." Moreover, after the stock market crash, the Intelligence Bureau specially investigated Gu Chen and found that he did not have any signs of serious tilting towards China. On the contrary, he had personal relations with many powerful people in the United States, especially George W. Bush, the son of Vice President Bush. Walker? Bush, the two had a very close relationship, and even formed a joint venture to form an oil company. ”

"There is no problem with his position at all, and if he sells Rolls-Royce Engines and gives him tens of billions of dollars in investment, I think it's a good deal."

The Chancellor of the Exchequer shrugged his shoulders and said, "Hasn't the Intelligence Bureau found out how much money he has robbed from the United States?" If he was willing to invest all the money he had stolen in the United States in the UK, I don't think it would be a big deal to sell Rolls-Royce Engines to him. ”

Everyone automatically filtered the words of the Chancellor of the Exchequer and invested all the money stolen from the United States in the United Kingdom? Is this possible? I'm afraid no one would do this except for fools, and they don't know how much money Gu Chen has, so this idea is even more impossible.

They are more concerned about Gu Chen's position, before today, everyone here has seen the investigation report of the Intelligence Bureau, the content of the report shows that although Gu Chen has cooperated with China and the Republic of China in film and television, and there have been signs of investing in real estate in China and the Republic of China in the near future, but in terms of political position, the inclination towards China and the Republic of China is not obvious, but he has a close personal relationship with the elites of the United States.

In addition, Gu Chen's choice to invest in the British automobile industry this time, rather than the United States, Germany, or other countries, where the automobile industry is more developed, can largely show that he has a sense of belonging to the British country, so it can be concluded that Gu Chen should be more inclined to the West in terms of political positions. But after all, Rolls-Royce Engine is the main aircraft engine manufacturer in the United Kingdom, and when it comes to national defense and security, it must be decided by the prime minister, so everyone looks at Margaret Thatcher, who is sitting in the first place.

After pondering for a while, Margaret Thatcher finally spoke: "Britain has ruled Hong Kong for nearly a century, British culture occupies a very important position in Hong Kong, and Gu Chen is a native of Hong Kong, so it is natural for him to be influenced by British culture, I think we may try to win him over, not only because he has the funds we urgently need, but also because of his influence in Hong Kong." ”

"You must know that in less than 10 years, we will be handing over sovereignty over Hong Kong to China, and from now on, it is very necessary to win over some rich and influential people with important status and influence in Hong Kong to ensure our interests in Hong Kong after the transfer of sovereignty."

Mrs. Thatcher did not explicitly agree to sell Rolls-Royce Engines to Gu Chen, but the meaning could not be clearer. Moreover, she also raised the issue to the level of ensuring the interests of Hong Kong after the transfer of sovereignty, which is tantamount to increasing Gu Chen's weight in the hearts of everyone present.

The deputy prime minister immediately said: "Obviously, selling Rolls-Royce Engines to Gu Chen is a very good way to win over, of course, in order to get his money out of the bank to the maximum, we should make a list of investments as a condition for selling Rolls-Royce to him." ”

Mrs. Thatcher nodded, and said, "I need a list like this, and I'll leave it to you, Geoffrey, and I'll leave it to tomorrow, and if you have no other opinions, it's settled." As for the first item on hold, the second item ...... now on" (to be continued......

PS: Ask for subscription, ask for all kinds of support