Dark War!

After May 11, 1890, a secret war was launched in the European public opinion circles, in which from the very beginning, Japan was at a disadvantage, first of all, its reaction was extremely slow, and the most important thing was that the mainstream newspapers of Britain and Britain, as a European power, had signed an "advertising agreement" with the Beiyang Trading Company more than ten days earlier, and this agreement had an obvious "exclusivity", so that the Japanese legations in Britain and France could not publish paid news with mainstream newspapers.

What does public opinion mean? It means that the hearts of the people are back, it means the morale of the army, etc. It even means the survival of a country, in order to win this public opinion war and promote the sympathy of European countries for Russia, the British branch even hired several well-known journalists as the commander-in-chief of this public opinion propaganda, and the strategy formulated is to "package" Japan as a barbaric and despicable representative, and systematically guide the Western media to form a consensus, so as to make it a rat crossing the street.

Whether it was the sense of superiority over colored people established by the continuous occupation of colonies by Europeans since the 18th century, or the humiliation caused by the assassination of the crown prince and prince by what they saw as "inferior races", the whole of Europe was already hated and hosted, and the deliberate press propaganda brought their dissatisfaction with the Japanese to the top.

After all, for the company, the company still has more business to engage in, on the one hand, it buys machines from Germany, Britain, France and other countries, and on the other hand, it sells "thermos water bottles" and other industrial consumer goods in the Special Economic Zone to Europe, which is the company's main job. And even in the past month. The company in the UK has even become the largest purchaser of equipment in Europe and the United States - purchasing as much as two million pounds of equipment. From textile machinery to machine tools.

Inside the manager's office on the third floor of the UK branch. Wu Yuming, who had just signed his name on a £570,000 contract for the purchase of a machine, tapped the pedal under his desk, which connected to the small brass bell that led to the outdoor secretary's desk.

A moment later, a young blonde girl walked into the room, and the girl stood respectfully.

"Miss Shirley, please bring the report from the Lyon branch office......"

In contrast to the cheap industrial consumer goods that sell such new water bottles and even ordinary canned goods, which bring in a profit of only £10,000 or 20,000 per month, the most important export commodity of the Beiyang Trading Company is raw silk - the local silk purchased from China is re-reeled in the silk reeling factories of the Special Economic Zone, and then exported to Europe, especially the European raw silk trading market dominated by Lyon. The profits are extremely substantial.

The Lyon office in his mouth refers to the office opened by the company in Lyon, the European company is based in the British company, all the staff except Wu Yuming himself, the rest of the staff are hired in Europe, which is also helpless, after all, the company can not send more personnel to Europe, and the staff can only be hired locally to solve the problem.

"Sir, the report is on your desk, the third article on the to-do list!"

Anything that passed by the desk, she would never forget it. She just had to walk out of the office and get the report. It was a report on the European raw silk market, and the content was very simple, the Russian-Japanese war stimulated the raw silk market at a certain level, and led to the price of raw silk rising, so the company should increase its exports in order to seize the current market.

"Anything else? Mr? ”

"One more thing, then, could you please check for me the time I made an appointment with Mr. Sears of Lloyds Bank?"

"Sir, the time you and Mr. Sears agreed on is twelve and fifteen p.m., which is an hour later."

Woo's itinerary was in the hands of his secretary, at least on the surface, and the reason why he had made an appointment with Mr. Sears of Lloyds Bank was for another extremely important matter.

"Oh, Miss Shirley, then you can help me book a table at the club."

"Sir, it's already set! Also have them ready for the Highland Knight Whiskey, which is Mr. Sears' favorite whiskey. ”

Looking at Xue Li, Wu Yuming smiled and said:

"Thank you, Miss Shirley, I don't know what I should do without you!"

Of course, there is an element of compliment in this sentence, and Wu Yuming is also telling the truth, Xueli in front of him, as a secretary, is undoubtedly an extremely competent secretary, and can always arrange everything in an orderly manner.

"Cunning fellow."

Facing Sears, who was enjoying whiskey, Wu Yuming muttered to himself in his heart.

His remarks were referring to his proposal for four banks to buy 10% of the shares of the mining company, and the current South African mining company is undoubtedly the darling of the entire British investment community, but compared to its huge market value, it is by no means something that a single person or bank can "eat".

"In the last month, the market value of the shares of the mining companies has increased from £78.65 million to £114.52 million, and according to the maximum value of the shares of the mining companies in the White Ridge area, the market value will increase to £200 million in the next three months, compared to the bubble that caused the mining companies, my friend ......"

Taking a sip of wine, Wu Yuming smiled and said:

"But the gold production of the South African mining company is real, and as we speak, the mining company has produced dozens of ounces of gold, Mr. Sears, please tell me, in this case, is it possible for the Superintendent to sell its shares?"

It's ugly!

Even from the perspective of a businessman, Wu Yuming couldn't help cursing like this, and sure enough, as the adults expected, the South African mining company would inevitably become the fat in the eyes of the British capital community, and the most sad thing was that this fat was what they were determined to get.

"My friend, now in London, almost everyone ......"

Gently wiping the corner of his lower lip with a napkin, Sears, the general manager of Lloyds Bank, looked directly at Wu Yuming and said slowly.

"I want to buy your shares, because everyone knows what South African mining stocks mean, it is wealth, of course, my friend, although I don't want to admit it, I can only say that you are very lucky, you solved the problem of gold refining, countless people have gone bankrupt in the gold bubble in South Africa, only you have profited! This kind of luck ...... Tsk......"

After sighing, Sears asked seriously:

"It's natural for someone to be blushing, please believe me, 10 million pounds, for now, for the time being, for the Tang Lord in North Korea, it is undoubtedly the best choice, if I remember correctly, the Beiyang Trading Company holds 15% of the shares, and the Tang Lord holds 10% of the shares, what we want is not 25%, but 10%, of course you have the right to refuse, this is also the basic rule of business, but ......"

After a brief pause, Sears continued.

"I think Mr. Tang will understand that it is undoubtedly extremely advantageous for him to be friends with the British financial community, and if the Korean Unified Authority issues bonds in the UK in the future, the four major banks can underwrite 70% of the bond shares."

Sears easily threw out his offer, which was a blank check, but it was probably the most generous for these bankers who could even influence their own governments.

In the South African mining company's stock rally, the bankers unexpectedly kept calm, and in the calm they checked the largest shareholder of the industrial company, the Beiyang Trading Company, and of course, the ambitious Tang Lord, in the eyes of these bankers, those Tang Lords are very likely to become Li Hongzhang like Li Hongzhang in ten years' time, the Qing Dynasty is extremely ignorant, but the wealth and opportunities contained in the Qing Kingdom are they can not ignore, because of this, they will "premium" to buy shares, Even an extremely generous condition was offered.

A £10 million purchase of 10% of the shares is ostensibly a "premium" but in reality it is no different from a robbery, and in just a few months, they can more than double the return, and maybe even two or three times the return.

"Forgive your pardon, Sears, this is not something I can answer immediately!"

Wu Yuming did not answer directly, nor did he refuse, according to the original plan, the company's public and secret holdings of mining company shares will be sold in batches at a high value, so as to obtain sufficient funds, after all, even Wu Yuming knows that this piece of fat is by no means what the company can hold now, taking the opportunity to cash out is undoubtedly the best choice, and the so-called high value should be after the market value doubles.

"Of course, but ......"

Staring at Wu Yuming, Sears reminded softly.

"My friend, you have to know that a lot of people are very interested in your company's stock right now!"

This sentence is both a warning and a reminder, and it seems to remind Wu Yuming that if he is rejected, then what will happen next is something they cannot guarantee.

How could Wu Yuming not know about Sears's threat, and if it were not for this, the company would have sold as much as 6.5 percent of its shares to the British elite in the past month, and of course, it was also a financial need -- the Special Administrative Region needed more equipment and technicians.

"If we agree, then the remaining 15% ......"

"Right now, we're not interested, my friend!"

Shaking his head, Sears replied bluntly, not that they were not interested, but that the funding problem could not be solved, even if they had a lot of influence over the government, the government would not support them to snatch the company like a group of thugs, and the British law only protects the law. And for the sake of interests, this company cannot be destroyed, so it can only choose the game between "civilized people".

"But what we need is the guarantee that in the future, if you sell the shares, we will get the right of first refusal!" (To be continued......)