Lam Tin Villas.

In the evening, Lin Zhichao was having dinner with his family, a mother, a wife, a sister, and a son, a happy family, and a maid to serve him.

"This Sunday, I'm going to start buying ships in Europe, and this time it may take half a month." During the meal, Lin Zhichao said suddenly.

There is no way, in this era, only one way takes three days, and a round trip takes six or seven days. And this time to buy a ship, Lin Zhichao is still going to the UK to take the opportunity, and there is no intermediary, and he does not trust the Hong Kong ship agency very much.

Why not go to the United States to buy a ship?

You must know that after World War II, the United States had 38 million tons of merchant ships, while Britain only had 18 million tons of merchant ships; The third place, France, only 2 million tons, the Soviet Union, Italy, and Japan only had more than 1 million tons.

It is normal for Lin Zhichao not to go to the United States to seek opportunities, because once he buys a ship in the United States, he will definitely leave a record; Once the campaign on the peninsula begins, his fleet will be watched and possibly even troubled.

Of course, Lin Zhichao will definitely not risk being sanctioned, but he is still worried about these things.

What's more, to make a living in the British colonies, it is natural to do more business with London, and the pound has just depreciated, so the price of goods will naturally be 'reduced'.

"So long?" Tang Caiyun said reluctantly.

She knew that she would not be able to go with her, because she had to take care of her son at home.

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "Well, this time it's mainly to find a ship, and it will take a long time, and maybe half a month may not be enough." ”

Seeing him say this, Tang Caiyun immediately changed her attitude and said, "Okay, with me and my mother-in-law at home, you can rest assured." ”

Although the family is reluctant and worried, they also understand that Lin Zhichao's decision cannot be changed; What's more, Lin Zhichao attaches great importance to his career.

After eating dinner and washing up, Lin Zhichao and Tang Caiyun returned to the bedroom. As for Lin Ruihuan, they are all in the same room with grandma.

Lying on the bed, hugging his wife, Lin Zhichao talked about something for the first time.

"Every time I go abroad, I leave a document with my personal lawyer, and this time it was the same. In the future, Caiyun, you know more about the family business and sit firmly behind me. ”

Tang Caiyun understood what she meant, and immediately nervously held Lin Zhichao's arm, as if she was a little resistant to this aspect, but she didn't dare to say it, for fear of bad luck.

Lin Zhichao patted her on the shoulder and said, "This is a normal procedure, you don't have to worry or worry." ”

Tang Caiyun calmed down at this time, and then said, "Okay! I don't care! ”

Lin Zhichao said with satisfaction:

"Well, that's right! Especially now that I have Lin Ruihuan, I will be more prepared for these things. Today, I will tell you about the assets I have: Cheung Kong Real Estate: This company currently has no debts and has a net worth of more than 3 million properties, including a 212,000 square foot warehouse on Paterson Street, a six-storey property in Lam Tin Villas and Telford Garden. You remember, Hong Kong's property will continue to rise, any decline is only temporary, and sooner or later it will rise again. Because, land is a right. ”

Tang Caiyun immediately asked: "How do you plan to develop the land on Paterson Street?" ”

Lin Zhichao smiled, this question is not bad, for the person next to the pillow, of course he will share.

"It's easy! In the next five years, Hong Kong will undergo a process of industrialization, after all, we have undertaken so much capital and technology. As Hong Kong's population grows, sooner or later the Hong Kong government will have to encourage real estate development, such as allowing high-rise buildings to be built. By then, eight or nine more commercial and residential buildings will be built on this site, and thousands of residential units and a large number of commercial rental properties will be obtained. It doesn't matter if you don't have money to invest, as long as you sell the pre-sale property, you can immediately use other people's money to develop. Just get a general idea! ”

Tang Caiyun nodded and said, "Well, I feel that there are a lot of problems here." ”

Doing real estate is not so simple! Lin Zhichao also learns by doing.

In his previous life, when he was doing real estate, he didn't even know how to open an account at the bank and could use bank loans, so he didn't know anything at all, and he quickly became a real estate tycoon. Because, things will force him to do everything he can to develop.

"The second asset: Cheung Kong Industrial. At present, it has been produced in Hong Kong and Sing Tao at the same time, and its products are exported to Europe, America and Asia. At present, there are two debts - 1.5 million principal and interest from the Bank of East Asia, and 800,000 yuan for the follow-up equipment of West German Born Machinery. There are sufficient funds in the account, even if I withdraw 3 million Hong Kong dollars, our net debt this year is actually more than 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars. A net debt of HK$1.5 million is nothing, and the land and factories owned by Cheung Kong Asset alone are much higher than this amount. ”

Tang Caiyun asked curiously: "You took out 3 million Hong Kong dollars, and you also went to develop shipping?" ”

Lin Zhichao said: "Yes! Our family's third asset is the newly established Global Shipping, which has almost more than 1.6 million US dollars, which is more than 9.2 million Hong Kong dollars. I have deposited this money with HSBC as payment for the purchase of the ship. ”

Tang Caiyun suddenly became incredulous, she knew for the first time that Lin Zhichao was so rich.

A pair of beautiful big eyes, staring at her husband's beautiful eyes.

In fact, no one knew that Lin Zhichao was a multimillionaire. It is estimated that Jian Dongpu can't even calculate, after all, Lin Zhichao didn't have a number of how much he made by speculating in gold; As for speculating in US dollars, Jian Dongpu only knows about Cheung Kong Industrial.

"Husband, you can make so much money, let's have a few more children, right?" Tang Caiyun took the initiative.

Lin Zhichao reacted immediately, but he said: "Don't worry, let's take our time, give birth to one every two years, four or five is enough!" ”

Tang Caiyun was pressed below by Lin Zhichao, and said coquettishly: "Are you still thinking about Caiying?" ”

Judging from the recent performances of Lin Zhichao and Tang Caiying, Tang Caiyun understands that everything is developing towards this man's idea. Tang Caiying likes it, but her parents don't stop her, and she has already relented.

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "Isn't it very good!" The children of your two sisters, in the future, there will be a land career and a sea career. ”

Tang Caiyun suddenly pretended to be angry and said: "This Caiying hasn't entered the door yet, but she has already been separated from me, but I won't let her do this!" ”

Tang Caiying, who was downstairs, suddenly sneezed, I don't know why.

Lin Zhichao smiled and said nothing, how will the two sisters get along in the future?

"Bad laugh! Husband, your plot has succeeded! But you must not think about her now! Tang Caiyun hugged him from behind Lin Zhichao and tightened it hard.

Soon, the two rolled up the sheets.

At the end of December, after Lin Zhichao arrived in London, he quickly obtained various information from major shipping managers, but he did not start for a long time.

On this day, a shipping manager named Willis, after seeing that he introduced a lot of information about the ships, Lin Zhichao still did not show enthusiasm, so he said: "Mr. Lin, I introduced you to so many excellent second-hand ships, and you are not even interested, could it be that you are interested in Williamson's freewheel?" The ship was cheap, but the United States built it in a hurry in World War II, with its slow speed and short life, and we, the ship managers, were reluctant to sell it. ”

As soon as Lin Zhichao heard about the 'Freedom Wheel' and 'Williamson Company', he immediately wrote it down, and then said embarrassedly: "Mr. Willis, I'll go back and think about it and give you an answer as soon as possible!" ”

When Willis heard this, he didn't doubt him, so he politely got up and sent him off!

"Stay!"

Lin Zhichao walked out of the office building, it was already dark, this London winter, the smog is quite serious, no wonder two years later, 12,000 people will be killed by the smog, of course, these people themselves also have serious respiratory diseases, heart disease, etc.

At this time, his mind began to think about Willis's last words.

Freedom wheel, he's familiar with it!

During World War II, in order to cut off Britain's overseas (American) supply, Germany began "unlimited" submarine warfare, and for this purpose, it has been equipped with thousands of submarines cruising in the Atlantic Ocean beyond imagination, whether military or civilian ships, as long as they are not Axis powers, appear in the Atlantic, Germany will use submarines lurking everywhere to sink them, so as to block the British and European battlefields of weapons and other material sources, force them to surrender, so that Germany can win the whole of Europe to win the world war.

Britain then turned to the United States for help, and American mathematicians gave the government a solution: the United States had to build ships faster than German submarines could sink.

Although this is not a scientific conclusion, the United States took it seriously, and the Liberty Wheel program was born.

It took only 30 days for a freeship to lay the keel to sea trials, and by 1943 the process had been shortened to 24 days, and dozens of freewheels were built at the same time. Later, the construction became faster and faster, and it only took more than three days to complete the steps from laying the keel to launching the water, because of the use of Ford assembly line operations.

The "Liberty Wheel" is not a small ship, but a very strong transport ship that can cross rough oceans. With a total length of 135 meters, a displacement of 15,000 tons, and a load of 5,000 ~ 9,000 tons of cargo, in 1941 ~ 1944, the United States built a total of 2,710 ships, with an average of 3 ships launched every day.

In order to speed up the construction, simplified techniques were used as far as possible, especially when assembling the hull, replacing riveting with more advanced and faster welding techniques, which performed slightly worse than conventional carriers in terms of reliability and durability.

What Willis, the ship manager, means is that since the freewheels are designed to last five years, the boats are almost at the end of their life (theory), so many shipowners are afraid to start at this time.

The cost of a Liberty ship was $1.8 million, and during the war years, it was only necessary to transport it once, and the cost could be recovered, because the cargo on board was worth $2 million. After the war, the ships were sold to countries around the world by a U.S. steamship committee. Greece alone, bought 600 ships; The Republic of China Z Commercial Bureau also bought ten ships, totaling 5.5 million US dollars. Britain took more than 180 ships, and the USSR refused to return 43.

Others may be worried about the quality of the freewheels, but Lin Zhichao is more confident, because these boats can be used until the seventies; Even, at the end of the sixties in the previous life, the mainland bought a batch of such dilapidated free wheels at a price of thirty or forty thousand pounds, and it was not finished until the eighties.

Therefore, if Lin Zhichao can buy a free wheel, it can theoretically be at least 20 years; A free ship can earn him ten new ships of the same tonnage in ten years.

Not long after walking out of the office building, Lin Zhichao was about to take a taxi back to the hotel.

Suddenly, he noticed a foreign girl not far away, crumbling, as if she was drunk or sick; Just as he was considering whether to come forward to help, the girl then sat down on the side of the flower stand and fell down again.

Once he falls, he may be injured, seeing this, Lin Zhichao decided not to hesitate anymore.

"Ma'am, do you need me to take you to the hospital?" Lin Zhichao stepped forward and asked.

When the girl with her head hanging heard that she was sent to the hospital, she quickly raised her head and said, "Don't!" Thanks, I'll just sit down! ”

At this time, Lin Zhichao was shocked when he saw the girl's face!

How is she?

At the same time as he was surprised, the girl probably didn't want to look like this in front of strangers, so she wanted to get up and leave.

Who knows, this time I can't hold on, and I'm about to fall down.

Lin Zhichao quickly helped Hepburn, then looked up at the neighborhood, and said, "I'll take you to the restaurant over there to sit down and drink a cup of hot water, which will soon alleviate your situation!" ”

He knew that because Hepburn was malnourished as a child, his body had always been relatively thin; And at this stage, Hepburn and her mother didn't have much money, and she herself only played some inconspicuous roles in the song and dance troupe.

"Thank you," Hepburn said in a daze.

She was already very dizzy at this time, so she could only follow Lin Zhichao's movements, although she was surprised that Lin Zhichao was an Asian, but she couldn't take care of that at this time.

Subsequently, the two came to the restaurant, and Lin Zhichao immediately asked for two cups of hot water and some bread, and took care of Heben carefully.

About 30 minutes later, Hepburn's condition was relieved.

"Thank you very much, sir! My name is Audrey Hepburn, what about you? ”

"My name is Lin Zhichao, you can call me Lin."

Hepburn's big eyes regained some of his brightness and asked, "To make you laugh, I may have forgotten to eat lunch, so I was a little dizzy just now." ”

Because she was worried about being seen as poor, she lied!

Lin Zhichao said very bluntly: "Your body is very thin, probably caused by long-term malnutrition, you should usually eat on time, rest on time every night, and recover your body through slow conditioning." ”

Although Hepburn was surprised by Lin Zhichao's subtle observations, she didn't want to show that she was very poor in front of others, so she explained: "Actually, I am a musical performer, probably because I know it because of fatigue. I've been studying ballet since I was a kid, so I'm relatively slim. ”

Lin Zhichao smiled and said nothing, and suddenly Hepburn understood that this man saw through her thoughts at a glance, and suddenly looked a little embarrassed.

Fortunately, Lin Zhichao immediately said: "Your image is very good, and you will become a good actor, even a Hollywood actor." ”

The intention was to comfort her, but Hepburn immediately asked, "Really?" Why do you think so? ”

Lin Zhichao was speechless for a moment, he couldn't say, I'm a prophet!

Hepburn soon found out that others were just polite, but she became serious and could only say, "I'm sorry! ”

Lin Zhichao felt that the atmosphere was going to end like this, so he said: "I really think you will be a good actor, if I am a director, I will definitely let you play a princess." ”

Hepburn got serious again and asked, "Princess?" What kind of princess is she? ”

How can this man always be more serious!

Lin Zhichao could only helplessly search for the plot of "Roman Holiday" in his mind, and said: "It is a princess who has been locked in a cage since she was a child, she needs to pay attention to her words and deeds, diet and daily life, and a princess who has no free soul." Suddenly, one day, she was curious about the outside world, took advantage of the housekeeper's negligence, and then ran away by climbing through the window, intending to take a day off for herself. On this day, she got a cheap ice cream and didn't even know she had to pay for it when she went to the flower shop. Meet a civilian, go on a truth or dare adventure, go to a mass party, have a secret love affair with a civilian, and finally have to face the reality, pick up his national responsibility, and end this love affair that is only one day. That's probably it! ”

Hepburn suddenly looked at him and said, "Are you really a businessman, not a screenwriter?" I think your script seems to be good. ”

Lin Zhichao said with a smile: "It's a very simple story!" ”

At this point, Hepburn was a little curious about Lin Zhichao, and asked, "What kind of businessman are you?" ”

Lin Zhichao replied: "Shipping! I'm buying ships in the UK, big ships, and my dream is that I have ships that can occupy all the ports of the world and facilitate the development of the world economy. ”

Although anyone who heard it thought that Lin Zhichao was bragging, Hepburn said: "Well, you can do it." ”

She saw that Lin Zhichao was the same age as her, and he had an Asian face, but she didn't doubt it at all, this is her kind quality.

The two chatted for a while, and Lin Zhichao was about to take a taxi and send him home with Hepburn.

After Hepburn got out of the car, he looked at the car in the distance, only to realize that he had forgotten to leave a contact information, and he immediately felt annoyed. She has a good impression of Lin Zhichao, plus she accepted help from others today, which day should she invite someone back.

Thinking of this, she touched her empty bag, meaning that she was too poor.

"Hey, how can you get rich?"

When he pulled out the contents of his pocket, Hepburn was surprised to find that it was a thick pile of pounds.

Immediately, there was also a note (borrowing the convenience of the hotel), which read: "When you become a star, you will return it to me!" ”

For a moment, Hepburn was stunned!

After half a ring, count the pounds in your hand, a total of 500 pounds.

"He found out that I was malnourished and was going to help me! But how can I spend this money? What's more, he didn't even leave contact information, and he may not be able to meet him in the future. ”

After hesitating for a while, Hepburn put the money away and didn't plan to spend it for the time being!

On the other side, Lin Zhichao returned to the hotel without regrets.

The career has not yet succeeded, how can you think about such a good thing!

Although the others are still just a poor girl, but the two are thousands of miles apart, how can he have the heart to chase the girl!

So in the end, he didn't want to exchange contact information, although he knew Hepburn's address.

The next day, Lin Zhichao found Williamson.

This company is a diversified company, shipping is just one of the businesses, seeing Lin Zhichao come to the door to buy a ship, Charlie, the head of Williamson's company, looked at him with strange eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Lin, we only deal with ship managers, and all ships are handled by ship brokerage companies."

Seeing this, Lin Zhichao said sincerely without any hurry: "I hope to buy the two free ships of your company, I need them very much." I want to do shipping, but I have limited funds, and I want to get a reasonable price. ”

Although sincere, this time I obviously met someone who stood by his principles.

Charlie then said: "I am very touched by your determination to ship, but it still does not change my decision. The two liberships were built in 1943 and we sold them cheaply for £150,000, but only for ship managers. ”

When Williamson first purchased from the United States, the ship cost only a little more than $500,000; Now that it has taken almost three years, the cost has been earned, and it can still be sold for $420,000, so why not?

Lin Zhichao said reluctantly: "But the ship managers seem to be reluctant to sell these two free wheels, and they think that probably no one will buy a free ship with a design life of only five years." ”

Charlie was stunned, he didn't think of this, no wonder the two liberty ships were not sold for a long time, although the ships were still in operation.

"Only those of us who actually use the freewheel know that this kind of ship has no problem with a five-year lifespan, even twenty years."

Lin Zhichao said: "But the slow speed of the ship is also a disadvantage, the general merchant ship can maintain a speed of 14~15 knots, while the free wheel only has a speed of 11.5 knots. ”

1 knot speed is equal to 1 nautical mile in 1 hour, and 1 nautical mile is equal to 1.85 kilometers. It is more than 9,000 kilometers from Europe to Hong Kong, that is, about 5,000 nautical miles. Therefore, a one-way trip takes 18~20 days, and the free wheel is also defective.

But Lin Zhichao didn't care, a few days slow was not a problem, the important thing was that in the second half of 1950, there would be a ship shortage in the Far East.

For a moment, Charlie hesitated. He saw that Lin Zhichao came prepared, and he was more sincere, and the agent had indeed not launched it for a while, so his mind began to change.

In fact, even if Charlie insists on brokerage, Lin Zhichao has a way to save some brokerage fees. For example, he took the initiative to find a broker and proposed how much commission he had, and if you don't do it, I will find the next one, anyway, I have already found the source of goods.

"Well, since you've even analyzed the pros and cons of the free wheel, you must be eager to get them. I will sell these two ships directly to you for 300,000 pounds for two. ”

Lin Zhi was overjoyed, and immediately agreed.

Of course, in terms of details, he still found a law firm to deal with him, and in the meantime, the two ships needed to be overhauled in England before they could sail back to Hong Kong.

To Lin Zhichao's delight, the two freeships only cost $840,000, which is equivalent to his remaining $800,000 in funds to purchase the ship. In this way, he can also buy two cargo ships, of course, he will not continue to buy them right away.

This allowed his fleet in 1950 to reach at least 4 ships of 8,000~10,000 tons. Not necessarily, of course, because by the second half of 1950 it was possible that he would add more ships.

This strength is enough for him to quickly become a shipowner at the level of Dong Chuanwang and Xu Chuanwang.

Of course, Lin Zhichao made an investment of nearly 10 million Hong Kong dollars, which can be regarded as a very large existence.

(End of chapter)