Gordon came to the office of the boss, Roland Kadoorie, handed over a letter, and said, "Boss, this is a letter from Cheung Kong Industrial. ”

Kadoorie said unexpectedly: "Could this Lin Zhichao be determined to get that property?" ”

It turned out that a week ago, Lin Zhichao proposed to acquire the ownership of the Hong Kong Hotel in the name of Cheung Kong Asset, and the two parties communicated through letters.

Naturally, Kadoorie did not agree, and replied that he had no intention of selling the property. In Kadoorie's view, the Hong Kong Hotel can still generate profits, unlike the residential land sold to Cheung Kong in the past, which could only charge a small amount of rent every year; He felt that idleness was idleness, so he sold it to Cheung Kong Industrial.

Gordon said: "I think I'm hungry! After all, global shipping is rich and rich, and Lin Zhichao, as the boss, is naturally worth a lot of money. ”

Kadoorie was noncommittal and then tore open the letter and read it.

'Willing to buy at a high price', 'and can lease to Hong Kong Hotel at a very low price for three years to run the hotel business'

After Kadoorie read the letter, he suddenly felt a little relieved, he was not interested in real estate; And he also knows that Hong Kong Hotel has lost its competitiveness in Central, and it is inevitable to go downhill, because the hardware is not good in all aspects.

"They said they were willing to buy the property at a high price and rent it to us for three years to continue operating the hotel, do you want to consider it?" Kadoorie asked Gordon.

Gordon did not answer this question directly, but said: "Cheung Kong likes this land so much, I am afraid that it wants to build a headquarters building as the headquarters of its company. If we rebuild and build a beautiful building like the 'Riyama Building', which was completed this year, the value will indeed increase a lot. ”

The 'second generation' of Alexandra Building, a property redeveloped by Hongkong Land this year, is located at 16-20 Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong Island, with No. 6 Ice House Street to the east and Nos. 5-17 Des Voeux Road Central to the south.

At present, in Hong Kong, the construction of high-rise commercial buildings is allowed, but it needs to pass administrative approval; For example, the Bank of China Building, completed in the early 50s (the site of the City Hall in 1947), is 17 storeys high, 6.5 meters taller than HSBC (HSBC only has 12 floors plus basement).

Kadoorie nodded and said, "It makes sense, if you build a ten-story commercial building, the value will increase greatly." ”

Since the Hong Kong government has not yet encouraged high-rise development, there may be restrictions on building too high, so Kadoorie did not expect to build even higher. In fact, no one in Hong Kong could have imagined that the Hong Kong government would amend the building ordinance to encourage high-rise buildings.

Seeing this, Gordon asked, "What does the boss mean?" ”

Obviously, he saw that the boss was interested in approaching him, and if he could really sell it at a high price, the boss would agree. After all, the core industries of the Kadoorie family are electricity and the Peninsula Hotel, and it is possible to sell this land at a high price to develop the electricity industry.

Sure enough, Kadoorie said, "In that case, I'll reply to them and ask them to make an offer and see if they're sincere!" Even in times of war, the land in Central is very valuable; Now that the war is over, it is natural that the tide should rise. ”

"Well, then boss, you reply to the letter, I'll go and hand it to them."

Even during the Battle of the Peninsula, the unit price of commercial land in Central was around HK$300 per square foot, which was a bit higher than the auction price in 1947.

Now, the Kadoorie family thinks that according to the market price, the unit price of the land in Central is 350~400 Hong Kong dollars per square meter; However, he has no intention of selling at this price, unless he can give it higher.

At the same time, renting a three-year low price to a Hong Kong hotel is also a temptation, provided that the price is low.

The other side.

Lin Zhichao was in the office, looking at Kadoorie's reply, and suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.

If you want to sell it, it's good!

To put it bluntly, if Kadoorie is allowed to 'open his mouth wide', how high can he open his price?

It's just a lack of imagination!

For Lin Zhichao, he analyzed that the land of the Hong Kong Hotel would reach a price of more than 30 million Hong Kong dollars in 1957, that is, the cost of the Xu Aizhou family when they bought it in their previous life.

Although it is impossible for him to agree to such a high price now, it also gives him a lot of room for quotation; After all, if he waited until that time, Lin Zhichao might face a bid with Xu Aizhou, which would cheapen the Kadoorie family.

Referring to the previous life, at this time, the Kadoorie family sold the land to Airship Thai for a large residential land, which shows that Kadoorie does not know much about real estate and has no intention of investing in real estate.

After all kinds of psychological analysis, Lin Zhichao still decided to give a 'sky-high price' to defeat Kadoorie's psychological defense in one fell swoop. After all, if you give the market price, others will think that I run a hotel well, so why sell it!

The information of this land has been roughly introduced by Kadoorie, with a total area of 26,000 square feet.

Lin Zhichao decided to give an offer of 460 Hong Kong dollars per square foot, which is a total price of 12 million Hong Kong dollars; At the same time, it agreed to lease the Hong Kong Hotel for another three years, and only charged 500,000 Hong Kong dollars per year.

Overall, 30% higher than the market price is like betting that it will rise next year, which gives Kadoorie the impression that after the war, real estate will probably rise by this figure.

And Lin Zhichao's mental limit is less than 15 million Hong Kong dollars, if it is higher, then he can only give up, use the funds to buy oil tankers, and earn more than double in three years, and then participate in the bidding for this land at a high price.

Although he and Xu Aizhou maintain a good relationship, business is business, and it can only be won by the one with the highest price.

In mid-December, Lin Zhichao and Kadoorie finally sat together, and after a month of communication, the two sides finally reached an agreement and were ready to complete the signing.

The two are not familiar, but they are simply a business relationship. Even, this time Kadoorie can be regarded as putting Lin Zhichao together.

Why?

Kadoorie saw that Lin Zhichao was rare in his property, and he was quite ambitious, so he took the opportunity to ask for a price. In the end, Lin Zhichao offered 12 million yuan, Kadoorie asked for 13.8 million yuan, and after some confrontation, the price fell to 13.2 million Hong Kong dollars.

According to his analysis, the land price in Xiangjiang alone may rise by 50% in 1954. Because of the influence of political Z, hot money from Southeast Asia has fled to Hong Kong, coupled with the end of the war, resulting in the increase in Hong Kong's land at an annual rate of about 50%. Even in 1954, there was no news that the Hong Kong government intended to introduce an incentive to 'build to the upper floors'.

Therefore, the price of 13.2 million Hong Kong dollars, which is almost the price at the end of 1954, Lin Zhichao does not feel a loss, after all, he took the initiative to propose the transaction.

However, if this transaction price is disclosed, Lin Zhichao is afraid that he will be crowned with indecent titles such as 'wronged boss' and 'prestige' in a short time, and will be laughed at by his peers in the business world.

So as soon as they met, Lin Zhichao said: "Mr. Kadoorie, please don't disclose the details of this transaction." After speaking, he showed a wry smile.

Kadoorie was happy in his heart, thinking to himself, young man, and he knew that this was a dishonorable thing!

However, he still said seriously: "Of course, the details of this transaction should be kept confidential." After a while, he said obediently: "But then again, this property is the best location in Hong Kong, and Mr. Lin is very worthwhile for it!" If it weren't for Mr. Lin's insistence on buying it, I wouldn't have planned to sell it, I know that Mr. Lin wants to build a beautiful headquarters building as the headquarters of global shipping, so I think it should be fulfilled for you! ”

When Lin Zhichao heard this, he said in his heart, you really think, how can this building be the headquarters building of Global Shipping, and it is not a coastal building building.

Of course, it's called 'Cheung Kong Group Center'!

"Thank you, Mr. Kadoorie, for your accomplishment! Indeed, I am planning to build a first-class edifice here. Lin Zhichao said calmly.

Kadoorie said with some suspicion: "Since Mr. Lin is preparing to build a first-class building, why is he willing to rent it to us for three years at a low price?" ”

Although he felt that he had 'slaughtered' Lin Zhichao, he was always a little uneasy, you must know that Lin Zhichao can build a huge fleet at a young age, how can he be regarded as a character!

Lin Zhichao smiled bitterly: "It's not that the funds are in trouble, Mr. Kadoorie doesn't know, and he has always been short of money for shipping." Therefore, it is helpful to allocate funds and avoid problems. ”

As soon as he said this, Kadoorie, Gordon and others suddenly felt relieved.

Kadoorie said: "Indeed, I also know that shipping is a big investment, and a ship can buy a small and medium-sized building. ”

Subsequently, Kadoorie and others took the initiative to officially sign the contract.

There were two contracts, the first for the ownership transaction of the Hong Kong Hotel and the second for the lease property transaction of the Hong Kong Hotel.

If the rent is 50 years a year, Lin Zhichao needs more than 26 years to return to the capital, so it is said that it is rented to the Kadoorie family for three years at a very low price.

Of course, for Lin Zhichao, he rented it to the Kadoorie family in 1954~1956, so he could still make some money; If he hadn't rented it out, he would have started building the building in the late fifties.

Although it was in 1955 to encourage the development of buildings to high-rise, Lin Zhichao could not build commercial buildings too early, the first is the problem of construction technology, the second is the problem of tenants, and the third is that the real estate wants to do 'development real estate (residential) to make a wave of funds.

As for the problem of tenants, Hong Kong probably attracted major companies from all over the world to set up branches and offices in Hong Kong in the late 50s, so the office space in Central was easier to rent at that time.

Under the witness of the lawyer, the two parties completed the signing, and Lin Zhichao also handed over a check.

After deducting the rent for the first year, it is a total of 12.7 million Hong Kong dollars, equivalent to less than 2.3 million US dollars.

The money was all dispatched from the accounts of Global Shipping, which should be able to balance about $4.5 million in cash flow this year.

"Happy cooperation, Mr. Kadoorie!"

"Happy cooperation, Mr. Lin!"

Actually, how can it be a pleasure to work together!

Lin Zhichao, who returned to the company, was in the office thinking about his strength in real estate.

He owns the following properties:

Causeway Bay (Commercial, Residential): Paterson Street 'Half Street (215,000 sq ft)', Jardine Street, Paterson Street and Kender George Street 'Triangle' (36,000 sq ft), Hei Wan Street 'Whole Street' (156,000 sq ft), Embassy Building

Central (commercial building): Hong Kong Hotel on Pedder Street ($26,000), No. 9 Chiu Lung Street ($14,000), No. 77 Des Voeux Road Central ($16,000), No. 10 Ice House Street ($9,000)

Kowloon (commercial and residential): Yau Ma Tei Public Square Street (172,000), Miramar Hotel opposite Kowloon Park (88,000)

In addition to these large properties, Cheung Kong also owns a small number of smaller properties and plots; Including a plot of land of more than 20,000 square feet in North Point, which is owned by Uniqlo Apparel Company along with the embassy building.

So when the property is added together, the total value has been as high as about 45 million.

Although it is still far from the net assets of about 300 million Hong Kong dollars compared to the net assets of global shipping, it still makes Lin Zhichao feel a lot more at ease.

At this time, no one in Hong Kong knew how much Lin Zhichao's specific assets were, and now even HSBC doesn't know how many ships he has, because when he bought more than a dozen ships, he had already paid off a lot of debts from HSBC; At the same time, there are many ships registered in overseas offshore places such as Panama, mainly to facilitate business with the United States.

In fact, Hong Kong people do not think that Lin Zhichao's wealth has surpassed that of He Dong, including some of Lin Zhichao's friends. Everyone prefers to think that Lin Zhichao's wealth should be at the same level as that of Xu Aizhou and other old families.

"Boss, you're busy!" Tang Caiyun walked into the office and said in a joking tone.

It can be seen that she is very happy because Cheung Kong has added another large property.

Lin Zhichao put a chair next to his seat and asked Tang Caiyun, who was six months pregnant, to sit down. Because Lin Zhichao's career is getting more and more inflated, he himself has been very 'prepared for a rainy day', which has led to Tang Caiyun and Xu Caiying going to work one after another.

What he fears the most is to fly, and he can't survive that thing even if he has a 'superhuman body', but he has to fly everywhere for a year.

Lin Zhichao said with concern: "If you are tired from work, you can do it at home, if there is anything in the company, I will tell you!" ”

Tang Caiyun stroked her pregnant belly and said, "Don't do it!" It's not that you don't know that my work is very easy, and I have an assistant, and Cheung Kong is still in the preparatory stage. ”

Lin Zhichao nodded, although Cheung Kong has huge assets, it is relatively idle in its work. At present, Cheung Kong has moved into the third floor of Qiuyi Building, and is in the same building as Global Shipping, and also occupies one floor, including Uniqlo clothing and hotel departments.

Tang Caiyun's job is really simple, it is still a remuneration committee, but it is actually idle, at least at present. hung up Lin Zhichao's assistant again, and he had an office, which can be regarded as a definite status.

However, there is one thing that the two have a very tacit understanding, that is, Tang Caiyun does not interfere with the company's work, only listens, watches and asks, but does not point.

Subsequently, Lin Zhichao popularized the gameplay of Cheung Kong Industrial to Tang Caiyun: "The building purchased this time will probably be built in the late fifties, a first-class Grade A office building in Central, as the headquarters of Cheung Kong Group, including Cheung Kong Industrial will set up its headquarters here." ”

Tang Caiyun listened carefully, and then asked curiously: "Then how do you know when the Hong Kong government will allow residential buildings to be built on high-rises?" ”

She knew that Cheung Kong would develop residential buildings first, and then develop buildings after recovering the funds, so that it would be financially healthy.

Lin Zhichao said: "The governor of Hong Kong once mentioned this to me, I don't know the specific time, but now so many people live in the mountains; At the same time, Hong Kong's industry began to develop, creating many wealthy people and forming market purchasing power. So, that's what happened in three years. At present, Changjiang Real Estate is also developing some rebuilt real estate, coupled with rent collection, it is not a problem to support the company's twenty or thirty people. No hurry! ”

Tang Caiyun nodded, her heart settled.

According to Lin Zhichao's idea, before the first, second and third readings of the "Building Ordinance" in 1955, he would plan and cooperate with Li Gaofu's "Champagne Building" on Campari Road, and once the "third reading" of the Building Ordinance was passed, he would immediately submit it for review, and then sell the off-plan property, which would take the lead in igniting the property market in Hong Kong.

Of course, it is inevitable that the 'public pool' will fall to Lin Zhichao's head, after all, there is no such problem in the first five-story tenement building, once it involves a residential building, there are many units on the first floor, and the problem of 'public sharing' must be involved. Public pooling would not be a nuisance for the public in Hong Kong, not to mention that it was later abolished in 2003.

After the sale of Champagne House, Hong Kong real estate has already been ignited, and other real estate projects will be planned at that time.

In terms of commercial buildings, the site at No. 10 Xuechang Street will be built in 1956 as the first commercial building of Cheung Kong Industrial, which is expected to be 17 storeys high, and will serve as the temporary headquarters building of Global Shipping and Cheung Kong Group.

Lin Zhichao's thoughts were told to Tang Caiyun almost unreservedly and let her keep them in mind.

Stone Kip Tail, Shirata Upper Village.

In a wooden house in Bajiapo, the owner, Chen San, carried a lit 'fire water lamp' and rummaged through the bed. Without paying attention, a small spark splashed into the cotton tire, but it did not arouse people's alarm.

"Master, what are you looking for, let the child sleep well!" The wife complained.

a small wooden house, with two beds, covered with messy quilts and old clothes, dirty and messy; Even the environment of the entire wooden house is dirty and messy, and the air is mixed with a foul smell.

But the hundreds of thousands of people living in winghouses and wooden huts in Hong Kong have become accustomed to it. Not only is it poor, but it is also short of water, not to mention that it is very tiring to go to work, who wants to clean up.

"I'm looking for my cigarette and want to smoke a cigarette!"

"Over there, what kind of cigarettes do you smoke at night, rest early, and go to work tomorrow!"

"I know that when I go to work, men don't smoke, how can I have the strength to go to work, it's a lot of things!"

Women just have to keep their mouths shut!

The man finally found a box of cigarettes, and there was only half of it left, which was the half he had already smoked. Although he is a big smoker, he doesn't make much money, so he can only smoke less.

After lighting it and taking a sharp puff, the man inhales the smell of the smoke into his lungs and fully feels the taste. Repeating this twice, looking at the few cigarettes, he gritted his teeth, extinguished it, and saved it for the morning to smoke.

The two children smelled the smoke and dared to be angry, and if they complained, the father could bring them up and beat them again.

In the dead of night, everyone slept, but the sparks in the cotton tires burned more and more, and suddenly an open flame met a flammable material, and a large flame broke out. And the thick black smoke quickly suffocated the four people in the room.

In the end, it was the man who stood up.

"Ahem"

Chen San tried to open the door and ran out, he tried to find water, but found that there was no water at all; When I looked at my cabin again, it was already on fire.

"Wife, son, come out quickly!"

"Wife and son, come out quickly!"

For a while, Chen San howled hard, and all that responded to him was the rolling fire. And less than a minute has passed.

"It's on fire"

"It's on fire"

The fire quickly spread, and Chen San could only escape alone, sad in his heart, but he didn't dare to speak out. Because the fire may have been lit by him, he had to flee as soon as possible, because the light of the fire had satisfied dozens of wooden houses, and it was out of control.

People let out a terrible cry for help, mixed with 'Candles!' The sound of screaming and banging on the door. The residents rose from their dreams, helped the old and the young, and ran for their lives.

The fire started in less than ten minutes, the fire has spread to the middle of the covenant, the sky does not make beauty, the fierce northeast wind rolls up, the fire tail is blown down by the wind from the middle of the village in Baitian, forming a sea of fire, the fire field bursts out of the sound of splitting and beating, the thick cannon is in the sky, the fire head is everywhere, and the fire reflects the whole sky.

Although the firefighters worked hard to carry out the firefighting work, the fire had already dispersed, and the pungent flames and the scorching sea of fire could not withstand the northeast wind, and the fire rushed down the mountain like a flood beast, so that the firefighters had to retreat.

By about 10 o'clock, the entire village of Baitian had been burned to ashes, and the fire continued to spread to Baitianxia Village. At first, residents thought the fire would soon be extinguished, so they did not move until the firefighters knocked on the door and called for evacuation. But in the wooden house closer to the fire, in order to save his life, he ran to the narrow alley before even the cotton tires were moved out.

After the entire Shirata Upper Village and the Middle Covenant were patronized by the Fire God, the fire had spread to the lower village, and the fire started even more, and within twenty minutes, the entire Shirata Lower Village had been burned out. Homeless residents of the Middle Covenant fled for their lives in Baitian Village, because the alleys were narrow enough to accommodate only five people, and the people in front were already crowded with people, making it inconvenient to escape, and the fire behind them was chasing like wild beasts. The residents standing in the back could not escape, so they had to climb up to the wooden house, and from this wooden house, jump over that wooden house, and use the roof of the wooden house as a way to escape. Because the wooden house is not firmly built, and there are many people on the house, the whole wooden house often collapses, and dozens of fleeing residents, even people and things, also collapse along with the wooden house roof, and the sound of the collapsed house beating, the cry of the collapsed residents shook the heavens and the earth.

Since there was no way out for their lives, the residents jumped from this side of the ditch to the other side of the ditch desperately, turned the fire, and climbed to the top of the mountain in Baitian Village to escape for their lives.

By about 11 o'clock, the fire had spread to Wo Tsai Village, and the villagers of Wo Tsai Village fled to the top of the hill like the residents of Pak Tin Village. Some of the residents climbed halfway up the hill and suddenly rolled down, crying out bitterly: "I'm dead!" ”

At about 11:10 a.m., most of the wooden houses in Wo Tsai Village had been burned. Then another fire went to the wooden houses in Tai Po Road Village, and the residents fled in the chaos.

At 11:10 a.m., the Shek Kip Mei Fire Station issued an emergency fire alarm and firefighters told residents to evacuate. In an instant, the fire had spread to Shek Kip Mei Village.

The fire department personnel scattered on the edge of the fire, raised their axes, and slashed the door of the wooden house there, and with great difficulty opened the door, and went in and moved a few things out, but the flood of fire rushed again, and the things that were brought out were burned by the fire god again.

(End of chapter)