Chapter 410 The Storm Is Coming! (Please Vote for Me!!!)

Wednesday, July 2, 1997.

Chen Yangzhe was signing documents in the office when suddenly the office door was pushed open forcefully.

The three brothers, Chen Yongji, Chen Dongji, and Chen Huaying, appeared at the door panting.

"What's going on? Everyone's hairy and frizzy. What do they look like?"

"Dad, something big happened!"

Chen Yongji ignored the explanation and turned on the TV directly.

A financial news was being broadcast on the TV screen, and the picture showed the Thai Stock Exchange in chaos.

"The Thai baht has collapsed."

Chen Yangzhe's face was also pale at this moment. After experiencing "Black Monday" and "Japan's economic bubble", another financial tsunami is about to hit, and this time it will no longer be just a wave like before. The entire Asia will be at the center of the tsunami. , the consequences are simply unimaginable.

The three of Chen Yongji looked at each other with fear on their faces. If they had not received the news in advance, shrunk their business and reserved a large amount of liquidity, I am afraid that Shunyang Group would also have suffered in this financial tsunami, or even fallen directly.

In the Thai financial market, after two consecutive tentative attacks, Soros's third attack can be said to be a desperate move. He combined with other international capital to spend nearly 20 billion US dollars, and finally used Thailand's remaining 30 billion US dollars. The U.S. dollars were completely consumed, and then rumors spread in the market. Unable to withstand the multiple pressures, Thailand made a blind move and announced the implementation of a floating exchange rate system for the Thai baht. On that day, the exchange rate of the Thai baht against the US dollar plummeted by 18%. The foreign exchange and other financial markets were in chaos, and the financial crisis in Thailand officially broke out.

In fact, Thailand, which is at the end of its rope, has no other response plan. It can only watch the Thai baht pouring down, gradually becoming like waste paper.

All things related to finance, whether stocks, bonds or currencies, are originally valueless. What makes them valuable is confidence. Once confidence collapses, their value will also collapse.

This is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Thai companies that rely on foreign capital for production and use the baht to repay foreign debts. The common people in Thailand were also frightened. The run resulted in the collapse of 56 banks. The Thai baht depreciated by 60%. The stock market plummeted by 70%. The assets of the Thai people shrank like a sudden collapse.

Under the financial crisis, Thailand collapsed along with its stock market and its already fragile industrial system. After more than ten years of hard work, the shadow of industrial society finally disappeared at this moment.

I saw it building tall buildings, watching it entertain guests, and seeing its buildings collapse.

Crisis and opportunity have always been twins. For Asia, it is a financial crisis, but for international capital headed by Soros, it is a gluttonous feast for making money.

While attacking the Thai baht, these international capitals are also attacking everywhere.

In August, Malaysia gave up efforts to defend the ringgit. The Singapore dollar, which has always been strong, was also affected, depreciating more than 8% in one day. Although Indonesia was the last country to be "infected", it was the most severely affected.

In late October, international speculators moved to Hong Kong, the international financial center. The Taiwan authorities suddenly abandoned the exchange rate of the New Taiwan Dollar, which depreciated by 3.46% in one day, increasing the pressure on the Hong Kong dollar and the Hong Kong stock market.

On October 23, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell sharply by 1,211.47 points; on the 28th, it fell by 1,621.80 points, falling below the 9,000 point mark. Faced with the fierce attack by international financial speculators, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region government reiterated that it would not change the current exchange rate system, and the Hang Seng Index rose to reach the 10,000-point mark again.

As of the end of October, the entire Asia was in mourning. Except for Xiangjiang, which backed the mainland and contained the malicious short selling of international capital, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand were almost completely wiped out.

Faced with such a tight financial environment, Korea was also frightened. The stock market fell every day, prices also rose sharply, and the people complained endlessly.

However, the real test has just begun.

In mid-November, after scouring South Asian countries, international speculators turned their attention to East Asia. Korea was naturally the first to bear the brunt. The main reason why they chose Korea instead of Japan was that Japan's foreign exchange reserves were too sufficient. Those international speculators also He's not stupid, he must be looking for a soft persimmon to pinch.

It is obvious that Korea is a soft persimmon in their eyes, and this is exactly what happened. Under the repeated attacks of these international speculators, on November 17, the exchange rate of the Korean won against the US dollar fell to a record high of 1008:1.

You must know that the exchange rate of the Korean won against the U.S. dollar has never fallen below the 900:1 mark before. Such a large drop caused the Korean people to frantically want to convert their Korean won into U.S. dollars, further triggering the depreciation of the Korean won.

Some banks even directly canceled the exchange of Korean won into US dollars. Many Korean people gathered in front of the banks and held up banners to express their protest.

"Dad, shouldn't we too?"

Before Chen Yongji finished speaking, he was directly interrupted by Chen Yangzhe: "Idiot, canceling the exchange business at this time is undoubtedly telling the people across the country that our Shunyang Group's foreign exchange reserves are insufficient. Tomorrow, the share price of Shunyang Group will... Hit rock bottom.”

"But Dad, if this continues, all the US dollars we have accumulated with great difficulty will be exchanged by others." Chen Dongji reminded.

Chen Yangzhe also frowned when he heard this. After thinking for a long time, he said to Chen Dongji.

"In this way, from now on, you ask the bank to issue an announcement saying that it is suspected that international speculators are using our bank to consume the country's foreign exchange reserves, so each account has a weekly exchange limit of 1,000 US dollars. In addition, the latest users who apply for savings need three You can only use the U.S. dollar exchange service after a few months!”

Chen Dongji's eyes lit up. As expected of an old man, he could actually come up with such a way to get the best of both worlds.

"What are you still doing? Why don't you hurry up and go!" Chen Yangzhe glared at his second son and sent him away without even giving him a chance to flatter him.

Seeing that there was no joy in solving the problem on his father's face, Chen Yongji asked cautiously: "Dad, are you worried about whether Korea can withstand the offensive of international capital?"

Chen Yangzhe sighed: "The attack of international capital is not the decisive factor. You have to know that the entire Asian economic circle is interdependent. Doesn't our Shunyang Group also have various investments in other countries? There is no way to survive the collapse. The eggs are complete!”

"Fortunately, we withdrew a lot of investment in advance. At least there should be no problem in self-protection. After this financial tsunami, Shunyang Group should be able to firmly sit on the throne of Korea's largest consortium." Chen Yongji flattered.

When Chen Yangzhe heard this, he thought of his grandson again. Although he did not predict the exact time, he predicted the financial crisis one year in advance. Such a keen sense of the market is simply amazing.

"Fortunately, this kid was born in my family, otherwise he would be a really troublesome opponent."

Under Chen Yangzhe's operation, Shunyang Bank not only did not consume a lot of foreign exchange due to bank runs, but also won the support of users. Although it is a bit small to only be able to exchange 1,000 US dollars a week, it is better than other banks that directly stopped exchanging US dollars. business, and even some banks went bankrupt directly due to runs.

There is no harm without comparison. Shunyang Bank was originally a marginal business in the entire Shunyang system. After this time, it has become the only company in the group whose performance has risen against the trend. A large number of people have transferred money from other banks to Shunyang Bank. The share price of the entire Shunyang Group also increased slightly.

However, in the context of the financial crisis, Korea as a whole is in a situation where it may collapse at any time.

On November 21, Korea had to seek help from the International Monetary Fund, which temporarily brought the crisis under control. But on December 13, the exchange rate of the Korean won against the U.S. dollar dropped to 1,737.6:1.

Such an exaggerated exchange rate was equivalent to the assets of all Goryeo people having shrunk by half, and for a time the whole country was in mourning.

And this is just the beginning. The first negative consequence of the collapse of the exchange rate is the collapse of the stock market.

The stock market crash has caused a large number of companies to dry up their cash flow. Banks cannot collect loans and can only apply to freeze the company's accounts and assets. Companies go bankrupt and workers are laid off. The vicious cycle is like a snowball, starting from the top of the mountain and going down. Rolling down, everyone was carried downwards, and it seemed to never end.

Not only that, the collapse of Goryeo also impacted Japanese financial companies, because many Japanese financial companies had large investments in Goryeo. This caused Japan, the only country that had not suffered much losses in this financial crisis, to suddenly suffer. The stock market The sudden drop means that Japan holds a large amount of foreign exchange reserves, and those international speculators dare not take action against Japan, otherwise Japan will probably follow in the footsteps of other Asian countries.

On New Year's Day in 1998, Qin Hao, as a representative of Samsung Group, was invited to the Blue House to attend an economic restructuring meeting.

This is also Qin Hao's first time to participate in such a high-level meeting. The reason why he was able to receive such courtesy is because, on the one hand, Samsung Group's performance during the Asian financial crisis was outstanding.

In an environment where a large number of old Korean companies have closed down and gone bankrupt, Samsung has bucked the trend with its mobile phone and computer businesses. Not only has it not laid off employees, but it has created many new jobs.

On the one hand, Qin Hao still holds a large amount of US dollars, which are very precious foreign exchange reserves for the Blue House. Inviting Qin Hao to participate in this meeting is equivalent to the official certification of his status as a chaebol.

"Grandpa." As soon as Qin Hao arrived at the door, he saw Chen Yangzhe chatting with another chaebol. He couldn't help but smile to himself. The old man probably didn't trust him, so he waited here. He was just shy and embarrassed to show it.

Chen Yangzhe glanced at Qin Hao proudly, and then said to the chaebol next to him: "Let me introduce to you, this is Chairman Chen Haojun of Samsung Group, and this is Chairman Kim of Hanwha Group."

Chairman Jin smiled and said to Chen Yangzhe: "Okay, don't hold on to it. If you have such a good grandson, if it were me, I would like to hang a sign on my body every day to show off."

"You're still the same as before. You won't be able to change your mouth for the rest of your life." Chen Yangzhe was not angry and scolded with a smile.

"President Jin, I have heard about your deeds a long time ago. I hope to learn more from you in the future." Qin Hao said politely.

President Jin waved his hand: "I have nothing for you to learn from me. It took me decades to be qualified to attend meetings here. You did it when you were not even twenty years old. What a terrible future!"

"Hey, you sound like you're going to retire. I don't accept old age."

"Haha~~~"

After a while of greetings, the three of them came to the conference room.

It didn't take long for many chaebols to come in, the youngest of whom was over fifty years old. Qin Hao stood out among them.

Naturally, there are many plutocrats who politely compliment Chen Yangzhe, not because of Chen Yangzhe's popularity, but because everyone is having a hard time at the moment. Chen Yangzhe's Shunyang Group and Qin Hao's Samsung Group seem to be doing pretty well. These old silver coins just want to get some benefits from them.

However, just as everyone was chatting heatedly, a familiar voice came from far away, and his tone was full of disdain.

"If you want to show off, old guy, don't hide it. It's so coy and disgusting."

The person who dared to confront Chen Yangzhe directly, Qin Hao knew without looking back, must be Zhu Rongyi of Daying Group, who could be said to be Chen Yangzhe's lifelong enemy.

If it had been before, Chen Yangzhe would have been furious and would have had a fight with this old guy, but this time he seemed unusually calm.

"Humph, you have to show off. It's not like someone who gave birth to five sons. He's not as capable as one of my grandsons."

"you!"

The two were at odds with each other and were about to start fighting. Before anyone could stop the fight, someone from the Blue House arrived. This time, the person presiding over the meeting was a deputy minister in charge of finance.

The deputy minister looked to be in his fifties, and he praised everyone as soon as he opened his mouth. There was nothing nutritious about it. He just praised them for their contribution to the Korean economy.

After the official talk, finally came some dry stuff.

The central idea is to require chaebols to shrink their business scope, cut off some unimportant businesses, and develop their main businesses in order to obtain government loan support.

It was obvious that none of the chaebols present were satisfied with this request. This would be equivalent to cutting off one's own tentacles, making it even more difficult to develop other businesses in the future.

The conference room was a little cold for a while.

Seeing this, Qin Hao was the first to speak: "Then our Samsung Group, with its existing sufficient funds, can we get some preferential policies for new business?"

"Well, this is theoretically possible, but the specific type of business that Samsung Group wants to develop still requires further communication."

Having said this is like saying nothing.

Chen Yangzhe also asked dissatisfiedly: "How to distinguish this unimportant business? I think all the businesses of Shunyang Group are the main business."

"That's right, our Daying Group is also the main business, there is no way to give up."

Zhu Rongyi of Daying Group also chose to side with Chen Yangzhe at this moment. Despite the life-and-death fights in private, the chaebols were still very united when facing the official.

Other chaebols also expressed their dissatisfaction.