69novels Chapter 413 The First Roundup of Nascent Soul Realm Masters
Chapter 413 The First Roundup of Nascent Soul Realm Masters
After hanging up the phone with Tang Liuqian, Lin Yan's strategic blueprint became increasingly clear.
The Chinese market is of paramount importance for the next thirty years, but in the grand scheme of global expansion, other moves are equally crucial.
He suddenly realized that over the years he had been like a master chess player, focusing on laying out "momentum" and "points"—from grain and oil to real estate, from technology to luxury goods, from resources to channels—but rarely looking down to count the "real benefits" that had already piled up on the chessboard.
He closed his eyes slightly, his consciousness connecting with Lin Yi sitting above him.
"Lin Yi".
"Young Master, please give your orders." Lin Yi's divine sense responded immediately.
"Contact Alexander and the others to do a detailed survey. What is the total cash flow of all the industries wholly owned by the Lin family and the listed companies where we are the major shareholders over the years? Also, what is the current market valuation of all the listed companies' industries?" Lin Yan's voice calmly rang out in his mind.
Lin Yi's response carried an almost imperceptible smile:
"Young Master, I thought you would never care about these numbers. I can answer that for you right away. According to the complete fiscal year audit data up to January 1, 1988, we have readily available and unrestricted cash flow of US dollars, £398.3 billion, and over 70 billion German marks, in addition to a considerable amount of Swiss francs, Japanese yen, etc. This is just cash and cash equivalents."
He paused briefly, then continued:
"As for the valuation of all industries, including our physical assets, equity, patents, brand value, etc. in North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Australia, the most conservative estimate puts the total value at over 30 trillion US dollars."
Moreover, sir, this number continued to grow at a considerable rate in 1988 and the first half of this year (1989), especially due to our several technology investments in Silicon Valley and our luxury retail network in Europe.
Even though Lin Yan was calm and had a good understanding of wealth, his consciousness couldn't help but waver slightly when he heard the valuation of "30 trillion US dollars," which was an astronomical figure in 1989.
This already surpasses the combined GDP of many developed countries at that time.
"Have you taken stock of the gold reserves?" Lin Yan asked, as this was the "hard currency" and the cornerstone of his future financial strategy that he was more concerned about at the moment.
"Regarding gold," Lin Yi's tone became serious, "we have followed your instructions and have basically only imported gold over the years. In the early days, through gold deposits in Congo, South Africa, and throughout the Americas, we accumulated our first pot of gold using 'unconventional' methods. By around 1973, our secret gold reserves amounted to approximately 2.4 tons."
He then recounted an anecdote that Lin Yan had never heard of before:
"In 1974, when Alexander sent people to Japan to restart and expand the trade network, our people accidentally discovered an unusually large amount of gold deep in some seemingly abandoned mines in Nagano Prefecture."
After investigation, it was found that the wealth was likely looted by the Japanese army from China and Southeast Asia during World War II, and was either not transported away or deliberately hidden.
Therefore, we used our divine sense to conduct a thorough search of the Japanese mainland and surrounding waters, and indeed discovered several secret vaults and several transport ships loaded with gold that had been deliberately sunk; the methods of concealment were extremely sophisticated.
Lin Yi's tone carried a hint of coldness:
"Subsequently, through soul-searching, we obtained even more astonishing information from some remnants of the former Japanese military and financial groups who knew the inside story—before Japan's defeat, it had buried a massive amount of gold looted from all over Southeast Asia in as many as 157 locations in the Philippines."
These locations have been identified and cleared by our personnel. Therefore, our current total gold reserves are approximately 9 tons.
This number left Lin Yan speechless for a moment.
9 tons of gold! This far exceeded the official gold reserves of any single country at the time, making it a veritable "shadow world" gold empire.
Lin Yi cautiously inquired, "Of course, young master. We've only acquired a very small portion of the gold mines in other parts of Asia; that was mainly done incidentally during our early strategic planning. Do you think we should...expand further?"
Lin Yan snapped out of his shock and shook his head, even though Lin Yi couldn't see it:
"No need. Other places... their development isn't easy either; let's leave that for the future. However,"
He changed the subject, his tone revealing a calm decisiveness.
"Send someone to India. Clean up all the gold that might be buried beneath the surface, in the rivers, and in those temples and legends. Don't worry about anything, just proceed according to plan."
He explained his intentions:
"The reason I asked about gold reserves is that I feel the time is ripe to unfold the last and most important piece of our financial puzzle—the banking industry."
With these 9 tons of gold as the most solid anchor, placed in the vault of any bank we control, it is a "stabilizing force" that can make any financial tycoon tremble and reassure any depositor.
We are not afraid of bank runs at all; in fact, we welcome them, as they will only make our gold-backed reputation more widely known.
Lin Yan's thoughts raced:
"Start by expanding in the Americas and Europe. Under the guise of our expansion in Switzerland, acquire or take controlling stakes in a number of established but underperforming small and medium-sized banks, and revitalize them with our capital, gold-standard credit, and global network."
The business focus can be placed on high-end private banking, multinational corporate financial services, and high-end consumer finance in collaboration with luxury brands such as 'Libre de Soi'.
Remember, our bank serves top-tier clients and our industry chain. We don't aim for the largest scale, but rather the most stable credit, the deepest service, and the highest barriers to entry.
"Yes, young master!"
Lin Yi's voice was full of enthusiasm.
"I immediately contacted Alexander and Albert to begin developing a detailed plan for the bank's expansion. Backed by our gold reserves, this is indeed an unbeatable trump card. I will also immediately assign my most capable personnel to handle the operations in India."
The spiritual connection was severed, and the study returned to silence. Lin Yan walked to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a small glass of amber-colored aged whiskey. He gently swirled the glass, watching the ice ball clink against the glass with a crisp sound.
With an industry valuation of $30 trillion, the hard power of 90,000 tons of gold, and the impending global banking network anchored in gold, this grand strategy, laid out over thirty years, had become more than just a commercial success by the historical juncture of 1989.
He downed the drink in one gulp, the spiciness and rich aroma melting in his throat. Outside the window, the night in Deep Water Bay was already deep, but the lights of Victoria Harbour in the distance shone like a galaxy.
He is the era itself.