Chapter 52: Chapter 52 Huasu Group_l
Translator: 549690339
“Mikhail, what are you doing? Zhenbang is my grandfather’s guest. His family is also one of the top ones in Huaxia. Don’t do anything rash.” Ganokovich also nervously stood up. If anything were to go wrong, he would be in serious trouble. At least, his grandfather wouldn’t let him go easily.
At that moment, Nie Zhenbang pulled Ganokovich aside and looked at Mikhail, “Mr. Mikhail, it’s my first time meeting you and the other elite members of the Soviet Union’s military and political circles. Personally, I’m very pleased. However, I must say, I do not agree with your lifestyle.”
Nie Zhenbang glanced at the people glaring at him and calmly said, “Do you know how old I am now? I’m only seventeen. My companion here is just nineteen. I believe that everyone here is older than us, right?”
That statement was indeed true. The oldest, Mikhail, was already twenty-four. The youngest, the chubby one, was also already twenty-one.
Mikhail raised an eyebrow and looked at Nie Zhenbang, “So what?”
Nie Zhenbang was pleased, he had hoped for this reaction, for someone to engage with him, question and answer. His upcoming plan would go smoothly. He didn’t expect that Mikhail would be so responsive.
“It’s not much. Just that, I think you all are pitiful. I don’t know for how long you plan to depend on your elders, for the rest of your lives? That’s impossible. I feel pity for you all. You have great advantages and opportunities right now, yet you don’t know how to utilize and cherish them. For instance, I already own a massive industry in our country. Every year, it earns for me at least tens of millions, if not billions of assets. And you? I suppose the money you used to come here was all thanks to the support of your family, wasn’t it? Don’t you ever think about making money, making big money?” Nie Zhenbang’s disdainful expression made Mikhail and the others itch to punch him. But what Nie Zhenbang said was true.
“So what business can we do? Arms trade? That’s a joke.” Andrei Levski, the one with the small glasses, said with a cold smile.
This was indeed the reality in the Soviet Union. The focus of their industry and national power was on heavy industry and the military industry, weapons export – that was indeed the Soviet Union’s major trade. They had the feeling of being highly skilled but finding no availability of resources.
Next to them, Liu Kun was laughing, “Well, of course, you can. I think you would be interested in our partnership plan. Nowadays, the most sought-after and scarce items in your country are commodities, foodstuff, clothing, and other light industry products. However, we don’t have to worry about sourcing these items at all. You just need to organise the arms, then we can trade at the border in Siberia. We’ll take full responsibility for the sale of the arms. You’ll only need to deal with the transactions here and the sales problems. If we do this, do you think we still have to worry about money?”
Nie Zhenbang took over the discussion, “Of course, we can set up a company together, how about we call it the ‘Asia-Europe Group’ or the ‘China-soviet Group’, representing our strength and spanning across the Asia-Europe continent, operating in both Huaxia and the Soviet Union. Whether it’s arms trade or commodities trade. We can each send people to supervise each other, share the profit according to our shares. Of course, if I have personal preferences and want to buy something privately, I will pay you a separate fee.
What do you think?”
These Soviets, none of them were easy to deal with. Among those who shuttle between Huaxia and the Soviet Union were brokers who, despite their Russian appearance, held Huaxia citizenship. They were all familiar with this business, everyone knew how big the profits were. Upon hearing Nie Zhenbang’s words, everyone was intrigued.
As the leader of the group, Mikhail hesitated for a moment, and then decided, “Nie, I admire your proposal. So, how do we calculate the ownership? There’s so many of us, and there’s only two of you.”
Nie Zhenbang laughed a little, this kid really wanted to take advantage of him. Immediately, he responded with a smile, “Two options, first, we each own fifty percent. Second, you own eighty percent of the trade inside the Soviet Union, and I own eighty percent of the arms trade. Also, if you choose the second option, you must help me get a loan of thirty million US dollars from your Soviet Central Bank, for half a month. I’ll leave myself here as collateral.”
In fact, Nie Zhenbang had set a trap of moderate scale at that moment. Although the two plans seemed almost identical, these people had significantly underestimated the vast potential of arms trade. For now, trade in daily necessities and food appeared to be incredibly profitable.
As expected, after some discussion, Mikhail and his party promptly said, “We choose the second plan.” As for the $30 million loan, for the immense Soviet Central Bank, it was merely a drop in the bucket.
Off to the side, a thoughtful expression flickered in Andrei Levski’s eyes beneath his glasses as he suddenly questioned, “Nie, are you suggesting that we could trade Siberia’s extensive energy and mineral resources for goods?”
Nie Zhenbang was taken aback. He hadn’t expected such shrewdness from the
Soviets. It appeared he would need to maintain a good relationship with this Andrei going forward. The cleverer people were, the higher their talent and the greater their potential for profit. This also implied they were more daring. Nie replied with a smile, “Of course. Anything of value can be traded. Our goal is to establish a grand business empire, standing on the shoulders of Huaxia and the Soviet Union.”
Under Nie Zhenbang’s insistence, both sides drafted a cooperation agreement, as requested by Nie. This ensured he had a bargaining chip, so he wouldn’t have to fear them playing tricks in the future. As for the name, they decided to go with “Huasu Group.”
Following the signing of the agreement, Nie Zhenbang and Mikhail, representing their respective parties, shook hands. Nie Zhenbang, with a smile, said, “Mikhail, next, I will transfer $100,000 to the company account we registered together. As for my loan, I’ll leave that with you. Half a month from now, once the company has secured operational premises and inventory, I will return to my country to organize the delivery. In about two months, the first batch of goods — everyday items, clothing, and food worth about a million U.S.
dollars — will arrive at the Siberian border. I will handle our border forces; as for your side, it’s up to you.”
Off to the side, Alexander Shevchenko, being the grandson of the deputy commander of the Siberian military district, confidently assured, “Nie, you can trust us completely. We are looking forward to our first cooperation.”
Mikhail acted swiftly. In less than three days, the $30 million loan from the Soviet Central Bank had arrived in Nie Zhenbang’s account. However, the monthly interest rate was alarmingly high, a staggering 16 percent.
That meant Nie Zhenbang had to pay an interest of $4.8 million one month later.
However, Nie Zhenbang was unconcerned at this point. He would immediately invest this money in the Soviet Union’s black foreign exchange market, and he would exchange it for rubles at a ratio of 1 to 15. Thenceforth, the $30 million would translate into 450 million rubles. Afterward, he would give back about 31 million rubles to the Soviet Central Bank using the official exchange rate of 1 U.S. dollar to 0.9 rubles, completing the loan payment.
Nie Zhenbang would then be left with over 400 million rubles. This money would gradually be exchanged back for U.S. dollars at a rate of about 1 U.S.
dollar to 1.2 rubles within the Soviet Union. This was the primary reason for Nie Zhenbang’s visit.
Finding a black market had been difficult. It was only with help from Ganokovich that Nie Zhenbang managed to find one. By the time he finished all the currency exchanges and repaid the loan, twenty days had passed.
As for the leftover rubles, Nie Zhenbang entrusted them to Li Lixue. For the following period, Li Lixue would stay behind to complete the supplementary currency exchanges. Meanwhile, Nie Zhenbang and Liu Kun, carrying the over $20 million they’d exchanged, would embark on their journey back home..
