"Shanghai people. I used to work as a recorder at Shanghai Gold Shop in Central." Luo Zhuankun accepted Song Tianyao's cigarette, thanked him, and replied.
Song Tianyao was taken aback. Shanghai people, from Shanghai Gold Shop in Central? He paused for two or three seconds before asking:
"George Hardoon, Xu Jizhuang, Zheng Zhongchen, Wang Yuanxi? Under whom does Mr. Luo work?"
Luo Zhuankun was also taken aback. He hadn't expected that this young man could deduce his background from just one sentence. He nodded and said, "I used to work for Boss Wang Yuanxi. Mr. Song, have you heard of Boss Wang and his associates?"
"These men were once among the most prominent figures among the wealthy Shanghai businessmen who came to Shanghai. Now, they can't even retain an elite like Mr. Luo?" Song Tianyao asked with a heavy sigh.
Jewish tycoon George Hardoon, Kuomintang Postmaster General and Post Office Director Xu Jizhuang, Shanghai speculator Zheng Zhongchen, and gold magnate Wang Yuanxi —these men were among the wealthiest in Hong Kong when they arrived in 1948 and 1949. Compared to these Shanghai visitors, the local business magnates were penniless.
George Hardoon was undoubtedly a prominent figure in Shanghai. His adoptive father, Silas Hardoon, was known as the wealthiest Jew in the Far East during his lifetime, owning real estate along the entire Nanjing Road and half of the Jing'an District. The largest private garden in Shanghai at the time, the Aili Garden, was built by Silas Hardoon.
The Autumn Moon over the Calm Lake over the Calm Lake) scenic spot on West Lake in Hangzhou was also bought by Silas Hardoon as his wife Luo Jialing's back garden, and was called Luo Garden.
In 1931, Silas Hardoon died in Shanghai, leaving behind assets valued at $660 million.
In 1949, George Hartung, the adopted son, liquidated all the assets he had received after a sixteen-year inheritance dispute, obtaining more than US dollars 70 million in cash, equivalent to approximately Hong Kong dollars 230 million, and went to Hong Kong.
To illustrate, consider Xu Jizhuang. To prevent the Hong Kong Government from extraditing him to the Mainland for trial by the Kuomintang, in 1948, while Xu Jizhuang detained by the Hong Kong Colonial Government, his concubine, Wang Baimei Xu Jizhuang, hired over a dozen law firms in Hong Kong. These firms then recruited four Queen's Counsel barristers in Hong Kong, forming a seven-member legal team to defend Xu Jizhuang in court. After four days of heated debate, the Hong Kong Colonial Government finally relented and dropped the matter of sending Xu Jizhuang back to the Mainland. The Hong Kong court set an unprecedented astronomical bail of five million Hong Kong dollars. Xu Jizhuang was only allowed bail after the bail was paid. Everyone thought Xu Jizhuang's concubine might have to sell some assets or borrow money for several days to pay the bail. However, immediately after the verdict was announced, before the judge even left the courtroom, the five million Hong Kong dollars in cash were delivered, and Xu Jizhuang was released on the spot.
The amount of money involved in the Kuomintang's indictment against Xu Jizhuang for corruption and embezzlement was US dollars 50,000, US dollars $260,000 in US Fabi billion, which, when converted to Hong Kong dollars, amounted to approximately HK$150 million.
George Hartung, with a net worth of 230 million, embezzled 150 million Hong Kong dollars, and paid 5 million bail without batting an eye. Xu Jizhuang shocked most local Chinese businessmen in Hong Kong at the time with the audacity of Mainland officials and tycoons. Compared with these Mainland dragons crossing the river, they were not worthy of the title of local snakes, but at most earthworms.
Because there were at least a dozen other Shanghai businessmen like George Hardoon and Xu Jizhuang who were worth hundreds of millions. Even if Rong Hongyuan, Bian Runqing, Zheng Zhongchen, Wang Yuanxi, and others were not as high-profile as George Hardoon and Xu Jizhuang, their wealth was not much different.
After being released on bail, Xu Jizhuang, along with George Hardoon, Zheng Zhongchen, Wang Yuanxi, and others, were already accustomed to speculative business in Shanghai. Upon arriving in Hong Kong, they discovered that the Hong Kong Colonial Government's regulation of gold trading was very lax. Naturally, the four of them formed a Shanghai group and began to target the gold business in Hong Kong.
It can be said that the gold speculation craze that began in Hong Kong in 1949 was entirely started by this Shanghai group. They judged that the Hong Kong Colonial Government would face an inflation crisis after the liberation of Guangzhou on the Mainland. Once inflation occurred, the price of gold would inevitably rise. Given the Hong Kong Colonial Government's previous practice of almost never interfering with gold trading, Xu Jizhuang and George Hardoon decided to act as the Hong Kong Colonial Government's manipulator this time, to manipulate the price of gold and fleece Hong Kong.
During the period from 270 yuan per tael to 330 yuan per tael, the Shanghai speculative group began to accumulate large quantities of gold, holding a total of nearly 800,000 taels, worth more than 260 million Hong Kong dollars. If the price of gold had risen after the liberation of Guangzhou, this batch of gold worth 260 million Hong Kong dollars at that time would not have doubled, but would have directly enabled the group to secure its position as the market maker in Hong Kong's gold trading.
As a result, on the first day of Guangzhou's liberation, the opening price of the Hong Kong the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society soared to 470 yuan per tael, just as Xu Jizhuang and others had predicted. However, on the same afternoon, the Gold the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society suddenly dumped a large amount of physical gold, with no restrictions on trading. By the close of trading that afternoon, the price of gold had been driven down to just over 430 yuan. No matter how much Xu Jizhuang and others bought, there was still a steady stream of physical gold waiting for them to continue to pay for it.
In just three days, the price of gold in Hong Kong fell back to HK$360. With interest, Xu Jizhuang and others lost nearly Hong Kong dollars 90 per tael of gold. Someone from the Chinese Gold and Silver Exchange Society calculated that this failed speculative behavior caused these Shanghai tycoons to lose at least Hong Kong dollars 40 to 50 million each, not counting the small Shanghai speculators who followed behind the tycoons hoping to profit.
The gold that suddenly appeared and killed the four tycoons of Shanghai was secretly transported from South America by the Hong Kong Colonial Government. The total amount and the time are unknown. However, everyone says that it was because George Hartung and Xu Jizhuang were too arrogant in Hong Kong, and the Governor of Hong Kong could not stand it, so he took action to kill them.
Some Shanghai people also spread rumors that several major local Cantonese businessmen, relying on their relationships with the Britain, deliberately set a trap to exploit the Shanghai people.
Song Tianyao wasn't sure if the rumors were true or false, but it was true that the four high-profile Shanghai tycoons had disappeared from the public eye. Song Tianyao had heard that several of Shanghai's big speculators had met with bad ends after their gold speculation failures, but he hadn't witnessed it firsthand. Seeing Luo Zhuankun now, he was somewhat surprised. These Shanghai tycoons couldn't even retain their talented subordinates?