Chapter 18: The North Borneo Company

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Question: What possesses the following functions: depriving of thought, giving spirit, energizing, exciting the body, exhausting the spirit, refreshing the mind?

Answer: Charm, magic.

Regarding Stana, not only does she appear charming and captivating, but she is definitely a charm, a sorceress, proactive with a strong combat awareness, albeit a bit lacking in combat effectiveness.

After the endless entanglement of breaths ceased, some time passed. Li Yi'an reluctantly climbed out of the warm bed, rubbed his messy hair, yawned, and walked into the bathroom...

When he emerged from the bathroom, Stana, lying weakly on the bed, looked at his broad and sturdy back. In her beautiful eyes, there was only deep infatuation remaining.

"Darling, yesterday I received an invitation from Lady Smith. She invited me to attend a reading club held at her place. If all goes well, our products will have almost penetrated into the upper echelons of London society."

Turning over, Stana didn't mind exposing her body to the sunlight. She said with some emotion, "Originally, I thought I had lost everything, but compared to them, I am quite fortunate. By the way, darling, do you know? Her husband is Sir Robert Smith, the Governor of North Borneo. When North Borneo was occupied by the Japanese, Sir Smith surrendered to them in Sandakan. Unfortunately, he died in a prisoner-of-war camp a few months ago due to illness..."

"Just dogs biting each other in imperialism," Li Yi'an, brushing his teeth, ignored Stana's emotions.

He sneered inwardly.

Died of illness?

You're too naive. When have those Japanese devils ever been so kind?

"Because North Borneo was occupied, the company had no income, naturally it couldn't pay salaries, and of course, it couldn't pay Sir's pension..."

"What? The company pays salaries? Shouldn't it be the British government paying him?" Li Yi'an asked, spitting out foam from his mouth.

"Darling, North Borneo belongs to the company, not to Britain. It's a chartered company..."

"What's a chartered company?"

If he was merely cooperating before, now Li Yi'an was genuinely curious.

Turning her head to the side with her head resting on her arm, Stana explained, "It's a company with royal charter, ruling over thirty thousand square miles of land there. Everything there belongs to the company. The company manages everything there like a country. In fact, even Jason is an employee of the company."

So it's similar to the East India Company?

Li Yi'an hadn't expected that even in the 20th century, such companies still existed.

"In Britain's colonies, there are still such companies?"

"Darling, North Borneo isn't a British colony. Although it holds a royal charter, legally speaking, it's just a company, accountable to the board of directors, not to Britain..."

Stana sneered.

"When Sandakan fell, neither the army nor the Royal Navy dispatched even a single battalion there. For Britain, it's just private land. It's not a British colony at all."

Stana's words were filled with dissatisfaction towards the British government, to the extent that she didn't notice that Li Yi'an, sitting on the edge of the bed, was distracted by her words.

Private land, not a colony.

Doesn't that mean the land doesn't belong to any country?

At least to some extent, it's not under any country. It's just a company. And if it's a company, then... there's a possibility of a deal!

"The most painful now should be the members of the board of directors. In the past, they could get tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of pounds in dividends every year. But now, not only can they not get dividends, they even have to bear the bank interest," Stana's words startled Li Yi'an, prompting him to ask.

"What interest?"

"Bonds. The bonds issued by the company before the war, amounting to several million pounds. Although the company was occupied, the directors still have to bear the company's debts, including paying bond interest. Last time, when having afternoon tea with Mrs. Deng, I heard her say that the bondholders once again refused to stop paying interest. After all, everyone is having a hard time now. Everyone needs money. Although the directors are wealthy, sitting idly and still having to pay bond interest is also a considerable burden. Mrs. Deng said that if there were fools willing to buy the shares, she would sell them off immediately..."

Stana squinted her eyes, turned over, lay on the bed, opened her arms, completely exposing her perfect body to the sunlight, and lazily said, "But where in the world would there be such fools?"

"Perhaps, there really are such fools!"

"What? How could there be such fools!"

Patting Stana's raised buttocks, feeling the elastic sensation, Li Yi'an said thoughtfully.

"In the future, help me understand more about the company's situation."

"What?"

Stana hurriedly turned over and said anxiously, "Darling, you, you're not thinking of becoming that fool, are you? You must not think it's a bargain. Even those ladies know that after the war, Britain will definitely grant autonomy to the colonies. Without the support of the British government, the company will definitely not be able to continue operating. By then, those shares will be worthless!"

Seeing Stana's concerned look, Li Yi'an smiled.

"It's not worth anything now, is it? Not only worthless, but also a liability that continues to deplete their wealth."

A liability is still an asset!

Although Li Yi'an knew the direction of the future, knew that the British colonial empire would collapse rapidly after the war, it didn't stop him from being interested in the North Borneo Company. At first, he didn't even know what place it was.

It was only through Stana's explanation that he learned that North Borneo was the northwest part of Borneo, with an area of about 75,000 square kilometers. And Borneo was another world's Kalimantan Island - the third largest island in the world, with an area of over seven hundred thousand square kilometers.

He didn't care about such a large island for now, but North Borneo, that was over seventy thousand square kilometers of land!

The most important thing wasn't the land!

It was the ruler of the land!

If he could take advantage of the current opportunity to take over the North Borneo Company, then he could get rid of the biggest dilemma - the possibility of becoming fat to be devoured by others.

In this era, as a Chinese, whether in America or other countries, being rich isn't necessarily a good thing. When you're very rich, you're very likely to become a thorn in the eyes of others, at least making many people jealous.

How can one keep their property under the gaze of such greedy wolves? If one is careless, they might become their meal!

Against this, Li Yi'an had to be vigilant!

Previously, his people had no choice, but now... opportunity has come!