Chapter 72: The most important thing is money

'David, this Zhou Ming is really an asshole, with no manners at all. I think we should really find an organisation to teach this rude and impolite Chinese person some manners!'

William returned to Villa 8 and went straight into Davier's study, scolding and cursing, looking extremely annoyed. But that was as far as he got, because this time Davier just stood at his study desk looking at him, surprisingly not criticising him for the first time. This made William feel very strange, and he asked, 'Davier, what's wrong with you?'

Before Davy could say anything, another familiar voice reached his ears: 'I can't believe that you, William, are still so ill-mannered. I really don't understand how you can say that the Chinese man was rude.'

This voice startled William, and he immediately widened his eyes and looked in the direction of the voice. He saw a middle-aged man with glasses and a bald head sitting on the sofa in the study. When William looked over, he was smiling at William.

Upon seeing this person, William suddenly became dumbfounded, moving his lips in a trembling whisper, 'Mr. Meta...why are you here?'

This middle-aged man is the overall commander of the entire 20 trillion dollar tower project, Mr. Meta. He waved to William to stop daydreaming and sit over, and of course also told David to sit over. William sat next to him blankly. Meta patted his shoulder and said, 'William Jr., I didn't think you would be here for such a long time, and you are still so absent-minded. If you go back to the United States, your father will scold me to death.'

William would argue back against David's admonitions, but in the face of Mr. Maita's unemotional words, he simply bowed his head in repentance.

Maita did not pursue William's polite behaviour, but simply nodded and lightly passed it by. He then gave them an unexpected answer: 'I have always been here, never in the United States.'

'Mr. Maita, have you always been in Krisco? Then why didn't you come to Villa 8?' William asked in surprise.

'Because I'm not here 24 hours a day, I have other things to do here,' said Maita. 'I think you all know that for some time, the Soviet Union has been relying on gold exports to support the domestic economy and the ruble. So I went to London to help them out a little.'

It was a very casual remark, but it sounded extraordinary to William's ears. He suddenly remembered that a month before the start of Project Tower, the London gold price suddenly plummeted. At that time, William thought it was just a very accidental speculative act, but now it seems that this was not the case, but the final preparations made by Mr. Mata for Project Tower.

The reason was as Mr. Mata had said, the Soviet economy was on the verge of collapse, propped up by the last bit of gold exports. Now Mr. Mata had suddenly pulled this stunt, sending the Soviet economy straight to the grave.

Then Davier came over with three cups of tea, one for each of them. Mata took a small sip from his cup and said, 'This tea turns out to be a specialty of China. It is said that two hundred years ago in Europa, it was a special drink that only the aristocracy could see at the grandest banquets, but now it is very common. Because in Africa and India, many countries know how to grow tea, it is no longer a special tribute. However, the taste of tea and the unique tea culture of the East have given him great meaning, which has allowed him to conquer the world.'

Having said this, Meta put down his teacup and asked, 'Do you understand what I mean?'

William shook his head blankly, but Davier thought about it for a moment and tentatively replied, 'Mr. Meta, do you mean that the Chinese also understand finance very well?'

Meta nodded and said, 'That's right. Financial capital has a long history in Europe, and there is also a very heavy historical accumulation. We are proud of this in the world, but it doesn't mean that the Orientals will never learn.'

'Mr. Meta, it seems that you have a very high opinion of the Chinese man,' William said.

'Because he fully deserves this evaluation,' Meta said, waving his hand. 'Okay, let's not talk about this. William, what's the rush?'

Hearing Maita ask, William suddenly realised what the reason for his visit was. He immediately said to Maita, 'Mr Maita, you asked the Chinese man to come to Villa 8, didn't you? I went to see him to convey your message, but he actually refused your offer, saying that if he wanted to meet, it could only be at the Hotel 1 where he lives.'

At the end, William shrugged his shoulders and said, 'This coward. He dares not come here, for he must be afraid that we will do him harm!'

Meta nodded indifferently, "He is acting reasonably. After all, he is in control in Krisco.'

Meta's words shocked Davie and William. William pulled at his hair, his face as constipated as if he was completely unable to accept it, and said, "Mr. Meta, you are giving too much credit to that Chinese person, aren't you?'

'It's not that I think highly of him, it's just the way it is,' said Maeta with a sigh. "What do you think is the most important thing in a country's economic system?'

Davier and William were silent and didn't answer, and of course Maeta didn't need them to answer. He then gave the answer: "It's currency. Currency is the foundation of the entire country's economy. If you lose currency, then there is simply no economy in that country.'

Mata's introduction to currency stops here, because there is no need to go into any more detail. Currency is simply money. Even an ordinary person understands that money is necessary for trading and buying things, for living from hand to mouth, and even for going out to eat. Money is an indispensable part of people's lives. If money suddenly disappeared, it would definitely cause a very powerful panic in a country.

Meta paused for a moment before continuing, 'Rubles are the currency of Northern Russia, but now they are slowly being concentrated in the hands of Zhou Ming through the sale of his daily necessities. This is truly our oversight!'

'Mr. Meta, I don't understand. Is this daily necessities really that powerful? It's incredible that they can gather the currency of an entire country,' William said with emotion.

'This is of course not the case in normal circumstances, but the current situation in Northern Russia is just right for these necessities to come into play,' said Maita. 'First of all, the industrial configuration here is very abnormal, with all resources being focused on heavy industry, resulting in an extreme shortage of these necessities. Coupled with the fact that the ruble exchange rate is just at a time of great change, this result is very normal.'

Maita said, lifting his teacup again, 'Look, just such a teacup, if placed a few months ago, would cost at most 10 to 20 rubles, and even if it is a better cup, I'm afraid it wouldn't exceed 100 rubles. But now, if you go to the market, you will see that every cup is casually sold for 700 to 800 rubles, and the better ones are sold for tens of thousands of rubles.'

'I don't understand, Mr. Meta,' William asked doubtfully. "But shouldn't this be caused by currency depreciation? In fact, the value of this cup has not increased, has it?'

This time, it was not Meta but Davier who answered him: "William, you really are a fool! Don't you understand what Mr. Meta means? What he is talking about is not the value of the cup at all, but the ruble itself. Because what the Chinese needs is not how much money they can make from these daily necessities, but to gather more rubles in their hands.'

Wilhelm was certainly not a real idiot, he just hadn't thought of it in that way before. Now that David told him, it suddenly dawned on him.

Yes, if you just looked at the value, Zhou Ming's daily necessities business was not making much money, and he might even be losing a little because of the way he priced his products in relation to the current rouble exchange rate. But if you looked at the rouble itself, he was a success.

The reason is simple: the current fall in the value of the rouble is not due to the North Russian government's indiscriminate issuance of currency. In other words, the amount of currency in circulation in the North Russian market has remained the same.

However, at the same time, the prices of daily necessities have increased by a hundred times, and these daily necessities are still the things that North Russia lacks the most. Millions of Krisko have been snapped up together, and even if each person sells just the most ordinary cup, it would be hundreds of millions of rubles. But how could so many people buy just one cup? The result is that a large amount of rubles have been concentrated in Zhou Ming's hands through the trading of daily necessities.

'What do you think will happen when most of a country's currency is concentrated in one person's hands?' Meta suddenly asked.

In the face of Mr. Maita's question, neither Davie nor William answered, because the question did not need to be answered at all. The answer was beyond doubt. Even the most ordinary person understands that money has great magic power. Otherwise, why would banks be such an important institution in a country? No matter which country, even if the economy is in a downturn, it must find a way to protect the banks, because if the banks run into trouble, the entire country will face a disaster. Countless economic crises have basically started with the banks, and the banks are the place where the country has the most currency.

Control of the money means control of the country's lifeblood. Unless the authorities in a country are determined to bring the whole country down, they must unite with those who control the money or the family.

David and William are both Americans, and they know very well that a certain American financial family became the number one financial family in the United States because they control the Federal Reserve. Even the president has to give them face. Because if the people in control of the money are unhappy, whether they sell the currency or transfer it, it will cause financial turmoil in a country, unless the authorities in that country are determined to bring the entire country into chaos.

'Damn it, that damned Chinese actually took advantage of this loophole!' William spat out an oath, then asked, 'Mr. Maita, is there really nothing we can do?'

Maita shook his head and smiled bitterly, saying, "In this regard, he has already gotten ahead of us. That Chinese guy named Zhou Ming is really a genius, to have come up with this idea. Now that he has this trump card, we can only go talk to him. There's no other way.'

Maita paused for a moment after saying this, and said, "I think the one in the Kremlin is probably having a bigger headache than we are.'

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