Chapter 78: A load of rubbish

Every country has a power centre synonymous with it, like the White House in the United States, 10 Downing Street in the United Kingdom, the Élysée Palace in France, Zhongnanhai, etc. Some are very famous and appear frequently in the media, while others are relatively less well-known. Here in Northern Russia, his power centre is the world-famous Mulin Palace. The pinnacle of fiction

Molin Palace is located on the hill in the very centre of the capital of Northern Russia, Krisko. It is one of the best-preserved palace complexes in the world and has been the place where emperors and empresses have been crowned and come of age for centuries. Nowadays, it is where the leaders work and live. Even the news broadcast refers to Northern Russian policies in the context of Molin Palace, which shows how influential it is.

A very ordinary Volga car slowly drove past Red Square and entered the Minsk Palace, which symbolises power. Zhou Ming and Li Chengtong were just sitting in the car.

In the car, Kareina very consciously took on the role of tour guide and told Zhou Ming and the others, 'In fact, the Kremlin also has a lot of connections with China. It was hundreds of years ago, when the most powerful Mongolian Empire was on an expedition to Europe. The army arrived here in Krisko and saw the Kremlin. They called this place an impregnable fortress, so the Kremlin still has the meaning of an inner city and a fortress.'

No one can tell the truth from the fiction of a few hundred years ago, but as the granddaughter of a former high-ranking Soviet official, Kalina naturally has more accurate information than anyone else.

Like Zhongnanhai, the Kremlin also has its own majesty and rules. Zhou Ming and the others could only drive their Volga as far as the gate tower, and then they had to get out and switch to the Kremlin's designated vehicle to get to where they were going. After all, this is for the safety of the head of state. Even if someone with ulterior motives really brought a powerful bomb, they could still blow up the entire Kremlin. bomb, it would still be able to blow up the entire Mulin Palace.

After verifying their identities, Zhou Ming and the others were led to a building with a very classical medieval Byzantine charm. According to Kalelina's introduction, this was where senior Soviet officials used to work and rest, and it was the real centre of power within the Mulin Palace.

'Mr Zhou Ming, Mr Li Cheng and Mr Tong Gang, the President is already waiting for you in the meeting room. Please follow me upstairs.'

A secretary was waiting for Zhou Ming and the others at the door. After meeting them, he gave them this piece of advice and then took them upstairs. Zhou Ming and Li Cheng followed him into a long corridor and came to the door of a meeting room. They were told that the President was having a meeting inside. Zhou Ming nodded and pushed open the door to go in. The situation inside made them nervous all of a sudden.

Of course, this tension does not mean that there is a special forces unit waiting in ambush in the conference room, waiting to machine-gun them into a pile of蜂窝煤 as soon as they walk in, eliminating these criminals who are invading the North Russian economy from the **. Rather, it is full of high-ranking officials from the North Russian Republic.

There was a long table in the meeting room, with the President of Northern Russia, Nikolayevich, seated at the head. The others were seated on either side. Zhou Ming and the others had a certain understanding of the power structure here after arriving in Northern Russia and knew that these were the current senior officials of the Northern Russian government, including the Prime Minister and the Minister of the Interior. All the senior officials with real power in the government were basically here. But even if they didn't know, just looking at the President's Chief of Staff, Karsia, who they had met before, sitting all the way down there, they could imagine the status of the others sitting in front of him.

Judging from the status of these people, the importance of today's meeting can be imagined. So in a meeting like this with so many important government officials in attendance, how could they not be nervous when a group of outsiders like them came?

Fortunately, Zhou Ming had been to Zhongnanhai before and was immune to such situations, so he was the first to relax. He said to Nikolajevic, 'Mr. President and gentlemen, hello everyone, I'm sorry to disturb you all. I was invited by Zhou Ming to attend this meeting. These two are Mr. Tong Gang, chairman of the famous Hong Kong businessman Hong Kong Shipping Group, and Mr. Li Cheng, chairman of Changhe Industrial. It's a pleasure to meet you all.'

With Zhou Ming's opening remarks, Tong Gang and Li Cheng were also not nervous, and they all greeted the high-ranking Northern Russian officials attending the meeting in a familiar way.

Nikolaevich nodded and then said to everyone, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, I have already introduced you to everyone. I invited Mr. Zhou Ming here today to discuss the new ruble.'

Nikolaevich's words caused everyone to suddenly cast surprised glances at Zhou Ming. Although they had long known that the matter of issuing the new ruble would be discussed today, and that Nikolaevich would invite an outsider to attend the meeting, and that this person was a young Chinese who had also amassed a huge fortune from the old ruble, knowing and seeing were still two different things, so they were still surprised at first.

If Zhou Ming had been a Chinese American, or an economics professor from Hong Kong, or at worst a businessman in his 50s or 60s, it would have been more acceptable, but Zhou Ming was a young man from mainland China, which was really hard to believe.

Since Zhou Ming was invited by President Nikolayevich, and it was an indisputable fact that Zhou Ming controlled the ruble, these senior northern Russian officials, although they did not show it on the surface, always unconsciously wore a suspicious look in their eyes.

Zhou Ming didn't care about these looks, because to him, whether you believe it or not has nothing to do with me. I'm not really here to be your advisor and help you solve your economic problems. All I want is to make money, that's all.

Then Nikolayevich asked Zhou Ming to sit down. The legendary president of Northern Russia said to Zhou Ming, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, I presume you already know the content of today's meeting, and you are also a very astute Chinese businessman, so I won't repeat myself.'

After some pleasantries, Nikolavich got straight to the point: 'You are aware of the current economic situation in Northern Russia. Since the opening of the capital market, the exchange rate of the ruble has been on a downward trend. As the ruble depreciates, it also brings a series of problems to the domestic economy. Therefore, in order to save the economy of Northern Russia, we have decided to abolish the old ruble and issue a new one. I wonder if you have any comments?'

'This is your economic policy in Northern Russia, I have no comments, and I also support the issuance of the new ruble,' Zhou Ming said.

In response to Zhou Ming's answer, the senior Northern Russian officials present kept shaking their heads. Originally, when Nikolajevic asked Zhou Ming, these officials all had expectations for this Chinese man specially invited by the president. No matter where he came from or his age, his behaviour of manipulating the ruble using the sale of daily necessities was still very surprising, so everyone wanted to hear his opinions. However, who knew that he would just give such a nonsense answer.

Someone cursed in their heart: You damned bastard! Are all these Chinese people just boot-lickers? You were asked here to give your opinion, not to follow orders!

Even Nikolayevich frowned in displeasure, because Zhou Ming's support was not the answer he wanted.

Because the abolition of the old ruble and the issuance of the new ruble was not a simple policy change. It involved various economic issues, and if it was not handled properly, it could easily cause a nationwide economic collapse, which no government would want to see. Therefore, it must be handled with extreme caution. When the People's Republic of China first established its currency after the founding of the People's Republic of China, it did not take several years to complete.

The situation in Northern Russia is the same now. Although the old ruble system is no longer working and the national economy is in a poor state, it has not yet reached the point of complete chaos and the need for a reshuffle. Nikolajevich also hopes that the issuance of the new ruble will be smooth.

It is for this reason that he invited Zhou Ming over to hear his views, but who knew that Zhou Ming would throw out such a supportive remark.

Nikolaevich thought for a moment and said: 'It seems that Mr. Zhou Ming doesn't think highly of the old ruble either. However, as you can see, the old ruble has depreciated significantly due to rising prices, economic problems, and various other reasons. Since the new ruble is going to be issued, it must reverse this situation. So I wonder what Mr. Zhou Ming thinks about the exchange rate of the new ruble?'

Zhou Ming let out a little gasp. 'Exchange rates? Well, in the final analysis, an exchange rate is the value of one currency relative to another.

'Put simply, under the gold standard system of the past, gold was the most basic and universal currency. The unit of currency of two countries that implemented the gold standard system could determine the exchange rate between them based on their respective gold content. That was the exchange rate.'

Zhou Ming paused for a moment after saying this, and then continued, 'Of course, that was the practice in the past with metal currencies, but now it's all paper money. However, the actual situation is still the same. Each country issues paper money as a representative of metal currency, and refers to past practices to stipulate the gold content of paper money by decree. This gold content is the exchange rate. However, compared to past practices, paper money is much more virtual, and this exchange rate is not as stable.'

'Especially in a market environment, this exchange rate will change with economic development, or changes in bank interest rates and political changes in the country. Therefore, the determination of the exchange rate must be done with caution.'

Zhou Ming continued: 'Because the value of a currency is largely a reflection of a country's economic strength, if the exchange rate is set too high and the country does not have such a strong economic strength, then it will cause the exchange rate to collapse in the future; on the contrary, setting the exchange rate too low is the same, it will cause the cheap loss of the country's resources, and there are many more troublesome things.'

  'Northern Russia is a very powerful country. It inherited everything from the former Soviet Union and is one of the most influential forces in the world that cannot be ignored. The issuing of the new ruble requires extreme caution when setting the exchange rate,' concluded Zhou Ming.