Chapter 94: The problem of insufficient supply

Meta's Lincoln sedan drove into the Kremlin. Like the previous limousine, Meta's car drove directly to the office building inside. President Kasyan met him at the door. When he saw Meta and Davier get out of the car, he walked up to them and said, 'I very much welcome Mr. Meta and Mr. Davier. The president is already waiting for you in his office.'

Mata nodded and followed Kasia upstairs with Davier. They arrived at the President's office. Nikolaevich immediately got up and invited Mata and Davier to sit down on the sofa in the reception area. From this gesture, Mata could easily tell the psychological state of the President of Northern Russia at this time.

Mata was very clever about this and didn't say anything. Although it was very cool to show off in front of the President of a country, Mr. Mata was long past that age, so he just sat down with Davier as usual.

Nikolaevich asked his office to bring them each a cup of coffee before he said, 'Mr. Mata, after three days of adjustment, the new ruble has replaced the old ruble, except that it lacks the corresponding value internationally. I know that Mr. Mata has a very high status internationally, and I hope that Mr. Mata can support our new North Russian ruble in other markets and use the new ruble in transactions more often.'

Maita and Davier were not surprised by Nikolayevich's opening remarks, because it would be a disgrace for the President of Northern Russia to be impatient and ask about the situation in Zhou Ming right away. He had to be restrained.

'Mr President, you should know that I am an international financial speculator. As long as it can make me a profit, I will spare no effort to do it. On the contrary, it is hard to say. No one will do business at a loss.'

Maita said something meaningless to Nikolaevich. Since the president was confident in his status, and Mr Maita was not a small person who would do anything casually, they would just chat nonsense together.

'But Mr Maita, our Northern Russia was at least a superpower in the past. Although the current economic development situation is not satisfactory, we are also at a historical turning point. Once we get through this stage, with our industrial and scientific foundations, we can still have great development in the future...'

Nikolaevich said this to Meita, but he could also feel that the other party didn't care. In addition, Nikolaevich himself was also very anxious about the current situation. There was no point in dragging it on, so in the end he had to surrender first and say, 'Mr. Meita, just now you said you had very important news. I wonder what it is?'

In the face of Nikolic's early surrender, Maita was not smug, but just answered him very normally: 'It's the news from the Chelf market. I just came back from there, and they are still recognising the value of the old ruble there, and the old ruble can still be used there.'

Although Nikolic had already heard the news beforehand, after all, Kernon was leading such a huge procession of thousands of people on Glei Street, which could not fail to attract the attention of the relevant departments, so the news reached Nikolic.

But even though he already knew, he was still very surprised to hear the news at this time: 'Why? Is this Ming Zhou really planning to do charity work here in Krisco? Or are those Chinese trying to go against the Mlini Palace? I'll send them all to prison!'

'But I don't think you can do that, Mr President, because the Chinese are very cunning and they haven't broken any of your decrees.'

Maita said that Nikolic didn't understand what he meant, so Maita explained to Nikolic the rules that Zhou Ming had set down: first spend new rubles to buy shares, and after you have bought the shares, you can then use old rubles in the Chelf market.

After listening to Maita's explanation, Nikolic was dumbfounded: 'Can shares be played like this? These Chinese people are really despicable, using old rubles as bait to trick people into spending new rubles to buy their shares.'

'As long as it's profitable, there's nothing that can't be done. The reason the Chinese came up with such a method is because there are still too many old rubles in people's hands. Due to the abolition, everyone wants to spend them as soon as possible, which gives them an opportunity,' said Maita.

Nikolaevic frowned and said, 'If they continue to develop in this way, the so-called Chelf Market Management Company will become bigger and bigger due to its shares, and more and more new rubles will flow into the pockets of those Chinese people. In the end, they will also become increasingly difficult to manage, and may even threaten the political and economic balance of the entire Krisco, including the Dota project.'

Maita smiled. He could hear that Nikolaevic's last sentence was added at the last minute just to provoke him.

But Mr. Maita didn't care about this: 'Mr. President, I think you are giving the Chinese too much credit. In my opinion, their actions are nothing more than a scam that will backfire.'

'A scam?' Nikolaevich asked in surprise. 'Why do you say it's a scam, Mr. Maita?'

'It's simple. I don't know if you remember, Mr. President, how much of the goods the Chinese shipped in from Petrograd at the beginning?' Maita asked instead of answering.

Nikolaevich did not answer this question, not because he had forgotten, but because he understood what Maita meant.

Nikolaevich looked at Maita with some admiration, thinking that this Mr. Maita was indeed a financial warfare expert directly responsible to the President of the United States. His vision and insight were truly beyond the reach of ordinary people, and his previous sentence directly pointed to the key to the problem on Zhou Ming's side.

Now, what makes Zhou Ming and the others able to sell so many shares of the new ruble? Apart from the fact that everyone is eager to use up the old rubles in their hands, an even more important point is that there are goods that everyone needs in the Chelf market. Otherwise, if this prerequisite is lost, no matter how much Zhou Ming and the others admit the old rubles, I'm afraid no one will buy it.

So the question now is, how many goods do Zhou Ming and the Chinese have to supply the entire Krško?

According to Nikolaević's memory, it seems that since the first shipment of more than 10,000 tons of goods, Zhou Ming has never shipped any more goods from anywhere. However, his trade in the Cef market has continued for more than half a month, and it has been in a state of being snapped up for a long time.

More than 10,000 tons of goods may sound like a lot, but in Krško, a city with a population of several million, it is not worth mentioning.

Zhou Ming has not replenished his goods for such a long time, and has been living off his old stock. How long can his business last? And once his supply is cut off, then his act of selling shares would not become a scam?

Thinking about this, Nikolajevich smiled happily, shaking his head in pretended regret and saying, 'These Chinese people are really hateful, they would actually use such a trick to deceive our people. As the President of Northern Russia, I will not allow such a thing to happen.'

Nikolaevich then said to Maita, 'Thank you very much, Mr. Maita, for reporting this kind of thing. I will send someone to closely monitor the situation over there. Once anything is discovered, I will definitely arrest all those responsible.'

Maita also smiled, 'I have no objection to the President's decision, but I just hope that the President can reopen the securities company as soon as possible.'

...

While Meta and Nikolaevich were plotting in the Mlin Palace, in the management office of the Chelf Market, Zhou Ming and Li Chengtong had just sat down on the sofa, both frowning, and in front of them, each had spread out a document.

'The quantities of various goods in the market are running low, especially clothes, shoes and socks. Several of our warehouses are completely empty. If this continues, it will soon affect normal sales in the market.'

Tong Gang said that the document in front of him was the storage data of the Cherv Market. When the shares of the market management company were being subscribed to frantically, Zhou Ming raised a headache in the office and then immediately looked up the data of the market warehouse. As Meta and Nikolajevic had estimated, their goods were really running out.

'If it just affects sales in the market, it's okay, but I'm afraid someone will take advantage of the situation to do something, and that would be troublesome,' Zhou Ming said.

On hearing Zhou Ming say this, Li Cheng and Tong Gang both frowned even more deeply. They had been in Northern Russia for more than a day and a night, and naturally understood what Zhou Ming was referring to. It was nothing more than a fear that the Dota Project and the Mlini Palace would join forces to find trouble.

'Chairman Tong, how long will it be before our ship can set sail? Can we set sail first, even if it doesn't meet the ten thousand ton standard, to solve our immediate problem?' Li Cheng asked Tong Gang.

'We have encountered some problems with procurement and shipping in Europe. Not only have the suppliers deliberately delayed the delivery, but the customs procedures and inspections have also become much more cumbersome than before. It will take at least three days before we can ship out,' Tong Gang replied. 'I'm afraid that even if we can ship out now, it will already be too late.'

Tong Gang sighed as he looked out the window, because outside were thousands of crazed northern Russians who had come to deliver money.

As businessmen, Li Cheng and Tong Gang actually found there were too many customers for the first time, which was really a little laughable.

Li Cheng looked up at Zhou Ming, but saw that he seemed to be lost in thought. He asked curiously, 'Zhou Ming, aren't you worried?'

'Of course I'm worried, but there's no use being anxious now. I just hope the phone call we've been waiting for will come soon,' Zhou Ming said.

Li Cheng and Tong Gang exchanged glances, both seeing disbelief in each other's eyes. They had no idea what Zhou Ming was talking about.

Just as Li Cheng was about to say something, Zhou Ming's phone on the table suddenly rang. Zhou Ming picked it up and put it to his ear, a smile suddenly appearing on his face. A few minutes later, he hung up the phone and stood up, happily announcing an incredible piece of news to Li Cheng and Tong Gang: 'Chairman Tong, Chairman Li, our problem of insufficient supply has been solved.'