Chapter 141: Trust your own judgement

With just a simple sentence, Zhou Ming dispelled the confusion of these people. Of course, he was unable to dispel their doubts, but at least he was able to stabilise the situation, so that everyone could still advance and retreat together on the surface, and not cause any problems on the spot.

They all went to the meeting room of the airport hotel, which had been booked by Bortaszki long ago, so that they could start discussing the problem as soon as Zhou Ming and the others returned. He had rented it for several days in a row, which showed how anxious they were.

Everyone came to the meeting room together, and everyone was silent. You looked at me and I looked at you, making the atmosphere very dull. Zhou Ming had to ask first, 'Mr. Bortaszki, I wonder how the situation is over here in Krisko right now. Can you tell me in detail? You know that what we learned over the phone in Siberia was not very clear.'

As Zhou Ming spoke, he focused everyone's attention on him. Boltarsky gave a bitter smile and said, 'There's nothing special about it. It's just that Mr. Meta and the others have been short selling gold on the London Exchange, causing the Northern Russian government to have difficulty exporting gold. They can only choose to sell it to the speculators supported by the Dota Project. Many gold mines in the Urals have sold their mining rights directly...'

Before Borodinsky could finish, Li Cheng interrupted, his tone full of surprise, 'Mr. President, you even sold the mining rights to the gold mines. But didn't the Northern Russian government just get 5 billion US dollars? How could they be so poor as to sell the gold mines? Those are gold mines, not just any old mines!'

Although he had already learned about the situation here in Siberia over the phone, when he arrived in Krisko and heard Borodinsky say it himself, it still came as a great surprise to him.

Li Cheng was surprised, and Zhou Ming, who had memories of his previous life, was even more surprised, but not at the fact that the price of gold had been shorted, because in his previous life, it was through the price of gold that Meta had driven the economy of Northern Russia to the brink, which had led to many things that had happened later.

You have to know that the current North Russian government is living off the export of gold, and even the salaries of many state officials are paid through this business. Once the price of gold is short sold, it will inevitably deal a fatal blow to the North Russian economy, forcing the North Russian government to find another way out. They will choose to cooperate with speculators like Maita and export gold through them, which will give them the opportunity to reap huge profits.

Zhou Ming still remembered all this, and there was nothing surprising about history repeating itself. But the problem was just as Li Cheng had said: In the previous life, the nascent North Russian government was broke, but now that the North Russian government had just received 5 billion US dollars, why was it still so sensitive to the price of gold?

What is even more puzzling to Zhou Ming is that in his previous life, even though the financial situation of the Northern Russian government was so bad, it did not sell the gold mine. It knew that it could not fish out all the fish from the pond, but in this life, even though their finances have improved, why did they do such a stupid thing as killing the goose that lays the golden eggs? This doesn't make sense!

Faced with Li Cheng's surprise, the people around Boltarsky looked at each other, and in the end, Il'yadov stepped forward and explained, 'I'm afraid that's because the Kremlin still has to pay severance and resettlement fees to senior Soviet officials.'

This explanation suddenly made sense. Indeed, the disintegration of a superpower is not just a matter of breaking up into individual countries. It turns out that those high-ranking officials in power must be properly settled, otherwise it is easy to cause trouble.

If it were ten or twenty years later, this would not be a problem, but now the Soviet Union has only disintegrated two months ago, and those senior officials still have a lot of influence in the military and political circles of Northern Russia. If these people are not well taken care of, President Nikolayevich will not be able to sit comfortably in his position.

In his previous life, Nikolayevich was given an extra two years to prepare, but now, perhaps it is precisely the lack of these two years of preparation that has put him in such a passive position.

Zhou Ming thought to himself, but this was not a matter for him. He nodded and said in a relaxed tone, 'Mr. Bortaszki, we are aware of this matter. Our President always has his own ideas, but for us, the other side is what needs attention.'

Upon hearing Zhou Ming say this, the faces of all the Northern Russians, including Bortaszki and Irbedov, changed. Although they should have known about this matter long ago.

In the end, Bortaszki said, 'Indeed, the President is now discussing signing an order to further liberalise the capital market and relax the conditions for foreign capital to enter the country.'

'Maximising market liberalisation, leaving everything to the market to operate on its own, even though we know it will be fiercely impacted by foreign hot money, we must compress government spending, abolish subsidies and liberalise prices, and implement trade liberalisation. Is this the shock therapy that the President in the Kremlin is talking about?' Zhou Ming said, his tone was ridiculous and playful.

Compared to Zhou Ming's playful tone, the Northern Russians present all looked like they had a deep sense of grievance, because they were the ones who would be most directly impacted by this so-called shock therapy.

A very simple example is that many people, including Irbedov, have their companies listed for trading. In the past, they were able to manipulate the stock market through various means, but now that the market has been completely liberalised and there is a massive influx of foreign hot money, the days of making money in the stock market with their eyes closed will be gone forever. What is more, foreign capital can even gradually reverse their company's controlling stake through stocks, which is something none of them want to see.

Bortaszky thought for a moment and said, 'Mr. Zhou Ming, although I hate to doubt you, I still have to say that the battle has already begun on the Dota Project side. As long as the President signs that order, the war will truly enter a white-hot stage. At this time, I hope Mr. Zhou Ming can muster your strength. If you are still so indecisive, it will be difficult for us to trust you again.'

Bortas's words were echoed by the others. There, Irbedov opened his mouth to argue with Zhou Ming, but in the end, he was unable to say anything.

'I believe this is what you have been waiting to say after waiting for me at the airport hotel for a few days?'

Zhou Ming said, and everyone subconsciously nodded. Zhou Ming continued, 'Then what I actually want to say is that I don't need you to trust me!'

This sentence shocked everyone immediately. Everyone stared at Zhou Ming with wide eyes, not believing what he had just said. However, the words clearly reached their ears, like a thunderclap, blowing them all away. No one could say a word at once.

'Mr. Zhou Ming, what do you mean by that?' Irbedov asked cautiously.

'It's exactly what it means! Because trust is worthless, I don't know if you've heard the saying that all the loyalty in the world is only due to the high price of betrayal.'

Zhou Ming paused after saying this, and then continued, 'So I don't want you to trust me, and in fact I don't deserve your trust.'

'If we don't trust you, Mr. Zhou Ming, then who should we trust?' Irbedov asked.

'Don't trust anyone, just trust yourselves, or rather trust your own judgment,' Zhou Ming said.

If Zhou Ming's previous distrust was just to fool them all, then this sentence from him at the moment confused them.

'Our judgment? What should we judge?' Bortasksy asked without thinking.

'I am the only one who can judge you,' Zhou Ming said. 'You can think about what my purpose of coming to Northern Russia is. It is nothing more than to make a fortune with the Dota Project. But the Dota Project is the crystallisation of the entire Western society. I alone definitely cannot do it. That is why I need you to join me in a decisive battle on the top of Red Square. Now that the Dota Project has taken the lead, why would I admit defeat and retreat at this time?'

Listening to Zhou Ming's words, Boltarsky and the others subconsciously nodded. At this time, Zhou Ming said again, 'So here today, I can assure everyone that no matter how critical the situation is, I will definitely be able to come up with a solution!'

'Indeed, Mr. Zhou Ming, you are not fighting for us, but for yourself!' Ilbedov said with emotion, 'Because Mr. Zhou Ming, your Chelf market has caused a lot of trouble for the Dota project before. This time, with the entry of international capital, they will definitely not let go of you, Mr. Zhou Ming. Your Chelf market will definitely bear the brunt. You must fight to defend your own interests!'

With Zhou Ming's assurance and Ilbedov's emotion, the others also let out a sigh of relief one after the other. This scene made the smiles on Tong Gang and Li Cheng's faces even brighter.

Here, they all saw the little trick that Zhou Ming had just played. Just now, due to the wavering confidence of people like Boltarsky, Zhou Ming did not directly say something like trust, because he knew very well that it would not be very effective. So he did the opposite and told them not to trust. Then, by revealing his own goal of going to Northern Russia, he brought him and these Northern Russians onto the same side.

In this way, it seems like a big detour before returning to the starting point, but in fact it is not. For a person, they will be more willing to believe in the judgment they have analysed than what you tell them. And Zhou Ming is guiding them to make this judgment.

This Zhou Ming, despite his young age, is really becoming more and more skilled at reading people. Given time, who knows what kind of demon he will become!

Li Cheng and Tong Gang both looked at Zhou Ming and nodded with a smile, and they couldn't help but feel the same thing: they were truly blessed to have met him and become good friends, because only by following him could they break through the bottleneck that Chinese businessmen had always been unable to break through and enter a circle that truly belonged in this world!