Chapter 85: The US Dollar Standard Conjecture

As Zhou Ming spoke these words, Du Peng immediately fell silent and did not speak for a long time. However, Zhou Ming was not in a hurry, because he knew Du Peng and knew that he was not the type of person who did not have the ability to make decisions.

Sure enough, just a minute later, Du Peng spoke, asking Zhou Ming, 'Why are you telling me this?'

'The news can only be useful if it is given to the right person, and at the moment, I don't have anyone else to tell this news to except you, Du Peng,' Zhou Ming said. "If it were Yang, I don't think it would be a good idea to tell him directly.'

'Why?" Du Peng asked hurriedly.

'The reason is simple. Although Yang has now seized real power in the military and is actually the core of the country's leadership, the country is so big that it is impossible to truly unite everyone. So if he proposes a new military theory before he abdicates, it will easily invite malicious speculation from people with ulterior motives. It is not clear whether he wants to arrange anything before he abdicates, which could instead cause a major mistake. That is why I did not go directly to Yang.'

Zhou Ming paused here, then continued, 'Of course, there is an even more important point, and that is, Du Peng, you are my brother. Since this is such important news, and since you will find it useful to hear it, why the hell wouldn't I tell you?'

Du Peng was stunned at first, then burst out laughing, 'That's right, Zhou Ming, you've really touched me with those words!'

'Come on, let's not be so sentimental, you and I are both men. Actually, I know that this is also a coincidence,'

Zhou Ming told Du Peng, 'You know that I work in finance and investment here in the United States. Recently, due to the changing situation in the Middle East, I have invested in everything from oil to military industry securities. While I was investing in the stocks of American military industry companies, I discovered a strange phenomenon. The two arms companies, General Motors and Phoenix, are very valuable investments after calculation. The common characteristic of these two companies is that their cruise missiles and optical electronic equipment are particularly good.'

'The situation in the United States is different from that in China. The arms business there is monopolised by major consortia, and the Department of Defense must spend money to buy from the arms companies controlled by the consortia, no matter what it needs. It is for this reason that the war tactics prepared by the United States can be analysed by analysing the stock market trends of various arms companies in the stock market and by analysing the strengths of each arms company.

Zhou Ming continued, 'The current stock market situation of General Motors and Phoenix reminds me of the American tactical theory of three-dimensional strikes and decapitation operations. To put it simply, it is the use of cruise missiles to bomb important military facilities or command centres, seize air supremacy, and then use bombers to carry out unrestricted bombing to wear down the enemy's fighting spirit, and finally send in infantry to occupy.'

Zhou Ming sighed and said, 'Compared to this, I also think of the backward tactical theory in China nowadays, which is why I called you.'

After listening to Zhou Ming's words, Du Peng said with emotion, 'Zhou Ming, I really admire you for being able to extend from such a small aspect to so many other aspects.'

'No choice, this is how the economy behaves in war!' Zhou Ming said deliberately, then laughed happily, 'In fact, all of this must be understood, because as an investor, I must understand all aspects of the investment target. If there is a lack of understanding in one aspect, it may lead to incomplete information, and ultimately may cause the investment to fail, which is not the result I want.'

'I didn't realise that investing in the United States was still such a complicated matter,' Du Peng asked.

'But investing in the United States, but the global economy as a whole, is affected by global politics and even war,' Zhou Ming corrected.

Du Peng stopped being pretentious: 'I see, then I'll accept this great gift from you, Zhou Ming. Don't worry about the United States, no matter what happens, our army will always be your strongest backing.'

Zhou Ming then gave a few more instructions before hanging up. Zhou Ming did not analyse in detail the possible tactics of the United States in the Gulf War. On the one hand, Zhou Ming knew that the Du family must have professionals, and those officers serving in the General Staff must know more than he did. On the other hand, apart from knowing the names of a few missiles and fighter jets, he really didn't know anything else. It was better not to show off in front of a master.

As the saying goes: acting b is b if you do it right, but stupid if you overdo it.

As soon as Zhou Ming hung up the phone, he felt a fragrant and soft body leaning against him. Lin Muqing asked Zhou Ming, 'I understand that you want to help him and get you more closely connected to the country, but are you sure the Americans will fight that way? You have to know that the Ministry of National Defence's order has not yet come out!'

Zhou Ming shook his head and replied, 'There is no need to wait for the order to come out, because the current international environment and trends are destined to make the Americans fight this war in this way.'

'You mean the collapse of the Soviet Union and the United States' pledge to assert its global hegemony?' Lin Muqing asked.

'That's just the political aspect, there's also the economic aspect,' Zhou Ming said.

'The economic aspect?' Lin Muqing was very surprised, and she blinked her beautiful big eyes at Zhou Ming, indicating that she didn't understand.

Zhou Ming nodded and replied, 'It's the economic aspect, or simply put, it refers to the US dollar.'

'The Bretton Woods system, I think you must have heard of it, Muqing?' Zhou Ming asked.

Lin Muqing nodded and said she had heard of it. Zhou Ming continued, 'There are all kinds of explanations for this system, but the core idea is to establish the dollar standard system. Later, with several US dollar credit crises, the Bretton Woods system has long since ended, but the United States still hopes to maintain the dollar standard system, because only in this way can it develop itself without any worries through the world, even if it has had a half-century of fiscal deficits.'

'This is easy to understand. It's like in a village where everyone has to use the money made by my family no matter what they buy. Then there's no reason why this family won't get rich. Because if he wants to buy something, he just has to make more money,' said Zhou Ming.

'Of course, maintaining the dollar standard is not just a matter of words. It requires strong support. In the past, it was the United States' strong economic strength. Now, with the global economic recovery, the United States definitely can't rely on its economy alone. It must rely on the world's number one military power. But the United States has come off a bit tarnished after previous wars. This time, the Gulf War is his chance to redeem himself, and he can't afford not to do his best.'

Zhou Ming said, 'The whole world knows that the United States can win if it fights Iraq, but the key is whether it can win cleanly, smartly and beautifully. If it's like the Vietnam War, I'm afraid the United States itself won't know how to command the world and maintain the dollar standard system. And this situation is also intolerable for major domestic consortia, including the Brighton Consortium.'

After listening to Zhou Ming's explanation, Lin Muqing froze in place, and after a long while, she let out a long breath and said, 'I really didn't expect that just from a war that hasn't happened yet, you could analyse so much information, this is truly amazing!'

'Originally, I thought that finance was about paying attention to the market and the situation of a company, and that was all you needed to do to analyse the right direction to invest in. But I never imagined that it was also so closely linked to national politics and the past, present and future of history. It seems that I am really far behind you, Zhou Ming. 'Lin Muqing felt infinitely emotional, 'Once I set up the Hong Kong City United Investment Fund Company, made several very successful investments, and expanded the company to the mainland and the United States, I thought I had caught up with you. Now I realise that I was still too naive and am still far behind you.'

In the face of Lin Muqing's feelings, Zhou Ming said to her, 'Sister Muqing, you are already very good. At the beginning, I only left you a Golden Name Fund Company. I thought it would be very good if you could grow this company, but I didn't expect you to actually integrate the entire Hong Kong City's capital and establish the Hong Kong City United Investment Fund. Sister Muqing, you don't even know how surprised I was when I heard the news.'

Zhou Ming thought for a moment and said, 'And as for the US dollar standard, that was just a wild guess on my part. After all, I had to tell you something, so I just bragged and made it all up.'

Lin Muqing shook her head and said, 'Zhou Ming, don't try to comfort me. I'm not some little girl who knows nothing. I understand.'

'Zhou Ming, you said you were bragging, and I believe you. But can you just make things up as you go along? Among the many skyscrapers in Central, Hong Kong, there are a lot of rich people sitting there, but I dare say that there are not more than ten people who can give the same analysis as you. Even on Wall Street, I believe there are not more than a hundred people.'

Lin Muqing said, 'Because this requires not only an extremely broad perspective and thinking, but also a wealth of observation and knowledge.'

After saying this, Lin Muqing paused for a moment and then said, 'Zhou Ming, you say I'm amazing. I know that what I've done is an amazing achievement for ordinary people, but what about you? I don't want to be aloof from ordinary people, I just want to follow in your footsteps, but now it seems that even this simple thought has become a luxury. Every time I think I'm getting close to you, you'll use facts to tell me that you've run far ahead again!'

Zhou Ming froze. There was one sentence that could describe Zhou Ming's mood right now, and that was, 'Even if I'm good, it's still my fault.'

However, Zhou Ming knew very well that he could not say this now, otherwise it would only make Lin Muqing more excited.

So Zhou Ming took a deep breath and said, 'Sister Muqing, there is no way around this, because the world is progressing. If I don't run forward, then someone will come up from behind and kick my butt.'

Lin Muqing wanted to say something, but the next sentence from Zhou Ming left her speechless.

'And the person who is going to kick my butt is you, Sister Muqing,' Zhou Ming said.

Upon hearing this, Lin Muqing was at a loss for words: 'Who's going to kick your butt?'

'Didn't you just say that you've been chasing after me? Who knows if you're going to come up and kick my butt,' Zhou Ming laughed.

'I didn't. What I meant was that I want to enrich myself and keep up with you...'

Lin Muqing tried hard to explain, but Zhou Ming shook his head and looked like he wasn't listening, which made Lin Muqing a little crazy. In the end, Lin Muqing grabbed Zhou Ming's hand and bit it.

Zhou Ming let out a cry of pain, 'Sister Muqing, how come I didn't realise you were a puppy?'

'You're the one who's a puppy!' Lin Muqing retorted.

Zhou Ming shook his head helplessly, 'Looks like I need to find a way to gag you.'

Lin Muqing was about to say how to plug it when Zhou Ming took direct action, cupping Lin Muqing's pretty face in his hands and kissing her right on the lips.

However, Zhou Ming's kiss did not go so smoothly. At first, Lin Muqing desperately shook her head to prevent Zhou Ming from kissing her, but she could not resist Zhou Ming, and she did not resist Zhou Ming's kiss. Soon, Lin Muqing's shoving hands wrapped around Zhou Ming's neck and she threw herself into the kiss.

Then the liberated Zhou Ming unbuttoned Lin Muqing's clothes one by one, and his hands went all the way up from her snow-white waist, roughly entering her underwear from the bottom and making Lin Muqing moan. As Zhou Ming kissed her, Lin Muqing also held him tightly, her ten long fingers digging into his hair, as if she wanted to embrace this man into her body.