Chapter 111: Brighton Bank

'Brighton Bank? Governor Edward, aren't you a bit too good at picking up on the main points? Or why don't you simply say that you let us help you run for president, and then you just sign a presidential order to crack down on the Adams family, wouldn't that be more straightforward?'

Lin Muqing asked Edward a series of questions in great dissatisfaction, but it was not surprising that Lin Muqing would be so angry. It was indeed the key point of Edward's election that was a bit too difficult.

The predecessor of Brighton Bank was Brighton First National Bank, a family commercial bank controlled by the Adams family. It was originally a domestic bank with huge assets, and its main business was only in the New England region of the northeast. Later, after merging with the Massachusetts Bank of the Lowell family, it became one of the earliest multinational banks in the United States.

After the merger, the Bank of Brighton, which was already financially strong, later integrated the capital controlled by the insurance companies of the four families, and received generous investment returns during the two World Wars.

The Brighton Consortium relied on the capital of the Bank of Brighton and insurance companies to continuously acquire companies in various industries, and followed the trends of the two World Wars and the Cold War to establish aircraft and arms companies, strengthen its control over the entire state of Massachusetts and the entire region of the heart of England, and finally fund the election campaigns of members of parliament and even the president, completing the transformation into a super consortium that has infiltrated the political and economic spheres.

On paper, the Bank of Brighton may only have assets of one hundred billion U.S. dollars, but this is the result of several rounds of equity splitting and redistribution. Not to mention the shares held by the four families on the board of directors of the Bank of Brighton and the capital they have invested in other industries, any of which exceeds one trillion. As for the Adams family, the oldest member of the consortium, their assets are even more incalculable.

In other words, when Brighton Bank is threatened, even if the three families of Cundinell Lawrence and Lowell stand by and do nothing, the energy unleashed by the Adams family alone is immeasurable.

So how can such a towering and powerful key point, which is also the key point of the entire consortium, be dealt with?

However, Edward, who raised this key point, did not pay any heed to Lin Muqing's anger, but just stared at Zhou Ming, waiting for his answer.

Zhou Ming let out a breath and said, 'I can trust the judgment of Mr. Governor. Brighton Bank is indeed a key point. After all, no matter how big a company is, once the capital chain breaks, the entire company will be at risk of collapse. And a large family is nothing more than a combination of many companies. So if the overall capital chain breaks, naturally the family will also face the risk of collapse.'

Zhou Ming paused for a moment, then continued: 'But Mr Governor, Mr Principal and Mr Louis, you are really very generous. Because the Brighton Bank is the key to the Adams family, it is also the key to the entire Brighton Consortium. If I really find a way to deal with the Brighton Bank, aren't you afraid that I will bring the entire Brighton Consortium to collapse?'

'Of course we will be worried about this,' Edward said, "but now we are an alliance, and all your ideas, Mr. Zhou Ming, will have to go through us before they can be implemented. If your ideas will endanger the entire consortium, I don't think we will agree.'

'It seems that even though we have formed an alliance, we are not necessarily a whole that will deal with the Adams family together. More often than not, you will still be tying my hands, right?" Zhou Ming said.

'Mr. Zhou Ming, you are being a bit too radical,' said Louis. "We will indeed pay close attention to you, but only if you will cause harm to the entire Brighton. After all, we are all part of this consortium...'

Before Louis could finish his sentence, Edward interrupted and said to Zhou Ming, "I think Mr. Zhou Ming, you should have thought about these issues when you made the decision to ally with us?'

'I did think about it, but I didn't expect to encounter it so directly at the beginning,'

Zhou Ming said with a smile, and then let out a long breath and added, 'But if the key point is really only Brighton Bank, then no matter how difficult it is, we must take it down. However, I need information about Brighton Bank's accounts.'

Afterwards, Zhou Ming thought for a moment and added: 'The accounting information I need is not the one disclosed at the shareholders' meeting, the script to defraud ordinary investors of their money, but the accounting information in the hands of your family, including Brighton Bank's investment projects, as well as the bank's internal bad and dead debts, and information on various loans made by the bank. I want it all.'

Edward Lawrence and Louis were both surprised. Edward asked Zhou Ming with interest, 'Why has Mr. Zhou Ming already decided to take action against Brighton Bank? Did you think of a way so quickly?'

'Is there any other way besides Brighton Bank?' Zhou Ming asked in return.

'I see,' Edward said, 'but Mr. Zhou Ming, you are asking for too much, and the information you want is very important. We are afraid we cannot provide it rashly.'

Zhou Ming laughed: 'Then I think Mr. Governor must not have heard the story about a woman who wanted to get a lot of money, so she went to work as a prostitute. But then she didn't want the other people in the village to gossip and accuse her behind her back, so she erected a chastity arch at the entrance to the village to show that even though she had become a prostitute and had many clients, she was still a virtuous and good woman.'

Edward Lawrence and Louis were both intelligent people, and they immediately heard the meaning behind Zhou Ming's story. Louis immediately scolded, 'Are you calling us prostitutes who set up a monument to our virtue?'

Zhou Ming shrugged, 'I didn't say that, but you want me to deal with the Adams family and take the Brighton Bank to task, but you don't give me accurate information. Isn't that the same as a prostitute setting up a monument to her virtue?'

Edward wanted to explain something, but Zhou Ming preempted him and said, 'Don't think I don't know what you're up to. I admit that Brighton Bank is indeed a key point for the Adams family, but it is also a key point for the entire Brighton consortium, right? You want to choose this as your primary target. Do you want to simply deal with the Adams family, or do you want to use this opportunity to compete for control of the consortium? I think I don't need to say more.'

Faced with Zhou Ming's words, neither Edward Lawrence nor Louis could say anything. They looked at each other, and in the end Edward nodded and said, 'Okay, I understand. We will provide you with the information you need as soon as possible.'

'Thank you very much,' Zhou Ming said.

...

With the key point of the problem being finalized, Zhou Ming's meeting with Edward Lawrence and Louis came to an end. After all, there was no friendship at all between them. Apart from the common goal, there really wasn't much common ground.

Back in her room, Lin Muqing sat heavily on the sofa and complained to Zhou Ming, 'These three Americans are outrageous. They are clearly trying to make things difficult for you on purpose, saying that the key point is Brighton Bank...'

Lin Muqing then nodded and said, 'Yes, I admit that Brighton Bank is indeed a key point. Without financial support, the Adams family is like a leg missing. In this situation, it will be much easier to deal with them or force them to the negotiating table. But what did they mean by what they said afterwards? They said that you, Zhou Ming, cannot have too many ideas beyond the line, and they don't want to give you information about Brighton Bank. Are they doing this to ally with you, or to guard against you?'

Zhou Ming was very relaxed about this. He smiled and explained to Lin Muqing, 'They do want to ally with me, because this is a very good opportunity, but at the same time, they definitely have to guard against me, because compared to this Brighton consortium, I am an outsider.'

Lin Muqing sighed and said helplessly, 'I understand that, but I just can't help feeling a bit resentful. If Tong Gang, Li Cheng, and Yelbeldov were still around, we wouldn't be in such a passive situation.'

Zhou Ming could do nothing about this. During the earlier meeting, Zhou Ming had also asked Edward Lawrence and Louis, and they both said that they had not yet found out whereabouts. Regarding their answers, Zhou Ming believed that on the one hand, they did not want to find out. After all, without the support of the consortium behind them, they would be able to control the situation more easily; of course, on the other hand, there was also the urgency of the situation. Since the people were hidden by the Adams family, they might not be in Massachusetts, and it would not be possible to find them so easily.

Lin Muqing said after a while, 'Zhou Ming, don't you still have people in Northern Russia? Or Zhou Ming, you can ask them to send someone over again, mobilise some more funds, and put pressure on the Adams and these three families, so that they understand that it's useless to just hold onto those three people.'

Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'Muqing, I've thought about this idea too, but we operate offshore, and it takes time to transfer funds from Northern Russia. In addition, with the example of Irbedov, I'm afraid that everyone else will also be more concerned about themselves. And the loss of trust in cooperation is the most terrible thing.'

'But Zhou Ming, does that mean we're just going to let those guys do whatever they want now?' Lin Muqing's tone was very unwilling.

'This is what it's like to be under someone else's roof. Perhaps for various reasons, they also need me to help them break into the market, but that's about it. We still need them more, whether it's information about the Adams family or Brighton Bank.' Zhou Ming said, "Anyway, let's get the information about Brighton Bank first.'

Lin Muqing thought for a moment and asked, "Zhou Ming, do you think we can find any flaws in Brighton Bank and use them against them?'

Zhou Ming shook his head and said, 'This is not a good idea. First of all, we may not even be able to deal with Brighton Bank, let alone use this to blackmail the three families. On the other hand, this kind of behaviour will also be a foreshadowing of future mutual obstruction. I don't want to face a powerful enemy and then plant a possible bomb behind me.'

'Okay, since you've said so, I choose to believe you,' Lin Muqing said. "It's just that Zhou Ming, do you think they will think of us in the same way and give us the bank information of the real Brighton?'

Zhou Ming smiled and shrugged his shoulders and said, "I don't know about that, but I think as long as they are not stupid, they will not make a fuss about it.'

In this way, the three days quickly passed, and during this time, Zhou Ming had a good vacation in Rhode Island.

It wasn't until three days later, when Zhou Ming and Lin Muqing got up in the morning as usual to go to breakfast, that Louis came to find him. Since Edward was the governor of Massachusetts and Lawrence was the president of Harvard, they all had important things to do and left one after the other, leaving only Louis alone.

Louis told Zhou Ming that all the detailed information about the Brighton Bank was ready.

'Very well, then show it to me right away,' said Zhou Ming.

'I hope you really will read it,' said Louis with a cold smile.