Chapter 692: The Zhao Family's Predicament

'What's going on? Did the Zhao family offend him?'

'Looks like old Zhao is going to be in trouble...'

'Go find out what's going on...'

...

The top tycoons of Xiangjiang are all well-informed people. The news that Jiuding Securities had smashed the market of Huaguang Shipping and Huaguang Real Estate had only been spread for less than ten minutes, and it had successively entered the ears of the group of tycoons. They had different reactions, but they were all very concerned about the matter.

As for getting involved?

Not at all!

Just watch the show!

They knew very well the difference between the Zhao family and Xia Yu, and they were also very clear about their own strength. Now that Jiuding Securities had set up a position to cause trouble for the Zhao family, there was no point in getting themselves into trouble for no reason.

As for the stock exchange, they were having a headache, but there was nothing they could do to stop it. After all, Hong Kong was different from the mainland, short selling was legal, and Jiuding Securities was selling stocks normally. The only difference was that the quantity was huge. They didn't have the right perspective to intervene.

Hua Guang Real Estate Company Headquarters.

Zhao Shizeng urgently called a meeting of the company's senior management. The first thing on the agenda was for all staff to self-report whether they had had any conflicts with the Jiuding consortium.

The result was, of course, that no one had!

Then came the analysis of the wisdom of the crowd to determine what the possible reasons might be!

Zhao Shizeng also ordered someone to raise funds to ensure the company's financial security.

The meeting lasted only 20 minutes. Zhao Shizeng assigned someone to find out what was going on, then announced the meeting was adjourned and hurriedly left for the family compound.

His father, Zhao Congyan, told his sons to go home and discuss a response.

He wanted to get a sense of the situation before going to the company to get the facts.

The car sped along the road, and in less than ten minutes, Zhao Shizeng arrived at the family compound.

As soon as he entered the hall, he knew that he was the last to arrive. His eldest brother Zhao Shipeng and youngest brother Zhao Shiguang had already arrived.

As for his second brother? He had drowned a few years ago.

'Dad! Eldest brother, youngest brother, I'm sorry I'm late!'

Zhao Shizeng first apologized, then sat in his seat, staring straight at his father Zhao Congyan, who had grey hair.

Zhao Congyan nodded slightly, then swept his serious expression across the faces of his three sons and said in a deep voice, 'You should all be aware of the situation. Right now, Jiuding Securities is making a big fuss about shorting the two pillars of our family. Do you know what's going on?'

'I don't know Xia Yu well, but I know from other people what kind of person he is. He might not have cared before he became successful, but after he entered the top circles, he wouldn't attack our Chinese company for no reason. This time, their actions can be described as unprecedented!'

The unprecedented action he was referring to was the action taken against the company of a large Chinese family.

Zhao Shizeng immediately stood up and said, 'Dad, I just came from the company. After checking, I confirmed that the company has no conflict with Jiuding Securities, nor with any company affiliated with the Jiuding consortium. We are also not competing with them for land, and the property we are developing is far away from theirs, so there is no reason for conflict.'

Zhao Zongyan nodded, his expression slightly relieved, and looked at his eldest and fourth sons.

Although he is the chairman of the board of directors of Wah Kwong Shipping, the two sons who are managers of the company know it better.

'Dad, I can confirm that we have no conflicts with the Jiuding consortium. On the contrary, we at Wah Kwong Shipping have a cooperative relationship with Xia Yu's Wharf. The cooperation process has been stable and pleasant, and there have been no conflicts!'

Eldest son Zhao Shipeng said with a calm face.

Zhao Shiguang also stood up and added, 'Dad, I also have no contact with Xia Yu, and I'm sure the company has never had any conflicts with them!'

Hearing this from all three of his sons, Zhao Congyan's head grew big, and he couldn't help but frown.

This is strange!

If there have been no conflicts, there is no way that Jiuding Securities would fight them, the Zhao family, at the point of a bayonet for no reason.

Although the Zhao family is not as powerful as Xia Yu, they are still a wealthy family in Hong Kong with a net worth of over 1 billion Hong Kong dollars, and they have connections.

With Xia Yu's intelligence, there is no need for him to fight to the death with them!

"Since you all say there has been no conflict, what else could it be?'

Zhao Congyan said with frustration.

'Dad, could it be that the conflict was started by Hong Kong and Yaumatei Ferry Company? Our family and the Jiuding consortium's Star Ferry Company are the only two companies in the ferry market, and this is direct competition!'

Zhao Shiguang suddenly thought of something and asked.

'I called Lin Ming and he confirmed that the company has always been doing business on its own routes and has nothing to do with Star Ferry,'

Zhao Congyan shook his head and said, denying his fourth son's guess.

'Then what is the reason?'

For a moment, the father and three sons in the hall all frowned, racking their brains to find a reason.

Just then, a family servant from the Zhao family walked in. He had previously been listening to Zhao Congyan's orders and paying attention to the stock prices of the two companies, and now he had come in to report the real-time situation.

'Grandpa, the stock prices of the two companies have fallen sharply. The market value of Wah Kwong Shipping has fallen to 1.12 billion Hong Kong dollars, a drop of 160 million Hong Kong dollars, a drop of 12.5 percent.'

'The market value of Wah Kwong Shipping has fallen to 830 million Hong Kong dollars, a drop of 90 million Hong Kong dollars, a decline of nearly 10 points.'

'The stock prices of the two companies are still falling rapidly!'

In less than an hour, the decline has exceeded 10 points, and the two companies have shrunk by 250 million Hong Kong dollars, which is terrifying.

However, considering that Jiuding Securities alone smashed the market by dumping tens of millions of dollars worth of stocks, this decline is only to be expected.

'Okay, I understand, you keep an eye on it!'

'Yes!'

After the servant left, Zhao Congyan looked at his sons and said sternly, 'You heard it too, Jiuding Securities' offensive is fierce. How should we respond? Hurry up and discuss a proper solution.'

But an effective solution can only be targeted at a specific problem, and finding the source of the problem is the key.

Therefore, the eldest son Zhao Shipeng frowned and asked, 'Dad, do you think it's possible that Xia Yu has set his sights on our family's two companies?'

'Big brother, but the Zhao family has more than half of the controlling interest in both companies, so even if he wants to take them over, he can't!'

Fourth brother Zhao Shiguang questioned.

'Fourth brother, I don't rule out the possibility that Big Brother is right!'

'If he gets into the management system of the two companies, he could cause a stir and force us to back down at the cost of both losing, we definitely can't outlast him!'

Zhao Shiceng thought for a moment and spoke up.

'This...'

Zhao Shiguang was suddenly at a loss for words, but after a moment's thought, he continued.

'So should we invest now to stabilise the share price? To prevent them from buying at low prices!'

Zhao Shipeng, the eldest brother, immediately shook his head and said, 'Judging by the current trend, to stabilise the share price, we would need at least a few hundred million yuan. We can't touch the liquid capital, and in reality, we don't have that much money. Where would we get that kind of money?'

Zhao Shiguang immediately retorted, 'But we can't just let the share price fall like this. Our inaction will only further confirm the market panic, and the fall will be even faster! '

'Our two companies have borrowed a lot of money from the bank, and we have also pledged stocks to borrow money. If we don't stabilize the stock price, the market value of the company will shrink significantly, and these banks will definitely not want to do it! This is another huge hidden danger!'

'There are also many examples of being forced by the bank to repay the loan and falling into a vicious circle, and thus going bankrupt. We can't just withdraw the company's working capital to repay the loan, right? A good company will have problems emerge because of a broken capital chain. At that time, there will be big trouble!'

Zhao Shipeng was choked, shook his head and sighed, 'Hey...'