Chapter 1426: Li Jiasheng is determined!

The purpose of being targeted by the Rothschild family has been analysed and discussed at length by Li Jiasheng and his son together with Simon Murray, but no conclusive answer has been reached.

However, in any case, Li Jiasheng, who is in a difficult situation, did not refuse and did not dare to refuse the invitation from the Rothschild family.

So all he could do was make full use of the day and a little over an hour until 8 pm tomorrow to prepare for the meeting.

For example, he made a mental plan, and also tried to fully understand the Rothschild family...

The next day came quickly.

After finishing dinner early, Li Jiacheng, without his son Li Zekai, arrived at the meeting place ten minutes early.

It was a European-style manor house full of a strong classical atmosphere.

Since the invitation did not say that he could bring anyone, he only brought two bodyguards and a driver.

After entering the manor and verifying the invitation, Li Jiacheng was led by a white man into the living room of the villa.

Not long after he had sat down, he heard footsteps coming from the stairs.

Soon, a tall, white man in his fifties appeared in his field of vision.

Li Jiacheng stood up and waited until the white man came to him. He took the initiative to say hello, 'Hello, Mr. Rothschild, I am Li Jiacheng.'

'I know, an outstanding Chinese leader from Xiangjiang.'

'I'm very happy that you could come here tonight. Please sit down!'

The white man said with a faint smile, gesturing for Li Jiacheng to sit down.

'Thank you!'

Li Jiacheng said after sitting down.

It was only then that the white man introduced himself.

'Let me introduce myself, my name is Evelyn Rothschild.'

Li Jiacheng was shaken inside, and hurriedly said hello again, 'Mr. Evelyn Rothschild, I have heard your name, it is a great honour to meet you.'

According to the information he had researched yesterday, the head of the Rothschild family was Jacob Rothschild.

In the UK, the only person second in command to Jacob Rothschild was his cousin, Evelyn Rothschild.

The man in front of him was definitely a major figure in the Rothschild family's decision-making process.

'Mr. Li Jiasheng, I asked you here today mainly to chat with you.'

'The content of our chat can be important or unimportant, depending on what you think,'

Evelyn Rothschild said with a faint smile.

'Mr. Rothschild, please go ahead!'

Li Ka-shing sat up straight, resting his hands on his knees, and said with a solemn expression.

Evelyn Rothschild leaned back on the sofa and said softly, 'You and your allies are in an increasingly difficult situation in Hong Kong, aren't you?'

'Otherwise your company wouldn't have expanded its business to the UK.'

Li Ka-shing smiled and said, 'Actually, the situation is not that bad. The reason for setting up a branch in the UK is because the company has developed to a certain extent and needs to expand externally in order to maintain a high growth rate.'

After he finished speaking, Li Jiacheng's mind raced as he analysed the real intention behind Evelyn Lochiel's words.

Evelyn Lochiel was not surprised to see Li Jiacheng being stubborn.

He did not want to beat around the bush with Li Jiacheng and directly exposed the latter's lie.

'Mr Li Jiacheng, you cannot deceive me. Don't forget, there is a Lochiel & Sons Ltd in Xiangjiang,'

Li Jiacheng laughed a few times nervously, trying to say something to save face, but he opened his mouth and didn't know what to say.

Evelyn Lochir continued, 'Over the years, Hong Kong has become more and more prosperous. Its GDP has even jumped to the twentieth place in the world, making it the sixth largest economy in Asia and more than one-sixth of the UK's.

'But in terms of GDP per capita, it has surpassed the UK.'

'Unfortunately, Hong Kong's prosperity has nothing to do with you. Hong Kong belongs to the Jiuding Group.'

'Am I right?'

Facing Evelyn Locher's sarcastic smile, Li Jiacheng did not refute, because this was a bloody fact.

However, now, he also roughly knew Evelyn Locher's purpose. The latter should be coveting the prosperity of Hong Kong and the Jiuding Consortium, or perhaps have a grudge against Xia Yu.

Thinking about this, he was secretly excited.

Over the years, he had been having an increasingly difficult time, and the pace of his company's development had been forced to slow down.

Even at the beginning of Xia Yu's rise, he and Xia Yu were considered friends, but as the Jiuding Consortium grew larger and larger, and controlled the Hong Kong government's boundless expansion, his relationship with Xia Yu became increasingly strained, and social interaction almost came to a halt.

The source of this lay in Xia Yu and others joining forces with the Hong Kong government to strongly suppress the real estate market.

The real estate market was originally very large, and the development speed was also very impressive, but because of Xia Yu and the Hong Kong government, it was almost directly suppressed.

Although the commercial real estate market has developed rapidly due to the increasing prosperity of Hong Kong, Xia Yu has little to do with it.

After all, in Hong Kong, Xia Yu's Jiuding Group is the strongest, with the strongest ability to integrate resources, and the support of the Hong Kong government, which goes through thick and thin together, so that most of the meat in commercial real estate goes into Xia Yu's mouth.

Then there is a group of people following Xia Yu to eat the meat and drink the soup.

For example, his Cheung Kong Group can only be ranked in the third camp.

Even so, it still has to face competition that is many times more difficult than before, because there is not enough to go around!

The serious weakening of the residential real estate sector has not only hurt his Cheung Kong Group, but other real estate companies have also been hit, and the focus is shifting towards commercial real estate.

Where can commercial real estate compare to residential real estate?

The commercial real estate business in Hong Kong is a long-term one, relying on rent collection without selling, which has the advantage of being sustainable, but the disadvantage is that capital returns slowly.

In this way, real estate companies are working for the banks.

In contrast, the housing industry can sell uncompleted buildings, recover capital in advance, and expand at breakneck speed with a super high capital turnover rate, while also incurring lower capital usage costs.

The real estate market is suffering, but that's fine.

The resourceful Li Jiacheng wanted to develop a comprehensive business and expand into multiple fields, but after doing some research, he discovered that the Jiuding consortium is present in every industry and has almost all reached the top.

In fact, many industries are monopolised by the Jiuding consortium!

For example, electricity, telecommunications, docks, transportation, aviation and other fields.

These are all monopolies of the Jiuding Consortium, and with the Hong Kong government now in the same boat as the Jiuding Consortium, no one can break the Jiuding Consortium's monopoly.

Therefore, even though Li Jiacheng has set up many companies in other fields, the difficulty of development is great, and there is no opportunity to grow in the short term.

The more he learns about the Jiuding Consortium, the more difficult it is for him.

Otherwise, why would he have fled from Hong Kong when it was so prosperous?

It was because he was hoping to find another way out.

"Mr. Rothschild, I think with the energy of your family, the information you have found should not be wrong.'

Li Jiacheng calmed down as much as he could and nodded.

'Then do you know that the Bright Foundation in the UK has a very close relationship with the Jiuding Consortium?'

'To be more precise, it is inextricably linked to that Xia Yu,'

Evelyn Lochill dropped another bombshell.

Li Jiacheng asked doubtfully, 'Because of one of his wives?'

He knew that Xia Yu had an English wife who had always been the vice president of the Bright Foundation.

But Evelyn Lochill shook her head and said, 'No, no, no, you've got the order wrong.'

'The Bright Foundation has nothing to do with Elena Howard. The reason she is the vice president is because of Xia Yu's connections, not the other way around.

'Elena Howard is the daughter of Duke Carter Howard.'

Li Jiacheng was stunned by this news, and his heart was in turmoil.

Xia Yu actually has such a strong presence in the UK?

He has done some research and knows that the Bright Foundation is a giant in the British financial industry, with an extensive business empire and definitely one of the top consortia in the UK.

Thinking about the inextricable relationship between the Bright Foundation and Xia Yu, Li Jiacheng couldn't help but shiver, almost unable to breathe under the pressure.

No!

Could it be that this was the reason why the Rothschild family wanted to target Xia Yu?

'Mr Li Jiacheng, you said that without the friendship of our Rothschild family, if the Bright Foundation were to suppress your company, who do you think could possibly save you?'

'And who could allow your company to continue to grow and develop?'

'Once the Bright Foundation wants to hunt your company down, how far does your company need to develop before it can withstand it?'

After asking these questions in a row, Evelyn Rothschild leisurely drank his coffee and looked at Li Jiacheng with a faint smile on his face.

There was one more thing he didn't say, but he believed that Li Jiacheng would understand.

After all, he had only moved his hand lightly, and Li Jiacheng was already having difficulty walking in the UK.

Tick tock!

Tick tock!

Time passed second by second.

Li Jiacheng fell into deep thought, his expression changing constantly.

After a long while,

Li Jiacheng took a deep breath, looked at Evelyn Lochiel sharply, and asked, 'Mr. Lochiel, I would like to know, what can I get?'

Evelyn Lochiel smiled and said slowly, 'You can gain the friendship of our Lochiel family, and our family can guarantee the smooth expansion of your company in the UK.'

'And, once there is a major change in Hong Kong, you can gain more room for development and a portion of the profits.'

Li Jiasheng had to admit that he was tempted.

To him, today's Xiangjiang was increasingly like a cage, woven by Xia Yu's Jiuding consortium and his allies, and it was destined not to be him!

He and the others had long since banded together to keep warm in the face of increasingly fierce competition. Going it alone would not even give them the qualifications to be Jiuding's rivals.

If they let Jiuding grow like this, their situation would become increasingly difficult.

Unless he completely gives up on the competition or surrenders to Xia Yu of his own accord, the torment will continue.

But unfortunately, he is not the type of person who likes to bow his head.

What's more, one wrong step leads to another. Right now, he doesn't feel that he has any value to Xia Yu, and even if he surrenders to Xia Yu, his allies are unlikely to let him go easily.

After thinking it over, he decided that taking a chance might lead to a better future.

Only those who fight can win!

This is the spirit of the Chaoshan people!

Li Jiacheng's eyes flashed with a ruthless expression as he said to Evelyn Lochiel, 'Mr. Lochiel, what do you need me to do?'

Evelyn Lochiel smiled contentedly.

'It's actually very simple...'