We are all reborn, who wants to be the richest man?

Chris came back near dinner time and called Luo Nianzhong to the study as soon as he got home.

Outsiders rarely enter Luo Nianzhong's study, and no one is allowed to enter. Even the daily cleaning is supervised by Ah Fu himself.

Except for Chris who sometimes uses the room, no one else in the house would come in. Even if Chris came in, it was usually when Luo Nianzhong was present or to discuss company matters with him. Usually she was in her study.

If you want to say what's special about Luo Nianzhong's study, there really isn't much.

Only some antiques and rare ancient books are worth some money. If there is anything worth mentioning, it is some major events that happened later that Luo Nianzhong recorded in his own way.

At that time he was afraid of forgetting, but now he finds that his memory is very clear and exceptionally good. He has never looked through those recorded things.

But he didn't destroy it, he kept it just in case.

Of course, in addition to official business, this study has other uses.

Sometimes when Chris and I are discussing things too late and are in high spirits, we'll try something unusual, like throwing darts.

"Today, Mr. Huo came to the group to find me and asked me whether the Luo family has any plans to get involved in shipping."

"Oh?" Luo Nianzhong was a little surprised.

"He is trying to make connections for the Dong family, but why did he choose to go to the group to find you instead of looking for me?"

Luo Nianzhong didn't understand this. Logically, Mr. Huo should have set up a group and called him and the Dong family over, but why did he go straight to Chris without telling him?

"Looking for you? Everyone knows your attitude towards the shipping industry. Mr. Huo knows that you will definitely help him if he asks, but he doesn't want you to help him just because of his relationship."

Yes, among the four major shipping tycoons in Hong Kong, the charter king successfully came ashore because of his relationship with Luo Nianzhong, and at the beginning of the year he acquired Wheelock and Company, which was called the swan song of British capital by the media.

Since then, except for the low-key Jardine Matheson & Co., three of the four major trading companies that had dominated Hong Kong Island for a hundred years have disappeared.

Except for the charter king who successfully landed, the other three ship kings all ended up miserably.

Zhao, the shipping king, eventually went bankrupt due to debts of HK$67 billion and had to sell antiques to pay off his debts.

The same thing happened to the first generation of shipping tycoon Xu’s family. Shipping tycoon Xu’s company was simply sold at a low price by his son.

The worst-hit family is the Dong family. When shipping tycoon Dong died, he left behind a debt of 20 billion Hong Kong dollars. Now Orient Overseas is heavily in debt and on the verge of bankruptcy.

Not only them, a few years earlier, many shipping tycoons in Hong Kong had approached Luo Nianzhong, wanting to sell shares or even hand over control to lure him to join and help their companies overcome difficulties, but all of these were rejected by Luo Nianzhong.

The Luo family acquired Dongming Wood Industry in South Korea and reorganized Dongming Shipping Company into Far East Shipping. In recent years, not only has it expanded, it has also sold a lot of small boats.

It is precisely because of Luo Nianzhong's various performances that everyone thinks that the Luo family or Luo Nianzhong has no interest in the shipping market.

If you want to maintain the daily operation of Orient Overseas, it is impossible without more than ten billion Hong Kong dollars. If you want Orient Overseas to completely get rid of the crisis, it will cost at least 10 to 18 billion Hong Kong dollars.

With such a large amount of funds, if Luo Nianzhong were to make a move, Huo Daheng would feel that he would owe him a huge favor.

"It seems that he wants to test your opinion. If the Luo family intends to enter this industry, he will go with the flow and help the Dong family find a super big backer to completely resolve the crisis.

If I don't want to, you can be a buffer, and both sides will pretend that this never happened, and he will find a way to help the Dong family."

"Yes, I think so too. What do you think about this matter? Is the time right?"

Chris knew some of Luo Nianzhong's ideas, and the Luo family would definitely get involved in this industry with huge influence.

However, Luo Nianzhong has always said that the shipping industry has not yet bottomed out and it is not the time to enter the shipping industry. I wonder if the time is ripe now.

“To be honest, I plan to wait for one to two years, but it’s not necessary.

Helping OOCL now can do both parties a favor, and by the way, it is also a good opportunity to tie the Dong family to our super battleship."

After the shipping industry entered a bear market at the end of 1981, according to the previous three-year trough period, everyone believed that 1985 was a turning point, which can be seen from the increase in the number of orders at shipyards.

Since last year, orders for the island nation's shipyards have begun to surge.

First, the island nation of Sanko Kisen placed an order for 120 ships, followed by shipowners from Greece and Norway. Now shipyards are not short of orders.

According to the shipbuilding progress, the order was placed in 84 and was delivered just in time for the bull market in shipping that everyone expected in 85.

But only Luo Nianzhong knew that the real low point was in 86, and it was not until the end of 87 that the market began to stabilize and usher in a bull market.

Luo Nianzhong's original plan was to enter the market when the shipping industry hit rock bottom in 86 and everyone was pessimistic and wait-and-see. At that time, shipyards had no orders and shipbuilding prices would be greatly reduced.

But it is also possible now, mainly because the current price of OOCL is low enough.

Another point is the situation of Orient Overseas Container Line's ships. Shipping king Dong was a guy who liked to set records. Orient Overseas Container Line has no small boats. Most of them are Panamax ships, and they mainly operate bulk carriers and container ships. This is highly consistent with Luo Nianzhong's planning for the future shipping industry.

"You don't have to worry about this matter. I will talk to Mr. Huo and the Dong family."

Chris nodded and put the matter behind him. "There is one more thing. Peng Lizhi called Du Huilian to ask if Far Eastern Bank is interested in Overseas Trust Bank."

Luo Nianzhong has to admire Overseas Trust Bank for being able to ruin itself like in history even when the economic situation in Hong Kong is so good.

Starting from the Xie Liyuan Gold Shop, these three years should have been a period of various bank crises in Hong Kong Island’s banking industry.

However, thanks to Luo Nianzhong, the Hong Kong economy quickly and steadily rose after a period of instability at the beginning, and the banking industry did not experience a wave of bankruptcies as large as in history.

The collapse of Overseas Trust Bank was purely due to the founder's stupidity, who was cheated by a friend with a check.

When Overseas Trust Bank collapsed in June this year, its bad debts exceeded HK$700 million.

Overseas Trust Bank is not a small bank. In Hong Kong Island, it is the fourth largest bank after Far East Bank, Hang Seng Bank and HSBC, and the number of its branches exceeds that of Standard Chartered.

The collapse of such a bank affects too many Hong Kong citizens and the Hong Kong government dare not ignore it.

So on the second day after the sudden collapse, the Hong Kong government used 3 billion Hong Kong dollars of foreign exchange funds to take over overseas trust companies, which stabilized the situation.

"Forget it. For the Far East, the greatest value of Overseas Trust Bank is its branches in Southeast Asia. But it will take at least a year or two to figure out everything here, and it won't bring much benefit to us."

The bankruptcy of the Overseas Trust Bank is not just a simple matter, it also involves issues such as corruption.

"Okay, since you've noticed it, I'll be out now." After everything was said and done, Chris had no need to stay any longer and planned to go see his son.

"Why are you in such a hurry?" Luo Nianzhong reached out and grabbed Chris's arm as she stood up, and pulled her into his arms with force.

"We haven't practiced darts here for a long time. Don't you think today is a good day?"

Chris gave Luo Nianzhong a seductive look and said, "It's almost time for dinner. Let's talk about it tonight."

"You don't mean what you said."

"Well…".