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

Chapter 468 Pangu-Canary Center

In order to receive an invitation to a banquet, Luo Nianzhong set out from Anran Manor at four o'clock in the afternoon and arrived at the Grosvenor family's Eaton Manor at seven o'clock in the evening.

Enron Manor is in Oxfordshire, while the Grosvenor family's Eaton Manor is in Chester, the capital of Cheshire in northwest England. The journey between the two places takes two and a half hours.

After entering Eaton Manor, Luo Nianzhong finally got to know the largest landowner in England.

The entire manor covers an area of ​​more than 4400 hectares, and it takes more than ten minutes to drive from the entrance to the castle built by the manor owner.

Do you know what 4400 hectares means? The Forbidden City where the emperor lived only covers an area of ​​72 hectares. The Eaton Manor of the Grosvenor family is more than times larger than the Forbidden City.

The Forbidden City where the ancient emperors of such a great country lived is big enough. Which tourist who visits it would not be amazed?

Who would have thought that the Grosvenor family would build such a large manor in a small country like England? It can be said that all the suburbs in one direction of Chester belong to them.

I don’t know if it’s interesting to live here and go home every day. When family calls and asks you where you are, you say you’re at the door, and then you enter the house twenty minutes later.

When he arrived at the residential area, Luo Nianzhong, who had just got off the car, saw Grovner coming towards him. It was obvious that he knew he was coming and was waiting there.

"Mr. Grosvenor, if I hadn't come to your Eaton Manor, I wouldn't have known that a home could be so big."

“Luo, I think our cooperation is deep enough, there’s no need to be so polite.

And don’t you think we two have more topics to talk about than those old guys?”

That's true, because the head of the Grovner family in front of him is only 37 years old, which is why those old guys call him Little Grovner.

The inheritance of the Grosvenor family is somewhat different from that of other British nobles. While others pass it down from father to son, their family used to pass it down from grandfather to grandson, and from brother to younger brother.

For example, the first generation patriarch of the Grosvenor family, Victor, the Duke of Westminster, passed the family line from grandfather to grandson to the second generation Edward, and the third, fourth, and fifth generations, that is, the father of Mr. Grosvenor in front of us, are all grandsons of the first generation Victor.

All we can say is that Gerard, the future sixth Duke of Westminster, is lucky because his father has no younger brothers, otherwise it would not be his turn to inherit the title.

"Well, Gerald, won't you introduce me to him?"

"Oh, look how rude of me."

After saying that, Gerard quickly introduced his wife and two cute little girls.

“This is my wife Natalia, and my two little angels Tamara and Edwina”.

"It's so nice to meet you, Mrs. Grosvenor, you are so radiant."

"Thank you, Mr. Luo, welcome to Eaton Manor." After saying this, the two of them kissed each other's hands.

Many people may not know that the hand-kissing ceremony, which is only circulated in the upper class, is actually initiated by ladies, and only married women.

After the hand kiss, Luo Nianzhong raised his hand to take the two gift boxes that Tom brought up and squatted down.

"Two beautiful ladies, these are some desserts prepared by Anran Manor. I hope you like them."

"Thank you, Luo."

The two little girls, aged seven or eight, were just like Luo Anran. They were not shy or restrained at all and were very polite and relaxed.

After giving the dessert gift box to the two people, Luo Nianzhong took another bottle of red wine, which was the bottle of Petrus wine used at the Queen's wedding banquet.

"I don't know if you will like it, I hope you don't mind."

"How could that be? This is the most precious gift."

Gerard was so happy that he didn't even give the wine to the butler behind him. He chose to hold it himself, proving with practical actions how much he liked his gift.

“I was not born during the Queen’s wedding, and the last time I had the honor of tasting this legendary wine was at your estate.

Now I have this bottle of wine, and the old man Cavendish will be so jealous next time he comes to visit me."

"It's better not to. I don't want to receive an invitation from that old man every time I come to England."

"Hahaha…".

Cavendish had mentioned to Luo Nianzhong more than once that he wanted to have a collection of wine kings, but he was rejected every time.

It's not that I'm stingy, it's just that I don't have much of this stuff left, and I can't open this door easily, otherwise those old nobles will probably ask for it.

If that old fellow Cavendish knew that Luo Nianzhong came to Eaton Manor as a guest and gave away a bottle of the King of Wine, the old man would probably invite him every day until he got the King of Wine.

"Luo, they all have gifts, what about mine?"

Natalia knew that Luo Nianzhong would definitely prepare a gift for her, and she just said it to liven up the atmosphere.

"Of course I have prepared it for you, madam, but it will take a few days to deliver. I think you will be satisfied."

Luo Nianzhong's words aroused Natalia's interest, and she asked, "Can I know what the gift is first?"

"Of course, it is a piece of jewelry from the Romanov dynasty. Unfortunately, Madam can't see it today."

It was only when Carson was preparing gifts for this visit and telling Luo Nianzhong about the members of the Grosvenor family that he learned that Mrs. Grosvenor actually had blood of the Romanov dynasty.

It doesn’t matter if the Romanov dynasty doesn’t know about it, but Peter the Great must have known about it, and the Tsar must have heard of it.

Mrs. Grovner is a descendant of this dynasty and has the purest bloodline of the Romanovs today.

"Oh, that's great." Excited Natalia gave Luo Nianzhong another hug.

Everything belonging to the Romanov dynasty is in Russia. It’s not that the Grovner family can’t get it, but they can’t do so under the current situation, so as not to give the enemy an excuse.

The situation is tense now and no one knows what will happen.

"Luo, thank you for your gift. Let's go in first."

This was a family dinner, a dinner to which only Luo Nianzhong was invited.

Sitting at the dining table, Gerard burst into laughter when he saw Luo Nianzhong, who looked a little strange when he put a piece of steak in his mouth. Even the women at the table couldn't stop laughing.

"Isn't it weird? Why is the steak cold?

In fact, everyone who visits Eton Manor for the first time has such doubts, but you just get used to it.

I don’t know what my ancestors were thinking, but they had to build such a large manor and building, which means it takes five minutes to walk from the kitchen to the dining room, and it takes me ten minutes to go upstairs to my room to sleep.”

Well, Luo Nianzhong took Gerard's words as naked showing off.

I can only say that your ancestors were really foresighted. They knew that you need to take a walk after a meal to digest the food, otherwise it will be bad for the stomach.

"For the first time, I felt that having such a big house was not as wonderful as I had imagined."

After dinner, Gerard brought Luo Nianzhong to his study, and it can only be said that he succeeded in pretending to be cool again.

Let’s not talk about the area of ​​this study room, there are dozens of layers of bookshelves on the walls from top to bottom.

To get the books on the top floor, the servants not only had to go to the hanging corridor on the third floor but also had to use a ladder.

This is the heritage of a large family that has been passed down for hundreds of years. Luo Nianzhong wondered if all kinds of European works could be found here.

Fortunately, Gerrard didn't show it to him, otherwise it would be confirmed that he was pretending to be cool.

Sitting on the sofa, what Luo Nianzhong didn't expect was that there were all the tools for the tea ceremony, and even the tea leaves were authentic Jin Jun Mei from Fujian Province.

Although it is also a black tea that the British like, the tea drinking culture is different from that of the general public and has a more authentic oriental flavor.

Watching Gerard skillfully fill the cup in front of him, the other party explained.

“Everyone knows that the British love to drink tea, but few people know that the real upper class aristocrats don’t add any ingredients at all.

In the past, tea was very expensive and was a luxury item. Tea merchants risked their lives to bring tea back from the East, and naturally hoped to sell it as quickly as possible.

To achieve this goal, more people need to drink tea, but how can the lower class people afford high-end tea?

So they came up with an idea, which was to sell the products in restaurants.

Only a small amount of tea leaves, along with milk and sugar, can bring down the price, and boiling a large pot can satisfy the needs of hundreds of people at the same time.

As prices became cheaper, ordinary people who aspired to upper-class life naturally wanted to taste this luxury item that even nobles would regret, and over time, a unique tea drinking culture was formed.

Oh, so that's how it is. If it weren't for Gerard's story, Luo Nianzhong really wouldn't have known that this is how black tea with milk came about.

"Let's get down to business. I think you can guess why I invited you to Eton Manor today. Now I want to tell you that Prince Charles will join us."

"Do you want to touch Dennis' cheese?" Luo Nianzhong reacted in an instant.

Reform of the financial industry in the UK is imminent, and the projects in the new financial city have a promising future, so everyone wants to get a piece of the pie.

Although it is just a real estate project, it will still have a great impact on the financial market in Britain.

In this project, the shares of Luo Nianzhong and the Grosvenor family will not change.

The entire Canary Wharf land is now in Luo Nianzhong's hands, and developing real estate and construction in England will be much easier with the Grosvenor family.

If one person joins now, the interests of others will definitely be squeezed out. What should others do if they don’t want to? They can only kick out a partner.

For these nobles, kicking out Dennis the businessman is the best option.

The Iron Lady's opinion? It works for other people, and it's just the same for these nobles, otherwise why would she act as a matchmaker for these nobles when she was re-elected for the second time?

"I disagree".

Sure enough, Gerard had thought of this a long time ago, otherwise he would not have discussed it with Luo Nianzhong, because this matter itself did not harm any of his interests.

However, Luo Nianzhong has always been a trustworthy business person, and this matter cannot be done without his consent, so Gerard, the manager of the future new financial city, is asked to persuade.

"I can contribute 2% of the equity, and you can contribute 3% no less."

According to the agreement, the Grosvenor family, as the largest shareholder, holds 25% of the shares of the New Financial City, Luo Nianzhong holds 10%, Dennis holds 35%, and the remaining % belongs to other major British families.

Now that the royal family has joined in, they have immediately set their sights on 10% of the share. It is impossible for Luo Nianzhong to ask others to give up so much to the other party, otherwise there would be no discussion today.

So Luo Nianzhong proposed a compromise plan, which was that he would pay the majority and give the other party a 5% share.

The purpose of doing this is not only because of the Iron Lady, but also because of his image of being trustworthy, generous and righteous. This will be of great benefit to the future cooperation between the Luo family and companies around the world.

If you are a person who can kick out your partners without hesitation for the sake of profit and power, anyone who wants to cooperate with you will have to think twice.

Make your attitude clear first. As for whether you will use other methods to obtain Dennis' shares in the future, that has nothing to do with you.

"Okay, I think they will accept this condition."

It seems that these guys also know that it is impossible to kick Dennis out completely, and the benefits they give up now are within their acceptable range.

"Next we will make every effort to push for the extension of the subway, but are the design drawings you gave really feasible? You know, there are no skyscrapers this tall in London, which will disgust Londoners."

Don't think that Europe is so developed, in fact, they are the most conservative.

Just as Gerard said, there is not even a skyscraper over 100 meters high in London now. Sudden changes will definitely cause Londoners to feel uncomfortable.

The original tallest building in Canary Wharf, Canada Square, the tallest building in England at 192 meters, aroused the disgust of Londoners, but after getting used to it, didn’t it become the pride of Londoners?

“There is nothing to object to. When the new city becomes one of the world’s financial centres and the pride of London, the more we hate it now, the more we will like it in the future.

Moreover, we are a financial city. If we don’t make it more high-end and grand, how can we attract the world’s major financial institutions to settle here? How can we show their wealth and power?”

"But isn't the investment in your Pangu-Canary Center project too large? The total budget is 80 billion US dollars."

It turns out that they were worried about investing so much at once. Compared with the Pangu-Roppongi Hills project planned by Luo Nianzhong in the island country, the investment in Canary Center is much larger.

Although the land area of ​​Canary Center is almost twice the size of Roppongi Hills, the planned investment is more than four times.

Labor costs are one aspect, but the most critical thing is that most of the buildings in the Canary Center are office buildings, and all entertainment facilities are in the underground that connects the entire Canary Center.

What about Pangu-Roppongi Hills? The office building only occupies half of the land, with a large number of residential buildings, which is more like an urban complex.

"It's just $80 billion. If anyone feels the investment is too large, they can sell their shares to me at any time before the Canary Center is fully completed."

Since Luo Nianzhong had said so, Gerrard couldn't say anything more on this topic.

The two sides finalized some details, and the name of the owner of the Pangu-Canary Center, the British Canary Group, was decided.

The next step is easy, those who have money will contribute money and those who have strength will contribute strength.

There is only one purpose, which is to use government money to improve the infrastructure of the Canary Center and make it a rooster that lays golden eggs.