Chapter 1047: Taking Advantange of The Situation
Sitting in the gazebo behind his Coro Island mansion, Evelyn and Jiang Chen chatted about the future of Frankberg while leisurely enjoying the sea breeze. Ayesha, in a maid uniform, poured iced black tea for the two then left with gentle steps.
“Europe’s anti-dumping and countervailing investigations of Celestial Trade and Future Group are against the law. If I was in office, such a ridiculous thing wouldn’t happen.” Evelyn sipped the black tea in the cup and began to speak: “The whole world is enjoying the convenience brought by technology. It’s unreasonable for the people of Frankberg to only use smuggled goods. The consortium led by the Rothschild family has been controlling politics for too long. Now they’re working together to take the voting rights from our people? That’s theft!”
“I believe you will bring the much-needed change.” Jiang Chen smiled, took a sip of the iced black tea, and turned his eyes to gaze at the beach not far away.
His mansion was located in the deepest part of the wealthy area, and it was also at the highest point. In addition to the 500-meter-long private beach, they could also see the busy public beaches not far in the distance and the luxurious yachts in the sea.
Everyone who lived in this community possessed a significant amount of wealth. The beach and the yachts were naturally full of beauties with different skin colors. Jiang Chen once saw a man crowded by more than a dozen beautiful ladies on a yacht, and he suddenly felt that his life was too clear-minded.
Compared to those animals.
“The beach, sea breeze, palm trees… It’d be perfect if we had some champagne now.”
“If we popped some champagne now, what would we use to celebrate after the victory? Tea?” Jiang Chen joked.
“Hahaha.” Evelyn laughed. “I didn’t expect you to understand American humor.”
“I know a little about the cultures of all countries.” Jiang Chen smiled and put down the teacup in his hand. “Let’s leave the chitchat to dinner time. You flew here not just for a vacation, right?”
“Of course. Are we not discussing the future of Frankberg?” Evelyn laughed.
Jiang Chen shook his head. “We already agreed on opening the channels for Future Group and Celestial Trade prior. It was also a prerequisite for us to support you. This isn’t discussing the future.”
Evelyn spread his hands. “Well, precisely speaking, the purpose of my trip was to hear your opinion or recommendations.”
“Recommendations? What recommendations do you want?” Jiang Chen leaned back in his chair and looked at the old man, intrigued.
“The civil war has pulled Frankberg into chaos. I believe you must’ve seen on the news what the country is like now. I’ll be straightforward—once I’m elected as the next prime minister, if I want to stabilize my position, I must fix the mess left by Peter and reinvigorate the Frankberg economy from its ruins.”
“You came to seek out investments?” Jiang Chen acutely sensed his intention.
“Yes.” Evelyn nodded solemnly. “What we lack is exactly what you have. Whether we have a poor market or an energized market depends on you.”
On the economic issue, Russia, which lacked self-sufficiency, definitely wouldn’t be able to help. Evelyn could only discuss this matter with Jiang Chen. If Frankberg wished to step out of the grim civil war, it must inject a lot of money. However, no one was willing to spend hundreds of billions to take a risk on Europe, which would be in turmoil for the next decade or even longer.
Evelyn anxiously observed Jiang Chen’s expression, and he was relieved that he didn’t see signs of rejection. However, Jiang Chen’s grin made him question if the decision to ask the question was wise…
Jiang Chen smiled. “Are you sure? My appetite is very big.”
Evelyn’s eyebrows twitched, and he bit the bullet. “Go ahead.”
Jiang Chen extended three fingers and said slowly: “Daimler, Volkswagen, BMW…”
“That’s impossible!” Evelyn exclaimed and interrupted him. “Do you think Frankberg is Xin? Our antitrust regulations won’t allow—”
“When I finish talking.” Jiang Chen raised his hand to signal for him to not overreact then he put up a finger. “100 billion Xin New Dollars.”
More objections were stuck in his throat, and nothing came out of Evelyn’s mouth.
At the current exchange rate, 100 billion XND was almost equivalent to 150 billion Euros. After the German People’s Liberation Front succeeded in its revolution, his party would again become the majority party and end the EU integration process. It was possible that 100 billion XND could be equivalent to 200 billion Euros.
Two hundred billion Euros, a number he couldn’t refuse in any way.
“You have to promise not to move the Frankberg factories to Xin…” His shoulders were no longer tense, and Evelyn compromised.
“If I really had that idea, why wouldn’t I just open a few factories in Xin? Rest assured; even if I wanted to do that, Xin has no room for me to build another industrial park. Let Frankberg become Future Group’s factory in the Eurozone—this is the option that suits my interests. With the injection of our funds, the people will get jobs, and the government will have tax revenue. This is a win-win situation, isn’t it?”
Listening to Jiang Chen’s unrealistic vision, Evelyn twitched and squeezed out a few words.
“I sure hope so.”
The automobile industry was a 1:10 industry, which meant the output of one unit of the automobile industry could increase the overall output of at least 10 units in all sectors of the economy.
The most direct impact was the development of upstream raw materials industries such as steel, petrochemicals, non-ferrous metals, plastics, rubber, and glass. In the mid-stream manufacturing process, the automotive industry had brought considerable benefits to industries such as machinery and electronics, CNC machine tools, and automated production lines. In the downstream industries, the automobile industry had effectively promoted logistics, finance, insurance, sales, and advertising industries. This huge multiplier effect was unmatched by any other industry.
To boost Frankberg economically, choosing the automotive industry as an entry point was undoubtedly the perfect choice.
Of course, Jiang Chen wasn’t helping Evelyn out of a spirit of selflessness. His money didn’t grow on trees. Without profits, he wouldn’t think at all.
Taking advantage… um, a more elegant description would be… win-win! That was the motive for his decision to boost the Frankberg economy.
28% of Research and Development personnel in the Frankberg industrial sector were engaged in automotive R&D, while one-ninth of the employees in the automotive industry worked in R&D-related fields. On average, the Frankberg automotive industry released 10 patents per day and generated 3,650 patents each year. All of this ensured the technological leadership of the Frankberg automotive industry, which Luer under Jiang Chen lacked.
A lot of things had to take time to accumulate. Luer Motors was like a limping giant, leading the world in lithium-air batteries and wireless charging technology, but its management experience and research and development capabilities only compared to second-tier companies.
However, these problems wouldn’t exist if he acquired the Frankberg auto industry. With equity manipulation, Jiang Chen could allow the companies under his name to hold shares of other companies to allow for the exchange of experience and share the global market.
Looking at the hazy Evelyn, Jiang Chen’s eyes began to consider other opportunities.
Since he already bought the automobile manufacturing industry, why not just spend more money and purchase the second pillar industry, electronics? Just as the tentacles of the global power grid plan already spread across Asia and brought a significant reduction to the cost of household electricity throughout Asia, the cost of household electricity had been greatly reduced. The entire Asian electronics market was ready for a chemical reaction to bring change to everyone’s lives.
But the old fox, Evelyn, wasn’t an “indigenous” of MLL Island. What price would be appropriate this time?
