Chapter Fifty-Seven Who's the dish for whom

  The grain market in Shanghai was like a volcano waiting to erupt over the past few days, and yesterday it was an earthquake!

  After the crazy surge yesterday afternoon, after a noon digestion, those speculators all determined that the longs would launch a general attack, especially with the identity of the longs also giving them a lot of confidence - the news that Song Kong Group is the main force of the longs has been old news. In the afternoon opening, the crazy speculators went all out to grab goods, grain prices soared like rockets, even causing the spot market to start rising and hoarding for sale.

  But at this time, the old heaven changed its face: after the huge selling pressure of high-positioned pressure was eaten away by the multi-head, the price did not continue to rise, but instead fell back slightly. When everyone hesitated whether to chase or not, the price had already turned around and plummeted downwards rapidly, catching up with the multi-head off guard, thinking about the price jump at the end of the previous few days, many speculative customers have already felt panic in their hearts.

  Just when everyone was worried about the decline, the price suddenly turned around and went straight up again, quickly making new highs; those who had just closed their positions in advance to avoid losses were now filled with regret, while those who had been scared out of their wits earlier were now praising the bulls' masterful move, which also showed that they themselves had a high level of skill and hadn't been scared off.

  Out-of-position players rushed back in, and the short sellers who were chasing the longs at low levels also started to cut their positions frantically. The price finally returned to its upward trajectory. Almost all speculators had turned bullish, and the frenzy of buying reached a fever pitch 15 minutes before the close!

  The sky has unpredictable winds and clouds! In the last ten minutes, the price began to move in an impossible way: short sellers suddenly attacked, sweeping away all buy orders, no matter what. Within ten minutes, even those long-position holders who were considering cutting their losses couldn't react in time. Every time there was a glimmer of hope for a slight rebound, it turned out to be just a false signal, and the price continued to fall... In ten minutes, various grain prices plummeted to new lows! Finally, the price closed at its lowest point for the entire day!

  Yoshikawa Shuzo's mind was a mess! He wasn't a financial expert, although he was a good agent. This time, the total funds from Japan were approximately 6.5 billion; apart from the portion in Soong Mei-ling's hands, he had about 2.5 billion that could be actually operated on his own; the remaining amount would arrive within three days. The total amount of these funds was not enough to give Song Kong an overwhelming advantage, unless they entered the scene as allies before Song Kong launched an attack and then made a big profit; so today Yoshikawa Shuzo's 2.5 billion outside the scene entered! In order to show his role before the financial experts from Japan arrived, in order to gain more credit in this great victory, he commanded the funds to enter the market and do more according to the original plan; however, the amount of funds used far exceeded the original plan! After the longs launched an attack, his funds entered the scene soon after; when the longs were unable to digest the suppressed price positions of those empty-headed sell orders, he gave a hard push; when the longs made their second big counterattack, and after he got confirmation from his assistants that the longs had completed all their fake moves, he even let his funds create the final new high!

  Now, he spent over 12 billion in one day, and adding the positions of the previous few days, it reached nearly 16 billion! Now, he has already lost 700 million! What's going on? Who made such a big short sale at the end? He really wants to meet Song Ziwen and others, but he has to go pick up the ship, those real Japanese financial experts!

  Yoshikawa Shuzo overlooked one thing throughout the plan; Saison was no exception.

  The Song family was already very wealthy before they relied on privilege to do business, so wealthy that they could fund a doctor with the surname Sun to overthrow a regime. Rich people are not fools, whether or not everyone acknowledges it, but in reality, the wisdom of rich people is generally higher than that of poor people; especially those who have reached the level of being rich and powerful. The Song family and the Kong family are examples of this; Song Meiling, the actual head of the household, even more so!

  When Zhang Xue-ming brought out 1.5 billion, it scared her: with the strength of the two families Song and Kong, it was not easy to take out 1.5 billion casually. Their investments in various businesses were huge, such as suppressing a lot of funds in the US imported oil market; how did Zhang Xue-ming bring out 1.5 billion? That Ji Xin-zhu, through observation, didn't seem like a rich person, so behind this money...

  Because of the urgency to recover the 200 million loss in Hunan and to defeat Tan Xiang, she, including Kong Xiangxi and Song Ziwen, who were considered suspicious, finally accepted this huge sum. However, they did not have any worries about it.

  In the midst of Shanghai's booming trading scene, they also saw a hidden crisis. When they learned that the two major exchanges were about to step down at the same time, they began to worry even more amidst their excitement. Yesterday afternoon, someone who went to investigate the news reported back: The two major exchanges intended to hand over the settlement rights to foreign banks. Song Meiling sensed an even stronger danger: These old foxes would rather bear the infamy of betraying their country than transfer the risk to foreigners, they must be extremely worried! The only ones who could make this group of people, who have always been proud of being the leaders of national industry and commerce, so worried and make such a major decision, are the Japanese!

  The current hot market, apart from them, there are not a few speculative capitals participating, but the country has just stabilized for less than a year, and people's livelihoods have recovered so quickly? Of course, many foreign companies also participated in this speculation, but would they let the market become as hot as it is now? There should be another pushing hand, that is, the Japanese! Having understood this layer, Song Meiling had an idea: originally, they wanted to retreat but couldn't retreat, and forcing a warehouse was not feasible. But now the situation is different. Due to Japan's speculation plan requiring large-scale financing, the news gradually spread, and now the major financial groups in Japan vaguely know that the government wants to speculate on China's grain market. Since China will have a bumper harvest this year, it is absolutely unnecessary to make so much money, so the Japanese government wants to push up; this is a consistent conclusion! Japanese foreign companies are more actively involved than those from other countries, and their stance is very firm: buy in!

  Yesterday, Song Kong Group was rebalancing its positions through crazy market manipulation all day long. The sell orders at the highest point were their masterpiece! Now, their positions are no longer three lots and one empty, but have basically reached a balance, which means that in just one day, they have largely locked in their risks, with an account profit of around 5 million yuan; most of the speculators who took over the buying were Japanese; among them, Yoshikawa Shuzo's "mouse warehouse" was the main force behind the buying. In fact, the main bullish force in the market has now been replaced by the Japanese!

  On this trading day, which set a record for grain transactions in Shanghai since its opening, after Yu Qiaqing and others took the lead in letting go, Song Kong Group also came to take over! Moreover, they did not simply retreat, but instead held huge positions in both directions, waiting for the right moment to launch a fatal blow on one side against the other.

  In the early hours, the Japanese financial expert, Tomofumi Fukuda, who had been operating silver trades for the Japanese government in London, said with a heavy tone after a long calculation: Now, we have already held 25% of the long positions unilaterally. We are the number one long-side player in the market!

  If the Japanese continue to push up, they will be collectively suppressed by various Western firms and Chinese grain merchants - not only China, but also the United States, Canada's wheat and Southeast Asia's rice are all having a bumper harvest this year! If they want to withdraw, it would be a defeat like a mountain collapse, and it is estimated that when they completely exit, they will have to throw away no less than 300 million to get out of the game! Who is responsible?! Kikawada Osamu's head is buzzing: Why isn't Tsuchihara sitting in town? Why did I take such a heavy position today?!

  "We may not be forcing the warehouse, but our current two-way holdings are enough to affect the outcome of the next big battle. I think it's no problem for us to make a profit of several tens of millions." Song Ailing washed away the solemnity of the past few days: "Today, I'm sure that Ji Xin will come over and we'll discuss how to make the Japanese suffer more, so they have no choice but to go against the major foreign firms!"

  Finally relieved! In the past few days, the core figures of Song Kongyi system have been on tenterhooks! Although they were also dreaming of successfully forcing a warehouse, the various signs of reality had already made them worry about all sorts of unpredictable results. Yesterday, under the strong buying of Japanese funds, the position was successfully adjusted within one day, and although only hundreds of millions of profits were locked in, for those who are extremely familiar with the capital market, they have indeed seen the hope of success! With a large amount of cash on hand and holding about 30% of the market's two-way positions; now, whether it is compared to the funds inside or outside the market, their position is the most advantageous! What's even more exciting is that this time's "乾坤大挪移" (a Chinese idiom meaning a sudden and drastic change) has pushed the Japanese to the forefront! - - - - It's really hard for Song Kongyi system to tell who should die, Tan Xiao or the Japanese, in their hearts!

  In the training base of the First Field Army, about 6,000 selected officers and soldiers were undergoing special alleyway combat training. They were all chosen this morning. All of them came from the original First Division, who had been trained for the longest time. They found today's training very strange: everyone was equipped with Enfield rifles that were usually used only for familiarization training, heavy machine guns were replaced by a small number of Vickers, and light machine guns were still Czech-style.

  There may be important special actions! Liang Shuang was summoned to the military department early this morning along with several selected regimental commanders, and he is the only division commander!

  Li Shuang, from Luoding, Guangdong Province, was a platoon leader in the 19th Route Army before the January 28 Incident. He participated in almost all the most brutal battles of that war and was promoted to company commander after the Battle of Miaoqian. Later, when the 19th Route Army was relocated to Fujian, he was sent to the Central Military Academy for further training due to not being a military academy graduate. As a result, he did not participate in the Fujian Incident and thus avoided being labeled as anti-Chiang. However, after the disbandment of the 19th Route Army, he lost his position. He later joined the Wild One Division along with Peng Hanbo when Tan Xiaodan was recruiting military officers. He also stood out among the company commanders during a nighttime assembly, but missed the opportunity to participate in the Chenjiawan action due to his poor Mandarin skills. As someone with more years of service and richer combat experience, he felt discontent seeing Peng Hanbo about to become division commander while he remained just an acting regimental commander. However, he had only training achievements but no actual combat merits, which left him helpless. Now, sensing the smell of gunpowder, his heart is filled with anticipation.

  In Tan Xiao's secret order, his speculation was confirmed. Although he didn't know what the task was, it was likely to be a big play with weight! So, he worked hard to supervise and train his subordinates, waiting for the combat command to be issued at any time.

  Wang Hongbiao, a Sichuan native, had studied in Japan and was the battalion commander under Liu Wenhui. He was captured and became a slave while fighting against ** forces and was sold to Guizhou. Unexpectedly, he was bought by the 23rd Temporary Division when he was transporting gold to Lingling to buy military supplies. He served in the Wild Army from then on. His troops had existed as an entity of over two thousand people for quite some time, earlier than Peng Hanbiao's original forces, but they never participated in any actual combat except for drills - their two thousand men were specialized in playing the role of devils!

  Today, as soon as Liang Shuang left, Wang Hongbiao was summoned to the military department of the Wild One Army. He received a new mission, still disguising himself as a Japanese devil, but this time in Shanghai! They would escort a batch of grain to Shanghai for delivery and then secretly leave half of the men behind to disguise themselves as devils and cause trouble! Unlike Liang Shuang, he directly knew the true nature of the mission because their action had to take place before Liang Shuang's troops. So he was even more excited than Liang Shuang when he left - after all, he went to Japan to defeat Japan! Now that he had the opportunity to cause trouble for the Japanese, it was also the first time in the history of the Wild One Army to make contact with the regular Japanese army, which was a lifelong pride for Wang Hongbiao.

  After the preliminary arrangement of possible military operations in Shanghai was completed, Tan Xiao received an important piece of intelligence: Tofu had already arranged to meet with Chen Jitang of the Guangdong Army and Liu Shiyue, head of military education for the Guangxi Army, in Hong Kong.

  Great! Tan Xiao thought to himself: Once Japan and various countries are in a mess in Shanghai, it will be an excellent opportunity to sweep across the two Guangs! Now, making the concessions chaotic is no longer just a personal matter of Sha Song's private heart, but has become a part of Tan Xiao's big plan; Shanghai must be chaotic!

  He then summoned another group of people: the deputy cadres of the 15th Army of the Guangxi clique. Of course, not all of them were present, but rather a group of low-ranking officers who had shown exceptional patriotism and anti-Japanese fervor during their training period. They would return in a few days, that is, in June. There were fourteen officers in total, and Tan Xiao met with each of them separately in secret. The first thing Tan Xiao did was to show them the evidence of the Guangxi clique's treasonous dealings with Japan brought by the Hu brothers.

  Although they are not many in number, as long as they can be used, the plan to sweep away the two Guangdong warlords is undoubtedly a fourteen-branched strange soldier! Now, the plan to take down Li, Bai and Chen, Hu at one stroke can be advanced. Tan Xiao believes that the Japanese will probably not wait until 1937 to take action against China again, because the intelligence of the Wild One Army must have been obtained by the Japanese! When can Dai Li get all the "extermination" actions out?

  Dai Li flew to Kunming early this morning to report the situation, and the news he brought shocked Chiang Kai-shek! He was both surprised and delighted. The surprise was that Tan Xiao dared to take such a shocking action while collecting intelligence on the two Guangs; the surprise was that the Japanese spy activity was so rampant! The joy was that Tan Xiao's action achieved such a great victory; the joy was that with just one successful action, it could basically sweep away the Japanese people's vast spy network!

  In order to keep it confidential, Chiang Kai-shek didn't even let Yang Yongtai and Lin Wei, his closest attendants, know about this matter. He decided to go to Lingling again in person! With such a major change, Tan Xiang wouldn't possibly not make new changes in the strategy against Japan, and Chiang Kai-shek had to be informed at the earliest time!

  Moreover, earlier today, Chiang Kai-shek received a telegram from Kong Xiangxi, which stated that the Japanese were going to short sell China's grain! It also said that someone would bring relevant materials to report in detail to Kunming immediately. This made Chiang Kai-shek extremely anxious: originally he was worried that Song and Kong would over-short sell grain, but now it turned out to be the Japanese!? His worries about excessive clashes between them and Tan Xiang were alleviated, only to be replaced by even greater concerns! With the Japanese intervening, heaven knows what other big moves they will make! He also plans to seek Tan Xiang's opinion on this matter: a guy who can even build railways, heaven knows if he will have any special insights in the futures market! So he sent a telegram back to Kong Xiangxi: come and report yourself, see you at Liling Camp!

  Do I have to go to Lingling again?! Kong Xiangxi thought of Tan Xiao and his whole body trembled! He wiped out the excitement he had just gained from the market reaction!

  Today's grain market opened slightly higher and then plummeted! This is still the doing of Song Kongyi, they are worried that the Japanese will not take the bait and really cut their losses and leave! So they continued to open with a sharp decline from yesterday.

  It's impossible for the Japanese to withdraw now, but should they buy in? Do they really want to become the only bull in the entire market and go against the whole world? It's really difficult!

  When the Japanese were hesitant, Song Kong Group had already brutally smashed the price down again, and they had spread the message in the market: The settlement of the market was handed over to foreign banks because the market was out of control, and there was a large amount of grain arriving overseas! The decline in grain prices within an hour had already increased the floating loss of the Japanese by more than 400 million! Song Kong Group quickly closed their short positions and settled their profits at this time! Everything went as they expected, the Japanese couldn't decide on a big direction so quickly, and today's price was not suitable for either long or short positions, large funds would be waiting and watching, today was their chance to play alone! So, they brutally killed the price and quickly closed their newly added short positions; They believed that at current prices, the Japanese couldn't tolerate it anymore, they had to fight back! Therefore, they started to slowly turn long again here.

  The Japanese really can't help but counterattack - if prices keep falling, the huge floating loss will leave them without even the funds to counterattack! So they started buying in, buying in big time! As a result, the prices of various grains stabilized after falling for an hour and began to rebound, no, counterattack before noon!

  Soros and his gang are also unclear about the market trend in the past two days. Although they seem to have grasped some clues, no one dares to make any conclusions, and operators rarely take action. Those Jewish financiers from the US are still on the plane, and now Soros doesn't have the guts to make major decisions - short selling? Of course, it's possible, but at current prices, it's obvious that the feeling is not strong enough, and profits will be discounted. Going long? He won't! Now it's clear that there is a large amount of capital being trapped, and if he enters with caution, he might be taken advantage of by others to escape!

  The market continued to rise in the afternoon under the impact of the Japanese, and at this time, the operators of Song Kong Group began to absorb low and sell high, continuously increasing the long positions held by the Japanese. Their big boss, Song Meiling, was discussing an important decision with Zhang Xueming and Yoshikazu Kiyokawa.

  "The government doesn't want us to drive up grain prices, so Minister Kong has already gone to report the situation in person today...” Song Ailing said with a hint of helplessness and regret to Zhang Xueming: “So the plan can only be cut in half... However, your 1.5 billion, including principal and interest, totaling 157 million, I will transfer all to your account within three days. The Songs and Kongs do business, we definitely won't treat friends unfairly! ...By the way, after we exit, this market should no longer have anyone propping it up. You might as well short some, at most you can just deliver grain to make a profit, you'll definitely earn some money..."

  Yoshikawa Shuzo sat opposite, his face deathly pale! After waiting for half a day, he finally confirmed the result he feared most: Now, Japanese people, no, Japan itself has been tricked!

  When he rushed to the headquarters of the concession, it was already closed for the day and a large group of operation assistants were checking orders. Before Yoshikawa Shuzo could finish reporting on the entire result, he received a scorching slap in the face! The one who hit him was the highest person in charge of this speculation plan: Prince Takahito Mikasa of Japan! If it weren't for Yoshikawa Shuzo's big hand yesterday, at least Song Meiling and others would still be trapped! This Japanese spy who wanted to be deputy director is now as pale as a ghost!

  "Found out, according to the analysis of the counter transaction situation, it is now the Japanese who have taken over all the long positions of the Song Kong Group. It is estimated that they now hold about 70% of the market's long positions!" reported the people sent to the two major exchanges. Except for the government's partial intervention, the Japanese conglomerates that received the news became the second largest long force in the market; adding to the Song Kong Group's over 15% short position, these three parties now hold almost 90% of the entire market's long positions! However, Song Kong also holds a large short position equivalent to about 80% of its long position, while the Japanese have no short positions at all.

  Sha Xun and Rong Hui looked at each other: The market change is really too big! It's impossible to have such a large position transfer in normal times! How much money did the Japanese people use?! Did they bring the entire national treasury to gamble?!

  "Mom! I doubled it today! Now I have four hundred pounds!" A four or five year old boy excitedly rushed in and shouted to Honghui. He was the son of Tivadar Soros, Honghui's godson, named Gici Soros. This is the Jewish Hebrew pronunciation, if according to English, it should be called George Soros!

  Author: I thought I could write well last night, forgot it was Christmas Eve, dizzy... Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas! ...Try to make time to write tonight...