Chapter 359
Chang Hongxi looked at Qin Ming and said slowly, "The predecessor of the Huan Yu Century Group was a group of pirates in the Ming Dynasty, relying on the support of the major merchant families at home, plundering the cargo ships of foreigners at sea to start making a fortune and accumulating capital. After failing due to a siege by the imperial court, they fled to Luzon, today in the Philippines, and befriended a nobleman from Eigiri who had lost his ship."
"Since then, Huan Yu has been moving towards the West, and even once helped the Eigiri to form a royal navy and train soldiers."
"In order to gain a firm foothold in the West, he invited the then Eigiri nobility to join him by sharing profits in silver, forming a joint chamber of commerce behind the scenes, secretly trading heavily with the Western countries, and began to use the orphans of war to train loyal cadres within, finally taking advantage of the industrial revolution to make the first capital explosion. At that time, Huan Yu was already rich beyond its means."
"During the Qing Dynasty, when the court cracked down on trade with Western countries, we Chinese also resorted to numerous tactics to avoid being pursued, some families sank as a result, some even left the West outright and married foreigners, and new aristocratic and large families joined to become the umbrella for trade. In short, Huan Yu was out into the open and the influence of China was no longer fatal. The tentacles of commerce had reached into the Western countries and were then strong enough to influence the global economy."
"By the time WWI and WWII came around, Huan Yu had gradually opened up new markets in Magnesia, the centre of gravity shifted for a time, and then more and more capitalist giants joined the Chamber of Commerce behind the scenes, forming a supreme board of directors to redistribute interests. A system of heads of industry was established at the time, hiring talent at high salaries and planning for upward mobility. Assassination squads were then used to deter and provide the facility of influence to control every head of industry."
"By the 21st century, many of the cadres, who were trained by the Huan Yu Century Group, had a set of ideological education, and they were loyal enough that even their children were loyal to the Group, proud of its centuries-old history."
"Externally, the industry is getting smoother and smoother, accumulating more and more capital. But internally, since the Supreme Board of Directors was established at the time of the Second World War, there has been no end to the struggle around interests in the Board of Directors... How are the accounts to be settled? How do you divide the pie? How do you keep yourself alive by fighting in the open ...... Later on, a system of electing the Chamber's allies was introduced."
"In order to expand globally, the capitalist predators who joined the Supreme Board gradually became the power class of each country, and it was through corruption that the Oneworld Century Group infiltrated countries around the world. And the Supreme Board of Directors grew in membership, reaching upwards of fifty family powers at its peak."
"My Chang family ...... joined Huan Yu in the late Qing Dynasty, when my ancestor was a minister in a high and powerful position beside the Daoguang Emperor. As history changed and the seas and oceans changed, my Chang family fell into decline. Originally, my Chang family was almost kicked out of the Supreme Board, and then I met the love of my life."
Hearing the love of his life, Qin Ming was puzzled, "Zhao Turnip?"
A flash of angry blood fiercely appeared on Chang Hongxi's pale face, and his voice rose a little as he spoke, "How could it be her, that bitch?"
Chang Hongxi was infinitely reminiscent, "She was a noble and wealthy young lady, I was a down and out gentry, my family almost died in an assassination and my future was dark. I also almost died in an assassination attempt and she saved me. She didn't mind that I was down and out and provided me with contacts and capital to help me rise again."
"After I made some achievements, I also gathered a lot of people around me and gradually got a voice in the highest board of directors, and finally merged to become the alliance leader of the Chamber of Commerce, while starting my path of revenge and gathering power."
"I took genocidal revenge on my enemies, reformed the Huan Yu Century Group, had all the accounts handed over to me, I ended up redistributing the benefits, I purged all the voices that opposed me and replaced all the people who disobeyed me."
"The group now, again, is very different from before, and for decades I have almost hollowed out the top board. Because everyone down there only knows that I, Chang Hongxi, exist, many people don't know that the Supreme Board exists."
Gollum ......
Qin Ming shuddered when he watched Chang Hongxi say these words, "clean up" and "everything", just by imagining it, he knew how bloody the process was, it was really like the ancient kings and marquises were tired of white bones.
At the same time, Qin Ming admired Chang Hongxi, he was comparable to an ancient emperor, he was so ambitious that in a few decades, he had completely taken over the Universe Century Group and hollowed out the highest board of directors.
Qin Ming asked curiously, "Then how did Yi-fu end up marrying Zhao Turnip?"
Chang Hongxi sighed with great remorse and said, "Because ...... I made her dangerous. In my life, I have encountered no less than a thousand assassinations, and her life is in danger at any time when she is with me. I don't want anything to happen to her, and when you love someone, you don't have to be together, I just want her to be well. So I chose to let go."
Qin Ming couldn't help but spit out, "Righteous father, aren't you the typical scum of the earth who gets rich off someone's woman and then abandons them when they get rich?"
Chang Hongxi laughed inexplicably, "Heh heh, she scolded me the same way when we broke up back then."
Laughing and smiling, Chang Hongxi became sad, he sighed and shook his head, his eyes even flooded with tears as he said, "I can't do it, I can't put her in danger."
Chang Hongxi paused and added: "Zhao Turnip is a child of a side branch of the Zhao family, she used to give quietly to me, work hard, and moved me to marry her since she was from within the group and the Zhao family wanted to join forces with me. Only later did I find out in that it was all a conspiracy by the Zhao family."
"How so?" Qin Ming asked, puzzled.
Chang Hongxi raised his hand, shook his head again and said, "You don't need to know these things yet, it's too early for you. There are some things that it is better for you to understand yourself than for me to tell you. Perhaps your encounter will be different from mine."
Qin Ming was depressed, if you want to say something, just say it all, aren't you whetting my appetite?
Chang Hongxi said, "Now you know how important the Supreme Board is, right? Every one of their forces and families is able to take over the position of the world's richest man after you and I die. Once you die, all my decades of gathering fists will have been used as a graft for others."
Qin Ming's heart stirred and he asked in surprise, "Was Yi-Father's original plan to remove all the members of the Supreme Board of Directors?"
A fierce, vicious look appeared on Chang Hongxi's sickly kind of pale face as he said, "Of course, it was originally to pave the way for my son Chang Huan ...... Unfortunately, there are still eleven families that I have not been able to purge, and I have fallen gravely ill."
The back of Qin Ming's spine that is not shivering, never thought that Chang Hongxi's wealth and power, is through such a bloody road all the way.
Those family forces that joined the Supreme Board and ended up dedicating their power and influence before being kicked out were simply giving away warmth and ended up in a pitiful and pathetic situation.
Chang Hongxi extended his hand, and Qin Ming immediately stepped forward to put his hand over it.
He said, "Qin Ming, everything I have is now left to you, not just because I was betrayed by Zhao Turnip, and not just because Chang Huan and the others are not my own ...... going forward, if I am no longer around, you must always be careful, as long as you don't die, everything is yours. As long as you die, then my lifetime of hard work is all cheap to the remaining that is eleven people."
Qin Ming said seriously, "Yes, righteous father. Then who wants to join me in marriage? And let you force Nie Haitang away? To gain their support for me?"
Chang Hongxi narrowed his eyes and said, "An ancient family that has not fallen since the founding of the Huan Yu Century Group, they have a lot of energy and ......"
Chapter 360
Chang Hongxi said with a serious face: "The Zhao family ...... is an ancient and powerful family, with an ancestor who was an official to the Minister of Rites, and even an imperial teacher. Even now the Zhao family has people who serve as senior officials at the state ministry level in China, and even as commanders of military regions. They have never fallen from grace since their rise to power in the mid-Ming Dynasty, and have always been the mainstay of the top board of the Huan Yu Century Group."
"The Zhao family is very special in that their main battlefield and interests will always be in China, and they will use the Group to grow themselves and maintain the family's heyday, and very important position, in China."
"The Group is to the Zhao family as if it is just providing help to the money bank, and they do not care how much dividends they can get from the Group, as long as they have the right to speak, it is enough, and they are not interested in electing the Chamber of Commerce's allies."
Qin Ming said gruffly, "That's pretty low key."
Chang Hongxi shook his head and said, "They just know the truth of not putting all their eggs in one basket. When the family grows big enough, there are many options available to them. If they were in China, they are too powerful As long as the Zhao family's people are in China, it would still be difficult, no, not even possible, for me to move them."
When Qin Ming heard Chang Hongxi give such high praise to this Zhao family, he was also awe-struck in his heart.
It was not that there were no families in China that lasted for thousands of years, but they were mostly ordinary people, what with the descendants of Confucius, the descendants of Lu Ban, the descendants of Cao Cao, and so on, taking out their genealogies with a flourish, but because they didn't have enough influence, many people didn't care.
It is only those families that are still strong that are so low-profile that few people know about them.
Chang Hongxi continued: "With the help of the Zhao family, your control in China is as steady as a mountain, and even directly radiates throughout Asia. Nowadays, the world's economy, this circle of Asia is also the strongest in terms of economic growth. If something goes wrong with the overseas industries, it is not impossible for you to shift your focus directly back. If you want to grow, you must have a strong enough backing, and with China being your backing, you can stand invincible."
Qin Ming finally understood that the reason why Chang Hongxi had driven Nie Haitang away was still for the purpose of Qin Ming being invincible.
But he still did not dare to agree; in his heart he still wanted to dominate his own destiny.
Qin Ming said, "Righteous Father, I will not lose."
Chang Hongxi nodded and said, "Although you are more benevolent, you have a ruthlessness in your bones, and as long as you bring that ruthlessness into play, I believe you will not lose. The Supreme Board is nothing more than a pavilion in the air now, without much real power, and even if there is, it is a force they have cultivated at their own expense. Of course, the industries those of them brought in are also under their own control."
Qin Ming sort of figured out the bloody and unique history of the development of the Huan Yu Century Group, and the existence of the unique top board of directors.
This group that constantly absorbed powerful people from every era and constantly fought openly to eliminate dissenters would indeed grow stronger and stronger as powerful people would join in every era and, over time, fail to maintain the family's longevity or suffer an assassination after which the family was no longer there but the benefits were divided up among the others on the Supreme Board.
Qin Ming felt it was like rolling a snowball, the people pushing the snowball would change, but the snowball getting bigger and bigger was not going to change.
The most powerful thing is that the struggle is limited to the people on the top board and does not affect the business of the industries around the world.
And what Chang Hongxi wants to do now is to centralise power, all the power and wealth, concentrated in his hands alone, he does not want to redistribute, so he wants to eliminate all the people in the highest board!
Because the commercial beast that is Huan Yu Century is already huge enough, it can already shake the global economic lifeline and can no longer need to pull in contemporary economic giants to join it, because no one can be more cowardly than it.
Qin Ming suddenly had a feeling of how insignificant he was, how insignificant he was in front of history and such a huge business empire.
This kind of existence was comparable to a mysterious company inside a science fiction movie, and he suspected that what she knew so far was just the tip of the iceberg.
Moreover, it was likely that he would have to spend the rest of his life in being assassinated.
An invisible pressure pressed down on Qin Ming's shoulders.
When he was going to give up? Oh, was it still too late? He couldn't get out of the car when he first signed that succession agreement.
However, Qin Ming found that he had also been set up, Chang Hongxi had not explicitly said this some thing at the beginning.
When he first signed his name, Qin Ming thought to himself that if your old Chang was powerful, at most the business would be rich enough to beat the country, but who knew it was rich enough to beat the ball and leave a legacy.
The two of them were chatting for a long time here in the courtyard when Feng Dongxiang walked in and said, "Old Chang, young master, all the members of the general group responsible for the Southeast Asian industry have already entered the assembly hall."
Chang Hongxi said, "Well, Qin Ming, you can push me out."
"Yes, righteous father." Qin Ming pushed the wheelchair and pushed Chang Hongxi all the way out to the grand hall of Nanshan Manor.
Nanshan Manor was a leisure resort manor, and the auditorium might seem out of place, but in fact it was specifically given to the group's important leaders for meetings, and after the meetings, they could still spend their holidays here.
When Qin Ming pushed his wheelchair into the Assembly Hall, everyone stood up to greet him.
Qin Ming looked at all the unfamiliar foreign faces, wearing headphones for translators, and they were all seated formally, sitting upright and taking notes, so it was clear that they attached great importance to this meeting.
Qin Ming was also a bit apprehensive, as he was only a university student and did not have enough social experience. Suddenly, after listening to Chang Hongxi's secret history of the group, and now looking at these regional industry leaders, he was not able to change over.
The opening remarks were made by Chang Hongxi, and were nothing more than some polite praise of his subordinates' abilities, affirming that they had pioneered new industries and worked hard for the development of the group, and finally saying that he was dying of cancer and hoped that everyone would do well under Qin Ming in the future.
Qin Ming's reputation as the heir apparent had been known for a long time, and then after he defeated Chang Huan, his reputation spread far and wide.
Within the group, many people were already familiar with Qin Ming's presence, but by the time they found out, Qin Ming had already taken control of the Huan Yu Century Group's business throughout China, had a relatively solid base, and was immediately taking over the business in Southeast Asia.
These people were all in high spirits, as their future depended on Qin Ming.
Some of them were the backbone of the group's training, those who were incredibly loyal to the Huan Yu Century Group, and watching Qin Ming being appointed as the heir by Chang Hongxi was like watching a new emperor ascend to the throne.
Qin Ming stepped forward and bowed slightly before everyone else, saying: "I am Qin Ming, thank you all very much for taking time out of your busy schedules to come to China, as my father said, I will take over the group in the future. Everyone must be wondering, I am so young and have so little seniority, what ability do I have to lead such a large business empire?"
"But you don't have to worry too much, because the Group is a giant wheel, it keeps moving forward in history, it is no longer something that can be easily stopped by one person, I am more like an overseer, ensuring that every cog and joint that keeps the giant wheel moving forward is in order."
"So, being on the same ship, each of us shares the same fate, we just need everyone to join me ......"
Qin Ming blah blah blah said a big push, in fact, it was all a script that Song Ying had prepared for him on the way here, Qin Ming had a good memory and memorized it after reading it a few times.
In his capacity as a young heir, he revealed his ambition to grow the group in a humble manner, while revealing his promise not to treat each and every one of his meritorious colleagues poorly.
It had been half an hour since he finished speaking, and thunderous applause was heard in the venue, with Qin Ming finding that some of the cadres trained within the group applauded most enthusiastically.
However, before Qin Ming could relax, he suddenly saw a man stop his hand. Qin Ming saw that man's face and immediately remembered, the chief team leader in charge of the entire Southeast Asian industry, the top executive director, Son Sin Tichar.
He suddenly gave a grim, sneering expression before pulling out a special unmade pistol from his pocket and pointing it at Qin Ming!
This sudden move frightened everyone as he sat in the front row, only about ten steps away from Qin Ming's lectern.
There was a traitor among them!