Reborn in Hong Kong: The Tycoon Grows Up

Unknowingly, it was already evening, and Ayesha quickly called a few people over for dinner. Things are not as important as the body, not to mention that a consensus has been basically reached and a lot of information needs to be sorted out. Crown Prince Abdullah and Prince Sultan also want to say hello to other senior Saudi officials to see how the shares will be distributed.

It's easy to talk about Heiyun Group, it's just a matter of Bao Zixuan's slap on the forehead. The Saudi side will definitely hold a meeting to discuss why there are so many royal members!

After dinner, Prince Sultan and Crown Prince Abdullah went directly to the palace. At this time, only Bao Zixuan and Ayesha were left in the villa. Before leaving, Sultan said with a smile: "I won't come over here tonight. You guys have a good rest."

Hearing such ambiguous words, both Bao Zixuan and Ayesha were embarrassed to answer. It’s not that the Saudis are very conservative, why does Prince Sultan still talk like this? It seems that Bao Shaofu is almost the same as Tang Shengrou.

Both of them had red faces. After Sultan left, there was something strange in the living room. Bao Zixuan knew that there was going to be a problem if he didn't go back to the room, so he hurriedly told Ayesha: "There is still work to be done, and materials for tomorrow's negotiation must be prepared."

No matter how you say that the other party is also a princess, it is impossible to be so unreserved; just like this, the richest man Bao missed another good opportunity.

When Prince Sultan and Crown Prince Abdullah arrived at the palace, they saw that all the royal officials had arrived. They were all waiting for them at this time. After sitting down, the crown prince glanced at him, and Prince Sultan immediately understood.

Prince Sultan: "Crown Prince Abdullah and I discussed with Bao Zixuan for a long time this afternoon and basically figured out the funds required to invest in various projects."

"After preliminary calculations, Saudi Arabia needs to spend 30-35 billion U.S. dollars every year to meet the minimum requirements. This amount is really too large and cannot be decided by one or two people. That's why I asked you to come over to discuss and see if you have any what idea."

Hearing this figure, even the Saudi royal family, who is used to living a life of rich people, feels a little struggling. At present, China's entire foreign exchange reserves are less than 10 billion US dollars, which means that the Saudi royal family has to spend 3 China's foreign exchange reserves every year.

It is estimated that only a few countries can afford this money; if Saudi Arabia comes up with this money. There will definitely be restrictions in other aspects, and the living standards of the royal children will also drop a lot.

At this time, a prince said: "With so much investment, who will guarantee our livelihood?"

This is a topic that concerns many people, but it also makes some people feel uneasy. There are too many moths in the royal family, but this is a common phenomenon. It is not good to say too much. There are some things that even a king would not say much about. It's all caused by oil, and getting rich is not necessarily a good thing.

Crown Prince Abdullah: "Life goes on as usual. Could it be that if there is less funding for the royal family members, everyone will not be able to survive!"

"It is because the life of the royal family is so superior that many people are doing nothing. You don't know what the image of the Saudi royal family is in the world now. When it comes time to change, if there is no change, you can count on them to lead the country."

In fact, Crown Prince Abdullah knew that saying this would offend many people. Even the position of crown prince may not be preserved, but he knows that Sultan cannot bear too much pressure alone, and it is more beneficial to the country to make Sultan the crown prince. The people in power in the Saudi royal family are all brothers, and their relationship is still very deep.

Crown Prince Abdullah continued: "When we went to find Bao Zixuan at noon, do you know what they were doing!"

"Inspecting the work at the construction site to understand the progress of the project. I got up very early to work. I estimate that I will definitely finish sorting out the afternoon negotiations tonight. This is their work attitude and efficiency, but look at our nephews! As you all know, their wealth is no less than that of the entire Saudi royal family. The future development prospects are even brighter, and they can still work so seriously. Can the children of the royal family do it?"

"There is no harm without comparison. If any of the royal children can have half of Bao Zixuan's ability and work attitude, I will definitely abdicate and give up the position of crown prince to him."

"But no, there is no one in the entire Saudi royal family. This is the gap. The world is developing very fast. If we don't work hard, is there any hope for the future of the Saudi royal family!"

Basically all members of the royal family know what the problem is, but it is difficult for them to change it. I have stayed in the comfort zone for a long time and lost a lot of fighting spirit.

The Saudi Minister of Economic Affairs suddenly said: "The treatment of royal family members is an internal issue, which can be easily solved. But how will the United States negotiate? If the annual investment is so large, there is no way to purchase U.S. Treasury bonds."

As early as 1974, the newly appointed U.S. Treasury Secretary embarked on a two-week trip to the Middle East from Andrews Air Force Base. Officially, the US Treasury Secretary's two-week trip was promoted as economic diplomacy to Europe and the Middle East. However, its true mission was kept strictly confidential from the outside world. In fact, the highlight of the trip was a four-day stop in the Saudi coastal city of Jeddah.

After the end of the gold standard in the 1970s, the oil crisis severely impacted the United States. Inflation soared, the dollar depreciated, the stock market crashed, and the U.S. economy took a nosedive. The goal of the U.S. Treasury Secretary's trip is to find ways to persuade Saudi Arabia to use its petrodollar wealth to reduce the U.S. trade deficit. According to the US Treasury Secretary, "This is not a question of whether it can be completed." The then US President Richard Nixon had given clear instructions that the trip could only succeed and not fail. Because failure would not only jeopardize the financial situation of the United States, but also open the door for the former Soviet Union to further enter the Arab world.

As Nixon directed, the United States reached an "unshakable" agreement with Saudi Arabia, the world's largest oil producer, in which the United States agreed to provide arms and equipment to Saudi Arabia on the condition that the U.S. dollar be used as the sole pricing currency for oil transactions. In return, Saudi Arabia used tens of billions of petrodollars in revenue to purchase U.S. Treasury bonds to support U.S. finances. Since Saudi Arabia is the largest oil producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), other members were quick to adopt the U.S. dollar for oil transactions. Since then, the U.S. dollar has been closely linked to oil, and an invisible equation has been drawn between the two. Any country that wants to trade oil must have sufficient U.S. dollar reserves. The petrodollar system was thus established.

It is through the "petroleum-dollar" system that the United States has made the U.S. dollar remain the U.S. dollar and become the settlement currency for international trade. Moreover, the main reason why the U.S. dollar does not depreciate is because Saudi Arabia purchases a large amount of U.S. Treasury bonds; Saudi Arabia now invests more than 30 billion U.S. dollars in its own development every year. The problem of the U.S. national debt is not easy to deal with, and the relationship that has been built with great difficulty will break down in an instant.

The Saudi king knows that this is a time when he needs to take a stand, and this is not the time to just let Crown Prince Abdullah and Prince Sultan charge into battle. So he stood up and said: "We are the Saudi royal family, not the followers of the Americans. We purchased a large amount of U.S. Treasury bonds before because there were no other good projects to invest in, and it was also to stabilize relations with the Americans."

"But everyone has seen that no matter what we do, Saudi Arabia will always be inferior to Israel in the hearts of Americans, and Saudi Arabia should live for itself."

"However, we cannot directly intensify the contradiction. We should buy about 1 billion per year. It should be about the same. You still need to be hardworking. You cannot become an industrial power by purchasing high-tech products, let alone a military power."

"We have purchased so many so-called advanced weapons from the United States and France, but have they really made us stronger?"

"Heiyun Group has established two factories in Saudi Arabia. This is sincerity. Which European and American countries will build factories in Saudi Arabia, but currently they do not. The ground-effect aircraft is one of the most advanced weapons in the world and will be produced in Saudi Arabia in the future. Fly around the world.”

"I think the Heiyun aircraft last time was very good. Saudi Arabia can introduce it. It would be best if the production line is built in Saudi Arabia. These are the industrial supports that our powerful country needs."

The king's words have already defined the matter, and no one knows how to refute it. After all, Saudi Arabia is not powerful, and the royal family will only have the image of a rich man internationally.

At this time, the Saudi Foreign Minister said: "What should we do about Iraq, our Arab brother? If we invest so much every year, our support for them will definitely decrease."

This is another difficult problem. All Arab countries are on the side of Iraq in the Iran-Iraq war. This is an indisputable fact, after all, they are brotherly countries.

But how can we support Iraq if we invest huge amounts of money every year? At most, Saudi Arabia will support it economically, but will not send troops there. That would intensify the conflict, and the combat effectiveness of Saudi soldiers would not be of much help.

Prince Sultan, as the head of the military, said: "We can support part of the existing weapons to Iraq. We had a lot of inventory before. This time we went to the Soviet Union to buy humus soil, and we can buy some weapons back, and we will not let them go." The Soviets were suspicious of Saudi motives.”

After hearing this, everyone felt that the plan was feasible. Soviet weapons were relatively cheap and more cost-effective. And the Soviets couldn't understand whether they were buying weapons or humus soil.

Most of them think that Saudi Arabia is buying weapons, and humus is at most a means of concealing the truth from others. That way the Soviets would not set the price of soil too high. By the time they figured it out, Saudi agriculture would have already taken shape.