The birth of the Hong Kong Island family

Lam Tin Garden.

In the evening, Lin Zhichao was having dinner with his family, a mother, a wife, a sister, and a son. It was a happy family, and there was a servant to serve them.

"This Sunday, I'm going to go to Europe to buy a ship. This time it may take half a month." During the meal, Lin Zhichao said suddenly.

There is no way. In this era, it takes only three days for a one-way trip, and six or seven days have passed for a round trip. As for the purchase of the ship this time, Lin Zhichao still went to the UK to see the opportunity, and there was no intermediary. He did not trust the ship intermediary in Hong Kong.

Why not go to the United States to buy a boat?

You must know that after World War II, the United States had 38 million tons of merchant ships, while the United Kingdom only had 18 million tons of merchant ships; the third-place France had only 2 million tons, and the Soviet Union, Italy, and Japan only had more than one million tons.

It is normal for Lin Zhichao not to seek opportunities in the United States, because once he purchases a ship in the United States, a record will be left; once the Peninsula Campaign begins, his fleet will be monitored and may even cause trouble.

Of course, Lin Zhichao will definitely not risk being sanctioned, but he is still worried about these things.

What's more, to discuss life in the British colonies, it is natural to do more business with London, and the pound has just depreciated, so the prices of commodities will naturally "reduce".

"So long?" Tang Caiyun said reluctantly.

She knew that she definitely couldn't go with her because she had to take care of the son at home.

Lin Zhichao nodded and said, "Well, this time we are mainly looking for ships. It will take a long time, and maybe half a month may not be enough time."

Seeing what he said, Tang Caiyun immediately changed her attitude and said, "Okay, you can rest assured that you have me and mother-in-law at home."

Although the family has reluctance and worries, they also understand that Lin Zhichao's decision cannot be changed; what's more, Lin Zhichao attaches great importance to his career.

After dinner and washing up, Lin Zhichao and Tang Caiyun returned to the bedroom. As for Lin Ruihuan, he always shares a room with his grandma.

Lying on the bed with his arms around his wife, Lin Zhichao talked about something for the first time.

"Every time I go abroad, I will leave a document with my personal lawyer, and it is the same this time. From now on, Caiyun, please learn more about the family business and sit firmly behind me."

Tang Caiyun understood what it meant, and immediately held Lin Zhichao's arm nervously, as if she had some resistance to this aspect, but she didn't dare to say it out, for fear of bad luck.

Lin Zhichao patted her on the shoulder and said, "This is a normal procedure, so don't worry or worry."

Only then did Tang Caiyun calm down, and then said: "Okay! I don't care too much!"

Lin Zhichao said with satisfaction:

"Well, that's right! Especially now that I have Lin Ruihuan, I will be even more prepared for these things. Today I will tell you about the assets I have: Changjiang Real Estate: This company currently has no liabilities and has three net assets. Properties worth more than one million include a 212,000-square-foot warehouse on Paterson Street, a six-storey property in Lam Tin Court and Telford Gardens. Remember, Hong Kong’s properties will continue to rise, and any decline is just For a while, it will rise again sooner or later. Because the land is the right."

Tang Caiyun immediately asked, "How do you plan to develop the land on Paterson Street?"

Lin Zhichao laughed, this question is not bad, of course he will share it with the people next to him.

"It's very simple! In the next five years, Hong Kong will undergo an industrialization process. After all, we have inherited so much capital and technology. As Hong Kong's population increases, sooner or later the Hong Kong government will encourage real estate development, such as allowing the construction of high-rise buildings. By then, If you turn this land into eight or nine commercial and residential buildings, you can get thousands of residential units and a large number of commercial rent-collecting properties. It doesn't matter if you don't have money to invest. As long as you sell off-the-plan properties, you can immediately use other people's money to develop. You probably know Just get off!"

Tang Caiyun nodded and said, "Well, I feel like there are a lot of problems here."

Real estate is not that simple! Lin Zhichao also learned by doing.

When he was working in real estate in his previous life, he didn't even know how to open a bank account or get a bank loan. He was completely clueless, and he soon became a real estate tycoon. Because things will force him to try his best to develop.

"The second asset: Cheung Kong Holdings. Currently, it has achieved simultaneous production in Hong Kong and Sing Tao, and its products are exported to Europe, America and Asia. There are currently two debts - 1.5 million principal and interest from the Bank of East Asia, and 800,000 follow-up payments from Sideburn Machinery Equipment payment. There are sufficient funds in the account. Even if I withdraw 3 million Hong Kong dollars, our net debt this year will actually be more than 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars. A mere 1.5 million Hong Kong dollars in net debt is nothing. Only the land and factories owned by Cheung Kong Holdings It’s much higher than that amount.”

Tang Caiyun asked curiously: "You took out 3 million Hong Kong dollars to develop shipping?"

Lin Zhichao said: "Yes! Our family's third asset is Global Shipping, which was just established. It contains almost more than 1.6 million US dollars, which is more than 9.2 million Hong Kong dollars. I have deposited this money in HSBC as a ship purchase. of payment.”

Tang Caiyun suddenly became unbelievable. It was the first time she knew that Lin Zhichao was so rich.

A pair of beautiful big eyes stared at her husband's beautiful eyes.

In fact, no one knows that Lin Zhichao is a multi-millionaire. It is estimated that Jian Dongpu can't even count it. After all, Lin Zhichao didn't know how much money he made from gold speculation. As for the U.S. dollar speculation, Jian Dongpu only knew about Cheung Kong Holdings.

"Husband, since you are so profitable, how about we have more children?" Tang Caiyun took the initiative.

Lin Zhichao responded immediately, but said: "Don't rush, let's take our time, have one every two years, four or five is enough!"

Tang Caiyun was pinned down by Lin Zhichao, and she said softly: "Are you still thinking about Caiying?"

Judging from the recent performances of Lin Zhichao and Tang Caiying, Tang Caiyun understands that everything is developing towards this man's ideas. Tang Caiying liked it, but her parents didn't stop her and she already let go.

Lin Zhichao smiled and said: "Isn't this great! The children of you two sisters will have a land career and a maritime career in the future."

Tang Caiyun immediately pretended to be angry and said: "This Caiying, she hasn't even entered the door yet, but she's already in love with me, but I won't let her!"

Tang Caiying, who was downstairs, suddenly sneezed and didn't know why.

Lin Zhichao smiled and said nothing. How will the two sisters get along in the future?

"Smile! Husband, your plot has succeeded! But you are not allowed to miss her now!" Tang Caiyun hugged Lin Zhichao from behind and tightened her grip.

Soon, the two were rolling on the bed.

After Lin Zhichao arrived in London at the end of December, he quickly obtained various information from major shipping managers, but he still failed to take action.

On this day, a shipping manager named Willis saw that after Lin Zhichao introduced information about many ships, Lin Zhichao still showed no enthusiasm, so he said: "Mr. Lin, I have introduced you to so many excellent second-hand ships. You are not even interested. Could it be that you are interested in Williamson's Liberty Ship? This ship is cheap, but it was built in a hurry in the United States during World War II. It has slow speed and short life. We shipping managers are not willing to sell them. "

As soon as Lin Zhichao heard "Freewheel" and "Williamson Company", he immediately wrote it down, and then said sheepishly: "Mr. Willis, I will go back and think about it carefully and give you an answer as soon as possible!"

When Willis heard this, he had no doubt that he was there, so he politely stood up to see him off!

"Stay!"

Lin Zhichao walked out of the office building. It was already dark. In this winter in London, the smog is quite serious. No wonder 12,000 people will die from the smog in two years. Of course, these people themselves also have serious respiratory diseases, heart disease, etc.

At this moment, his mind began to think about Willis's last words.

Freewheel, he is familiar with it!

During World War II, Germany launched "unrestricted" submarine warfare in order to cut off Britain's overseas supplies (from the United States). To this end, Germany equipped an unimaginable number of thousands of submarines to cruise around the Atlantic. Whether they were military or civilian ships, as long as they were If they are not from the Axis powers and appear in the Atlantic, Germany will use submarines lurking everywhere to sink them. This will prevent the British and European battlefields from receiving weapons and other supplies, and force them to surrender, so that Germany can win the entire war. Europe wins the world war.

Then Britain asked the United States for help, and American mathematicians gave the government a plan: The United States must build ships faster than the speed at which German submarines could sink them.

Although this is not a scientific research conclusion, the United States took it seriously, and the Freewheel Project was born.

A Liberty Ship only took 30 days from laying the keel to sea trial. By 1943, this process was shortened to 24 days, and dozens of Liberty Ships were built at the same time. Later, the construction became faster and faster, and it only took more than three days to complete the steps from laying the keel to launching the water, because of the Ford assembly line operation.

A "Liberty Ship" is not a small ship, but a very sturdy transport ship that can cross rough oceans. It has a total length of 135 meters, a displacement of 15,000 tons, and a cargo load of 5,000 to 9,000 tons. From 1941 to 1944, the United States built a total of 2,710 ships, with an average of 3 ships launched every day.

In order to speed up the construction, simplified technologies are used where possible, especially when assembling the hull, more advanced and faster welding technology is used to replace riveting, which performs slightly better than traditional transport ships in terms of reliability and durability. Worse.

What Shipping Manager Willis means is that since the design life of the freewheel is five years, those ships have almost reached the end of their life (theoretically), so many shipowners dare not start at this time.

The cost of a Liberty Ship was 1.8 million U.S. dollars. During the war, the cost could be recovered with just one shipment, because the cargo on board was worth 2 million U.S. dollars. After the war, these Liberty ships were sold to various countries around the world by an American Steamship Commission. Greece alone bought 600 ships; the Z Commercial Bureau of the Republic of China also bought ten ships, totaling US$5.5 million. The British took over 180 ships and the Soviet Union refused to return 43 ships.

Others may be worried about the quality of free ships, but Lin Zhichao is more confident, because these ships can be used until the 1970s; even in the late 1960s, in the previous life in the mainland, a batch of these dilapidated ships were purchased for 30,000 to 40,000 pounds. The free wheel was used until the 1980s.

Therefore, if Lin Zhichao can buy a free ship, it will theoretically last for at least 20 years; one free ship can earn him ten new ships of the same tonnage within ten years.

Not long after leaving the office building, Lin Zhichao was preparing to take a taxi back to the hotel.

Suddenly, he found a foreign girl not far away who was swaying, as if she was drunk or sick. Just as he was considering whether to step forward to help, the girl then sat by the flower stand and fell down again. symptom.

Once he fell down, he might be injured. Seeing this, Lin Zhichao decided not to hesitate.

"Madam, do you need me to take you to the hospital?" Lin Zhichao stepped forward and asked.

When the girl with her head hanging down heard that she was sent to the hospital, she quickly raised her head and said, "No! Thank you, I'll just sit down and be fine!"

At this time, Lin Zhichao was shocked when he saw the girl's face!

Why is it her?

While he was surprised, the girl probably didn't want to be like this in front of strangers, so she wanted to get up and leave.

Who knows, I can't hold on anymore and I'm about to fall down.

Lin Zhichao quickly supported Hepburn, then raised his head and glanced nearby, and said: "I will take you to the restaurant over there to sit down and drink a cup of hot water. Your situation will be relieved soon!"

He knew that Hepburn had always been thin due to malnutrition when she was a child. At this stage, Hepburn and her mother did not have much money, and she herself only played some inconspicuous roles in the song and dance troupe.

"Thank you," Hepburn said in a daze.

She was already severely dizzy and could only follow Lin Zhichao's movements. Although she was surprised that Lin Zhichao was Asian, she could no longer care about that at this time.

Afterwards, the two came to the restaurant, and Lin Zhichao immediately ordered two cups of hot water and some bread, and took care of Hepburn carefully.

After about 30 minutes, Hepburn's condition eased.

"Thank you very much, sir! My name is Audrey Hepburn, what's yours?"

"My name is Lin Zhichao, you can call me Lin."

Hepburn's big eyes regained some vitality and asked: "I made you laugh, maybe I forgot to have lunch, so I was a little dizzy just now."

She lied because she was worried about being seen as poor!

Lin Zhichao said very straightforwardly: "Your body is very thin, probably caused by long-term malnutrition. You should usually eat on time, rest on time every night, and recover your body through slow conditioning."

Although Hepburn was surprised by Lin Zhichao's subtle observations, she did not want to show that she was poor in front of others, so she explained: "Actually, I am a musical actor, maybe because of fatigue. I have studied ballet since I was a child, so The body is relatively thin.”

Lin Zhichao smiled and said nothing. Hepburn suddenly understood that this man could see through her thoughts at a glance, and he suddenly seemed a little embarrassed.

Fortunately, Lin Zhichao immediately said: "You have a very good image and will become a good actor, even a Hollywood actor."

The original intention was to comfort her, but unexpectedly Hepburn immediately asked: "Really? Why do you think so?"

Lin Zhichao was suddenly speechless. He couldn't say, "I am a prophet!"

Hepburn soon discovered that others were just being polite, but she became serious and could only say: "Sorry!"

Lin Zhichao felt that the atmosphere would end like this, so he said: "I really think you will become a good actor. If I were the director, I would definitely let you play a princess."

Hepburn became serious again and asked: "Princess? What kind of princess is she?"

Why is this person always serious!

Lin Zhichao could only helplessly search the plot of "Roman Holiday" in his mind, and said: "She is a princess who has been locked in a cage since she was a child. She needs to pay attention to her words and deeds, her diet and daily life, and she has no free soul. Suddenly there is One day, she was curious about the outside world, took advantage of the housekeeper's negligence, and climbed out of the window to escape, planning to take a day off for herself. On this day, she ate cheap ice cream, and even went to the flower shop without knowing that she needed to pay. She met a commoner, Play truth or dare, attend a public party, fall in love with civilians, and finally have to face reality, pick up your national responsibilities, and end this one-day romance. That's about it!"

Hepburn's beautiful eyes immediately turned around and she said, "Are you really a businessman, not a screenwriter? I think your script looks good."

Lin Zhichao smiled and said, "It's just a very simple story!"

When things developed to this point, Hepburn became a little curious about Lin Zhichao, and asked: "What kind of business are you?"

Lin Zhichao replied: "Shipping! I am buying a ship in the UK, a very big ship. My dream is that the ships I own can occupy various ports in the world and provide convenience for the development of the world economy."

Although anyone who heard it would think that Lin Zhichao was bragging, Hepburn said: "Well, you can do it."

She saw that Lin Zhichao was the same age as her and had an Asian face, but she had no doubt that this was her kind quality.

The two chatted for a while, and Lin Zhichao happened to take a taxi, so he took Hepburn home with him.

After Hepburn got out of the car and looked at the car going away, she realized that she had forgotten to leave her contact information, and she suddenly felt annoyed. She has a good impression of Lin Zhichao, and since she received help from others today, she should ask others for help one day.

Thinking of this, she touched her empty bag, meaning that she was too poor.

"Hey, how is this rich?"

When he took out the contents of his pocket, Hepburn was surprised to find that it was a thick stack of pounds.

Immediately there was a note (borrowed from the hotel) that read: "Give it back to me after you become a star!"

For a moment, Hepburn was stunned!

After a while, I counted the pounds in my hand and found a total of 500 pounds.

"He found out that I was malnourished, so he planned to help me! But how could I spend the money? Besides, he didn't even leave his contact information, so he might not be able to meet me in the future."

After hesitating for a while, Hepburn kept the money carefully and did not plan to spend it for the time being!

On the other side, Lin Zhichao returned to the hotel without regrets.

Your career has not yet been successful, so how can you think about such good things?

Although she is still just a poor girl, they are thousands of miles apart, so how can he have the heart to chase the girl!

So in the end, he didn't want to exchange contact information, although he knew Hepburn's address.

The next day, Lin Zhichao found Williamson Company.

This company is a company with diversified businesses, shipping is only one of its businesses. When Lin Zhichao came to buy a ship, Charlie, the head of Williamson Company, looked at him with strange eyes.

"Sorry, Mr. Lin, we only deal with ship managers, and all ships are handled by ship brokers."

Seeing this, Lin Zhichao said sincerely and without any hurry: "I hope to buy the two free ships of your company. I need them very much. I want to engage in shipping, but my funds are limited. I want to get a more reasonable price."

Although he was sincere, this time he clearly encountered someone who adhered to his principles.

Charlie then said: "Although I am touched by your determination for shipping, it still cannot change my decision. These two Liberty ships were produced in 1943. We sold them very cheaply for 150,000 pounds, but only recognized ship managers. "

When Williamson originally purchased the boat from the United States, the price was just over US$500,000. Now, after almost three years, the cost has been recouped, and it can still be sold for US$420,000. Why not?

Lin Zhichao said unwillingly: "But the ship managers seem reluctant to promote these two Liberty ships. They think that no one will buy a Liberty ship with a design life of only five years."

Charlie was stunned. He had not thought of this. No wonder the two Liberty Ships had not been sold, although the ships had been in operation.

"Only those of us who actually use Freewheel know that this kind of ship has a lifespan of not only five years, but also twenty years without any problems."

Lin Zhichao added: "But the slow speed of the ship is also a disadvantage. Generally, merchant ships can maintain a speed of 14 to 15 knots, while a freewheeler can only maintain a speed of 11.5 knots."

One knot is equal to one nautical mile per hour, and one nautical mile is equal to 1.85 kilometers. The distance from Europe to Hong Kong is more than 9,000 kilometers, which is about 5,000 nautical miles. Therefore, a one-way trip takes 18 to 20 days, and the free wheel has its flaws.

But Lin Zhichao didn't care. A few days' delay was not a problem. What was important was that in the second half of 1950, there would be a ship shortage in the Far East.

For a moment, Charlie hesitated. When he saw that Lin Zhichao came prepared and was more sincere, and that the agent had indeed not pushed it out for a while, his mind began to change.

In fact, even if Charlie insists on being a broker, Lin Zhichao can still save some brokerage fees. For example, he takes the initiative to find a broker and proposes how much commission it will cost. If you don't do it, I will find the next one. Anyway, I have already found the source of the goods.

"Well, since you have analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of the free ship clearly, you must be very eager to get them. I will sell these two ships to you directly, and the price is 300,000 pounds for two ships."

Lin Zhichao was overjoyed and agreed immediately.

Of course, he still found a law firm to deal with the details. At the same time, the two ships still needed to be overhauled in the UK before sailing back to Hong Kong.

What makes Lin Zhichao happy is that the two Liberty Ships only cost US$840,000, which is equivalent to his remaining US$800,000 in ship purchase funds. In this way, he can also buy two cargo ships, but of course he will not continue to buy them immediately.

This allowed his fleet in 1950 to reach at least four ships of 8,000 to 10,000 tons. Of course, it is not certain, because in the second half of 1950, he may add more ships.

This strength is enough for him to quickly become a shipowner on the same level as Dong Shipwang and Xu Shipwang.

Of course, Lin Zhichao invested nearly 10 million Hong Kong dollars in his first investment, which is considered a very generous investment.