Chapter 265: Take life and death lightly, fight if you disagree

“…Fang Huan?” Qin Han’s eyebrows shot up sharply.
“Yes. It’s said that as soon as news spread that Fang Huan Investment had just completed its position building, those short-selling funds that had been eyeing the market for a while, as if given a rallying cry, immediately launched their attack.
At the same time, in the same direction, they placed the exact same positions as Fang Huan.
They swarmed in!”
Qin Han blinked, his mind blank.
Fang Huan Investment suddenly shorted Japan, and then a bunch of the world’s most ruthless financial vultures, as if by prior arrangement, followed suit, charging in in unison.
What the hell does this mean? It’s self-evident!
"Wait...wait a minute!
You mean, the one stirring up this mess, directing all the short-selling funds...is that Su Hao from Fanghuan Investment?!"
"I wouldn't say all of them. There are definitely many funds jumping on the bandwagon, taking advantage of the chaos.
But the core forces that initially brought the devastating impact to the market were definitely organized!
And Fanghuan Investment was the first to rush in...
Looking at it this way, he was both the vanguard and the banner waving in the wind!"
Qin Han carefully recalled Su Hao's past investment record.
On the surface, he seemed like the kind of cunning old fox hiding behind the scenes, manipulating everything.
But a closer look reveals that's not the case at all.
Quite the opposite, this guy is a berserker at heart!
He never plays dirty tricks.
Every time, he's the first to charge into the enemy camp, the fierce one who plunges his own battle flag deep into the enemy's heart!
That unstoppable, crushing aggression was chilling!
"So that's it...no wonder those lunatics followed him."
What those short-selling funds admired was precisely this extreme, brutal aggression.
But everyone experiences fear and hesitation.
But Su Hao didn't. He always seemed to possess an unwavering conviction, always the first to charge, without hesitation.
He showed everyone through his actions:
Life and death are nothing to fear; if you're not convinced, fight!
And so, those lunatics who had initially been observing seemed to be infused with boundless courage, howling and following him wholeheartedly.
"So, the only one who can put a collar on a group of lunatics is someone even more ruthless and insane than them?"
Qin Han muttered to himself.
But he still couldn't understand, what was Su Hao after?
This time, the opponent wasn't just a company, but Japan—a massive nation!
"I think Chairman Su has probably been provoked too," an executive speculated.
"If the government really manages to shut down semiconductor exports this time, Chairman Su's companies will definitely be significantly affected."
"So… whoever touches his cake and eats it too?"
"He probably thinks relying on the government to resolve this is too slow; he'd rather rely on himself than others, so he's just rolling up his sleeves and taking matters into his own hands."
Even though it was Japan that was attacked, Qin Han felt a chill run down his spine.
He never dreamed that someone would dare to wage war against the financial system of a developed country in such a violent way.
When Japan imposed export restrictions, Jiang Jin Group, like all other companies, never even considered the option of "directly confronting the Japanese government."
What a joke!
A company going toe-to-toe with the government of a developed country?
That's not just throwing an egg against a rock, it's like an egg trying to fight an intercontinental ballistic missile.
So, all he could think about was finding a roundabout way out, finding alternative solutions.
But Su Hao was clearly from a different world.
Su Hao's dictionary seemed to lack the words "compromise" and "submission."
Rather than bowing down and taking a beating, it was better to... raise your fist and smash it hard into the face of the Japanese government!
"Better to die standing than live on your knees..."
An indescribable shock, like a thunderclap, exploded deep within Qin Han's heart.
He even felt a long-dormant surge of passion rising from his dantian, burning fiercely!
Perhaps it was this surge of excitement that made him slam his fist on the table:
“Go! Get me all the analytical reports on the potential impact of this interest rate hike and the future economic trends! Immediately! Right now!”
Qin Han was fed up too, tired of living in constant fear and having to be mindful of others' opinions.
“Reporting to Chairman Qin, breaking news: Japanese companies that previously transferred all their capital overseas are now desperately trying to withdraw funds.
They're even panic-selling their prime real estate holdings around the world!”
Before the bursting of the bubble economy, Japan was incredibly wealthy, showering the world with money.
Back then, if you randomly picked a world-class landmark and checked its owner, nine times out of ten, it was Japanese.
Why did the Japanese yen become one of the world's major reserve currencies?
Ironically, we really have to thank that bubble.
Before the bubble burst, they were the world's second-largest economy after the United States, having swept up countless properties, stocks, and artworks overseas.
After the bubble burst, although they experienced a long period of alternating deflation and inflation, their zero-interest-rate policy inadvertently made the yen a safe-haven asset.
Central banks around the world hold reserves of both US dollars and yen.
Because everyone knows these countries have deep pockets; their ancestors buried countless "treasures" around the world. In a crisis, they can simply unearth those assets and liquidate them, allowing them to make a comeback at any time.
Moreover, Japan is the world's largest net creditor nation.
In other words, they borrow relatively little money, but others owe them… a mountain of debt!
"But even so, this collapse of the YCC is a devastating blow to them.
The zero-interest-rate belief they've maintained for decades has collapsed overnight. Businesses will face a wave of bankruptcies, and the entire financial system will be paralyzed instantly!"
This crisis is so severe that even selling all overseas assets cannot completely protect them.
Moreover, converting overseas assets into cash takes time!
A house listed for sale is just a pile of bricks if no one buys it;
Bonds not yet mature are just worthless pieces of paper.
Even more critically, no one anticipated that the "faith" in zero interest rates would collapse so suddenly and so completely.
This left both the government and businesses completely unprepared, dealt a heavy blow to the back of their heads.
"Japan right now is a complete mess."
The epic collapse in government bond prices has plunged all financial institutions, including banks and insurance companies, into a chain reaction of asset deterioration and bankruptcy.
Banks, in particular, had invested most of their money in the "safest" government bonds.
But now, these safest assets have become the hottest potato.
Depositors, seeing bank assets shrink, are terrified, their only thought being to withdraw their money and run.
Withdrawals easily trigger bank runs.
A bank run means the bank's collapse.
This is the script for a "bank run," currently playing out in major Japanese cities.
Many banks have refused withdrawals, and some have even gone so far as to shut down operations and display signs announcing bankruptcy liquidation.
When Japan imposed trade sanctions, the ordinary people of Xia Kingdom didn't feel it as strongly.
However, throughout Japan, every ordinary person was truly experiencing the deep-seated fear brought about by the collapse of YCC!