Chapter 348: Reassigning Manpower

EU headquarters, President's office.
"Your Excellency, no! Absolutely not!"
When President Merkel announced the lifting of all restrictions on "Fanghuan Investment," the entire European Parliament erupted.
The opposition was like a tsunami, almost overwhelming her.
Everyone thought she was crazy, terribly crazy!
But the fervor was ultimately short-lived.
After a long while, when they calmed down and had to face the reality more chilling than ice water, everyone fell silent.
If this bailout fund wasn't introduced immediately, a domino effect of European business failures would fall, triggering an irreversible financial avalanche.
Opening the door to "Fanghuan Investment" was now their only option.
Of course… only Merkel herself knew that her desperate lobbying wasn't just for the sake of the European economy, but also because she personally felt an unspeakable, soul-deep threat.
Rumors were even circulating that Merkel had taken bribes from Fang Huan.
'You bunch of idiots, what do you know!'
Merkel felt bitter. If she really had taken the money, she would feel a little better.
The fear she felt when she received that hundreds-of-pages-thick, completely blank "document";
the suffocating feeling of having an invisible force pressed against her throat, as if being stared at from the abyss—this was something no one who hadn't experienced it could possibly understand!
"How's the situation? Have they started entering the market?"
"Yes, Your Excellency. Fang Huan Investment is proceeding as agreed, prioritizing the acquisition of those corporate bonds. The first step in stabilizing the CDS market is going smoothly."
Today was the first day of the funds entering the market.
Therefore, President Merkel had been glued to the trading screen all day, monitoring every move of that massive amount of money.
Although she had given them a "free pass," a show of force still had to be maintained; at least to let others know that everything was under EU supervision.
“Very good.”
It seems those Easterners have a strong sense of contractual obligation.
First, they fulfilled their promise, buying bonds from companies on the verge of bankruptcy, pulling businesses back from the brink one by one.
“And then?”
“After completing the acquisition of corporate bonds, they can… begin a large-scale entry into the stock market.”
Sure enough, everything is proceeding according to plan.
Merkel thought to herself that they were probably doing what they did in the US: buying in large quantities, driving up stock prices, holding for a few months, and then calmly selling off their holdings.
In this way, they were saving the US stock market while also making huge profits in the US market.
Although the thought of being fleeced by them made her heart ache.
But as long as this method could revive the European market, it didn't matter.
She even began to feel that introducing this financial behemoth to Europe was an absolutely correct decision.
“But…” the assistant’s voice suddenly turned strange, “But their next move was a little… a little odd.”
“Hmm? Odd in what?”
“We originally thought they would buy a large number of shares and hold them for a while, like they do in the US market.
But unexpectedly, they sold them all very quickly after buying them.”
"Pfft—!"
Merkel spat out the mouthful of water she had just taken a sip of.
"You, what did you say?! Sold immediately?! They'd only been buying for a short time?!"
"Yes." The assistant's face also turned deathly pale.
"Some orders, from purchase to sale, were completed in just a few minutes.
Even more outrageous… some were even completed within seconds!"
"!?!"
Merkel's mind went blank, a ridiculous thought that sent chills down her spine suddenly surfacing.
What… what does this mean?!
Fanghuan Investment!
They are…
doing! short-term trading!?
Using those trillions of dollars…
to…
speculate short-term in the entire European market?!
***
At the Fanghuan Group's high-level meeting, the atmosphere was heavy.
"What the hell? Demobilizing staff?"
Huang Fengwen stared at the report in his hand, his brows furrowed.
"Ah, yes, Chairman Huang.
Fanghuan Investment has urgently pulled a batch of employees from various departments of the Fanghuan Group, as well as our subsidiary, Fanghuan Exchange."
"Why?! Fanghuan Investment isn't manpower enough? If they're short-staffed, they should recruit more immediately!
Besides, what if things go wrong because the group and the exchange aren't fully staffed?!"
Huang Fengwen's heart skipped a beat; a sense of foreboding washed over him.
Fanghuan Investment was the absolute core of his entire business empire.
Pulling people from the core was like drawing blood from the heart; it showed just how strained their frontline manpower was.
It was one thing for other places to be short-staffed, but how could Fanghuan Investment be short-staffed!
"Lin Fan, explain this to me! What exactly is going on?!" Huang Fengwen's voice turned cold.
“This… Chairman Huang, please don’t rush. This staff reassignment is only temporary. As long as…
the project that Chairman Su is currently pushing forward is successfully completed, everyone will immediately return to their positions.”
“A project? Besides entering the European market, what other independent mega-projects is Fanghuan Investment currently pursuing?” Huang Fengwen pressed.
“Yes, Chairman Huang,” Lin Fan’s voice was low, “it’s that project.”
“Huh?”
Huang Fengwen tilted his head, looking bewildered. Most of the group’s senior executives in the room exchanged confused glances.
However, a few people in the crowd seemed to sense something unusual, and their expressions changed slightly.
“Wait, Chairman Lin,” one of them asked in a trembling voice,
“What you’re talking about… isn’t it the one I’m thinking of?”
Before the man finished speaking, Lin Fan slowly and heavily nodded.
“I’m afraid… it’s the one you’re thinking of.”
“What?!” In an instant, exclamations arose.
Huang Fengwen felt like a primary school student isolated by the entire class, cut off by an invisible wall. Everyone else understood, but he was the only one kept in the dark.
“What are you all cryptic about! What is it?!” he yelled impatiently.
“Chairman Huang,” Lin Fan finally revealed the answer,
“Chairman Su’s recent manpower redeployment isn’t for anything else… it’s for a deal.”
“A deal? A trader? Fanghuan Investment has plenty of those, doesn’t it?” Huang Fengwen was even more confused.
“Yes, all the traders at Fanghuan Investment are involved. But… Chairman Su thinks it’s far from enough.”
“Far from enough? What does he need so many people for? It’s not like back then, forming a team to churn…”
Huang Fengwen muttered to himself, but the words caught in his throat.
He felt like he’d been struck by lightning; a scene from the depths of his memory, a scene of utter madness, surfaced in his mind.
“Holy crap… Could it be?!”
Lin Fan closed his eyes and nodded heavily.
Huang Fengwen felt his throat go dry and swallowed hard.
"How large is this operation?"
"According to our agreement with the EU, to stabilize their credit default swap (CDS) market, we first need to purchase approximately one trillion euros worth of European corporate bonds and related financial products.
This was the EU's request. In exchange, they promised that after completing this task, Fanghuan Investment could 'dispose of' the remaining funds as appropriate.
And Chairman Su is preparing to mobilize the remaining three trillion euros."
Huang Fengwen still found it hard to believe:
"So, you mean he's going to use three trillion euros... for ultra-short-term trading?!"
"Yes. Therefore, Chairman Su needs a large number of traders to execute the trades."