Rebirth in 1989: Building a Chinese Technological Empire

London time, Wednesday, September 16, 1992.

Today is a very ordinary day for all British office workers, with bright sunshine and clear skies, and it looks very cheerful.

But for British Chancellor of the Exchequer Lamont, it is definitely a very tormenting day. He can foresee that the final judgment is coming.

In the Quantum Foundation, Soros is now a trader himself, sitting quietly in his seat, quietly waiting for the opening of the London Stock Exchange.

At 8 a.m. London time, the London Stock Exchange officially opened.

"Action begins..."

Soros gave the order, and the entire Quantum Foundation began to describe. Their current short position is as high as 10 billion US dollars. What they have to do is to smash the pound exchange rate.

Selling one transaction after another, the British exchange rate continues to fall. As soon as the market opened, the pound has fallen below the lower limit of the ERM range. The entire exchange rate is like a roller coaster, which makes people tremble with fear.

At this moment, Lamont's face is pale.

"Buy 300 million pounds..."

At 8:30, Lamont gave the order. He hoped to raise the exchange rate of the pound by buying. But it was obvious that the money was useless.

Because now it was not only Soros who was taking action, but also many capitals on Wall Street. This was a feast, how could they be willing to miss it.

"Buy another 400 million pounds..."

At 8:40, Lamont gave another order, and the Bank of England bought another 400 million pounds, but the exchange rate remained unchanged and continued to fall.

This scene made Lamont pale.

"Connect me to the Prime Minister..."

Lamont said directly, and the call was quickly connected. It was British Prime Minister Major on the other end of the phone.

"Mr. Prime Minister, our intervention failed, and now we must intervene by raising interest rates..."

Lamont whispered, and the other end of the phone fell silent.

"I disagree, the UK is already in a recession, and raising interest rates will further increase the recession, which is not good for the UK economy..."

After thinking for a long time, Major rejected Lamont's request and then hung up the phone.

Listening to the busy tone on the phone, Lamont felt helpless. Damn it, what the hell is this? There is no way to save the situation.

Looking at the falling pound exchange rate, Lamont's face was full of bitterness.

At this moment, Lamont finally realized what it meant to live a year. At this moment, he really wanted this day to pass quickly. This is too damn difficult.

"Keep buying..."

Unable to raise interest rates, Lamont could only issue orders for the Bank of England to continue buying pounds. At this moment, some British tycoons were also protecting the market and buying pounds.

Soros was ruthless and kept selling the pounds in his hands. Everyone was very nervous at this moment. They knew that this was a life-and-death battle, and no one knew what would happen until the last moment.

In fact, in addition to Soros, some American capital was also selling pounds. On the surface, this action was just an action of the Quantum Fund, but in fact it was a planned action by the American tycoons or the United States.

Just like when they planned the Plaza Accord, in order to make the yen appreciate, they used all means and finally achieved their goal.

This time, their goal is to withdraw the pound from the ERM and devalue it, because it is in the national interest. A united and strong Europe is not what the United States wants to see.

Now that the Soviet Union has fallen, without the threat of the Soviet Union, the United States has shifted its sights to Europe. A strong Soviet Union is not in the interests of the United States, and a strong and united Europe is also not in the interests of the United States.

In London, when American and British capital were killing each other, Xu Huasheng's people still kept the last silence.

They did not act, they were waiting, waiting for the last moment. The order Xu Huasheng gave them was very simple, to smash the market at the last moment. If the pound is not dead by then, use this money to smash the pound to death.

If the pound can no longer hold up, then this money will make the pound lose more heavily.

At half past ten, Lamont called the British Prime Minister again.

"Mr. Prime Minister, I request an interest rate hike again, otherwise, we can only surrender..."

Lamont said directly, at this time, the British Prime Minister on the phone was silent for a long time.

"How much?"

After a long time, Major asked.

"First increase 200BP, and adjust the interest rate from 10% to 12%..."

Lamont said directly.

"Okay..."

Major agreed, and Lamont was relieved to hear that Major agreed.

At 11:30, the UK announced a 200BP interest rate increase, adjusting the interest rate from 10% to 12%.12.

However, after the news was released, the situation that the British government expected did not occur, and the exchange rate continued to fall. Now the entire market has lost trust in the pound. This is the most terrible thing. When trust is lost, it is impossible to save the situation by simply raising interest rates.

"It seems that the UK has no other choice..."

In the team of Quantum Fund, Miller looked at Soros and said with a smile. This made Soros laugh.

"I think we can have a celebration party tonight..."

Soros' words made everyone laugh.

Soros was happy, but Lamont was extremely tormented.

Seeing that raising interest rates was useless, Lamont went to the Prime Minister's Office in person and discussed with Major again. After the discussion, the British government issued another news of raising interest rates, that is, to increase the interest rate by another 3%, raising the interest rate to 15%.

However, after the news was released, the market still did not react, and the pound remained at the low end without moving.

The situation of the pound was not caused by international speculators, but by the market. If the market is stable, international speculators will not be able to make such a game. Why didn't Soros go for the German mark? Why did he target the British pound? It was because of the market's choice.

Now the market has chosen to let the British pound fall. Soros and his team can only be said to be the fuse, setting off the bomb that was about to explode at a fixed time.

Now no matter how much the British government buys back pounds or how much it raises interest rates, it basically can't change its fate.

Lamont also saw this. When there was no response to the second interest rate hike. Lamont realized that the general trend was gone, this matter was powerless to turn the tide, and the depreciation of the British pound had become an inevitable event.

This is not a game, this is a debt. The debt that the UK overdrew before, it is time to repay it now.

In the afternoon, the British government held an emergency meeting to discuss the final solution. Lamont sighed, he knew that his future was over.