Chapter 307: A Small Business of 200,000 Yuan per Trip
The weather is very good today. Hardy brought Han Ye-jin to Macau by boat. Victor was with them, and there were more than a dozen bodyguards following behind them.
Macau is located at the mouth of the Pearl River. It was originally a small fishing village. Because there is a "Ao" in its name, it was called Macau. In 1553, the Portuguese obtained the right to reside in Macau, and it became a Portuguese colony in 1887.
The Japanese did not occupy Macau during World War II, so when Hardy and Han Ye-jin were visiting, they felt that it was more stable and peaceful than Hong Kong.
As they walked through the streets, which were lined with large and small gambling stalls, and even outside, Hardy saw several teenagers sitting on the ground playing dice around a cloth with a few copper coins on it.
Victor said, "Boss, the casino business here now needs a gambling license approved by the Portuguese government. There is only one gambling license. The current Macau gambling king is Fu Laorong, who has been running a casino for more than ten years."
"Now all these casinos and betting stalls, no matter how big or small, are under the management of Fu Laorong. He has a share in all the business."
Hardy nodded.
Although Macau’s current business is far inferior to that of Las Vegas, there is a monopoly here, and monopoly is the most profitable.
Moreover, as the only legal gambling area in Asia, it will become more and more valuable in the future.
"That Fu Laorong is also the biggest force in Macau. He has hundreds of people under him, and he is also on good terms with the Governor of Macau." Victor continued.
As the only person who had gambling cards, how could Fu Laorong not give the governor a lot of gifts? Hadi even dared to say that a large part of these gambling profits probably went into the pockets of the Portuguese.
Hardy had no interest in going to the casino. The level of the casino here was not comparable to Hardy's Hotel, and it couldn't even be compared to the casinos of other Mafia families. It was just some old-time gambling dens, filled with smoke and foul smells.
Hardy's team is actually very eye-catching.
A group of a dozen foreigners attracted many people's attention even in Macau.
They walked through the streets and arrived at the most famous landmark in Macau, the Ruins of St. Paul's.
After taking photos here, Hardy and Han Ye-jin came to the Mazu Temple. The Mazu Temple has a history of 500 years. The Mazu Temple existed before the Portuguese occupied this place, so in the hearts of Macau people, the Mazu Temple is very sacred.
Therefore, Macau is also known as "Mamako".
Han Ye-jin knelt down devoutly to burn incense and pray, with her palms clasped together, eyes closed and muttering something, but no one knew what she was praying for.
When she got up, she looked at Hadi and asked, "Do you want to worship?"
Hardy is a white person, and most white people believe in Jesus God. Han Ye-jin has never asked Hardy what his beliefs are. If Hardy believes in God, he may not necessarily worship Mazu.
"The more you worship God, the more God will bless you. It's right to worship more, right?"
Hadi's words made Han Ye-jin laugh softly.
Helped Hardy light the incense on the eternal lamp. After Hardy took the incense, he knelt firmly on the cushion. He didn't know what other time travelers were like, but he believed in God.
After kowtowing, Hardy asked someone to find a temple priest and donated $1,000, with both Hardy and Han Ye-jin's names written on it.
One thousand dollars is not a small amount of money in this era, and the temple priest could not help but pay his respects.
After coming out of Mazu Pavilion, Hadi said to Victor: "Register a trading company in Macau, buy a piece of land or acquire a company."
"This trading company found someone to put its name on so that no one else could find it," said Hardy.
"Okay, boss." Victor responded quickly.
In the future, this company will mainly do business with the mainland, so Hadi did not let him join the Hadi Group to prevent someone from finding out about this and using it to attack him.
As for the Macau casino, there is no need to rush. We can plan slowly in the future. Once the industry here matures, the racecourse is built, and the foundation is more solid, it will not be too late to build a casino.
As for casino licenses,
At that time, you can ask the Governor of Macau to smooth things over, and it may be possible to issue another card. In later generations, Macau casinos had as many as 6 gambling cards.
It just doesn't work.
Something unexpected might happen to the so-called Macau gambling king.
Who knows.
After visiting Macau, Hardy and his companions returned to Hong Kong. As soon as they returned to the Victoria Peak villa, the housekeeper told Hardy that Li Chunshan called and wanted to visit.
"It's Uncle Chunshan." Han Yezhen said.
Hadi knew that Li Chunshan might have some business in mind, so he smiled and said, "Why not invite him to dinner? It will be convenient for us to talk if we have anything to discuss."
"Okay." Han Ye-jin said with a smile.
Han Ye-jin called Lee Chun-san directly and invited him to come over for dinner, and Lee Chun-san said he would come over soon.
Half an hour later, Li Chunshan arrived.
Han Ye-jin went out to greet them. Li Chunshan's identity was there. He was the sworn brother of Han Ye-jin's father, and in other words, Han Ye-jin's uncle.
"Uncle Li, you're here." Han Ye-jin welcomed Li Chunshan into the house with a smile.
Li Chunshan smiled and nodded.
When he saw Hardy, Li Chunshan immediately greeted him: "Sorry to bother you, Mr. Hardy."
"Don't disturb me, let's go to the study and talk, and let Yizhen cook a few more dishes." Hardy said.
"Uncle Li, you two can chat, I'll go prepare dinner." Han Ye-jin said with a smile.
Hardy and Li Chunshan came to the study. Hardy handed Li Chunshan a cigar and said, "This is a Cuban cigar. It's quite authentic. Try it."
"Okay, I'll try it." Li Chunshan took it with a smile.
After the two lit up their cigars, Li Chunshan said, "Mr. Hardy, I thought about the business we talked about earlier and asked for the opinions of my brothers in the gang. They came up with a few ideas."
"Oh, tell me about it."
"I'm thinking of opening a few upscale nightclubs and bars. Will they do good business? We have several businesses in Lan Kwai Fong. If we make the nightclubs more upscale, we can entertain the British or those who come to do business," said Li Chunshan.
Lan Kwai Fong.
When Hardy heard the name, he knew this business had potential.
"This proposal is fine, but if you are going to do it, you should make it large-scale so that when people think of high-end entertainment venues, they will think of Bowland Street. It will become a business card of Hong Kong, and then business will be good."
"Central has a good geographical location. Why not acquire more industries nearby and develop them together to create an entertainment industry cluster?" said Hardy.
When Li Chunshan heard this, he sighed in his heart.
Doing business with rich people like Hardy is really tiring for these poor people. People don't talk about the business of a bar or nightclub, but think about the industry group and entertainment business cards. The positions are all different.
"That's a big investment, isn't it?" Li Chunshan said.
"You can discuss the specific investment with Victor. I think one million US dollars will be enough." Hardy said.
Li Chunshan: ...
How can I play with you when you talk about millions of dollars?
"There is another business, which was proposed by a junior manager under me. He said that he once went to the Xisha Islands to dig seaweed and saw battleships, tanks, and assault boats left behind by the Americans and the Japanese during the war on some islands. If these things were dismantled and sold as scrap metal, it should be a good business." Li Chunshan added.
Hardy was slightly stunned.
When he first came to this world, he was fighting the Japanese on the island battlefields of Asia, so he had a relatively good understanding of the situation here.
During the war,
The Japanese originally had a base on the island with a large number of weapons. When the U.S. military attacked, they used a large number of landing craft, many of which were later abandoned on the beach.
There were also Japanese warehouses and barracks with a lot of supplies, but the Americans didn't even look at these things and just left them there.
To be honest,
Hardy doesn't think much of these things, but for Hong Kong, it is indeed a money-making job.
"How much is scrap metal worth now? Was it profitable to dismantle it in the past?" asked Hardy.
"I'm not very clear about this. It was the manager under me who came up with it. If Mr. Hardy wants to know the details, can I call him in?" Li Chunshan said.
"Oh? He's here too?"
"Yes, I called him because I was afraid that Mr. Hardy would ask him what he thought."
"Then let him come in."
Huo Qingdong has been sitting in the car. He doesn't know whether the American boss will be interested in his idea. Although he guarantees that he can make money, considering the other party's wealth, he may not value this little hard-earned money.
Besides,
The Americans are involved here.
I don't know whether this boss is willing to do this kind of business.
At this moment, a bodyguard came out and knocked on the car door. Huo Qingdong got out quickly and said, "The boss asked you to come in."
"Call me?"
Huo Qingdong was a little surprised.
"Yes, I'm calling you. Come with me."
Huo Qingdong followed closely behind, and finally came to Hardy's study through the living room. Hardy looked at the young man in front of him, "What's your name?"
"Mr. Hardy, my name is Huo Qingdong." Huo Qingdong replied quickly.
Hardy looked at the man carefully and thought, could this person be the 'Land Lord' of Hong Kong in future generations?
"You suggest going to the island to collect scrap iron?"
"yes."
"Tell me what you think," said Hardy.
Huo Qingdong felt that his chance had come, and he calmed himself down and said:
"I was in charge of shipping goods. I had my own barge. I had also gone to the Xisha Islands to dig seaweed before, but I didn't make any money."
"When the United States fought the Japanese a few years ago, a lot of supplies were left on the island. After the Japanese were defeated, the Americans looked down on those things and threw them away. Now there are still many wreckages of battleships and landing craft on the beach. I heard that there are still many good things on the island."
"If you dismantle these scrap metals, you can definitely sell them for a lot of money. But the Americans are in charge of that place. Boss, you have a cargo ship flying the U.S. flag. Maybe the U.S. patrol ships that collect scrap metal will not care if they see it."
Huo Qingdong said and looked at Hardy.
Hardy chuckled.
Li Chunshan and Huo Qingdong were both confused by his smile.
"You know, I fought the Japanese on these islands. I killed more than 30 Japanese soldiers. The last battle was on the Iwo Jima Islands. I was shot through the chest by a bullet and finally retired and went home," said Hardy.
Li Chunshan and Huo Qingdong looked at Hadi with more respect. "It turns out that Mr. Hadi has killed so many Japanese soldiers. I really admire him."
"As for the abandoned supplies you mentioned, there are indeed quite a lot. When we first conquered the island, we didn't care about the Japanese stuff at all. There are not only tanks and cannons on the island, but also Japanese airports and fighter planes."
"As for the issue you mentioned, you don't have to worry about being blocked by the US military. Have you forgotten that the Hardy Company has been engaged in the business of selling logistics supplies? Our Hardy Group is the number one seller of logistics supplies for the US military, and the head of the logistics department is my friend."
"Hadi Company sent people to the island to collect supplies. This can be said to be the work of the logistics department. You can tell them this boldly."
"I am only concerned about one thing now. How much investment is needed to dismantle them from the island and transport them here? What is the final profit? Is this worth doing?" Hardy asked.
Huo Qingdong had already thought of these.
Immediately said:
"Mr. Hardy, if we can get one or two cargo ships, like the Liberty Ships, we can recruit young men from Hong Kong to go to the island to collect supplies."
"I calculated before that the price of scrap steel is about US$30 per ton. I plan to recruit people in the market and take them to the island to collect supplies. They will be paid three to five Hong Kong dollars a day and will be responsible for three meals. There are many young people in Hong Kong now, so there must be many people willing to do this job."
"As for selling goods, we can ship them back to Hong Kong and sell them to steel companies, or we can sell them directly to the north. We don't have to worry about selling them."
"If we assume that the Liberty Ship is fully loaded at 7,000 tons, it can sell for $200,000 per trip. The money for renting the freighter and the fuel it burns are the biggest expenses. I estimate that the cost of one trip is $20,000 to $25,000, so the profit is more than $170,000."
Huo Qingdong said and looked at Hardy.
Hardy smiled and nodded.
This guy is really calculating. These scrap steels are easy to sell in Hong Kong and the mainland. Even Japan is in short supply of steel now.
During this period, the domestic steel production was only 500,000 to 600,000 tons, while the United States' was 80 million tons, not even a fraction of that.
The country is also extremely hungry for steel now, otherwise there would not have been a large steel smelting plant, where all the pots, pans, and utensils in the home were used to smelt scrap iron.
"Okay, I think this business is okay."
"But this business must be done legally, and must be done in the name of the U.S. Department of Logistics. How about this? Hardy Company provides the cargo ship and collects the materials in the name of the Department of Logistics. You will do the specific work, and I will give you 20% of the final profit. What do you think?"
Li Chunshan did not dare to be greedy.
It was already very good that I could get 20% of the profit just by helping to organize the team, so I nodded in agreement immediately.
Hadi looked at the young Huo Qingdong and said with a smile, "Stay for dinner later."
Huo Qingdong was somewhat flattered.
I didn't expect Mr. Hardy to ask me to stay for dinner.