Chapter 224: Kowloon Motor Bus's Competitor
After hanging up the phone, Lin Haoran completely lost any trace of sleepiness.
He hadn't expected that just a little over two hours earlier, his men had already been involved in a fierce gunfight.
However, the call from Li Weiguo brought good news:
the mission was a complete success — the Brotherhood's leadership had been wiped out, finally avenging Green Island Cement Company.
Moreover, since the Five Four Gang had been the main attacking force, none of Lin Haoran's people had suffered any casualties.
According to Li Weiguo, the Five Four Gang had lost more than a dozen men, with dozens more injured by gunfire.
But Lin Haoran didn't care about that — it had nothing to do with him.
As for the Brotherhood, apart from the five top leaders who had been sniped dead,
the remaining mid- and high-level figures were wiped out by the Five Four Gang.
Among the ordinary members, some were killed, some surrendered; over a hundred people died in what could only be described as a massacre.
Furthermore, Mr. Xiao, the Five Four Gang's leader, had already promised Li Weiguo that all cash seized from the Brotherhood would be handed over to them.
Additionally, should Lin Haoran encounter any issues in the Philippines in the future, the Five Four Gang would assist without asking for anything in return — purely in the name of friendship.
Lin Haoran hadn't even demanded any of this.
It was obvious that the Brotherhood's leadership being decapitated so swiftly by sniper fire had terrified Mr. Xiao.
The sheer power of Huanyu Security Consulting Company's operatives made even a triad boss like Mr. Xiao fearful.
In short, if Mr. Xiao ever crossed Lin Haoran, he could suffer the same fate — shot in the head without warning.
The Brotherhood's swift downfall was mainly because their leadership was eliminated at the outset.
Given that, the Five Four Gang's relatively minor casualties were already a lucky outcome.
The next morning, Lin Haoran received another call —
this time from Cui Zilong.
"Boss, after counting the seized loot, the Five Four Gang found over 8 million US dollars in cash.
Mr. Xiao said he wants to give it all to us.
Should we take it?" Cui Zilong asked.
"Take it, why not?
From that, distribute 1 million dollars as bonuses to the brothers for their performance in this real combat exercise.
The rest should go into the company accounts for development," Lin Haoran answered decisively.
They had paid the price and played a critical role — they deserved their share.
Whether Mr. Xiao had actually seized more than 8 million was none of Lin Haoran's concern;
the gesture itself showed Mr. Xiao knew how to play the game.
Without Li Weiguo's team, even knowing where the Brotherhood's leaders were gathered wouldn't have helped —
the Five Four Gang wouldn't have been able to decapitate them in a single blow.
Without eliminating the leadership first, any assault would have resulted in far greater casualties.
Thus, the contribution of the five snipers had been absolutely decisive.
"Also, Boss, I have a proposal.
Since gun control here in the Philippines is practically nonexistent,
this would be the perfect place to establish our training base.
Here, it's easy to conduct live-fire training, and society's chaos means demand for security services is huge.
Even ordinary citizens sometimes hire bodyguards for protection.
This would create sustainable development opportunities for us.
Moreover, recruitment would be easier, and we could expand the team faster.
In Hong Kong, due to strict regulations, many of our training activities have to be kept under the radar," Cui Zilong suggested.
In Hong Kong, only the very wealthy worried about kidnapping and thus hired bodyguards.
In Manila, even ordinary people faced serious safety concerns.
Especially in the 1970s and 80s, the Philippines' lawlessness was on another level.
Over the past few days, Cui Zilong had witnessed the chaos firsthand.
Last night's massive gunfight?
The police didn't even bother intervening.
To them, gang wars were everyday occurrences.
In Hong Kong, triads mostly fought with knives;
gunfights were rare, and ordinary people hardly ever got involved.
For Huanyu Security Consulting, Manila was paradise.
Here, they could legally obtain gun licenses simply by setting up a legitimate security company.
Even if some activities were less than legal, enforcement was so lax it barely mattered.
Thus, they could legally conduct live-fire training.
Whenever they needed real combat practice, they could simply take on a contract.
Meanwhile, back in Hong Kong, no one dared challenge Lin Haoran's enterprises with force.
After pondering it carefully, Lin Haoran agreed with Cui Zilong's idea.
"I'll stay and set up the branch office.
Mr. Li Weiguo will assist by selecting suitable instructors.
We'll return to Hong Kong only after everything is settled.
As for Oriental Press, I'll temporarily delegate management to the deputy general manager," Cui Zilong continued.
Now that the Brotherhood was gone and the Five Four Gang revered them,
Cui Zilong no longer felt any fear staying in Manila.
"Good. Handle it well," Lin Haoran said approvingly.
Afterward, Lin Haoran also called Li Weiguo,
instructing him to remain in Manila temporarily and oversee the training base's setup.
Moving the main training base to Manila made perfect sense.
The Hong Kong base wouldn't be abandoned — recruitment and training would continue.
But for large-scale, intensive training?
Manila was much better suited.
In fact, the Manila base was just the beginning.
Lin Haoran planned to establish more bases in the future.
Companies like G4S — the world's largest security firm — employed hundreds of thousands of security personnel,
providing services from property security and banking to celebrity bodyguards and jewelry transport.
Huanyu Security Consulting was still far from that level,
but every step toward expansion brought them closer.
After hanging up, Lin Haoran immediately shared the good news with Burton.
Wanqing Group could now expand freely in the Philippines without worrying about local gang threats.
As for the local thugs?
With the deterrent force of Huanyu Security Consulting Company, plus the influence of the Five Four Gang, any issues that arose in the Philippines could be swiftly handled.
Not only Wanqing Group, but even Hongkong and China Gas Company, Oriental Press Group, and Hongkong Electric Group could now consider expanding into the Philippine market.
With solid backing established there, not moving into the market would be a complete waste of resources.
After all, Hong Kong was ultimately a small market.
Many of Lin Haoran's businesses, like Hongkong Electric, Hongkong and China Gas, and Oriental Press, had already reached a development plateau.
The best way to break through this bottleneck was outward expansion.
The Philippines, with its large ethnic Chinese population, although somewhat chaotic in public safety, was a sizable market.
If they could carve out a share there, it would be enough to sustain and even accelerate their growth.
Take Green Island Cement Company, for instance:
since becoming the third-largest cement supplier on Luzon Island, its monthly profits in the Philippines had already surpassed those from Hong Kong's domestic market.
Green Island Cement was now pulling in profits of over 10 million Hong Kong dollars a month — and the Philippine market was a huge contributor to that.
That was the benefit of a large population:
more people meant bigger market demand.
Hong Kong, with only 5 million people, was ultimately too small.
The Philippines had ten times that population!
Moreover, since the 1950s, with American aid, the Philippines had developed rapidly.
Its per capita GDP was once second only to Japan in Asia.
Thus, by the 1970s and 1980s, the Philippine economy was already quite respectable.
Having successfully secured the Philippine front, Lin Haoran's attention shifted elsewhere.
In a flash, two more days passed — it was now May 12th.
That afternoon, Lin Haoran unexpectedly received a call from Su Zhixue.
"Boss, there's something abnormal with Kowloon Motor Bus's stock transactions.
The data shows someone else is targeting this stock!" Su Zhixue reported urgently.
Upon arriving at Huanyu Investment Company inside Wanqing Tower, Lin Haoran was handed a detailed data sheet by Su Zhixue.
It compared Kowloon Motor Bus's trading volumes over the past month.
The report detailed the daily proportion of Kowloon Motor Bus shares absorbed by Huanyu Investment.
Starting two weeks ago, their daily absorption rate had begun to decline.
Whereas they had previously absorbed about 70% of the daily trading volume,
it had now fallen to under 60%.
Today, it had dropped all the way to just 40%.
Clearly, someone else had set their sights on Kowloon Motor Bus.
"Boss, over the past two weeks, I thought maybe the stock's trading activity was simply increasing — more retail investors buying in — but today's sudden drop shows it's definitely a coordinated effort by another major player," Su Zhixue said seriously.
Lin Haoran nodded as he reviewed the data, curious who this competitor could be.
If Jardines Matheson weren't a shareholder of Hongkong Electric,
he might have suspected Jardines was behind it.
But now, as an important board member of Hongkong Land (and by extension linked to Jardines Matheson), Lin Haoran had insider visibility into their major decisions.
Thus, it couldn't be Jardines Matheson.
Who, then?
Could it be Kwok Tak Seng of Sun Hung Kai Properties?
From his previous life, Lin Haoran knew that in later years, Kowloon Motor Bus would become part of the Sun Hung Kai empire.
He just didn't know exactly when Kwok Tak Seng had started acquiring it.
Huanyu Investment currently had three primary targets:
Hongkong Land, Jardines Matheson, and Kowloon Motor Bus.
Though stronger than before, Huanyu's attention was still divided among these three,
so only absorbing 40% of Kowloon Motor Bus's daily trading volume was understandable.
If the other party was trying to hide their activity,
it wouldn't be easy for Lin Haoran to find out.
Perhaps Oriental Press's intelligence network could help?
If Sun Hung Kai really was the one behind it, maybe he could uncover something through indirect investigation.
"How much of Kowloon Motor Bus's stock do we currently control?" Lin Haoran asked.
"As of today, we hold 23.63%," Su Zhixue reported, handing over the updated position sheet.
Lin Haoran nodded.
"Whoever is behind it, keep operating as usual.
We already have a leading advantage with our holdings."
"Understood, Boss," Su Zhixue replied respectfully.
Leaving Su Zhixue's office, Lin Haoran went up to his private reception office on the 31st floor and called Cui Zilong in the Philippines.
Cui Zilong was still the overall head of Oriental Press's intelligence division,
more reliable than the acting deputy manager currently in charge at headquarters.
These days, Lin Haoran knew Cui Zilong had been busy establishing branches of Huanyu Security Consulting and Oriental Press in the Philippines.
"Boss, what can I do for you?" Cui Zilong asked as he answered the call.
"How are things progressing over there?" Lin Haoran asked casually first.
"Boss, the Five Four Gang has successfully transferred $8.56 million into our company account.
Of that, $1 million has been distributed among Mr. Li Weiguo and the 200 security personnel as bonuses.
Additionally, we have registered a security consulting company in Manila
and purchased a 230,000-square-meter plot of land southwest of Manila by the coast.
This will serve as Huanyu Security Consulting Philippines' future headquarters and training base.
Since construction will take time, we have temporarily rented a training ground,
where the 200 security personnel are now settled," Cui Zilong reported in detail.
"I'm calling you today for another mission,"
Lin Haoran continued, briefing him on the Kowloon Motor Bus situation.
"You want me to investigate who's secretly acquiring Kowloon Motor Bus shares?
It's a tough assignment, but since you have a suspect in mind,
it should make the investigation easier — at least we can quickly check if Sun Hung Kai is involved.
Boss, give me some time. I'll do my best," Cui Zilong answered after thinking briefly.
"Good. Thanks for your hard work!" Lin Haoran said.