Chapter 24 Buying the World with Money?
Chapter 24 Buying the World with Money?
"Mr. Zhang, take a look, this is the property and territory that Briz Country is looking to sell." Gu Anshan placed a map in front of Zhang Menglong.
Briz Country is a small nation with a land area of less than 100,000 square kilometers, it doesn't have a large population, and its industry and agriculture aren't particularly developed. However, due to its favorable geographical location, it has many picturesque places.
Each of these scenic areas brings in huge tourism revenue every year, and the majority of the citizens are involved in the tourism industry. A previously poor country has become prosperous in just a few years thanks to these abundant tourism resources.
But with the rampage of the virus, most of the global flights were almost paralyzed for the better part of a year. Forget about traveling, many people couldn't even leave their own cities.
This suddenly brought a national crisis down upon the country.
With no income for over half a year, not only the populace but even the country's economy was barely hanging on. Now that international flights have resumed, most tourists are still maintaining a cautious attitude and are unwilling to take the risk to travel.
For them, that small trickle of visitors is like a drop in the bucket.
As for international aid, many countries were worse off than they were, so forget about aid!
Driven to desperation, they had to make a painful decision to sell two of their scenic areas, the Aurora Coast and Bermanzi Mountain.
"Tsk tsk tsk, such a beautiful place!" Briz Country is located within the Arctic Circle and experiences the Aurora Borealis each year. The endless white sandy beaches combined with the beautiful Northern Lights are unquestionably world-class scenery that made Zhang Menglong yearn just by looking at a few photos.
"They're really selling this place?" Zhang Menglong asked.
"Yes, the lack of tourists has caused their economy to stagnate, and the virus has depleted a lot of manpower and resources. If they truly had any other option, why would they ever consider selling their own territory?"
"How much?"
"'How much?' That question made Gu Anshan pause. Why did it feel like Zhang Menglong was asking the price of vegetables at a market? This was a nation's territory, couldn't he be more serious?"
"Does Mr. Zhang want to buy the right to use this place for a fixed period of time or purchase it outright?"
"Sorry, it's my first time buying land, I have no experience." Zhang Menglong was a bit embarrassed. His ancestors were probably experts at buying territory, and here he was, not knowing anything, which was indeed awkward.
"Briz Country has two quotes. For Aurora Coast, you can choose to buy usage rights for 100 years. During those 100 years, the coast is your private territory. You can do anything you want with it, and if you want to develop a tourism project, you can do so as long as you pay taxes according to regulations. The price is 150 million!"
"Euros?"
"Huaxia currency," Gu Anshan said.
"Ah? That's so cheap?" At first, Zhang Menglong was somewhat excited. Hearing that number, he changed his expression faster than flipping a book, "What about the permanent usage rights?"
"That's probably going to be more expensive."
"Then I'll take the permanent usage rights to Aurora Coast!" Zhang Menglong said without a second thought.
"Ah? I haven't told you the price yet." Gu Anshan was utterly worn out by Zhang Menglong's shocks today. The operations of these top-level tycoons were beyond his comprehension, "The price for the permanent rights is 2.027 billion."
"Euros?"
"Still Huaxia currency!"
"Damn, I thought it was going to be much more expensive!" After all that, it was only about three hundred million US Dollars, not even enough to cover his yearly interest!
"Mr. Zhang, this coast is indeed beautiful, but frankly speaking, it is a bit overpriced. Maybe you want to reconsider?"
"No need to think it over, consider the money as our way to help their economy," Zhang Menglong continued, "How about that mountain?"
"The price for Bermanzi Mountain is 1.57 billion Huaxia currency." Gu Anshan knew then, this was not the God of Wealth, this was a complete spendthrift! It's not even about billions anymore, he felt embarrassed even saying it out loud.
"Then I'll take that too. Anything else?"
"Mr. Zhang, that's all the territory Briz Country is selling. Aside from that, they also have a small diamond mine for sale."
"A diamond mine? I like that. How much?"
"520 million Huaxia currency."
"Write that down, write that down. I want that too. Anything else?"
"Well... That's all for Briz Country for now," Gu Anshan thought. The country was only so big, and resorting to selling these assets was already an act of desperation. If they sold any more, they'd be risking the nation itself.
He believed that as long as Briz Country was willing to sell, Zhang Menglong would be willing to buy. If Genghis Khan had had this kind of money back then, why would he need to send out the Mongolian cavalry to conquer the world? He could have just followed Zhang Menglong's lead, smashing out a realm with cash, and been done with it.
"That's it?"
"Well... There are others from different countries too, would you like to take a look?"
"Just tell me how much there is in total, I'll take it all."
"Cough cough cough!" Gu Anshan almost spit out a mouthful of blood.
He organized the materials in his hand, then took a deep breath, "Mr. Zhang, right now, our bank is handling projects that include 12 islands, 7 natural scenic areas, and 4 energy industries, with a total value of 10.72 billion Huaxia currency."
"Well, better than nothing. I'll take it all."
"All of it?" Gu Anshan had thought of this possibility before, but when he heard Zhang Menglong's final decision, he still couldn't help but be shocked.
But thinking about Zhang Menglong's 100 billion US Dollar deposit, these industries combined didn't even amount to 20 billion US Dollars. It wasn't even as much as the interest he had initially promised Zhang Menglong for a year; he didn't even blink an eye!
"Hong Yi, I'll leave these matters to you," Zhang Menglong said to Hong Yi beside him. "Make sure to look carefully at any contracts before signing so there won't be any disputes later on."
"Rest assured, Mr. Zhang. Even the undefeated Nanshan Pizza Hut from Tengxun is just a retirement project from one of your former legal personnel. These are trivial matters."
"Damn, am I really that awesome?" Zhang Menglong was familiar with the fame of "Nanshan Pizza Hut" and was surprised to think that its founder once worked for him.
"By the way, are there any national construction projects coming up? As a contemporary youth, I see it as my duty. It doesn't matter if it costs money or not, what's important is patriotism..."
"Mr. Zhang, at our bank, all these projects are profitable, so if you want to undertake any construction projects, you would have to bid for them. That's not something we can do here." Gu Anshan didn't expect Zhang Menglong to consider throwing his money at national projects.
"Well, that's about it for today; I'll be taking off." Without any opportunities to spend money, Zhang Menglong wasn't interested in staying any longer. He had spent billions of US Dollars in one go, which was a trip well spent, wasn't it?
"Hong Yi, keep an eye out for me. If there's anything like moving icebergs from the Arctic or Antarctic or a land swimming device, I, Zhang Menglong, will fund it."
"Pfft!" Even Hong Yi couldn't help but laugh. "Sir, are you looking to learn from Wang Duoyu?"
"I just don't believe these things can actually make me money in real life!" Zhang Menglong refused to believe such nonsense.
"Mr. Zhang, you've got a call, would you like to answer it?" Hong Yi pointed at Zhang Menglong's vibrating pocket.
"Hello, Menglong, have you seen the message?" Xu Li's voice came through from the roommate on the phone.
"Huh? A message? What message?" Zhang Menglong was clueless.
"Check our class group chat. Lu Xuchao is saying that everyone is going to start internships soon, so it might be hard to meet up later. He wants everybody to gather once after the National Day holiday. Who doesn't know that he's just scored an offer from Unicorn Technology and obviously wants to show off under the guise of this gathering."
"Let's go then, what's there to be afraid of?" Zhang Menglong chuckled. When it came to flaunting wealth, even Uchiha Madara would have to call him the strongest.