Chapter 1175 1177【King of Kowloon Tower】


    After staying in Fashan for seven days, Xiang Nan and his party returned to Macau.


    Accompanying him were more than a hundred workers recruited from Fashan.


    It just so happened that the Renji Pharmaceutical Factory in Xiangnan wanted to expand its scale due to too many orders, so it just happened to be convenient for these people.


    After returning to Macau, Xiang Nan and Zhou Qingquan each spent 10,000 silver dollars to acquire a large piece of land to build a new factory and expand production scale.


    Furthermore, to expand the production scale this time, not only the factory building will be expanded, but the production technology will also need to be upgraded.


    In the past, people were still washing, soaking, grinding, and frying medicines, but now we are preparing to introduce multiple machines. In this way, many processes will be taken care of by machines, and production efficiency will be greatly improved.


    ?Zhou Qingquan is full of confidence in the future. He believed that after the Anti-Japanese War was won, the country would surely prosper and the people would live a good life.


    So they need to produce more medicines and treat more injuries to contribute to the country.


    ?However, Xiang Nan knew that there would be a liberation war next, and peace was still far away.


    …


    Three months later, the new factory started production.


    At the same time, the civil war between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party began.


    ?Seeing the war break out again, people can''t help but feel a layer of gloom in their hearts.


    Xiang Nan, however, believes that if there is no destruction, there will be no establishment.


    This country will definitely be a dead end if it is continued to be ruled by the Kuomintang. So if the civil war is fought well, they deserve to be overturned.


    Furthermore, Xiang Nan knew that after the civil war started, capital would definitely evacuate from the mainland in order to avoid the war. Macau and Xiangjiang, separated by a river, are naturally the best places to stay.


    So he and Zhou Qingquan discussed investing and building a building in Xiangjiang together. By then, there will definitely be no shortage of tenants.


    ?Zhou Qingquan has long admired Xiang Nan''s insight.


    ?In 1935, before the Japanese fully invaded China, he saw that Fashan would fall, so he persuaded himself to move.


    ?At that time, he had two choices when moving, one was Xiangjiang and the other was Macao. Xiang Nan urged him to choose Macao. Sure enough, Xiangjiang was invaded by the East in 1941.


    During the occupation period of three years and eight months, the population of Xiangjiang dropped sharply from 1.6 million to 600,000. He could die, he could be injured, he could escape, and there were scenes of human tragedies.


    On the contrary, Macau, as the only neutral zone, was protected from Japanese invasion. They too survived.


    ?Moreover, Xiang Nan stored a large amount of food in advance, which enabled them to still eat well and eat well without going hungry during the war.


    From this point of view, Xiang Nan can be said to have insight into opportunities and have no plans left.


    For this reason, Zhou Qingquan was very supportive of his plan to invest in Xiangjiang Real Estate.


    ?At the moment, the two of them each paid 300,000 Hong Kong dollars to buy land and build a building in Xiangjiang.


    During the Anti-Japanese War, although the business of Renji Pharmaceutical Factory suffered heavy losses, under the careful management of Xiang Nan and Zhou Qingquan, not only did it not suffer losses, but it also made profits year after year.


    In nine years, both of them accumulated hundreds of thousands of yuan in wealth.


    …


    Hong Kong in the 1940s was actually quite prosperous.


    ?Its population once reached 1.6 million. You know, a city with a population of over one million is considered a big city. The country has a population of 1.4 billion, but there are only 93 cities with over one million people.


    Therefore, Xiang Nan and Zhou Qingquan scraped together 600,000 Hong Kong dollars and could no longer buy land in the downtown area.


    Fortunately, he knew that Xiangjiang would develop rapidly in the future and the city would expand very quickly, so he set his sights on the suburbs away from the urban area. Such as Kowloon City, Sham Shui Po, Wong Tai Sin and other places. After some comparisons, we finally purchased nearly 400,000 square feet of land in Sham Shui Po for one Hong Kong dollar per square foot, and then built a seven-story residential building for rental.


    According to Xiang Nan’s knowledge, as the civil war broke out, a large number of people poured into Xiangjiang in order to take refuge.


    The population of Xiangjiang has nearly tripled from 600,000 in 1945 to 2 million in 1950, with an average of 100,000 people arriving every month.


    With such an influx of people, houses are naturally needed. So build the building now, and when the time comes, just sit back and wait to collect the rent.


    ?The building was designed by Xiang Nan himself. The area of ??the house is very small. Each one is only 20 to 30 square meters, barely enough for one bedroom and one living room.


    Xiang Nan’s consideration is that refugees don’t have much money and cannot afford to rent a big house, so a small house can accommodate them. Therefore, the houses should be built smaller and the rent should be cheaper, so that more refugees can be accommodated and they will not be left sleeping on the streets.


    …


    When Xiang Nan first arrived in Xiangjiang to develop, things were not going well either.


    Hong Kong has more gangs than Macau, and they are more violent. Like Hehetu, He''anle, Heshenghe, Lianyingshe, Chaozhou Gang, etc.


    ?Each gang has its own prefix, ranging from hundreds to dozens of people. Therefore, it can be said that the gangs in Xiangjiang are very powerful.


    ?Furthermore, many gangs have a history of nearly a hundred years, starting from the opening of Xiangjiang in the late Qing Dynasty and continuing to the present. He is a veritable local snake, arrogant and domineering.


    As soon as Xiang Nan bought land and built a building here, a gang came to collect protection fees.


    ?In line with the principle that one thing more is worse than one thing less, Xiang Nan gave everything he should give.


    After all, he is just here to do business, not to grab territory. There is no need to fight with gangs.


    ?In addition, Xiang Nan also asked wealthy local businessmen in Xiangjiang to help him build bridges and say hello to local snakes.


    You can ask for money. He will give as much as others give him, but he will not cause trouble. Moreover, the safety of the ground must be ensured.


    Hong Kong''s gangs mostly follow rules. The purpose is to make money, not to cause trouble.


    So when Xiang Nan was willing to give money, there was no conflict between them.


    Xiang Nan built his building and paid a fee on time to ensure the safety of his neighborhood.


    Is it legal? It’s not legal. Is it reasonable? It is reasonable.


    The public security in Xiangjiang has always been poor, with robbery, abduction, fights, extortion and so on everywhere.


    ?The authorities have always only cared about collecting money and not caring about people''s livelihood.


    In "Ip Man 2", Hong Zhennan collects 100 yuan from each master and gives it to the police, which can ensure that the masters can teach boxing smoothly without being troubled by the police; in "Ip Man 3", gang forces went to the school to smash and loot. The police did not care about the burning, but Ip Man and his disciples guarded it;


    "The Legend of Detective Lei Luo", "The Lame Man", "Chasing the Dragon", "O Ji Triad Files", "Four Families: Dragon and Tiger Brothers"... many films also reflected the chaos of public security at that time, and the police It even depends on gangs to maintain order.


    ?So paying protection fees may seem illegal, but in fact it is reasonable, reasonable, and something you have no choice but to do.


    This situation did not change until the Independent Commission Against Corruption was established in 1974.


    …


    Six months later, four buildings and more than 4,000 houses were built. Based on a monthly rent of ten to fifteen yuan, it can be repaid in about a year and a half, which can be said to be a huge profit.


    ?However, Xiang Nan makes money in more ways than just that.


    He will take the built house to the bank as a mortgage. Then we buy land, build houses, and continue to develop in a rolling manner. By the 1950s, Xiang Nan and Zhou Qingquan had owned 12 real estate projects and nearly 30,000 houses, becoming the real estate kings of Kowloon.


    (End of this chapter)