Chapter 98: The Terrifying Lin Ran
Everyone has some unchangeable thought patterns.
England’s elites are the same.
Hugh Barton could never have imagined that Lin Ran would trust Xu Aizhou so much, providing him with an authorization document without an authorized object.
Because this meant Xu Aizhou could fill in any name he wanted on the authorized object.
Generally speaking, according to business conventions, the authorized object needs to be a real individual or company that exists.
Hong Kong Shipping, which they had painstakingly operated for half a day to obtain, turned out to be a shell company.
Because Hong Kong Shipping had a few ships, one modern route in operation, two ports that had already been modified, which was far from what Jardine Matheson and the HSBC behind it really wanted.
Although the capital cost paid was not high, at most a 20% premium, the favors expended were immense.
As for damaging the prestige of Jardine Matheson and Swire, more Chinese businessmen would jump out to oppose them afterward.
Giving America capital the opportunity to enter Hong Kong and take a slice of HSBC’s cake, these were also hidden losses.
In short, Hugh Barton knew he had completely failed this time.
As for Li Ka-shing, he was also dumbfounded, because he acted as a dog for Jardine Matheson for the sake of interests.
In the end, acting as a dog brought no benefits, and he would definitely be targeted by Chinese businessmen in the future.
At least Dong Haoyun and Xu Aizhou would not let him go.
Xu Group also does real estate business, and now has Citibank behind it; with massive funds, as long as he wanted to enter the real estate industry, raising the price a few times for him at land auctions would be major losses.
He could tolerate being scolded, but he truly could not tolerate damage to his own interests.
He leaned in close to Hugh Barton’s ear and whispered a reminder: “Mr. Barton, we still have one last move; Hong Kong Port Affairs Office is our Empire’s law enforcement institution.”
Hugh Barton himself did not want to use this move, but Li Ka-shing thought of it for him.
If normal business competition tactics don’t work, then we have means outside of business.
No matter what, you are still Hong Kong shipowners; no matter how much you go to set standards, that’s a future matter, that’s future cake.
I just need to influence your current business through the Hong Kong Port Affairs Office, affect your current cash flow, and that’s it.
Although Li Ka-shing’s voice was very soft, the living room was not that big after all, and Xu Aizhou still heard it; he laughed:
“Mr. Barton, I must remind you that Sir Alexander Grantham and Sir Lin are good friends, and I also know Sir Alexander Grantham; are you sure you want to use the port office to deal with us?”
Hugh Barton’s face flickered uncertainly, because he knew that to use this move, he would at least need to go through HSBC’s high-level officials to find connections in London.
This was also a manifestation of his incompetence.
Moreover, even if he really found connections in London, did Lin Ran have no connections in London? He was a newly minted knight.
Xu Aizhou said: “If you think you can use such means, feel free to try.
Alright, we won’t keep everyone any longer today; we are going to hold a small celebration banquet at Xu Family.
Xu Aizhou stood up, intending to see Hugh Barton and the others off.
Celebration banquet—who succeeded and who failed? Of course, the ones leaving had failed.
Hugh Barton’s face was ashen; this was the first time Jardine Matheson had suffered such a big loss at the hands of Chinese businessmen.
Li Ka-shing left with a gloomy face following Hugh Barton, and when passing by Pao Yue-kong, Pao Yue-kong reminded: “Don’t be a good person and go be a dog for white people.”
After Li Ka-shing left, the remaining people at the table burst into hearty laughter, and the entire room was filled with cheerful voices and laughter.
“No one leaves sober today; we withstood this round of attack from Jardine Matheson, and afterward it will all be smooth sailing.” Xu Aizhou said, “I have fully communicated with Sir Lin in London.
He will find someone to mediate this as soon as possible.
At the latest this month, the International Maritime Organization and the International Organization for Standardization will come to Hong Kong for research; additionally, Rockefeller and Morgan will lead the establishment of a new global shipping company.
We can also get corresponding shares in it.
Including the subsequent container standards committee, there will also be Chinese representatives.”
Such news was enough to inspire morale.
Everyone also did not doubt whether Lin Ran could achieve it.
After all, Lin Ran was not a mathematician who came to Hong Kong last year, but a White House senior official, an outstanding representative of global Chinese people.
This time Citibank’s emergency appearance provided nearly unlimited financial aid bullets, which also indirectly proved Lin Ran’s strength.
After the celebration banquet ended, only Xu Aizhou and his son Xu Shixun remained in the Xu Family villa; Xu Aizhou sighed: “Lin Sheng is indeed extraordinary.
He calculated all this from the very beginning.”
Xu Shixun’s voice trembled slightly: “Do you mean Sir Lin thought of Jardine Matheson and Swire coming to take a cut from the very first day he wanted to cooperate with us?
Or did Sir Lin give you a document without a patent licensee from the beginning just for today?”
The former was not surprising; after all, Hong Kong British capital was strong and powerful, so it was normal to be coveted.
Moreover, the dividends from standard-setting could be guessed by Chinese people even without experiencing them; an England that was once the empire on which the sun never set would calculate even more accurately.
But if Lin Ran had planned from the first day to defend against Jardine Matheson’s attack through this patent authorization document, that would be a bit too terrifying.
Xu Aizhou nodded: “Exactly, just as you think.
Lin Sheng has been utilizing the differences in legal systems from the very beginning.
And the different legal inertia caused by different laws is also the main reason Jardine Matheson failed this time.
You know Hugh Barton is the Taipan of Jardine Matheson, which is a company within the British Commonwealth legal system, and he received related legal education.
And in England’s legal framework, based on the Patents Act 1949, which applies to England itself and Hong Kong.
Patent authorization requires clear recording through written agreements and registration with the patent office; the licensee must be specified, otherwise rights ownership cannot be defined.
Whereas in America’s legal framework, according to Section 261 of the Patent Act of 1952 (35 U.S.C. § 261), patent rights are treated as personal property and can be assigned or licensed through written documents.
This American provision does not mandate that all patent authorization agreements must be registered with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
Therefore, America’s patent authorization is more like a private contract between the patent holder and the licensee.
Only when the authorization involves transfer is registration with the USPTO required.
Such a loophole in thinking caught Hugh Barton off guard.”
After hearing this, Xu Shixun felt astonished: “I now have the same doubt as the Washington congressmen.
Is Sir Lin a mathematician or a lawyer?”
This referred to when Lin Ran, before taking office as Special Assistant for Aerospace Affairs, faced hearing questioning and argued brilliantly against the group; reporters in their post-event reports sighed:
“Mathematician turns lawyer, citing sources to refute charges”
News about Lin Ran has always been a hot topic in Hong Kong, even more so recently.
After all, in the eyes of Hong Kong people, Lin Ran is somewhat one of their own.
Xu Shixun could also see similar reports on related news in Hong Kong.
Xu Aizhou shook his head: “Genius is always different.
Not to mention a top genius like Lin Sheng.
Thinking ten steps ahead is commonplace for such a genius.
For our Xu Family, clinging to Lin Sheng’s thigh means I won’t have to worry about you after my hundred years.”
Looking at his elderly father, Xu Shixun’s eyes suddenly reddened: “You will definitely live more than a hundred years.”
Lin Ran had already returned to Washington; whether Kennedy or Lyndon Johnson or other White House officials, everyone was interested in the hotline concept he mentioned on the BBC program, as well as his experience personally meeting Korolev in London.
The black Chevrolet Bel Air sedan rolled over the asphalt at the White House entrance; Lin Ran unwrapped the cashmere scarf he bought in London and stepped out of the car.
“Randolph, welcome back to secure Washington.” Kennedy personally greeted Lin Ran at the White House entrance.
After hugging Kennedy with a smile, Lin Ran said: “Mr. President, this London trip was quite thrilling.”
Kennedy laughed: “The Soviet Union felt tension; they are afraid of you.”
“No, they are not afraid of me, but afraid of America.” Lin Ran said confidently.
After a brief exchange with Kennedy, Lin Ran shook hands with Lyndon Johnson: “Sir, long time no see.”
Lyndon Johnson was considered his direct superior.
In the White House West Wing cabinet meeting room, the other White House bureaucrats had been waiting for a long time.
“Randolph, you performed very well in the BBC interview, letting global public see the style of White House senior officials; I think you should do more interviews in the future.” Kennedy opened first.
Mainly because the Bay of Pigs Invasion had too bad an impact, making American public and allied countries’ public think this White House was full of pigs.
So even with the Korolev incident, the White House did not urge Lin Ran to hurry back to Washington, but let him stay in London until completing the BBC interview.
Just to let the White House’s only remaining non-pig senior bureaucrat help rebuild the White House’s image in the minds of global public.
No matter how much they questioned the White House, they could not think a top mathematician who solved Fermat’s Conjecture was as stupid as the other bureaucrats.
Furthermore, the two major NASA projects successively completed under Lin Ran’s leadership were also part of his halo.
As a result, the effect of Lin Ran’s interview was surprisingly good.
The aforementioned was BBC’s own public interview; American newspapers’ own interviews showed that public support for the White House had improved, confidence in NASA winning the space race hit an all-time record, exceeding 50% for the first time.
Including the hotline suggestion, which also received widespread recognition.
Of course, widespread recognition is not universal; some extremist newspapers even more firmly believed Lin Ran’s claim of being connected to the KGB, saying let the Kremlin directly connect to the White House—what if America elected a KGB?
No need for secret channels; the Kremlin could directly issue orders to him.
So living long really means seeing more.
These extremist newspaper editors thought what they wrote was already outrageous enough, extreme for the sake of being extreme.
But if these editors live long enough, they will feel they might have made a shocking prophecy sixty years in advance.
By the way, there was a small bug earlier; because Truman had a history of wanting to accept a knighthood, I subconsciously thought American senior bureaucrats could accept knighthoods without checking carefully.
Actually, in 1961, White House senior bureaucrats needed Congress’s approval to accept an England knighthood; here, just assume Lin Ran has already passed Congress’s approval.
