I Inherited 5,000 Years of Family Property

Anyone who had received a High-Grade education knew what a dismal scene the financial crisis was back then—it almost instantly set the economy back by years, even decades!

During that crisis, hundreds of blast furnaces around the world were destroyed, billions of acres of cotton fields were ruined, billions of bags of coffee were destroyed, and millions of livestock were wiped out.

In America, even tens of thousands of gallons of high-quality fresh milk were poured into ditches, creating a river of milk—a tremendous catastrophic consequence of the economic crisis.

As for inflation, widespread unemployment, and the overthrow of social systems, these were not uncommon, but at that time, there was something historians still couldn't fathom; during that period, Huaxia's economy grew steadily, completely unaffected by the global financial crisis.

Not just Huaxia, even those countries that maintained close cooperation and dealings with Huaxia breezed through this disaster, as if an invisible hand were protecting them.

In just a few short years, the gap in technology and productivity between Huaxia and the world's developed countries, which was a century wide, was forcibly narrowed to only a few decades.

But who could have imagined that all this was actually the work of Zhang Menglong's grandfather!

If this were true, it would solve the mystery that had puzzled historians and economists for decades!

But this was also a terrifying matter—being able to effortlessly manipulate the global economy, what kind of force could be behind this?

"How did my grandfather manage this?"

"I'm not sure, but I heard that that economic crisis stemmed from a severe shortage of global raw materials, especially the crisis in crude oil. Dozens of major oil-importing countries around the world faced almost complete supply cuts!" Poladi said.

"Not only that, during that time, capitalists around the world went crazy developing production. The stockpile of products far exceeded the purchasing power of the international community at that time, which then led to a vicious cycle, and the world economic crisis naturally erupted. Find more to read at empire

About the causes of the economic crisis, Zhang Menglong had memorized quite a bit back in high school while studying politics. In fact, an economic crisis is an inevitable event that repeats itself in certain cycles like a loop.

But with some external force, this cycle can be artificially shortened, of course, this kind of external force would need to be unimaginably powerful.

"Mr. Zhang, you might not have been born yet during that era, but I am someone who came from that time. Do you know what happened during those years?"

"What?"

"90% of the oil supply to developed countries was cut off, that was just one of the things. The scariest part was that all the major banks in the world, at the same time, received huge withdrawal notices!"

"What do you mean?" Zhang Menglong seemed not to understand Poladi's words.

"In just a few weeks, banks around the world, even the International Bank, were nearly drained of their cash flows!" Poladi said, his eyes still shimmering with admiration, "Do you know that in that year, the total global GDP was only about five trillion US dollars, but during that period, the world's banks were short of ten trillion US dollars!"

"Was this my grandfather's doing?" Even today, that figure was astonishing.

"Mr. Zhang, you should know more about your family's wealth than I do." Poladi didn't say it outright, but it was clear he acknowledged this statement.

"From the moment each bank went bankrupt, the world economy collapsed instantly, followed by a series of butterfly effects."

"Old Zhang, your grandfather was incredibly impressive!" Wang Ling, standing beside him, was already stunned. As a finance master's graduate from a renowned international university, Wang Ling had an extraordinary understanding of the global economic crisis, but he had never expected that the Zhang family was involved behind the scenes.

"I honestly didn't know my grandfather was that impressive!" Zhang Menglong's expression mirrored Wang Ling's. He didn't feel proud or arrogant about the fact that his grandfather had done this, for he was still in shock!

"Mr. Zhang, do you know how long this economic crisis lasted?"

"It seems like it lasted about a decade," Zhang Menglong said, relying on his memory.

"Do you know what happened in the year the crisis ended?"

"This... I'm not well-read, maybe you guys can fill me in." Zhang Menglong hated the rote memorization of history; being a humanities disaster who scored 21 points on his high school history finals, it's no surprise he ultimately chose the irreversible path of engineering.

"I know!" Wang Ling suddenly thought of something, "I remember, that year, a large amount of lost cultural relics appeared on the northwestern border, all wrapped in uniform red silk. At the coastal areas, there were numerous ghost ships that also carried loads of lost items."

"As expected of Mr. Zhang's friend, Mr. Wang is truly knowledgeable about history," Poladi said with an appreciative look. If it were not for his brief encounter with Zhang Menglong's grandfather, he would not have known about these matters, nor would he have connected these two events.

"Such a nerd!" Zhang Menglong gave Wang Ling a thumbs up.

"Keep it low-key!" Wang Ling laughed, "So, is this how Menglong's grandfather ended the economic crisis?"

"From what I understand, yes!" Poladi said, "After that, a significant amount of capital flowed back into banks, the global supply chains restored, and after a long period of recuperation, the world economy gradually recovered."

"How did you come to know my grandfather?" Zhang Menglong asked curiously.

"That year, I was still scraping a living in Wall Street's financial markets. Due to a mistaken operation, I lost all my funds," Poladi said, "Subsequently, I was being chased by a group of creditors, and that's when I met your grandfather and his servant."

"Then what happened?"

"Your grandfather said he needed someone familiar with Wall Street. He said he took a liking to me, paid off my debts, and asked me to take him to the bond center on Wall Street to help him with something."

"Took a liking to you?"

"Yes," Poladi said, smiling bitterly. Initially, he thought there was some specific quality in him that made Zhang Mo, Zhang Menglong's grandfather, choose him. But later, when he asked, this was the answer he received.

"What did he do there?"

"In three days, he destroyed the entire Wall Street currency market, and my job was only to help him find the right financial entry points, as I knew the projects with the highest trading volumes here daily. Although at that time I didn't understand the Huaxia language, I noticed that every time he issued an order to his subordinates, a market project would collapse."

"A few days later, he had complete control over the entire Wall Street; he could easily devalue or appreciate any currency, even official forces couldn't contend with him—that is the power of the market!"