The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 775 I made outstanding contributions to the friendship between the United States and France

"Have our people arrived in France?" Chen Zhengwei asked Rong Jiacai.

This time, winning the right to dig and operate the Panama Canal is also a big deal for Chen Zhengwei.

After the opening of this canal, direct travel between the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean will be possible. This canal has great strategic value.

Before obtaining the operating rights, Chen Zhengwei had already sent people to France.

Getting the French Interoceanic Canal Company information would save some time.

"The person has already arrived in Paris, and we will probably get it soon." Rong Jiacai said with a smile.

"It's a mess over there now! This is a big scandal."

The French Interatlantic Canal Company is now in chaos, especially the latest information released shows that when the French Interatlantic Canal Company was just investigated, it began to bribe politicians and journalists in an attempt to delay the exposure of its financial situation.

The exposure of this scandal completely destroyed the people's last bit of patience with the French Interoceanic Canal Company, and also affected their trust in the French government.

As far as Chen Zhengwei knows, the French Interoceanic Canal Company previously issued bonds to raise funds, and more than 30 French people have purchased the bonds.

This is also the person who was most affected in this incident.

After all...the money of those rich people and politicians must be returned in full.

Then the funds that were previously embezzled and wasted will only be lost by ordinary people’s money.

"Those French people should thank me for detonating this incident in advance and helping them reduce their losses. If it had been delayed for a few more years, they would have already started construction and the losses would have been even greater! Now at least we can get back more than half, maybe even most of it." Chen Zhengwei said with a smile.

"I have made an outstanding contribution to the friendship between the United States and France!"

Then he said in a somewhat unhappy tone, “But now that their story has spread, it will take some effort for us to raise funds.”

"Should we do this ourselves or send someone out?" asked the scholar.

Chen Zhengwei tapped his fingers lightly on the armrest of the sofa.

He actually wanted to do it alone, so that even if something went wrong, he wouldn't be implicated.

Even if the project fails, you can still make a lot of money by taking the money away in the end.

But if you think about it carefully, the construction of this canal is of utmost importance, as it concerns the navigation between the east and the west, as well as the competition and control of Spanish colonies such as Cuba.

You must never allow the project to fail.

Even if he had to blackmail someone, he had to complete the canal project.

"Do it in my name!" said Chen Zhengwei.

“It’s also easier to raise funds under my name.”

"Open an international canal company, get the information from the French, send people to verify the situation on the spot, and then make a plan and budget."

“Then we issue bonds to the public to raise funds.”

"What about the laborers? Should we transport them from the Qing Dynasty or use the local indigenous people?"

"Hire people from Mexico!" Chen Zhengwei said without hesitation.

He still needed Chinese workers to fill the Chinese population in the United States. How could he allow Chinese workers to go to Panama to dig the canal?

"We will transfer people from the United States to key positions, use Mexicans for ordinary labor, and hire some Panamanians. This will help boost local economic development."

"Brother Wei, tell me the truth..." Xiucai said with a strange look on his face: "I thought you were the President of Panama...!"

"Then you should treat Panama as our colony! We have to bring some changes to the local people, then they will support us!" Chen Zhengwei smiled.

"Then you ask Su Ya... tell him that I am very satisfied with his work, so give him two choices."

"One is to stay in Panama. He is familiar with the situation there. He will also be in charge of supervising the subsequent canal project."

"The other option is to come back as a representative on the board of Standard Oil as I said before."

After talking about the Panama Canal, the scholar asked about another thing: "Brother Wei, there are many opportunities in Mexico now. Their president has many preferential treatments for foreign investment. As long as we build a railway, we can take over a large area of land. Maybe we can take some."

“The money can be raised directly from the fund-raising fund, without touching our own money.”

"This also leaves a way out."

"If anything happens in the future, it will be useful."

Xiucai had not paid attention to the situation in Mexico before, and only learned about it from the Mexican gangs.

Then he thought he could leave a way out there.

He has been thinking about this matter for some time, and he took this opportunity to talk about it.

"Mexico..." Chen Zhengwei always felt that the situation there was not very stable, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

After hearing what the scholar said, he thought about it for a moment and then agreed.

"Do as you wish."

"It's a good thing that the situation over there is unstable. As long as there is a little change, we can deploy troops there. The excuses are ready."

Seeing that Chen Zhengwei agreed with this idea, Xiucai was in a good mood and then told a funny story.

"Someone sent me a letter a few days ago. It was obvious that the letter was from an educated person. He wanted to persuade Brother Wei to establish a country and build a new China in America."

"This man also wrote some political opinions, which were very flowery, but they were all empty talk and unrealistic. He was not a talented person, and I have never met him."

The scholar didn't say who it was, and Chen Zhengwei didn't care after hearing it.

This letter was written by Kang Youwei.

He wanted to vote directly for Chen Zhengwei, but he didn't have the chance.

Then I voted for Yung Wing.

Just as the scholar said, Kang Youwei's views on politics in the letter were all empty talk and fantasy, not at all practical. Yung Wing thought he was a boaster and ignored him.

Kang Youwei was very angry when he saw that there was no follow-up. He thought that Yung Wing was jealous of talent, so he found another opportunity to go to San Francisco and deliver the letter to the scholar. Then the same result occurred.

The scholar just mentioned it casually as an interesting story, and Chen Zhengwei just listened to it.

Neither of them took it to heart.

Meanwhile, in Hamburg, Germany, customs.

The customs officer looked through the small window at the big man outside who was well-dressed but looked rude and had a fierce aura.

"American?"

"German too!" said Schultz.

"Have you been away from Germany for a long time? Starting 14 years ago, Germans who naturalized as Americans automatically gave up their German identity!" the customs official reminded.

"Yes, I left when I was very young!" Schultz also sighed.

"What are you doing back this time?"

"Visiting relatives... and... traveling!" Schultz raised his hand and lifted his hat, nodding slightly at the other party.

"Have a nice trip, but remember not to cause trouble!" said the customs officer.

In fact, when Americans come to Germany, the inspection is very loose.

However, Schultz had such a strong gang aura that the customs officer couldn't pretend not to notice it, so he asked a few more questions.

Then another man came to the window, wearing the same floppy hat as Schultz and with the same fierce demeanor.

The customs officer looked at the man a few more times, asked a few questions, and then let him go.

Then the third one, the fourth one...

After almost 20 of them passed by, the customs officer felt something was not right... He felt as if a group of gangsters had passed by...

"I hope they don't cause any trouble in Germany!" the customs official muttered softly.

And this is one of the two windows of Hamburg Customs... In fact, Schulz brought nearly 40 people back to Germany.

After passing through customs, Schultz took off his hat.

"We should change our hats. This one doesn't fit. It's too conspicuous!"

They came here to do something and couldn't attract too much attention.

After the group changed into ordinary bowler hats, they immediately looked much more low-key.

At least it's not so conspicuous... that's what they think.

Then they went directly to Berlin. Once there, they had to first deal with some local tyrants, and then deal with the R&D personnel from Siemens.

……

In early May, news came back from San Francisco.

We have made some progress in the laboratory.

But it is not equipment for synthesizing ammonia.

Synthetic ammonia has been verified in the laboratory, and the technology is indeed feasible, but current technology is not yet capable of industrialization.

Now people from Andrew Carnegie's Steel Alloy Laboratory and Chen Zhengwei's Laboratory are conducting research.

To this end, Andrew Carnegie also came up with a new alloy steel formula, which has much higher high pressure and corrosion resistance than the current ones.

Although it does not meet the technical requirements for synthetic ammonia, it can be used in artillery.

The breakthrough this time was the battery. Edison changed the smooth lead plate into a porous lead plate, which increased the surface area of the electrode. This immediately increased the battery's energy density by 40% and its power by 4 times. This was a huge breakthrough.

There is just one small problem: a battery explosion is more lethal.

Lead-acid batteries easily produce hydrogen when charging, which can explode with a spark or heat source.

Now the laboratory has several new directions, one is to optimize the active materials, one is to replace the lead with lighter materials, and one is to change the battery into a sealed battery to improve safety...

After Chen Zhengwei learned about it, his impression of Edison changed greatly.

Just like Chandler said.

Edison may not have been a true inventor; most of his inventions were improvements upon existing products.

But he does have quite good ability in improving technology.

At the same time, the car factory in Los Angeles has been built and started to assemble cars, which are then shipped to various parts of the United States.

Up to now, Chen Zhengwei's automobile company has received more than 1300 orders in total. Although it may not seem like a lot, the sales volume has reached 624 million and the profit has exceeded 300 million.

Almost every car sold makes a profit.

And the appearance of these cars in American cities will also drive other people's willingness to buy them.

Chen Zhengwei's car company also has a brand.

Tiger brand!

At the end of May, when Wanyun was taking care of Jindan, she suddenly felt retching and rushed into the bathroom, covering her mouth.

She first recalled what she had eaten today to see if she had eaten something wrong.

I think it’s impossible.

Then I suddenly thought of something.

So he called a doctor to the mansion to examine her.

(End of this chapter)