The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 782 The Worst Group of Students in West Point History

"With the Panama Canal, we can sell our products to the whole world!" Chen Zhengwei stood on the stage with high spirits, and behind him was an enlarged map of the Americas.

The applause of the audience was thunderous.

Cicely clapped with her eyes shining. She liked watching Chen Zhengwei speak.

That feeling of being full of confidence and nothing can stop him always hits her every time.

"Arrange the carriage. I will go to New York to talk to those banks in a few days." After Chen Zhengwei came down from the stage, he instructed his subordinates.

After all, he had been in Los Angeles for so long that he was a little bored.

Be it his men, the Chinese businessmen, or the laborers, they were all as obedient as quails when facing him. He couldn't find a chance to hit anyone, so he took this opportunity to go to New York.

Chen Zhengwei’s press conference this time has little to do with ordinary Americans, but it is an earthquake for American and European investors.

But it still made the headlines of various comprehensive newspapers.

After all, the right to build the Panama Canal returned to the hands of the United States, and it was the Chinese Chen Zu Canal Company that was responsible for its construction and operation.

If this alone is not enough, consider the current situation in San Francisco. Every day countless goods are loaded onto ships at the port of San Francisco and shipped to Mexico and Panama in Central America.

It is then split and sold from Panama to Guatemala, Honduras, Colombia and Ecuador.

San Francisco is now not only the center of the West, but also an important trading port in the United States, with goods sold to the entire west coast of America.

After the construction of the Panama Canal, San Francisco's ships and cargo were no longer limited to the west coast. Instead, goods were sold through the canal to the entire east coast of America, even including the east coast of the United States.

Although San Francisco is not the only port in the United States that exports goods, it is the fastest-growing and most developed port, and has gradually become the industrial center of the western United States.

Although light industry is the main focus for now, there is also a lot of heavy industry.

Whether it is steel mills, shipyards, or San Francisco mechanical equipment processing and manufacturing companies, or even the automobile industry that is booming now.

Therefore, after the press conference, San Francisco became even more lively.

More and more people are coming from all over the United States to look for jobs and investment opportunities.

At the same time, some banks in the United States are also holding urgent internal meetings.

At the headquarters of Morgan Bank, Morgan looked at the bank executives in front of him and asked, "Have you figured out the analysis? What is the valuation of this canal company?"

“It’s already been made!”

"The valuation of the Canal Company is around 10 billion US dollars!" someone stood up and said.

When others heard this number, they began to whisper to each other. This number was really too high, much higher than they had expected.

"Introduce yourself!" JP Morgan did not rush to speak, but asked the other party to explain directly.

"This is an unprecedented project. More than half of the value of the canal company lies in its core intangible assets."

"The right to dig the canal, the right to operate it for 99 years, and the right to develop the land along the canal, the premium is $1-2 million!"

"The discounted revenue from 99 years of operation, including tolls, port services, land development, and supporting logistics, is estimated to be $5-8 million!"

"The strategic premium for US trade and military is $2-3 million!"

“The valuation of these intangible assets is $8-13 billion!”

After he said these words, the whispers from the others became louder, but everyone carefully recorded what he said.

"Of course, what I just said was positive! Next, let's talk about the impact of risks."

"As for the attitude of the US government, although the relationship between the US government and China Chen has eased a lot, no one knows how long this honeymoon period will last. You all know China Chen's style and how much trouble he can cause, so a -10% discount is required in this regard."

"The second is the attitude of countries like the UK. Will they continue to watch the US control the canal? This aspect requires a -10% discount."

"Then the question is whether the situation in Panama is stable and whether China can continue to control Panama? This is related to the previous one, so this aspect will be discounted by -10%."

"Then there are engineering risks. This is an unprecedented project with high difficulty and high risk of various problems. We have to discount this aspect by -30%."

"So these assets, after deducting the risk, are worth $4.8 million to $7.8 million, with a conservative estimate of $4.8 million and an optimistic estimate of $7.8 million. The benchmark is $6.3 million."

“That’s the intangibles part.”

"Generally speaking, companies raise funds at 30% of their valuations. According to the information we received, the Canal Company is preparing to raise $3 million, which means their valuation of the Canal Company is also in this range."

“This project has sufficient scarcity and monopoly, but the risks are also huge!”

After the other party introduced himself, he sat down.

The voices of other people talking around became even louder.

Because French banks valued the Panama Canal at $5 million.

However, the Panama Canal has a higher strategic and commercial premium for the United States, and France has not been able to control Colombia. The French Canal Company is not like Chen Zhengwei, who directly owns the army and fleet.

With smaller profits and higher risks, the valuation of the canal company was naturally much lower.

Facts have also proved that the judgment of those French banks was correct.

Before the French even started digging the canal, a coup d'état took place in Panama.

Soon someone raised an objection: "There is a question, is China's Chen really planning to dig a canal, or is he planning to make money in the market? After all, for him, digging a canal is of no benefit. The US Navy can reach San Francisco in a short time through the canal!"

"His warships can also reach Washington in a short time!" JP Morgan interrupted the executive directly.

Even now, many people still have a big misunderstanding of Chen Zhengwei's strength.

In other words, in the eyes of most people, Chen Zhengwei is just a person after all.

The United States is a country, and if the US government wants to develop its navy, it can expand the size of the navy in a short period of time. However, JP Morgan knows Chen Zhengwei better.

"He is definitely going to dig a canal! So the next meeting will be about whether to invest, how much to invest, and how many shares to get?" JP Morgan said in a deep voice.

Soon someone raised another objection: "There is another problem. The French project budget is 1.5 million, while his budget is 3 million."

"I had someone check this out. His team leader is James Edgard, who has great achievements and reputation in the industry. His team rejected the French canal design and adopted another plan!" said JP Morgan.

However, Morgan Bank guessed one thing wrong. Chen Zhengwei had no valuation for the canal company at all. The reason why he wanted to raise $3 million in funds was that he felt that if he invested $3 million, he would be able to earn back the money for building the canal in a few years.

And his bottom line is $2 million.

While Morgan Bank was holding its meeting, other banks were also holding meetings.

The same topics were discussed.

At the same time, Chen Zhengwei also boarded the luxury carriage to New York, and this time he was accompanied by Cicely DuPont.

Cicely always jumped on the train in a very unladylike manner.

She was very excited to go out with Chen Zhengwei this time, and her whole body was filled with joy.

"Boss, you are so lucky!" Da Poland said behind Chen Zhengwei.

"Having too many women is annoying! I often feel that there is something wrong with their brains!" Chen Zhengwei said to Dapolan.

"Sorry, boss, I can't answer this question!" Dapolan shrugged. He had a lot of women, but they were all paid for.

If he had a wife like Cicely, he would not have to live a life of debauchery.

He felt that this was the most enviable thing about Chen Zhengwei.

In addition to Cicely, the proprietress is also very nice.

The two got on the train while talking.

Not long after going up, Chen Zhengwei called a few thugs to play cards and slap them in the face.

Chen Zhengwei played with a smile on his face for the entire afternoon and never lost a single game.

"You are bullying me!" Cicely whispered in Chen Zhengwei's ear.

She saw clearly that those people didn't dare to defeat Chen Zhengwei at all.

Everyone's head was covered in sweat.

The journey was smooth and Chen Zhengwei was no longer as worried about taking the train as before.

In the past two years, his security company has controlled some people from the railway company.

Only a very few people know who the passengers in this carriage are.

When Chen Zhengwei went to New York, Aaron was leading others in a group fight with other cadets at the West Point Military Academy in New York State.

Fifty or sixty people were fighting in the school. The short man Yuan Kai was jumping up and down in the crowd, while Aaron, with a sneer on his face, took out a stick from the flower bed and swung it at the head of a Virginia student, who fell to the ground on the spot.

Although there were only a dozen people from San Francisco, with the addition of students from Texas and New York, there were more than twenty of them. Facing a number of people that was twice their own, they did not lose out at all.

After all, in terms of cruelty and audacity, these West Point cadets are far inferior to Aaron and his friends.

Upstairs, Oliver Howard, the president of the West Point Military Academy, watched this scene through the window, his face ashen and his temples throbbing.

This federal major general, who was known for his emphasis on discipline and morality, gritted his teeth and said:
"Stop them, ask them the reason clearly, and put them all in solitary confinement regardless of whether they are right or wrong!"

This batch of military academy students was the worst, most chaotic, and most terrible group of students he had ever seen in all these years.

In just less than two months, they have already had four group fights, and ordinary fights occur every few days.

He really wanted to kick out all those Chinese students.

But he knew that was impossible!

If he did that, it wouldn't be long before he went home and saw someone pointing a gun at him and saying, "Mr. Chen says hello!"

It took more than a dozen school faculty and staff to separate the students.

Oliver Howard saw with his own eyes that Aaron took advantage of the chaos and hit one of the faculty members he didn't like with a stick, knocking out several of his teeth.

Then he stuffed the stick into someone else's hand and stood aside watching the chaos with a smile, as if it had nothing to do with him.

The person who took the blame for him was a short guy named Yuan * Kai, who was not good at reading and writing in English. He didn't know why such a person was sent here.

However, we have to admit that Yuan * Kai is making rapid progress.

He suppressed his anger and looked away.

Although he had never dealt with Chen Zhengwei, when he saw the bald head below, he could imagine what kind of person Chen Zhengwei was.

The end result was that everyone was put in solitary confinement.

Except Aaron.

Just now, when Oliver Howard said that everyone would be put in solitary confinement, he had already assumed that it meant everyone except Aaron, and everyone else knew this as well.

This guy would even invite prostitutes to his dormitory to spend the night, and Oliver Howard could only pretend not to know.

　It’s the last day of 2024, so cast your vote if you have one!

　　Finally, I wish you all a happy new year and all the best in 2025!
　　I was also blocked for the last chapter of 2024... I am also convinced. Let's see when it will be released!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)