Manhattan Reborn 1978

(We're camping outside tonight, so this is all I have.. sorry!)

new York.

Afternoon~

In front of the Wildfire restaurant on 42nd Street in Manhattan.

Carnes and George Sassoon gathered around Professor Nash, the master of game theory, and listened to his detailed explanation of the analysis of the prisoner's dilemma.

Professor Nash's wife Alicia took David's arm and walked to Princeton University President Guy Luther, ready to see him off.

Principal Luther walked to the side of the car, held the door and looked at Professor Nash and the other two, as well as Walid who was standing next to the three and listening attentively, and asked David in a low voice.

"Do you feel that you are out of control?"

"Yeah." David turned his head to look at Alicia, sighing with helplessness on his face.

"These are my choices. Now I can only follow the previous plan and try to control the risks and avoid any accidents."

"Hmm..." Principal Luther retracted his gaze and said to David.

"A few years ago, when countries began to implement floating interest rate systems, I heard that a foreign exchange speculation force was slowly forming."

"Its composition is extremely complex, and its actions have never been unified."

"But no one can ignore the power of this force!"

"David, do you understand what I mean?"

"Of course!" David looked at Principal Luther with sincerity in his eyes and answered.

“Speculation and gambling are a primitive force hidden in people’s hearts.”

"Whenever wars and crises break out, they create opportunities for bold gamblers to gamble big."

"They only need to invest a small amount, and they can find a fulcrum in a war or crisis to magnify their investment several times, dozens of times, or even hundreds or thousands of times."

David looked back at Carnes, patted Alicia's hand beside him, and said to Principal Luther.

"The most successful speculator in human history is Nathan M. Rothschild."

"Many people know that he became the largest creditor of the British government by purchasing British government bonds because he learned about the war reports of the Anglo-French War in advance. His speculative gains were so exaggerated that it was unimaginable."

"But many people may have overlooked Nathan's special means of obtaining war reports in advance, as well as the many backup plans he developed through his analysis of the overall situation of the war."

"For example, the British army led by the Duke of Wellington was defeated by the French army and lost to Napoleon."

"After learning about the war report, Nathan will definitely secretly borrow a large amount of bonds from the bond market and quietly sell them at a low price."

"When the war report reaches London, bond market investors will learn that Britain has lost the war and will surely sell off their bonds like crazy, hoping that they will not become the unlucky victim in the upcoming market stampede."

“Pricing order in the bond market broke down, and Nathan won.”

"But these are only part of his speculative gains."

"His brother in Paris would also quietly buy a large number of French government bonds at a low price after receiving the news in advance, becoming the largest creditor of the French government after the war."

David raised two fingers to Principal Luther and Alicia, and said calmly: "Betting on both sides, and then relying on the information gap to achieve small investment and large returns..."

“It’s hard to do this!”

“But it is the most basic, simple and effective speculation method.”

David put down his hand and looked at Principal Luther: "It is impossible for the macro trend of the international economy to deviate greatly due to a few unexpected low-probability events."

"And what I have to do is try to find opportunities between high tide and low tide!"

"..." The smile on Principal Luther's face slowly faded, and he said in a low voice.

"If you need help, contact me."

"Thank you!"

"I just have two things I want to ask you for help with."

"Oh? Go ahead." Principal Luther looked at David and smiled.

"The sister of a friend of mine is going to study at Princeton University, and I would like you to help take care of her."

"That's it?"

"correct."

"What about the other thing?"

David saw the interesting reaction on Principal Luther's face and continued with a smile: "I would like to ask you to help write a letter of introduction to Mr. Claude Shannon."

"If you want to see him, you can go to him directly. Why do you want me to write a letter of introduction?"

David shrugged and spread his hands helplessly, saying: "I tried to contact him, but he was too playful and didn't want to see me at all."

"Hahaha~yeah." Principal Luther couldn't help laughing and shaking his head.

"He is only willing to spend time and energy on things that interest him."

"Then you agree?"

"Agree to what? Help you write a letter?"

"Yes!"

"Let me try." After laughing, Principal Luther spread his hands, imitating David's helpless expression.

"He is a professor at MIT, and I can't guarantee anything."

"As for whether you can meet him, it depends on your luck and sincerity."

"Sincerity?"

"You mean... I should try to arouse his interest..."

"Yup!"

“Why didn’t I think of that…” David stomped his feet in annoyance, tilted his head and looked at Alicia.

"I'll go back and write down a few interesting ideas tonight. Can you please send them to Professor Shannon?"

"Okay!" Alicia, who had studied and worked at MIT, nodded and agreed.

David looked at Principal Luther with a smile and gestured for him to get in the car.

Principal Guy Luther frowned at David, pursed his lips and said nothing, then got into the car and left.

Alicia watched Principal Luther's car go away, and asked David with a puzzled look on her face: "You..?"

"I know."

David slowly raised his head, looked at the narrow sky above his head, and murmured: "Sincerity is a double-edged sword."

"It can easily break the barriers between people, and it can also easily hurt each other."

"Although I have never intended to hurt anyone, it is inevitable that someone will be cut by its sharp edge."

"..." Alicia tilted her head and looked at David, who seemed to be possessed by a "philosopher". For a moment, she didn't understand what he meant.

After looking up and pretending to be cool for a moment, David put away the brief "vulnerability" he showed and smiled.

"I'm probably going to be getting busier and busier in the next few months."

"If you have anything you need to discuss with me, you can call my office and they will pass it on to me."

"Okay." Alicia knew that it was difficult for her to help David at this moment, so she could only put her hand on his shoulder and silently convey her support to him.

----

At the same time, on the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

A small pier on the outskirts of Toyama City, Toyama Prefecture, in the central-western part of the island country.

Marat Boyezhnev walked from the bow of a small boat to the dock, quickly walked towards Kihara Nobunari who was standing not far away, and said with a smile.

"In the next few days they will stop their ships in nearby waters to avoid bad weather, and then head to the high seas in the south."

"Where are the supplies on the ship?" Kihara Nobunari nodded, looked at an islander next to him and asked.

"I haven't arranged many people on the ship, and the supplies are enough for a month."

"After three weeks, I will arrange for someone to deliver a month's worth of fresh water and daily supplies to them."

"OK~" Kihara Nobunari made a gesture to Marat, and the two followed the "assistant" sent by the Iwasaki family to the car, got in the car and prepared to leave.

on the way.

Kihara Nobunari, who was sitting in the back seat, reached out and patted the driver Takimoto Kawaichi, asking him to slow down, then looked at Marat and asked.

"Tell me, what else did you gain?"

"Hehe~" Marat took out a cigarette box, lit a cigarette for himself, exhaled a large cloud of smoke, took out an envelope from his arms and stuffed it into Kihara Nobunari's hand, and said relaxedly.

"They were very satisfied with the trade commodity quotation I brought last time."

"As early as next Tuesday, they will be able to complete the loading of the first batch of goods."

"Here is the cargo list, take a look first."

Kihara Nobunari raised his hand and turned on the roof light, carefully looking through the list of goods that Marat brought back, pointed at one of the items with some surprise, and asked.

"Coal?"

"This trade item was not included in our previous quotation, right?"

"Originally there wasn't one. We filled it in after discussion."

"You guys? Are you putting them on?"

"correct."

Marat leaned back and explained, "About ten years ago, the overall production capacity of most military-industrial enterprises in Primorsky Krai had reached its historical peak, and the remaining space in the product storage warehouses was also saturated."

"The latest generation of weapons and ammunition they produce should be usable for thirty years unless World War III or a large-scale war breaks out."

"So a few years ago, the planned production of major military-industrial enterprises in the Primorsky Krai began to slowly drop from its peak, and has been struggling to maintain the status quo."

"The mines and parts factories that provide them with raw materials have also reduced their planned production and suspended many production workshops."

Marat pointed to several items on the trade list and shook his head slightly.

"Except for some special steels that can be directly used in military products and other prohibited goods, large warehouses in cities across the Primorsky Krai are already filled with various industrial raw materials and semi-finished products."

"For example, the transaction price of this high-calorie high-quality anthracite is 7 million yuan per ton lower than the low-calorie coal delivery price on the international market; the price difference for high-quality coking coal is even higher, at 12 million yuan per ton!"

"If we can find customers in the island countries to buy this coal, the freight and other expenses will be almost negligible, and the price difference will make us a lot of money."

"If we can get them to Europe and find customers . . . "

Marat raised two fingers to Kihara Nobushige, and said with excitement in his eyes: "Our boss is an Italian immigrant from Sicily."

"Italy has hundreds of thermal power plants across the country, and the annual demand for imports of high-quality thermal coal is very large."

“The shipping time from Nakhodka to Europe is generally about two months.”

"If we can sell this coal to Italy, and the cargo ships can bring back some Italian specialty products on their return trip, we can establish a relatively complete international trade channel."

"The amazing profits from this trade channel, as long as we work steadily for a few years, can multiply the boss's investment several times, or even more!"

Kihara Nobunari nodded silently, frowned at Marat who was "painting big pictures" for him, put the list of goods back into the envelope, and said after thinking for a moment.

"We must inform the boss about this matter and let him make the decision."

"Of course!"

"But..." Marat put out the fire on the cigarette with his fingertips, threw it out of the window, and spoke in a deliberately long voice.

"The island nation is now the world's largest coal importer. Last year alone, the total imports of industrial coal such as thermal coal and coking coal exceeded 100 million tons."

"I have asked someone, and the total amount of coal purchased by Mitsubishi Group's subsidiaries last year exceeded 450 million tons."

"If we find these companies that need to import coal, allow them to settle in Japanese yen, and are willing to bear part of the risk of Japanese yen exchange rate fluctuations, we can accept part of their advance payment for orders."

"Do you think the boss will agree?"

"..." Kihara Nobunari felt his heartbeat instantly exceed 110 beats. He stared at Marat for a long time without saying a word.

Marat seemed to know that he might get into some trouble by making these suggestions.

So he pretended to be relaxed and said, "I have a double degree in economics and mathematics."

"Before, I had no chance to show my skills in the gangs in New York."

"Now that my boss has given me the opportunity to show my strengths, I will certainly not miss it again."

"So those concerns in your mind are not important to me."

"You can safely tell your boss all about this and hear what he has to say."

"OK!" Kihara Nobunari breathed a sigh of relief and nodded.

After the two finished their conversation, silence returned to the car.

The driver, Takimoto Kawaichi, who was sitting in front of the two, could hardly understand what was going on between the two.

But this did not prevent him from catching something useful from the two people's words, tone and actions.

Ten minutes later.

He stopped the car at an intersection and waited for the traffic light, then looked at Kihara Nobunari through the rearview mirror and asked.

"Sir, shall we go straight back?"

"No, we're going straight to Tokyo."

"Okay." Takimoto Kawaichi responded without any hesitation, his eyes swept across the dashboard, but his hands deliberately slowed down a little bit.

Marat, who was sitting in the back seat, looked out at the darkness outside the window and smiled at the little trick that Takimoto Kawaichi had secretly done.

Since the end of World War II, the war machine of the Bear State has never stopped.

The production capacity of military enterprises has continued to grow for more than 20 years, and the output has also broken the limit in human history.

However, these military equipment that were produced but rarely used filled up various large military warehouses. If they could not find an opportunity to sell them all abroad, they would just be piled up in the warehouses and collect dust.