“…… So you want to sell my company to those bankers? ”

After listening to John's advice, Tesla's expression became obviously ugly, and he asked rhetorically in a stiff tone. And in addition to the tone, the phrase "my company" also made John understand one thing thoroughly: it is not incomprehensible that this once brilliant Frankenstein in front of him finally died in poverty in the hotel.

"Sell to them? Of course not! ”

Smiling slightly, John patiently explained, "We're just looking for cooperation. Mr. Tesla, I think you should also know that after investing hundreds of thousands of dollars, although we now have a complete alternating current technology and a team of hundreds of people, the company has less than 100,000 dollars of cash on its books, and if you want to build a power plant and lay the power grid, you need millions of dollars! If we were to rely on ourselves, how would we solve the problem of funding? ”

Tesla's question stunned Tesla for a while, and then he said in a deep voice: "We can find other people to work with, such as inventors who are also interested in developing alternating current technology......"

"Mr. Westinghouse, for example?"

Before Tesla could finish speaking, John interrupted him with a smirk.

"You know Mr. Westinghouse?"

At this moment, Tesla's expression suddenly became surprised. "Hehe......"

Smiling lightly, John didn't explain anything, but he was secretly very proud in his heart. If it weren't for the influence of those time-traveling novels in his previous life, how could John, a surgeon, know the story of Tesla and Westinghouse?

In real history, the battle between direct current and alternating current has been extremely fierce.

The representative of alternating current is Tesla, and he is working with another important figure in American history - Westinghouse. This inventor who is not well known to ordinary people actually has a very high historical status, and Westinghouse Electric, which was founded by him, is also one of the giant enterprises of later generations. In particular, the use of nuclear energy can be said to occupy the position of a pioneer. And as early as last year, in 1886, Westinghouse had already built its first alternating current power plant, and Westinghouse still held a large number of alternating current patents. It was thanks to the cooperation between Tesla and Westinghouse that the alternating current was finally pushed to a dominant position in one fell swoop!

And the representative of direct current is naturally the extremely prestigious Edison.

About the DC, AC dispute between Edison and Westinghouse and Tesla. John alone knows a lot of things that will be incredible to future people, such as that in order to exaggerate the danger of alternating current, Edison even paid a lawyer himself, so that a criminal could be sentenced to death, and then use alternating current to execute it. In order to compete for the huge profit industry of electricity, people in this era can be said to have tried their best.

And there is another important figure in this war, and that is JP Morgan!

The American financial emperor was initially a supporter of Edison, and in order to achieve a monopoly he had Edison buy a large number of direct current patents, taking into account the cost of laying the power grid. He even set up a copper company in an attempt to monopolize the industry. But when he found that alternating current was indeed more suitable for promotion than direct current, and the trend was irreversible, he quickly set his sights on Westinghouse Electric. It's just that, like many people, Westinghouse is very uninterested in financiers, and he believes that the board of directors of a company should be someone who knows how to manage, while bankers don't know anything. Therefore, Westinghouse firmly rejected Morgan's financing, and his company was threatened with a shortage of funds many times. It was eventually acquired by JP Morgan......

And it was precisely because of this understanding that John never thought of developing alternating current entirely with his own funds.

It's okay to do preliminary research and lay the foundation. Once the large-scale construction of power plants and the laying of power grids are ready, it will take the intervention of bankers. Maybe John could have done it with all his fortune, but in that case, on the one hand, he would have to go head-on with Morgan, who was trying to control the industry, and on the other hand, he would not have been able to give up the business that had now been rolled out.

Which is more important. Naturally, John had a scale in his heart.

At the end of the day, John invested in Tesla's company because he was a Tesla, and because he was researching alternating current, which was enough to bring him a good return. But apart from the economy, he has no interest in controlling the industry. And he also understands that the power company is not a pharmaceutical company. There are too many things involved, and it is impossible to be a business that Tesla and the Huntelaar family can support......

……

For the whole day, John was trying to convince the stubborn Mr. Tesla.

Like many inventors or entrepreneurs of this era, Tesla did not have the slightest affection for bankers, because he had seen too many examples of talented inventors working with bankers because of lack of funds, only to be robbed of them in the end. Indeed, it is true in this day and age that inventors who lack the capital and management skills can easily lose control of their own companies, as was the case with Westinghouse, and the same was true of Edison – Westinghouse's Westinghouse and Edison's General Electric eventually became JP Morgan's pocket.

So even if John crumpled and broke it open to explain to him, Tesla was still a little difficult to accept.

"Well, Mr. Tesla, I hope you'll think about it seriously!"

When the time came to half past three in the afternoon, John finally gave up helplessly for the time being, although he had already seen that Tesla's current resistance was just psychologically difficult to accept for a while, and I believe it would not take long for him to figure it out. But for now, at least, John has no strength to continue.

"I will."

After hesitating for a moment, Tesla nodded.

If there is an ordinary person sitting opposite, even if the other party is rich, Tesla may not give any face, but it is John in front of him? Huntelaar – a man who could invent a new light bulb, a battery and a bicycle in his teens – is not much worse than Tesla himself!

But just as Tesla was considering whether to get up and say goodbye, John suddenly blinked and asked with a smile, "Mr. Tesla, there's something I want to ask you to help me with." ”

"What's the matter?"

Tesla was stunned when he heard this, and hurriedly asked.

After a moment of deliberation, John smiled and said, "I don't know if you've heard of it, I built a hospital in Manhattan...... Well, it'll be done soon. ”

"Of course I've heard of this!"

Without any hesitation, Tesla immediately nodded.

In 1887, there weren't many decent buildings on the streets of New York, and John's hospital was quite eye-catching. And from the mouth of the old Huntelaar, Tesla has long known about this matter, and occasionally passed by and carefully observed, and is quite envious of John, the owner of that building.

"I want to use the AC system in that hospital!"

Under Tesla's surprised gaze, John said calmly: "Mr. Tesla, if you can, I hope you can help design the power supply system of the building!" I would like to install new tungsten light bulbs in every room and corridor of the building, and street lights in the garden......"

"What?"

Hearing this, Tesla exclaimed in surprise: "Mr. Huntelaar, do you know how much it costs to do this?" ”

As John's collaborator, Tesla was of course aware of the storage of tungsten light bulbs, but what he couldn't understand was that John wanted to install the entire hospital. You know, that means thousands of light bulbs, miles of power lines, and a power station -- a lot of money, after all!

"I've got the funds ready!"

Facing the surprised Tesla, John smiled slightly: "In order to be able to meet the power supply of the hospital, I am even ready to build a small power plant!" And...... Mr. Tesla, don't you think that if you renovate the entire hospital, it will become a prime example of alternating current applications, and the whole of New York will see its superiority......" (To be continued......