John spent lunch in Bradley's popular science lectures. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 Before leaving the officers' cafeteria, John invited the Bradley family to his home over the weekend. To have the opportunity to have a good relationship with someone with a deep background like John, Bradley certainly won't let it go. The two agreed on a time and went back to their respective offices to work.

Back in the office, John began to work on the applications that the department had piled up. He knew exactly what he was supposed to do. As a newcomer, you must make your debut beautifully so that you won't be underestimated by your colleagues and subordinates.

Of the three applications that made Colonel Wells hesitate, John had already made up his mind and would not approve any of them. Even if there are the Rockefeller family and the Ford family behind this, there is a precedent for selling scrap steel to Japanese steel mills, but he just won't let it go. John's purpose is to use these three companies to establish his authority, knock on the mountain, and let the new colleagues who ignore him see his methods.

John spent the whole afternoon alone in his office on the phone. At the end of the day, he summoned Major Martin and Captain Chandler to his office, and handed them the application report that had been approved.

Seeing that these three applications were all called back by John, the two of them looked at John a little strangely. Major Martin kindly advised John to think again, not to be in such a hurry to make a decision.

John knew what was on their minds both. Martin is still more or less because of Eisenhower's relationship, and he doesn't want his new boss to die too ugly on his first day on the job. Chandler, on the other hand, was simply gloating, wishing he could see John's jokes.

John didn't care too much about their thoughts, and what he needed to do now was to earn the respect and approval of the deputy commissioners. As for the "small characters" of Martin and Chandler, they will naturally be obedient when the time comes. So, John didn't give them any explanation, but just asked Chandler to contact the three companies and inform them to send someone to get the results. With that, he packed up his things and left work.

Major Martin couldn't help but shake his head as he looked at John's departing back. In his opinion, John, the young chief, was really ignorant and arrogant. It's like an angular stone, which seems to be hard, but sooner or later it will be rounded by the "cruel reality". As for Captain Chandler, he had already entered Colonel Wells's office.

When John went to pick up his car, Bryant, the old guard in the parking lot, stopped him. The gray-haired old sergeant major informed John that he was still a visitor when he came in the morning (there was no official check-in), so the car was parked in an unfixed parking space on the east side of the building. Starting tomorrow, his car will have to be parked in the third-to-last space in the fourth row of the parking lot on the west side of the building.

John hurriedly thanked Sergeant Major Bryant and gave him a Havana cigar. This Havana cigar was actually prepared by John specifically for Sergeant Major Bryant. Before he came to report, he had been reminded by more than one acquaintance to pay attention to not offend this "legendary" old sergeant major.

Sgt. Bryant joined the U.S. Army in 1894, 10 years older than John. He fought in the Spanish-American War of 1898 and fought in Cuba, where he met General Pershing.

During World War I, Bryant Sr. was General Pershing's chauffeur. After the war, he followed General Pershing into the army staff. There is no one in the entire Army Staff today who is more senior than Sergeant Major Bryant.

It stands to reason that this old sergeant major should have retired a long time ago. But the old man had been a soldier all his life, had no marriage, no children, and had no other hobbies except for smoking Havana cigars. Although he has long passed the retirement age, he just doesn't want to go home to rest, preferring to come here as a parking lot guard.

He himself did not take the initiative to retire, and others did not dare to force it. Over time, this stubborn old man became a mascot-like existence in the Army Staff. There are even good people who have published cartoons based on him in internal Army publications.

Overall, Sergeant Major Bryant is still very respected and loved by the entire Army Staff. If anyone offends him, it will be difficult to move an inch in the general staff. Naturally, John now has to follow the local customs and pay great respect to this sergeant-elder.

Leaving Constitution Avenue, John did not go straight home, but went to K Street to meet Howard Hughes. When John arrived, Hughes was working overtime in the office of the "Fight for Freedom Committee." Tomorrow, there will be a legislative hearing in Congress on amending the current Neutrality Act, and Hughes will personally attend and participate in the debate. At this moment, he was discussing the specifics of the debate with his assistants.

"John, wait me for two minutes, I'll be right away."

John nodded and sat down on the couch in the corner of his office. It was two minutes, but in fact he waited almost 20 minutes for Hughes to get over.

"Hey, I didn't pay attention just now, your military uniform is not bad, you are very handsome, Adele must love this uniform." As soon as he came up, Hughes made a joke.

"Don't make a fuss, what's going on with what I told you on the phone in the afternoon?" John wasn't in the mood for that, so he opened his mouth and went straight to the point.

"What about Mobil Oil?" Hughes looked disgusted, "You can't trust me for this little thing, do you need to run it yourself?" ”

"I didn't believe you. Am I not in a hurry. Solve it early, so I'm ready for the next move. John quickly explained.

"Don't worry, it won't delay you. I've already eaten this batch of jet fuel. Mobil will send someone to cooperate with you. Hughes's words completely reassured John. Don't look at him in front of Martin and Chandler as if he didn't take those three companies seriously, in fact, he was still very careful when operating.

He knew very well in his heart that if he sent these three applications back, he would inevitably offend people. In essence, his approach is to establish his authority by slapping those three companies in the face. Although he is not afraid of these three companies with his identity and background, if he wants the other party to cooperate with him obediently, he has to make some preparations in private.

For example, on the Mobil Oil side, John asked Hughes to communicate on his behalf. Hughes's friendship with the Rockefellers, though far worse than when his father was alive. But he is now the owner of Trans Aero, and he is a big customer of Mobil Oil, so it is no problem to help John eat the batch of jet fuel that was originally scheduled to be exported to Germany.

In fact, as soon as the war in Europe started, Mobil's side was also difficult to ride a tiger, and it knew that it was bitter. Fools can see that even if the United States does not enter the war, it will not side with Nazi Germany. Therefore, on the one hand, they did not want to get too close to Nazi Germany, and on the other hand, they were unwilling to let their previous "investment" go down the drain. Now that John took the initiative to hand over a step through Hughes, there was no reason why they would not just go down the donkey. Anyway, selling to someone is not selling, and selling to Global Airlines also saves money on tankers.

As for John's request that they send someone to the Army General Staff in person to get the application for approval, the American service side also sensed it very simply. At the level of the Rockefeller family, there is no need to care about shame at all. In their opinion, the Vanderbilt kid wanted to slap Mobil Oil, and as long as he paid for it, he sent an executive to slap him. Even if he broke his hand, he couldn't lose any face for the Rockefeller family.

With Mobil Oil in hand, John was finally able to carry out his second step plan with confidence. As for the other two companies, he had already done it while sitting in his office in the afternoon. Ford's side had better solve it, with FedEx's current partnership with Ford, they wouldn't offend John for exporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in parts. Besides, Ford is now participating in the bidding for new military vehicles for the US Army, how can it be unpleasant for the military at this stall.

So John made a phone call in the afternoon, and Edsel agreed to his request on the spot. Edsel even said that he could get the application approval himself. This face is really big enough.

As for the export application for the shipbreaking yard, John was mainly busy with this in the afternoon. At first, he didn't even pay attention to this shipbreaking yard, which he had never even heard of, but out of a cautious habit, he asked little Colinious to help him check the background of this company.

I don't know if I don't check, and I'm shocked when I check it. Behind this small factory, there is actually a great god - Henry Kaiser. When people in later generations mentioned Henry Kaiser, the first thing that came to mind was the "Freedom Wheel". During World War II, the tycoon creatively used prefabricated component assembly methods to produce 1,490 10,000-ton ships in four years. Allowing American freighters to be built faster than the rate of sinking by the Dönitz submarine forces, laying the foundation for victory in World War II.

However, shipbuilding was only Henry Kaiser's "hobby", and his main business was mainly in the field of construction, and the famous Hoover Dam was his masterpiece. This old man has the same fault as Elliot Cord, a transportation tycoon who retired last year, and likes to "collect" upstream and downstream industries.

Prior to his retirement from AVCO, Eliot Curd controlled as many as 150 companies related to the transportation industry. Henry Kaiser is no slouch, with more than 100 companies related to the construction industry, including Kaiser Aluminium, Kaiser Steel, Kaiser Cement and Stucco Board. The business ranges from sand, cement, steel and aluminium to window glass, wooden furniture and heating fireplaces.

The shipbreaking yard that John met this time was a subsidiary of Kaiser Steel, in other words, Henry Kaiser's "grandson company". Fortunately, John and Henry Kaiser were both Freemasons, had met a few times, and had some friendship. Although it is not deep, the total value of this scrap steel export business is only about 100,000 US dollars. This bit of face, the other party still gives it.

Sure enough, when Henry Kaiser figured out what John meant on the phone, he readily agreed. He also praised John for his cautious and thoughtful approach, "just like your father was back then."

On the drive home, John brushed aside the experience of his first day in the army. There should be nothing wrong with it, and you can move on to the next step.