Section 56 From Behind the Scenes to the Front [I]
"You bought a small boat of only 280 tons for 15,000?" Rachel stared at Qin Lang with a surprised gaze for a moment, maybe a dozen seconds, and then commented, "This business is simply terrible. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info"
Qin Lang felt that her comment was very strange. "Fifteen thousand, buy a fast smuggling ship with a speed of twenty-four knots, I think it's a good deal, Rachel."
"Twenty-four verses? What kind of sailing ship can run up to twenty-four knots? β
"Sailboats? Did I say I bought a sailboat? I bought a steamboat. β
Obviously, Rachel was a little confused by Qin Lang's words. "However, your telegram says that you bought a sailboat...... Wait a minute. She began to rummage through the drawers. After a few minutes of busyness, pulling every drawer on her desk open, she finally found the telegram he had sent back to San Diego. "It's a sailboat."
Qin Lang took the telegram and glanced at it, then smiled. "The telegram only says of a ship, Rachel, neither a sailing ship nor a steamship. It's your own misunderstanding that's wrong. β
"Really?" Suspicious, she retrieved the telegram and examined it carefully. It didn't take a lot of time, the text on the telegram was short, and there was only one "boat" in relation to the ship, not "sailboat" or "steamboat". This made her feel very depressed. "It's damn bad."
"There's no way," Qin Lang shrugged, "The telegram is charged by the number of words. If it was a phone, there would be no such trouble. β
"Phone? What is that? "Despite the fact that Alexander. Graham. Mr. Bell had already patented a patent for the invention of the telephone in 1876, and Boston had laid the first telephone line in 1877, but Rachel had heard of the term for the first time.
The school she attended was not goodβat least Qin Lang thought it was bad. Catholic girls' schools, which are usually closed and conservative, spend far more time studying the Bible than modern technology. Rachel's talent for business was already influenced by her family, and Qin Lang couldn't ask too much of her.
It took him some time to explain to her what a phone was, and she immediately became quite interested in it. "Why don't we produce phones, Qin Lang?"
"You should know that we can't diversify our investments, Rachel. And, whether it's Bell Telephone or General Electric, they're much stronger than we are. Qin Lang shook his head. In fact, not being able to diversify is only one of the aspects he considers, Bell is only one aspect, and the most important and decisive factor is General Electric.
General Electric is now part of the Morgan consortium. This is important. Qin Lang didn't want to compete with Morgan. First of all, it has deep pockets, secondly, it is powerful, and finally, the veterans and rookies of Umbrella are unlikely to be on par with its private army. Whether it was a confrontation in business, politics or force, he was no match for Morgan even after two decades.
He can only cooperate with it.
Of course, there were other consortia - in fact, it wasn't until the mention of GE that Qin Lang realized that he should establish contact with one or more consortia as soon as possible. Although it is not intended to be controlled by any one consortium, in the United States, both individuals and companies will have direct or indirect connections with the consortium to a certain extent.
If the situation is specific to the Big Viper Weapons Company, even if the company does not need to borrow from the bank and is not ready to issue shares in the future, it at least needs to buy steel, and as Qin Lang knows, the largest monopoly steel enterprise in the United States in the future is the American Steel Company, which is Morgan's subordinate industry.
Since this is always the case, why not take the initiative? Qin Lang was not sure what to get from the consortium, but he was sure that he would get some benefits for his company, and avoid arousing the interest of a consortium in acquiring it after it gradually became larger. Of course, to do something like this, it takes some serious and careful preparation.
It will take some time......
"Qin, why are you wandering again?" Rachel's voice interrupted Qin Lang's thoughts.
"Some plans came to mind." He replied nonchalantly, not at all ashamed of being distracted by a lady speaking, "What were you talking about, Rachel?" β
"Plans, plans, you always have plans, Qin." Rachel complained in annoyance, and made an angry face to Qin Lang. He had so many plans, one after the other, that she felt a little overwhelmed, and it was always her who carried them out. "You're always going to find something for me to do."
"When I don't find you something to do, you complain that I don't do anything."
"It's weird!" She exclaimed, "I have the most jobs in the company, and I haven't taken any vacation until now." This kind of thing is really very excessive, Qin, I'm only eighteen years old, and I'm still a lady, you can't let me work like this. I want to take a vacation, I want to go shopping, I want to buy new clothes, I want to buy new shoes......"
Whining, complaining intensely. However, Qin Lang admits that Rachel has a little more work, at least she should have time to go shopping, buy new clothes, buy new shoes, buy jewelry, and buy cosmetics......
Women like to do these things anyway. Moreover, they can endure months of hard work, but if they are not on the street for months without shopping, it will probably be more difficult than getting the Chinese football team to reach the World Cup final...... Well, it's better to lower the bar to the Final Four.
Qin Lang thought for a moment. "Okay, tomorrow you take a vacation, and I'll let Yi Shui accompany you shopping."
"No, I want three days off."
"Yes." He wouldn't help her with work anyway, and the longer the vacation, the less good it would be for her. Qin Lang secretly smiled in his stomach and asked at the same time, "What were you talking about when you called me at the beginning?" β
"What are you going to do with that boat?" Rachel said, "Obviously, she certainly won't be exactly a tool for easy water learning, Qin, you're not the kind of person who is kind." β
"What does this necessarily have to do with whether or not I'm a well-meaning person?" Qin Lang was very depressed. Now everyone seems to have decided that he is not a good person. Of course, while it's true that he's not a good guy, is it obvious to everyone?
Rachel didn't want to explain. "Let's answer my question first, Qin."
"What else can be used for it? Smuggling, of course. "That ship has a maximum speed of twenty-four knots, and is very suitable for use as a smuggling ship." No patrol ship could catch up with her, not even the cruiser so fast. β
"But smuggling what?"
"Arms, silver, gold. South American bandits and rebels will undoubtedly be happy to exchange the precious metals they have for our weapons, as long as we can afford to ship them to their countries. Qin Lang smiled. He could already see boxes of dollars beckoning to him.
"The standard displacement of the ship you bought is only two hundred and eighty tons, and it's also a steamship, Qin." Seeing his happy expression, Rachel decided to remind him, "Her endurance will be very limited." β
Qin Lang knew the problem of endurance, the maximum range of the "Agile" was only about 1,200 nautical miles, and even if it carried additional coal on deck, the increased range was limited. However, the problem is not serious at this time. "Rachel, we don't need to go too far for the time being, after all, we only have Gony in Mexico. Diaz is a customer. β
"But what if the company's reach expands?"
"We can hire a larger ship to serve as a transshipment center for various weapons and a supply depot for the Agile."
"But......" Rachel was about to say something, but there was a knock on the office door. Then, with her permission, her secretary walked into the office.
She brought a piece of news that didn't seem so good. "Miss McBride, two officers from the City Police Department have asked to see Mr. Qin Lang."
"What's the matter with them?" Rachel glanced at Qin Lang worriedly. The police? Why did they want to see him? Could something have happened? Still is...... Are they just two anti-Chinese elements who want to trouble him? The latter seems to be more likely, in the entire company, only he and Yi Shui are the ones who have no trouble at all, and Yi Shui is not like him who haunts the company every day.
But the secretary could not answer her. "I'm sorry, but they didn't say anything."
"What do you think?" She only asked Qin Lang.
"It's simple, go and see what they want to do." Qin Lang stood up, "Miss Rose, please take me to meet them." β