Qin Lang decided to go out on a trip and go to the east. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Just like the last time, it was still a planned trip, but it never took a chance. But now, now that Mr. Bai Siwen, the acting vice consul of the Qing Dynasty in the United States, had told him unequivocally that Yang Ru had agreed to recommend his military advisers to Beijing, Qin Lang thought he could go.

After all, Yang Ru's letter needed to waste some time at sea, and the Qing government officials needed to waste some time discussing it, and then the results of their discussions would need to be transmitted back to Lima for just as ...... In short, there was plenty of time, and he could go to the east.

Of course, even if there is no such time, Qin Lang will set off soon.

There were a few people who needed him to visit in person: Morgan, Rockefeller, Mellon, Mather...... And, of course, Harriman and Bush, every big man with whom he was connected. Although he kept in touch with them by letter and telegram, Qin Lang still had to travel to the east to visit them in order to maintain or strengthen their relationship.

On top of that, he had to meet someone in Detroit -- just as Versven was returning to Lima to report to Yang Ru, Henry Brown. Ford sent a telegram saying that he had finalized research and initial improvements to the gasoline internal combustion engine and the automatic "four-wheeler" and would soon open a factory in California.

Of course, this was two years earlier, in 1894, when Qin Lang had signed an agreement with Morgan on his first visit to the East: Umbrella would provide Ford with $500 a month to fund his research on gasoline engines and automobiles, and he would have to go to San Diego after the research was completed to build an automobile factory with the shareholders of Umbrella.

This agreement has been valid and has been fulfilled well, but it has become a little out of place. When Qin Lang signed the agreement with Ford, he didn't think too much about it, and only hoped to keep his car factory as far away from the sight of the eastern consortium as possible, but he ignored a very important key factor.

California is not a suitable location for building automobile factories, it is far away from the eastern conglomerates, and therefore from the industrial centers and high society of the United States, which affects both normal production and sales performance, and in fact it is impossible to escape the attention of the eastern conglomerates.

So, the decision was a mistake;

Minor mistakes.

Qin Lang didn't want to justify himself, but his mistake was easily solved—he sent an enthusiastic call back to Ford, congratulating him on his success and asking him not to travel to California for the time being, because he would soon visit Detroit again, and then all he had to do was prepare the funds for the construction of the factory.

As for the new location of the car factory, he already had a clear choice.

"Milwaukee?" Yi Shui was a little puzzled, "Why Milwaukee?" ”

He knew where Milwaukee was, what kind of city it was—Milwaukee was still only a port city known for its trade in grain, dairy products, and lumber, and the most important manufactured goods were veal and beer—and of course a handful of locomotive and machine builders. But in any case, arranging a machine factory in Milwaukee, Yi Shui felt that it was not appropriate.

At least not as suitable as Qin Lang thought.

Very rarely, Yi Shui thought that he could confidently put forward his opinion to Qin Lang. "I think there's a better option than Milwaukee."

However, that little bit of confidence in him was quickly hit, not from Qin Lang, but from Rachel. "As things stand, there's no better option than Milwaukee."

In fact, at the beginning, Rachel also thought that Qin Lang's decision was not appropriate, but she soon realized that she was the one who made the mistake. There is a clear advantage to having the auto factory in Milwaukee instead of other cities: it is a vacuum zone where Kuhn-Lobb, Rockefeller, Morgan, and the Cleveland consortium meet.

Milwaukee is a great place to be. Often, no one pays much attention to such a vacuum, or even if they do, they are rarely willing to intervene, because doing so will always lead competitors to mistakenly believe that they are trying to upset the balance of power, leading to a fierce fight; Any consortium, even Morgan, will do everything in their power to prevent this from happening, so the factory will be very safe there.

Qin Lang's choice is very suitable.

"And Milwaukee is next to Chicago," Qin Lang then explained, "The Chicago consortium will attract most of the attention for us, of course, this situation will not last long, but it will only take two years, and we will have the strength to deal with the eastern consortium." ”

His explanation to Rachel made Yi Shui feel a little more at ease, but he still couldn't be completely reassured. The root of the problem still lies with Qin Lang. Morgan, Rockefeller, Kuhn-Lobb, and the Cleveland consortium were all involved in the original plan and knew his judgment...... Or how accurate their predictions are, and who knows what they're going to do if they know he's investing in a new industry?

But when he raised his question, Qin Lang and Rachel laughed together.

"Do you think Morgan and Rockefeller are unaware of our investment in Mr. Ford?" Rachel said, "Their intelligence network is more developed and effective than Qin's private intelligence network, and it is easy to water." ”

"It's just that the scope of attention is different, but no wind and grass can hide from the eyes of the consortium, otherwise their business will not be so easy to do." For a moment, Qin Lang felt a little embarrassed, because he didn't have an intelligence network yet. Of course, he was back to normal before anyone noticed his mood swings.

Then his mind immediately shifted to the intelligence system he had been trying to build. It was definitely the least going part of his career.

In fact, the situation is simply terrible: on the one hand, Fisborne and his men have so far not gotten anything from the Japanese spy, on the contrary, they have almost turned him into a dead man; On the other hand, he had sworn in front of him that he would be able to master Henry in a week. Mr. Messerschmitt, who was in Rickman's financial situation, was also unable to bring any news, and not only that, but he disappeared from San Diego.

"Perhaps, 'evaporation from the world' is more appropriate." Qin Lang thought. If he had only disappeared, Mr. Messerschmitt would have left something behind, but the problem now was that he had left nothing, not only did he not know where he was, but he could not even find anything that belonged to him in the hotel room where he lived.

And the whole room was very clean, not a single piece of rubbish, not a bit of debris, not a single trace, as if no one had ever used it.

It was a very strange thing, but it was also in line with the behavior style of a professional spy, and it was for this reason that Qin Lang did not immediately conclude that Messerschmitt had left without saying goodbye - the extremely simple task he had arranged was not enough to scare a professional spy into running away. However, Qin Lang also couldn't imagine why Messerschmitt hadn't sent back any news at all, and he was still missing.

It's really, really weird.

It's just that Qin Lang doesn't plan to postpone his trip for the sake of this issue - and Fisborne's mission - even though he does care about them. "In my absence, you'd do well to keep an eye on the news related to Japanese spies and our applicants." He told Rachel and Yi Shui that he wanted to give them the matter as a mission.

But in fact, this task was only given to Rachel and had nothing to do with Yi Shui. "You've thrown extra trouble on my head again." She complained, half-truths, "Just like the last time you traveled, I'm still the only one in San Diego." ”

Qin Lang didn't understand what she meant. "Duncan and O'Connor are coming back soon, and there's also easy water ......"

"Soon, after you leave, I will also return to Guangzhou Bay." Yi Shui said apologetically. "Colonel Mahan wrote me a letter asking me to go back as soon as possible."

This was news that Qin Lang did not expect, which surprised him a little. But soon, he thought about what the problem was: Yi Shui was still the commander of the "McBride Volunteer Infantry Regiment" and a temporary lieutenant colonel of the Marine Corps, so he was still nominally the supreme head of the ground military forces in the Guangzhou Bay Concession, while Mahan couldn't effectively manage a mercenary force, and he didn't have so much energy and time, so of course he wanted him to go back as soon as possible.

However, this also reminded Qin Lang that it was time to change the supreme commander of the troops, and Yi Shui could not always stay in China......

"Colonel Mahan wants me to return to Canton Bay as soon as possible to manage the troops, and besides, it seems that the commander-in-chief of the Asian Fleet of the U.S. Navy wants to see me."

Commander-in-Chief of the Asian Fleet? Qin Lang thought about it, and suddenly found that he didn't even know who he was - of course, it was definitely not George. Dewey. But that's not really important, it's ......

He has a new plan.

"Guangzhou Bay doesn't have a formal municipal management system yet, but it won't be long before it is established." Qin Lang said to Yi Shui, "Washington and the consortium tycoons will not allow it to be under the control of the military for a long time." ”

Especially the tycoons of the consortium.

Before Yi Shui left, Guangzhou Bay had been carved up, Morgan, Rockefeller, DuPont, Mellon, Vanderbilt, ...... Even Rothschild, who came from Britain and became famous in China for "Currency Wars", took over large tracts of land – and of course Yi Shui took the opportunity to buy some – and it was to be expected that a massive construction boom had begun, and that they would never let the American military, or even the federal government, continue to take on the management responsibilities.

Under normal circumstances, the consortium would band together to run an election and establish a concession municipal body, so ......

"You're going to let Yi Shui try to get a position in the municipal body of Guangzhou Bay?" Rachel raised an eyebrow; On such a question with a typical Western overtone, she was always quick to respond.

But her direct inquiry surprised Yi Shui. He froze for a moment, then exclaimed, "It's a little harder for me." ”

"It's true for any of us, it's a big conglomerate's game, and it has nothing to do with ordinary people." Qin Lang said, "And I don't plan to involve you in this kind of thing." ”

"And what's your plan?" Rachel asked, seemingly more eager than Yi Shui.

"You care too much about your little Yishui"--but Qin Lang didn't say what was in his heart. He habitually made a gesture and explained: "You all know what Guangzhou Bay will eventually develop into, the strategic support point of the United States in East Asia, and the economic center of the Far East......

In fact, it was his own idea, making Guangzhou Bay a core that overtook cities such as Hong Kong, Singapore, and Tokyo, and was strong enough to control the whole of East Asia, although Qin Lang himself did not have the power to realize this idea, even after he occupied Manila and completed all his plans...... But Morgan has such a lot of power, coupled with other conglomerates, that idea could easily become a reality.

It's just that Qin Lang can't get any benefit from this change, it wasn't him who contributed to the change, and he didn't invest much strength; But he also didn't want to see the end result be like that.

Qin Lang decided to take some action.

“…… As you know, our plan is to put 20,000 troops in the Philippines in the event of a war between the United States and Spain, as anticipated. "Until then, we'll have to deploy our troops to the closest base to the Philippines." ”

"Canton Bay." Rachel glanced at Yi Shui, "How much land did you buy there?" Ten square miles? Or twenty? ”

"Fifteen square miles, the southeastern part of Donghai Island, was bought by me." Yi Shui thought for a moment, "You want to turn that piece of land into a mercenary camp?" But there is a military base in Guangzhou Bay......"

Qin Lang shook his head. "Military bases won't allow our mercenaries to be stationed unless they're hired by the federal government – but the Senate won't agree to hire that many people in non-wartime. We must have a base of our own. ”

"Yes." Rachel added, "But it doesn't seem like a new plan. ”

"The new plan is that Yi Shui must establish deep ties with the Commander-in-Chief of the Asian Fleet through Colonel Mahan, guarantee that he will not interfere with our military deployments, and give some support if necessary." Although there was an agreement with the Admiralty, it was a top-level secret, and Qin Lang believed that the Asian Fleet and Mahan did not know about it; And the Consortium tycoons, who probably wouldn't like Umbrella deploying thousands or even tens of thousands of mercenaries next to their new territory.

"You'll have to get on good terms with Morgan Jr. and the heads of the other consortia," he sighed, "and of course, I'll consult with Morgan and others when I meet with them." (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )