"Recently, Scrooge has made another good deal." Morgan said to his son, John Pierpont Morgan Jr., "Did you learn anything from it?" ”

"Judging by the results, it's a good deal." John Morgan Jr. frowned and said, "But I don't really appreciate this business." ”

Little John Morgan's statement caught Morgan's attention, so he sat up straight from the couch and said, "Then tell me who you think." ”

"Dad, I think Mr. MacDonald's deal is a little close to the limits of his power. You know, in Asia, the influence of the MacDonald consortium and indeed the United States as a whole is quite limited. So the risk of him doing this business is quite large. In fact, if the British had reacted a little more sharply, a lot of his efforts would have turned into something to contribute to the British. Dad, you have instructed me to study the history of Mr. MacDonald's fortune, and I confess that Mr. MacDonald is indeed a legend, and even more powerful than you in many ways. But after studying the situation in recent years, I think that Mr. MacDonald may have been a little frightened by the assassination, he was too cautious in his actions at home, and on the other hand, his instinct to make money was difficult to restrain so that he had to play such a risky trick abroad. Maybe he thinks that his capital is big anyway, even if he loses, it's not a big deal. ”

"My child, I'm glad you can see so much." Morgan looked at his son and said happily, "But son, you must know this saying: 'If capital has fifty percent profits, it will take risks; If there is a 100% profit, it dares to trample on the laws of the world; If there is a profit of three hundred percent, it dares to commit any crime, even at the risk of being hanged. This is absolutely appropriate for Scrooge. Its practical application is appropriate for any successful big capitalist, including mine. So don't think that you can scare someone like Scrooge and make him back down in the face of higher profits. Even if he seemed to be backing away, it was just to prepare for a more ferocious pounce. I have a piece of information here, you can take a look, and then tell me after reading it, the intention of Scrooge's previous actions. ”

With that, Morgan handed a copy of the text to his son. There is very little content in this article, and John Morgan Jr. read it after just one glance. As mentioned above, Greystone MacDonald will travel to China as a representative of the MacDonald consortium to serve as a director of the newly established bank.

"You know, the MacDonald consortium has a very limited direct stake in that bank. But until the Manchu government repaid the loan, the Manchu representation in the bank was entirely represented by MacDonald. As a result, the MacDonald consortium effectively became the number one shareholder in the bank with a slightly larger share than the British. Morgan added.

"Although they are the largest shareholders, the British and the French have significantly more shares than them. So it's not a good place to sit. John Morgan Jr. said, "Is Mr. MacDonald training to train Greystone?" ”

"Yes, my child." Morgan said, "Remember what I mentioned about the common weaknesses of the Macdonald family and ours? ”

"You're saying there are too few people in the family, right?" John Morgan Jr. laughed and said, "Daddy has to blame you, you see, don't talk about brothers, I don't even have a sister or anything." The business in the Far East is basically settled, and even if Greystone is stupid enough, at most he will make a little less money, and the loss may not be large. Mr. MacDonald solved all the hardest problems for him. However, the No. 1 shareholder, in the face of the situation that the sum of the following two shares obviously exceeds his own, how to control the bank, how much Cheng dù to control the bank, it is very complicated, but it is really a good place to exercise people. Ah, Dad, you see Mr. MacDonald is going to be better than you again, he has more than one child, he has brothers, and his brother has more than one child. ”

"I don't blame me, it's God's will. I guess Scrooge's kids will be able to look great after two years of exercising there. Then, I'm afraid Scrooge will show his fangs again. In China, it's disgusting to have such a guy. Fortunately, not all of our industries are domestic. In addition, over the years, I have deliberately entwined our assets with those of the MacDonald consortium, so that when Scrooge is ready to come out and bite people, it will not be easy to hack us. Because it will make him suffer himself. I can't hide these actions from Scrooge, in fact, he sat back and watched us do this, because he didn't want to have a direct life-and-death struggle with us, which would only cheapen others. "Of course, that doesn't make us let our guard down on Scrooge." This guy is making a fool of people, that's really ......"

John Morgan Jr. watched his father analyze Scrooge's actions, shook his head and sighed, and couldn't help but think of a saying that people had told him - "The more wind and waves you see, the less courage you have." "Seriously, I'd really like to play with Mr. MacDonald and his kids." John Morgan Jr. thought.

……

"Uncle Scrooge, a Boer has recently made a big order to us." Donald reported to Scrooge.

Now that Donald has graduated, he doesn't really stay in the army, for him, as long as he can have some personal connections with some important generals in the future, the battlefield is not his goal.

After graduating, Donald was thrown by Scrooge to McDonald's Infantry Weapons Company as a manager, and now, a large part of the business of the Infantry Weapons Company is decided by Donald, and only some transactions that are related to Dà need to labor Scrooge.

In 1884, the Boers of South Africa, mainly descendants of the Dutch and Germans, discovered the world's largest gold and diamond mines. And by this time, South Africa was already a colony of the British. But in the First Boer War, which lasted from 16 December 1880 to 6 March 1881, the Boers were granted a fairly high degree of autonomy. According to the Pretoria Agreement signed between Britain and the Transvaal, the Boer regime, the Transvaal could establish a fully autonomous government under the suzerainty of the British Queen, and Britain retained only three prerogatives: to control the Transvaal's foreign relations; maintaining control over the Transvaal's relations with African tribes; In wartime, the British had the right to borrow the Moral Lanzvaal.

However, when that agreement was signed, no one expected that there would be such a huge gold mine underground in the Boerren-controlled district. So as soon as this gold mine was discovered, both the Boers and the British were immediately not calm. The Boers understood that, according to the agreement between the British and them, the gold was all theirs and had nothing to do with the British. But once something like an agreement encounters a benefit, it's a complete piece of waste paper. Of course, the British understand this truth better, and besides, since this gold is in the territory of Her Majesty the Queen, then, according to the laws of the Empire, it is Her Majesty's. What the? You said there was an agreement? Didn't the gold mine be discovered when the agreement was signed? Of course, this agreement can't be counted!

The Boers knew that if they wanted to continue to occupy the gold mines, they would definitely go to war with the British, and that this time, if they did, they would definitely not be able to make the British back down by killing less than a hundred Brits, as was the case last time. For the sake of this big gold mine, the British are definitely willing to pay a big price. But if the Boers were to give up the gold they had in their hands in this way, the concubine would not be able to do it anyway. So since the discovery of the gold mines, the Boers have begun to prepare for the war that is destined to occur. This naturally includes buying weapons everywhere.

Since many of the Boers were of German origin, it was natural that buying German weapons was one of the common options. Besides, compared with the genuine McDonald's goods, the German copycat version of the weapon is cheaper and the performance is not bad. So in the beginning, the weapons purchased by the Boers were mainly German.

However, the Boers are now very rich, and the price is no longer a particularly big problem for them, and they now value after-sales service more. These after-sales services include technical guidance, weapons maintenance, and also political support. However, considering the strength of the British Empire at that time, the so-called political support was at best a rhetorical cannon, and would not have any practical effect. As for how to conduct guerrilla warfare, it was clear that the Americans, who had been supporting the Cubans in this way and the Spaniards, were of course more experienced, and the Boers came to MacDonald.

"What are they ordering?" Scrooge asked.

"Machine guns, mortars, infantry guns, shotguns, submachine guns, rifles, whatever you can use." Donald replied, "And they're willing to pay in gold or diamonds." It's just that they need our people to provide technical training. Uncle, I think it's always wrong not to do the business in front of you. It didn't really matter if they bought weapons, but they offered us to help them train their soldiers, or even hire soldiers directly from us to fight. If you do this deal, you will most likely offend the British. The British always have a way to get into trouble with us. So I was hesitant. ”

Scrooge thought for a while and replied: "This deal still has to be done, and it is okay to send consultants to guide the training, but it is not possible to send troops directly." ”

"But uncle, if you can directly give mercenaries who can fight with the British, they are willing to give a higher price." Donald said.

"Donald, I've already said that it's not okay to send the mercenaries of Blackwater directly to the war, but if they take an indirect approach, for example, they can convince those mercenaries to resign and join them, then it naturally has nothing to do with us, right?" Scrooge replied.