"How do you expand production?" Scrooge asked.

"Investing in new steel plants," Mr. Greystone said, "is already taking shape, and development in Alaska, including in Europe, has found a way out for their money." There is no development project in Alaska that will not come of it for four or five years, so this scene will last for at least another four or five years. During this time, the newly built steel plant was able to make a lot of money for us. Then we sell them at a high price before the crash and buy them back after the crash. In addition, we can also buy ready-made steel companies in the capital market, and the development of Alaska also needs a large amount of ordinary steel. ”

"Well, that's good." Scrooge said, "You go and talk to Donald, he's better at some of the things on the steel side." Let him do the specific things. ”

Speaking of this, Scrooge glanced at Greystone, who listened quietly and did not react at all. Scrooge went on to say, "You just have to grasp the general direction. There are some details that don't take care of by yourself. It's good to know the details, but don't get too caught up in the details. As the heir of the family, you need to grasp the direction more macroscopically. Do you understand? ”

"I understand, Dad." "I think John has been managing the chemistry and medicine stuff well, and I think he should have a little more autonomy as well." ”

"John...... "Scrooge thought for a moment, and said, "it's good that you can think like that." It is true that more autonomy can be given to him. John's talent is not good, but he works hard, and it is good to know hard work. It's just that he is afraid that it will be difficult for me to manage the big laboratory. ”

Over the years, Scrooge has become much less directly involved in family affairs, and now he is basically only in charge of the general direction and some technical things. There are people in many departments who can replace him, and of course these people's abilities are not as good as Scrooge's, but they can use all their strength in that aspect, so they are actually not much worse. It's just that on the side of the big laboratory, there is really no successor who is particularly suitable and satisfying.

"Alas," said Greystone, too, with a sigh, "if Sister Dena were still at home, there would be no problem at all." ”

Greystone knows that although he is already a stable second-generation leadership core, in terms of this generation of the family, I am afraid that this cousin is the most satisfactory to his father in terms of ability. If this cousin is a cousin, then I am afraid that his position as the core of the second-generation leadership may not be so solid. Still, since she was a cousin, and she was indeed that capable, Greystone still hoped that she would return.

"She? She's not coming back now. Scrooge said coldly, "Even if she comes back now, she will come back to make trouble." Now is not the time for her to return. Hmph, don't hit the south wall and don't look back, don't cry when you don't see the coffin, your sister is such a stupid thing. ”

Dena's whereabouts, the MacDonald family has not been ignorant of all these years. As the saying goes, gold shines anywhere, or if you put an awl in any cloth bag, the tip of the awl will always be exposed. Since Dena was actively involved in the activities of the socialists, and over the years, because of her profound insights and sharp style of life, she had gained a great reputation in socialist and anarchist circles. Of course, she has been using various pseudonyms, sometimes she is Spanish and her name is Esther, sometimes she is French and her name is Betty, sometimes she is German and her name is Hannah, and sometimes she is Russian Valia. But this could not be hidden from MacDonald's investigators, because in the circles of socialists, she was already too dazzling.

However, the MacDonalds have been doing little about Dena. Once, Gladstone heard something like this from Scrooge's mouth: "What's the use of getting her back now?" Will you be caught and put in a mental hospital? Since she feels that she is on the right path, it is useless to make her despair of her own path if she does not completely make her realize her mistakes and arrest her back...... But reality will educate her well and let her know what is right and wrong. At that time, it will be useful to let her come back. ”

So Greystone knew that Dena wouldn't be able to come back now. However, he also knew that his emotions were useful, and that doing so would make Scrooge feel that he was a leader who could unite his family and bring them together.

"Okay, now that you have an idea, let's arrange it according to your idea." Scrooge said. His energy is not as good as before, and he really doesn't want to worry about many things.

……

Cook, the railroad engineer, looked at the vast Alaskan wilderness and frowned tightly. His company was awarded a contract to build a railroad in Alaska, and because of his experience in the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway in Russia, he was also sent here.

The conditions for building a railway here are no worse than those of the Trans-Siberian Railway. Because of their abundant financial resources, the company provided them with much better living conditions for engineers than the Russians in Siberia, but the company was also in a hurry to make progress. The land of Alaska freezes in the winter and becomes hard as stone, and in the summer, the frozen soil quickly melts into mud. Therefore, in many places, if the railway is laid directly on such ground, then either in the winter when the land freezes, because of the expansion of the ice, the railway is high and deformed, or in the summer, it will sink due to the thawing of the land. Therefore, they had to dig up all the top layers of soil until the permafrost does not melt all year round, and then spread large stones on top of it, then small stones, dig drainage ditches twice, and ...... Even so, the railway will still have problems such as deformation after a few years of use, and it needs to be carefully maintained almost every year, and it needs to be overhauled every few years.

But that's not the biggest headache for him. This problem was already informed to the upper echelons of the company before the start of railway construction, and such a section of the road is not long, but only a few tens of kilometers. Further on, there is a complete permafrost that does not melt even in summer, but it is much easier to deal with. Now it's the speed that is a headache for him. Alaska's summers were so short that they had to get the railroad as much as possible into the permafrost before winter arrived. Otherwise, the thawed land will be frozen again, and then to dig up the soil, you will have to use blasting, which will increase the cost a lot. Of course, the company will be very dissatisfied, and then, of course, they will also be under a lot of pressure.

It's September, and the nightly temperature has dropped below freezing, and maybe in a day or two, the first snow will fall on Alaskan soil. They have to hurry.

"Mr. Cook, come and have a look." A man in overalls and a yellow hard hat ran towards Cook, shouting.

"What's wrong?" Cook asked, and the air that erupted from his mouth immediately turned into a white mist.

"We've dug into the aquifer, and there's water seeping out, and it's not a small amount." The man gasped and replied.

"Hell yes! Take me to see it. Cook said, while exclaiming inwardly, "Thank God, I'm glad I found it now." If you dig here later, when it freezes, you may not be able to find the problems of this generation of groundwater layers, and when the railway is paved, there will definitely be problems when it thaws in the summer. ”

The man ran with Cook to the other side of the site.

By the time Cook got there, he saw a group of workers coming up from the two-meter-deep tunnel, all of them standing with their tools and pointing. Cook stepped up to see that a long section of the road below had become a ditch.

"Hell, how long has it been since it started bubbling up?" Cook asked.

"Mr. Cook, it was about ten minutes ago." Someone replied.

"Well, how deep is the water?" Cook asked?

"I'm knee-deep, and it's still rising." The other replied.

"Very well, which of you has a wooden ruler?" Cook asked.

"Here it is." Someone hurriedly brought a long wooden ruler.

"Who's going to help me go down and measure the depth?" Cook asked.

"I'll go." A worker in one-piece galoshes took the wooden ruler and climbed down. By this time the water had risen a little more, and by the time the worker had reached the deepest point, it was up to his thighs.

"1.2 meters! Can I come up? Obviously, even though he was wearing overshoes, standing in the cold underground water still made him uncomfortable.

"Okay, thank you, you can come up." Cook shouted, quickly calculating an approximate number in his head.

"Okay." The worker held a ruler, walked to a shallower place, and began to climb up, but the slope was muddy, and he seemed to be a little heavier, and he slid down the slope twice in a row, causing the workers next to him to laugh.

"Don't laugh, any of you pull me!"

"Arnold, you go to Kim and ask him to get two pumps right away." Cook said to the man who called him in the first place, "Hurry up." Then he naturally said to himself: "Damn, there is another process, and here, and here, you need to dig a drainage ditch......"