Putting down the binoculars in his hand, Scrooge stretched around the room, and then habitually spun around the room again. Twenty-two steps from the door to the window, and twenty-two steps from the window to the door, this is the main activity space of Scrooge now. Scrooge's condition is currently the top secret of the MacDonald consortium, so even if he returns to Duckburg, his survival must be kept in the highest order. So, Scrooge's event space is basically in this room at the top of the castle.

There are two main reasons why I chose such a room, first of all, this house has a good view. Scrooge was obviously no longer able to wander around the garden as he had done before. If you stay in a safe place, but the vision is narrow, and the house is for many months, it will definitely not be pleasant. So when Scrooge quietly returned to Duck Castle and the family discussed where to hide Duck Castle, the first thing Scrooge vetoed was the safest place in the entire Duck Castle - the underground vault. It's safe and the stuff inside looks cute, but if you want to stay there for months, it's going to suffocate you. Now that this place has been chosen, every day Scrooge can at least open a small opening in the curtains and look around with a telescope, which can barely be regarded as a kind of walk to quench his thirst and paint cakes to satisfy his hunger.

The second reason is that this place is rarely visited. This room was originally part of the observatory set up at the top of the castle by Scrooge's vassals, and these rooms contain many expensive and sophisticated instruments, and people below are not allowed to enter at all. So Scrooge stays here, relatively speaking, it is relatively difficult to expose. As for the lifestyle during this time, in Scrooge's own words, it is basically not much different from going to prison, especially the way some South American drug lords in later generations went to prison. Although they are limited to a certain range and can't run around, they really need to go out, and they can get out in minutes, and even if they don't go out, staying in a luxurious prison cell, they can control the changes in the outside world.

Scrooge sat down on the couch and looked at the time, it was already six o'clock in the afternoon, and in a few moments, several of the main heads of the family would gather here to discuss the situation of the day, and the relevant countermeasures.

A moment later, just as the sunset was staining the curtain on the small western window red, Dorothea and Carol went to the room. The regular meeting of the MacDonald family began.

The first to speak was Carol.

"Scrooge, Morgan's men found me today. I hope I can provide them with high-quality steel at a better price, at least not higher than the price at which they used to sell steel to the family's in-house business. It seems that they really want to get the automotive industry up and running. ”

"What did they give you?" Dorothea asked.

"They were willing to give me a loan at a low interest rate." "They feel like I should be in need of cash in the current situation," Carroll said. In addition, they said that they will continue to buy steel from me in the future. This mention has already been rejected by me. I told them that the price of steel that we used to sell to the family's in-house business was exactly the cost price, and there was not a penny of profit. But I have a share of the dividends of the whole family. So I can accept such a non-profitable trade. But now, even for so-called intra-family trading, it is impossible for me to offer them steel at such a price. Naturally, it is impossible to supply steel to anyone else at such a price. However, I can agree that the steel sold to them will be sold at a slightly lower price than the regular price, provided that he gives me a loan and provides more orders. ”

"And how did they reply?" Scrooge asked.

"Haven't replied yet? Just started talking about this issue, how can it be so fast. Carroll replied, "I think the price of our cars could be raised a little bit." In addition, it was time for Frank to order some steel from other steel companies. ”

"Frank should also be asked to announce that any customer who buys a Volkswagen will receive a certain amount of gas." Scrooge added. In this way, when people outside are faced with such a situation, they will naturally make up the following related stories:

Because Frank fell in favor of Dorothea, Carol raised the price of steel to sell them, or simply made excuses for not providing them with enough steel. So much so that Frank had to buy high-quality steel from other steel companies, even foreign steel companies, which naturally greatly increased the cost and led Volkswagen to increase its price. Dorothea naturally couldn't afford to see the people who followed her suffer, so she relied on the advantage of controlling a large number of oil fields to reach an agreement with Rockefeller to provide fuel subsidies to support Frank.

……

Naturally, this decision was frantically hyped up by various news media. Almost everyone was talking about the changes within the MacDonald consortium. It was under these conditions that the members of the Morgan consortium once again gathered to discuss the current situation.

"Guys, not long ago our men had a tentative contact with Carol. At the moment, Carroll has agreed to sell us steel at a price lower than the current market price and 23 percent lower than what is now offered to Volkswagen, but Carroll has made some of his demands. Look at the conditions he proposed, and whether we can negotiate with him on the basis of his proposals. Morgan said to his allies.

As he spoke, his assistant began to distribute a printed version of Carol's Tiyì to everyone. Everyone silently lowered their heads and looked at the penny, and the whole hall immediately fell silent, except for the sound of turning the pages.

Morgan leaned back into the back of the couch and looked around at his allies. Quietly waited for them to finish reading this article. The text itself is not long, only two pages. However, there is a lot of exchange of interests involved, so when reading these words, it is natural that you can't read them at a glance like reading a novel, but you must study and scrutinize word by word, and think about what you can gain and what you will lose in it. How much risk to take, what are the short-term benefits, and what are the long-term benefits, is it worth doing? That certainly looks slow. So, Morgan knew that they wouldn't be able to finish this thing in half an hour. And even if you read it, it doesn't mean that you can start discussing it right away, because even within the Morgan consortium, there are still some small circles. The bankers, who belong to a small circle, will certainly need to discuss with each other and coordinate their positions. This estimate will take longer, maybe not even two hours.

As Morgan had predicted, the bankers flipped the pages over and read them an unknown number of times, and many took out pen and paper and did the math on the side. Time passed slowly in such a busyness, and by the time most people put down the text in their hands, it was almost lunch time.

"I'm sure you've all finished reading it." Morgan said, while motioning for his assistant to go up and take it back—this document was highly confidential and was not allowed to be taken out of the venue. lest someone be careless and let this thing fall in the restaurant and be picked up by someone else.

"It's noon now, so let's go have a working meal and then take a break." Morgan looked at his watch, and then said, "It's half past eleven o'clock in the afternoon, and after dinner, everyone will take a break and gather again at half past two in the afternoon to discuss this matter." ”

So everyone put Wen Jiàn on the table and walked out, while still talking.

The more than two hours after lunch were actually reserved for those small circles to discuss and reach a consensus. Because of the differences in personal styles and interests, there are many small circles in Morgan's alliance. Some bankers are bold and adventurous. Some are steady, emphasizing risk control. Some are good at trading gold and silver, others are keen on bonds and stocks, and some are used to direct investment. These people see problems from different perspectives, and they see different problems.

By the time the meeting resumed two and a half days in the afternoon, there was a general consensus among the various small groups. To sum up, there are several opinions about this construction, in general.

First of all, almost everyone agrees that if Carroll can really supply at such a price, then Volkswagen's position in the current situation is not completely unshakable. Although Dorothea Guò Rockefeller offered Volkswagen fuel discounts, doing so also meant that Dorothea was constantly putting money into it. This kind of behavior cannot be sustained. As long as they are willing to invest more and expand their scale, and Volkswagen is not willing to give up market share. The amount of money Dorothea needs to spend will increase rapidly. In this way, she will definitely not be able to support it soon.

However, Carroll's other condition made them hesitate. Carroll demanded that they order large quantities and pay him in advance. This is actually the equivalent of asking Morgan to give him a large loan first. Many of the so-called 23 percent discounts are actually the interest on the loans that Morgan gave him. And Carroll asked them to pay a lump sum for the goods, and he actually asked Morgan to pay him a lump sum equivalent to the steel that Volkswagen planned to need for the next two years. In fact, the discount is definitely not as much as 23 percent. However, there is still a discount of about 13%. In general, there is still something to be earned. But paying so much money at once, and at the same time expanding the production of car factories, naturally brings a lot of pressure, which naturally makes the transaction more risky. This is where the controversy is mainly concentrated.