Hearing Scrooge's question, Rockefeller was stunned for a while. For Scrooge's question, he really never thought about it in detail. So he hesitated for a while, and then said, "Scrooge, you know that although I have made some money, no matter how much money I have, I can't afford to squander it indiscriminately." Well, that's what I thought. ”

"John, do you really think so?" Scrooge looked incredulous, "John, you're good at math. You sue me, before we got rich, well, when you and I were both in middle school, how much percent of our income would we spend, and now, even the most extravagant Mr. Morgan, how much percent of his income would he spend? Do you really think that no amount of money can afford to squander? ”

The question seems to have gone beyond Rockefeller's expectations. Rockefeller, of course, knew that in terms of the ratio of expenses to income, Morgan's ratio would be much smaller now than it was before he was rich. However, if he is to be convinced that Morgan's way of life is frugal, or even let him live frugally, it is really not his style. So he thought for a moment and said to Scrooge, "That's probably because of my faith." Scrooge, I do think you've drifted farther and farther away from the Baptist faith of frugality over the years. ”

Hearing Rockefeller mention the question of faith, Scrooge laughed, and he stared straight into Rockefeller's eyes until Rockefeller himself lowered his eyes. Yes, faith in God is not something to be said between them. If you really have to strictly abide by the faith in God and the Ten Commandments of Moses, how did the DuPont family play with eggs? How did those who were caught up in the oil crisis and committed suicide by jumping into the river? Belief in God is just a picture that everyone needs to use to deceive others, and it would be too dishonest to use it to talk about things.

"I think it's just a habit, I'm used to it." Rockefeller disproved his own claims about faith.

"Then you make so much money, and you don't enjoy it, what are you going to do?" Scrooge asked.

Rockefeller thought for a moment, then laughed too, he looked at Scrooge, his eyes sparkling: "Who said I don't enjoy it?" Is eating, drinking, and having fun called enjoyment? That's too boring. Defeating an opponent who has one and making more money after another, that's what I enjoy. It's like Morgan likes to go out to sea, he likes to fish, but he doesn't like to eat fish. For him, fishing is a pleasure in itself, and for me, making money is a pleasure in itself. By the way, Scrooge, why do you make so much money? If it was Morgan's kind of enjoyment, you would have stopped making money a long time ago, and the interest on your money would not be something you could spend. Aren't you also enjoying the fun of knocking out opponents and making money? ”

"Well said!" Scrooge smiled, "You just asked me, do I have any long-term goals?" I'm going to tell you now that I have a more long-term goal than a car or something, more than anything else. I want to be on top of the world, I want to defeat the Rothschilds, I want to crush the whole of Europe! …… Well, I'm a lot more arrogant than you, right? Clark: What do you think of such a long-term goal? Scrooge abruptly turned his attention to Clark.

"Ah, Mr. MacDonald." Clark was just watching the play from the side, but he didn't expect Scrooge to suddenly ask himself. To his surprise, he wanted to compliment Scrooge as he meant, but when he looked up and saw Scrooge's sparkling eyes staring at him, he suddenly hesitated.

Clark knew that another opportunity was in front of him. Scrooge doesn't say this for no reason, it's the power of his entire consortium to integrate. Fight for this long-term strategic goal. It is not difficult to believe that Scrooge has already unified his thoughts within his own family, and Carol will definitely only firmly support his brother. Today, in the consortium, in addition to the person surnamed MacDonald, there are two important figures, that is, Rockefeller and himself. Given Rockefeller's friendship with Scrooge Macdonald, and his adventurous, aggressive nature, he was certainly willing to support Mr. MacDonald's venture, which aimed at bringing down and controlling the whole of Europe, and indeed the whole world. And what about yourself? His relationship with Scrooge is not so close. In terms of ability, it is also inferior to Rockefeller. If he just complimented Scrooge casually according to his words, such a perfunctory attitude would definitely not be able to hide from Scrooge MacDonald. On the contrary, it will seem that he is separated from him. If this is the case, then in order to achieve his goals, Mr. Scrooge MacDonald will first of all clean up the interior and unify his thinking. In this way, the half-center, half-periphery figure will definitely be removed from the position of the decision-making center of the consortium. On the contrary, if his answer satisfies Scrooge, then he can really go further.

"Mr. MacDonald." Clark steadied himself for a moment and replied, "Any man will have dreams like this." But I remember you talking to us about something like, 'Goals can be ambitious, but actions must be grounded.'" You told me again: 'Before making a decision, the most important thing is to know where the limits of your power are.' 'Mr. MacDonald, I know where the limits of my power are. I am not a very smart and capable person, and my greatest strength is that I am steady and steady. Because I can't see far, I'll hold the most reliable one in my hand. I think I should still be of some use. But sir, you have to tell us how you can achieve this lofty goal step by step. It's like when we started, you took us to analyze the grain market, or later, you gave us an analysis of the inevitable outbreak of civil war. ”

Scrooge stared closely into Clark's eyes, then he nodded, suddenly turned to Rockefeller, and said to him, "John, do you want to hear it too?" ”

"Of course," Rockefeller replied crisply, "I'd love to hear about it, too." ”

"Okay." Scrooge nodded, "Remember what I told you about the reason why the economic crisis would inevitably erupt every once in a while?" ”

"Of course I do." Rockefeller replied, "You almost scared me to death that time." ”

"Me too." Clark also said.

"So let's look at Europe. The most powerful country in Europe is the United Kingdom, which has countless colonies and is the largest empire the world has ever seen. It has the largest territory, the largest population - if the Indians can be counted as human - the strongest industry. But it has an inherent weakness geographically. That is, his territory is too scattered. His territory is spread across the globe, so his power must also be spread across the globe. And his core area is too close to the European continent. ”

Scrooge smiled at this and asked, "If you were British, how would you solve this problem?" ”

There is no difficulty in this question, because the British have always done it. It's just that Rockefeller and Clark may never have thought of it that way before. But once the premise is clear, even Clark can quickly see what is going on.

"The best thing to do, of course, is to wipe out all of Europe. In this way, there is no zài threat. But this exceeded the limits of Britain's power, and if it did, Britain's power would be exhausted, whether it succeeded or failed. Then he will not be able to control the territory all over the world, and once the territory is out of control, his power will be further weakened, so that he will not be able to control Europe. So the best way is what the British are doing now, to keep Europe divided, pull one faction, fight another, maintain the balance of power on the European continent, and let the power of the European continent be consumed in internal fighting. Rockefeller replied.

"Well said. But not long ago, the British made a mistake by misestimating the power of Germany and France, which gave the Germans a chance to defeat France and complete the reunification. In this way, there is a core of European power that can be cohesive. That's Germany. John, if you were Bismarck, what are you going to do? Scrooge asked again.

"This ......," Rockefeller pondered, and after a moment he replied, "the British will certainly support the French in their fight against Germany." It's just too easy. In terms of interests, it is of course best to get rid of Britain and France. But this is really beyond the limits of the current German power. The contradictions with France are absolutely irreconcilable. So on the one hand, I want to unite with the other European powers, Russia, Austria, Italy, and even Spain. On the other hand, it is necessary not to provoke Britain and France as much as possible. Slowly accumulate strength until you have enough strength to deal with Britain and France. Of course, it's too hard, it's almost impossible. The British and the French are not so stupid, it is too easy to watch you win over European countries and pick a mess out. Austria and Italy, Austria and Russia, for example, can easily single out a whole bunch of problems......"

"Not bad. And, John, you tell me how to build up strength? How can we have more power than Britain and France? Scrooge asked.

"Of course, it is a stronger industrial ...... than Britain and France Ah, I see, stronger industry needs more markets, and the European markets are not big enough, and the Germans must have overseas markets, and the overseas markets are now all British and French. So, the Germans had only one chance, which was to frantically develop a round of industry, to make it surpass the British and French, and then to go on a military adventure before it collapsed because the market was squeezed dry. Fight the British and French. As long as you win, it's easy to say. ”

"What if it fails?" Scrooge asked.

"Germany cannot fail, and if it fails, it will be over." Clark said.

"Britain and France cannot fail at night, and if they fail, they will be doomed." Rockefeller said.

"Can such a war be avoided?" Scrooge asked.

"Can't! Never! No one can retreat, and if they retreat, they will not only lose their qualifications to share food, but even become food themselves. Rockefeller replied categorically.

"That's right. So, Europe, as well as the British, will shed their blood in this war. That's our chance. ”