In front of the newsstand, Chen Qiang took a new issue of Superman comics, and was just about to pay for it, but he saw that the cover of a copy of Time magazine next to him was an Asian, and he looked a little familiar.

Chen Qiang couldn't help but pick up the "Time" magazine, and after taking a closer look, he immediately recognized that the Asian on the cover was none other than the new Japanese ambassador to the United States, Nomura Kichizaburo.

"Nomura Kichizaburo, an old devil, how did he get to the cover of Time magazine." Chen Qiang couldn't help but be a little curious, and paid along with this "Time" magazine.

After returning to the office, Chen Qiang opened Time and soon found a report about Kichizaburo Nomura. What Chen Qiang didn't expect was that this "Time" magazine praised Nomura Kichizaburo quite a lot, calling the newly appointed Japanese ambassador "the kind-hearted, sincere, and untreacherous General Nomura Kichizaburo, always smiling and humble."

"The Americans are blinded by lard! The attack on Pearl Harbor is not a few months away, and it will be interesting to see if you Americans can boast about it. Let you know what it means to hide a knife in your smile," Chen Qiang pouted disdainfully.

The interview with Nomura Kichizaburo in Time magazine made Chen Qiang more and more annoyed the more he watched it. In the interview, Nomura Yoshizaburo repeatedly said that the Japanese Navy's actions were aimed at China, and the reason why the Japanese Navy Admiral Okaku, who was shot down from the plane, appeared in Guangdong was also to prepare for an attack on China from the sea.

In mid-April, the Japanese army landed on the coast of Zhejiang and captured Shaoxing, and three days later the Japanese army captured Ningbo, Taizhou, and Wenzhou, and two days later, the Japanese navy landed in Fujian and captured Fuzhou, and more seriously, the Japanese army even defeated Fenghua. The original wife of the big man in Chongqing was also blown up and killed.

For the government of the Republic of China at that time, Zhejiang was a very special place, because the big man in Chongqing was from Zhejiang, and he also promoted a lot of fellow villagers, so among the governments at that time, the Zhejiang Gang was the most powerful. This is like being in the army, and the Baoding system is the biggest force. However, the Baoding faction in the army will be suppressed because it is not the descendant of the bigwig, and the Zhejiang gang in the government will be promoted by the bigwigs.

And Zhejiang Fenghua is the hometown of the Chongqing bigwig, the Chinese have always attached great importance to their hometown, and now that Zhejiang has lost, for those high-ranking officials of the Zhejiang Gang, they naturally feel that they have lost face, and they can't even keep the ancestral grave of their hometown, which is a very serious matter in China's traditional concept.

I don't know how many high-ranking officials in Chongqing are shouting "ashamed of the ancestors and ancestors", but they are helpless about it, Zhejiang belongs to the third theater, and the commander of the third theater, Chief Gu, is the specific executor of the "Southern Anhui Incident", this Chief Gu is really limited in ability, although he is in a high position, he has fought several major battles in the War of Resistance, but he has basically never won, and it is too much to expect him to fight the Japanese.

Moreover, this commander was also repeatedly defeated in the future war of liberation, buried the most elite American-style mechanized reorganization of the 74th Division when he commanded in Xuzhou, lost Jinzhou when he supervised the battle in Shenyang, and was divided into three by the East China Field Army on the Huaihai battlefield and ate all of them. Such a layman in foreign wars and amateurs in civil wars can only hide in the mountains to fight guerrillas, and let him go face to face the Japanese, even if he has the courage, he does not have the ability.

The actions of the Japanese on the southeast coast also relieved the United States, coupled with the deliberate propaganda of Nomura Kichizaburo, many Americans really thought that the Japanese navy acted frequently just to deal with China.

The Americans took it lightly, costing them the lives of 2,400 soldiers, more than 80 warships, and more than 400 planes at Pearl Harbor. However, for Japan, this was indeed a very successful diplomatic strategy, and what Kichizaburo Nomura did in the United States not only paralyzed the Americans, but also bought Japan time. In this respect, Nomura is a very successful diplomat.

Before, Hu Shih was one enemy in the United States, and Japan's three ambassadors to the United States were not able to suppress Hu Shih, but let China win on the diplomatic battlefield one after another, and now as soon as Nomura Kichizaburo made a move, the diplomatic situation between China and Japan in the United States has reversed, although the United States is still assisting China, but for Japan's material embargo, there is a loose situation.

Chen Qiang knows that Hu Shike is much more difficult now than when he first came to the United States. When Hu Shi first came to the U.S. team, all the diplomatic affairs of the embassy in the United States were Hu Shi's own words, and now Chongqing has sent a more powerful envoy to Song, so although Hu Shi now bears the name of ambassador to the United States, the real person in the embassy in the United States is the envoy Song. Hu Shi, the pig girl ambassador, has now been hollowed out, and he has no power in his hands, and he has no way to fight against Nomura Kichizaburo. It was precisely because of the reason that he was overturned that in 1942, Hu Shi chose to resign as ambassador to the United States.

As for the envoy Song, he is now busy asking the Americans for money!

In the past two months, Special Envoy Song has signed two agreements with the United States: one is the Sino-US "Metal Loan Contract", in which China borrows $50 million from the Americans with $60 million worth of minerals as collateral; The other is the Sino-US "Equalization Fund Agreement", in which Chongqing sold the equalization fund to the United States in exchange for a loan of 50 million US dollars.

The two agreements combined for a total of $100 million, the largest loan received from the United States during the war.

"It's 1941, and we'll have to hold on for another four years!" Chen Qiang let out a long sigh, and then put down Time magazine in his hand.

At this moment, the voice of the phone rang, and Chen Qiang picked up the receiver.

"Is it Chen? I'm Lucas, Lucas of Adam International Trading. The other man spoke.

"Hello Mr. Lucas, I'm Chen Qiang." Chen Qiang replied.

"Chen, that hula hoop of yours is selling fire in Argentina! Do you still have stock there? I need to take some more and ship them to South America. This time it's not just Argentina, it's Brazil and Chile. Lucas said.

Immediately afterwards, Lucas introduced the sales of hula hoops in Argentina to Chen Qiang.

Although the Argentines were very wealthy at this time, Argentina was a country that relied on agriculture after all, and this agricultural country was certainly inferior to an industrial country like the United States in terms of infrastructure, so the entertainment life of Argentines was far less rich than that of the Americans. It is precisely because there is not so much entertainment life that Argentines devote themselves to various sports in their spare time, especially sports that do not require high hardware, such as football, as long as there is a ball, you can play with just two bricks and a goal.

When the hula hoop entered Argentina, this sport that can be played anytime and anywhere immediately attracted countless Argentines, and even many Argentines used the hula hoop to create novel ways to play.

If it is a competition to develop the economy, Latin American countries will definitely not be able to compete with the United States; In the competition for scientific and technological research, Latin American countries are also several grades worse than the United States; When it comes to military construction, Latin American countries are even more different from the United States, and there is no comparison between the two at all. But if it is compared to "playing", South American countries are really not much worse than the United States.

In the three major balls of the future, Latin American countries are not inferior to the United States. In terms of football, several countries in the United States are better than the United States; In volleyball, Brazil's world ranking has always been above that of the United States; Even the most powerful basketball game in the United States, the Argentines have embarrassed the United States.

In other sports, the more this is the case, the track and field that the Americans are best at, has been overtaken by the Caribbean countries, and the Flying Men in Jamaica have crushed the Americans not once or twice; In motorsports, Brazilian drivers have a much better record in Formula 1 than American drivers, and there are also a large number of South American drivers in domestic racing competitions in the United States; Even when it comes to emerging esports, Brazilians often compete with Americans for the right to qualify in the Americas.

It is true that the people of Latin America are more casual and even lazy when it comes to work, but when it comes to playing various sports, they are more active than people in any other country.

Therefore, it is only natural that hula hoops have high sales in Argentina. For Argentinians, it's great to have something to play anytime, anywhere, to be able to kill a boring time while at work!

What Chen Qiang didn't expect was that hula hoops were not only sold out of stock in Argentina, but also in Argentina's neighboring countries, such as Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and Bolivia, which also showed strong interest in hula hoops.

These countries are poorer than Argentina, and even the political situation in some places is still unstable, and from time to time there will be a peasant uprising, a coup d'état, or something. Therefore, in Chen Qiang's view, this kind of place that is not peaceful and not rich will not be a good market, and the requirements for entertainment life will not be very high, and no one will buy hula hoops.

According to the values of the Chinese, when the country is in turmoil or poverty, the most important thing for the people is to work hard to survive, and people will not be idle and have fun. However, Chinese values do not work in South American countries, and Chen Qiang still underestimates the "playful heart" of South American countries. For the people of these South American countries, the country is in chaos, and the people are poor, but they still have to play, and they have to have fun and have fun.

A hula hoop, transported from the United States to a South American country, counting all kinds of costs, may end up selling for more than a dollar, even for wealthy Argentines, this price should not be cheap, and for poorer countries, a dollar for a hula hoop is simply expensive.

However, many people in South American countries don't seem to care, if there is just a dollar left in their hands, then go buy a hula hoop, as for whether there is money to eat tomorrow, that is tomorrow's business, buy the hula hoop back today and have fun!

This is the real wine today, drunk today!

After learning about the consumption habits of South Americans, Chen Qiang finally understood why many South American stars in later generations had to play football when they were hungry when they were young. At first glance, this is a very inspirational story, a football teenager in order to pursue his dream of becoming a football star, even if he has no food to eat, he has to practice his football skills, and finally really becomes a football star. And in fact, these people's hearts are really big enough, let's have fun today, as for whether they will be hungry tomorrow, they don't think about it at all, if they don't have anything to eat, they don't tie it all up, and they will survive tomorrow hungry, maybe the day after tomorrow.

……

In Chen Qiang's warehouse, the stock of hula hoops has not been much, so Chen Qiang only needs to go to Beckland Company to see if Little Beckland can find a way to increase the production capacity of hula hoops.

When Chen Qiang arrived at Beckland, little Beckland was doing experiments in the laboratory.

The founder of the Bakerland Company, the elder Beckland, was a chemist, and the younger Beckland also inherited his father's genes in this area, and was considered a high-level chemist. On weekdays, in addition to running the company, little Beckland spends the rest of his time in the laboratory, immersed in various chemical experiments.

After seeing Chen Qiang, Bakeland put down the experiment in his hand and went out to greet him.

"Chen, I have good news for you, we have transformed the production process of polyethylene, and now we can produce polyethylene materials with higher density!" Little Beckland said excitedly, as if it were a girl showing off her new clothes.

At present, the high-pressure polyethylene produced by Beckland Company is a kind of polyethylene with low density and soft material, which will be used to make plastic bags in the future, and it is precisely because of the low density of this polyethylene that the quality of the hula hoops sold by Chen Qiang will not be too good and can be easily damaged.

High-density polyethylene is not produced at high pressure, but with catalysts, which did not appear until 1952, such as the protective layer on the outside of cables, which is made of high-density polyethylene.

Little Beckland is clearly not satisfied with producing low-density polyethylene, so it has been improving the process in the hope of producing high-density polyethylene.

"Looks like you haven't given up on using plastic for water pipes!" Chen Qiang said with a smile.

It's a pity that Chen Qiang doesn't know the knowledge of chemical engineering, otherwise, he pointed out Little Beckland, who can really make plastic that can be used as water pipes.

"Sooner or later, I'm going to make plastic water pipes. I believe that plastic can replace everything, and maybe one day in the future, all the cars on the street will be made of plastic! Little Beckland said confidently.

"I don't know what the car of the future will be made of, but the e-bike is really plastic." Chen Qiang said secretly in his heart.

Then Chen Qiang planned to explain his intentions, but little Beckland was still in the mood, he pulled Chen Qiang to the cabinet in the laboratory, and said, "Chen, look at the new breakthrough I just made. ”

Little Beckland said, took a small yellow square from the cabinet, and handed it to Chen Qiang: "Guess what this is?" ”

Chen Qiang took the small square in his hand, checked it with his hand, pressed it again, and then determined that it should be a plastic material similar to resin.

Without waiting for Chen Qiang to answer, little Beckland couldn't help but speak: "You must think that this is a kind of rubber!" I'm telling you, it's not rubber! Isn't it amazing? Something that looks like rubber, but it's not rubber! ”

"It's a synthetic resin, isn't it?" Chen Qiang asked.

"How did you guess?" Little Beckland was slightly startled, and then said, "For a layman like you, it's good to be able to guess that this is a synthetic resin. It's called polyurethane, and it's a material that I've just synthesized. This thing has high stability, corrosion resistance, resilience and mechanical properties, and can insulate heat, sound, and earthquake. It is a new type of material. ”

"You invented this?" Chen Qiang asked.

Little Beckland shook his head: "It's not me, this thing was made by the German company Bayer, and it was four years ago, so in this regard, our company is four years behind the Germans." In fact, we didn't plan to copy the German technology, after all, this is a patented product of Bayer, but now that the relationship between the United States and Germany is so tense, it doesn't matter if we use German technology. ”

"I understand, reverse engineering." Chen Qiang smiled, and then asked, "What kind of polyester is this polyester and what can it be used for?" ”

"I haven't thought of it yet, but I think it can be used to make soles, which are quite wear-resistant and should be more durable than ordinary leather shoes." Little Beckland spoke.

"Is this thing expensive? If they are expensive, the average person cannot afford to wear such shoes. Chen Qiang asked again.

"Raw materials are not expensive, and I don't think the price will be very high even for large-scale industrial production. Now the by-products of this oil are not worth much, and the refineries are asking for gasoline, diesel and heavy oil, and as for the raw materials for the production of plastics, they are all processed at the price of cabbage. Little Bakeland began.

Chen Qiang nodded, he played with the small polyurethane cube in his hand, and said; "I think of a profitable deal, do you want to do it together?"

——————

On the last day of the month, ask for tickets!