Hu Shi didn't know that he had been sued by the Song envoy, and at this time he personally went to New York to discuss the sale of scrap iron with major steelmakers. Hu Shi planned to take advantage of the rise in scrap iron prices and quickly sell the 50,000 tons of scrap iron.

In the United States in 1940, the annual steel output reached 60 million tons, and more than 50,000 tons of scrap iron were put into the American market, which could not set off a wave, but for those large steel-making plants, these scrap iron were also high-quality steel-making materials.

The British are in urgent need of supplies, as long as there is steel in stock, the British want as much as they want, even if it is half more expensive than the usual sale, the British will pay directly without blinking. After all, the British Empire has colonized the world for more than 100 years, and has looted countless amounts of gold, and now in order to defend the country, the British will not pick the door, as long as it can be solved with money, it is not a problem.

Hu Shi sold the scrap iron and made more than 20% of the profit, almost making more than 2 million US dollars, if these 2 million US dollars were exchanged for weapons and ammunition, it would be enough for China to fight the Battle of Changsha again.

Hu Shi did buy weapons and ammunition with all the money from the sale of scrap iron. At this time, the British also needed weapons and ammunition, so the American arms dealers gave priority to British orders. Although new weapons are not easy to buy, there are many second-hand weapons in the United States, and guns are not banned in the United States, and tens of millions of guns are scattered among the people, such as weapons from World War I, which are easy to find in the United States, and many of them are even sold by the pound.

After all, the U.S. military was already using submachine guns and semi-automatic rifles at that time, and picking up a gun and aiming it at the enemy was a "sudden attack", and who still used an old-fashioned rifle to pull a bolt to shoot a bullet. And the British are not inferior to the second-hand goods of the Americans, if they want to buy them, they will buy new ones, anyway, Britain is not bad for money.

However, for domestic soldiers, it is good to be able to pick up the rags of the United States during World War I, not to mention the Sichuan army with poor equipment, many Chinese troops at that time still used "Hanyang-made", which still belonged to the weapons of the Eight-Nation Alliance era. And the so-called well-equipped Central Army German Armament Division uses only M1924 Mauser rifles, which are not much more advanced than the equipment of the United States during World War I.

Besides, the situation in the country has reached that level, and it is a good thing to be able to buy weapons, and there is no need to pick and choose.

Second-hand guns are also cheaper than new guns, Hu Shi originally made an extra 2 million by selling scrap iron, and now he is buying cheap second-hand guns.

Hu Shi reported the sale of scrap iron and guns to Chongqing, which was naturally greatly appreciated by Chongqing, and the resale of scrap iron was naturally ignored by Chongqing, and being able to buy more weapons and ammunition was the last word. After all, China is not a soldier, but a weapon, as long as the weapons are sufficient, some hot-blooded men are willing to go to the battlefield to fight the invaders.

I didn't think that this time Hu Shi had made another great achievement! However, for Hu Shi, meritorious service is not necessarily a good thing, after all, he has offended many people in China, and the greater the credit, the more Chongqing will guard against Hu Shi.

And the envoy Song, after learning the news, was extremely depressed.

Before, the envoy of the Song Dynasty told Chongqing about Hu Shi's black state, but he didn't expect France to cool down so soon, and Hu Shi really made a lot of money by selling scrap iron, and bought more weapons and ammunition! Hu Shi made a meritorious service, and the black state of the Song envoy's complaint was naturally self-defeating.

In addition, when the Song envoy complained, he pushed all the 50,000 tons of scrap iron on Hu Shi's head, which was of course the Song envoy deliberately shook the pot and deliberately drew a line with the 50,000 tons of scrap iron. But now that he has made money from selling scrap iron, it has become a credit, so this credit has nothing to do with Envoy Song, even if he wants to get a piece of the pie, it is impossible, after all, when he filed a lawsuit before, he had already cleared up the relationship with 50,000 tons of scrap iron.

This time, Envoy Song can be regarded as stealing chickens and rice.

And another person who feels depressed is the Japanese ambassador to the United States, Yoyo Matsuoka.

In fact, Matsuoka's judgment is not a problem, after all, with China's industrial level at that time, it could not digest 50,000 tons of scrap iron.

However, the sudden change in the situation on the battlefield in Europe was unexpected by Matsuoka Yoyou, and China made a lot of money by selling scrap iron, and also bought weapons and ammunition, while the price of scrap iron in the United States also rose by more than 20 percent, and counting the increase in freight, the Japanese wanted to continue to buy scrap iron from the United States, and they had to spend at least 30 percent of the price. And even if Japan is willing to spend more, the supply is not sufficient.

50,000 tons of scrap iron a month is equivalent to one-tenth of Japan's steel production, which still has a great impact on Japan's entire industry. If there is only 50,000 tons of scrap iron in a certain month, Japan's resistance to the first antibody will be over, but there is a shortage of 50,000 tons every month, which will not be able to resist. In addition, the situation in Europe is so tense that the world's raw materials will be supplied to Europe first, and Japan will inevitably receive fewer and fewer raw materials. In other words, Japan's industrial raw materials will inevitably become more and more scarce in the coming period.

In the future, when Japan really can't get raw materials, it can only attack Southeast Asia, and from then on, Japan will have to go to war with the United States head-on.

……

Chen Qiang didn't know that the envoy Song was stealing chickens and rice, but he was able to make a fortune by reselling scrap iron, buying a lot of weapons, and making the Japanese uncomfortable by the way, which already made Chen Qiang very satisfied.

The war in Europe did not have the slightest effect on the residents of New York, but instead brought more business opportunities. Not only can the United States sell more goods, but many British people have fled to the United States for refuge, so New York landlords have made a lot of money as a result.

However, at this time, Chen Qiang was in trouble, and his chain gym was already a little unable to expand.

The reason is also because of the increase in steel prices.

The main raw material of the fitness equipment in the gym is, of course, steel, and now the price of steel has risen, which means that the cost of manufacturing fitness equipment has increased, so the cost of opening a gym will also increase significantly, which makes many franchisees prohibitive.

What's more, those manufacturers who produce fitness equipment now have larger orders, that is, to produce materials for the British for the war effort.

In a metalworking factory in the suburbs of New York, the factory owner said to Chen Qiang apologetically: "Mr. Chen, I'm very sorry, we really can't take your order now, not long ago a canning factory gave me a big order, they need 500,000 canned boxes, and now my factory is working overtime and is working hard to produce canned boxes." ”

"I can understand your situation. Then I won't bother you, I'll go find another factory to have a look. Chen Qiang sighed helplessly.

"Mr. Chen, with all due respect, it may be difficult for you to find a factory to take your order, at least in the short term, it is impossible for someone to produce gym equipment for you, unless you are willing to pay a high price." The factory owner shrugged his shoulders and continued: "You only need dozens of pieces of fitness equipment for an order, and now the surrounding factories are followed by orders for hundreds of thousands of products, so no factory will waste production capacity on these dozens of fitness equipment." ”

Chen Qiang sighed helplessly, he knew that what the factory owner said was true, and now all metal processing factories in the United States are operating at full capacity, with higher levels producing industrial parts, and lower levels producing items such as canned food boxes, metal dinner plates, or metal cups. In war, metal pots and pans are obviously the best necessities of life, strong and not easy to break, and can be used to smash people when it is critical.

The owner of the factory continued: "I am already expanding the scale of production, I plan to open two more production workshops, who knows how long this war will last!" Now other factories in New York are also frantically recruiting people to expand their own production scale. So I think it won't be long before all the factories ramp up their production scale, and there should be additional capacity to produce gym equipment for you. ”

"Hopefully that day will come sooner." Chen Qiang said helplessly.

Actually, that's probably not a bad thing for you. After all, the price of steel is so expensive now, and the production cost of fitness equipment will also be very high, if you place an order now, it is equivalent to spending more money to buy more expensive products. The factory owner said with a smile.

"I think as long as the war continues, the price of steel will continue to rise! Maybe after a while, the price of steel will be even more expensive. Chen Qiang replied.

"I think after a while, the price of steel will go down." The factory owner smiled mysteriously, and then said: "The price of steel is relatively expensive now, mainly because people's demand for steel has increased greatly, and the production capacity of steel has not been increased for a while, resulting in a shortage of supply, so the price of steel will rise sharply." But it won't be long before steelmakers everywhere will expand their production capacity, and the price of steel will fall. ”

The factory owner said, leaned forward, lowered his voice and continued: "As far as I know, the major iron mines in the United States have not yet been mined at full capacity, and our iron ore production capacity can be larger, and the Carajas mine in Brazil will also have a large amount of iron ore shipped over, and when the price of steel raw materials drops, the price of steel will inevitably fall." ”

The words of the factory boss made Chen Qiang feel a lot more comfortable, he only hoped that things would really be as the factory boss said, and after a period of time, the steel production capacity in the United States would be completely released, and the price of steel would really fall.

The factory owner was a little talkative, and he continued: "Actually, it's not just you, many industries that need to use steel, will be affected, such as those real estate development companies, the cost is greatly increased, a friend of mine who runs a real estate company, used to develop apartment buildings, and now he has switched to the house rental business, specifically renting the rent to the Jews who fled from Europe, and making a lot of money." ”

"It's true that the rent market in New York is hot right now, and it's not just Jews, but a lot of British people have fled to the United States." Chen Qiang said casually.

"yes, the number of people living in New York has increased, and the demand has increased, and this is really a great opportunity for your gym to expand. It's a pity that gym equipment needs to use steel, and it would be nice to have the kind of gym equipment that doesn't need steel! The factory owner sighed.

Chen Qiang was stunned when he was stunned, and the last words of the factory boss made him have a flash of inspiration!

"Who said that fitness equipment must be made of steel, in addition to steel, there should be many other materials that can be used! This is missing Zhang Butcher, do you really eat hairy pigs! ”

……

Before World War II, almost all industrial products were made of steel, so people were used to making things from steel. For example, the radio at that time was iron-shelled, the television set at that time was iron-shelled, and the clocks and watches at that time were also iron-shelled.

In those years when the materials industry was underdeveloped, steel represented almost everything.

However, Chen Qiang, who came from later generations, knew that there were too many materials in the world that could be used as a substitute for steel to produce industrial industries.

Like plastic!

In the future, the world's largest production of materials will not be steel, but plastics. By the end of the seventies, the U.S. was producing more plastic than steel, and in terms of volume, the total volume of plastic produced in human history also exceeded the total volume of steel produced in human history. Humans have been using steel for thousands of years, and plastic has only been used for decades.

In the thirties and forties, the oil industry was not very developed, so plastics were not popular, and the plastic industry was still in its infancy, and there were few products made of plastic on the market.

Chen Qiang didn't know much about the oil industry in 1940, and to know how far plastics had developed at that time, he needed to visit professionals, so he approached Beckland in New York.

The Beckland company is a company specializing in the production of plastic products. The company's founder, Leo Beckland, was Belgian and moved to the United States, where he earned a Ph.D. in chemistry at the age of 20. Beckland invented a kind of photosensitive paper, so he got a lifetime of money, and with the money, Beckland built a laboratory at home and indulged in chemical experiments.

As early as 1907, Beckland experimented with formaldehyde and phenol, and then he developed a man-made plastic, which is the most primitive phenolic plastic. Later, Beckland founded a company dedicated to the production of plastic products.

Now that Leo Beckland has died, the company is inherited by his son Beckland Jr., and coincidentally, Chen Qiang also knows this little Mr. Beckland.

So Chen Qiang went directly to visit the little Beckland.

……

Beckland Company.

Little Beckland took Chen Qiang to the company's laboratory, and then introduced plastic products to Chen Qiang.

"Our company was the first to develop phenolic materials, and we have a lot of experience in this area, in addition to that, we are also working on polyethylene materials, but unfortunately, we missed the polyamide, and as a result, Carothers gave us a head start, otherwise the company would definitely make a lot of money." Little Beckland spoke.

The polyamide mentioned by Little Beckland, commonly known as "nylon", when it comes to nylon, everyone will definitely be very familiar with it, and will think of nylon stockings.

In reality, the inventor of nylon is the famous American scientist Carothers, as early as 1930, Carothers has successfully synthesized a high polyester compound of polyamide, and then it took him eight years to fibrosis, that is, it became what people call "nylon", after nylon was invented, after more than a year of research, it was able to be industrially produced, the first nylon products, that is, the nylon stockings launched in May 1940, sold five million pairs in the first month.

Next to him, Little Beckland continued: "Our current phenolic compounds are mainly used to make bakelite, which is also the main product of our company, of course, we have also been developing some plastic products, such as plastic toilet seats, which are waterproof and not easy to deform, and are lighter than wooden ones." Come, I'll show you the sample. ”

Little Beckland took Chen Qiang to the sample room, where there were a bunch of various novelty items, all of which were experimental products of Beckland's company.

Little Beckland took a plastic dock cover and handed it to Chen Qiang, Chen Qiang looked at it and said, "I think you can add a few strips of rubber under this cushion, so that if you sit down, it won't slip, and it will be much more stable." ”

Little Beckland was slightly stunned, then thought about it carefully, and said, "Chen, you are really a genius, this is really a good idea!" When I make the first batch of products, I'll definitely give them to you to try! ”

"It's a great honor." Chen Qiang said politely.

Chen Qiang then visited the sample showroom, and as little Beckland said, most of the samples were bakelites.

The so-called bakelite is phenolic plastic, which is the first variety of plastic to be put into industrial production, mainly used in the manufacture of switches, lamp holders, telephone housings, instrument housings, etc., because these are electric, so "bakelite" is also named.

Suddenly, a plastic tube came into Chen Qiang's eyes.

Chen Qiang picked up the plastic tube and looked at it carefully.

"This is a pipe made of polyethylene, but at present, it seems that this kind of thing is not very useful, mainly because it is not strong enough, and the load-bearing capacity is too poor, I originally wanted to try to use it to make water pipes, but it is too easy to break, and it is too far worse than iron pipes." Little Beckland introduced.

"Can this thing be made a little more fine?" Chen Qiang asked with interest.

"Absolutely. However, if it is made coarse, it is not durable, and it is easier to break if it is made thin. Little Beckland replied.

"It's okay, it's fine, it's not too heavy." Chen Qiang said casually.

At this time, Chen Qiang, looking at the polyethylene pipe in his hand, had already thought of a business that made a lot of money.

——————

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