House Detective Agency, New York.

Detective House handed an investigation report to Chen Qiang, and then said: "Mr. Chen, this is the result of the investigation you want, and the information I investigated shows that these scrap iron are mainly purchased by a company called 'Whale River' in Japan, in addition to this, this Whale River company is enough to buy some scrap equipment and scrap mechanical parts." ”

"And scrapped equipment and scrapped mechanical parts?" Chen Qiang's brows furrowed.

"Yes, according to the accounts of the sources I bought, the price of scrapped equipment and scrapped machinery parts purchased in Japan is higher than the normal purchase price, and a lot of old equipment has not reached the end of its life." Detective House replied.

"In other words, someone deliberately sold usable equipment to Japan in the name of scrapped equipment." Chen Qiang asked.

"I'm afraid that's what it looks like. In addition, I investigated another very interesting thing, my friend in the Far East told me that the main shareholder of this company was a company called Nisamitsu Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. House continued.

Hearing this news, Chen Qiang can still be 100% sure that the scrap iron purchased by the Whale River Company was eventually transported to the steel mill in Northeast China, and then re-smelted into steel for use in Japan's war of aggression against China.

At this time, Chen Qiang also became more and more determined to stop scrap iron from continuing to sell to King Japan.

……

Back home, Chen Qiang carefully looked at Detective House's investigation report, and he didn't know if he didn't read it, but he was really shocked when he saw it.

According to House's investigation records, the company imports nearly 50,000 tons of scrap iron from the United States every month! You must know that in 1935, China's steel output was only 50,000 tons, and after the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, China's land fell in large numbers, and many industrial cities were originally occupied by the Japanese.

In 1940, Japan, counting the occupied colonies, had an annual steel output of about 6 million tons, an average of 500,000 tons a month, and 50,000 tons of scrap iron imported from the United States a month, which was already one-tenth of Japan's steel production!

Thinking of this, Chen Qiang is even more eager to cut off the 50,000 tons of scrap iron source of the Japanese, for a resource-poor country like Japan, cutting off one-tenth of its steel source is enough to affect Japan's entire industrial system.

Chen Qiang then read the investigation report of Detective House, which showed that in addition to scrap iron, the Japanese also bought a lot of so-called "scrapped equipment" and "scrap parts", and one of them, a company called "Nakajima", even bought parts for scrapped aircraft!

As early as 1937, US President Roosevelt imposed an embargo on aircraft parts shipped to Japan on the grounds of a "humanitarian embargo", but it is clear that this embargo clause did not prevent Japan from purchasing aircraft parts from the United States. In the future Pacific theater, when the US Air Force shot down a Japanese Zero fighter, it was embarrassing to find that there were all American-made parts inside.

Chen Qiang knew that this Nakajima company must be the vest of the Japanese military. In addition to the purchase of scrap steel by the Whale River Company and the purchase of aircraft parts by the Nakajima Company, Mitsubishi Corporation also purchased a large amount of scrap aluminum, which was definitely used for shipbuilding. At that time, aluminum was still a relatively expensive metal, and it was generally used as a material for some key positions in the construction of expensive warships.

"Detective House also bribed the U.S. Customs, and according to the data provided by the U.S. Customs, the value of 'scrap' purchased by Japan from the U.S. is more than $13 million a month, which is $150 million in business this year!"

Chen Qiang sighed lightly, but a sense of powerlessness rose in his heart, he wanted to prevent the Japanese from buying American "scrap", but the amount was more than 150 million US dollars a year in business, which involved how many interest groups, behind those interest groups may be standing a large number of congressmen, both Democrats and Republicans, even US President Roosevelt, in the face of this $150 million business, may have to choose to give in.

In the United States, you will never be able to fight the power of capital! Whether it is a politician or a media, in the end, it is just for the service of capital.

"The only thing that can defeat capital is capital, and this matter has to be solved with money! But the point is, I don't have any money! Chen Qiang thought depressedly.

……

The war between the Soviet Union and Finland had ended, and the Moscow Armistice was signed, and Finland eventually lost a large part of its territory and was thus included in the Soviet Union's sphere of influence.

However, the Finns were not willing to become the little brother of the Soviets, and soon after the German attack was attacked by Northern Europe, Finland began to look at Germany, and with the help of Germany, launched the "Continuation War" to recover the Karelian region, but at the end of World War II, the Germans were about to be defeated, and the Karelia region was recaptured by the Soviet Union.

On April 3, Germany began to invade Northern Europe, and the first target was Norway, but this time Britain finally hardened up and directly sent troops to Norway to help Norway fight against Germany. However, the Norwegian government was less stubborn, and the high-ranking Norwegian officials fled directly to the United Kingdom.

Norway was vast and sparsely populated, and its military power was completely insignificant compared to that of the powerful Germany, so they attacked Denmark at the same time as Norway, and the Danes only held out for six hours before announcing their surrender.

Among the Nordic countries, Finland had just been pressed to the ground by the Soviets, Denmark had surrendered to the Germans, and Norway could not hold out for long, leaving only Sweden. At this time, Sweden expressed its neutrality and decisively surrendered to Germany.

Sweden was also the most powerful country in Europe when it was at its strongest, the Vikings robbed almost all of Europe, the French emperor and the German prime minister once ruled the European continent, but never landed on the British Isles, but the Vikings were able to run to the British Isles to grab it, and then return to Northern Europe with gold, silver and jewelry.

Even in the twentieth century, Sweden has long been in decline, but still maintains the Viking style of all soldiers, although Sweden at that time was only partial to Northern Europe, but the national defense force is still very strong, the Germans or the Soviets, if they want to eat Sweden, they have to pay a great price, some of the gains outweigh the losses. So after Sweden gave in to Germany, Germany did not attack Sweden.

At this time, it can also be seen that if a country wants to ensure its own security, it still has to have its own national defense forces, Sweden and Switzerland have strong national defenses, so they can maintain neutrality in World War II, and Denmark's defense is weak and surrendered in six hours. Britain and France are unreliable, and people will not protect you when it is critical.

While the Nordics were in the midst of war, Chen Qiang appeared in the stands of Madison Garden Square with a comic book in his hand.

Chen Qiang is in the hands of the 38th issue of "Detective Comics", in this issue of the comics, Batman's good partner Robin appeared for the first time.

In front of Chen Qiang, the Stanley Cup game of the United States Hockey League is being held.

In the 1940 Stanley Cup, the two sides were the New York Rangers and the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the game was a best-of-seven game, with the first two games being held at Madison Square Garden, the home of the New York Rangers, and the last four games going to the Maple Leaf Park Stadium in Toronto.

The winner of the series was the New York Rangers, who lifted the 1940 Stanley Cup by a score of 4-2. However, it was a shame for the New York audience not to be able to witness the New York Rangers' championship moment in person. Because Game 6 was held in Canada and the New York Rangers were away from home, they won the series.

Since the last time the United States borrowed tung oil, the United States profited, so the US Congress passed the loan very smoothly, and Arthur Vandenberg and other isolationists did not oppose it, and they did not dare to stand in the way of American capitalists making money.

On 20 April, China and the United States formally signed the "Huaxi Loan Contract," and this time the United States borrowed $20 million from China, which could only be used to buy materials produced in the United States, while China used tin mines in Yunnan as collateral.

With the money, Hu Shi came to New York again, ready to make a big purchase.

Chen Qiang sent Detective House's investigation report to Hu Shi.

……

"Sir, you see, these are the materials I commissioned the detectives to investigate, and although the Japanese can't buy American steel, they don't buy any less scrap iron. In addition to this, there are some old machinery and parts, and even parts of aircraft are included. Chen Qiang said.

Hu Shi took a closer look at the investigation report, and then sighed: "That's really the case." ”

"Sir, you already knew?" Chen Qiang asked in surprise.

"I don't know, but domestic intelligence says that the United States has been providing important strategic materials to Japan." Hu Shi's voice paused, and then said: "Before, Japan said that it would build a military base on Sakhalin Island and explore for oil, and purchased a large amount of machinery and equipment here in the United States, and even a lot of high-end precision equipment, which can be used to produce aircraft parts. Originally, this type of machinery was controlled, but the United States heard that the Japanese were going to deal with the Soviet Union, so they sold these controlled machinery to them. ”

After a little pondering, Chen Qiang roughly understood what was going on. Although the war in Europe had broken out, the United States still tried every means to kill the Soviet Union, so when the Japanese said that they would explore for oil on Cook Island, the Americans were eager for the Japanese to fight with the Soviet Union, and even sold the embargoed machinery and equipment to the Japanese. And these precision machinery and equipment, and the final production of aircraft parts, were either used in the war of aggression against China, or used in the Pacific theater.

Chen Qiang opened his mouth and said: "Sir, now it seems that the embargo imposed by the United States on Japan has almost no effect, except for oil, the Japanese can still get the materials they want." ”

"yes, but what can we do? The Japanese bought these materials in the name of buying scrap, and even if I protested to President Roosevelt, it would not have much effect. Hu Shi said.

"Sir, I have an idea." Chen Qiang said.

"I know that you have a lot of ghost ideas, dare to show me this report, there must be a way, let's hear it!" Hu Shi said with a smile.

"Didn't we just borrow 20 million dollars from the Americans, and we can buy all the scrap iron, scrapped machinery, and old aircraft parts in the hands of the Americans, so that the Japanese will not have to buy them. I don't think there will be a lot of scrap in the hands of the Americans, and whoever is idle will not save a bunch of rags at home, and our 20 million dollars will almost be able to snatch two months' worth of goods from the Japanese! Chen Qiang replied.

Hu Shi frowned and thought for a long time, then shook his head: "No, this money is used to buy strategic materials urgently needed in China, how can it be used to buy scrap products!" Moreover, there is intelligence that Japan has assembled in southern Henan again, and this time the target of the Japanese may be the main force of the Fifth Theater, so what we need most now is guns and ammunition to resist the Japanese attack. ”

"Those waste products are also strategic materials. We bought scrap iron, which can also be made into steel, we buy second-hand machinery, we can also make weapons, we buy aircraft parts, we can also use it ourselves! Chen Qiang then persuaded.

Hu Shi nodded: "Aircraft parts are okay, since the start of the war, our air force has also suffered heavy losses, if it weren't for the overseas Chinese in Haihua who have been donating planes, maybe we don't have any planes to fly now." At present, there are many aircraft in China that can only stand in bomb shelters because there are no parts for repair after they are damaged. If you can buy a batch of aircraft parts, it will also help. But this scrap metal ......."

"What happened to the scrap metal?" Chen Qiang hurriedly asked.

"Buying scrap iron and then going back to make steel by yourself is indeed much cheaper than buying it directly, but with our domestic situation, the steelmaking mill can't digest so much scrap iron, Shanghai has fallen for a long time, the steelmaking mills around Shanghai are in the hands of the Japanese, and now Wuhan has been lost, Hanyang steelmaking mill is also abandoned, the steelmaking plant in Chongqing is often bombed by the Japanese, and even if the Chongqing steelmaking plant is at full capacity, it can't train ten tons of steel a day. The Americans can sell 50,000 tons of scrap iron a month, and it's useless for us to buy it, because with our ability, we can't smelt so much steel! Hu Shi opened his mouth to explain.

"We just bought scrap iron, not necessarily steelmaking." Chen Qiang said.

"Just so that the Japanese can't buy it? Isn't that harming others and oneself? No, it should be a thousand kills and eight hundred self-losses! It's not right, it should be 800 kills and 1,000 self-losses! Hu Shi shook his head, and then said: "For the Japanese, there are 50,000 tons of scrap iron a month, although there is a loss, but it will not hurt the muscles and bones, but for us, 20 million US dollars is used to save lives!" We can't afford to take life-saving money and spend it with the Japanese, our country has a weak foundation, and fighting an economic war with the Japanese will outweigh the losses. ”

"Sir, we can buy scrap iron, save it for two months, and then sell it!" Chen Qiang said.

"Sell? Sell to whom? What exactly do you mean? Hu Shi asked puzzled.

"Sir, according to my judgment, on the European side, Germany and Britain and France are about to fight, and the price of steel will inevitably rise sharply at that time, and if the French can't defend Germany from attacking, only the British will be left in Europe, not to mention scrap iron, even iron slag will be rushed!" Chen Qiang said.

"France can't hold it? Impossible. The French are not vegetarians in the first place, not to mention that Britain also sent more than 100,000 troops to France, Britain and France, two countries, can't stop a Germany! Hu Shi shook his head and said.

"I can't stop it, I don't think the French can hold it for even a month!" Chen Qiang said categorically.

"Impossible!" Hu Shi shook his head, but he looked at Chen Qiang's determined look, but he felt that Chen Qiang was not untargeted.

"Chen Qiang, do you know any inside information?" Hu Shi asked.

Chen Qiang felt that if he said that he had no insider, he would definitely not be able to persuade Hu Shi to borrow 20 million yuan to buy scrap iron, so he had to nod: "Yes, I have absolutely reliable information, the Germans have a secret weapon, which can defeat the British and French forces in one fell swoop." Sir, please believe me, let's go buy scrap iron first, and then sell it in two months, we will definitely not lose money, and we can make a lot of money, but we can buy more food and weapons! ”

Hu Shi hesitated. The loan of 20 million US dollars is the life-saving money of the Chinese, and it is certainly not wrong to use it to buy strategic materials urgently needed in China.

However, if, as Chen Qiang said, the money is used to buy scrap iron, and after two months it makes a lot of money, and by the way, it weakens the industrial capacity of the Japanese, which sounds very profitable, but in fact it is full of unknowns and risks.

If the 20 million US dollars were Hu Shi's own money, Hu Shi might not hesitate to choose to believe Chen Qiang, but the 20 million US dollars are too important for China, this is the money to save the country, so Hu Shi does not dare to take risks.

However, deep down, instinct kept telling Hu Shi that Chen Qiang was right!

Over the past year or so, Hu Shi has put Chen Qiang's actions in his eyes, from publishing "Rabe's Diary", to holding photo exhibitions, to running to borrow money from Americans, and recently not hesitating to be shot in order to drive out Wang pseudo-traitors, all of which shows that Chen Qiang is a patriotic person, he is willing to make sacrifices for China, and he will not joke with this kind of Chinese life-saving money.

"Okay, I'll gamble with you once!" Hu Shi replied.

However, until Hu Shi said this, he didn't know where he got the courage to dare to use 20 million US dollars of life-saving money to go crazy with Chen Qiang!

……

At the Japanese Embassy in the United States, Japanese Ambassador Yoyo Matsuoka looked at the information in his hand with a sneer.

"The Chinese just borrowed $20 million from the United States, and they used it to buy scrap iron! This group of Chinese, who think they are very smart, are actually very stupid! Matsuoka said.

"Mr. Ambassador, the Chinese use the US loan to buy materials, they have the approval of the US Congress, so they can get the right of first refusal, so our whale river company, I am afraid that this month will not be able to buy a sufficient amount of scrap iron. In addition, Nakajima's procurement of aircraft parts has also been greatly affected. The counselor next to him spoke.

"50,000 tons of scrap iron a month is almost one-tenth of our Japanese steel production, which will indeed affect the domestic steel supply, but don't worry, the Chinese are only 20 million US dollars, even if they are allowed to buy, they can buy at most two months, and after two months, they will have no money." I don't think it's possible for Americans to lend money to China all the time, right? Matsuoka said.

"But if the Chinese buy scrap iron and transport it back to train into steel, it will also enhance their war potential!" The Counsellor spoke.

"The essence of China has been occupied by the empire, and there is not much left of their industry, with China's current residual industrial capacity, even if they are given 50,000 tons of scrap iron, they will not be able to train steel!" Matsuoka Yoshi's voice paused, and then said: "That's why I said that the Chinese think they are smart, but in fact they are stupid!" If they want to use this method to fight Japan, they will be the first to collapse! If you want to hurt people with your capital, you must first have sufficient capital! ”

——————

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