The period from 1929 to 1946 was the golden age of Hollywood cinema.

At the end of the twenties, due to the progress of the overall technology of the film, the industrial production of movies began at this time, and genre films quickly occupied the market, especially the revolution of sound technology, which made sound films develop by leaps and bounds, and watching movies became the most important entertainment life of Americans.

In the thirties, the average number of moviegoers in the United States reached more than 30 times a year, and an average of 80 million people went to the cinema every week. This phenomenon continued until after World War II. Later, with the popularization of television, Hollywood movies gradually declined, and by the end of the fifties, the average number of moviegoers per week had dropped to 40 million. The Hollywood movies of that era were beaten by TV shows. It wasn't until George Lucas, James Cameron, and Steve Spielberg that Hollywood movies returned to the top.

Chen Qiang doesn't know anything about making movies, he is like those coal bosses who have money and nowhere to spend in the future, they don't understand anything, they just throw money.

Fortunately, it doesn't cost much to invest in movies in this era. In the future, those Hollywood blockbusters, all kinds of special effects will not burn hundreds of millions of dollars, and in the 40s, there were no very expensive special effects, except for the salaries of the cast and crew, the relatively large cost was probably the film of the movie. After all, the technology of that era was not developed, the production cost of film was very high, and the sale was expensive.

In the matter of investing in movies, Chen Qiang only needs to pay money, and the rest will be handled by the lawyer. Hollywood produces so many movies every year, which will naturally attract a lot of investors, not every investor understands movies, and there are many coal bosses, so there are many lawyers in Hollywood, who help investors negotiate the details of investment with the producer, help investors strive for more returns, and even supervise the orientation of investment funds to ensure that every penny of investors will not be wasted.

Chen Qiang is not a film expert, he is not even a senior fan, and he doesn't know what kind of movie the "Mrs. Minifer" he invested in is, but he originally spent money to buy a role for Esther, as long as Esther was happy, Chen Qiang did not continue to pay attention to this movie.

At the beginning of the new year, Chen Qiang left Los Angeles to return to New York, and on the way to Washington, D.C.

On the day he arrived in Washington, it happened to be the New Year of the lunar calendar, and Hu Shi directly left Chen Qiang at the embassy and let Chen Qiang celebrate the New Year in Washington.

In the past year, the embassy in the United States has done a very good job, borrowing 20 million from the Americans with tin ore as collateral in the first half of the year, and then borrowing 25 million from the Americans with tungsten ore as collateral in the second half of the year, and now it is negotiating a larger loan with Roosevelt.

At the dinner table, Hu Shi was a little drunk, and he said a little excitedly: "The White House has promised that it will lend us 100 million US dollars next year, and Special Envoy Song is negotiating with the Americans recently!" ”

"Are the Americans really willing to give us 100 million?" Chen Qiang was a little surprised, and then he asked, "What mortgage do the Americans want this time?" ”

"The metal mines in Yunnan will definitely be mortgaged to the Americans, and the Americans also take a fancy to our equalization fund." Hu Shi replied.

Chen Qiang was taken aback: "This American has such a big appetite!" This is an attempt to control China's economy! ”

When the Republic of China carried out the reform of the fiat currency, a equalization fund was carried out as a guarantee for the issuance of legal tender, and it can be said that the equalization fund was the basis of the fiat currency, and the equalization fund at that time was set up with the help of the British, so the early fiat currency was also closely related to the exchange rate of the British pound. Now the United States wants to take advantage of the opportunity to borrow money and intervene in the equalization fund, obviously intending to control China's fiat currency, and thus the entire Chinese economy.

With Chen Qiang's financial knowledge, even now he still can't figure out the connotation of the rough leveling fund, but after all, he grew up in this era and has personally experienced the reform of fiat currency, so he knows that the Americans are planning to attack fiat currency. And once a country's currency is controlled by a foreign country, then the country's economy will also become a foreign colony.

In the past, China and the United States had borrowed tung oil, tin ore and tungsten ore, although in the final settlement of the accounts, China must have lost money, and the value of the minerals paid was much higher than the money received, but as long as the mines were returned to the United States, the two sides would be settled. However, once China pays the "equalization fund" to borrow, then the entire Chinese economy will be controlled by the United States in the future.

In exchange for tens of millions of dollars in loans in exchange for control of China's economy, it can be said that the United States has played quite shrewdly in this calculation.

Based on Chen Qiang's understanding of Chongqing, as long as the United States is willing to give money, Chongqing will most likely agree to the United States' request. As a result of the incident in southern Anhui, Chongqing is now being accused of being politically confined to an isolated situation, and if it can receive US assistance at this time, it will greatly ease the pressure on Chongqing.

Therefore, even if China's economy is controlled by the United States, Chongqing will not hesitate to accede to the United States' request.

Chen Qiang and Hu Shih were talking about borrowing money from the Americans, when an official from the embassy in the United States came over, holding a telegram in his hand and looking elated.

"Ambassador Hu, domestic telegrams." The embassy official handed the telegram to Hu Shih.

After Hu Shi read the telegram, he suddenly looked happy.

"Sir, is there any happy event? Won the war at home? Chen Qiang asked.

"Victory!" Hu Shi nodded, and continued: "There is a Japanese plane on Jiluo Road, a guerrilla in Guangdong, who do you guess is on this plane?" ”

"It's certainly not the Emperor of Japan, and it's not Hideki Tojo and Isoroku Yamamoto." Chen Qiang said casually.

"It's not Yamamoto fifty-six, but it's pretty much the same. On the plane is the big horned squirt! Hu Shi said excitedly.

"Who is the Bighorn Warrior? Also a high-ranking official in Japan? Chen Qiang is not familiar with this name.

Hu Shi opened his mouth and introduced: "Okaku is a Japanese admiral, and he has served as the Minister of the Navy in the Japanese Cabinet for three terms!" He is a veteran figure of the Japanese Navy, and he also holds real power in the Japanese military circles! ”

"Was this bighorn born killed or captured?" Chen Qiang asked again.

"When he died, he said that when the plane fell, the flesh and blood were already blurred, and the guerrillas saw that he was dressed differently from the others, and only confirmed his identity by looking through his personal documents, and a rear admiral of the Japanese Navy, General Hikojiro Suga, was also shot down together." Hu Shi opened his mouth and said.

"This is really good news, slaughtered a naval admiral, this should be the highest-ranking Japanese officer we have killed since the launch, right?" Chen Qiang asked.

"Isn't it, the Japanese must have been decades without losing their admirals!" Hu Shi seemed very excited, he couldn't help but pick up the wine glass and drink it all.

Chen Qiang pondered for a long time, and then asked, "Do Americans know about this?" ”

"How do I know that!" Hu Shi shook his head and said.

"If the Americans don't know, we have to let them know." Chen Qiang said.

"Why? Is it possible that you still want to show credit to the Americans! Hu Shi said with a smile.

"Sir, think about it carefully, why did the big horned Qinsheng appear in Guangdong?" Chen Qiang asked.

"Is it unexpectedly that this group of Japanese invaders appeared in Guangdong?" Hu Shi asked subconsciously.

"But he's a Japanese admiral!" Chen Qiang said.

"The Japanese admiral can't go to Guangdong?" Hu Shi was still puzzled.

Chen Qiang immediately said: "Sir, what do you think, we don't have a navy, now the waters around China are all controlled by the Japanese, even the Yangtze River and the Pearl River, are all Japanese warships, but against our China, Japan will send a few warships, we can't beat others, can they come to a navy?" ”

"Chen Qiang, do you have any ideas?" Hu Shi asked.

"Sir, don't you think that Japan sent an admiral here to attack Southeast Asia?" Chen Qiang asked rhetorically.

Hu Shi frowned and thought about it, then nodded: "It's possible, but it's not necessarily, maybe that big-horned Qinsheng just came to Guangzhou for a routine inspection." ”

"It doesn't matter why Otkaku Cen Sheng came, the key is to convince the Americans that Japan's next target is Southeast Asia, and we have to convince the Americans that Japan will attack the Philippines! And Dajiao Qinsheng ran to Guangdong in order to prepare for the next attack on Southeast Asia. Chen Qiang said.

Hu Shi nodded suddenly: "You kid still have a lot of ideas, the Philippines is the territory of the Americans, but the Japanese can't be involved, your trick is wonderful to drive the tiger and devour the wolf!" ”

……

After the Spring Festival, Chen Qiang left Washington and returned to New York.

Although it was February 1941, the hula hoop was still a bestseller.

In fact, the quality of the hula hoop launched by Chen Qiang is not good, in order to save costs, Chen Qiang specially asked the Bakerland company to cut corners, and the plastic production process of that era is still relatively backward, and it is difficult to produce high-quality hula hoops, which leads to the fact that these hula hoops sold by Chen Qiang are easy to break.

Fortunately, the price of hula hoops is not high, and when the production increases, the situation of buying at a higher price no longer exists, and each hula hoop is only sold for 70 cents, which the average American family can afford, and if it is broken, it will not cost much to buy another one.

As the first batch of hula hoops launched last year gradually deteriorated, more and more people will buy the second or third hula hoop, although the popularity of the hula hoop has declined, but the sales are still very good.

Chen Qiang also planned to sell hula hoops outside the United States at first, and the first target was naturally Europe.

Historically, after the Americans launched the hula hoop in 1958, they quickly spread the hula hoop to Europe, and after 1960, the hula hoop became popular in Europe. In the entire European region, the sales of hula hoops are also in the hundreds of millions.

Therefore, Chen Qiang firmly believes that Europeans will definitely be able to accept the hula hoop, and if the hula hoop is shipped to Europe, it will definitely sell well.

But now Europe, is not a good dumping ground for goods, Britain with the best relations with the United States, under the attack of the Luftwaffe is in a precarious state, from time to time you can see German fighter planes hovering over the British Isles, such Britain, what needs weapons, food, medicine and other strategic materials, not hula hoops.

The European continent has been carved up by the Soviet Union and Germany, and the United States does not have a good relationship with Germany, nor does it have a good relationship with the Soviet Union, and it is very difficult for American industrial products to be sold to Germany and the Soviet Union, and even if the Americans are willing to sell them, Germany and the Soviet Union may not be willing to buy them. Moreover, it was already 1941, and the United States was about to enter the war, and it would be even more impossible for American goods to be sold to the Germans.

Although Switzerland was a neutral country, it was a landlocked country, surrounded by German territory, and it was impossible for American goods to be transported to Switzerland through German territory.

The only big country on the European continent that has the potential to buy American products is probably Spain.

During World War II, Spain did not tear up with the United States and Britain, and at the same time supported Germany in various ways, both verbally and spiritually. It can be regarded as flattering to both sides, and neither side is offended. And because Spain is rich in tungsten ore, and tungsten ore is a necessary strategic resource for the military industry, the United States, Britain and Germany all import tungsten ore from Spain, and Spain is also making a lot of war money.

Given the international situation at that time, the United States and Britain also took great pains to prevent Spain from completely throwing themselves into Germany, after all, Spain controlled the Strait of Gibraltar, and its strategic location was very important. In order to stabilize Spain, Britain and the United States relaxed the control of oil imports and industrial raw materials to Spain, and at the same time exported medicines to Spain in the name of the Red Cross.

In other words, during World War II, American industrial products could be sold to Spain.

But after all, Spain is in Europe, in a very peaceful place, after the implementation of the wolf pack tactics in Germany, any American steamship that arrives in Spain is incomparably precious, and in wartime, there will be places on board that will give priority to the delivery of strategic materials, and will not transport such things as hula hoops.

It is obviously unrealistic to sell hula hoops to Europe, but Chen Qiang thought of another place that has something to do with Spain, that is, Argentina in South America.

The world war did not spread to South America, although the South American industry at that time was backward and there was no way to sell weapons and industrial products to Europe, but by selling food and textiles, South America still made a good profit during the Second World War.

The two largest countries in South America were Brazil and Argentina, both of which were agricultural powerhouses at the time.

Before World War II, coffee was Brazil's main export, but the Great Depression of 1929 hit Brazil's "coffee economy" hard, and the ensuing coups, dictatorships, and constitutional monarchies plunged politics into chaos that would not ease for decades to come. It is estimated that in such a place of political instability, the consumption power of the common people is also limited, and the market for hula hoops will not be too large.

The situation was much better in Argentina, which was still a developed country at the time, and Buenos Aires was called the "Paris of South America". Before World War II, Shanghai was known as the "Paris of the East", and Buenos Aires was not inferior to Shanghai at that time.

In 1941, Juan Perón had not yet staged a coup d'état, and the confrontation between Peronism and anti-Peronism had not yet destroyed the country. At this time, the political situation in Argentina was stable, the people lived and worked in peace and contentment, and the Argentine industry was not developed, so for the United States, rich Argentina was a very suitable dumping place for goods.

There are many people in New York who do international trade with Argentina, and it is not difficult for Chen Qiang to sell hula hoops to Argentina, and after he returned to New York, it only took a week to get the hula hoops sold to Argentina.

Hula hoops have finally begun to go to the world!

——————

Ask for tickets.