A TRAIN LEFT HOUSTON WITH A SNORT, AND WAITED UNTIL IT REACHED THE TEXAS BORDER, BECAUSE THE TRACK SPACING WAS DIFFERENT, AND THE VAN DE BILT FATHER AND SON TOOK THE ENTOURAGE AND CHANGED TO THE BRITISH STANDARD 1435MM RAIL SPACING "YANKEY" TRAIN.

This track is one of many laid by the Vanderbilt Railroad Company.

After boarding their own train, the Vanderbilt father and son entered a train compartment together.

The train started slowly, and with the "noise" of the old-fashioned train, the father and son could also say something "between their own people" with confidence.

"What a fun teenager and a fun journey."

"Henry, do you know what I saw along the way?"

"Since entering the Dixie area, the rich people on the train, the staff at the train station, the vendors selling their wares on the platform at the transit station......"

Without exception, I braged about the "greatness" of Hero Company, and even after I, a Yankee, casually touted Hero Company, I thought of it as a "good brother of the Dixie". ”

"It's as if the heroes were their own drivers."

And Tom Smith, the founder of Hero Company, is cheesy and more like a "Dixie redneck" than these ordinary Dixies. ”

"His plans and strategies are also simple and crude, really like Dixikee."

"Speaking of his plan to sell things at a loss, Henry, what do you think?"

Cornelius looked out the window at the endless cotton plantations, at the "black slaves" who had already begun to prepare for spring ploughing, and asked what his son thought of this "double rich union" plan.

"Father, I'm not optimistic about this plan, can this kind of loss reselling really defeat those Yankee consortiums that are intertwined with each other?"

"Don't look at me, if you don't have me at this time, what kind of impact will this plan have?"

Cornelius's words made Henry a little sluggish.

Henry also understood that his father should really want to use this incident to "ascend" himself.

My father is also old.

Henry, who was leaning back in his chair, relaxed his whole body on the swaying train, carefully pondering the details of this "double-rich cooperation".

"Smith has been emphasizing secrecy, but how can such a big move be kept secret?"

"That's not right! He's not afraid of leaks! Even if the secret is leaked, the crazy Yankee consortium will not stop the reselling plan, so what is he trying to do? ”

"The price of Hero Company's products has not increased for several years, and this will only make more and more "Hero Dollars" on the market, and Hero Company's goods will become more and more worthless. ”

"Why?"

"Bury the Yankees like 'Scarlet Monday'? ”

"He's going to ......"

Henry sat up straight suddenly, his eyes wide as he looked at his father, Cornelius, who simply smiled back at his son and ended the conversation.

Cornelius thought back to the huge number of workers he had seen in Texas, even more than the entire Great Lakes industrial area, and that he dared to gamble with his own little "small family business" of the New York City Central Railroad network.

——————

April 1, 1868,

Tom summoned all the Hero Company executives.

One of the characteristics of the top management of the hero company is cronyism, almost all of them are XX Smith, and occasionally a few are not sexual Smiths, and they are also close relatives who are related to the core members of the Smith family.

Tom doesn't need to be "smart" and "smart", he just needs a group of "family" who trust each other.

It has been a month and a half since Cornelius Vanderbilt left, and the price of agricultural products on the market has soared to 14,000 percent before the economic crisis, that is, the price has increased by 140 times!

And the price of Hero Company's goods is still so "cheap".

The factory area of the hero company has reached the level of making and selling as much as possible, and the warehouse seems to be just a bunch of useless "ornaments" that decorate the factory area.

So, how does Hero pay the high bills of every agricultural supplier?

How did you close such a large funding gap?

It's the "Hero Dollar", and now the Texas State Bank, Hero Bank, has begun issuing "Hero Dollars" with a face value of $1,000.

However, with the support of Hero's large number of low-priced goods and Hero's own reputation, the value of the "Hero Dollar" actually did not fluctuate much.

But all of them are not fools and know that Hero Inc. is losing money.

The "core" members who have accompanied Tom to make a fortune since Tom crossed over are still firmly believed in the "Tom Myth" and that Tom can lead the Smith family to greater "glory".

The members of the "Smith" family, who are "foreign" and not very close to Tom, have long been talking about this.

"Ahem..."

"Good news! After today, you will no longer have to buy agricultural products. ”

"From this afternoon, all the old factories in the old factory area have been suspended."

"All workers were transferred to military factories and other infrastructure-related factories in the new factory area."

"Surplus workers will be sent to various places to build infrastructure......"

John, the CEO of the hero company standing on the podium, announced this order that made all the executives "dumbfounded", if it weren't for Tom Smith, the "helmsman" who never appeared in non-major meetings, sitting in the first row below, the executives would have thought that the order to close the factory was not an order made up by John himself.

"Now the only profit of the Hero Company is the negligible profit in the old factory area, and if all the factories are closed, the Hero Company may go bankrupt tomorrow."

"John, is this really Tom's order?"

"Shut down the factory? What about those previous orders? ”

"This will cause Hero Company to face tens of millions of dollars in compensation!"

"It's not going to be an April Fool's joke, is it?"

“……”

Before John could finish speaking, the executives in the underground couldn't hold back their excitement and began to talk about each other.

This bombshell news, like a depth charge detonating the conference room, executives can't believe their ears, Hero Company is actually going to close the "Hero Industrial Zone" that has relied on it for more than two years.

John's hands were pressed together, and the room fell silent again.

Tom sat in the first row, silently listening to the "fabricated command".

Everyone knew what that action meant—the order meant Tom.

"By tomorrow morning, evacuate all the workers in the hero factory area in an orderly manner, and blast all the buildings in the old factory area with TNT tomorrow morning."

"At the same time, Hero Company and all its subsidiaries declared bankruptcy together."

After John said this, he looked at Tom, who nodded expressionlessly.

In silence, Tom slowly got up from his seat and left the meeting, followed by John.