In mid-September, Lin Zhichao said goodbye to his family, arranged the company's affairs, and officially started his trip to Europe.

On this trip, he went to Germany to buy automatic zipper machines, because he learned from some sources that there are two or three machine factories in Germany that can produce automatic zipper machines.

This kind of news should be very accurate, because zippers are a necessity for the army, and because zippered clothes and shoes are easier to take off and wear, the European and American armies purchase a very large amount. And Germany, as the initiator of World War II, has no reason why it doesn't even have an automatic zipper machine, otherwise where would it buy so many zippers from!

However, there is also a certain unknown, because after the defeat of Germany, it is unknown whether these machine factories will resume production.

But Lin Zhichao still decided to go to Germany for an investigation instead of going to the United States; The reason is simple, if the German machine factory can produce, he intends to cooperate for a long time, not only is the price cheaper, but the German machine factory may be more willing to participate in the improvement.

If you go to the United States to find a cooperative machinery factory, others may not look up to a Hong Kong businessman, and the price will definitely be more expensive. Only when there is no harvest in Germany, Lin Zhichao will change his route to the United States for investigation.

Boarding the Douglas plane of the 'British Imperial Airways', Lin Zhichao was worried, going out in this era is really handing over his life to others.

After the war, there were only three airlines flying to and from Hong Kong: Imperial Airways, Pan Am Airways, and China Civil Aviation Company (with an American component).

As for Cathay Pacific Airways at this time, there is only one aircraft, providing passenger and cargo charter services, and routes between Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and the mainland. And now Cathay Pacific is not owned by Swire Pacific, but by two Americans and an Austrian.

According to Lin Zhichao, the reason why Cathay Pacific Airways became a subsidiary of Swire Pacific was because of the crash of the flight between 'Pan Am Airways' Macau and Hong Kong next year, and the crash of the flight between 'China Airlines' and Hong Kong, and the two accidents in 1948 caused no passengers, so Swire took advantage of it and took control of Cathay Pacific.

Sitting on the plane, surrounded by foreigners, there are only a few Chinese, and the foreigners around me are Christians, and as soon as they come up, they gesture 'God bless'.

And Lin Zhichao's mood has calmed down, because, as a businessman who aspires to become a world businessman, he must often fly overseas, so he doesn't have the courage to develop a local old hat in Hong Kong.

There were foreign passengers around him, everyone looked down on each other, and they didn't chat, so Lin Zhichao directly took out a book and learned, which was an English book about machinery. Lin Zhichao is like a learning machine, as long as he is free, he will not waste time. What's more, there is no woman around, what else can I do besides these!

It took two flights to reach London, and one more to Germany.

........

Lin Zhichao came to the outside of the Bourne Machinery Factory and began to negotiate in the broken German he had just learned.

"I am a Hong Kong businessman, I want to buy the automatic zipper machine produced by your company, please let me meet your person in charge, SIR!"

The uncle guarding the door listened to Lin Zhichao's unskilled German and said: "Our factory doesn't produce that thing now, but now it produces textile machinery." ”

Lin Zhichao was stunned for a moment, looked at the factory that was still a little dilapidated, and had not yet been repaired from the war, and couldn't help but feel a little anxious. Due to the clogged nature of information, it is so difficult to buy a machine.

Suddenly, Lin Zhichao blurted out: "Did Bourne Machinery Factory produce automatic zipper machines before?" ”

Only then did he remember that the old man said that he would not produce that thing now, which means that it had been produced before.

Sure enough, the old man nodded and said, "Congratulations, you answered correctly, but after the war, it was no longer produced, and it was changed to produce the best selling textile machines." ”

Lin Zhichao immediately said: "I also need to buy textile machines, please take me to talk to your person in charge." ”

The old man of the doorman looked left and right at Lin Zhichao, and saw that although Lin Zhichao was a Chinese, he could speak broken German, and he was dressed so stylishly, so he no longer hesitated.

took Lin Zhichao to an office.

"Mr. Gauss, this guest wants to buy a textile machine, I brought it to you!"

Gauss is a young man in his thirties, who is worried about business difficulties at this time, Lao Tzu squatted in prison, and saw that Lin Zhichao was a Chinese, and he also stood up to greet him in a friendly manner.

"Sir, where are you a merchant?"

Lin Zhichao said confidently: "Hong Kong businessmen! I heard that the Bourne Machinery Factory used to produce automatic zipper machines, and I don't know if there is any stock in the factory, so I am more interested. ”

Gauss was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed, and hurriedly said: "Yes, yes!" ”

Lin Zhichao said deliberately: "The uncle just now said that they have changed to produce textile machines, could it be that those automatic zipper machines are products of World War II?" ”

Gauss secretly scolded the old man for being troublesome, but he still said honestly: "Indeed! However, I can guarantee that the machines are all functional, I remember there were three in total, and although they are more than three years old, they are almost brand new. ”

Lin Zhichao was not in a hurry to check the machine, but continued to ask: "Then do you still have an engineer for the automatic rice row machine in your company?" ”

This is very important, if there is any problem, Lin Zhichao will definitely let the people of Bourne Machinery come to Hong Kong for maintenance.

Gauss said: "Of course! In fact, we still have the strength to produce automatic zipper machines, but, to be honest, automatic zipper machines are not easy to sell now, so we switch to producing textile machines. ”

Thinking of this, Lin Zhichao was already full of joy, thinking that it was not good to be a teacher, but it was actually a God-given opportunity.

Next, Lin Zhichao asked Gauss to take him to see the machine, and Gauss arranged for the engineer to go there.

.......

When he saw the running state of the machine, Lin Zhichao was very happy, but he still had the same face.

"Manager Gauss, how much does this machine cost?"

Gauss was a sincere young man, and his father was sentenced to three years for producing weapons of war, but the government needed to resume production, and after efforts returned the machine factory to Gauss, of course, cutting the arms production business.

This situation abounds in Germany, for example, the owner of the Krupp company, Germany's largest arms manufacturer during World War II, was also sentenced to four years, but later returned part of the machinery company's business to the family; In less than ten years, it has become one of the top ten machinery factories in Europe, and its shipbuilding, truck and other businesses are the top in Europe.

"Mr. Lin, I can sell these three automatic zipper machines to you for $30,000 each, which is a total of $90,000. This price is almost already the price of second-hand machinery. I know you've come from afar in the hope of taking them with you. ”

Lin Zhichao immediately exaggerated 'Ou' and said in shock: "Oh my God, are you here in the United States?" At this price, you can go to the United States and buy a brand new one. Mr. Gauss, you need to think again! ”

Gauss was taken aback, in fact, he was very worried about these three machines, so he also hung their information in the magazine, but no one came to negotiate the purchase.

"This ..... 28,000 US dollars, this price is really very reasonable, we Germans will not deliberately shout a sky-high price when doing business, Mr. Lin, you need to know this. ”

Lin Zhichao said at this time: "Mr. Gauss, I will first inspect your factory for a few days, first, I need your engineers to teach me how to use it, as well as simple maintenance; Second, I'm going to need a lot of looms in the future, so I'll look at them with you. You may not know that because of the war in China, many textile and garment factories have gone to Hong Kong, where there is a great demand. ”

Goston was overjoyed and said, "Of course there is no problem, Mr. Lin and I hit it off at first sight, if you have time, you can inspect my factory for a long time." ”

Lin Zhichao stretched out his right hand and said, "Happy cooperation"

In fact, Lin Zhichao's idea is to figure out the mechanical operation and working principle of the automatic zipper, because there are the best teachers here. At the same time, if you look at other people's factories and learn from the experience of the factory, you will definitely be able to return with a full load.

As for the investigation of textile machinery, Lin Zhichao is not a mouthful, he does the zipper industry, and he will be involved in the textile industry. Although he will not dabble in at first, he will definitely develop holistically in the future.