Chapter 187 The Ambitious Maine

"We are civilian patriots who help the federal government, not the main offensive force. The boss means to win the trust of the Cuban rebels and seize the estates, mines and everything valuable from the Spanish nobles."

Facing the armed forces that gathered, John Connor and Brown made their own plans. "We will join the war in the name of the United Fruit Company. First, we must confirm the news of the outbreak of the war and wait for the federal fleet to destroy the Spanish navy before we can take action. Port-au-Prince is less than 200 miles away from Cuba. We can reach the battlefield in two days at most. We will land at Guantanamo in southeastern Cuba. This is behind the main battlefield, and there should not be a large number of Spanish soldiers."

"Although we all believe that everyone here is a professional that major companies rely on and certainly has no lack of combat experience, we still have to avoid fighting the Spanish regular army, as they have the federal army to deal with them. The good thing is that the United Company headquarters actually has a lot of investments in Cuba. We know the situation inside Cuba very well and will choose the smallest route to advance." After Brown gave a general idea, John Connor added, "After we go ashore, we will get in touch with the rebels through their industries in Cuba, but we must remain vigilant. If the war goes well, they will be our last enemy."

"As for the benefits we can get, it all depends on our own performance. If we can grab enough benefits for the company behind us, we will definitely get a lot of benefits. Our boss is a generous person and will not care about trivial details."

No one wants to work for nothing. The Civil War was caused by completely opposite and irreconcilable interests. The reason why the Southern Confederate Army wanted to fight to the end was that they did not want to be robbed by the North. The armed leaders present were all remnants of the Confederacy.

Port-au-Prince is busier than ever before, with more than 10,000 armed forces gathered here. These patriots are preparing to help the country in their own way and oppose the oppression of the European empire on America.

Sheffield had just finished watching a movie at the New Orleans Opera House. There were only two other audience members in the entire theater, including himself. As for the movie, it was a sample film just brought from Hollywood, called Olympic Champions. Although the name is very straightforward, it is close to the theme. It is a black-and-white silent film belonging to an entire era. The actors are all American athletes who achieved results in the Athens Olympics.

Although Sheffield was just waiting for someone here and watched a movie to kill time, if even the boss himself didn't care about movies, he couldn't expect to move others. Although he didn't understand movies at all, it didn't stop him from watching it. He actually watched the whole documentary-like movie.

"David, to show the theme of sports changing destiny, of course you have to show patriotism, which you did very well, but you should also emphasize the athletes' difficult backgrounds and healthy bodies, and add a hint that even if you don't have good grades, you can still become a very successful person as long as you work hard." Sheffield tilted his head and whispered to David Griffith who was sitting next to him, "It should be better to resonate through struggle this way."

"Of course any movie has to make a profit. Profit is the first thing to consider, not the so-called artistry. It can only be said that some geniuses can have both profitability and artistry, and balance the two very well. Such filmmakers are the most favored by investors. If there is only artistry but no profit, naturally no one will invest. No matter how famous you are, it is all in the past. If you can't achieve the profit target, what can you use to make movies? Although I said it so directly, it is the fact."

Sheffield did not hide this fact at all in front of David Griffith. No one would keep making movies that don't make money. A filmmaker with a conscience might make commercial films to make money, and then not abandon art films, leaving some leftovers for them. This is already a very conscientious boss.

Sheffield met David Griffith at an early age. He knew that David Griffith was too stubborn. In the end, because he wanted to instill his own ideas, he failed repeatedly and lost the confidence of investors. Without confidence, investors would naturally not use him to make movies. The father of Hollywood was soon forgotten.

It is rare for him to meet a filmmaker who agrees with him, and he hopes to instill ideas that are in line with his own interests into the public through this filmmaker. Therefore, he does not want a director from the South to be eliminated by the times because of his disrespect for capital. After all, both of them are subconsciously dissatisfied with the current country and want to restore the situation before the Civil War when the South led the country.

David Griffith's subconsciousness can be seen from his famous masterpiece The Birth of a Nation. However, Sheffield obviously has more ideas. He also has to take into account his class position, such as profit. There are also private goods in the movie, such as happy education. Through this movie, he wants to give a hint to the citizens of the United States that knowledge may not necessarily change destiny, and there are many ways to win glory for the country.

Sheffield has gradually gotten rid of his youthful ignorance and is no longer so averse to charity. He believes that the sports facilities of major universities are not up to standard and should receive donations from some conscientious capitalists, such as himself.

Besides, he accepted Coubertin's invitation to help prepare for the Olympics and brought in some small countries to form participating teams, which was to serve the development of happy education. He himself did not care whether the citizens of the United States were alcoholics, drug addicts, or prostitutes, thinking about things in their pants, which was better than thinking about rebellion.

Many things are interconnected. Sheffield's use of Mexicans to divert attention can be considered a success, but it can also be considered a failure. It only added an object of hatred for California citizens, but it does not mean that the Chinese workers are no longer hated. Last year, there were also several marches protesting against United's use of Chinese workers, although they were not large in scale.

But it was enough to sound the alarm. After all, playing it safe is not a long-term solution. The economy is fine now, but when the next round of economic crisis comes, it will be difficult to solve it. In order to prevent it from happening, he was prepared to let Spain pay a little price to solve the problems belonging to the United States.

"Add a close-up of the Coca-Cola bottle, and mention another Pepsi through a conversation with a friend. It's something that can be solved in a few seconds, plus a row of dialogue subtitles, and it's perfect." Finally, Sheffield mentioned the shot of product placement, and ended his communication with David Griffith on how to shoot a movie.

If Sheffield waited until David Griffith became famous, it would be very difficult for him to communicate with him. When he becomes arrogant, he will become stubborn. Fortunately, David Griffith did not have the capital to fight against investors, and he was abandoned by investors. The young David Griffith could still be saved.

Finally, Sheffield made one last exchange. "When it comes to the North-South issue, it's not the right time for us to choose to make similar movies when the Democrats are in power. You also know that because of the failure of the Civil War, the Republican base is much larger than the Democratic Party, but I believe we will wait for this opportunity. I hope that the citizens of the West will stand with us. This requires many partners to dig deep in the West. In fact, if there were no other things, investing in Washington State would have been put on the agenda by the United Company. You and I are not old, so we can wait until that day."

Through the communication over the past two days, Sheffield has figured out that David Griffith has always wanted to speak for the South in the film, and he does not object to this because they both have the same stance on this matter. However, it is not appropriate when the Republicans are in power, and the unspoken rules must still be followed.

The two had just talked when a group of people came in from the entrance of the theater behind them. McHale, Gail, Carter and others were among them. After a round of body searches, more than a dozen people sat nearby. David Griffith knew that he had to leave, so he stood up and left. After he left, McHale hurriedly asked, "What happened?"

"Everything went well. The fleet from Houston Port was supposed to go to Florida, but it didn't. Instead, it went directly to Havana. I heard it was to evacuate overseas Chinese." Sheffield rubbed his tired eyes and said, "It should be soon."

"If a conflict really breaks out, I'm a little nervous. The domestic army has less than 30,000 people." Carter said worriedly, "Cuba has 150,000 Spanish regular troops and 80,000 armed forces, which means more than 200,000 armed forces. Will the federal government really take the risk?"

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The United States Army still has only 30,000 troops, and the Army was indeed expanded after the Venezuelan crisis ended. However, the voices of the first class overwhelmed the other branches of the military, and the expansion of the United States military became the expansion of the Navy. After the expansion of the Army, it was gradually reduced, and now it has become 30,000 again, to be precise, 28,700.

"The federal government may not take risks, but there are some things that the government may not necessarily do." Sheffield said ambiguously. 150,000 Spanish regular troops, 80,000 militiamen, and 230,000 troops looked quite scary.

"Don't worry. If a war really breaks out, it means that someone in our country thinks that the current military strength is absolutely sufficient and that victory is certain!" Sheffield comforted Carter. He remembered that in the two naval battles in Cuba and the Philippines, the US Navy lost only one man and completely annihilated the Spanish naval fleets in both places. "Hasn't the Maine already turned to Havana? Maybe it has negotiated with Spain."

As they approached Havana, the naval soldiers on the battleship Maine looked relaxed and cheered, because they had forced their way to Cuba despite the fierce opposition and solemn protests of Spain and regardless of the feelings of the old imperialists. This kind of glory enveloped everyone, enough to make them forget the not-so-distant Venezuelan crisis and how the United States was pinned to the ground by a British squadron and dared not move.

(End of this chapter)