Chapter 431 Funeral and Joy

"This little money is no longer counted. It's not worth haggling over." Sheffield shook his head slightly and said to Evelyn, "There's nothing unstable. Coastal areas have advantages in trade. There are no enemies except war. The states along the Pacific coast will definitely develop. Of course, whether a country is truly strong depends on whether the inland areas are strong. You can usually disrespect the citizens of the inland areas, but when it comes to critical moments, they are much more reliable than the coastal areas."

The honesty of slave owners became more and more serious. What coastal cities feared most was war. Just like during the Spanish-American War, when New Yorkers heard that the Spanish fleet would land, they were scared. If they were afraid of even Spain, who else would not be afraid?

Once the war is underway, international trade will stagnate. For a large country, the resources will be favored by the places near it, but that is for other countries. The United States is special. The resources are near New York. Regardless of war or peace, New York can always develop. For slave owners, this is a very infuriating thing.

The federal government does not have the power of a centralized state and cannot replicate the experience of the administrative capital's suppression. Therefore, there is a rumor among the people that New York is New York and the United States is the United States, and these are two different worlds.

If we don't operate well along the Pacific coast, we will not be able to compete with the New York metropolis relying solely on the existing conditions in the South.

"I must gain a foothold in the West," Sheffield said solemnly, "If the federal government decides to rebuild San Francisco, I will take advantage of this opportunity to take the United Company to the next level."

"Shipbuilding industry?" Evelyn asked doubtfully, "But the market on the West Coast is not that big, so it's quite difficult."

"The world is changing rapidly, and maybe the Navy still needs us." Sheffield changed the subject and said, "If there are no problems, let's sign the contract. Right now, the citizens of California are still in shock, especially since the federal government has not yet come up with a resolution. We are the first to announce this good news, which will be very encouraging."

The official press conference about the United Company's formal acquisition of the San Francisco Shipyard was held directly in front of the citizens of Los Angeles at this moment of survival. Evelyn dressed very beautifully and appeared at the press conference in formal attire. She spoke with a unique gentle temperament, "My friend Mr. William is still busy now, so I, as the middleman, will answer some questions for the reorganization of the two companies."

"Sheffield United is a powerful, comprehensive company with a wide range of operations. Our local citizens should be very familiar with this company. The United Company also operates many businesses in California. It would be too long to start from the beginning. Take this merger as an example. The San Francisco Shipyard is an important enterprise in San Francisco, but it was severely damaged in this earthquake. It can be said that it suffered a lot of damage."

"It would be extremely difficult to recover on your own. I was the one who introduced the two companies and facilitated communication." Evelyn spoke clearly, and her good looks made everyone listen attentively. "In the end, the United Company took the initiative to seek capital injection to help the San Francisco Shipyard, which was already in trouble. This will be a perfect proof to the outside world that the earthquake is just a natural disaster. A truly large company will not give up its optimistic forecast for California's development because of a natural disaster. I believe no one thinks that the United Company is a small company."

With the instruction of the slave owner, Evelyn began to directly hold a funeral for the wedding. When the attitude of the federal government was unclear, it was the first to step forward and use the merger to tell the citizens of Los Angeles and even the entire California that the United States's major companies have not lost confidence in California.

"Although Mr. William was not present, he demonstrated with practical actions that California and even the entire West have good development prospects. As for more specific details," Evelyn pointed to the two Frege brothers on the right and said, "the other partner, the owner of the San Francisco Shipyard, will explain it clearly."

"With the investment from the United Company, the San Francisco Shipyard will surely get through this difficult time quickly," Alfrege said, forcing a smile. "Especially since the earthquake happened not long ago. For us Californians, this attitude is very important. On the contrary, when we needed help the most, the federal government did not let us feel the warmth."

The last sentence Alfrege said was definitely what he was thinking. Only the federal government could prevent their shipyard from being acquired, but the federal government was ambiguous about the reconstruction, which made the two brothers feel uncertain and could only reluctantly accept the acquisition. Now even if there was good news, the contract had already been signed, and the good news would only make the two brothers hate the inefficiency of the federal government even more.

"The federal government is also under a lot of pressure." Evelyn spoke in a pretentious manner to smooth things over, suggesting that Alfredo had just spoken out of turn. But with so many reporters gathered in California, the subtext was that the federal government had disappointed California. Evelyn knew very well that her man was working hard to ensure that the Democratic Party could come to power again.

Although Evelyn was somewhat unhappy with this rather shady method, as long as the slave owner was happy, it was not a bad idea to break the principle once. Perhaps it could be used to put pressure on the federal government. Her man once said that crying children should be fed with milk. The example might be wrong, but the principle was the same.

This merger press conference was highly praised by California newspapers, who believed that at this difficult time, the United Company had already said everything with dollars by acquiring the earthquake-damaged shipyard with a large sum of money. Some pro-Democratic newspapers also began to use sarcastic rhetoric to subconsciously lead to disappointment with the federal government.

This was the reaction from the outside world, but Evelin still felt that this acquisition was actually a bit of a loss when she returned to the manor. Because the current naval construction was almost completed, there would be no orders for restarting shipbuilding. Her man had rarely made a loss-making deal. She said, "It's just for skilled workers and equipment to build a 10,000-ton ship, but the prospects are not good, so it's still a bit of a loss. We need time to run the shipyard, don't we?"

Evelyn felt that when the naval construction was already in the final stage, it was too late for Sheffield to start acquiring shipyards at this time, not to mention that it would take at least half a year and at most a year to repair the damaged shipyard and resume business. It was estimated that the last few orders would not be available.

"My dear, you have to look at the problem from a development perspective. If you can't catch up with this round, can you wait for the next round? You don't have much money, right?" Sheffield looked relaxed, making use of his wealth and billions, "I don't lack this little liquidity, I can definitely wait."

“You bad guy!” Evelyn looked around and saw that there was no one around. Natalia was still in the room, so she reached out and grabbed the slave owner’s handle, baring her silver teeth and saying, “You will never do a business that loses money.”

"Of course, but I won't say anything for sure, because it would be embarrassing if the prediction is inaccurate. It's just like trying not to show up in front of reporters, because if you talk too much, there will be many fools, but there are also many smart people, and they won't be deceived all the time." Sheffield raised his eyebrows. The example of Jack Ma not being able to control his mouth was vivid in his mind. He would inevitably backfire if he kept bragging.

Seeing Evelin holding on to the handle, Sheffield could only whisper, "Well, I think the naval construction is not yet complete. Don't tell anyone, otherwise it will be bad if the prediction is wrong."

As a veteran keyboard warrior, Sheffield's inner BB Party attributes are rarely revealed. Although he knows that heresy such as aircraft carriers and submarines will win in the end. But with his own existence, the Yamato battleship is definitely not the first.

As far as the current naval construction of the United States is concerned, most people think it is sufficient, but Sheffield knows that the current naval fleet, which seems powerful, will soon be eliminated.

The Great White Fleet, which was about to enter the historical stage, was the United States showing its muscles to powerful countries and wielding the diplomatic stick in a special way, especially to the aggressive Japan in the Pacific region. The arrival of this ocean-going fleet was like a basin of cold water that woke the Japanese from their victory in the Russo-Japanese War. From then on, the Japanese attitude towards Americans took a 180-degree turn.

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But the British dreadnought-class battleships had already been launched, and the subsequent crushing would make the former dreadnought-class ships of the United States very embarrassed, because the United States Navy fleet was actually very new, most of them were less than ten years old, and it would be a bit of an overreaction to renovate such new warships, but if they were not renovated, they would appear to be backward. This would make the Great White Fleet very embarrassed when it arrived in Europe.

The second round of major construction of the United States Navy had begun when the Great White Fleet set out, so the shipyard was definitely not an unprofitable industry. After the merger, Sheffield, which was already able to manufacture 10,000-ton warships, would always be able to get a piece of the pie.

After a round of funerals and celebrations, Los Angeles finally returned to peace. Although San Francisco was still in ruins, the Black Gold Company, which had put away the murder weapon, also joined in the concern. The terrible memories of the earthquake were slowly fading from people's minds, but for those who lost their loved ones, it would take longer to completely forget the past.

The damage to downtown San Francisco was gradually known. More than half of the city was razed to the ground due to the earthquake and arson. Eighty percent of the remaining buildings were dilapidated and could no longer be lived in.

The tents brought by the slave owners were far from enough. In fact, until now, tents have been continuously transported by rail and sent to San Francisco. The open spaces in San Francisco are full of tents with the logo of the Union Company standing everywhere.

(End of this chapter)