Fang Lang's meaning was also very clear. Since it was a company funded by everyone, everyone should arrange their own people to participate in the establishment and management of the company.

Since the two companies have already expressed their intention to participate, of course they will not be polite and they all nodded in agreement.

Seeing that the atmosphere seemed a bit dull, Fang Lang quickly handed everyone a cigar and spoke again:

“To be honest, I have some ideas about building this expressway. As you all know, I am Brazilian. The traffic environment in Brazil is still quite bad. I want to take advantage of this opportunity to build expressways for Europe to accumulate some experience in road and bridge construction.

After I have built a strong team, I would like to try to build a few highways in Brazil.

Originally I was thinking of using reinforced concrete pavement directly, but since Mr. Rockefeller has proposed that high-quality asphalt can be provided, I wonder to what extent asphalt pavement has developed now!

It won’t melt when it encounters high temperatures, and it won’t stick when a car drives over it! Also, it won’t deform when a heavy car presses on it! "

In fact, what Fang Lang meant was that this road and bridge company was going to organize itself, which would also make it convenient to bring it back to Brazil for road and bridge construction in the future.

In fact, neither the Morgan nor the Rockefeller family had any interest in this. After all, this was just a contractor's job, and large conglomerates like theirs looked down on such a business.

...

...

But Fang Lang didn't see it that way. After all, in the next few decades, the world would develop rapidly, and there would be countless construction projects. As long as his road and bridge company could really be trained in Europe, it could take orders from all over the world and build some large projects, even high-rise buildings with hundreds of floors.

These are all engineering projects that can make a lot of money. Think about the various road and bridge companies in later generations, they are all huge behemoths.

Rockefeller's expression froze when he heard Fang Lang's question. What Fang Lang said about asphalt was actually true. This was also the reason why concrete pavement was so popular during this period.

After coughing twice, he said awkwardly:

"Um! Well! There are definitely some issues with asphalt materials, but compared to concrete pavement, the construction time of asphalt pavement is shorter!"

In fact, Fang Lang has some understanding of cement pavements and asphalt pavements. The current construction level of asphalt pavements in Europe and the United States is actually the same asphalt roads as the old national highways in his hometown. After a period of use, they will become bumpy.

Especially in the summer, the high temperature can even melt the road surface. Walking on it will stick to you like a fly sticker. If it is run over by several overloaded trucks, it will become bumpy.

Therefore, for a long time afterwards, the highways in my hometown all used concrete pavements, until a new type of asphalt concrete material was developed and put into use, only then did a large number of asphalt pavements begin to appear.

The new type of asphalt concrete pavement not only has low noise, less dust, good drainage, less wear on tires, and comfortable driving, but also has short construction time and easy maintenance.

Of course, it is not without disadvantages. For example, the cost is often higher than that of concrete pavement. In addition, the pavement is softer than concrete pavement. If the vehicle is parked in place and continues to exert pressure on it, it may deform.

This is why highways are all asphalt, but toll booths are concrete. After all, vehicles need to stop and wait in line to pay, which can easily cause the road surface to deform.

Seeing that Rockefeller was not telling the truth, Fang Lang did not expose him. If the highway franchise negotiated with the local government was less than 30 years, he would definitely choose concrete pavement without hesitation. After all, it was less costly.

As for the maintenance issues thirty years later, it is none of his business.

After more than 30 years, he must find a way to reduce his maintenance costs. At this time, the new asphalt pavement is obviously more suitable.

He smiled and said:

"Mr. Rockefeller, the current asphalt pavement materials are definitely not suitable for use as highway materials."

Then he glanced at Morgan and the others on the other side before saying:

"But I do have some new asphalt concrete technology that can solve these problems. It can be said that I have certain technical advantages in the construction of this highway.

Of course, in order to complete our highway construction plan better and faster, I need your help a little bit here.”

After saying this, he looked at everyone present with burning eyes.

This made Morgan and Rockefeller look at each other, and they were secretly worried about what this guy was going to do. Especially the Morgan family, who were already a little overwhelmed by the endless new tricks of Fang Lang.

When they heard that they needed a small favor, they couldn't help but secretly complain in their hearts. Needing help from the few people here doesn't seem like a small favor at all! This made them have to be cautious.

Although Rockefeller on the side did not have such a deep understanding, he was also a little confused about Fang Lang's wild thoughts, and did not dare to express his opinion easily.

Marshall, a government official, didn't care. He glanced at Morgan and Rockefeller and said:

"Fang, you are so polite. Since you can promise to build a highway in the local area, it will solve the biggest obstacle in our negotiations with the local government.

If there is anything I can do to help you, please feel free to ask. If it is within my ability, I will spare no effort to help you solve it. If there is something I cannot solve, I will report it to Mr. President and I will definitely find a way to help you solve it. "

Marshall, who has come this far, is definitely not a simple person. He is very clear about the status of the people in front of him at this moment, so he calmly pointed out Morgan, Rockefeller and others, telling them that Fang Lang's ideas helped them solve the biggest obstacle.

Some people only made a promise to Fang Lang on their own behalf.

Fang Lang did not comment on this. In his opinion, his request for everyone to do a small favor was really just a small favor.

Seeing that they were all staring at him intently, Fang Lang did not keep them in suspense and spoke directly:

“As I said earlier, I have a new technology for asphalt concrete that I need to apply, and this requires the use of some brand new machinery and equipment.

My company does not have the R&D capabilities in this area, but I believe that for a powerful country like the United States, there should be many such companies. So, I hope you can help me acquire such a company. "

Everyone who heard this breathed a sigh of relief. Avery Morgan looked at Fang Lang with interest and said:

"Haha...it seems that Fang is very confident in his new technology! But there are many companies like the one you mentioned in the United States. I wonder what kind of mechanical equipment you want to study!"

Seeing everyone's relaxed expressions, Fang Lang knew that his request should not be difficult, so he stopped being polite and continued:

"To be precise, what I need is a factory that produces construction machinery. At least it should be able to develop mixing equipment, pavers, and rollers. These are just the most basic asphalt road construction equipment.

If you want to build a highway, you will definitely need to cut through mountains, build bridges across rivers, and even dig tunnels, all of which require professional construction equipment, such as excavators, bulldozers, cranes, bridge erectors, and even spearhead machines. "

These mechanical equipment are actually not rare things nowadays. Excavators, for example, have existed for a long time. However, the modern hydraulic excavator was not born until 1951 by the French company Poclain.

The mainstream product currently in use is still the steam shovel driven by a diesel generator, but what Fang Lang wants to study is naturally the hydraulically driven excavator that is very common in later generations.

Some people may think that the shield machine for digging tunnels should be a new thing, but in fact, the shield machine was invented by French engineer Brunel as early as 1842 and was widely used in the construction of London subway tunnels.

To research and manufacture so many engineering machinery and equipment at the same time, it naturally requires a lot of manpower, physical and financial resources. When Harken Morgan heard Fang Lang announce the names of so many engineering machines, he felt a headache.

He was very worried that Fang Lang would continue to ask the Morgan Consortium to provide funds to support his project, so he quickly said:

"Fang, since you already have a complete idea in mind, we will definitely support you. I wonder if you have any specific targets you want to acquire. Tell us and we will help you think of a solution."

Upon hearing this, Fang Lang picked up the cigar, put it to his lips and took a deep puff, then slowly exhaled the cigarette. His sharp eyes were hidden behind the smoke as he glanced at everyone's expressions.

He looked at everyone with a smile on his face and said:

"As for a target, I do have one. It's a company in Illinois, USA that makes crawler bulldozers. It's called Caterpillar."

Everyone had different expressions when they heard the name of the company, especially the Morgan family members who obviously didn't know much about this company and thought there was nothing wrong with it.

Rockefeller on the side, however, changed his expression and glanced at General Marshall unconsciously.

General Marshall had obviously heard of the name of this company. He glanced at Fang Lang with a flickering gaze, then slowly said:

"Oh! I know the company you mentioned, but there may be some trouble. Because they are still the main supplier of the chassis of the M4 medium tanks for the US military."

Now, several people from the Morgan family and Rockefeller couldn't help but look at each other again, and finally understood why Fang Lang said that he needed their help for a small favor.

It turns out that this little favor isn’t that easy to help with!

The M4 medium tank was one of the main battle tanks of the United States during World War II, code-named "Sherman". This bulldozer company, which seems inconspicuous now, is the world's largest manufacturer of construction machinery and mining equipment, one of the gas engines and industrial gas turbines, and one of the world's largest diesel engine manufacturers.

His products are very common in China in later generations. They are the engineering machinery brand known as Carter. Its logo is a yellow triangle under the three letters CAT.

The reason why he was able to grow from a factory producing bulldozers to such a large scale was naturally because he took advantage of the World War II and produced a large number of "Sherman" tanks for the United States.

Later, with the help of the European aid plan, the company acquired some factories in Europe and opened branches to grow rapidly.

Fang Lang even suspected at one point that the other party might have poached a lot of technical experts from defeated Germany, which was one of the main reasons why Fang Lang set his sights on this company.

After hearing Marshall's words, Fang Lang smiled indifferently and said:

"Hasn't the current Sherman tank been discontinued? Besides, what I want to acquire is Caterpillar's civilian engineering machinery manufacturing plant, which shouldn't be difficult!"

Hearing this, Marshall became a little hesitant. In fact, during the war, Caterpillar was already one of the main suppliers of tank chassis for the US military.

But with the end of World War II, although the new tank project in the United States is still under study, the production progress has obviously slowed down. For example, the Sherman, the main battle tank in World War II, has indeed been discontinued.

This situation did not resume until March of this year, that is, March 1947, when Duterte delivered a speech in Congress, announcing the official implementation of Duterteism, the world began to divide into two poles, and the United States began to act as the world policeman and conduct military intervention throughout the world.

In other words, if Fang Lang really wanted to take over Caterpillar, he had to act quickly before the United States resumed the arms race with the Soviet Union, and not give the U.S. government too much time to consider.

And now is the last window of opportunity, so Fang Lang certainly does not want to miss such an opportunity and turns his attention to Morgan and Rockefeller.

At this time, the four of them looked at each other and understood what the other party meant. Obviously, now everyone is barely on the same boat. Although they don't understand why Fang Lang is interested in this company, for capitalists like them.

Using a factory that does not belong to you in exchange for an investment opportunity that can bring you huge profits is a sure-win deal that does not require any calculation.

Therefore, after the four of them looked at each other, they all nodded to Fang Lang. Charles Morgan, as the representative of the Morgan family, spoke first:

"No problem. We'll do you this small favor. Tomorrow I'll arrange for someone to start buying Caterpillar shares in the market."

Alvin Rockefeller, who represented the Rockefeller family, did not hesitate. After Charles Morgan expressed his opinion, he immediately spoke:

"I will also arrange for someone to start secretly buying shares of this company tomorrow."

The intentions of the two companies are very clear, and they will definitely not encounter any resistance if they come forward to buy the company's stocks. As for whether the two companies' simultaneous interest in the same company's stocks will cause a reaction in the market.

Fang Lang was not worried at all. He did not even look at the backgrounds of the two companies, let alone doubt their professional capabilities in acquisitions.

Maybe, if the two of them took all the company stocks mortgaged to their two banks, it would be enough for Fang Lang to become the major shareholder of this company.

As for how to turn other people's stocks pledged in banks into their own assets, it is not too easy for them.

No one has said at what price the company's shares will be sold to Fang Lang, nor has anyone said what proportion of shares will be acquired in the end. Now all that needs to be confirmed is that the two companies will hand over the controlling rights of Caterpillar to Fang Lang.

The final transaction details will be discussed in detail after the banquet. As for what Marshall in the reception room is thinking now, no one cares anymore.