Chapter 449 Underground Vault
There was actually a battle fortress under the villa, which was something Sheffield had not expected. Annabelle walked down the stairs slowly with a cane. It was pitch dark below, but her hand pressed directly on the switch, and the lights suddenly came on. The villa was much larger than Sheffield had imagined.
"It's hard to imagine that there is such a place in the house!" Sheffield, who was following behind, exclaimed, "This is not a small project. It appeared without anyone noticing."
"It's not difficult!" Annabelle said slowly without looking back, "This underground fortress was built according to the cellar where we imprisoned the slaves. Of course, you haven't seen it. Your grandfather was a soft-hearted man. When he was building it, he thought about how to keep it secret. I solved this problem. I used the slaves to build it and then killed them. From 1856 to now, naturally no one knows about it."
In 1856, this underground fortress had actually existed for fifty years. While talking, Annabell kept changing the keys and walked out of a strange route. This made Sheffield unable to imagine the size of the basement. He said, "If the area is too large, it may be discovered one day. If there are really good things, it's better to keep it unknown."
"That makes sense!" Annabell opened the last door and motioned Sheffield to come up and push it open. She stood aside and said, "When we first started the construction, we dug a 22-foot base, paved it with granite, and then poured 6 feet of molten iron. We are now about 12 feet from the ground, and we used 1,800 tons of molten iron."
The last iron gate was pushed open, and Sheffield felt as if he was blinded. Was all this in front of him gold?
Annabelle was not surprised. She walked in directly from behind the heir. Her aura was so strong that it could reach eight meters high. She turned around and asked lightly, "How is it? Do you have any ideas? Do you want to kill me and inherit this wealth directly?"
"Grandma, I have a basic conscience." Sheffield said with a wry smile, "I just wonder if the eyes can deceive people. This is a bit beyond my imagination."
After that, Sheffield walked up and touched a gold brick. There was a gold seal on it, 1872! This was all gold from different eras gathered here, but no one knew how much there was. Gold bricks actually didn't take up much space, and didn't require a large vault. But even so, the scene in front of him was shocking enough.
"My marriage to your grandfather was a combination of the strong. It was certainly based on mutual affection, but it also had something to do with the fact that he was the fastest-rising plantation owner. Before the Civil War, we were the two richest people in the United States." Annabelle reminisced about the past and spoke slowly, "In 1854, he suddenly wanted to take a slave hunting team to India, which conflicted with the business in Africa, but he insisted, so I had no choice but to let him go. When he came back, he gave me the biggest surprise of my life. We chose Arlington as our new home, and that's the origin of this manor."
Sheffield suddenly had an idea. He remembered the news about the treasure of the Golden Temple in India. There was also some gold that had not been melted into gold bars in front of him. It was only a small part of the total. He said calmly, "It seems that this is just the beginning."
"Before his death, your grandfather said that the value of gold would not change within a hundred years. I am an obedient wife." Annabelle sighed, "I take out a portion of my profits every year to exchange for gold, regardless of economic prosperity or depression. This is the case every year. Venezuela's gold is also here. A total of 7.8 million ounces in the past fifty years."
Sheffield couldn't help scratching his scalp. There was nothing special about it, it was just a little itchy, but it also meant that he was not dreaming.
After reading it, Annabell took out another set of keys and walked back through a different passage. As she walked, she said, "You can't get out the way you just came. You need two different sets of keys to go in and out. Now let's talk about restoring the glory of your family."
Following the old man back to the villa, Sheffield still felt as if he was in a dream. He sat in silence for a long time. He felt that nothing was more important than calming down right now.
Annabell didn't care at all and showed great patience until the heir finally spoke, "Our country's production model will have problems every once in a while."
"Oh, cyclical economic crisis!" Annabell nodded and added, "Your grandfather was the first person I heard this term from, but I don't understand this kind of thing. It seems that you have discovered the fluctuations and sensed that danger is coming."
"Yes, grandmother. The overheated domestic economy is no longer normal. The profit rate of trust companies is only 5%. Many trust companies are expanding by borrowing money, and all the money they use is raised. Any disturbance will cause a chain reaction. I believe that there will be problems by the end of next year at the latest." Behind the underground vault, Sheffield decisively bowed to the money and said his understanding of this crisis.
"You can use all the funds controlled by the entire company. If it's still not enough, I will help." Annabelle nodded and said, "You have been collecting funds for almost a year, and the cash in your hands is not inferior to anyone else. Of course, it may be a little less than the Rockefeller family. But with so many industries involved, the ability to protect each other and resist risks is definitely stronger than other companies. Is your opponent a trust company? A cash flow of 60 million does not seem easy to deal with."
"There's still 57 million in cash flow left before I come back..." Sheffield mentioned the other party's acquisition of the copper mine, which made Annabell's eyes light up and she said with a smile, "It seems that since Morgan established the U.S. Steel Company, these bankers have become restless and think that industrial companies are easy to run?"
The reaction of the old man is no different from that of Sheffield, who thinks that these bankers think the problem is too simple. Of course, it cannot be said that way, but greed overcomes everything.
Annabelle disagreed with this and sighed, "In fact, it's not as profitable as when Black Gold was at its best."
"Yes!" Sheffield said decisively, "All the black people in the country should thank our family for allowing them to come to this country, and they are still playing their role now."
You have money, so you have the final say, and everything you say makes sense. Sheffield didn't dare to say a word, and immediately analyzed the situation once the economic crisis came from a very neutral and objective perspective, "Even if the crisis starts in the financial industry, it will eventually spread to the real industry. Once the panic spreads, whoever has cash will be the savior. Many high-quality assets will become unpopular with the stock market crash. This is a good opportunity for the United Company to expand."
"For a long time, the financial industry has been the weakness of the United Company. We cannot enter the financial circle of New York. We can only take root in the Great West to avoid competing with New York bankers. But although there are no strong banks in the Great West, there is too much and too chaotic competition, which is also not the best environment. If the United Company can seize this opportunity this time, the banks in the Great West will surely be in great mourning, and the collapsed financial industry will definitely have cracks. New York is not an unshakable existence. What I mean is that we can absorb nutrients from the corpses of many people and make up for the last shortcoming of the United Company."
"Then do it! There is probably no company in the country with a more solid foundation than ours." Annabell nodded indifferently, picked up the phone and said, "Padra, it's time to visit the graves."
For Blair, it was not a pleasant feeling to be approached by someone, especially when the person was a competitor from his former company. But he had no choice but to come to Arlington, and appeared in Arlington Manor with some uneasiness in his heart.
Sheffield came back after a long time, bringing with him a beautiful young woman and a baby in her arms. When Brian saw this scene, he thought that these were the two protagonists of the United States' century wedding.
"There are guests coming. I'll take my son upstairs!" Anne smiled politely at Blair, carried her baby son upstairs, and left the living room to her husband and the guests.
"Hello, Mr. Blair, former director of Knickerbocker Trust and Investment Company? Did you just voluntarily withdraw?" Sheffield took the initiative to extend his hand and greeted him like an old friend who had not seen each other for many years. "The New York Metropolitan City is really a place where talents gather. It is so full of talents that even Mr. Blair can't find a job. It's really surprising. But if it weren't for this, how could he have fallen into my sight?"
"Mr. William misunderstood. I just want to take a break." Blair shook his head, indicating that was not the case.
"No misunderstanding, a bunch of idiots will never tolerate people who are smarter than themselves. Even I have to pretend to be stupid sometimes, because idiots are the true level of most people!" Sheffield gestured for me to sit down, and said modestly, "Please forgive me for speaking directly. People say I am the honest William. I don't know how many people I have offended by being too honest. Fortunately, the people I have offended are so powerful that they can't even reach my knees when they jump up, otherwise it would be quite troublesome."
Since the slave owner had just received the confidence to be honest from the old man, he didn't waste any words and directly made an offer, "United Bank has always been in need of such talents. Now I sincerely invite you to join us. I hope Mr. Blair will consider it."
"Mr. William, are you?" Blair asked hesitantly. Did he notice the actions of the Knickerbocker Trust Investment Company? Sheffield nodded directly, "Yes, I like this kind of friendly competition the most. What's the problem? Don't you want to prove them wrong? Especially the current controller Mike, oh, God, I heard that he is as arrogant as Morgan, and he is almost catching up with me."
"Mr. William is equally arrogant, but he is surprisingly honest." Blair smiled bitterly, "Okay, I can try."
There are only two chapters today. I will take a look at the information about the financial crisis in 2007.
(End of this chapter)
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