Chapter 547: Selling Battleships
In the following phone call, Lowell informed Arlington of the details of what had happened and assured him that "dealing with a single individual is not a particularly difficult task for me."
"Thank you very much for your help. I have something else to do here. I'll leave Baekeland's matter to you." Sheffield thanked him in a very polite tone, said a few polite words and hung up the phone.
Scratching his messy hair and thinking about what to do next, Sheffield frowned and seemed to be quite troubled. Things always came one after another, and he thought he no longer had to carry the burden and move forward.
"What's wrong? Things aren't going well?" Anne asked, looking at her husband's distressed face.
"It's not about Baekeland. There are three things we need to do right now. The first is the trans-Pacific cable. This time, Morgan and I each got a contract. His is from New York to Europe, and mine is from San Francisco to Tokyo, Japan. There is also Shanghai, China, and Manila, Philippines." Sheffield spoke slowly and mentioned the first thing.
"It sounds like you've suffered a loss. The profits in Asia are far less than those in Europe." Anne raised her eyebrows and directly stepped into the role of Arlington's hostess.
"That's the case for the current situation. But it's not important. There are other things." Sheffield continued, "Haiti suffered a flood this year, and there seems to be a trend of political instability. When I attend the Democratic National Committee, I will try to convince the federal government to be on alert and allow the Marines to invade at any time. The last thing is that before Roosevelt left office, the Navy Department formulated a plan to contain Japan and will sign a contract with China, which includes naval training, shipbuilding and officer training."
The importance of each of these three matters is no less than that of the plastic patent. Annie nodded as she listened and said, "Even if there is a problem in Haiti, you can directly ask the members of Black Gold Company to suppress it. Black Gold Company has a base in Haiti anyway."
"How could I do this? Let my own employees die for the country? The lives of Marines are worthless. Of course, the federal government is helping companies develop." Sheffield shook his head vigorously, "How could you have such an idea? Don't you take the lives of Black Gold's employees seriously?"
"I was wrong." Anne stuck out her tongue and said a little embarrassedly, "I was thinking of taking precautions. By the time the federal government reacts, the matter may have become a big deal."
"If it gets out of hand, it's a national matter. If there are losses, Haiti will have to pay compensation after the invasion is successful." Sheffield said in a tone that America has its own national conditions. "The last thing I actually knew about a long time ago, but I never paid attention to it. It's about the contract with China. Rockefeller Jr. sent me news and thought it would improve the development of the steel company because the contract stated that it must use steel and technology from the United States."
"Going for Japan?" Annie knew as soon as she heard it that this was a side effect of the previous Russo-Japanese War. She thought her husband's sentimental problem had flared up, and she pretended not to see it because of the Japanese woman.
"Well, smart!" Sheffield let out a long sigh and said with some embarrassment, "This matter is risky."
In fact, this contract should be the Bethlehem Agreement in history, but the slave owners worked hard for twelve years, and at a critical juncture, they sent an unknown judge to become the President of the United States.
Naturally, the naval strengthening plan that should have been implemented before the fall of the Qing Dynasty changed its name and fell into the hands of the vested interests of the Democratic Party. The historical Bethlehem Agreement was that after the Regent Zaifeng came to power, he appointed himself as the Grand Marshal of the Army and Navy, and at the same time appointed his brother Zaixun and Admiral Sa Zhenbing as Ministers of the Navy, responsible for setting up the Office of Preparatory Naval Affairs.
As soon as the young and ambitious Zaixun took office, he announced an ambitious seven-year plan for the development of the navy in the late Qing Dynasty. The plan was to build eight dreadnought-class ships, more than 20 cruisers, and ten warships of various types in five years, based on the reorganization of various old warships in various oceans; to organize the first, second, and third fleets of torpedo boats; to organize the Beiyang Fleet, the Nanyang Fleet, and the Fujian Fleet; to establish military ports and docks in various oceans; to set up a naval university, and so on.
This year, it has entered the substantive stage, no longer a dream, so it attracted the attention of Rockefeller Jr. It happened that Sheffield had previously merged the shipbuilding industry in San Francisco and had the strength to manufacture the dreadnought-class.
Rockefeller Jr. thought Sheffield should have noticed the profit point long ago, but there was no movement. He could not help but call to inform the slave owners, who would not do anything without profit, what they thought.
"Then why are you hesitating? Are you afraid that the Chinese can't afford to pay?" Annie was a little puzzled because her husband was not like that.
"I am indeed afraid of losses. If the federal government can provide me with a guarantee in light of the international situation, this can be done. I am afraid of losses not because I am afraid that the Chinese will default on their debts, but because I feel that something unexpected may happen." Sheffield had already scratched his scalp until a lot of dandruff appeared on his face, and it was obvious that he was still considering the matter.
Sheffield was not afraid of being cheated in this business with the Qing Dynasty, but the days of the Qing Dynasty were numbered. Even if he worked overtime to manufacture and complete the transaction, the warships he manufactured might not be useful. Who knows if these warships will eventually belong to a certain province?
There is no such thing as defaulting on debts. Sheffield remembered seeing data in his previous life. Since 1840, the Qing Dynasty's military expenditures have always been around 40% of tax revenues. This is an agricultural country. What kind of ratio is this? The Third Reich was at this level. The Qing Dynasty's military expenditures accounted for nearly half of its expenditures until its collapse.
More than 60 years of continuous investment in strengthening the military should have yielded some results, and indeed there were some results. The Six Beiyang Regiments were one of those results, and they were mainly concentrated in the army.
But now, history has placed the choice of naval achievements in front of Sheffield, and he began to hesitate.
Anne finally understood her husband's thoughts. "You are worried that if you give them warships, they won't be able to control you."
"That's right and that's not right!" Sheffield hesitated. He couldn't tell Anne, mainly because time didn't allow it.
During the Sino-Japanese War, the Japanese Combined Fleet was stronger than the Beiyang Fleet, so the Beiyang Fleet's defeat was not unjust. The real reason for the defeat was that the army could not defeat the opponent. Now, after years of strengthening the army, Sheffield could not predict whether the Beiyang Six Towns could defeat the Japanese army.
However, judging from the early military leaders of the Beiyang government, these military leaders were not particularly afraid of Japan. The ones who were really afraid of Japan were the artillery party. In terms of the navy, it is absolutely reasonable to have strong ships and powerful guns. The Spanish navy has a glorious navy tradition and the quality of the navy soldiers is also good enough. They were almost beaten by the federal navy without any casualties.
In terms of the navy, a long and glorious tradition cannot make up for the tonnage. In the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1895, the navies of both sides can be said to have performed normally. However, Imperial Russia in the Russo-Japanese War and Spain in the Spanish-American War were typical lame performances.
"Talk about this issue with other Democratic committee members. If the federal government can provide me with a guarantee, I can take certain risks for the country." Sheffield finally figured it out. It's okay not to make money, but it's definitely not okay to lose money.
After packing up, the slave owner left his lair again. The upcoming Democratic National Committee meeting was to discuss the midterm elections. Sheffield was planning to invade Haiti to prevent trouble before it happened. He also wanted the federal government to cover his business. I really don't know what the other committees think.
The Democratic Party meeting was held in New York as expected. The slave owner thought it would be held in Chicago. It was still early for the meeting, so he went to stay at the Rockefeller estate.
Inevitably, Rockefeller Jr. began to drum up support again, urging Sheffield to seize the opportunity to expand international trade.
"Don't you have very good relations with many Chinese? I thought you had already done this." Rockefeller Jr. asked in confusion, "You can make money and contain Japan, which is beneficial to the United States. Why don't you do it? Because of that Japanese woman?"
"What do you know? The situation in China is unstable now." Sheffield put his hands on his hips. Was he going to Hawaii now and telling those people from the Tongmenghui to wait for two more years while he successfully delivered the Dreadnought-class aircraft and let the Qing Dynasty fight with Japan, and you guys were in revolution?
Finally, Sheffield was annoyed by Rockefeller Jr. and nodded, "The risk is too great. I must get the federal government to guarantee that it will not affect normal operations before I can take formal action."
"Then you have to hurry up. I have met with the Chinese ambassador several times." Rockefeller Jr. said proudly, "This time I am ahead of you. Didn't expect it?"
Sheffield narrowed his eyes and retreated tactically. If this deal failed, it would be attributed to Rockefeller Jr.'s wrong decision, and it had nothing to do with himself.
"Then I'll deal with the midterm election issues on the Democratic side first, and I'll meet him after I'm done." Sheffield frowned and nodded. If the oil tycoon didn't care, then why should he care? Even if there was a loss, it was a matter between two people.
There are less than 200 members of the Democratic National Committee nationwide, and only about 50 senior voters came to the meeting to formulate a plan for this midterm election and the possible difficulties that may arise.
What caught Sheffield's attention was that Wilson of New Jersey was running for governor as the Democratic candidate. In New York, Alice Roosevelt's cousin, Franklin Roosevelt, was running for the New York Senator. The southern states occupied very little space, and there was nothing to say about the hardcore deep blue states.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
