Fang Lang had his own reasons for asking Fit Henderson to help in opening a cigar store.
Since tobacco was introduced to Europe in the 16th century, Britain began to export tobacco to its colonies and gradually established a monopoly in the tobacco trade.
But in the early 17th century, other European countries began to enter the tobacco trade market and threatened Britain's monopoly. In order to protect its own interests, the British government began to regulate tobacco to ensure its control over the colonial tobacco trade.
The main means of control was to impose high taxes on foreign tobacco sold to Britain and its colonies.
In 1901, American tobacco companies used their powerful influence to compete with British tobacco companies by using price cuts, free gifts and sales discounts as weapons.
The British tobacco companies felt great pressure, and the 13 largest tobacco companies in the UK had no choice but to hold a meeting at the Queen's Hotel in Birmingham, where they finally reached a merger agreement.
The merged British Tobacco Company was renamed Imperial Tobacco, and other tobacco companies later chose to join.
Throughout 1901 to September 1902, Imperial Tobacco and American Tobacco Company launched a vigorous trade war around the world. In the end, the trade war ended with Imperial Tobacco's victory.
In 1902, a delegation from Imperial Tobacco visited the United States. After the failure in the UK, American Tobacco Company decided to negotiate with Imperial Tobacco.
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In September 1902, the two sides reached an agreement that the American Tobacco Company would abandon its business activities in Britain and Ireland. Except for the tobacco leaf purchasing business, Imperial Tobacco also canceled its plans to enter the US market.
Imperial Tobacco acquires the right to sell American's products in the United Kingdom, while American Tobacco acquires the right to sell Imperial's products in the United States. A new company, British American Tobacco Limited, is incorporated in the United Kingdom.
Through cooperation between the two parties, Imperial Tobacco and British American Tobacco established a nearly monopolistic tobacco network in Europe and the United States. The company's business began to develop rapidly.
Of course, the development of anything cannot be smooth sailing. Due to the emergence of the antitrust law, the business of the two companies has been affected to a certain extent.
World War II had a profound impact on the tobacco company, severely disrupting its business in Europe. In the Far East, British American Tobacco lost contact with the company, which was occupied by the Japanese.
In 1937, the company sold more than 55 billion cigarettes in its home country. After that, British American Tobacco's sales in its home country were interrupted for more than four years due to the Japanese invasion.
The post-World War II trading environment was extremely difficult. Tobacco companies had to deal with inflation, high leaf prices, and the need to rebuild assets lost in the war, all of which took a toll on profits.
It was in this situation that Fangyuan Group Tobacco Company, which controlled Brazil's tobacco resources, had the opportunity to rise.
At the same time, another American tobacco company called Philip Morris also rose to prominence.
When it comes to the name of this company, many people may not be familiar with it, but the product of this company is definitely a top-notch name, that is "Marlboro" cigarettes.
The three companies mentioned here are the global tobacco giants that have always been among the top three in the world.
According to Fang Lang's plan, he was originally planning to take advantage of the European aid program to extend Fangyuan Tobacco Company's reach into the UK.
But he did not come here for this purpose this time. He just didn't expect that Mr. Fit Henderson would take the initiative to propose to hold a cigar tasting event for his products. This can be regarded as an unexpected result!
Fang Lang immediately realized that this was a great opportunity for Fangyuan Tobacco Company to enter the British market.
It is actually very convenient for his Fangyuan Tobacco to enter the British market, because Fangyuan Tobacco has already occupied a considerable market share in other European countries.
After all, his products followed the footsteps of the Allies and entered Europe step by step. Now Fangyuan Tobacco has obtained sales licenses in Italy, Germany and France.
It is really not that easy to transfer goods from France to the UK for sale.
The Hendersons certainly had some understanding of the British tobacco market. After hearing Fang Lang's words, they looked at each other and Fit Henderson nodded nonchalantly.
"No problem, you can open the store with confidence. We, the Henderson family, promise to help you with the formalities."
Fang Lang heard this, glanced at Fit Henderson and Mrs. Henderson, and said with a happy smile:
"Thank you so much!"
In fact, from the eye contact between the two, Fang Lang already felt that he was invited to come to the UK this time because of the opinions of Fit Henderson and Mrs. Henderson. As for the specific reason, he didn't know it for the time being.
Otherwise, it would be impossible for the whole family to go to the airport to greet him in person. They could just let Reinhardt take him home and then treat him well.
Fang Lang would definitely not have any objection to this.
According to Fang Lang's understanding, this situation means "when you give a gift to someone, you must ask for something in return."
However, when the other party didn't speak, Fang Lang was happy to pretend to be clueless, waiting to see when the other party would be unable to hold back and speak.
Seeing Fang Lang's happy smile, Fate Henderson coughed lightly and continued with a smile on his face:
"Fang, as far as I know, you are now a rear admiral in Brazil, leading a complete aircraft carrier battle group, right?"
Not knowing whether the other party wanted to talk about serious matters or chat about family matters, Fang Lang still pretended to be heartless and simply replied:
“Yes, but my carrier battle group is still in its infancy, and even the naval aviation has not completed training.
Therefore, it has not formed a real combat capability, and it is really incomparable with the British Royal Navy fleet under Uncle Henderson. "
The British Navy has dominated the world for a hundred years and certainly has its own pride. Although its performance in the Second World War was not as impressive as that of the US military, it is also a real world naval power.
Therefore, what Fang Lang said was definitely not a compliment.
After hearing Fang Lang's words, Fit Henderson seemed very pleased and said with a smile on his face:
"It takes ten years for the army and a hundred years for the navy. It is indeed not possible to form combat effectiveness of the navy overnight. But it doesn't matter. With the relationship between our two families, if your fleet encounters any problems, you can bring them up.
I will never refuse to help wherever I can.”
Hearing this, Fang Lang's heart moved. Could it be that the other party wanted to promote exchanges between the two countries' navies? Want to increase the influence of the British Navy on the Brazilian Navy?
As mentioned in the previous article, although the relationship between the UK and the US remains consistent in the general direction, they also have their own little calculations.
If there was an opportunity to drive a wedge into South America, the United States' backyard, Britain would definitely welcome it. After all, World War II had already exhausted the last bit of Britain's strength.
They can no longer maintain the tough stance of the British Empire, and the United States' ongoing decolonization efforts are clearly further weakening Britain's strength and influence.
This forced Britain to start using its global political influence to act as a global troublemaker.
And enhancing Britain's influence in South America, which is within the US sphere of influence, is obviously an essential part of the Troublemaker Plan.
If Fang Lang remembered correctly, Brazil's first aircraft carrier in later generations was the giant aircraft carrier "Avenger" sold to Brazil by Britain.
Of course, all these just flashed through Fang Lang's mind.
Although Brazil and the United States now have a good relationship, and his fleet has made rapid progress due to the presence of American instructors, Fang Lang could not refuse the idea of the British Royal Navy Chief of Staff to offer help.
This is the same principle as not putting all your eggs in one basket.
In international relations, it is impossible for Brazil to only be friendly with the United States without having in-depth exchanges with other countries.
If Brazil can take advantage of this opportunity to establish contact with the British Navy, it will be beneficial to it in every way.
So, he said without hesitation:
"Really? I would love to have the help of the Royal Navy.
When I came to the UK this time, the Ministry of Defense arranged a tour for me to visit a British shipyard. I wonder if Uncle Henderson can help arrange it."
Fang Lang's words obviously shocked Fit Henderson, and he even sat up straighter unconsciously.
"Oh! Fang, you came here this time with the mission of visiting the British shipyard?
As far as I know, your Brazilian Navy's warships seem to be purchased from the United States. Why did your Ministry of Defense arrange for you to visit our British shipyard?"
The other party's performance made Fang Lang more certain of his guess.
Maybe the British, like the Americans, want to sell some obsolete warships to Brazil.
But he is a major shareholder of Shata Company. How could he possibly harm the interests of his own company and push Brazil to purchase warships from the UK!
Isn't it said that the British M16 intelligence agency is very powerful? How come they don't even know that they are shareholders of Shata Company?
However, since the other party asked Fang Lang about the purpose of visiting the British shipyard, Fang Lang was not prepared to hide it and said frankly:
"Surely Uncle Henderson knows about my Universal Shipyard?"
Seeing the other party nodded, Fang Lang continued.
"Our family has established a joint venture with Global Shipyard to build a shipyard in Brazil. In addition to undertaking the manufacturing of some container ships, we recently received an order from the Brazilian Navy to start the construction plan of the first autonomous destroyer.
However, this destroyer was modeled after the American Fletcher-class destroyer, and is not the most advanced destroyer. So, this time I came to the UK to visit the shipyard to learn some of the latest knowledge about destroyer construction in the UK.
See if we can provide some reference for the destroyers we build ourselves."
Fang Lang's words instantly disappointed Fit Henderson, who was originally in high spirits, and his body, which had just been sitting up, relaxed a little.
Seeing this, Fang Lang confirmed his guess again.
"The Fletcher-class destroyer is already the most advanced destroyer! Now Reinhardt and his men are still using this type of destroyer to carry out missions."
Hearing this, Fang Lang was stunned. When did the British Empire's requirements become so low? The Fletcher-class destroyer can indeed be said to be one of the most successful destroyers in World War II.
But it can definitely not be called the most advanced at this point!
The United States has already cleared out its Fletcher-class destroyers and the new Gearing-class destroyers have already been put into service. You, the British Royal Navy, actually said that the Fletcher-class destroyers are the most advanced. Isn't this just a lie?
In fact, this was also because Fang Lang didn't quite understand the situation in Britain. World War II had already drained the last bit of wealth of the British Empire. In addition, the British economy was sluggish due to the trauma of the war and was no longer able to maintain the huge military expenditure. Naturally, the strength of the navy was getting worse and worse.
In the more than 70 years since World War II, Britain has only built 29 destroyers of four types, including eight County-class destroyers, one Type 82 Bristol-class destroyer, 14 Type 42 Sheffield-class destroyers, and six Type 45 Daring-class destroyers.
Not to mention compared with superpowers of the Cold War era such as the United States and the Soviet Union, it is far inferior even when compared with the current East Asian countries.
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