When Fang Lang returned to the Charles Joes, Captain Cross looked at Fang Lang with surprise and asked, "Hey! Fang, why are you back empty-handed?"
Fang Lang certainly did not return empty-handed. On his wrist was a first-generation Patek Philippe perpetual calendar watch. Fang Lang had the impression that this watch alone was limited to four pieces worldwide, and the auction price reached more than 70 million. This was a gift that Carlo had to give to Fang Lang.
At Carlo's suggestion, Fang Lang spent fifty dollars to buy two Luger P08 pistols. According to Carlo's understanding, the Luger P08 pistols were very popular in the American collectibles market, but he couldn't tell the exact value. After careful consideration, Fang Lang accepted his suggestion. Not to mention that it was a great way to make money.
"Mr. Captain, on the streets of Italy, all I found were pizza shops and pasta shops. I really don't know what to bring to the United States." After saying that, he shrugged and looked at Captain Cross helplessly.
"Haha... Fang, don't you notice the beauties who are a specialty of the Italian streets?" Captain Cross began to joke with Fang Lang between men.
"Captain, I am still young and have not discovered the difference between Italian girls and American girls. I think I need your personal demonstration and guidance."
Apparently, women are always the most attractive topic among men. Fang Lang didn't even need to answer as the crew members around him started talking about the difference between Italian beauties and American beauties. The atmosphere was so lively that Fang Lang integrated into the team very quickly.
Time passed quickly, and nothing happened that night. The next morning, before the sun rose, the Charles Joss Victory Ship set sail, and Fang Lang began his life of sailing again after his rebirth.
Captain Cross originally thought that the young Fang Lang was bragging when he said that he was capable of handling the work of a large ocean-going ship. However, when the first mate took Fang Lang to familiarize himself with the location and use of the equipment on board,
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Fang Lang's performance surprised all the sailors on the ship. He was competent for almost any role on the ship, as if he had rich work experience in every position. This made Captain Cross very satisfied, and he felt that he had finally found someone like him.
Because in Europe and the United States at this time, captains did not have to start from the grassroots level as in modern China, and had to take exams for each position before they could finally take the captain's qualification exam. Most captains went directly to a navigation school to study navigation, and then took management positions on board. As the chief engineer of an ocean-going container ship in modern society, Fang Lang had a captain's qualification certificate and was required to take turns on duty when the captain was resting.
Captain Cross was an exception because he was black. In American society, even if you were better than white people, you could not enjoy the same treatment as white people. Therefore, he started as the most basic sailor. Finally, through his own efforts and the shortage of captains during World War II, he had the opportunity to become a rare black captain.
This made Cross like Fang Lang very much. Although they were sailing with the escort fleet and had no chance to choose the route independently, when the two of them were discussing, Fang Lang revealed that he had a wealth of knowledge about navigation. He knew a lot of geographical knowledge about seasons, climate, ocean currents, weather, etc., which even Cross had never heard of.
He is also very skilled in the use of the ship's navigation equipment. He can use all kinds of equipment such as sextant, compass, radio compass, and astronomical clock, and the measured routes and longitude and latitude are very accurate.
Fang Lang's sailing skills were unanimously recognized by the crew, and he was directly assigned to the duty rotation after crossing the Strait of Gibraltar.
In fact, Fang Lang was not familiar with some equipment, such as the anti-aircraft machine guns and anti-submarine guns on the ship. Whenever he had a chance, Fang Lang would go over and maintain these guns and artillery with the soldiers. After all, this was a man's romance. It was not known whether it was because the escort fleet was too large or because the Germans knew that this was an empty ship returning to the United States and had no attack value, so after fifteen days of sailing, Fang Lang did not encounter any attack from the German Navy submarine force and safely arrived in New York, the largest port city on the east coast of the United States.
During this period, the New York port was basically crowded with Liberty and Victory ships traveling to and from Europe. There was no berth available for other merchant ships, so the port was basically full of American soldiers. Now because it was wartime, in order to pursue efficiency in loading, three shifts were basically used. The loading and unloading work at the port was basically a state of resting people while the equipment was not, so the efficiency was very high.
Originally, based on Fang Lang's understanding of bulk carriers like the Victory, it would take at least ten days to fill a 7,000-ton Victory. As a result, Captain Cross told Fang Lang that they only had three days to load and unload supplies and inspect the ship in New York.
In fact, Fang Lang had been observing Captain Cross and his men on the ship. After nearly half a month of getting along, Fang Lang felt that Captain Cross and his men were trustworthy. After repeated consideration, in order to maximize the benefits and increase the number of his single purchases, he decided to bring all the crew members into his plan, but of course he would not reveal everything.
Just before the ship was about to dock, Fang Lang found Captain Cross and said seriously, "Captain, I wonder if we can talk alone!"
Cross looked at this outstanding young man, took a puff from his pipe, and nodded, "Of course, Fang, you can talk to me anytime if you have anything on your mind."
Although he didn't know what Captain Cross was thinking, Fang Lang knew that he must have misunderstood something, but he didn't care.
"Captain, after spending half a month with you, you have not treated me as an outsider at all. I am very grateful. To thank you for your care during this period, I have a small business that may make you a little fortune. I wonder if you are interested."
Hearing that Fang Lang could make everyone a small fortune, he was moved and said with a smile: "Fang, of course we won't refuse anything that can make us rich. I wonder if you can tell us what it is specifically about. Things that violate military discipline are not allowed, but everything else is fine."
"I wonder if bringing some personal belongings on board is considered a violation of military discipline?"
Captain Cross's answer put his mind at ease. When he saw this guy suddenly wanted to talk to him in secret when he was about to dock, he thought he was going to do something illegal! It turned out that he just wanted to smuggle some goods. I think American soldiers can use military aircraft to transport drugs, but you use a boat to carry some personal belongings, and you make it so mysterious, it's scary.
"Of course it's no problem, you can bring as many as you want, but what do you mean by taking us to get rich together?"
"I have a way to make money. If you invest one hundred dollars now, I will purchase the goods and help you transport them to Italy for processing. I guarantee you three times the profit. I wonder if you are interested." Fang Lang would not tell them the real profit. For such a lucrative business, the fewer people who know about it, the better.
When Cross heard Fang Lang say that there was three times the profit, his eyes widened. Not every business can have such high profits.
"Fang, are you serious?" Cross asked seriously.
"Of course, you don't have to worry about anything. Just invest in me and I'll do the purchasing. You help me with the transportation and I'll sell. I guarantee you three times the profit, and I'll cover it if it's not enough. If everything goes well this time, you can help me with the purchasing and transportation to the destination in the future, and I'll pay you three times the price. How about it?" Fang Lang looked straight into Cross' eyes and said seriously.
Some people may wonder, don’t these crew members know the market price of cigarettes on the battlefield? Why don’t they purchase and sell them themselves? In fact, the market price of cigarettes is mainly in the front-line battlefield. The crew members on the navy’s transport fleet basically have no time to stay in the war zone. They are constantly transporting supplies back and forth.
During the short stay in the war zone, most American soldiers would look for women. After all, in wartime, soldiers have to put their heads on the line and every day they live is earned. Therefore, not many people would think about making money in this situation.
However, there will definitely be some black market merchants who will find these crew members to buy cigarettes, but merchants all want to make money and will not let these soldiers earn too much, so Fang Lang's promise of three times the profit will definitely allow all crew members to participate.
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