Chapter 1427 Arms Broker (First update, please subscribe)
After a war breaks out, all the participants in the war think about is winning!
The most important factor in winning a war is the production of munitions. It is the production in the rear that determines the outcome of the war.
After the United States declared war, under the banner of "resisting aggression", the Washington Congress passed a military appropriation of 5 billion US dollars, an unprecedentedly large amount of appropriation.
Driven by patriotic enthusiasm, 90 million Americans bought large quantities of war bonds, and at the same time billions of dollars were quickly transferred to the accounts of various arms dealers.
Stimulated by billions of dollars in military orders, factories that were originally under-utilized due to the economic depression immediately became active. Factory owners waved their money to recruit workers. If there were not enough men, women would do. In order to meet military production, factory owners purchased a large number of machines to produce weapons needed by the army while producing. They stopped producing ordinary industrial products and switched to producing profitable or lucrative weapons.
mobilization!
Essentially, it was accomplished under the stimulation of money. Faced with billions of dollars in military orders, the patriotism of every industrial and commercial capitalist was ignited. They clamored to provide the US military with the most advanced weapons to defeat the invaders, and at the same time, they quietly raised the price a lot.
Of course, their reasons were simple, such as rising raw material costs, rising labor costs, and the need to pay overtime. In a word, they ruthlessly bit off the fat piece of meat called arms.
This is something that ordinary people cannot imagine. They do not realize that their patriotism will eventually become part of the wealth of greedy capitalists.
Ordinary people certainly don't know that when their children or their fathers eagerly sign up to join the army to resist the invasion of the Ming Empire, those wealthy or powerful people only need to pay a few hundred dollars to exempt themselves and their children from military service. Even if they do serve, they can serve as military representatives in their own factories, away from the harm of war.
In a word, in war, politicians provide ammunition, the rich provide food, and the poor provide children! When the war is over, politicians take political prestige, the rich get more food, and the poor can only look for their children in the graves...
Of course, ordinary people are unaware of all this. While they send their children to the battlefield to bleed "for the sacred America", the rich are quietly making money. To them, iron and blood are just a means to earn more wealth.
Everything was so easy, so cheap, and so lucrative.
War has always been a feast.
On the surface, it looked like a feast for the nations to share the spoils, but in reality, it was a feast for capital! Whether in the United States, Britain, Ming Dynasty, or France, businessmen could always make unprecedented profits from it.
The arms trade has always been one of the most profitable businesses in the world. During war, the profits from the arms trade are even greater. Even in such a large war, arms brokers are always present.
They were even more active than before the war.
In Lisbon, early in the morning, the door of Santos Fertilizer Company was knocked open and a well-dressed British man walked in. As soon as he saw Santos, he spoke directly.
"Mr. Santos, thank you for giving me the time to meet you. I think you know why I'm here!"
The reason why Stan said this is because Santos has goods that he urgently needs, and not only him, but many countries need it.
"Yes, Mr. Stan."
Santos said with a smile.
"Then you should also know that many people want it. But..."
He looked at Stan, paused, and then spoke.
"Someone recommended to me that Mr. Stan is a tycoon with a very high reputation, so I have waited for you until now."
Stan smiled and nodded.
"I think you will be very satisfied with my offer!"
As he spoke, he held out a check.
"This is 1 million pounds. I hope to buy all of your company's Chilean saltpeter, which is the 18,257 tons of Chilean saltpeter on the Mermaid!"
Chilean saltpeter!
This is exactly why Stan came here. War is inseparable from propellants and explosives, and the production of these two is inseparable from nitric acid, and the production of nitric acid is inseparable from saltpeter, and the whole world extracts nitric acid from "Chilean saltpeter".
And Chilean saltpeter is produced in the Ming Dynasty!
Before the war broke out, European countries imported more than 2 million tons of saltpeter from Ming Dynasty every year for use as fertilizer. What about now?
The source of saltpeter has been cut off!
It didn't matter if there was no saltpeter as a fertilizer, Britain had vast colonies that could provide food and other crops. But without saltpeter, there would be no nitric acid, and without nitric acid there would be no propellant and explosives. Without these two things... Britain might as well just surrender.
Although Britain had stockpiled more than 100,000 tons of saltpeter before the war broke out and requisitioned all the saltpeter in the country after the war broke out, God knows how long this war will last.
Now countries such as Britain, Germany and Italy are rushing to buy saltpeter in various European countries. As for the French and Russians, they don't need to rush to buy it - the Ming Dynasty will provide them with enough saltpeter.
"One million pounds..."
Santos's face, which was squeezed by obesity, became a little solemn, as if he was thinking about something.
"Mr. Santos, this price is already three times your contract price."
Stan raised his eyebrows. This was not three times the profit, but three times the total price! God bless him, he became a rich man overnight!
"I know, but you also know that saltpeter is really in great demand right now!"
Santos still had a smile on his face. As a businessman, cooperation brings wealth.
"And you should know that my company signed a long-term cooperation agreement with Atacama five years ago. I obtained a quota of 75,000 tons of saltpeter per year. Mr. Stan, just yesterday, I sent a telegram to Atacama. In the telegram, I reconfirmed the contract between us. Do you know how they responded?"
Atacama Corporation is the world's largest saltpeter company. It owns 70% of Chile's saltpeter mines. European countries purchase more than 1.5 million tons of saltpeter from it every year. Of course, it is also a state-owned company, a state-owned company of the Ming Empire.
Stan asked, raising his eyebrow.
"How did you reply?"
"The telegram is simple - our contracts are not affected by the war, and they will continue to supply unless the Imperial Commerce Department gives new instructions."
Santos said, staring at Stan.
"Do you know what this means, Mr. Stan?"
(End of this chapter)
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