Opening game, American Tycoon

Chapter 200 Players behind the scenes (first update, please subscribe)
The sound of the siren for going to work in the early morning, accompanied by a blood-red sun that has just risen, sounded almost at the same time.

When the whistle sounded,
Soon, the yarn machines in the workshop of Yuhua Spinning Factory started to run again, and the roar of thousands of spinning machines driven by the drive shaft of the steam engine was like thunder in summer!

The female workers are walking back and forth in front of the spinning machine. They will work from 1:3 am to [-]:[-] pm for a total of [-] hours, with only half an hour rest in between, but even so, the female workers Still cherish this rare job very much.This is especially true for Western technicians in factories. After all, most of their counterparts in Europe not only work sixteen or seventeen hours a day, but are also unemployed.It is definitely an extremely happy thing to be able to find such a job here, and the working hours are reduced by [-]/[-] compared with the past.

Of course, they didn't know.The establishment of this large textile factory is entirely due to the cotton crisis in Europe.Otherwise, it would be impossible for Nanhua to buy a large amount of cotton textile equipment at its cheap or even scrap iron price, and quickly build up the cotton textile industry.

When the cotton textile industry in Europe went bankrupt due to insufficient cotton, the newly built cotton textile factory in Nanhua had sufficient raw materials to start production.That in itself is a miracle.Of course, to the outside world, Nanhua's cotton supply may come from the local area, but only a few people know it.Those cottons come from America.

It can even be said that it is the cotton in the United States that has achieved all this. On the one hand, it quickly smuggled arms in exchange for cheap cotton, and on the other hand, it shipped cotton out of the United States and sold it at a price nearly ten times higher.Then buy machines from Europe at the price of scrap iron, set up a cotton textile factory, and then take the opportunity to produce cotton cloth and other cotton textiles to seize the market.

Inadvertently, Nanhua carried out a small virtuous trade circle.But it's not the normal department of the company that presides over all this.It's the little-known investigation department.

Like many buildings built in 1863, Wing On Plaza No. 11 is also a reinforced concrete building. The style of the six-storey building is different from Western style and Chinese style, but the outer layer of the building has a little Chinese style decoration.

This is the investigation department of Nanhua Company.

The investigation department, in the earliest days, was the investigation department, with only six people.At the beginning, it was responsible for statistics and other work, but in the past two years, from the investigation department to the investigation department, with the continuous enrichment of personnel.

By the end of 1863, the investigation department had developed into a large department with more than [-] employees, and even more than [-] foreign employees were stationed in Britain, France, the United States, Argentina and other places, specializing in collecting business information.In fact, this is also a relatively common organization in enterprises.

In this era, many insurance companies and shipping companies have their own investigation agencies, which specialize in the collection and investigation of commercial information, and even many foreign employees in the investigation department are poached from companies such as insurance companies and shipping companies.

But those foreign employees are either permanently stationed in European and American countries, or they can only work below the third floor of the company building and participate in ordinary business investigations.After all, companies are not just business research agencies.

"Last month, special convoys crossed the Union Navy blockade thirteen times, smuggling some 20 bales of cotton from Confederate ports. Although this was less than 10 percent of the Southern ports' annual pre-war cotton exports, as the Special With the increase in the number of ships in the transport fleet, by the end of next year, our fleet can basically bring out all the cotton in the south.”

Behind the desk, Qian Zizhuang smiled kindly at him while listening to his subordinate's channel.

"Martin, on the return trip, we need to ship out as much cotton as possible. It is an important source of income for the Confederacy. Only when the cotton is shipped out can they have money to buy important war materials and continue to fight. Of course, the most important thing is to continue fighting. It is profit. The civil war brought cotton production in the southern United States to a standstill. Under the severe contradiction between supply and demand, the global cotton price has risen by about four times. However, in the southern ports, cotton prices are still comparable to or even lower than before the war. Means surviving, we'll get four times the profit just by getting the cotton out of the Confederacy! Two hundred thousand bales of cotton... to London, that's a profit of millions of pounds!"

As the head of the investigation department, Qian Zizhuang, although he only studied in a private school for a few years, as an "old man in the gold mine", he has always won the trust of his boss. From the investigation department to the investigation department, he followed his boss's wishes step by step, The investigation department is built, while hiring European and American investigators to study investigation and collection, and at the same time setting up training courses to train their own personnel.

Now the trade with the south is in charge of the third department of the investigation department, and the person in charge of the three foreign countries, Martin Coleman, is not a Chinese. He is the earliest naturalized citizen in South China, and he is Mr. Diego's confidant , who had been in charge of secret operations in Buenos Aires, fled to Nanhua after his identity was exposed.

Despite his curly black hair and deep-set blue eyes, he speaks Mandarin Chinese fluently.The reason why he was put in charge of the third office was because of his appearance, which made him suitable for overseas operations.

Even in the training class of the investigation department, there are some street children and orphans collected from South America and all over Europe, and they are trained for a long time so that they can be sent to other countries in the future to engage in investigation and intelligence work.

"Yes, Mr. Minister."

Martin nodded.

"As it is, our trade with the South is a barter trade, and last month we managed to ship about 5 muskets. 103 cannon, and enough lead and saltpeter to make 1000 million rounds of small arms ammunition, and Enough shoes, uniforms and blankets for the entire army. In addition, about 300 million kilograms of canned meat, corned beef and other materials, these materials have strongly supported the fighting in the south, but now the south is dissatisfied with our quotation and feels that We are quoting too low for cotton and too high for supplies."

"dissatisfied?"

Qian Zizhuang sneered.

"Don't pay attention to them, now only our ship can continuously transport the supplies they need. If they don't accept our offer, they can find someone else."

Under the blockade of the North, the trade with the South is a seller's market, and those Southerners in Richmond have no room to bargain.Qian Zizhuang didn't even bother to talk to them. Right now, "Special Transport Company" is earning several million pounds a month in profit, but it's his capital to claim credit in front of his boss.

The so-called special transport company is actually the general name of more than a dozen companies.In the company list of the investigation department, there are more than 30 companies engaged in smuggling to the south and business related to cotton trade.

It is under the cover of many that they can obtain huge profits through smuggling as much as possible.Of course, these profits will be handed over to the company in the end, which will be used to purchase various machines and develop Nanhua's industries.

Crisis, sometimes someone else's crisis is your own opportunity.For the South, this war is definitely a good opportunity for development.

The same is true for the investigation department. The current expansion of the investigation department also benefits from the war fought by the Americans thousands of miles away, and from the unprecedented opportunities brought about by that war.

"Yes, that's what we replied to them."

Exclusive business has this advantage, the initiative is completely in your own hands.The other party has no bargaining power at all.

"By the way, Minister, they once again stated that they hope to buy our ships."

"Don't reject them, don't agree to them, it's up to the owner to decide."

Let Qian Zizhuang wave his hand, he doesn't need to make a decision, he knows the answer, and he will never sell the boat to them.

"By the way, there is another matter. I noticed in the briefing that the political situation in Uruguay is not stable recently. I also want to know about other local situations. You can see if you can get a report from Buenos Aires. Send an investigator over there and gather as much information as you can on the ground. Got it?"

Martin wasn't surprised by the minister's order. He was an expert at doing this, and it was his job.

"Yes, Mr. Minister, but it will take some time for our people to go there. I know a few Uruguayans in the past. They can also do this, or let them do it..."

In this era, patriotism is not popular, especially in South America. Maybe those people were French, Romans, Sardinians or Prussians a few months ago. Which country did they love?
Just like Martin, he said he was Argentinian, but he immigrated from Ireland. In Ireland, he almost starved to death. Love England?

is it possible?
As for Ireland, there is no such country in this world.

"That's right, that's fine too. We're using local contacts when we set up an intelligence network. However, we must pay attention to their movements, and it's best for our people to master them. After all, we still need to be more cautious in this work."

Staring at the bright sunny day outside the window, watching the passers-by walking back and forth in the square.At this time, Nanhua is very quiet. It seems that the disputes in the world have nothing to do with this place. People are busy and working. They create wealth here. After a busy day, they will ring at 6 o'clock. When it rings, leave work, and come home to a peaceful life.

However, how long can such a quiet time last?Maybe in a few years, maybe in a dozen years, all this will be broken, and all they need to do now is to prepare before it all breaks.

"Okay, Martin,"

Qian Zizhuang said to Martin behind him a little bluntly,

"Go and sit on your business. As for the boat you mentioned before, don't worry about it. As long as we have a boat in our hands, they will definitely not be able to do without us!"

(End of this chapter)