Go back in time and be a chaebol

Chapter 351 Canned goods are hard currency (Third update, please subscribe)

Offering help in times of need is light on courtesy but heavy on affection.

But the price is definitely higher.

When the newly established "Ping An International Defense Co., Ltd." began to try to provide "help in times of need" in the Middle East, a long time ago, a group of businessmen had already provided help in times of need in Europe.

Zhao Xudong got off the train in Essen.

Compared with the place name Essen, another name may be more familiar to people-Krupp.

This name almost accompanied the rise and fall of Germany, from Prussia to the German Empire, from the Weimar Republic to the Third Reich.

Essen is where its headquarters is located. To a certain extent, Krupp is Essen, and Essen is Krupp.

But now, with the decline of the Third Reich, Krupp has also fallen into silence, the factory has been closed, and Krupp's head has been imprisoned.

This city, like all German cities, suffered heavy losses during the war. There are ruins as far as the eye can see, but there are still treasures hidden among the ruins.

Zhao Xudong came here this time to dig for gold in these ruins - he bought open-pit coal mining equipment and technology. Although the largest open-pit coal mine in Germany is under the control of the Russians, the large wheel bucket type used in the coal mine The excavator is manufactured by Krupp.

Krupp is now in a semi-stop production, because of the Allied occupation, because there is no leader, because...

The core point is that there is no business.

Hank, who has been working in the Krupp family for two generations, has been working hard to rebuild Krupp's glory in the past two years. He knows that only through his own efforts can he have the chance to bring Alfred back to life. Digging out of jail.

There was a knock on the door, and the female secretary came in and said:

"Sir, there are two foreigners outside who want to see you and say they have business to discuss with you."

"Foreigner?"

Hank had no idea what the foreigners were doing here.

Although he couldn't figure it out, he still nodded:

"Invite them in!"

After a while, Zhao Xudong and the translator walked in.

After the two parties introduced each other, Zhao Xudong directly stated his purpose of coming.

"We are building an open-pit coal mine with an annual output of 800 million tons. I came here this time just to buy equipment from you."

"Sir, you have come to the right place. You know that the best wheel bucket excavators in the world are designed and manufactured by us."

Hank was also quick to talk and asked directly:

"You should know that we sold over 50 wheel bucket excavators even before the war. It was very productive and required only a small number of people to excavate large amounts of coal. We are always available if you need it. We can design and manufacture a device that meets your needs according to your needs.”

A bucket wheel excavator is a multi-bucket excavator that uses multiple buckets mounted on the runner at the front end of the boom to continuously excavate. It has high productivity, large digging force, and can even produce thousands of tons per hour. It is definitely the king of mining equipment in open pit mines.

"That's why I came here. I want to purchase various equipment from Krupp, including bucket wheel excavators." Zhao Xudong said, handing over a purchase list in German with what he wanted. Procurement of technology and equipment.

Looking at the list worth millions of dollars, Hank showed a surprised expression and said;

"Sir, your information is really well-informed. You came to us just after the Allies allowed us to resume production. Please rest assured that although we have just resumed production, there are absolutely no problems in technology or production!"

"You should understand that I don't just want machines!"

Zhao Xudong's reminder reminded Hank for a while.

"Should the things you want to buy involve the transfer of core technology?"

Zhao Xudong nodded: "If it weren't for the core technology, there would be no need for me to come all the way here."

And Hank answered:

"Mr. Li, with all due respect, if it involves core technology, you may be disappointed. This kind of core technology and related equipment cannot be easily sold to other countries."

"It all depends on people!"

Zhao Xudong smiled calmly and continued;

"I can pay a technology transfer fee of US$500,000 for this thing!"

"Half a million dollars!"

Hank couldn't help but look at the shopping list carefully.

On the purchase list are not only technologies related to wheel bucket excavators, but also various technologies such as cranes, hydraulics, pile hammers, etc. These technologies are all technologies that Krupp holds ahead of other countries.

Zhao Xudong continued:

"Besides, I won't pay in U.S. dollars." "Not in U.S. dollars? Do you want to pay in Marks? Sir!"

Hank shook his head and said, obviously he disliked the Mark. Let alone the Imperial Mark, even occupying the Mark was not popular in the market.

"Nor Mark."

Zhao Xudong shook his head.

"To be precise, I'm not going to pay in currency."

Zhao Xudong explained:

"I plan to use cans of equal value to exchange for these things on the shopping list!"

"Canned?" Hank was slightly startled.

Zhao Xudong nodded:

"Yes, it's a very delicious canned pineapple!"

Pineapple is also the popular name for pineapple in this era.

Many people don't know that before the war, there were many "can kings" in Southeast Asia. They became rich by producing "canned pineapples". Now, Borneo has just restored its traditional advantageous industries. That’s all.

In this era of scarcity, the sweet canned fruit is enough to conquer all Germans. And a few decades later, there was a legendary businessman in Russia who used cans to buy airplanes from Russia with nothing but cans, making a net profit of hundreds of millions.

The reason why these countries are so obsessed with canned fruit is not only because fruit has always been a relatively expensive commodity in Germany, but also because it contains a lot of sugar!

In this special period, sugar was a very expensive and even rare item.

In this case, canned fruits with very high sweetness will naturally be sought after by people. In fact, in the current German black market, sometimes you may not be able to buy canned fruit even if you wave your money, even in the American Supermarket.

In contrast, on the black market, cigarettes and canned fruit are the real hard currency. Because of the extreme shortage, the fundamental reason for this extreme shortage is that Germany currently does not have the foreign exchange to purchase luxury goods such as canned fruit.

Because the shortage in the market has made canned fruit a luxury product in a certain sense, Zhao Xudong now has the opportunity to exchange canned pineapples from Germany for the technology and equipment needed for coal mines.

In this country where cold and fresh food transportation is underdeveloped, canned fruit is the only way for most people to eat fruit, and it is even the only choice for many people to supplement sugar. After all, white sugar is very rare in the market.

Hans, who was able to take on the daily management of Krupp when the head of Krupp was imprisoned, naturally had his shrewdness. After just thinking about it for a moment, he realized the benefits and said :

"Canned fruits are very popular in the market, but now the US dollar is more important!"

"Sir, U.S. dollars are important, but there are only less than 200 million U.S. dollars!"

Zhao Xudong went on to explain:

"But do you know how many canned fruits can be bought with two million dollars?"

"How much can I buy?" Hank asked cooperatively.

Zhao Xudong stretched out three fingers and then said:

"Thirty thousand tons! If you use a free ship, it can load three entire ships!"

"my God!"

Hank was a little surprised.

Zhao Xudong continued:

"In Germany, how much can 30,000 tons of canned fruit be sold for?"

Fruits are expensive in Germany, sugar is even more expensive, and canned fruits are naturally also very expensive. If 30,000 tons of canned fruits are shipped to Germany, the price will increase several times, which means there will be several times the profit.

At this time, Hank also realized that these 30,000 tons of canned fruits would bring several times the profit to the company. For Krupp, which was in urgent need of resuming production, this was more cost-effective than giving two million US dollars directly. many!

"30%!"

After figuring out the key, Hank said.

"After the contract is signed, you need to pay 30% of the canned fruit first, when half of the equipment is delivered, you need to pay 60%, and after the technology transfer is completed, you need to pay 80%..."

Facing Hank's conditions, Zhao Xudong said directly:

"Yes, if you sign now, I can deliver 10000 tons of canned fruits within three days."

This sentence impressed Hans instantly and made him agree without thinking.

(End of this chapter)