Yang Rui came to the United States for a lot of things, and there should be six of them. Rockefeller's Negotiations; the second is to sell margarine in the United States; the third is to find Harriman and negotiate the Antonme railway; Fourth, to meet Roosevelt—of course, if people are willing to meet him; Fifth, the military talents trained earlier should be determined to return to China this time; Finally, since the Revival Society is under the banner of constitutionalism, it is better to fool the rich Chinese gentry in the United States and get some donations. Thinking about these things in his mind, Yang Rui still hurried to understand the information first, so after staying in New York for a day, he went to Hardford City to meet Rong Hong.

Rong Hong seems to be older than before, his back is more rickety, only the hand he holds is still warm, he is very happy about Yang Rui's arrival, looking at his smiling face, Yang Rui seems to feel that the incident two years ago may not really be his doing.

"Haha, it's finally you." Rong Hong grabbed Yang Rui's hand and shook it vigorously. Indescribable joy. In the past two years, although he has only focused on the military talent plan, he is still concerned about the domestic situation, and he is very happy for Yang Rui's patriotism when he sees that the revival will make such a big noise because of the rejection of Russia in the northeast.

"Chungong, I wanted to come a long time ago, but after the armistice between Japan and Russia, there were too many things to delay." Yang Rui looked at him with joy, and was a little moved, he was in his seventies, and he was still worried about serving the country, it was really ......

"Good. The Russo-Japanese armistice in the Northeast, what to do with the Renaissance Army? Stay in the Northeast? Rong Hong didn't understand the scale of the Renaissance Army, and thought it was a guerrilla.

"It has been withdrawn to Kannai, and the people who went to Kannai are not accustomed to the water and soil in the northeast. Therefore, after the war, they can only retreat, and the revolution in Guannai is the most important thing, to defeat the Manchu Qing. I still have to think of a way from Kannai. Yang Rui lied again, he felt that this skill was becoming more and more mature.

Rong Hong also knew the situation in the Northeast after the war, and after the peace talks, it was equivalent to Japan and Russia carving up the Northeast. He said with emotion: "The Northeast can't be lost!" ”

"No, we still have a lot of people left in western Liaoxi near Mongolia, and if we have a relationship with a few Mongolian bandits, we can completely settle down there. Northeast, it won't be lost! "Yang Rui said it really well this time. Although Rong Hong didn't understand the scale of Yang Rui's stay in the western Liaoxi team, he saw that he said that the Northeast would not be lost, so he put it to heart.

The excitement of meeting rests. The two entered the study, and Rong Hong gave Yang Rui a detailed description of the military talent plan: The talent plan that has been implemented since the end of 03 has been two years, two years. More than 560 technical backbones have been trained. Of course, a lot of money has been spent, and the cost of last year has exceeded the original estimate of 240,000 US dollars, reaching 350,000 US dollars, and the reason for the sharp increase in expenses is that in addition to the increase in the number of people, the cost of materials and machines used for practice is extremely large. Although trainees do not need to be paid and have to pay training fees and teacher fees, they do not have many opportunities to get hands-on practice. In particular, fitters, turners and other highly operable types of work are completely accumulated from experience. It is difficult to improve its skills without sufficient operations.

The training in the first half of the year made everyone very clear about the process of making guns and bullets, but knowing is knowing, as soon as the work is started, they are timid, and the things they make are extremely rough, not to mention, most of them cannot be used. Yang Rui, who understands the situation, immediately invested in the purchase of a full set of lathes, of course, not a full set of numbers but a full set of varieties, and then installed in the practice factory, and at the same time purchased the substrate inside the factory, organic qì materials, trainees practice day and night, do not understand the foreign devils, if they don't want to say it, they will stuff money, and the technical level of everyone has improved very quickly in a year. The training, which was supposed to be completed in mid-06, can now be completed.

After Rong Hong finished talking about the situation of the military industry, he asked, "When will Cheng bring them back to China?" ”

"I think it's time to go back this time. But didn't Hongmen's Huang boss say that if he didn't agree, these people wouldn't return to China? Yang Rui couldn't help but think of what Situ Meitang relayed, and he was a little worried in his heart.

"There are many people in Hongmen who are from Hongmen, but it may not be completely under Huang Sande's orders, and there is no way for poor people to be included in Hongmen for a living. But now these people have a minimum wage of one dollar, which is much better than those owners who open laundries, and now the anti-Chinese style in the United States is strict, if they don't follow us, it is impossible to say whether they can find a job, and Americans often look at skin color first and then skills. Rong Hong's second son, Rong Jinhuai, is the head of the military industry and a native of Guangdong, so he knows these trainees very well.

"In that case, it's much easier." Yang Rui breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, "But Huang Sande still has to go there, after all, these people were introduced by him at the beginning." ”

"It's okay to go, everyone will leave a friendship to help in the future." Rong Hong also hopes that Yang Rui will have a relationship with Hongmen, and even more hopes that he can cooperate with Sun Wen and others to oppose the Qing Dynasty.

"Chungong, in addition to the military industry, I want to see if I can get a relationship with the upper class of American society, and whether they can help the Chinese revolution?" Unable to find a good excuse to know about Rockefeller, Harriman, and Roosevelt, Yang Rui had to ask very general questions.

Yang Rui said that he was looking for help from the upper echelons of the United States, Rong Hong was not surprised, but smiled knowingly, and said, "This is an important factor in the success of the revolution, but according to the current situation, it will be difficult for the revival to gain their support, after all, the biggest opposition party in China now should be 'PET', but they have lost the trust of those upper echelons." Rong Hong shook his head, feeling sorry for Kang Youwei and the others for missing the opportunity.

“PET？” Rong Hong said the English abbreviation, Yang Rui was a little stunned, and he didn't understand what kind of organization this was for a while.

"It's Protect-the-Emperor-Society, or in Chinese terms, it's royalists." Rong Hong explained: "In the year of Gengzi, the United States had the idea of funding them, but at that time, many conditions could not be agreed upon, and the most important reason was religion. ”

"Religion?" Yang Rui didn't understand and thought that it was interests that talked about discord, who knew that it was indeed religion.

"Yes, religion. Kang Youwei insisted on using Confucianism to govern China. Instead of Christianity, this is what disappoints those in the upper echelons, in their opinion. China is a very barbaric and ignorant country, worshipping some cult gods, and only by converting to Christ and becoming the lamb of God can the people of that land be saved. "As a Chinese who is often in contact with the upper class, Rong Hong knows some hidden things." If religion is only a long-term benefit, then last year's boycott of the United States made them worry about immediate interests. They were afraid that once the revolution succeeded, China would not recognize the benefits promised before like a boycott of American goods, so they ......"

Rong Hong said that there is indeed something. Yang Rui, who had read the Christian bulletin, knew what the foreign clergy thought of China, and he also understood that the boycott of American goods was shocking to all Americans, although under the suppression of the Manchus, the United States did not suffer any serious losses. But the boycott has already panicked American diplomats in China. Many U.S. consuls are privately complaining about the U.S. anti-Chinese policy, and Yang Rui thought about this and said, "It seems that this time is not the right time." What kind of person was President Roosevelt? ”

"He's an idealist. Although he came from the Republican Party, he did not fully represent the interests of large corporations, but instead supported the workers' strike, precisely to gain the workers' votes. He actively supported the Chinese Exclusion Act. And this man is very clever, while currying favor with the workers. On the one hand, he compromised with some bankers with backgrounds, such as his relationship with Morgan was very good, even if he had a bad relationship with Morgan and others when he was governor of New York. However, it may not be necessary to say that he fully represents the interests of the consortium, and in 04 Harriman the National Railroad was dismembered by him, and now the government's crackdown on Standard Oil is also set out by him. ”

Unexpectedly, Roosevelt was still hostile to Harriman and Rockefeller, Yang Rui asked, "Doesn't the railroad company have any background, and Rockefeller, he has completely monopolized the oil supply in the United States, and John Jr.'s father-in-law is Aldrich, he is not only a senator, but also has great influence in Congress, is Roosevelt ......?"

Seeing that Yang Rui also knew something about American politics, Rong Hong smiled and said: "Harriman has no background at all, or the background is too shallow, so Roosevelt has no scruples about splitting him, and once it is split, the bankers in New York will be able to make a lot of money; And Rockefeller, that's because Old John is too picky, he monopolizes the entire oil business by himself, and with the strength of a family against the entire upper class, he will definitely fall behind. Moreover, everyone in the United States knows that John Sr. is an extremely evil and greedy person, in order to rob the refinery, John Sr. and his partner did a lot of shady things, although John Jr. has been carrying out philanthropy since taking over, but the concept of decades is not a short period of charity can be reversed. Cracking down on Rockefeller is not only hoped for by corporations, but also by ordinary people. ”

Unexpectedly, the two collaborators to negotiate are reservoir dogs, one has been rectified once, and the other is in a situation where rats cross the street and everyone shouts and beats, Yang Rui can't help but regret that he sold the patent half and gave it to Rockefeller instead of Morgan. "But pure public, before the monopoly of the refining industry by Standard Oil, the oil industry in the United States was in chaos, expensive and uneven, not to mention the uneven quality, it is precisely because of the monopoly of Standard Oil that this industry has developed greater, will the people not see this change?"

The monopolies of this era were completely different from later generations, the monopoly was all about better supply of products and lower prices, and those factory owners had an indomitable pioneering spirit, and they wanted to see their products sell more and lower prices, including Ford, which later produced cheap Model T cars based on the idea of buying a car for every family. In a sense, although there are many dark sides in the process of reaching a monopoly, after the monopoly, the Toslav organization did not get more premiums through the monopoly, but lowered the selling price.

"The people only believed the propaganda of the newspapers, and the conglomerates were jealous of Rockefeller's profits. If you really want to find an American consortium to support the Chinese revolution, I think you should still find a consortium like Morgan. Rong Hong weighed it in his heart, and kept thinking about whether there were some things to sue Yang Rui.

"I know him, but I feel like he's too greedy." Yang Rui said the reason why he didn't choose Morgan to choose Rockefeller, of course, he didn't tell Rong Hongming that he had already set up with Rockefeller, and now the Mobil kerosene in the three eastern provinces and Jiangnan is underwritten by Tiantong.

"He's very greedy, and the bankers in New York are greedy. But it is precisely because of greed that it is possible to support the Chinese revolution for the sake of profit. After Kang Youwei fled overseas, he met an American named Homer. He was very enthusiastic about the Chinese revolution, and he had many connections with the upper class of American society. For example, the guarantor of the school he opened for the Royalist training of military personnel was the current Secretary of State Elihue. Root, and he also has a good relationship with the bankers in New York. After weighing it, Rong Hong felt that he still had to tell Yang Rui about some things, from the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom to the present, he had seen many Junjie. But there are very few that can really change China, in his opinion. Yang Rui's advantage is that he fully understands what constitutes a civilized China, and he does not consider himself to be the savior of China. There is no such momentum as to give up oneself. This is what he admires the most, in the old Rong Hong's view, people with talent but no desire are the blessing of China. Otherwise, even if the Aixin Jueluo Dynasty falls. The emergence of another Yang dynasty is of no help to China, it is nothing more than a historical reincarnation.

Yang Rui was thinking about who Homer was, and Rong Hong was thinking about what China would be like in the future. After the study was silent, Yang Rui asked, "Is this Homer still helping Kang Youwei train the royalist army?" ”

"It's gone, he and Kang Youwei have fallen out because of some things, and it's over between the two. However, because of the boycott movement, the bankers who had previously intended to finance the Chinese revolution also backed down. It turned out that you could contact him first. He lives in Los Angeles. Rong Hong couldn't explain how he knew these things, so he simply didn't mention them. As long as this Yang Rui goes to meet with them.

The days in Hartford were short, and when he returned to New York on the weekend, Yu Zixun, who stayed behind, handed over some letters to Yang Rui, the first one was Alice. Roosevelt, Yang Rui thought that this woman had forgotten herself, and when she arrived in New York, she just wrote a text message to greet her, but she didn't expect her reply to be very enthusiastic; The second letter was from General Corbyn, which was expected, and he liked Yang Rui's gang of Chinese cowboys.

"Who do you want to see first?" Yu Zixun looked at Yang Rui who had finished reading the letter and asked, "Hehe, this Alice has come twice, is she ...... you?" he laughed as he spoke.

If it weren't for the fact that this Alice is the president's daughter, Yang Rui would have forgotten about this person, and he also smiled, "You want to be crooked, nothing." However, I heard that she seems to be crazy in the United States, do you have any news here? ”

Since the last four-edged plan, Yu Zixun's permanent residence has been changed to the United States, and he knows a lot about the local situation. "Yes, she's completely a news person, and it's all bad news, so you should be careful when you meet her......"

"Is there anything else urgent?" Yang Rui didn't want to talk about a woman during the discussion, so he had to cut off the topic and move to another place.

"Yes! The business team that came earlier did a research report. Our margarine plan may be yellow. ”

"What?" Yang Rui was extremely surprised, he remembered that there was margarine in later generations.

"Yes. Difficult to implement in the United States. Yu Zixun affirmed again: "It's mainly a legal issue, I'll let them come over and talk about it." ”

Many of Yang Rui's whimsical ideas cannot be implemented in the face of reality, this is not the first time, and it will not be the last, but this time it is the most disappointing, Mu Xiangyue has been here for more than a month, and has completely overturned Yang Rui's margarine and cream plan from the text, this text is mainly the law. Capital has always been profit-oriented, although there was no invention of hydrogenated oil technology in the last century, but margarine is still available - clarified vegetable oil can be mixed with natural butter after hardening, this is still humanitarian, and even more used dead livestock, discarded leather shoes and hats to refine butter, making the American edible oil market a mess. Under the lobbying of the Dairy Association, in 1877, the U.S. government took regulatory action on margarine, and in 1886, legislation was begun for margarine, and by this century, the market for margarine was already negligible, and in 1902, most states in the United States passed the anti-color law. That is, it is forbidden to dye margarine, and if it is dyed, then a dyeing tax of ten cents a pound will be charged, and the goods sold must be marked as margarine and cream.

Yang Rui's previous plan had the meaning of mixed and dyed, which did not work at all in the United States. The dairy association in the United States has ruined the reputation of margarine anymore, and even if it honestly pays taxes and signs, once it occupies the market, what if the dairy association clamored for a tax increase? In 1886, margarine was taxed at two cents, but now it is ten.

After listening to all the reports, Yang Rui said to a room of students, "So, what should we do?" "The leader makes the decision, and as for the method, the people below think about it.

Mu Xiangyue and the others glanced at each other and said, "The way is not to sell margarine and jump out of this circle." ”

Yang Rui felt a little interesting, and asked, "How to jump?" What does margarine sell without selling? ”

"Pick a new name, not butter, so you can avoid the law. The most taboo thing for the dairy association is that vegetable oil is competing with them under the brand of butter, and if we say that this oil is vegetable oil, and advertise that its function is better than that of butter and the lard commonly used by Americans, it will not be so much trouble. It was Chen Wanyun who spoke. He is the founder of the later Sanyou towel, and the 128 incident was to find an excuse, and the Japanese ronin picked his factory to make trouble. But Yang Rui didn't know about these, he only felt that this Ningbo man was diligent and fast, and he didn't like to talk.

"Oh......" The reason why Yang Rui wants to pass it off as butter is because of the high price of butter, but if it is said to be vegetable oil, how much can it be sold for? Forty cents? Thirty cents? Twenty cents? "How much are you going to sell for a pound?"

Seeing Yang Rui ask a key question, Chen Wanyun was nervous and a little excited at the same time, "It's about thirty cents." However, if it is packaged in cans alone, it can be sold not by pounds, but by cans. Seeing that Yang Rui still had some doubts, he said again: "Americans mainly use butter and lard for consumption, and the price of butter is very high, more than sixty cents in many places; Lard is very cheap, generally only about fifteen cents, but lard has a big problem, that is, it is not easy to store, cold weather may be stored for half a year, but hot weather for more than half a month may deteriorate, from the factory to the kitchen, even if the American railroad is developed, but the supply period is more than three months, so the lard that ordinary people eat is more or less spoiled. ”

The price of 30 cents Yang Rui felt that the funds for the international student program had to find another way, and the estimated amount of 30 cents was only 25 cents, which is equivalent to a two-thirds reduction in profitability, and it is also equivalent to selling three times more hydrogenated oil to recover this loss.

"What about market capacity? How much can we sell in a year? He couldn't wait to see how much money he could make.

"The market for all-gourmet oil is about 500 million to 600 million pounds, and if vegetable oil can open up the market, then the sales volume should not be less than 60 million pounds, but it is ......," Chen Wanyun asked, "Will foreigners make us make so much money?" ”

"Did you buy the patent?" Patents are not meant to restrict others, but to protect oneself, and Yang Rui does not want patents to restrict Americans at all.

"No need to buy it. The British have only registered patents in the UK, and the US has not registered them. "Yu Zixun only thought about margarine, and forgot about the patent for a while." We're already registering, no one in the U.S. knows about this stuff yet, and the patent will come out next month. ”

"If there can be no problem with patents, then we are legally qualified to enter this market and will not be found by the court to infringe someone else's patent halfway. As for the rest, let's see how it works. Yang Rui thought about the little John he was going to see in a few days. Rockefeller can only hope to pull him into the gang as a guarantor.

"Go make a plan!" Yang Rui instructed the students: "You must find Americans to do it, and we will set the principle of the big one." Especially the packaging and name of the product, you must find an expert, there are all kinds of messy religions in this place, and if you are not careful, you will offend people. ”

After Yang Rui finished explaining, he sent the students away, and then said to Yu Zixun: "This matter still has to be implemented to Rockefeller, you have seen him, tell me what kind of person he is." ”

"It's not like a second ancestor." Yu Zixun's first sentence was this. "Although public opinion is not as favorable as his father, he is very easy to deal with, especially for speculating on national debt. It is said that when he first came out, it was said that he was cheated by a stock dealer for $1 million because of stock speculation, so he speculated on treasury bonds to make money, which can be regarded as a counterattack against public opinion. (To be continued......)