Chapter 64: The Utmost Delight

  A gentle rain started to drizzle from the high sky, a soft breeze blew by, and a layer of thin mist rose in the rain. The lonely street lamp cast a dim yellow light on the streets, but the ruthless darkness still shrouded everything. The faint light would not dispel the deep depression, instead it accompanied the drifting raindrops that fell with the wind, making the darkness even more evident.

  Three ink-black sedans flashed yellow warning lights and quietly drove through the streets, dazzling white light sweeping across the streets, wheels rolling over puddles of water splashing up waves of water, the water had not yet fallen when the car had already driven far away. The shops on both sides of the street had long been closed, but the illuminated signs were still bright, and the intersection of the metropolis was still flashing with colorful lights, singing and dancing, the sound of music lingering in the air, still echoing far away, making people understand that the hustle and bustle of New York, this city that never sleeps, is not divided into day and night, rain or shine.

  "Mr. Rockefeller knows that the Premier is coming and he's very pleased! He also hopes to meet with the Premier as soon as possible, they are waiting for our arrival at any time."

  Tang Guixin never thought that his letter and report would make the Premier personally visit the United States, but he didn't question the significance of Zhang Yusheng's actions. After all, Asia is now at a crossroads, and the key decision-making power should still be left to those with better judgment. As soon as Zhang Yusheng's ship passed through the Panama Canal, Tang Guixin began preparing for the relevant matters, and when the ship arrived in New York Harbor, he personally went to greet him.

  "Where is the place?"

  "The location has not been decided yet, but last time I went to Rockefeller's private estate on Long Island, New York! Many rich people have their own estates there, and I believe that at the time it may not be Rockefeller's estate, Morgan might be more proactive..."

  "Rockefeller is a devout Christian, living a life strictly according to Baptist doctrine. He doesn't drink or smoke, and doesn't even think about dancing. Unlike Lamon and Barou, he won't squander his money on luxurious mansions, castles, fine wines, and dance parties once he has it. He's actually interested in building an estate on Long Island, which seems to be not only for satisfying his love of horseback riding but also intentionally preparing to get close to us!"

  Zhang Yu-sheng took off his thick clothes, he was on a cargo ship that transported auto parts from the autonomous region to New York. In order to make the most of the limited berths in the port, they chose to enter the port at night and unload their cargo. Of course, there were no strict customs inspections like there are nowadays. Zhang Yu-sheng, who had already transformed into a politician, intended to be "invisible" and "move about unnoticed". If it weren't for handling things better, he wouldn't have wanted to move about in secret.

  "No matter what, this Rockefeller is a spoiled horse rider." Tang Guiyin hastily handed Zhang Yusheng a cup of hot tea to warm him up, as the late autumn evenings in New York were still a bit chilly. He then sat down next to Zhang on the sofa and continued: "We both know that this man is a thoroughbred careerist. I think he loves horse riding because of the boundless thrill of control. In reality, he's also very skilled at manipulating people. We can't let him play us like pawns in his hands like the Chicago financial group..."

  "Play with?" Zhang Yu-sheng held the hot tea, warming his hands but not intending to drink it yet. He furrowed his brow and thought for a moment before speaking: "Old Tang, if we go by age, I should be calling you Uncle Tang. You've also experienced decades of wind and rain, and our great China has had countless emperors throughout its thousands of years. They were skilled at controlling the people, but what was the result? Didn't they all end up falling off their horses and dying miserably? Playing with things can lead to loss of spirit, but playing with people can lead to loss of virtue. Rockefeller succeeded not because he knew how to control, but because of his sharp ambition and proper handling of gains and losses."

  After finishing, Zhang Yusheng half-closed his eyes and took a sip of hot tea, feeling warm from his throat to his heart. "In 1910, I heard that his assets had already exceeded $10 billion, now it's almost 20 years later, is his courage as big as his capital? Let's wait and see."

  Tang Guiyin nodded deeply, then took out a thick file from her handbag and handed it to Zhang Yusheng. "This is what you ordered me to do. I had someone start clearing up the accounts when you left the country. To sum it up, the plot they hatched was terrifying. The power of these dozen or so big shots gathering together is truly unimaginable!"

  "Let's not talk about it for now, let's get some midnight snacks to fill our stomachs first!" Zhang Yusheng said, lowering his head and preparing to start work. However, he seemed to have thought of something and added: "We won't be able to discuss much tonight, I'm very tired and will want to sleep soon. We still have time to discuss things later, so you can go back first tonight and don't mention to anyone that I came here. When the time is right, I'll go find them."

  Tang Guixin left the hotel at nearly 11 pm, and Zhang Yusheng hastily ate some supper after reading reports for two hours before going to rest. The situation in Asia is not good or bad, and continuing the war would actually be beneficial, so it's not Asia that should be anxious and urgent at this time, but someone else.

  "If we calculate according to Mr. Tang's time, the real boss and largest shareholder of AsiaMe Group, Zhang Yusheng, should arrive in New York before this weekend!" Morgan's chief 'minister' Davis felt a chill to the bone even before winter had begun, and his words were trembling with cold. "This is something that was transmitted back from Germany, it's very interesting, everyone take a good look!"

  Davis placed a large dish of telegraph paper on the small tea table surrounded by four long sofas, this super-long report composed of many telegrams was written by an important person. Wilhelm II, Emperor of the German Empire, also had to listen to Paul Max's opinion, and this influential banker in Germany could naturally summarize what Ah Mei did in Germany and hand it over to the other side of the ocean, after all, his brother Warburg including himself were all behind-the-scenes people.

  Rockefeller's beard was always smooth and black, even as he puffed on a Cuban cigar, his lips moving rhythmically with the burning tobacco. Morgan frowned in thought beside him, Carnegie stared absently at the cognac in his highball glass, Meyer worried about the accounts book in his hand... Everyone was finding something to do to shift their minds from their doubts, but Rockefeller just smiled faintly, put down his cigar in the ashtray and slowly picked up those special reports made up of telegrams.

  Time slipped away quietly, the forgotten cigar burning halfway down. Rockefeller, who had finished reading the report long ago, rubbed his nose bridge, then suddenly opened his eyes wide, a sly smile hanging on his face, and slowly picked up the cigar again, gradually returning to his serene state.

  "What did Max say, anyway?" Carnegie was always good at collaborating with people stronger than himself. His current wealth and status were all related to his sincere cooperation with Rockefeller. Although he had his own ideas, he always liked to listen to how the strong ones viewed the problem first.

  "Can't you drop that nickname!" Rockefeller gazed at Carnegie with a piercing stare, puffed on his cigar and blew out a large smoke ring, then said with a sly smile: "Max is a thorough gentleman. He says the Kaiser himself has created an amusing story about yellow people."

  Stettinius was Baruch's trusted lieutenant, the industrial emperor who sat at 23 Wall Street and brought in an endless stream of orders for the entire United States, especially those present, with amounts going out daily mostly in the millions. At this time, he was listlessly measuring a car model on the table, a Hudson sedan model.

  Others had always thought he was indulging in playing with models, but he suddenly spoke up: "The story of this German Emperor is that, I don't know how long ago, the German Emperor Wilhelm II personally drew a cartoon draft called 'Nations of the World, Protect Your Most Precious Treasure', which was then completed by the painter Hermann Knackfu? and given as a gift to the Russian Tsar. In this cartoon, a Buddha flying across dark clouds moves forward, while representatives of European nations (France, Germany, Italy, etc.) look at him with unease."

  "It's not strange that European nations have always thought that a power would emerge in the East to threaten global balance. Did that little Max say such things?" Even as a relative of Max, Warburg didn't mince his words.

  "He said that from the strength of the German army, this Easterner-established enterprise is just the Asia-America Group, and they are not to be underestimated as a yellow peril." Rockefeller glanced at the wall clock, no time to let them continue to fool around, and directly began to speak: "Max said before the war, representatives of the Asia-America Group had already been scouting around in Germany, contacting numerous automobile manufacturers and machinery companies. They didn't reach an acquisition agreement with any of them, but still managed to lay roots in Germany!"

  "This is normal, however, organizing production close to the sales location is a very common and practical strategy. Aren't all of you here or more or less have trade relations with Asia? They sell cars and clothing, before the war including now many European countries rich people in groups, their lavish spending can naturally make Asia stand firm in Europe..."

  "But that's not a good reason, I hope to get more convincing evidence rather than intentional speculation... especially why the damned German army is still so resistant to strikes?" Warburg's temper was the biggest, his brother could roar at the German Emperor, he naturally also had a strong personality, and finally added a sentence: "Don't tell me that the Germans still have money, even if they do, they can't buy war materials!"

  "The problem is that they established the Asia Minor Group's German branch, but they didn't set up factories like in France and England. They built a large number of warehouses, after-sales maintenance plants, spare parts supply centers, especially they established several driving training schools to cultivate talents for driving large trucks for the company, as if they knew long ago that when war came, these people would become the logistical heroes of the German army!"

  "Can they have God-like foresight?"

  "This is not foresight, the European continent has been brewing a war with a strong flavor of war as early as last century. They may have seen that war was inevitable, so they made such strategic decisions. Of course, we do not rule out that they had long been prepared to use the powerful industrial base of the German Empire as a backing, establish a production and supply base for providing various auto parts to Asia and America, and stockpile living materials in empty warehouses, just to reduce storage costs..."

  "I think reality is not as simple as you imagine, just for a European market, are they worth building so many warehouses? You know what's in their warehouses isn't auto parts, but barrels of oil, piles of cotton, boxes of explosives, bags of flour... Can you tell me, do you need these things to make cars or clothes?"

  "In my view, they are just as certain as we are that war will break out in Europe and their chips are placed on Germany rather than the Allies. We have amassed a large amount of capital, while their investment is in the form of goods stored in warehouses, with the intention of making a huge profit during the critical period of the German Empire, even selling the warehouses together. This approach confirms my idea. Moreover, they take very little risk and although their profits may not be as high as ours, stability is guaranteed. As businessmen, it seems that Chinese people are no worse than us!"

  "So, it seems we really underestimated the Chinese people from peasant origins? They can sew beautiful clothes with one stitch at a time, and they can also accumulate wealth like the Germans. Rockefeller suddenly stubbed out his cigar in the ashtray, rubbing hard until the smoke disappeared. "If I had known earlier, I would have stored some oil in Germany like Ah Mei did, I reckon I would have made a lot of money by now... If the war hadn't broken out, it's as if I had transported it to Europe ahead of time..."

  "In that case, we can only start with the Americans and let them say for themselves how many more tricks Germany has up its sleeve. That way, we'll know how much longer those damned Germans can hold on and when our supported Allied forces will be able to achieve victory!" Just before the meeting was about to disperse, Morgan, who had been silent until then, finally spoke up. Everyone began to look forward to a direct dialogue with the American high-level officials, hoping that their dreams would come true.