Chapter Ten Soldier

  "On the land of freedom, there has never been a lack of trusts! The empire of money, never lacks the collusion of interests."

  The world is full of wonders, and the economic development model of the United States has its own unique style. Under the guidance of a rising pattern that seems impossible to ordinary people, the rapid prosperity scene of a capitalist country is vividly presented to the world. A money-oriented nation, from 1860 to 1890, within just over thirty years, twenty-four trust companies grew vigorously on that free land, and by 1899, it had surged to ninety-two households, and by 1902, it had developed to more than 800 households. Oil, steel, cement, agricultural products, beef, communications, etc., wherever there is an industry, there will never be a lack of trust monopolies, and wherever there are business opportunities, the dragon head's sole dominance will not be absent.

  The most notable of these was the Standard Oil Company, founded and controlled by John D. Rockefeller; J.P. Morgan's Federal Steel Company, a company that dominated the steel industry; and the railroad empire of Cornelius Vanderbilt.

  Standard Oil was founded in 1870 and by 1900 had a monopoly on 90% of the US oil production. In addition to its direct production of oil, Standard Oil also owned seven thousand kilometers of pipelines and many enterprises unrelated to oil production, such as metallurgy, electricity, sugar refining, etc. The Federal Steel Company was established in 1901 and controlled two-thirds of the steel production in the United States, owning mines, railways and other subsidiary companies, with its mines alone employing 110,000 workers.

  Standard Oil and Federal Steel each had its own bank, Standard's National City Bank of Cleveland and Federal's Citibank, both among the top nine banks in the US at the time. Through these banks, the two trusts also controlled many other firms with which they had debt relationships, including a significant portion of the shares of U.S. Steel.

  In addition, through various other relationships, they also controlled one-third of the total national wealth of the United States. The combination of industrial capital and bank capital formed financial capital, which became an important feature of the capitalist economic empire and a pillar of the two-party system in the United States. However, in the early 20th century, their political struggles were never linked to economics, and cooperation between them was still frequent, such as before this listing preparation work of AsiaMe Group, both families were very willing to cooperate with AsiaMe.

  The Asia-America Group, which once had the ambition to return to China and drive its industrial and economic growth, now only covers a few industries such as automobile manufacturing, mechanical equipment, engineering machinery, clothing, paint chemicals, and chemical glass. The only things it can be proud of are its clothing and automobiles, while the rest are factories that have emerged from the production of automobiles and mechanical products. In order to establish an automotive industry in China, which was then a poor and blank slate, it would be necessary to build several heavy industries such as energy, steel, and petroleum. All of this could be easily achieved in the United States, so a plan to cultivate purely practical talent was born. This plan was established on the basis of cooperation with two large trust companies.

  "After a certain period of training, the workers will be assigned to dozens of factories of Mobil Oil and Federal Steel as free laborers. According to our agreement with the two big groups, we can send 3,600 technical trainees there for work and study."

  "Am I hearing things? They're willing to send you, a Toras enterprise dispatched worker, to learn steelmaking and oil extraction, not that they've gone crazy or you've lost your mind! Zhang Yu knew the difficulties of developing in his home country at this time. With regards to recruiting overseas Chinese students, he couldn't find foreigners who were truly willing to contribute to the revival of the Chinese nation. The ancient saying 'non-kin, different hearts' kept reminding them, which led to the proposal and rapid implementation of a technical school plan to cultivate talent for other groups."

  "I agreed to their terms of exchanging shares, and our side will be responsible for the treatment of the employees during their work period. In short, as a group that is destined to be abandoned, I think it's necessary to make sacrifices, and they won't lose anything either. Are you afraid that just because your technical personnel only know how to operate and maintain equipment, they'll take away your business secrets? Then how can our group dare to recruit outsiders?" Zhang Yu-sheng said, rubbing his forehead which had become shiny from frequent thinking, and said helplessly: "Exchanging some shares with them isn't a bad thing either. Now their stocks only need tens of dollars to buy one share, do you know how many hundreds of dollars their stocks could sell for before the financial crisis? Calculating it, we're still making a profit!"

  "Anyway, I feel like we've been taken advantage of. We're the ones paying their salaries, but in the end, it's like we're working for them instead. And who knows, our stocks might have been even higher before the financial crisis hit!" Zhang Yu wiped the sweat from his forehead, having rushed back after hearing that his older brother, who had been away on business for several months, was returning and putting the security team's training on hold, only to find himself in this predicament.

  "Didn't I just tell you? The group's overall listing was always a set plan, and the oil and steel companies just bought in ahead of time. And our stocks are still being exchanged with them at a difference. They took a liking to our profitable auto industry, knowing it was a surefire deal, so they were willing to put up their own share as an exchange. And they even agreed to our additional demands, even if we lost out a bit - isn't that just the wages of 3600 people? That's a small price for your brother to pay."

  After finishing, Zhang Yusheng took out a stack of things from the file bag and handed it to Zhang Yu, who was still wiping his sweat. "What is this thing?" The thick thing pinched in his hand, Zhang Yu felt that this thing was not simple at all.

  Nothing, some of the documents that can be acquired are just small factories and small businesses, nothing worth looking at. However, the stack of documents tied with green twine in the back, they are all graduates and professors from many excellent universities in the United States. I plan to set up various disciplinary laboratories belonging to the Asian American Group, rather than relying solely on you to plagiarize hard like now. Moreover, our workers sent out are just future pure application-type talents, relying on industrial equipment and raw materials in reality. But the two big trusts will definitely not let our technical personnel learn secrets, some things still need to be done by ourselves. For example, if you plagiarize a bit more later, won't everything become ours?

  "Can't you watch your mouth, do you think I want to? You even took my marketing management textbooks and kept saying that about me." Zhang Yu took out the thick stack of personnel files tied with a green rope, untied it and browsed through several people's information. They were either from Harvard or MIT, and even the worst one was from Caltech. What a treasure trove of talent! If they were utilized to set up labs for chemistry, materials, mechanics, electronics and so on, the results would probably be impressive.

  "By the way, when can you prepare that batch of military supplies I asked you to get?" Zhang Yu looked at the documents for a while, put them back in Zhang Yusheng's bag and said: "These people are not bad, if there is an opportunity, don't let them slip away. Even if they won't achieve anything, it's still better than nothing, after all, they have received higher education."

  "Ensure that everything is ready before we return to our country. How's the security team's training going? They will be the backbone of our military strength and foundation after we return home. Don't you dare slack off, or it could lead to losing your head." Zhang Yu-sheng repeatedly reminded Zhang Yu before he left that the future military strength after returning home is crucial, provided that a certain level of industrial strength has been achieved, otherwise, going back home and engaging in military struggles without national construction would still be equivalent to zero.

  "No big deal, everything is fine. Recently, we've been busy with shooting training, and the team members' morale and fighting spirit are all excellent, nothing to worry about." Zhang Yu thought that the group of people were indeed sometimes too strict in their demands, but what surprised him was that this generation of compatriots had a common advantage, which was that they were particularly able to endure hardship and obey orders. "Steel work, you must grasp it tightly. If you can't learn smelting technology, it doesn't matter, the key is to master various basic operation techniques, later we have plenty of time to reform and improve the technology!"

  "This thing I know, you don't have to worry about it," Zhang Yu said after finishing, opening his notebook and crossing out the things that had already been completed. He took a look at the unfinished projects and suddenly felt that the road ahead was still very long. However, with regards to steel and petrochemicals, there were some developments, and in the future when he returned to the country, as long as he purchased enough equipment, he would be able to produce commonly used steel and refine usable fuel. Completing this would also be a relatively large achievement.

  Steel can be said to be the most important basic industry of a country, is the material basis for the development of other industries, and is the guarantee of all development. Without steel, the powerful transportation capabilities of railways and waterways would lose their most important transportation power due to the inability to manufacture trains, ships, and rails; without steel, it would be impossible to build high-rise buildings to promote employment, and it would be impossible to construct hydraulic engineering projects for power generation and flood control. Without steel, guns, cannons, warships, tanks, etc. could not be manufactured, and a strong military force could not be formed. In short, steel is like the hard bones that make up the body of a nation and a people; without its support, even the strongest person would become a heap of soft flesh at the mercy of others.

  China's backwardness originated from the backwardness of its material industry. When other countries' material industries had made great progress and began to use lightweight infantry guns, breech-loading rifles, and ironclad warships, the Qing dynasty was still using fire arrows, red cannons, and wooden sailing ships. When a large number of new-style factories were built, especially steel mills, which were still imitating others' ironclads, imperialist countries had already begun to build battleships known as "steel fortresses". The gap in strength between them was not due to the weakness of the soldiers' morale, but rather it was determined by the comparison of industrial strengths before the war began.

  The Chinese nation wants to turn over a new leaf and become the master, it must work hard on industrial strength, which is also why Zhang Yu Sheng wants to take advantage of the Asia America Group's current advantages in the US mainland, and vigorously carry out cooperation with other industrial groups. His next bigger plan is to acquire some small factories around the West Coast of the United States, such as steel mills, cement plants, petrochemical plants, etc., whose existing industrial equipment is the basis for rapid transportation back to China in the future. And training technical talents in advance is also to avoid having no talent to start production after the establishment of industry in China.

  In terms of iron and steel production, the equipment and scale of enterprises have been developing in the direction of large-scale. Before 1870, the average daily output of blast furnaces in the British Empire was only about 25 tons, but now the blast furnaces of US Federal Steel can reach a daily output of nearly 200 tons. In terms of production, the world's pig iron production was 14 million tons and steel production was 1.9 million tons in 1875. The industrialization process of capitalist countries is accelerating, and the huge demand for steel has directly stimulated the rapid improvement of steel smelting technology and production capacity. Zhang Yu-sheng estimates that the current world's pig iron and steel production are around 80 million tons and 70 million tons, respectively.

  It can be said that the strength of an imperialist country is closely related to the strength of its basic industry. The strength of the steel industry allows imperialist countries to pursue the construction of giant warships and engage in a competition for the Blue Riband across the Atlantic, all for the sake of winning this award. The loss of a Titanic is just one manifestation of the strength of these imperialist nations, which can easily produce new ultra-large luxury liners weighing tens of thousands of tons to continue transcontinental voyages. If we were to put China in this context, relying on its pitiful industrial strength at that time, it would be truly unimaginable.

  "It's nothing, I'll just go back now, today's training has only proceeded to the second project." After finishing speaking, Zhang Yu picked up his tea cup and drank it all in one gulp, then hastily put down the cup and ran downstairs. There was still a team member waiting for him there. "Alright, you can rest now!" Zhang Yu hastily rushed back to the stadium and immediately gave the order, arranging for military posture training. After that, Zhang Yu went to meet with his older brother, but as soon as they started discussing things, he forgot about this side. When he came back and took a look, he found 150 people still standing there like stakes, so Zhang Yu hastily gave the order to rest.

  The arrival of the order was like a rope being loosened from around their necks, and many people immediately deflated like released balloons, quickly dispersing. "It's over, now we can have some fun." Zhang Yu muttered this sentence, looking at the group of would-be soldiers who had been severely let down with great apology. To make up for his mistake, he allowed the team members to rest for an additional ten minutes on top of their usual break.

  "Just now I wasn't here, why didn't you stop to rest?" Zhang Yu also sat down on the grass with a thud, and looked at several teammates beside him who were slowly massaging their legs and other muscles according to the muscle relaxation method he had taught them a long time ago, and asked in confusion.

  "Officer, didn't you say we're already considered soldiers? Just the other night, you said that soldiers must obey orders absolutely. If we take a break when you're not around, can we still be called soldiers?" Skinny Monkey, due to his physique, was definitely at the back of the first row, but this made it convenient for Zhang Yu to observe him during training and he didn't dare slack off even a bit, which also made it easier for Zhang Yu to talk to him now.

  "Cut the crap, I'm asking you seriously!" Zhang Yu had just told them frankly about his and his brother's plan, because he felt it was completely unnecessary to hide anything from anyone, let alone deceive their future assistants. Zhang Yusheng also agreed that whatever happened would be made known to those involved, just like the students at the technical school who would be informed of Zhang Yusheng's detailed goals and plans after entering the school. Those who were willing could stay, and those who were not willing could also stay, but they would definitely not be needed in the future to suffer through hard times back home. "Tell me honestly, if you lie even half a sentence, I'll make you feel it's not fun!" Zhang Yu asked for the last time, with a slightly threatening tone.

  Around Zhang Yu, a group of people formed a circle and fell silent. This silence lasted for nearly five minutes before someone finally spoke up. At first glance, Zhang Yu knew that he was the so-called genius of the security team, Lin Xuewen! He wasn't "Zero Learning", but a true talent who had attended a new-style school during the Westernization Movement. As someone with close ties to many trained team members, Lin Xuewen's words could largely represent everyone's opinions.

  "Just now, the superior asked us why we didn't take advantage of your absence to have a collective truancy. Then I need to ask the superior, why don't you take a break? The chairman and you have created such a large enterprise, which is comparable to those in the US and other big companies. Why can you dedicate yourselves to the rise of the nation until death, but we, also men with backbone, cannot contribute our own strength?"

  Lin Xuewen's rifle, which was being held in his arms, had been wiped clean and did not show any signs of damage from the multiple shots fired. Zhang Yu also greatly admired his marksmanship and thought it would be interesting to cultivate him. This talented young man who liked military affairs could have become a leader in a factory or even a manager in a group if he hadn't met Zhang Yu. However, this disciple had given his master a headache from the very beginning, which made Zhang Yu somewhat embarrassed.

  "Lin Zexu, who destroyed the opium at Humen, and Deng Shichang, who bravely rammed into enemy ships, are also sons of the nation. Although they didn't know much about modern science, they did their best in their own posts for the dignity of the nation and the sovereignty of the country."

  Lin Xuewen said, looking around at the people who were either butchers or woodcutters, or laborers hauling heavy loads. "Perhaps we can't be like you, like the chairman, like other high-ranking executives in the group, with all that rich knowledge. But we have strength, we have willpower, we have ideals. We're all orphans, abandoned by our country. Why can't we do what's within our power? All we can do is listen to orders, follow them unconditionally, and that's it!!"

  "It would be better for us to be given a gun each than to build cars and machines as the foundation for future industries. This way, when we see you working hard, we can feel at ease and think that we are indeed entitled to certain treatment because we are soldiers, and when war comes, we will go to the front lines to fight and die for our country. As soldiers, we must obey orders and listen to our superiors. Let alone being asked to stand at attention and train in military posture and spirit, even if we were to be sent back to the country immediately to participate in various struggles, we would not say a single word of refusal."

  "Great!!!" Lin Xuewen's impromptu speech was well-received by the team members, who applauded and cheered. This made Zhang Yu, still sitting on the ground, suddenly feel like he had done something wrong.

  "Alright, settle down!!" A command quickly came out of Zhang Yu's mouth. Unable to find a reason to refute, he could only end this lifetime's biggest "debate failure" in such a manner, feeling exceptionally relieved at the defeat deep down.

  "Comrades!! I am Zhang Yu, today, here, in this place thousands of kilometers away from our motherland, on behalf of our nation's big family who has suffered many disasters and hardships, thank you all first!!" After finishing speaking, Zhang Yu gave a standard military salute to everyone. The feeling of his middle finger rubbing against the temple was so different from before. On the training ground, 150 soldiers stood at attention, also giving a standard military salute, their straight postures stretching out long and far under the sunset.

  Soldiers doubt peace in their hearts, armies always believe in war!!