1855 United States Tycoon

"John, it's been a while since I saw you." Scrooge said, holding Rockefeller's hand.

"You are busy getting rich again, and busy again... Hehe, don't you want to introduce this lovely Miss to me?" Rockefeller also said to Scrooge.

"Dorothea, this is my old friend, John Rockefeller." Scrooge said to Dorothea, "John grew up with me, um, he's still my teacher by all accounts. The other day I was The knowledge of bookkeeping taught to you is all taught to me by John." Then he said to Rockefeller, "This is my fiancee Dorothea Odd, she is from Mississippi, and her Big Brother is My good friend."

"Mr. Rockefeller, nice to meet you." Dorothea greeted Rockefeller politely.

"Ah, you just call me John like Scrooge." Rockefeller said.

"You can also call me Dorothea directly." Dorothea said.

Then Rockefeller introduced Dorothea his wife Laura. Unlike the McDonald's, Rockefeller did not make any demands on his wife's family background when choosing his wife. So Laura is a real pure civilian origin. In contrast, perhaps Anna will be quite sad. However, Scrooge felt that if he was in the Rockefeller position, he would not necessarily make any demands on his wife's origin. The first reason here is that there are so many Rockefeller brothers that there is no need to resort to the management ability of the wives or even the wives. The second is that Rockefeller's industry scope is much smaller than that of Scrooge. Unlike Scrooge, with only one brother, he greedily stretched out his tentacles to any business that might make a lot of money. The stalls are getting bigger and bigger, and the people who are reliable and able to act on their own in the bag are getting less and less.

Even Rockefeller’s wife, Laura, is not badly educated. She has completed middle school authentically. Well, in fact, she is a classmate of Rockefeller. But Rockefeller didn't need to let her work for his own business, as long as she could do well with her husband and children.

Laura was not a talkative person, she only briefly talked to them for a few words, then turned and left to prepare lunch for them. This is actually intentional to leave room for Scrooge and Rockefeller to talk about something. Of course Laura knew that Scrooge's approach was more than just a drop in.

According to habit, Laura should also take Dorothea aside. However, Rockefeller told her that the women of the McDonald family cannot be regarded as ordinary women. "You can think of them as men who can give birth." That's what Rockefeller told Laura at the time. However, this is for Catherine. But Laura looked at the Dorothea Miss now, as long as there was a business involved in the previous conversation, she seemed extra focused. There is no doubt that this is another man who can become pregnant with the characteristics of the McDonald family. So when she left, she didn't take Dorothea away in the name of taking her around.

"John, I know that your refinery has been doing very well recently." Scrooge said.

"Compared with your business, it can only be regarded as a small business." Rockefeller said quickly. Few people know Scrooge better than Rockefeller. Rockefeller started with Scrooge, and few people know Scrooge's various methods better than him. But the more he understood, the more Rockefeller was in awe of him. In business matters, Scrooge almost never made a big mistake. The judgments he made, especially those long-term judgments, have never failed. This is already terrifying, but this person is still a kind-hearted and very greedy guy. Not only is he proficient in those fair and honest methods, he is also very proficient in those evil conspiracies, and he is extremely decisive in doing it. Now that Scrooge came to the door and mentioned his oil refinery as soon as he opened his mouth, he couldn't help but make a sound in his heart.

This question made him happy and a little worried. Happily, Scrooge took the initiative to bring up this project, which means that the future of this project is absolutely promising. But what worries him is, once Scrooge joins this industry, how much else can this industry leave for himself?

"My business is not as good as before." Scrooge said, "The war is over, and the income of the infantry weapon company has dropped significantly. Although I try my best to expand into the European and other countries, although I have Smoke-launched rifles and after-loading rifled guns have been introduced to the market, but the profits of these companies have certainly not been too high recently. The demand for medicines has also fallen sharply, and of course they are still making money. But the prospects are not that good anymore. The oil industry will have a bright future. I estimate that there will be a big storm in this industry soon. But after the storm, there will be new prosperity."

"A storm?" Rockefeller asked.

"What can oil do?" Scrooge asked.

"It can extract kerosene for lighting, and it can extract lubricating oil to lubricate machines instead of expensive whale oil." Rockefeller replied.

"You are right." Scrooge said, "but if oil is only used for this purpose, do you know how many oil wells and how many refineries there are in United States? Only in terms of production capacity, the ones used for lighting and lubrication The production capacity of petroleum products is almost saturated, and the output of those oil wells has greatly exceeded the volume of the market. So a large-scale knock-out competition is about to begin. I know you have found a good chemist, so you guys The quality of the kerosene and lubricants produced is very good. Coupled with the cost advantage brought by the scale, you will surely have the last laugh in this knockout. Then you can take advantage of the opportunity to control the entire refining market. In your hand, by the way, you can also take advantage of the bankruptcy of those oil wells and take the valuable oil wells. Then rely on the entire chain from mining to production to monopolize the industry. So I said, your factory The prospects are very good."

"But this market, as you said, is very limited. Even if it is completely monopolized, how much profit can be made? Compared with the new projects in your hands, such as transoceanic communications, it is basically It's not worth mentioning." Rockefeller said.

Rockefeller didn't say this for humility. To be honest, he didn't want to see Scrooge's power infiltrate this Realm. As Scrooge mentioned earlier, he also made similar calculations. As long as he seizes the opportunity, he believes that within a few years, he will be able to completely control the oil industry. This industry is not big, but the money earned is enough to make him a millionaire. But if Scrooge, an elephant, rushed into this porcelain shop, it would be really hard to tell how much he would have left in the end.

"John, you underestimate oil. The biggest use of oil has not yet been developed. Otherwise, its market will be terrifying, far beyond your imagination." Scrooge said.

"The real purpose?" Rockefeller said.

"Yes." Scrooge laughed. "In the big laboratory, we have achieved a lot of results, and some of the results are even ready for commercialization. It's just..."

"It's just that you're still waiting for those oil companies to collapse before they come in?" Beads of sweat began to appear on Rockefeller's forehead. In the previous plan for the oil industry, without Scrooge's intervention, Rockefeller was absolutely confident that he could sweep the entire market by taking advantage of the crisis, but now, if it is really like Scrooge said, once history Gao Zhi joined the battlefield, including him, will certainly be swept away.

"Yeah, I originally thought this way, but after you started investing in this business, I changed my mind." Scrooge said, "because if I continue to do that, we will probably meet each other in business. No. John, we are best friends, we care like brothers. I don’t want such a situation to happen. I think you certainly don’t want to happen like this. Because we are a family and love each other As a family, there is no need to make trouble for a little money. So I remembered the way you and I cooperate in chemical and pharmaceutical companies. You hold part of the preferred stock of this company, and this way of cooperation brings us all Interest."

"Scrooge, you mean you also want to invest in my company and get some preferred stock?" Rockefeller said.

"I intend to use technology as an investment to obtain a portion of the preferred stock." Scrooge said, "You also know that if there are no unexpected variables, your existing funds will be enough to sweep the entire oil industry. I can also use the funds for more urgently needed areas, such as the development of the real use of oil."

"Scrooge, can you tell me what the real use of oil is and how big is the market?" Rockefeller asked. They all know each other too well, so those roundabout puzzles are a waste of time. It's better to ask straightforward questions.

"Used as a new energy source is like coal." Scrooge said, "Since oil can be burned, and the processed oil will not even leave any residue after burning, such an excellent fuel can only be used Let’s light up the lights. Isn’t this too much material? In our large laboratory, we have completed the experiment of the heavy oil boiler steam engine. Since the energy density of oil is higher than that of coal, the same weight of fuel can make the steam engine more Power. If used on ocean-going ships, the fuel tank of the ship can be greatly reduced, thereby increasing the payload, or the cruising range of the ship can be overturned. This is a huge advantage. In addition, the use of heavy fuel oil as Fuel, fuel filling can be completely controlled by a valve, and there is no need to clean the furnace, which will bring about the simplicity of maintenance and substantial ascending in reliability. Therefore, I can say that once it is targeted Ship-optimized heavy oil fuel steam engines are put on the market. It won’t be long before you will never see coal-burning ships on the ocean. And this is just a starting point. Because the fractionated light oil is easy to ignite and burn There is no residue, so we can even let it burn directly in the cylinder, omitting the process of burning the boiler, so that we can get some power machines with more power, but smaller size and weight. This will bring the whole industry Revolution. John, now do you know how big this market is?"

"This...this..." Rockefeller widened his eyes and looked at Scrooge, so surprised that he couldn't speak at all for a while.

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