1855 United States Tycoon

"These damn little bugs are running too fast!" Puyol, the captain of the anti-smuggling boat, sighed. During this period, there have been more and more people smuggling in the Caribbean Sea. In the past, these guys only imported weapons and ammunition to Cuba, but now they are importing more and more types of goods to Cuba. All kinds of industrial products are continuously smuggled by sea into the Cuban market. As a result, today’s Cuban market is full of United States goods, from cloth clothing to Spam luncheon meat Spam sausages, from briquettes stoves to pans, from various mirrors to various soaps and perfumes, almost all of them are United States goods. . Under the competition of high-quality and inexpensive United States products, Spanish products are almost uncompetitive.

In the past, a Spanish cargo ship was loaded with industrial products and traveled across the oceans to Cuba. It was almost always sold out quickly. When returning home, he would bring a ship of tobacco leaves or fine sugar. From this time to time, although the profit made is not as good as that when we controlled almost the entire South America in the past, we can load a full ship of gold or silver on the return journey with almost no capital, but barely It can also make a little money for the declining Spain.

However, now, because the market is full of United States goods, the industrial level of United States has long surpassed that of Spain, which is outdated. The United States products themselves are more competitive than Spanish products in terms of quality and price. . In addition, the distance between United States and Cuba is closer, so the shipping cost of United States goods is lower. In addition, it is smuggling and there is no tax cost. Therefore, after a Spanish ship full of industrial goods arrives in Cuba, it may not be able to sell everything in two or three months. I also ran into trouble on the return trip. Those smuggling ships from United States will not go back empty, they will also go back filled with tobacco leaves and good sugar. Their acquisition directly caused the price of these things to rise, which also made the money that the Spaniards could earn further reduced.

From ancient times to the present, it is like killing one's parents. In the past, the United States only imported some weapons and ammunition. The Spanish did not sell it to Cuba, so that the United States people would earn a little bit. Although it will increase the cost of maintaining stability in the future, at least for the time being, it can be tolerated. . But now, the smuggling of United States people has expanded to such an extent that even daily necessities such as soap have begun to smuggle. This is to completely cut off the Spanish people's financial path. This is really what Uncle can tolerate, and my aunt can't bear it either.But the Spaniards really don’t have much choice. Cuba is small, but its coastline is very long. In addition, most of the places where smugglers go ashore are so-called "highly autonomous" areas, that is, areas controlled by the rebels. Therefore, it is impossible for an anti-smuggling team on land to intercept these smuggling, and intercepting these smuggling ships can only rely on sea power.

But since the sudden and smokey smuggling boats appeared, interception at sea has become more and more difficult. Neither the navy cruiser nor the small steamer of the anti-smuggling team can catch up with the guys who can run to more than twenty knots. Because of this, these smugglers have even become more arrogant. In the past, they had to wait until the night before putting down the human-powered boats that specialize in smuggling goods to do the smuggling business. And now, they have done this day and night. Anyway, the Spaniard's boat could not catch up.

In order to solve this problem, the Spanish squadron in Cuba and the anti-smuggling squadron have put forward the requirement of equipping fast ships like the Governor's Office. Of course, the Governor can only pass this request back to China. But there is actually no good way in Spain. Not to mention the tall gasoline engine or the tall steam turbine, even if it is not so tall, the general reciprocating steam engine that is already a bad street in Western countries, the level of Spain is also inverted. There is simply no way to make warships or anti-smuggling boats that can speed up with those damn United States smuggling ships. As for outsourcing, this is also very difficult. The British and United States, who have steam turbine manufacturing capabilities, have been very cautious about selling warships equipped with steam turbines. Not to mention the United States, as a quasi-enemy country that is eyeing Cuba in Spain, how can it be possible to sell such weapons to Spain? As for the UK, it's basically like this. As soon as they heard that Spain was going to buy warships, they immediately said that they would pack them on me. As long as you have money, you can buy whatever you want. But if you believe them, then you are really stupid. In the end, the warship they took out, although in appearance, was mostly the same as the goods used by Niu Niu. But in terms of actual performance, compared with the Royal Navy’s own use, there will always be some characteristics: foreign trade guns cannot wear genuine leather at normal combat distances, and foreign trade leathers cannot withstand normal combat distances. Genuine guns, in terms of starting road, are always a little slower than genuine ones, and often they can only sprint, not long-distance.

This is the famous "monkey version of the weapon" in the international arms market, which means that the difference in performance is as big as the difference between monkeys and humans, regardless of the appearance of genuine weapons. It is said that in the 1980s, the rabbit country once wanted to buy a tall F-14 from the bald eagle (as a meow party, drooling), but could not afford a small amount of money, and finally the bald eagle was only willing to give F- 16. Then the rabbits think that the pomegranate sister is also good, and the Baiying family is willing to buy the production line? Then the rabbits looked at the product manual again, and then became angry, and the Baiying Furnishings replaced the F-16 turbofan engine with a turbojet!

The Spaniards also received similar treatment from the British. The Britons refused to want Spain to sell warships equipped with steam turbines, but were willing to install reciprocating steam engines on the streets.

As for gasoline engines for small boats, this is even the British have no such technology. However, the Spaniard still found a way.

...

"Mr. Frank, there is a big customer who wants to discuss a business with you. He hopes to order a batch of gasoline engines from us." Frank Rockefeller's secretary walked into his office with a document and said to him.

"Ah, Jim, didn't I say it a long time ago? We don't sell engines, we only sell cars." Frank replied without looking up. The reason is simple, because although the output of the engine is slightly higher than the output of the car, it is not much higher. Volkswagen’s sales are now very good. Why do you want to sell engines? Unless the profit from the other party’s bid for the engine can exceed the profit from the sale of the entire vehicle. But now, considering that those smuggling ship owners buy engines and then sell the other parts to the public at the price of scraps intact, then the public can add an engine to it, and then they can buy it as a new car. Once, I want to order the engine separately, unless the profit from selling the engine directly exceeds the profit from selling the whole car and then recycling other parts at a low price. But how is this possible? It's better to buy the whole car directly.

"I know, Mr. Frank," the secretary replied, "but the other party is really willing to pay a big price."

"Oh? Does anyone really want to pay such a price?" Frank was taken aback.

"It's just Mr. Frank, there may be a problem with this guy's origin... You know I didn't mean he was a gang or a smuggler, these are not problems. I mean, he may be a Spaniard."

"Spaniard?" Frank thought for a while, and roughly understood what happened. The Spaniards urgently need an anti-smuggling boat that runs fast enough to deal with those smuggling boats. To be honest, the sale is good. When the government buys things, they can often get very beautiful prices as long as they are willing to give a good rebate. And for the public, the speed race between the two sides in the Caribbean will only make the public earn more. However, some other companies of the Macdonald Consortium have benefited from the smuggling to Cuba. Once the strength of the Spaniard’s anti-smuggling team is strengthened, it will also have a certain impact on the sales of other products of the Macdonald Consortium. It's really not necessarily what the overall benefit judgment is. At least Frank couldn't make such a judgment. So he decided to wait a while and report the matter to Scrooge, so that the head of Scrooge's consortium would make the decision.

...

"Dorothea, do you think we should sell gasoline engines to the Spaniards?" Scrooge waited quietly for Dorothea to finish reading all the materials, including an investigation of the identity of the person who placed the order, including the Spaniard. Quotation, including an assessment of possible profits and losses that will be incurred.

"Your materials are wrong." Dorothea said with a sneer. "Your materials didn't take into account the profit that those smugglers can bring to us by upgrading their equipment to Ascension smuggling. For example, every ship is average now. There is only one engine. If the Spaniards also have ships with gasoline engines, as long as the captains are smart enough, they will quickly order more engines from us, such as installing two or even three engines on the ship. I I believe that as long as we control the number of engines and technology level for the Spaniards, we can start a speed race in the Caribbean without suffering more losses in other areas, or even in other areas. And as a result, our engines and even shipbuilding are profitable."

"The person who makes the assessment can only assess the current state. He has no right to imagine future changes indiscriminately. This is our job and our right. It is normal if they do not take into account what you said. Scrooge smiled and said: "You don't think about it. Arming the Spaniards is good for the country?"

"Come less!" Dorothea curled her lips, "We need the country, we need it to serve our interests, not to have the opportunity to serve it. Let it die!"

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