1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 325 Fragrant

August asked Liang Yao for a sample of kerosene, and soon, Kony brought a small bottle of kerosene sample.

"Excuse me."

After thanking Coney, August carefully observed the light yellow transparent liquid in the glass bottle, and even stepped forward to take a sniff.

The pungent smell forced him to quickly remove his nose from the mouth of the bottle.

"What a weird and disgusting smell, the smell of whale oil is much stronger than this bullshit kerosene. Even low-quality whale oil that smells like fish smells better than this."

Hills frowned and said with disgust and disdain.

"Compared to this smelly oil, I think people are more willing to choose whale oil with better taste. Even inferior whale oil is more comfortable to use than this smelly oil.

With all due respect, this kind of oil is garbage and there will be no market for it at all. If my servants buy this smelly oil, I will not hesitate to pour this smelly oil into the sewer."

Hills dismissed kerosene as useless.

Hills originally thought that Liang Yao came to him today to talk to Bahrain Bank about gold, banking, securities, and finance, which are the decent and big business that the Bahrain family is good at.

He didn't expect that Liang Yao would come to him to discuss such a dirty business. This was simply an insult to him!

Kerosene is nothing more than a daily necessities. What big future can a small daily necessities business have?

Can this thing have a market worth hundreds of millions of dollars?

Hills lost patience and angrily threw up his sleeves and left.

"Mr. Liang, I thought you would have better taste than those old-timers in New York, but I didn't expect you to be more old-fashioned than them. How can you make money selling such daily necessities? It's ridiculous. It's really ridiculous."

Before leaving, Hills did not forget to mock Liang Yao.

"Mr. Hills really has no patience at all."

Liang Yao glanced at the leaving Hills with disdain, then turned his head, looked at August and said.

"I think the Rothschilds must be more discerning and patient than the Barings."

Hills thought Liang Yao was ridiculous, and Liang Yao also thought Hills was ridiculous. Not only was he ridiculous, he was also pathetic.

You can make money by selling daily necessities commonly used by the public. Kerosene has a market not only in industrial countries such as Europe, but also in agricultural countries in East Asia.

Both people in industrial countries and people in agricultural countries have needs for lighting.

After the Second Opium War, kerosene was one of the first industrial products that the West successfully dumped in China.

Even the high taxes imposed by the Qing government on kerosene could not prevent kerosene from carving its way among the Chinese vegetable oils.

There is no other reason than that it is cheap and easy to use.

In 1871, the price of camellia oil in Guangzhou was 5 taels and 4 cents per quintal, soybean oil was 5 taels and 5 cents per quintal, hemp oil was 5 taels and 5 cents per quintal, and peanut oil was 5 taels and 3 cents per quintal.

In comparison, the price of kerosene is only 2 taels and 8 yuan per quintal, which is only one-third of the price of local vegetable oil.

Moreover, the combustion process of kerosene is stable, it will not burn out, and the brightness is higher. The lighting effect is not a bit stronger than traditional vegetable oil. In the end, even the oil farmers near Guangzhou stopped using vegetable oil and switched to kerosene for lighting.

August shrugged, feeling secretly happy inside.

He hopes that the Bahrain family will withdraw from this project, so that there will be one less competitor in the European market in the future.

So Hills left, and August didn't even bother to get up and pretend to keep Hills.

"The Baring family is not a bunch of short-sighted people, but this unworldly Mr. Hills is."

August put down the glass bottle of kerosene in his hand and gave the Baring family a fair evaluation.

"If Thomas were sitting here talking about this business with you today, I think the communication process would be much more harmonious. I would like to ask, is this oil vegetable oil or animal oil?"

If the children of the Baring family were all unlearned and short-sighted people like Hills, it would be impossible for the Baring family to maintain such great influence in the British Empire today.

Rothschild hoped that all the children of the Baring family would be like this Hills. The banking industry was also a key industry of the Rothschild family.

After all, Meyer, the fortune-teller of the Rothschild family, made his fortune in banking and finance.

The two families also have frequent business contacts, especially the third son Nathan Rothschild, whom Meyer arranged to develop in London, has the most intersection with the Baring family. It can be said that the two are both partners and competitors.

's mortal enemy.

"Mineral oil." Liang Yao answered August's question.

"What kind of mineral?" August continued to ask with his eyes wide open.

"Business secrets, no comment." Liang Yao smiled and said, "Mr. August, you asked a bit too many questions."

"This is a big business. The more you ask, the more you will understand, and the Rothschild family will be able to cooperate with you more confidently." August also smiled very kindly, "Since it is mineral oil,

The output must be very high, right?”

Kerosene is selling well in the Crystal Palace Mall today. American consumers like high-quality and low-priced kerosene, and European consumers will also like it.

There is no doubt about the market prospects of kerosene. The issue that August is most concerned about now is the production of kerosene.

If you want to make huge wealth from cheap daily necessities, production is the top priority.

"Last year's output was 8 million liters. This year's output will exceed 15 million liters. There is no problem. If Rothschild Bank is willing to provide me with a loan to expand production capacity, I am confident that the annual output will reach 50 million liters within two years."

Above!" Liang Yao said with great enthusiasm.

In 1852, the assets of the Rothschild family reached an astonishing 9.53 million pounds, and the funds they controlled were tens of millions of pounds. They must have a large amount of liquidity in their hands.

If Liang Yao can get a loan from the Rothschild family, he can also alleviate the current problem of tight liquidity.

The construction of the Pacific Railway will take up a large part of his working capital. The California Coal and Steel Alliance has not yet achieved profitability, and it still has to continuously invest money to increase steel production. Even if it has gold mines in California and Australia, it may not be possible.

It can ensure that the two gold-eating giants, railways and steel, are fed.

But California's heavy industry has to be developed. Now Liang Yao also wants to expand oil production capacity in Los Angeles, and he needs more working capital for turnover.

Now only current financial giants such as the Rothschild family and the Baring family can meet his needs.

"In two years, the production has increased from 8 million liters to more than 50 million liters. Have you found an oil lake in California?"

The annual output of 8 million liters of kerosene was enough to shock August. Within two years, the kerosene output increased from 8 million liters to more than 50 million liters.

If it were anyone else, August would definitely treat the other person as a lunatic and an idiot, thinking that the other person must be bragging.

Having been immersed in the shopping mall for many years, August, a financial liar, has not been uncommon.

But Liang Yao is not just a braggart. When Liang Yao signed a gambling agreement with him and Backhouse two years ago, August thought Liang Yao was crazy, stupid, and without a brain.

A stupid upstart with too much money.

Not only does he feel this way, many New York aristocrats and even citizens watching the excitement also feel this way. Most people are not optimistic about Liang Yao's New York business district plan, until the opening of the Crystal Palace Mall today.

If California really has such terrifying kerosene production capacity, Liang Yao's estimate of a market worth hundreds of millions of dollars is still very conservative.

In other words, the business monster in front of him who was talking arrogantly to him was still a very humble and conservative person.

At this moment, August felt his head was buzzing, a little messy, even a little excited, and every cell in his body was boiling with excitement.

Damn it, with such a terrifying kerosene output, any lighting fuel will instantly become unscented in the presence of kerosene.

"It's not that I found an oil lake in California, but I dug an oil field." Liang Yaoyun said calmly.

August couldn't sit still anymore. He jumped up from his seat excitedly, sniffing at the bottle of kerosene sample like crazy, not caring about the strange looks from the people around him.

"This smells so damn good, so fragrant."

Now August doesn't find the smell of kerosene offensive at all.

Ordinary consumers will not find the smell of low-quality kerosene that is not pure enough. Crystal Palace sells a liter of kerosene for 30 cents, which is a full 20 cents lower than whale oil.

A price difference of 20 cents is just one or two days of food expenses for working-class people. Who cares whether it tastes good or not.

Besides, the fish smell of ordinary whale oil is not necessarily much better than the smell of kerosene.

"The smell of money is of course very fragrant." Liang Yao said.

(End of chapter)