1855 United States Tycoon

Putting down the telescope in his hand, Scrooge stretched in the room, and then habitually turned around in the room. From the door to the window is 22 steps, and from the window to the door is also 22 steps. This is Scrooge's main activity space now. Scrooge's situation is currently the top secret of the Macdonald Consortium, so even if he returns to Duck Castle, his existence must be kept secret. Therefore, Scrooge's activity space is basically in this room at the top of the castle.

There are two main reasons for choosing such a house. First, the house has a good view. Scrooge obviously couldn't wander into the garden as he did before. If you stay in a place that is safe, but with a narrow view, and stays in a house for several months, it will definitely be uncomfortable. So when Scrooge quietly returned to Duck Castle and the family discussed where to hide Scrooge, the first thing Scrooge vetoed was the safest place in the entire Duck Castle—— Underground vault. Although it's safe there, and the things in it look very cute, but if you really want to stay there for a few months, it can really suffocate people. Now that he has chosen this place, Scrooge can at least open the curtains a small opening every day and look around with a binoculars, which is barely a kind of walk like looking plums to quench his thirst and painting cakes to satisfy his hunger.

The second reason is that very few people come to this place. This room was originally part of Scrooge's arty observatory on the top of the castle. There are many expensive and sophisticated instruments in these rooms, and the people below are not allowed to come in casually. So Scrooge stayed here, relatively speaking, it was relatively difficult to expose. As for the way of life during this period, in Scrooge's own words, it is basically no different from jail, especially the way some South American drug lords go to jail in later generations. Although they are restricted to a certain range and cannot run around, they really need to go out. They can go out in minutes, and even if they don’t go out and stay in a luxurious cell, they can still control the changes in the outside world. .

Scrooge sat down on the sofa and checked the time. It was already six o'clock in the afternoon. After a while, several major family leaders will gather here to discuss the situation on this day and related countermeasures. .

After a while, just as the evening glow dyed the screens on the small west window red, Dorothea and Carol both went to this room one after another. The regular meeting of the McDonald family began.

Carol spoke first.

"Scrooge, the people from Morgan found me today. I hope I can provide them with high-quality steel at a more favorable price at least not higher than the price of steel sold to the family business. It seems that they really want to sell the car. The industry is getting started."

"What conditions did they give you?" Dorothea asked.

"They are willing to provide me with low-interest loans." Carol said, "They think that under the current circumstances, I should be in need of cash. Moreover, they also said that they will continue to buy steel from me in the future. This The proposal has been rejected by me. I told them that the price of the steel we sold to the family business in the past was completely at the cost price, and there was no profit. But the entire family’s dividends have my share. So I can Accept such a profitless transaction. But now, even in so-called intra-family transactions, I can no longer provide them with steel at such a price. Naturally, it is impossible to use such a price to anyone else. Provide steel. But I can agree that the price of the steel sold to them will be slightly lower than the regular price. Of course, the premise is that he provides me with a loan and provides more orders."

"So how did they respond?" Scrooge asked.

"I haven't replied yet? I just started talking about this question, how can it be so fast." Carol replied, "I think the price of our car can be raised a bit. In addition, Frank should be asked to order some from other steel companies. It's steel."

"Frank should also be asked to announce that any customer who purchases a Volkswagen will receive a certain amount of gasoline." Scrooge added. In this way, facing such a situation, people outside will naturally come up with the following related stories:

Because Frank fell to Dorothea, Carol raised the price of selling steel to them, or simply made an excuse not to provide them with enough steel. As a result, Frank had to buy high-quality steel from other steel companies, even foreign steel companies, which naturally greatly increased the cost and led to the price increase of Volkswagen. Naturally, Dorothea could not look at the loss of her own people, so relying on the advantage of a large number of oil fields, she reached an agreement with Rockefeller to support Frank by providing fuel subsidies.

...

This decision was naturally frantically hyped by various news media. Almost everyone is talking about the changes within the Macdonald consortium. Under these conditions, members of the Morgan Consortium once again gathered to discuss the current situation.

"Everyone, not long ago, our people had a tentative contact with Carol. At present, Carol agreed to lower the current market price and also lower than the current price of 23% for Volkswagen. We sold steel, but Carol made some of his demands. Look at his conditions and can we negotiate with him based on his suggestions." Morgan said to his allies.

As he spoke, his assistant began to distribute the printed version of Carol's proposal to everyone. Everyone lowered their heads in silence and looked at the file. The whole meeting place immediately became quiet, only the sound of turning pages was heard.

Morgan leaned back on the back of the sofa and looked around his allies. Quietly waiting for them to finish reading this document. The document itself is not long, only two pages. However, there are many exchanges of interests involved. Therefore, when reading these texts, naturally you cannot read ten lines at a glance like reading a novel. Instead, you must study word by word, deliberate, and think about what you can get in this. What will be lost. How big the risk is to take, what are the short-term benefits, and what are the long-term benefits, is it worth doing? Of course it seems to be slow. Therefore, Morgan knew that they would not be able to finish this thing within half an hour. And even if you finish reading it, it doesn't mean you can start the discussion right away, because even within the Morgan consortium, there are still some small circles. Those bankers who belong to the same small circle definitely need to discuss with each other and coordinate their positions. This estimate will take longer, maybe two hours will not be enough.

Just as Morgan expected, the bankers turned the two pages over and looked at it many times. Many people even took out paper and pen and started calculations aside. Time passed slowly in such a busy schedule. By the time most people put down the documents in their hands, it was almost time for lunch.

"I believe you have all read it." Morgan said, and at the same time signaled his assistant to go up and tell the document to be recovered-this document is highly confidential and is not allowed to be taken out of the venue. Lest some people inadvertently let this thing fall in the restaurant and then be picked up by others.

"It's already noon. Let's have a work meal first, and then take a break." Morgan looked at his watch, and then said, "It's 11:30 noon. After dinner, everyone has a rest. It's 2 o'clock in the afternoon. Let's gather together to discuss this matter again."

So everyone put the papers on the table and walked out, discussing one after another.

The more than two hours after lunch is actually left for those small circles to discuss and form consensus. Because of personal styles and differences in interests, there are many small circles in Morgan's alliance. Some bankers are bold and adventurous. Some are prudent, emphasizing risk control. Some are good at playing tricks on transactions such as gold and silver, some are keen on bonds and the stock market, and some are accustomed to direct investment. These people see problems from different perspectives, and they see different problems.

By the time the meeting resumed in two and a half days in the afternoon, the opinions within the various small groups were basically unanimous. In the final analysis, there are several views on this proposal in general.

First of all, almost everyone believes that if Carol can really supply at such a price, then under the current circumstances, Volkswagen's position is not completely unshakable. Although Dorothea provided Volkswagen with fuel concessions through Rockefeller, doing so also meant Dorothea was constantly posting money in it. This behavior cannot be sustained. As long as they are willing to increase investment and expand scale, Volkswagen is unwilling to give up market share. The amount of subsidies Dorothea needs to spend will increase rapidly. In this way, she would definitely be unable to support it soon.

However, another condition of Carol made them very hesitant. Carol asked them to order in large quantities and prepaid him for the goods. This is actually equivalent to asking Morgan to give him a large loan first. Many of the so-called 23% discount is actually the interest on the loan that Morgan gave him. And Carol asked them to pay a little more in one-time payment. He actually asked Morgan to pay him a one-time payment equivalent to the steel that Volkswagen planned for the next two years. In fact, the strength of the preferential treatment is definitely not as much as 23%. However, there is still a discount of about 13%. In general, there is still a profit. However, paying such a large amount of payment at one time and expanding the output of the auto factory will naturally bring a lot of pressure, which will naturally increase the risk of this transaction. The main controversy is here.

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