1855 United States Tycoon

Dena's main job is to interview the upcoming "Socialist International", which is commonly referred to as the "Second International" conference in later generations. However, this conference will not be held until mid-July, so Dana’s main job now is to interview the ongoing Paris World Expo. In Armand’s words, I also took advantage of this opportunity to familiarize myself with the business.

Unlike Dena, Alice’s talent in language and writing is far inferior to her talent in shooting, fighting, tracking, etc. Therefore, it was impossible for Alice to find a career as a reporter and follow Dena. Na ran. But this cannot be troubled by Alice, the Macdonald consortium also has a lot of business in France. Business will naturally have influence. So Alice easily got a job as a "guide" for the Paris World Expo. Then Dena naturally had to "hire" her and ran around Paris with her. So Armand even sighed, Dena Miss is good in all aspects, just a little idiot.

The world's major industrial countries have regarded the Paris World Expo as a large window to showcase their own industrial power. In these exhibitions, Dena is most concerned about the German exhibition area.

"Dana, look at this car, it looks like our Beetle." Alice pointed to a car in the German exhibition area and said to Dana in surprise. Although the relationship between Germany and France has been very cold since the Franco-Prussian War, the Germans will never be absent from opportunities like the World Expo.

"It's a bit like it." Dena also nodded, "Except for the front face is slightly different, and then the car logo is different. Just looking at the line type, it looks a bit like. I don't know how it is inside."

"Just go up and see." Alice said.

So Dena took out her own press card, handed it to the representative of the company called Mercedes-Benz, and said to him: "I'm very interested in this car. Can I go inside and have a look?"

The representative of the company with a big beard looked at Dena’s press card. He looked at Dena and seemed surprised by her youth, but he still politely said: "Miss, thank you Your concern for our company's products." And very kindly helped Dena open the car door.

After the door was opened, Dena became more sure that the car was indeed a Beetle that copied Volkswagen. But she still didn't say anything, just sat in the cab.

The bearded representative continued to introduce their products to Dena: "Look, Miss, this is the steering wheel. You can use it to control the direction when the vehicle is driving. This is the clutch pedal, this is..."

"Thank you, sir." Dena replied with a smile, "I'm from United States, I can drive, and the interior design of this car is very similar to the Volkswagen Beetle I have driven before. I think, If you allow, I can immediately drive it out and go around Paris twice."

Hearing Dena mentioning the "Volkswagen Beetle", the bearded man seemed a little uneasy and didn't know what to say for a while. But to be honest, Dena is not particularly concerned about the counterfeiting of the "Volkswagen Beetle". Because the national power of United States is not enough to stop counterfeiting in Europe, in fact, the Macdonald Consortium has nothing to do with counterfeiting by Germans.

Since it can't be stopped, there is no point in swearing or sarcasm. So Dena didn't mean to delve into it. But Alice didn’t think so. She took a closer look at the car and said, “Dana, there is still a big difference between this car and the Volkswagen Beetle. For example, if you look at the front lights, The Volkswagen Beetle is round, but this one is square. Then the wheels seem to be one size smaller than the Volkswagen Beetle."

"There are a lot of differences. For example, the gearbox is different from the Beetle." Dena added, "It has one more forward gear than the Beetle. Of course, to be honest, in this regard, it is better than the Volkswagen Beetle. Be stronger."

"Yes, this Miss made a point. In fact, this car is similar in appearance to the Beetle, but the other aspects are quite different. More importantly, this car is much cheaper than the Beetle." The representative Quickly followed Dena's words and continued.

"It's cheaper than the Beetle? Isn't it possible?" This statement surprised Dena. But she reacted immediately, and continued to ask: "You mean to forget the tariffs?"

"Tariff is actually not the key." The bearded smiled bitterly, and replied, "How can the French give us lower tariffs? However, if cars made in United States are shipped from United States, the freight is not the same. A small number. Moreover, the tariffs that United States people have to pay are not lower than ours. Of course, the more important thing is that our wage costs are lower. Therefore, we can sell this at a lower price than the Volkswagen Beetle. Cars. And I can assure you that the quality will never be worse than that of United States. It will not even be worse than that of United Kingdom."

In Europe in that era, Germany, a newly industrialized country, was far less famous in terms of product quality than later generations. When people in this era heard "Made in Germany", they would never think of the tall "oil paper bag". , Although at this time, the Germans had already started to build the particularly conscientious sewers in Qingdao that were said to be buried everywhere with "oil paper bags". However, the strange thing is that the Germans were very unconscionable when they built the sewers in Hamburg, so that Hamburg, which is not high on the ground, often accumulates water when it rains. In short, at that time, German goods were almost synonymous with low-end cheap goods. At least compared with the UK, absolutely.

The wages of European workers are lower than those of United States. This is not news. However, Dena couldn't help but inquire about the wages of Mercedes-Benz workers. As a result, she was surprised to find that Germany, which had won in the Franco-Prussian War, had clearly surpassed Germany in France in industrial strength. Germany, which had the best coal mines in Europe, and high-quality iron ore in Alsace and Lorraine, paid the workers. The wages of French workers are actually much lower than those of French workers.

Leaving the Mercedes-Benz booth, Dena strolled around and found more imitations on the booths of other German companies, some of which were imitations of United States products. For example, after the patent expired, almost McDonald’s You can find the German version of twin brothers here for any product of Na Electric. However, the most imitated products are British products. What surprised Dena most was that she actually saw a model of a steam turbine on the Siemens booth.

The related patents of the steam turbine have expired, but because of the huge role of this machine in industry and national defense, both the United States and the British have adopted an extremely confidential approach to this thing. These machines are not allowed to be sold to foreign countries, and those who use such machines, such as power plants, are not allowed to have foreign employees. And now this thing actually appeared on the German booth.

"Damn a German thief! Damn a United States idiot!" Right next to Dena, a stocky middle-aged man about five feet tall stared at the Siemens steam turbine model with fierce eyes. Such a sentence was spit out from between the teeth.

The "damn" in the front is nothing, but the "damn" in the back made Dena interested, so Dena asked, "This gentleman? Do you think the technology of this machine was stolen?"

"Of course!" The person replied in British English, "With the current level of technology of the Germans, it is impossible to develop this thing on their own. This must be stolen, or the United States who only recognizes money The guys sold it to them. Those United States guys are money fans, as long as you are willing to give money, they are willing to sell anything!"

At this time, another person hurriedly came over and shouted at the down-to-earth middle-aged man: "Mr. Fisher, come here and see what I see!"

When Fisher heard this, he didn't care to talk to Dena more. He nodded to Dena and said, "Miss, please allow me to escape for a while. I'm going to have a look."

Dana followed curiously. She saw Fisher staring at a model of a battleship placed by a German shipyard.

"Steam turbine power, unified main gun and fire control, high speed, high defense, what is this for!" Fisher couldn't help but say, "What do the Germans want? What do they design such a warship for? ?"

At this time, Dena had guessed the identity of this person. This person was the head of the British Naval Ordnance Bureau, Baron Fisher. An avid supporter of absolute maritime superiority. It's just that she didn't know that in history, this man was the initiator of the Dreadnought Race.

How can such a person not be angry when he sees that the Germans have a tendency to strengthen the navy?

"Isn't it just a model?" Alice asked Dena, "How can this person be so angry?"

"Because this model is a warship designed for the United Kingdom." Dena replied, "This is a warship designed to attack sea lines of communication. The high speed allows it to avoid enemy capital ships, and the high defense makes the average It is difficult for the cruiser to strike him effectively. As for its artillery, although it is relatively small compared to the tonnage, it is enough to hit merchant ships and cruisers. In this world, besides the United Kingdom, who else has so many sea routes that can give They fought? How can the Germans not annoy the British by selling such warships?"

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