Greece’s Roman Road

After a while, she seemed satisfied with Constantine's cooperation. Ms. Chriss came to Sanford, and the two talked in a low voice, then turned around and left in a hurry.

"Mr. Sanford, who is she? Why is she so enthusiastic?" Constantine asked Sanford when he saw that Sanford seemed to be familiar with Chrissy.

"Don't worry, Your Excellency, it's a good thing. That's Samuel's wife. As for who Samuel is, he is a shareholder of Standard Oil," Sanford smiled.

The period between the American Civil War (1861-1865) and the Spanish-American War in 1897 was called the Gilded Age by Americans because of the rapid economic development.

With the development of the economy, a lot of wealthy wealth has risen, just like Rockefeller.

But the United States, as of 1883, only had a history of more than 100 years, and it was too young, so it seemed to have insufficient foundation.

Europeans despise these nouveau riche relatives, thinking that the United States is a cultural desert and scum of the soil.

After some rich people get rich, they want to improve their social status, so European aristocrats have entered the sight of the American rich.

Through the marriage between the two parties, the rich have improved their social status, the nobles have gained wealth, and both parties have what they need.

Therefore, in the late 19th century, the phenomenon of the daughter of the rich American marrying the European aristocrat became a common practice.

The most well-known are the father and mother of the later British Prime Minister Churchill.

As a seasoned diplomat, Sanford, who has been rolling around in the upper echelons of New York all the year round, saw Chris's appearance and knew what she was fighting for.

Confused, Constantine, still in the dark, looked at Sanford with a mysterious expression. After asking twice without getting an answer, he gave up the question.

"Sanford, if I read correctly, this banquet seems to be a gathering of oil tycoons, right?" Constantine changed the subject.

"Yes, to be exact, a shareholder meeting of Standard Oil, a trust company," Sanford replied.

"Have they encountered any trouble?" Thinking that President Chester was invited to this banquet, I am afraid that these monopoly capitalists have encountered some trouble.

"What else could be the trouble? Standard Oil is such a behemoth, the largest crude oil producer in the United States, with a monopoly on 95% of the United States' refining capacity, 90% of its oil transportation capacity, and 25% of its crude oil production. Many people are very concerned about this company. Dissatisfied, it's too powerful," Sanders said.

"I'm afraid this gathering is for the shareholders of Standard Oil to test the president's attitude," Sanford said here, lowering his voice.

"Of course, their troubles are not only the public's disgust with Standard Oil, but they are also in trouble," Sanford said with a gloating expression.

"What's the trouble?" Constantine asked cooperatively.

"You know the electric light bulb, right? Edison invented the light bulb two years ago, and it can be powered by electricity," said Sanford.

Having said that, Constantine suddenly realized.

Speaking of which, the largest oil producer in the world is the United States. It can be said that the origin of the modern oil industry is in the United States.

But in this era, cars and diesel-engine ships have not yet appeared. Without them, they consume a lot of oil. Where will the oil produced by a big company like Standard Oil be used?

The answer is lighting.

The biggest use of oil in this era is to refine kerosene, which is used as the oil for kerosene lamps to provide lighting.

Crude oil is extracted from oil wells and refined to produce kerosene. This refined kerosene has good combustion effect, strong light source, and extremely stable light, so it quickly becomes popular.

However, kerosene lamps have some drawbacks, such as easy to catch fire and cause fire.

Two years ago, Edison invented the 1,000-hour light bulb, a status quo that alarmed oil tycoons like Rockefeller because the lighting market for kerosene was threatened.

After the refining of kerosene in this era, in addition to kerosene, there is also gasoline.

A large amount of gasoline is useless and difficult to store, and oil merchants usually dump the gasoline for disposal.

Because the gasoline engine has just been invented (1883, the German Daimler invented the gasoline engine), it will take a long time to apply it on a large scale and consume a lot of gasoline.

Therefore, the good days for oil producers are far from here.

Taking the opportunity of this banquet, it is a good opportunity to get to know some American business tycoons even if you don't see President Chester.

At this moment, the hall suddenly became quiet, the band stopped playing, and the ballroom dancers on the carpet also stopped dancing.

Seeing this, Constantine looked towards the entrance, and saw a man in his 50s with a thick beard on his upper lip and a black round hat walking in.

"This is President Chester," Sanford whispered as he approached Constantine.

As the host, Rockefeller stepped forward to greet him, and then the two walked into a room together with several men in black suits.

After a cup of tea, Rockefeller and several men walked out of the room together. They were chatting and laughing with relaxed expressions. Obviously, they got a good answer.

Rockefick walked directly to Constantine, UU read www.uukanshu.com and said; "Mr. Constantine, I heard that you are also here to meet Mr. President, if so, now is the time, Chess. President Trump is still in that box."

Hearing Mr. Rockefeller's prompt, Constantine thanked him and walked into the room under Sanford's gaze.

When the man sitting on the sofa saw someone coming in, he stood up, straightened his wrinkled clothes slightly, walked towards Constantine, stretched out his right hand and said, "Welcome to New York, America, Your Excellency the Duke."

Obviously, the identity of Constantine is no secret in the eyes of the president.

"Thank you, Mr. President."

After shaking hands, the two sat on two opposite sofas.

"Mr. President, what do you think about Africa?" Constantine got straight to the point and didn't want to waste time.

"I heard that European adventurers are very active there recently, and the American people are also very concerned about the European adventures in Africa. As for me, to be honest, I am not interested there. The North American continent is enough to worry me." President Chester replied.

"It's like this, in order to maintain the normal trade between European and American merchants and the indigenous people of southern Africa, maintain necessary commercial exchanges, drive out the darkness of the African continent, and bring ignorant Africans into civilized society, the Congolese Committee has been working with the Arab slaves there in recent years. Traffickers, and other evil indigenous struggles hostile to European and American businessmen."

For politicians, giving high-sounding explanations for their actions is an essential skill.

"I hope you, Mr. President, can agree and support that the Congolese Committee will be responsible for maintaining order in the Congo River basin and providing necessary protection for European and American businessmen." Constantine made no secret of the purpose of the Congolese Committee.

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