rebirth against the times

A helicopter hovered over Detroit, USA for a long time. It was a small and medium-sized civilian helicopter that could seat 6-7 people. On board, Bai Shuo, Anna, Cao An, and William, accompanied by Hans, were overlooking the car.

City.

Hans had already had preliminary communication with General Motors before. After reaching the preliminary intention, Bai Shuo made a special trip to Detroit to prepare for further negotiations with General Motors boss Lao Han.

As seen from an airplane, downtown Detroit with the New Center is lined with tall buildings, while the rest of the city is made up of shorter buildings and family homes. The southeast part of the city has many abandoned buildings and large swaths of desolate land, while the south and west show

A scene of prosperity.

Detroit is located in the core area of ​​the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes region began to become the world's manufacturing center in the 19th century. Due to its strategic position on the Great Lakes waterway, Detroit gradually became a transportation hub. With the rise of shipping, shipbuilding and manufacturing industries, Detroit began

It has grown steadily and gradually become the automobile city of the United States and the capital of the world's automobile industry. A quarter of the cars in the United States are produced here, and 90% of the city's more than 4 million people are engaged in the automobile industry.

Unfortunately, Detroit prospered because of automobiles, and also declined because of automobiles. With the emphasis on uneven economic development and the decline of the automobile manufacturing industry, a pillar industry, Detroit has also gradually declined since the 1970s, becoming one of the few American states in the past few years.

One of the cities with the largest urban population decline in a decade.

This round of economic crisis became the last straw that broke the American automobile manufacturing industry, and also kicked off the complete collapse of this old industrial capital.

Despite this, Detroit at this time can still see the foundation of the old industrial giant. The city's architectural styles are diverse, and many well-preserved skyscrapers and historical buildings from the 1920s and 1930s highlight the city's former glory.

.

"Hey, Anna, what does the name Detroit mean? How come their pronunciation sounds a bit like a Gaulish name." Cao An asked.

Anna looked out the window and said calmly: "Detroit is named after the Detroit River that connects Lake St. Clair and Lake Erie. It originally comes from Gaulish and means river of straits."

Cao An was puzzled: "Damn it, how come this city in the United States has a Gaul name? Is it some kind of sister city, named to commemorate it or something like that?"

Bai Shuo said angrily: "You have to understand the history of North America. First, the Gallic colonists came to this place. Later, the British Empire defeated Gaul and occupied the entire North America. After the independence of the United States, this place was

Eventually it became a border city between the United States and northern Canada."

Hans turned back from the co-pilot position on the front of the plane and said with a smile: "Hey, Bai, you are so right, it is indeed like this. Fatty, you need to study more..."

At this time, William suddenly shouted: "Look, that's the headquarters of General Motors."

Everyone looked as William pointed and saw a beautiful group of five connected circular glass tower buildings standing on the banks of the Erie River, across the river from Canada in the north. The five buildings formed a dice.

There are five points in the building, the one in the middle is the tallest, and the other four are slightly shorter and guard the tall building in the middle. The exterior of the building is all covered with glass, which is very grand and feels a bit like it stands out from the crowd. Especially compared with Canada across the river.

General Motors' headquarters really earns a lot of face for the United States.

"This is the tallest building in the city, the 73-story Renaissance Tower. That 47-story building is where General Motors' headquarters is located."

"Brother Shuo, it would be great if our company could be as impressive as this in the future." Cao An exclaimed excitedly.

"Yes, it must be better than this." Bai Shuo nodded slightly.

"That's great. A company building like this is really worth looking forward to. Bai, you have to leave an office for me then..." Hans said excitedly.

"Don't worry, I can't do without you, but for now you should stay in the United States for me and take care of things here..."

"Sir, do you need two more turns?" The pilot asked Hans at this time.

Hans looked back at Bai Shuo again: "There is still more than an hour before the agreed time. Look...".

"No need, just go over there..." Bai Shuo pointed to the General Motors headquarters below.

Soon, the helicopter landed on the tarmac of the Renaissance Building. However, surprisingly, General Motors did not seem to show enthusiasm or expectation for the early arrival of Bai Shuo and others. After Hans got in touch with the other party,

The other party actually just lukewarmly asked everyone to meet in the designated conference room in an hour or go to the company's reception room to settle down first.

The other party's contempt made Hans very unhappy. However, Bai Shuo said indifferently: "There is nothing wrong with the master strictly observing the time. Why don't we take a look around first."

Hans shook his head helplessly and led everyone into the building through the gate of the Renaissance Center.

The lobby on the first floor of the building has a tall and spacious space. The entire wall and roof are covered with glass, allowing you to directly enjoy the sunlight. There are many shops here, as well as many tables and chairs for people to relax. Because

The exterior of the building is fully decorated with glass. Through the large glass windows, you can directly see the Detroit River in front and the Canadian buildings opposite.

But the most surprising thing was the two rows of towering tropical trees in the hall that almost reached the roof. Cao An observed a tree carefully and shouted to everyone in surprise: "Fuck, this is fucking

It’s a real tree, it’s more than ten meters high, right?”

"Well, these are real trees. Since the exterior walls are made of glass, these trees will not lack sunlight even though they are indoors." Hans explained.

"By the way, there are many fast food restaurants, McDonald's, coffee shops and so on on the basement floor here. Do you want to go and have a seat?"

Cao An marveled again: "What kind of company headquarters is this? It's just a shopping mall and a leisure and entertainment venue..."

Hans smiled and said: "Yes, this is not only the headquarters of General Motors, but also the Renaissance Center. It can be regarded as a complex that combines hotels, offices, exhibitions, leisure and commerce."

Since Bai Shuo wanted to know more about this place, Hans led everyone to wander around.

Although Bai Shuo didn't buy or eat much, he was very enthusiastic and had seemingly casual and rambling conversations with the owners of the shops he visited.

During the conversation, Bai Shuo discovered that many store operators here are worried about their future. Because the 5.5 million square meter "Fuxing Plaza" they rely on for survival is centered on the General Motors headquarters building.

The huge General Motors Company and its large number of General Motors employees come and go with businessmen from all over the place. Tourists are the bread and butter for their survival. And they are the ones who can best intuitively feel the changes in General Motors Company.

The owner of a small restaurant told Bai Shuo that he has been operating here for fifteen or sixteen years, but he has never been so anxious as in the past few months. As General Motors continues to lay off employees, fewer and fewer people come to eat.

Many familiar faces among the customers disappeared suddenly and suddenly. The turnover of the entire restaurant is now less than half of what it used to be. Customers like Bai Shuo are even rarer.

When asking for directions to a black man in charge of sanitation, Bai Shuo also chatted with him for a few words. The black man recalled that on September 16 last year, the lively "General Motors" in the "Renaissance Center"

The "Centennial Day Celebration" is still fresh in people's memories. At that time, the 4-square-kilometer General Motors R&D Center was crowded with people. Today, it is still green with green grass and pleasant scenery, but it is no longer as busy as before.

The owner of another coffee and beverage business also felt very sorry for the current situation. He said that from the beginning of this crisis, he had a premonition that GM might go bankrupt one day, but if that day really comes,

He will still feel very uncomfortable...

Seeing Bai Shuo harvesting valuable information one after another from the lowest level personnel, Hans and William were greatly moved and cast very admiring glances at Bai Shuo.

However, Cao An joked to Hans and William: "You are always in suits and ties, talking about those wild things. Do you know that to do big things, it is also very important to be grounded."

After wandering around for a while, Hans took everyone to the General Motors showroom. At the entrance of the showroom was the General Motors service desk. Behind the service desk, on both sides of the tall metal pillars were glass strips stacked up to create a wavy shape, which looked very stylish.

Artistic atmosphere.

Here, everyone saw the latest models of General Motors' brands on display, as well as classic models from past years. There were sports cars, pickup trucks, and classic cars, all of which highlighted General Motors' century-old glory.

After reading it, it was almost like understanding the history of General Motors. Bai Shuo was deeply impressed by the heritage of General Motors and became more determined to win it.

Cao An wandered around for a while, then ran directly in front of a Chevrolet and exclaimed: "Is this the Bumblebee? It's so beautiful, please take a photo with me."

William picked up the camera and took several photos of Cao An. But Cao An was still not satisfied and kept changing his appearance. If not for the permission, he would have almost gotten into the car.

Bai Shuo walked over angrily and lifted Cao An away: "Don't be embarrassed here..."

Cao An shouted: "Brother Shuo, this is my dream car. I have been fascinated by this car since I was watching Transformers since I was a child. I finally came here, so let me take a look at it a few more times..."

Hans stepped forward and comforted Cao An softly: "Fat man, have you forgotten what we came here for?"

Cao An looked at Hans doubtfully.

Hans smiled slyly and said: "You are stupid. When we take over General Motors, it will not be a problem to tailor-make a car for you..."

Cao An's eyes lit up, and he suddenly felt energetic. "Hey, that's right. Let's do business first. Brother Shuo, it's almost time, should we go up?"

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