The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 451: Being Tricked by the British
After Chen Zhengwei returned to San Francisco, he leaned on the sofa in the office and thought for a while, but he always felt that something was wrong.

"Five production lines...two shifts, 1000 people, producing 1 rounds of ammunition..."

“1000个人一天人工成本就1000美元了，1万5000发子弹，1美分一颗……这才150美元？这还没算原材料。”

"You have to sell it at 10 cents a piece to barely cover your costs?"

"Fuck!" Chen Zhengwei didn't think about it carefully before.

After all, he didn't even have enough bullets before, so he didn't even consider the cost issue. But this production line has greatly increased the output of bullets, so he didn't pay attention to it just now.

After doing the math like this, I suddenly felt terrible.

"Damn it, we were fooled by the British!" Chen Zhengwei kicked the cabinet door under the table and broke it into pieces.

"Brother Wei!" The thugs outside heard the voice and rushed in immediately.

"Tell the farm to hang up those British people and beat them!" Chen Zhengwei cursed, "Fuck, they even dare to play tricks on me?"

"Brother Wei, what exactly happened?" the henchman asked cautiously.

"Damn, there's something wrong with this production line! Based on the current output, the bullets produced will be a fucking loss-making business!" Chen Zhengwei cursed.

"Hang them up and beat them, and make things clear to me!"

Chen Zhengwei estimated that the cost of this production line would not be so high, on the one hand because of the outdated equipment and on the other hand because of the mischief of those British engineers.

In other words, the output would not be so low.

"Send another telegram to Remington and ask them to send someone over here right away!"

"Going right now!"

The henchman immediately ran to send a telegram to the farm and Remington Company.

Li Xiwen stood at the door and listened for a few words, and probably knew how angry Chen Zhengwei was.

He walked in and advised: "Brother, things have to be done step by step. After all, we have no experience in this area."

"Fuck! These British guys came to my territory to play tricks on me! They are really not afraid of death!" Chen Zhengwei became angrier and angrier. He walked around on the ground several times. He even wanted to go to New York to beat up the British ambassador again.

"Brother Wei, calm down first. The director of the United Steel Shipyard is here!"

"Bring them here!" Chen Zhengwei picked up a cigar from the table and lit it. After taking two puffs, his expression eased a little.

When the director of United Steel Shipyard came up, he saw Chen Zhengwei sitting behind a desk in a white shirt and a blue vest, holding a cigar in his hand and looking rather unfriendly.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Chen!" There were four people coming in.

Three of them had bearded faces that were somewhat similar. They were the founders and main managers of the United Steel Shipyard.

Peter Donahue, James Donahue and Michael Donahue.

In addition, there is another middle-aged man, Evan Scott.

A major shareholder in the Union Steel Shipyard, which owned the Eagle Mountain Iron Mine, he was also a member of the Republican Party.

"Please take a seat!" Chen Zhengwei's expression eased when he saw them. He said:

"You must be wondering what I want you to do!"

"I'm a straightforward person, so I'll get straight to the point. I want to buy the United Steel Shipyard. Please give me a price!"

The expressions of several people changed slightly, and they thought to themselves that it had finally arrived.

In fact, when Chen Zhengwei bought the first shipyard, they were worried about this day.

As we all know, once Chen Zhengwei enters an industry, it will be difficult for others to survive. He will use various means to seize power and then integrate it.

This can be seen in the steel mills, metal processing plants, and cigarette factories in San Francisco.

After looking at each other, they fell into thought.

Although the three Donahue brothers were the founders of the shipyard, the shipyard was not for sale to them.

If it were someone else, they would have to think about it...but if it was Chen Zhengwei, they needed to think about a price that would not be too much of a loss for them and would be acceptable to the other party.

"Donahue...you three are the founders and managers. You can retain a portion of the shares and continue to work in the shipyard. This is no different from what you did before." Chen Zhengwei said slowly.

"This is just a normal acquisition. I won't bully you. You can make a normal offer!"

When they heard this, they didn't feel relieved at all.

Who knows how the other party would react if I quoted the market price.

"Of course, in addition to direct acquisition, I can give you another option..." Chen Zhengwei thought for a while and said.

"I will exchange the steel company's shares with you."

"Your shipyard is called United Steel Shipyard... My steel company is called United Steel Company... These two sound similar, do similar business, and are similar in scale." Chen Zhengwei gave them another choice.

In fact, he doesn't care much about the profits of steel companies and shipyards.

This kind of heavy industry does not generate high profits.

But it must be in your own hands.

So he doesn't mind exchanging part of his shares with others for cooperation.

Hearing this, Evan Scott's brows relaxed immediately, and he smiled and said, "I am willing to exchange a part of it, and then sell the remaining shares to Mr. Chen."

You have to know that a railway more than 300 kilometers long is to be built between San Francisco and Los Angeles, and the demand for railway tracks alone is not small.

Moreover, the subsequent development of Los Angeles will also require a large amount of steel.

Therefore, he is optimistic about the steel company's business in the next few years.

More importantly, with the steel company as a bridge, he could also establish a good relationship with Chen Zhengwei.

"We agree too!" The Donahue brothers agreed without much thought.

The same option as Evan Scott was to exchange part of the shipyard's shares for the steel company's shares, and then sell the remaining shares to Chen Zhengwei.

"I like people who are straightforward. It seems that our cooperation will be very pleasant!" Chen Zhengwei smiled, stood up, walked to the wine cabinet on the side, took out a bottle of whiskey and handed it to Li Xiwen.

Li Xiwen took out a few cups and poured one third into each cup.

"Let the lawyers talk about the next things!" Chen Zhengwei picked up the wine glass and said to the few people.

A few people clinked their glasses lightly.

This result is the best case scenario for the Donahue brothers and Evan Scott.

Lawyers for both sides then spent a week reviewing finances, evaluating both companies, and drafting contracts.

After several mergers, United Steel Works' assets are now similar to those of United Steel Shipyard, both worth over one million.

The three Donahue brothers took a total of 10% of the shares of United Steel Works and retained 6% of the shares of the shipyard.

Evan Scott took 24% of the shares of United Steel Works and retained 3% of the shares of the shipyard.

Chen Zhengwei used 34% of the shares plus $70 in cash to acquire 90% of the shares of United Steel Shipyard.

A cocktail party was held when the two parties signed the agreement.

Many people have realized that this is the first time Chen Zhengwei has acquired an industry through a replacement.
This also shows one thing, that Chen Zhengwei's style of doing things in San Francisco will change in the future, and he will start to cooperate with other capitals.

This also means that Chen Zhengwei will be able to extend his tentacles into all walks of life and all levels of society in San Francisco in a very short period of time.

……

"Brother Wei, we have results. Those British guys really did something wrong. Now the production efficiency has tripled!" Just after the contract was signed, the results of the weapons factory production line on the farm came out. "If we work in two shifts, we can produce up to 50,000 rounds of ammunition a day, but we have to stop production for maintenance every three months. The equipment the British gave us is almost obsolete!" Rong Jiacai, dressed in a gentleman's suit, sat in the club and chatted with Chen Zhengwei.

"Those bastards won't behave themselves unless they are beaten. Can they be faster?" Chen Zhengwei cursed.

"The machine was useless. Those Englishmen were hung up and beaten for several days. Three of them were killed on the spot!"

"Once our people are familiar with it, the speed can be even faster, but the maximum we can produce is about 8 rounds a day!" said Rong Jiacai.

From the beginning, the British guys who were in charge of the installation had bad intentions and made a lot of demands every day.

The person in charge of the weapons factory didn't dare to do anything to them.

Once Chen Zhengwei spoke, these British people were in trouble.

Three were beaten to death on the spot, and the others suffered various injuries. Two people tried to escape in the middle of the night, but were whipped and their legs were broken with sticks.

Now everyone was quiet.

"Brother Wei, will the British have any objections?" Rong Jiacai asked again.

"What's your opinion? There are so many accidents now. Tell them that these people got sick and died." Chen Zhengwei sneered.

"If they still have questions, let them talk to me!"

"If we can produce 80,000 bullets a day, how much does one bullet cost?" Chen Zhengwei asked.

"1.5 to 1.6 cents."

"Other people are only selling it for 1 cent! Find a way to reduce the cost to 1 cent!" Chen Zhengwei cursed. His own production cost was higher than other people's selling price.

There is no way around this. The equipment sent by the British is outdated and outdated, and the manpower requirements are high, so the labor cost cannot be reduced.

Remington and Pratt's production lines require only half the manpower to produce the same output.

If the price really can't be lowered... then we can only find a way to sell the bullets at a high price.

When it comes to reducing costs, Chen Zhengwei only assigns tasks to others; he himself doesn't really understand the subject.

But Chen Zhengwei is very good at selling something that costs 1 cent for 10 cents.

"Xu Yan and Ah Hong are trying to recruit people in New York. How's the situation going?" Chen Zhengwei asked casually. He knew that Rong Jiahong and Rong Jiacai had more contact.

They don't care about the cost of telegrams and have almost turned them into a chatting tool.

Speaking of this, Rong Jiacai's expression became a little strange.

With a half-smile, he said, "Ah Hong said he wanted to infiltrate the Gui Lao. He wants to go to college in New York and help Brother Wei recruit people."

Chen Zhengwei was stunned for a moment.

"WTF?"

Rong Jiacai laughed and said, "Ah Hong thinks he has artistic talent and wants to study art at New York University."

He thought about the telegram sent by Hong saying that he felt he had artistic talent and wanted to study art, and he found it funny.

"He hasn't even finished elementary school, how can he go to college? He's an artistic bacteria, I think he looks like a bacteria!" Chen Zhengwei also laughed and scolded.

"Is he attracted to some rich girl?" Chen Zhengwei thought this was more likely.

"He is still hanging around with the French ambassador's daughter?"

"He had no contact with the French ambassador's daughter after sleeping with her several times. I asked Xu Yan, and he really went to study art! However, New York University did not accept him, but allowed him to audit classes." Rong Jiacai said.

Chen Zhengwei thought this was outrageous, but after thinking about it carefully, he realized that these thugs couldn't keep fighting and killing each other.

Everyone has to have some hobbies.

Just like Rong Jiacai next door, he would go to the theater to listen to operas two days a week, and also sing operas at home.

Ayou likes hunting, and when he has nothing to do, he likes to go to the farm to hunt rabbits.

Aaron...like me, he likes women.

Lin Changning likes reading.

Wanyun likes to type on the typewriter... She just likes the sound of the typewriter...

After thinking about it, Chen Zhengwei didn't bother to care about it anymore.

As long as it doesn't cause any delays, that's fine.

Chen Zhengwei turned his head and saw Li Xiwen standing not far away. He waved to him: "Awen!"

"Brother!"

"What do you like to do?" Chen Zhengwei asked. He really couldn't find anything that Li Xiwen liked to do.

He has a good talent for martial arts, but he is not particularly fond of it, and is not even as good as Lin Changning.

As for other aspects, I didn't find any hobbies of his.

"What?" Li Xiwen was a little confused.

"I'm talking about what you like to do! What you like to do most! For example, Xiucai likes to listen to operas, Ayou likes to hunt, and Ahu likes to eat banquets... What about you?"

Only then did Li Xiwen understand what Chen Zhengwei was talking about.

After thinking for a while, he said a little embarrassedly: "Chop the bones!"

"What?" This time Chen Zhengwei was surprised.

"I used to like chopping bones in restaurants... Now sometimes I go to Dingshilou to chop bones when I have nothing to do..." Li Xiwen's face became even more embarrassed.

"Human bones or cow bones?" Chen Zhengwei thought for a while and then cursed with a smile.

"Cow or pig will do..." Li Xiwen said quickly.

……

After the contract was signed, Chen Zhengwei went to United Steel Shipyard two days later.

A row of horse-drawn carriages stopped in front of the shipyard gate, and dozens of thugs got off the carriages and blocked the surroundings.

Then Chen Zhengwei got off the carriage.

The three Donahue brothers hurried over with the shipyard managers.

"Mr. Chen!"

"Now that we are all family, there is no need to be so reserved and polite. Let's talk while walking. Can you introduce yourself to me?" Chen Zhengwei smiled and put his arm around someone's shoulder.

The three Donahue brothers are not short, at least 1 meters tall, but in front of Chen Zhengwei they look like half-grown children.

"Mr. Chen, our shipyard has four large docks, three of which are dry docks and one wet dock. We can build three large ships at the same time, and there are eight medium-sized docks..."

"The largest passenger ship we have ever built is the Golden Gate, which has a displacement of over 8000 tons..."

"Battleship!" Chen Zhengwei asked directly. "How big a battleship can you build? Are you familiar with the data of naval guns? I remember you built ships for the navy?"

That's what he cares about.

"We previously worked with the Navy to build the USS Trenton, a cruiser with a displacement of 3189 tons, and we also built several frigates, all of which were 2200 tons."

"The warships we built before were all wooden structures, sailing and steam-powered, but the technology of our shipyard has made great progress compared to before. We can build iron steam warships with a displacement of more than 3000 tons, or even higher."

(End of this chapter)