The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 640 If You Don't Agree, Then Fight

In Chen Zhengwei's house, Wanyun was catching birds all over the room with a sewn bag in her hand.

"Hua Pao, get down here!"

"Put a fart bag on you!"

"Are you stupid?" Fireworks flapped its wings and landed on the chandelier, saying to the evening clouds below.

Wanyun was so angry that he almost laughed, and turned around to find a stick.

On the other side, Chen Zhengwei sat on the sofa and said to Ma Zai:
"I'll treat him to dinner tonight, at home."

John Rockefeller is one of the richest men in the United States after all. Chen Zhengwei would naturally not ignore him when he came to San Francisco in person.

Eating at home also makes us feel close.

Of course, if the negotiations fail, Chen Zhengwei will become another person.

However, he felt that the possibility of failure to reach an agreement was slim.

A little study of John Rockefeller's experience will reveal that he was a taciturn, calm, shrewd and self-disciplined person.

I don't smoke, drink or gamble, and I have a good relationship with my family.

Unlike tycoons like JP Morgan, whose family was originally bankers, John Rockefeller was a self-made man.

Such people will not go against themselves unless they are sure of the outcome.

This can also be seen from the fact that he personally rushed from Cleveland to San Francisco to meet me.

But John Rockefeller also had another characteristic in the business world: he was cruel and unscrupulous.

For example, derail the opponent's train or blow up the opponent's refinery.

In any era, every top self-made billionaire would be sentenced to life imprisonment at the very least.

The good news is that Chen Zhengwei is also good at this, better than anyone else, and everyone knows it.

After the thugs left, Chen Zhengwei continued talking to the scholar beside him.

"Opening up the market is easy. Just take someone and go to the bandits' lair with a gun and kill a few of them. What do you call that? That's called demonstrating the product's performance!"

"Then ask them, is this gun powerful? If it is, I will sell it to you." Chen Zhengwei spread his hands while speaking.

"They have to buy it even if they don't want to."

"Our guns are so powerful, why wouldn't they want to buy them? Wouldn't the market be opened up immediately?"

"Then tell the neighboring village that this bandit has bought dozens of guns. Who knows, who will be shot. If they don't buy a dozen guns, they will grow crops for others and marry wives for others! Do you think they will buy them? If not...it doesn't matter. There must be a few bloody examples to let others know that buying guns is the only way to protect yourself."

"Also, are the locals in Guangdong and Fujian fighting against the Hakka people? And what about the clans fighting against each other?"

"Give a few guns to those who don't have money first, and when they start fighting, go find the rich and sell them a batch at a high price!"

"The gun has been sold, right? As long as one person buys it, everyone else will have to buy it, or they will be beaten."

"Brother Wei, this is going to beat his brains out!" said the scholar.

"People are going to die in this world. I'm teaching them that in this world, only guns can protect you! Nothing else is useful!"

"With guns in their hands, everyone becomes braver!" Chen Zhengwei said, sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed.

"Didn't Chen Fenglu make friends with a group of local tyrants in Hong Kong? They can be put to good use. Give them some benefits and ask them to sell guns!"

"It doesn't matter how much money I get, I just want to dig up the roots of the Qing Dynasty."

"And as long as there's chaos, this business will be easy to do! They are used to talking with guns, and they can sell as much as they want!"

Chen Zhengwei took out a cigar from the box, but before he lit it, he saw fireworks being driven towards him by the evening clouds, getting bigger and bigger.

Chen Zhengwei stretched out his hand and grabbed Huapao's neck, then handed him a walnut.

Fireworks immediately grabbed the walnut with one satisfied paw and bit it open.

Macaws are very good at cracking walnuts.

Hua Pao had just cracked open the walnut when Chen Zhengwei stretched out his hand and the walnut in Hua Pao's claws disappeared.

Chen Zhengwei held the broken walnuts in his hand, peeled off the walnut shells and threw the kernels into his mouth. "This is how business works. Let professionals do professional things. The harder others work, the richer we will be!"

Huapao suddenly became furious. He grabbed Chen Zhengwei's clothes and climbed up, trying to snatch the walnut from Chen Zhengwei's mouth.

Chen Zhengwei grabbed the firecracker's neck and handed it to Wanyun.

These two macaws learned bad things from the crew members. They have foul mouths and poop a lot. Lin Changning dislikes them very much, so Wanyun sewed butt bags for them overnight.

After a while, Huapao and Changhong were running on the ground with a cloth bag on their buttocks, trying to shake it off.

……

In the evening, John Rockefeller, dressed neatly, came to Chen Zhengwei's house in a carriage.

He was looking at Chinatown all the way.

There is no difference between here and outside, except that there are more Chinese people.

The Chinese here also wore gentlemen's suits and hats, or work clothes, none of them had braids, there were no homeless people everywhere, and no skinny people smoking opium.

John Rockefeller watched very seriously and even stopped the carriage at the intersection for a moment to observe everything carefully.

This matter is very important to him and it will affect his opinion of Chen Zhengwei.

This is Chen Zhengwei’s old nest, and its appearance represents some of Chen Zhengwei’s thoughts.

After a while, John Rockefeller rang the bell, indicating that the carriage could move forward.

"Brother Wei! Someone is coming!" After hearing the notification from his henchman, Chen Zhengwei got up and went out, and saw a middle-aged man who was thin but behaved calmly.

"Mr. Rockefeller!" Chen Zhengwei laughed and walked over and stretched out his hand: "Speaking of which, I have met your brother several times, but this is the first time I have seen you in person. I was wondering before, is Mr. Rockefeller deliberately avoiding me?"

"How could it be? It's just some coincidence! God made us meet at this time!" John Rockefeller smiled on his usually expressionless face.

"That's good! I thought Mr. Rockefeller had a problem with me because of my skin color! Some people say Mr. Rockefeller is a racist!" Chen Zhengwei raised his eyebrows.

"We are all God's people! If I were a racist, I wouldn't be here."

As soon as they met, John Rockefeller felt Chen Zhengwei's aggressive aura.

Full of offensiveness and aggression.

"Since you have come from afar, I would like to invite you to a family dinner and try some Chinese food. I hope it suits your taste. Then we can talk about business." After saying a few words, Chen Zhengwei restrained his aggressiveness.

He put his hand on Rockefeller's shoulder and walked in.

"It's my honor!" John Rockefeller said with a smile. For wealthy people like them, a family dinner is a "high-standard" reception.

It was Chen Zhengwei's shoulder-to-shoulder gesture that made him feel uncomfortable.

Dinner was normal, although John Rockefeller's formal attire, as if for a party, looked a little strange.

In addition to the family members, Rong Jiacai was also present at the dinner. He came to meet this famous rich man. After dinner, Chen Zhengwei sat aside with Rockefeller and Rong Jiacai.

Chen Zhengwei took out a cigar from the cigar box: "I heard you don't smoke this?"

"Then I'll enjoy it myself." Chen Zhengwei lit up his cigar and continued, "I'm very interested in Standard Oil. I want to buy shares."

"Mr. Chen is optimistic about the development of the oil industry?" asked John Rockefeller.

"Yes, I am very optimistic. So I must invest in it! You can't refuse me!" Chen Zhengwei was not polite at all and directly expressed his tough attitude.

Although John Rockefeller's face remained calm, he was somewhat nervous in his heart.

Chen Zhengwei's attitude is too tough.

This means that the subsequent negotiations will be difficult.

"Of course, I can also make you an offer that's hard to refuse."

"Cooperate with me, and you can exploit oil fields in any country! Not just the United States, but also Canada, other countries in Central and South America, the Middle East... As long as you can find oil, you can go and exploit it!"

"It seems that Mr. Chen is really optimistic about the development of the oil industry. Can I ask the reason? In fact, the demand for oil is not that great now. The United States' oil production is already sufficient and can even be exported to Europe." John Rockefeller changed the subject.

"It's bigger than you think! I have a technology that will enable carriages to run on their own, just like steam-powered ships."

"This stuff will flood every city in America!"

"I will do my best to promote the development of this technology. In the next few decades, the demand for oil in the United States and the world will skyrocket!" Chen Zhengwei said, crossing his legs and smoking a cigar.

In fact, although oil is now widely used in industry, lighting, and lubrication, it is difficult for people today to imagine how great an impact oil will have on the world.

Even John Rockefeller couldn't have imagined it.

However, after hearing what Chen Zhengwei said, John Rockefeller showed an interested look: "It sounds good, do you have any samples?"

"Probably a few months later!" Chen Zhengwei said casually.

"But that's a story for later. I'm saying this just to tell you that I'm determined to get the oil company! If you refuse, I will open a new oil company to compete with you, and then we will be competitors." Chen Zhengwei's words were a complete threat.

Normal people in business negotiations would naturally not tell the other party how important this thing will be in the future.

But Chen Zhengwei doesn't care about that.

If the other party refused, he would not start an oil company to compete with John Rockefeller. That would be too troublesome.

His style was to kill the Rockefeller family directly and then swallow up Standard Oil.

It's just that that would have a very bad impact, and he didn't want to do it in a way that would be so ugly.

John Rockefeller could also think of this. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Mr. Chen, how much money do you plan to pay and how many shares do you plan to buy?"

"Issue additional shares! I'll help you take over the oil fields in Pennsylvania, and in exchange for 4000 million US dollars, I'll get 20% of Standard Oil's shares." Chen Zhengwei said.

……

Standard Oil's current market value is approximately $4 million, and the Rockefeller family only owns 35% to 40% of Standard Oil's shares. John Rockefeller is Standard Oil's largest individual shareholder, but he only owns 25% of the shares.

If additional shares were issued, the shares of all shareholders would be diluted, and John Rockefeller would only own 20% of the shares.

Of course, the Rockefeller family remained Standard Oil's largest shareholder.

You should know that Chen Zhengwei only spent 570 million US dollars to buy the fleet, and including subsequent maintenance, the cost did not exceed 650 million US dollars.

And 4000 million US dollars is an astronomical figure that no one in the United States can afford.

Chen Zhengwei couldn't produce it either.

Chen Zhengwei can only come up with 1800 million US dollars now, but he also has the California International Bank, from which he can withdraw a sum of funds.

In addition, a lot of money was raised by selling land in Los Angeles, and 500 million US dollars could be raised. In addition, the United States had to repay its war debts every year, so this was barely enough.

"4000 million US dollars is not a small number for Mr. Chen! 2000 million US dollars for 11% of the shares, what do you think, Mr. Chen?" John Rockefeller said after thinking for a moment.

"20%. I said I must get it! I don't want 50% of the shares, and I don't intend to bargain with you. Or you can just reject me directly, and then I will also start a company, and we will compete fairly!" Chen Zhengwei laughed.

He is always fair when competing with others in business.

After all, bullets are equal.

"This number is too large. I need some time to convince other shareholders!" John Rockefeller said after pondering for a moment.

Chen Zhengwei has too big an appetite.

And he wants to buy 4000 million US dollars worth of shares by spending 8000 million US dollars.

But Chen Zhengwei showed that he was determined to win and would go to war if the other party did not agree, so he had no way to refuse him.

"Actually, my people are also good at persuading others. Do you need my help?" Chen Zhengwei said with a smile.

"I'll give you three days."

"I will hold a party at the club in three days. The wealthy and famous people in San Francisco will definitely want to meet Mr. Rockefeller. It will be a good time to sign the agreement by then."

John Rockefeller temporarily lost interest in continuing the conversation. He said goodbye and returned to his carriage with a serious look on his face.

The sense of oppression that Chen Zhengwei gave him was too strong.

Especially the kind of unscrupulous attitude that is ready to go to war if you disagree.

This gave him a lot of headache.

In addition, he was also very concerned about the technology that Chen Zhengwei mentioned that would cause a surge in oil demand. Unfortunately, Chen Zhengwei did not intend to show it to him, so he had no way of judging whether it was true or not.

However, judging from Chen Zhengwei's determined attitude, this technology is most likely real.

Otherwise, there would be no need for him to suddenly stick to Standard Oil.

……

The scholar had not spoken a word before this, and he was just a bystander during both the meal and the negotiation.

Only after John Rockefeller left did he speak: "Brother Wei, he will agree, right?"

"Of course! If he refuses, we'll go to war! And it'll be an all-out war!"

"I'll blow up all of Standard Oil's oil fields, then kill every single Rockefeller! And then swallow Standard Oil up!"

"He knows I will do this... and he is a businessman, not a gangster fighting for territory. He won't fight me to the death!"

Chen Zhengwei said with a smile.

"Of course, if he wants to fight me to the death, then let him do it!"

"I just don't want to make things too ugly and have a bad impact."

　Adjust your schedule and update in advance. There will be no other updates in the evening.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)