The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 650: I've considered every aspect for you
Looking at Chen Zhengwei who was sitting there eating calmly, Watkins Thorpe felt a little depressed.

The button on his collar felt like a rope for hanging himself, making it hard for him to breathe, and he subconsciously pulled at his collar.

One-fifth of a state!
He really didn't dare to agree to Chen Zhengwei.

Even if Chen Zhengwei wanted to buy 10,000 square kilometers, he would be more accepting.

"20 US dollars, this is for you, let's be friends. But you have to find a way to give me a discount on the price of the land. After all, for such a large amount of unowned land, fifty dollars per square kilometer is a good price." Chen Zhengwei looked up at him and continued, not giving him a chance to think or refuse.

It seems like everything is a foregone conclusion.

"Of course, as I just said, others have them too. You can make a list for me and mark the importance of each one."

"In addition, I will make some investments in Oregon to drive employment. For example, wood processing plants, paper mills and furniture factories can bring a lot of jobs to Oregon. Then these furniture can be sold to California or shipped to the central region by rail."

Chen Zhengwei's plan is to buy it for fifty dollars per square kilometer, and there will be a large amount of forest land here.

Then the forest land is cut down, the wood is processed and sold. It is roughly estimated that one square kilometer of forest land can be processed into 185 million board feet of wood.

At $15 per thousand board feet of lumber, one square kilometer can generate $27000 in revenue.

After deducting the workers' salaries and shipping costs, the profit is also considerable.

The most important thing is that there must be a market for the product, and there is no shortage of wood in the United States.

And he can quickly open up markets in various places, which others cannot do.

Then they sold the land to the Chinese at ten to twenty dollars an acre, allowing them to spread out and grow in Oregon.

One square kilometer is 247 acres.

These 50,000 square kilometers of land can bring him at least $200 million in profits within ten years, according to calculations by Rong Jiacai and his men.

It can also bring a large number of jobs and enable Oregon to develop rapidly.

These officials and politicians in Oregon also received a lot of benefits.

The Chinese now have an additional piece of land on which to survive.

Win-win for all parties.

However, Chen Zhengwei also knows that although this operation method can be copied, it cannot be used too often.

It's just California, Oregon, and Nevada.

The other is the Washington Territory, which is still an area of Indian wars and not a state of the United States.

These states have a total area of millions of square kilometers of land and all the western ports of the United States. If they can be taken over as private land for the Chinese, together with Texas and Hawaii, it would be enough.

After Chen Zhengwei finished eating, he saw Watkins Thorpe eating with difficulty, with sweat on his head.

"It's very hot?" Chen Zhengwei asked.

"A little bit..." Watkins Thorpe wiped the sweat from his head.

"There is definitely no problem with feasibility. I have already considered it for you!" Chen Zhengwei said with a smile.

"I can handle the federal side and push for additional federal legislation. In addition, the purchase of land can be carried out in batches, so that the public will not react too much. With the investment and more jobs, they will not care too much."

"In order to accelerate the economic development of Oregon, some sacrifices and efforts are necessary. Just like the Railroad Land Grant Act. Don't you think so?" Chen Zhengwei asked with a smile.

The Railroad Land Grant Act was a bill pushed forward by the railroad companies after they bribed members of Congress during the previous period of large-scale development.

Simply put, the railroad company built the railroad, and then the federal government gave the railroad company a six to ten mile wide strip of land along the railroad line.

The railway company can then develop or sell it.

Through this method, American railroad companies have so far acquired 1.8 million acres, equivalent to 72 square kilometers of land.

The 5 square kilometers of land that Chen Zhengwei wanted to buy was nothing compared to them.

The only problem is that Chen Zhengwei doesn't plan to spend too much money yet.

"Mr. Thorpe, do you have any questions? Or are you considering the price?" Chen Zhengwei changed the subject.

"We can promote new policies to provide special incentives for undeveloped or wasteland to promote development and utilization. Then we can promote a policy to support the reclamation and reuse of abandoned or inefficiently used land, and the government will provide certain financial support. After all, it is a waste to leave the land there. Only by using it can we create value."

“Am I very considerate?”

"Look, almost every aspect has been considered for you. You don't need to worry about anything."

"If you still have any questions, I think that's your problem. Do you have any opinions about me?" Chen Zhengwei grinned, with a different meaning in his smile.

Watkins Thorpe felt a fierce aura coming towards him, and the sweat on his head increased.

"No, no problem! Like I said before, I am definitely willing to help Mr. Chen, but this matter is too important, so I need to gather other people to discuss it."

"No problem. If anyone has any objections, I can help you solve them!" Chen Zhengwei said with a smile.

Soon, the Oregon government held an internal meeting.

Although Chen Zhengwei did not attend the meeting, he sent two people to sit in on the meeting, mainly to see if anyone had different opinions.

When people heard that Chen Zhengwei wanted to buy five square kilometers of land, many were shocked, but the meeting went on normally.

After the meeting, Chen Zhengwei met with some Oregon officials.

Then the tone was set.

Although there are a lot of these lands, there are also many ways to operate them. They can be less conspicuous by holding them in different ways.

Moreover, Chen Zhengwei will also sell these lands to individuals, which will be even less conspicuous.

The only problem was the price. After all, Chen Zhengwei was only willing to pay 50 US dollars per square kilometer, so how to operate it became a problem.

Fortunately, Chen Zhengwei had already considered this for them.

Within a few days, we had a rough plan and the whole process went smoothly.

Apart from these state government officials, no one outside received any news.

Meanwhile, in Washington, at a regular Senate meeting, a member of the Senate said: "At the current rate of development in the West, we will never fill the West. Abandoned land does not bring any benefits."

"We should take more measures to promote the development of the western region to speed up the development of the western region and make the country more prosperous."

"At the same time, the current Homestead Act is unfair because some land is lush and productive, while other land, such as dry areas, produces little. No one wants these lands, but we can improve this through some supplementary laws."

When many people heard the congressman's proposal, they began to think.

Although they seem to be two different things, the West accounts for 75% of the drought-stricken areas in the United States.

So this is actually one thing.

What is the purpose of the other party?
Many people's minds were turning, especially since the other party was a California state congressman, it was hard not to think of Chen Zhengwei.

Nothing came of the meeting that day.

After this meeting, some lobbying groups began to take action.

In the following days, there were often guests at the homes of various congressmen in Washington.

Although Chen Zhengwei spent little money to buy the land, it cost him a lot of money to bribe Oregon officials and lobby these lawmakers.

That would add up to about $200 million, but it would save him $2000 million.

In particular, he plans to replicate this operation in California and Nevada in the future.

While lobbying groups were lobbying in Washington, Chen Zhengwei returned to San Francisco by boat after reaching a preliminary agreement with the state government in Nevada.

When Chen Zhengwei got off the ship at the San Francisco pier, Rong Jiacai was already waiting at the pier.

"Brother Wei, how was the journey? Was it smooth?" Rong Jiacai said with a smile.

"It will definitely go smoothly, unless they don't give me face!" Chen Zhengwei smiled.

"We will buy 50,000 square kilometers of land from Oregon in three batches!"

"That's great!" Rong Jiacai immediately showed his joy.

This is 50,000 square kilometers of land!

Oregon also has rich agricultural and forestry resources.

"Alai!" Chen Zhengwei waved his hand behind him and said, "Tell Xiucai about this agreement! I won't interfere with the rest of the matter! Xiucai, arrange an assistant for him."

"Brother Xiucai!" A young man walked out from behind Chen Zhengwei.

Xiucai immediately understood what Chen Zhengwei meant. In this matter, he was the main person, but Alai was the one who was responsible for communicating with the State of Oregon and taking the lead.

Alai has been with Chen Zhengwei for a long time. Although he is not very outstanding, he is pretty stable and loyal. Brother Wei wants to promote him.

"I understand, Brother Wei!" Xiucai nodded, thought about it, and decided to choose one of the Chinese who came to Singapore to be Alai's deputy.

Those people have done this kind of thing in Nanyang and are better at it.

However, those people are different from Chen Zhengwei. They have to consider the faces of all parties in Nanyang.

Unlike Chen Zhengwei, everything depends on his mood.

……

When Chen Zhengwei returned to San Francisco, Qing Dynasty.

"Go tell those Americans that we can hand those people over to the American embassy! They will conduct the trial." Dong Xun summoned an official from the Zongli Yamen and said to him.

In recent months, envoys from various countries have been protesting.

After all, the Qing Dynasty's actions completely undermined the rights and interests of various countries.

However, the Zongli Yamen delayed the matter for several months using the excuse that they were Qing people.

But the Zongli Yamen was also under great pressure, especially since the United States directly cut off the export of machinery to the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing Dynasty had no choice but to hand the person over to the American envoy.

After the others left, Dong Xun called another person over and said, "Arrange some people, send them to the capital, and give them..."

Dong Xun made a downward cutting motion.

After all, because of these mob activities, a guerrilla general died on British territory in Hong Kong.

The British gave them a lot of trouble for this.

The Qing Dynasty could not swallow this humiliation.

Kill these people on the way and say you were robbers. At most you will have to pay the Americans some money.

However, upon hearing the news, George Fulton Seward, the American ambassador to the Qing Dynasty, immediately said in a hurry: "No need to send it here, I will go to Guangdong to conduct the trial myself!"

He was afraid that something might happen to these people on the road, which would put him in big trouble.

(End of this chapter)