Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 296 One Year After the Election

As the saying goes, time flies like water.

In a blink of an eye, more than a year has passed.

During this year, Zheng Yi stayed in the United States and was even under intensive surveillance by the FBI. Even after his house arrest was lifted, basically every person he needed to see and every phone call he made was under intensive surveillance, which made him very unhappy.

After all, this guy is really good at stirring up trouble. The racial conflict has almost turned into a racial war, and even the Chinese are involved.

During this period, Chinese Americans were even inferior to black Americans in terms of political status. Black Americans at least had the prerequisite of "literacy" and could vote as long as they could read. Whether they could read or not, and what words they could read, were all controlled. However, Chinese Americans had no right to vote whether they could read or not.

Especially before the election, when registering to vote, the fighting between the Hongmen and the KKK was at its most intense. It was basically a racial war and urban guerrilla warfare, with armored vehicles, tanks, and rocket launchers. At this critical juncture when World War II had just ended, no one was a good person.

The military had intervened a long time ago, but the problem was that there were also a large number of blacks in the military. During the entire World War II, the United States recruited nearly 120 million black soldiers, which was originally the most direct basic condition for the black civil rights movement in the United States.

Without these 120 million troops, who would reason with you? If Malcolm had dared to do such a big thing before World War II, he would have been shot down by the army.

What's even funnier is that the military apartheid policy, which was originally intended to restrict black people, actually greatly reduced the difficulty for these black soldiers to communicate with each other.

In the second month of Zheng Yi's house arrest by the FBI, the Hongmen contacted these black American soldiers. You must know that the US military has always been a hotbed of gangs even before Zheng Yi traveled through time, and many areas have implemented both military law and gang rules.

One of the ultimate goals of gangs is to infiltrate the military. Objectively speaking, the US military in 1947 was far less corrupt than in 2047. The upper level was financialized, the middle level was corrupt, and the grassroots were gangsterized. This kind of thing was unthinkable for the US military, which had just finished World War II and was composed largely of good American families.

They probably don't understand how this thing works.

However, the combination of racial segregation, the Black Hongmen, and the race war ultimately gave the blacks an opportunity. When the black soldiers in the army were effectively organized and completely disobeyed the orders of their superiors and started a strike.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that, at least in the northern states, the trend toward equal rights for blacks, or at least superficial political equality, was inevitable.

It is impossible for white people to be so united, and the Pentagon, which is not too corrupt, cannot tolerate white soldiers having the same self-organizing ability as black soldiers.

No one mentioned the word "suppression" at all. How the hell can we suppress it? Will we start a civil war? You have to know that not all white people are annoyed with black people, especially now that World War II has just ended. We really have fought together on the battlefield and are comrades in life and death.

Who would dare order the US military to point their guns at 120 million of their own compatriots? Are you crazy? They wouldn't listen to you.

Congress passed the Jim Crow Act almost at the speed of light, which was originally scheduled to be abolished during President Trump's second term, completely eliminating all unfair treatment suffered by blacks, at least in the military.

It can be considered as a way of mending the fold after the sheep have been stolen.

The problem is that this policy was originally pushed hard by President Trump as the president, but it has never been implemented. This was originally a law that President Trump used to please black voters!

Now that the law has been passed, can black voters still vote for the Democratic Party?
What the hell is this!

After nearly a year of turmoil, fortunately, all this is now over, and at least in several major cities in the northern states, the Hongmen has won.

The southern states had no solution. The KKK was revived, the blacks had no system, and the economic foundation was there, but in reality, they were indeed not a big deal.

But it doesn’t matter. The Democratic Party is divided. Those southern states are neither red nor blue. It doesn’t matter what happens.

Those Southern Democrats chose to split the party, which was actually a pretty bad job.

After the establishment of the Black Salvation Fund, Jackie Robinson has been running around to beg for money for the black people in the South. Under the leadership of Zheng Yi, about 2 million US dollars have been raised. It is obvious that everyone is very enthusiastic now.

In fact, the so-called rescue fund was actually specifically used in the account of Citibank. Simply put, it was a loan business specifically for black people. This was actually the business that Zheng Yi brought to Citibank as a shareholder of Citibank.

Citigroup and Morgan Stanley have different businesses. Morgan Stanley was forcibly separated in order to restrain the Morgan family and could only operate as an investment bank. Later, its investments became more and more professional, which can be regarded as a blessing in disguise to some extent.

Citibank's predecessor was the Bank of New York, which is essentially a comprehensive bank. Compared with other banks, its biggest unique advantage is the convenience of foreign exchange settlement, so even when investing, it tends to hold for a relatively long time. The venture capital model is not suitable for Citibank, and it is not convenient to pull them to play like Morgan.

But the loan business is always good.

This Black Rescue Foundation is somewhat similar to the former Fujian Chamber of Commerce in Southeast Asia. Its biggest use is actually to provide travel loans to blacks who have just fled from the southern region to the northern region. After they arrive at the destination, they can also borrow a loan from them, so that they can live normally in cities such as New York and Philadelphia for at least three or four months, and use these three or four months to find a job.

It is similar to the tea money that each Fujianese person gave in Nanyang in the past, which means helping each other. Zheng Yi's total investment here is only more than 30 million, and the rest of the money was pooled together by everyone.

It can't be considered a donation, because the money itself is given to the black people in the South in the form of loans. The black people can deposit three or five dollars in it, and then withdraw it when they need money.

Of course, it will be more troublesome, and if there happens to be no money in the fund, the money may not be withdrawn.

This is basically the same method used by the Chinese in Southeast Asia to support each other, except that the Fujian tea money in Southeast Asia has evolved to the point where it is given directly instead of just borrowed. After all, long before Zheng Yi traveled here, the Fujian Chinese in Southeast Asia already had some money, and there was also a great philanthropist like Tan Kah Kee who was willing to give this money.

Black people in the United States have not yet developed to that level, and there are indeed no wealthy black people. So they can only borrow money like this. We can't ask Zheng Yi to pay for it, as he is not black. In fact, the Chinese in Southeast Asia also came this way step by step.

Once this kind of thing is established, black people who originally had no common culture with each other can quickly be closely connected.

It is very conducive to unity among black people.

Even under the guidance of the Chinese Hongmen, each hall has been establishing its own hall fund, that is, everyone pools their money together and helps one person to open a store and start a business. After making money, they save money and then help the second person to open a store and start a business.

In the final analysis, loyalty and righteousness are just superficial appearances in the cultural core of Hongmen. In essence, they are all about keeping each other warm and helping each other.

This business was handed over to Citibank, which could earn interest as profit with almost zero risk. Although they were all low-interest loans and there was a high possibility of overdue payments, it was not impossible for these blacks who had just come from the South to the North to starve to death.

But because of this, he gained the favor of the Black Group and allowed the Black Group to conduct almost all of their banking business at Citibank. This can be regarded as Zheng Yi doing his best to repay them as a shareholder.

With the end of the election, the media's attention gradually shifted away from these black people, and not many people paid attention to them.

The conflict between the Hongmen and the KKK gradually subsided after the election. At least the scale and frequency of the conflicts were greatly reduced.

When the election results came out, almost the entire United States felt confused.

Just like in history, Dewey was "narrowly defeated" by President Du.

Even though the Democratic Party was split into three, someone stole votes, and Zheng Yi even helped her win black votes, Dewey still lost to President Du.

An America that belonged to politicians, or even political figures, has completely ended with this election.

An America that belongs to speakers and performers has quietly arrived without anyone noticing.

The United States, which needs a normal politician, has to accept the fact that normal people will be eliminated at the first step in politics.

But fortunately, the congressmen did not turn the tables as in history, but narrowly defeated the Democrats. At least they did not allow President Trump to achieve the unification of the three powers as in history.

Moreover, due to the conflict between black gangs and large unions, the foundation of McCarthyism no longer exists. Zheng Yi speculates that there is a high probability that McCarthyism will no longer exist in this time and space, or at least it will not be as obsessive as it was in the history of the United States.

For Zheng Yi and the Southern Alliance, this has already achieved their goal. They can even take advantage of the opportunity of the Republicans occupying the House of Representatives to promote some bills that are beneficial to them.

Although there was competition between the two parties in the United States during this period, it was not as severe as in the future, where vetoes were levied for the sake of vetoing, causing any policy to be delayed and unable to be implemented. Members of the two parties would have transformed and compromised with each other in their political positions.

Even President Du himself originally supported internationalization and liberalization, but his focus was on Europe, on supporting the British and French allies, while Zheng Yi's focus was on Asia, Africa and Latin America, on dismantling British and French colonies.

At least we all have something in common in the premise of going abroad.

And it was precisely because of this crushing defeat that Dewey's reputation plummeted, and he basically said goodbye to the general election. Even his job as governor of New York State might not be easy. It is very likely that he will have to say goodbye to American politics and enter the revolving door.

But this is not a bad thing for Zheng Yi.

Because this time Zheng Yi really played the role of a political whistleblower again.

He was definitely the first Republican leader to see the problem and believed that Dewey was not only unstable but also had little chance of winning. He did indeed call on Dewey many times to learn from President Du, take a more people-friendly approach, and give more speeches, but he rejected them all on the grounds that he was busy with New York affairs.

You are the governor of New York State. No matter how busy you are, can you really be busier than President Trump?
Dewey actually thought that a politician like President Du, who didn't work hard and spent a year or so doing nothing but giving speeches like a singer, would be disliked by voters and considered a waste of time. It would be a miracle if such a person could be elected.

Dewey's failure just proved Zheng Yi's foresight, and a little analysis of the vote pattern will lead us to the conclusion:
If Zheng Yi had not played this trick of pitting blacks against unions, forcing Democratic lawmakers in at least big cities to take sides and thus losing the black votes in those cities, the Republican Party would most likely have lost more than just the presidency this time.

Before this, many of them even thought that Zheng Yi was meddling in other people's affairs.

As a result, he was placed under house arrest by the FBI and has been under intensive surveillance for nearly a year, but the Republicans were unwilling to make every effort to rescue him.

Are you ashamed?

After this incident, Zheng Yi's status within the Republican Party quickly rose, and the several polling organizations he set up quickly surpassed Gallup and became a hot topic in the media.

Next time, and in all future general elections in the United States, Zheng Yi's opinion will become crucial within the Republican Party. From this perspective, Dewey's failure to win the election may actually be a good thing for Zheng Yi.

After the election, all the FBI restrictions and surveillance on him naturally ended. Although Zheng Yi did not actually suffer any hardship during this year, he still felt relieved.

The houses in New York have all been renovated, and living in your own home is naturally much more comfortable than staying in a hotel.

But unfortunately, he could only live in this newly renovated house for a few days. The election was over and it was time for him to return to Southeast Asia. However, the SAARC headquarters building was still not completed and he didn't even bother to take a look at it before leaving.

That fellow Little John is really slow.

Li Jiazhi: "It's really impossible not to go back. The war in China has reached a fever pitch. In the Northeast, the outcome is almost certain. If we lose the Northeast, we might be completely defeated. At least the entire North..."

Zheng Yi: "I see. Penang must have been under a lot of pressure recently. If I'm not mistaken, the domestic economy must have completely collapsed."

"It's more than just a collapse. Last year, bonds and foreign exchange also collapsed, and there was inflation, but who could have imagined that one day money would be worth less than paper? Almost everyone with investments or businesses in China is in trouble."

"Where are the people? How many have fled?"

"Ah~, the entire Nanyang region now has a Chinese population of over 50 million, especially in the estuary plains. Many people came here on foot instead of by boat. Everyone knows that Nanyang is a good place, especially for the Chinese. I wouldn't say it's a paradise on earth, but as long as you come here, you can always get enough to eat."

"That's a lot...ah~"

Zheng Yi nodded, knowing that the outcome in China would be decided within the next two years, which would inevitably cause a stir in the Nanyang region, especially among the Chinese in Nanyang.

Objectively speaking, apart from the population explosion, other real-world impacts should not be that great. However, the psychological impact of this incident on the Chinese in Southeast Asia is also difficult to estimate.

Moreover, psychological influence is completely uncontrollable. The history that Zheng Yi knows is of no help to the current situation. He really needs to go back and take charge to stabilize the situation.

"Indeed, but I have some things to do in the United States that will take me some time. By the way, how has our business been this year?"

"Hongmen Burger has opened more than 2,000 stores across the United States, and they're expanding very quickly. McDonald's has fewer stores, but they're almost the same. Hamburgers are now the most popular food in the United States."

"However... after opening so many stores, profits have dropped significantly. We're now competing with ourselves. Furthermore... the investment is too huge, and we don't know how long it will take to recoup the costs. Lawrence wants to hold off for about three years, until the number of stores in the US exceeds 5,000, before going public."

"Without the ability to recover funds from the financial market, investing in a restaurant chain is already a heavy asset investment."

Zheng Yi nodded. "I don't think there's any problem. Lawrence might even be a little conservative. It's asset-heavy, so let's just treat it as a real estate investment."

Ying Xingjiu, who had already joined the core team, nodded quickly and said, "Mr. Zheng is right. Currently, when Hongmen Burger opens new stores, local governments are willing to give us as many preferential policies as possible."

"We've also reached cooperation agreements with some real estate groups. We can get at least 20% off on commercial properties, and perhaps even lower. Honestly, the savings from real estate alone can cover almost all of our capital costs."

Zheng Yi nodded and said, "In the next few decades, real estate prices across the United States will only rise, not fall, especially in the suburbs of major cities. When you open a store, you should pay attention to this and open as many stores and land in the suburbs as possible."

"In addition to stores, central kitchens and even farms can be opened in suburban areas as much as possible. Even if the price is a little higher, it doesn't matter. Just think of it as a legitimate reason to stockpile land in the United States."

"Also, if both fast food chains are successful, our central kitchen can research pre-prepared meals."

Then he asked, "How's your other business? Overall, did we make money or lose money on this trip to the United States?"

Li Jiazhi: "I've definitely spent far more than I've earned. Luckily, they're all assets, so they should still appreciate in value. The Chinatown renovation project is nearing completion. Hmm...that boss you recommended...is great. After the renovation is successful, the appreciation in the surrounding land alone will have already paid off."

"Construction of black apartments, especially those for black veterans, has already begun. With just the ground floor shops and the construction of factories nearby, we've basically broken even. So, we haven't actually spent much money."

"But the most crucial thing... you've got me acquiring a full two hundred radio stations, and you're also building a TV station. According to you, this station will cover every state, even every county, surpassing the BBC. And yet, I haven't even heard a peek, and I've already sunk a hundred million dollars into it. It's completely unclear how I'm going to make that investment back."

These days, even in the United States, the penetration rate of television is not high. Television manufacturers and TV stations of all sizes have not even standardized the basic television HZ and resolution. Some small TV stations, also known as county TV stations, are relatively mature in several major cities and are all competing for the market.

But if Zheng Yi wants to do it on such a large scale, then he will lose money no matter what he does.

Of course, Li Jiazhi could actually understand Zheng Yi's meaning. To put it bluntly, this TV station certainly did not expect to make money, it was just to guide public opinion.

Spending such a huge amount of money just for this little bit of dominance in public opinion is really... ridiculous.

"It doesn't matter. The popularity of television in the United States will continue to rise in the future. It's only a matter of time before we make money. The investment we make now is just a way to sharpen our knife."

After that, Zheng Yi looked at Qiu Yingjiu and said, "You've done a good job with the Hongmen Burger business. I'm quite satisfied with it. Find a trustworthy subordinate to hand over this business to."

"Yes, ahhh, ah?"

"Why, you can't bear it?"

"No, no, how could that be? Actually, after more than a year of development, Hongmen Burger has become more formal. After all, the process is standardized and the work content is simple. Haha, hahahaha."

In fact, there is another reason he didn't mention, which is that the organization of the Hongmen has been highly replicated in the Hongmen burger.

Although this store is not currently following the franchise model in the United States, it is assumed that when a new store is opened, the local Hongmen leader will cooperate and distribute profits. This is why they can open so many branches.

This isn't just an organization that caters to fast food restaurants.

Zheng Yi probably also knew this. The Hongmen is such a big organization, it can't just make money by selling fast food.

"With the experience of Hongmen Burger, I think I might be able to do some big business."

"One is a large department store, and the other is a large commercial center. You can talk to the boss later about this. You two can collaborate on this and build it in the most central and prime location in a major city like New York."

"As for the department store, imitate what we did in Siam. I will transfer some veterans from SAARC and Siam to assist you."

"As for the commercial center, I'll draw you a diagram and tell you what kind of mall it should be. It should be luxurious, focusing on a one-stop service for dining, drinking, entertainment, and shopping. It should have all kinds of big-name clothing, jewelry, cinemas, and restaurants."

As he spoke, Zheng Yi really started drawing on the paper.

"In short, it has to be high-end, high-end, high-end. The mall itself has to be large and luxurious. It doesn't matter if it's not practical, and it doesn't matter if it makes a profit or a loss. The important thing is that we want to lead American consumption and lifestyle habits, and the same goes for the products sold there. In a word, high-end. We need to sell a lot of luxury goods."

"Sir, these luxury goods, are they French?"

In this era, luxury goods were just a concept, and it was magical. Everyone knew that French and Italian goods were expensive, but the problem was that these two places were destroyed in World War II.

Before World War II, the United States had a special liking for European luxury goods, but as World War II progressed, Americans quickly became disenchanted with European goods.

But American products...it seems like there are no American products.

"Hmm... well, what are the luxury goods? Anything that enters our mall is a luxury. We must learn to use our definition rights."

(End of this chapter)