Nanyang 1931: From piglets to giants

Chapter 74 Zheng Yi: Actually, I am good at chemistry
Henry Deterding, strictly speaking, is neither a politician nor a capitalist, he is just an employee.

The only problem is that the company he serves is quite influential: Shell Oil, the world's largest company.

Before World War II, there was no concept of the Fortune 500 in the world. The size and strength of a company were not evaluated based on market value. To be more precise, there was no standard for judgment and comparison at all.

Enterprises in each country have their own actual conditions, so it is difficult to compare them together.

However, if we talk about which company is the world's largest manufacturing company, it is recognized by the whole world, and that is Shell Oil.

If India is the jewel in the crown of the British Empire, then Shell Oil is the eyeball beneath the crown.

Multinational corporations are essentially a manifestation of national strength. When Britain was the world's hegemon, Shell Oil was the world's largest company.
When the United States was the hegemon, Shell had to be inferior to ExxonMobil and Aramco.

When China rises, Zheng Yi's former club will be able to stand on equal footing with ExxonMobil.

However, even in the modern world after World War II, when Britain has become so weak, Shell still has a place in the petrochemical industry and can barely rank among the top five oil and petrochemical companies in the world.

Every driver still thinks that Shell lubricants are the best of all lubricants.

It is a business, but it is more than just a business.

As for capitalism, to a large extent, Britain's many colonies, large naval forces, and large personnel investments in the Far East were all, in the final analysis, for the service of Shell Oil.

The first priority of the entire Colonial Bureau, and even the entire British Colonial Office, in overseas colonization was to fully safeguard Shell Oil's overseas interests.

Although Henry Deterding is only the general manager of Shell Oil, his status is actually higher than that of most leaders of small countries.

As for the shareholders behind Shell Oil.

The major shareholders are of course the British and Dutch royal families. Could they be just ordinary businessmen?
Henry Deterding was a very important general manager in the history of Shell Oil. It was during his tenure that the merger of British Shell and Dutch Shell was realized, realizing the special organizational structure of "one son and two mothers".

However, this man was unlucky because his wife was German. So historically, after the outbreak of World War II, he resigned because he was not trusted.

For a businessman of this level, it is impossible to say that he has nothing to do with politics and that his private life has nothing to do with politics.

At this time, after all, World War II had not yet broken out, and Henry Deterding was still at the peak of his personal prestige.

He personally came to Kuala Lumpur, and all the officials in the Colonial Office were trembling with fear.

After hanging up the phone, Lapek was confused but also really convinced. At the same time, he also felt a little fortunate.

Fortunately, he treated Dr. Zheng with courtesy overall. At least he didn't put him in jail, right?

Otherwise, his career as sheriff might really be over.

Immediately, Lapek invited him to sit on his sofa. While the two of them were smoking cigars, he took out a can of smoked fish and a can of pickles from his office, and then opened a bottle of good wine and poured it for Zheng Yi attentively.

Half inquiring, half out of genuine curiosity, he asked, "How did you become involved with a big shot like Mr. Henry?"

Zheng Yi did not hide it, nor did he use this opportunity to deliberately embarrass Lapek and gain control of him. After all, he was Li Xiaoshi's classmate and was in charge of the police force. In fact, he was biased towards his own people within the Colonial Bureau.

He immediately smiled and said, "What can I do? Technology changes society. I am a technician, and what I discussed with Mr. Henry was of course a technical issue.

If nothing unexpected happens, Mr. Henry and I will jointly establish a large-scale oil refinery. The location... should be in Penang."

Lapek: "Ah??? Penang, you, and Mr. Henry, a joint venture?"

It just sounds like bullshit, are you kidding me?

Mr. Henry, even a hair plucked from his legs is thicker than the waists of you Chinese people. Joint venture? How did you even say that word?
But he didn't dare to conclude that Zheng Yi was bragging. After all, Mr. Henry coming to Kuala Lumpur to see him in person was already magical in his eyes.

"Excuse me, how did you do it?" Zheng Yi said frankly, "Last month, I took some time off to go to the United States and stayed there for half a month."

"You went to the United States..."

"DuPont, ever heard of it?"

"Ah~, I've heard of it, I've heard of it. How could I not know about it? This must be the world's largest chemical giant, right? Are you still in contact with them?"

"DuPont is researching a material called nylon that can be woven like cloth by refining heavy oil and spinning it directly into yarn.

After three or four years of research, they still hadn't figured it out, so I came to them with my patent and they gave me some pointers. Last month, they finally had the product, and they should be holding a press conference in the next few days."

Lapek: "You, you also know chemistry?"

"What do you mean by understand? Chemistry is my major!"

Lapek: “…………”

No one would believe it if I told him that Zheng Yi had devoted his entire life to scientific research and had served the two oil companies diligently for eighteen years.

But until he went to DuPont, all the work he did and all the inventions he made had nothing to do with his major in his previous life.

Chemical industry.

Especially petrochemical industry is his real expertise.

Fortunately, it is finally time to reap the fruits.

DuPont finally started researching nylon!
When it comes to scientific research, it's not a good idea to rush in. Nanyang doesn't have the ability to conduct independent petrochemical research, so he can only use DuPont's chicken to lay his own eggs.

He could only wait until DuPont became interested in this thing and had already invested a huge amount of money but had not figured it out, and just encountered a technical bottleneck. Then he would take the initiative to recommend himself to DuPont. At this time, the effect would be best.

After waiting for so many years, the opportunity finally came for him.

Originally, DuPont was not supposed to launch mass-produced nylon products until 1935. However, Zheng Yi's appearance enabled them to do so two years earlier, saving them two years of research and development cycle.

After all, Zheng Yi was a relatively well-known scientist in Europe. Although he was not well-known in the field of chemistry, he recommended himself and DuPont gave him high-level courtesy and an interview.

After he took out his patent, everyone in the company was stunned.

We are a company as big as DuPont, and hundreds of scientists have been researching something for several years, but we still haven't figured it out. How come you, a Chinese from Southeast Asia, figured it out by yourself?
Zheng Yi even helped them improve their production line, increasing their nylon production by more than ten times.

It completely confused the people at DuPont.

After that, Zheng Yi put forward his own conditions: "In addition to nylon, I also invented acrylic and polyester, two other weaving materials that can be spun through petroleum heavy oil, and they do not even conflict with nylon.
I can even show you the research results, but I definitely won't help you build the production line. If you want to build it, it must be built in Penang, and Zheng Yi must be a shareholder."

Building a factory in Nanyang, and producing petrochemical raw materials.

DuPont would naturally find Shell to cooperate with. In the whole of Southeast Asia, 99% of the oil fields belong to Shell. Without Shell's approval, they can't even get the raw materials.

Shell Oil was also stunned when they heard what DuPont said, and then they heard that the instigator of all this was actually a Chinese from Southeast Asia.

Mr. Henry called.

It's that simple.

(End of this chapter)