American Comic Dimensional Trading Device

So they started selling it to Josie at a very low price, giving him another big surprise.

Chapter 43 Howard! Captain America!

Time flies, and summer has arrived in the blink of an eye. The weather in Chicago is also starting to get hot.

Early in the morning, Josie, wearing a polo shirt, sat leisurely in the yard drinking coffee.

Of course, he doesn't only drink coffee. He's not from Shanghai and would die without coffee. He also drinks black tea occasionally.

As for green tea, it wasn't that he didn't want to drink it, but rather that in the American market, like in Britain, black tea was the mainstream, and it was difficult to buy green tea outside of Chinatown.

The problem is that the Pacific War is raging, and goods from Asia simply can't be transported over. It's already hard to buy green tea in Chinatown, and most of what you find are low-quality tea leaves. The situation might be a little better in Los Angeles on the West Coast, but Chicago, which is in the Midwest... sigh!

So for the time being, Josie can only obediently drink coffee and black tea.

It's actually a good thing he's rich and powerful now. If he were just an ordinary person, he wouldn't even have much to drink, like coffee and black tea. Both of these are controlled items. People can only buy one pound of coffee every five weeks, and 20 grams of black tea per week... Is this what you call feeding a cat?

Fortunately, it should be almost over in two more years.

He's young, he can endure it.

“Honey, I have some bad news. It seems you’ve been targeted by the United Army Supporters Organization!” Margot, dressed in a white chiffon dress, sat down next to Josie with an invitation in hand.

"...It's only been three months? And they're selling bonds again?" Josie immediately felt a headache coming on when she heard about the United Army Support Organization.

It's early July now. He bought three million in bonds at the end of March, which certainly brought him great fame and benefits.

For example, the establishment of the three factories proceeded almost smoothly, and the supply of various raw materials was also met.

In particular, the syrup factory, thanks to researchers hired from the University of Chicago, successfully started mass production of saccharifying enzymes a month ago, and the first batch of corn starch syrup was successfully tested a week ago.

After being tested by military representatives, this batch of syrup and subsequent production were completely bought up by the military. Now, Josie has hitched a ride on the coattails of the most powerful army of this era—regardless of the quality, at least at this time, the US military was absolutely number one in the world in terms of scale and equipment.

But this came at a price. From then on, he was targeted by various anti-French organizations in the United States during that period, who were always looking to take advantage of him.

Aren't you a pioneer of anti-French XX? If you have the money to buy three million in bonds, spending a few thousand or tens of thousands of dollars to support our work isn't too much to ask, is it?

However, the situation is not too serious; such small organizations are generally easy to deal with.

For example, he could say that all his money is invested in bonds, and then offer to donate some bonds to support you.

At this point, the other person will usually shut up.

Because these organizations need money and resources, bonds, while good, cannot be used as cash in the short term.

But you're just keeping the bonds unused? Are you really contributing to the anti-fraud cause, or are you just enriching yourselves?

But to redeem bonds directly at a bank? Absolutely not. The military sells bonds to raise funds for war. Redeeming bonds before maturity is understandable for ordinary people who need money, but for an anti-French organization like yours, are you sure you're not undermining the US military?

However, some cases involving the military are not so easy to deal with.

After all, Josie's sugar factory had just secured a large order from the military, so it wouldn't make sense for them to be short of funds.

In this respect, the U.S. military can be considered a model of conscientious customer service, with the vast majority of orders paid in cash or in advance, and there are no delays in payment.

Unlike neighboring Britain, where they issue IOUs everywhere.

However, not long after Josie received the money, the military support organization arrived.

This is a cooperative organization designated by the Ministry of National Defense.

The attitude of sending an invitation to Josie was quite clear.

Your orders have made so much money? Shouldn't you support us a bit more, like buying some more bonds? After all, bond interest rates aren't low, and you wouldn't lose money, right?

In this situation, can Josie not buy it?

If you don't buy it, you can forget about getting any more military orders.

Of course, Josie didn't really care about the military's orders, since he had a trading system. The same sugar could be sold to Daenerys for many times the profit of selling it to the military.

But Josie was very concerned about the title of military supplier.

Having such an identity greatly facilitated his upward social mobility in the United States and his integration into various capitalist circles.

Two years later, after World War II ended, this identity became even more valuable.

At that time, whether he goes to Europe or Japan, he can be a superior person, making a fortune in those places at extremely low cost.

So even if it's just a pure donation, let alone buying bonds, he has to keep that title.

However, he was very unhappy with the feeling of being at the mercy of the military.

"Haha, honey, don't be so unhappy. Compared to Howard in New York, you're doing pretty well. He was even forcibly conscripted by the military," Margot said with a smile, trying to comfort Josie when she saw that she was a little unhappy.

“How can I compare to him? He’s an aviation expert, and I’m just a high school dropout,” Josie said, shaking her head. But at the same time, a question popped into her mind: Shouldn’t Howard Hughes be living in Los Angeles?

“Darling, you don’t need to be so self-deprecating. You’re only 16, and you already own three factories and have secured military contracts. Especially the sugar factory’s saccharifying enzymes and high-fructose corn syrup—those are monopolistic products. Your future achievements will definitely surpass his.” Margot walked behind Josie, put her arm around his shoulder, and whispered close to his face, “Speaking of which, this time the United Nations General Assembly came to Chicago, and there were many Hollywood stars accompanying them, like Jane Russell, Whitney Frost, Paulette Goddard, and many other big stars. Especially Whitney Frost, she played the Siegfried girl with Judy Garland, and she acted so well.”

Whitney Frost? Josie looked blank; he had never heard of her before.

He vaguely remembered Jane Russell; she was Howard Hughes's mistress. Apparently, she was boycotted because she dressed too revealingly in a film during World War II, and afterwards could only play minor roles.

"Oh right, the invitation should have a program list, let's take a look," Margot said cheerfully.

Josie smiled helplessly and opened the invitation in front of her.

The next second, his expression changed instantly.

“Margot… what’s Howard’s full name again?” Josie asked.

“Howard Stark? What happened? Before he was forcibly drafted by the Department of Defense last month, he held some kind of technology expo, quite a large one. But I found out too late, otherwise we could have gone to New York to check it out. I heard there are a lot of interesting things there.” Josie’s voice trembled slightly, which Margot found a little strange, but she still answered truthfully.

Because she was standing behind him, Margot didn't notice Josie's ashen face and the way she was staring intently at the show called "Captain America" ​​on the invitation's program list.

Chapter 44 Captain America

"Who will be brave and strong to save America?" (Female backing vocals)

Not everyone can successfully storm the beachhead!

"But we can all cheer and shout!"

"Who swears to fight day and night to defend the truth?" (Female backing vocals)

"E-series defense bonds, every one you buy adds an extra bullet to a soldier's gun!"

"Who goes door-to-door spreading the nation's message? Who carries the national flag across the country? From east to west, across the entire nation? Clad in the Stars and Stripes, he shoulders a heavy responsibility!" (Female backing vocals)

………………

Unlike the previous fundraising effort, which was limited to a small group of upper-class individuals, this time the bond sales organized by the United Army were open to the entire population. Therefore, it was naturally not taking place in some manor or villa, but rather at the Chicago Grand Theatre.

This is one of the three largest theaters in the United States. It was built in 1865 and is now over 70 years old. It has been rebuilt once and can accommodate 4,000 audience members at a time.

This time, the United Army Supporters organization will stay in Chicago for a week.

Inside the theater, Josie sat in the VIP section, watching with a forced smile as the muscular man on stage, dressed in a Stars and Stripes outfit, performed an awkward musical number surrounded by a group of beautiful women singing and dancing.

However, among those present, only Josie's smile was rather stiff; the vast majority of people were clearly watching with great interest, their faces beaming, clapping loudly.

"What's wrong, Josie? You don't seem to like this show? I think it's very well written!" Margot asked excitedly, clapping her hands.

"Uh, it's nothing, I'm just a little uncomfortable in these lively occasions," Josie said with a dry laugh.

But how could his attitude possibly escape the notice of his bedmate, Margot? Ever since receiving the invitation a few days ago, Josie had been somewhat distracted.

I only asked a few times, but Josh just laughed it off.

What could Josh say?

He said he originally thought this was an ordinary parallel world and was preparing to become an urban tycoon with the help of the interdimensional trading device, but now he has found out that it is the Marvel high-martial universe, and he is panicking.

There’s no way to tell!

However, when you think about it, it's actually Josie's own fault; she just didn't read enough newspapers.

After all, as an urban man from the internet age in his previous life, he didn't have the habit of reading newspapers. After transmigrating to this era, he reads them every day, but mainly the local Chicago newspapers. It's not surprising that he would miss news about Howard Stark.

Because he later found and read related reports about Howard Stark and Captain America.

Her appearance is exactly the same as the movie version.

The size of Stark Industries also matches the film version.

If it's the comic book version, and Josie remembers correctly, Stark Industries was founded by Howard's father and had grown into a major company before World War I.

However, according to the information collected, Howard was born in 1917 in a working-class neighborhood in Manhattan's Lower East Side. His father was a fruit stand owner and his mother was a factory worker in a clothing factory.

Howard Stark graduated from college in 1934 and started his business from scratch.

The Stark Group was only established in 1939 and began to develop by relying on orders from the military and the British.

Although it has developed very rapidly, it has only been four years since then, and it is far from being a giant.

In terms of industrial scale, it is far inferior to even the Leibler family, let alone established giants like Rockefeller.

Therefore, it is very well-known on the East Coast, but relatively less so in the Midwest and West.

In a world where information is far less readily available than in the internet age, it's perfectly normal that Josie, who has only been in this world for a few months, hasn't paid attention to Stark Industries.

Josie, who was living a comfortable life, was suddenly terrified to discover that she was in the perilous Marvel Universe.

Fortunately, a few days have passed, and after a period of calm, Josie has come to her senses.