As soon as the negotiations between the United States of Cuba and the Spaniards began, they touched the hearts of many.
The first to arrive in Havana was J Morgan, and then all kinds of gods flocked to it, and their names were star-studded: Carnegie, the current rookie in the American steel industry and the future steel king, because he held smokeless gunpowder and firmly controlled the American Gunpowder Association in his own hands, Gould, who had never made friends with people in his life, had a withdrawn personality, but the powerful railroad king Gould, who had founded Standard Oil and was about to become the first billionaire in the United States, was the former ship king, The current railroad tycoon, Cornelius Vanderbilt It is no exaggeration to say that the American economy at the end of the nineteenth century was controlled by these people.
Except for the unrealistic illusions that the Spaniards still maintained, everyone could see that the Spaniards had sunset, that the United States of Cuba would become the ruler of Cuba, that a new economy was being born near the United States, that Cuba was rich in natural resources, and that after the Spaniards left, someone needed to fill the void left by the Spaniards, and it was a gorgeous feast that no one wanted to be absent from.
Of course, they also have a reason to come to this feast, except for Tom Scott, the former chairman of the Pacific Rim Railway, who is here to look for opportunities, everyone else more or less holds the Cuban treasury bonds that Li Mu entrusted J Morgan to sell a few months ago, strictly speaking, they are here to inspect the safety of their investments, so Li Mu can't refuse.
Among all of them, Carnegie was undoubtedly the most closely related to Li Mu, so Li Mu got in touch with Carnegie as soon as possible, and determined as quickly as possible to double the size of the San Diego Iron and Steel Plant, and at the same time open a second steel plant in Cárdenas near Havana, the same scale as the San Diego Steel Plant.
With these two steel mills, Li Mu almost monopolized 70 percent of Cuba's steel production, with an annual output of about 250,000 tons of steel, a figure more than 3.5 times the national steel output of the United States in 1870.
As in the previous collaboration, Carnegie did not have to pay a penny, but he did send technicians and managers who could take a 10 percent stake in the factory.
At this point, Li Mu occupies the absolute initiative, the contract signed by Li Mu and Céspedes includes most of Cuba's mineral resources development rights, and now Cespedes is dead, but Li Mu's rights are recognized by the United States of Cuba, and because the United States of Cuba is now unable to develop mineral resources, Li Mu and Nelson on behalf of the United States of Cuba have signed a supplementary agreement, The United States of Cuba entrusted Cuba's mineral resources to Li Mu to develop on his behalf, so no matter who wants to develop Cuba's mineral resources, Li Mu can't get around it.
Henry DuPont wanted all the saltpeter mines in Cuba, Rockefeller wanted oil in Cuban waters, Gould wanted to build a railroad from Santiago to Havana, and Cornelius Vanderbilt not only wanted a railroad, but also wanted to set up a shipping company in partnership with Li Mu to connect the countries bordering the Caribbean.
The last time Morgan came to Cuba, he took a stake in Li Mu's San Diego Investment Company, J Morgan knew about Li Mu's business plan, and Cornelius Vanderbilt was the candidate recommended by J Morgan to Li Mu.
In the twenty-first century, few people have heard of the Vanderbilt family, but in the nineteenth century, the family was even more brilliant than the Rockefellers.
In a general sense, the first billionaire in the United States was John Rockefeller, in fact, not necessarily, in 1877 Cornelius Vanderbilt died, the total value of his property left to his children has exceeded 100 million US dollars, the reason why the United States advertised John Rockefeller as the first billionaire in the United States is probably because the children and grandchildren of Cornelius Vanderbilt were not angry, and lost all the property left by Cornelius Vanderbilt in a few decades, so this is a "American dream" It is also natural that stories that do not match the spirit will not receive positive publicity.
At the age of 11, Cornelius left school to work, and at the age of 16, relying on the $100 he borrowed from his mother, Cornelius began his entrepreneurial journey, and only two years later, Cornelius multiplied the hundred dollars a hundredfold, and ten years later, Cornelius multiplied another $10,000, and by 1849, when Cornelius was fifty-five, Cornelius is able to make a million dollars a year on the route between New York and San Francisco.
In 1864, at the age of 70, Cornelius decided to abandon his beloved shipping career and shift his focus from shipping to railroads, although the shipping business was generally profitable.
With his shrewdness and ability, Cornelius succeeded again, in just a few years, Cornelius Harlem Railroad, Hudson Railroad and New York Central Railroad into the bag, which has brought Cornelius the title of "railway tycoon", Cornelius is also planning to bring more than a dozen railways such as Michigan Central Railroad, Lakeside Railroad, and Canada Southern Railway under his control, if this idea becomes a reality, then Gould's honor as "Iron King" is about to change hands.
On behalf of Cornelius Vanderbilt, who came to Li Mu was Corneeliers' eldest son, William Henry Vanderbilt, William is fifty-one years old this year, and he has a lot of personality, like all Americans of this era, William also makes a fuss about his beard, the beard on his cheeks is like two big fans, but the nose and chin are clean, plus he is a little bald, it is easy to overlook the only advantage of his face, the straight hooked nose.
This is also the only similarity between William and Cornelius.
Although William was much older than Li Mu and was now the deputy general manager of the Harlem and Hudson Railroad and was identified as the next head of the Vanderbilt family, William did not despise Li Mu, and when he came to visit Li Mu, William brought a special gift, 1,200 copies of the Yongle Grand Canon.
So the topic between Li Mu and William began with the Yongle Ceremony.
"What do you say about the Yongle Canon, if there is an encyclopedia in this world, then the Yongle Canon is the only one that can be described by this word, but it's a pity that the original copy of the Yongle Canon has disappeared, and the copy is also ill-fated, do you know, there are only more than 1,000 volumes here, and the original Yongle Canon has a total of more than 11,000 volumes" Li Mu stroked the neatly stacked remnants, not to say whether it was joy or anger, only a faint sadness.
Just like Li Mu said, the Yongle Grand Ceremony is indeed ill-fated, and soon after the Yongle Grand Ceremony was completed, the original disappeared, and the copy was collected in the Imperial History Palace of the Ming Jing Division, that is, the Royal Archives.
As a result, when the Siku Quanshu was revised during the Qianlong period, the Yongle Canon of more than 11,000 volumes was unexpectedly only more than 8,000 volumes left, and the people of the time unanimously believed that the officials of the Ming Dynasty were lazy and did not finish copying copies, so there were only more than 8,000 copies left.
For this reason, I really don't dare to agree, not to mention how cruel the law of the feudal emperor era was, what are the consequences of laziness, don't the presiding officials know the significance of this matter This is a thing that can make them famous in history, even if the officials below will be lazy, will the presiding officials also be lazy Hehe, a certain clan has done everything to cover up that shameless thing, and everyone in the world is a fool.
"That's right, the Qing Empire does have a glorious history."
William agreed with Li Mu.
"No, no, no, the Qing Empire cannot represent the Chinese, there has never been a money rat's tail in the history of the Chinese, every nation has suffered times, the White House has been burned by the British, and London has been shelled by the Dutch, which is normal."
Li Mu quietly praised William.
In the Second Anglo-Dutch War, the Dutch attacked the port of London and captured the flagship of the British Navy, which was the most glorious period of Dutch military affairs.
William was Dutch.
"Hehehe, that's right, I believe that every powerful nation has its own heritage, and they will eventually recover their glory, just like the remnants of these Yongle canons, I believe that the originals will one day see the light of day."
William felt very useful to Li Mu's words, everyone carries the sedan chair, hello, hello, everyone.
"Let's talk about Cuba, we have achieved success in Cuba, and it is foreseeable that the future of Cuba will be brilliant, so what role is the Vanderbilt family prepared to play in this process?"
"Everything we can be involved in, Ream, you may not know, of the $18 million in Cuban Treasury bonds that you commissioned the Morgan family to sell, six million of them belong to the Vanderbilt family, so the Vanderbilt family has been involved in this war for a long time, and the involvement is deeper than you think."
William's sincerity was impressive.
Cornelius is indeed a genius, as early as when he was running the shipping industry, Cornelius began to get involved in the financial industry, after turning to the railroad industry, Cornelius showed his strength on Wall Street, the Harlem Railroad, Hudson Railroad and New York Central Railroad held by the Vanderbilt family were all through the operation of the stock market, only to become the family wealth of the Vanderbilt family, so the Vanderbilt family is far more powerful than Li Mu knows.
"Alright then, I formally invite the Vanderbilt family to join us in the reconstruction of Cuba, and I hope we can work together happily."
Li Mu no longer hesitated, for now, the Vanderbilt family is Li Mu's best partner
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