Chapter 18 San Francisco

  "Mr. Taylor, would you like to go to China for your new job?"

  A single rhetorical question left Tyler completely silent.

  Isn't it because of your heart's desire for that position and opportunity that you came here in the first place?

  But why is this young man so confident that he will definitely go to China?

  Even before he had expressed this intention himself, he was already asking if he would be willing to go to China.

  Li Zichen cast his gaze at Tyler who was deep in thought and smiled slightly as he picked up his tea cup to take a sip.

  He is about to work hard for a dream, but also give him an ideal! What reason does he have to refuse himself now? Since he came here, then he must be hooked. The way to deal with this kind of person is very simple.

  Long before the two met, he had been in a superior position, instructing Mu Yu from New York on how to play chess, and now he came to the station voluntarily to deliver his notes. Did he need to do this? Drive dozens of kilometers just for a notebook? Was he trying to be that factory efficiency manager?

  Put the teacup on the table, Li Zichen emphasized once again.

  "Mr. Taylor, you may be an authority on management, but who can provide a stage for you that is broad enough? I think that in the whole of America, and even in the whole world, there is no one except me who can provide such a stage."

  An extremely confident sentence made Tyler look at the young man in front of him with surprise, if not for his seriousness and confidence, Tyler would even suspect that this young man was just a dreamer.

  Does he know how much it costs to set up an enterprise like Mu said, "the largest scale, the most modernized and the highest efficiency"?

  Is this something a person can achieve? Is it something that can be achieved in a short period of time?

  Despite his inner doubts and skepticism, Taylor had to admit one thing: indeed, apart from the young man in front of him, there was no other person or country in the world that could provide himself with such a stage. If everything he said could be achieved, great achievements would be the most powerful evidence to prove the effectiveness of scientific management to the whole world.

  No longer will I have to refuse, as in the past ten years, all association with industrial companies on the plea that such association would be inconsistent with my position as a critic of the methods of capitalists. In America and Europe I shall lecture and write books to spread scientific management, an unprecedented success which will induce the whole world to learn scientific management spontaneously.

  If it weren't for myself

  "May..."

  Looking at the young man who seemed still somewhat excited, Tyler raised his own doubts.

  "Sir, do you know how much money it takes to make this dream come true? This is absolutely something that one person or a single company can't accomplish!"

  Originally listening to Li Zichen's description of the dream, Mu Xiangyu, who was in a state of shock, heard Tyler's doubts and suddenly calmed down a lot. Ah! This requires a lot of money, this amount of money is not even an individual, nor can China necessarily take it out, and... As a Chinese person, Mu Xiangyu naturally knows the difficulties of doing business in China, although the Republic has been established, perhaps the Republican government will support industry and encourage industry, but only foreign companies' suppression of the Chinese market is fatal to any company.

  But the most important factor is money, without it, everything is just talk.

  But can this young man who hasn't even introduced himself from the moment he entered the house until now, does he have that ability? At least does he have the financial resources for it?

  A faint smile, Li Zichen's face exuded a rather confident aura. Perhaps he didn't have anything else, but he now possessed enough money and an advantage that no one could match - the crucial technology that was far ahead of this era, which of course needed to be absorbed and integrated.

  "I think..."

  When Li Zichen slightly prolonged his tone, he noticed that Tyler had already shown a look of expectation and even some tension. He was not only moved, but also came here for this matter!

  Who would not want to write history books and become a part of epic poetry?

  "Money is no problem!"

  Li Zichen smiled as he spoke.

  "Just yesterday, I received a huge sum of money from Morgan!"

  Morgan! A huge sum of money!

  Taylor, who had been skeptical all along, only revealed a look of surprise and sudden realization when he heard this sentence. When he read the report in the newspaper yesterday, he still admired that China deep down.

  "You... you're Mr. Zicheng Li!"

  Taylor almost shouted in incredulity.

  He is Li Zicheng, who sold a patent for $76 million!

  Different words, but the same surprise.

  "You must know, running an iron and steel plant is no easy task!"

  "If it were easy, I wouldn't bother!"

  As they exchanged questions and answers, Li Zichen burst out laughing loudly, his bright laughter echoing in the room. Looking at this young man, Tyler stood up after a long deliberation, and Li Zichen also stretched out his hand to Tyler as he stood up.

  "How about it, Mr. Taylor? Would you like to go and witness the birth of an iron empire in person?"

  "Thank you very much for giving me this opportunity!"

  When Tyler accepted the invitation, the door of the room was pushed open and Mu Xiangyu walked in. He had been waiting outside since he saw Tyler enter the room, and only walked in with a smile on his face after hearing this sentence, looking at the two people standing there holding hands.

  Mu Xiangyue hastily said.

  "Mr. Taylor, you've finally arrived!"

  "Mu..."

  Taylor, who had just accepted the invitation, looked slightly embarrassed, while Mu Xiangyu smiled and waved the train ticket in her hand.

  "This is your train ticket!"

  The First Transcontinental Railroad - the first railroad to cross North America, made a huge contribution to the economic development of the United States and in a sense created modern America. It was over 3,000 kilometers long, crossing the entire North American continent, making it the world's first intercontinental railway. This "miracle" railway, considered so by Americans, had an extremely difficult construction process under the conditions at that time. The Sierra Nevada mountain range was particularly treacherous and proved to be the most challenging part of building the First Transcontinental Railroad.

  The most treacherous section of this great railway was built by workers mainly composed of Chinese. The Chinese came to the American continent, they opened up gold mines, built railways, developed agriculture in California and participated in small manufacturing, small catering industry and service industry, leaving behind the hard work of the Chinese people in all possible places where others thought it was impossible to survive. Tens of thousands of Chinese laborers were summoned to participate in the construction of the most massive Central Pacific Railroad. In the project, they played a crucial role with their unique spirit of hard work and outstanding intelligence, making a decisive contribution. Apart from sweat and wisdom, the Chinese workers also paid with their lives. It can be said without exaggeration that the western section of the Pacific Railway was paved with the lives of Chinese laborers.

  It is infuriating, however, that Chinese laborers received unfair treatment in the form of meager wages, racial discrimination and anti-Chinese riots during the construction of the railroad. Nevertheless, after the California Gold Rush and the Transcontinental Railroad, Chinese people who suffered from racial discrimination still managed to survive tenaciously in a place they called "Jinshan" (Gold Mountain), despite facing discrimination, persecution or earthquakes that could not erase their presence in this city.

  San Francisco's train station, as the terminal of Pacific Railroad, every day, people come and go from here, for many passengers traveling back and forth, this is both the entrance to America and the exit.

  In the Baroque-style waiting hall of the train station, several young people stood beside the pillars, dressed in suits that made them almost indistinguishable from Americans, but their skin color and facial features revealed that they were Orientals.

  "Ai, how come that person hasn't left the station yet?"

  Looking through the crowd at the passengers walking out of the station, Li Fengqin asked his friend beside him with some anxiety.

  "Wait a bit, he's sitting in this very car!"

  Yu Jie, puffing on a cigarette, took a drag and was about to spit when he saw the foreigners around him. He seemed to recall something and pulled out a handkerchief from his pocket, spat into it, and then put it back in his pocket. Those foreigners always said that Chinese people were unhygienic, which made the boss repeatedly remind everyone to pay attention to hygiene.

  "Master, we've arrived in San Francisco, and our ship tickets are for thirteen days later!"

  A Si, carrying his luggage, said a few words to the young master in front of him at the exit.

  "Alright, let's find a hotel to stay in first, and we'll also have to wait for Tyler to help us invite some people back!"

  At a glance, Yu Jie saw two Chinese people in the crowd exiting the station and hastily threw his cigarette butt into the trash can.

  "They're here!"

  "Ajie"

  Before Li Fengqin finished speaking, Yu Jie strode towards those two people.

  "Excuse me, are you Li Zichen, Mr. Li?"

  "Huh? Who are you?"

  Staring at the young man who suddenly appeared in front of him, speaking Cantonese, Li Zichen was taken aback. He didn't seem to have any friends in San Francisco yet!

  "Mr. Li, our master invites you to go over!"

  "Master of the hall?"

  That hall owner?

  "Ah Lung Tong's Sut Toong Main Hall!"