Volume 1: Laying the Foundation Chapter 68: Shopping Mall
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Thomas is a representative of the Rockefeller family, and he also understands the great benefits involved. It's worth noting that the Rockefeller family is not just in the oil industry, but they, along with several other major financial groups, almost control all of America's rail transportation, control a large number of mines, and now have tentacles stretching into ocean shipping as well. They have the world's longest oil pipeline, and can be said to have containerized products that help them maximize their existing advantages!
For example, at that time the United States already had many gas stations, but because long-distance car transportation had not yet taken off, there were very few of these gas stations and they were far apart, making refueling extremely inconvenient. With this kind of container oil tanker, everything can be solved. The best part is that they can see that on this basis, they can do more things, such as...
"With containerization and the equipment to support it, with these high-powered cargo trucks, we can create and control a trucking empire that will be the greatest this country has ever known! With our specialized ocean-going vessels and port facilities, we can extend this empire into every nation and corner of the world, gentlemen, isn't this a tremendous business opportunity?" Chen Xiaoqi said loudly.
Entering the 1920s, the United States and Western capitalist countries seemed to have gone crazy entering the fast lane of economic development. Various industrial products that would influence the next century emerged like mushrooms after a spring rain, such as automobiles, refrigerators, washing machines, and vacuum cleaners, which almost became necessities for every family. By 1927, Henry Ford had sold 15 million Model T cars. In Canada, the total number of cars in 1918 was only 300,000; ten years later, this number soared to 1.9 million. The automobile had a broad impact on economic and social development. The automotive industry grew rapidly into a leading industry, with peripheral industries such as gas stations, motels, and the petroleum industry also being driven up. Before the economic crisis broke out in 1929, the total number of cars in the United States reached an astonishing 20 million! Steel production reached 50 million tons of iron and 40 million tons of steel! Oil was unprecedentedly over 400 million barrels!
In the decade known as the "Roaring Twenties" or the "Golden Twenties", the prototype of supermarkets was established in 1923, motels began to appear, and movie chains were formed across the country. Countless classic works poured out! Jazz, dance, and homosexuality spread through society, and influential literary works emerged one after another!
Chen Xiaoqi's big business emerged at the right time, when rail transport had reached its peak, highway development was just beginning to take off, and high-speed roads were being built, ordinary highways had connected rural areas across the country, and road transport, a previously unexplored cake, would undergo historic changes with the increasing number of cars and the emergence of heavy trucks.
"Chen! Crane! Your heavy truck company, the Rockefeller syndicate must buy in! Your container manufacturing plant, the Rockefeller family also wants to buy in!"
Herd certainly couldn't let him monopolize, and Ma Shang also said: "Klein, we've been working together for so many years, I think there's no need for me to say more? This deal you can't do on your own, we must cooperate!"
" Gentlemen, you don't need to rush. This is a big business deal that goes far beyond just heavy trucks and containers. I have a comprehensive solution here that will become a huge business affecting people all over the United States. I invited you here because I want to cooperate with you. Without your financial resources, I couldn't possibly do such a large business on my own!"
He swept the stick across the entire sandbox, saying magnificently: "Gentlemen, you see, on this vast land, there are countless cities and towns, with hundreds of millions of miles of highways being built, wider and more solid. Our automobile manufacturers are also working hard to produce more and more cars. So, he will first give birth to a huge industry - gas stations! No need to doubt, Thomas, this is your strong point, but you must know that the scale you have established now is far from enough. In the future, I think there should be a gas station every ten miles along the highway, and next to each gas station, there should be a small hotel and store to provide services. You see, more and more people will drive their own cars out of their homes, even driving thousands of kilometers to travel, they need this! So, a chain of gas stations, hotels, restaurants, and stores is a must-establish comprehensive body, with a number of tens of millions! And as our heavy trucks carry cargo across the country, this demand becomes more and more prominent!"
"Gentlemen, do you know that in Kansas City, Missouri, the land developer J.C. Nichols is planning to build a 'Country Club Plaza' shopping center? This shopping center will have about 100 retail stores and 978,000 square feet of retail space. The shopping center will have unified management of tenant stores, and outside there will be many parking spaces far from the road, providing a consumption venue for residents in nearby residential areas. I believe that this type of concentrated shopping center is the future direction of development, and it will appear in every city and town. However, this is far from enough; in my plan, it should include not only retail stores and specialty stores but also pharmacies, banks, beauty salons, movie theaters, and office buildings. People can complete their shopping, errands, leisure, and entertainment needs in a short period of time, and there will even be clubs, libraries, museums, branches of national institutions, and amusement parks. The equipment of the shopping center must be fully enclosed, temperature-controlled, and air-conditioned, so that going to the shopping center for consumption will be the greatest enjoyment for everyone after work! They will spend every penny they earn here! And we will provide them with the most ideal venue in the world!"
He's gone crazy! Chen Xiaoqi threw out the idea of a large shopping mall for future generations and immediately gained the favor of two major financial groups! What a grand concept this is! This will be an unprecedented business group in the United States, a transportation conglomerate, a real estate union, a trust that covers all aspects of consumption!
Mr. Chen Xiaoqi didn't let them off the hook, he continued to point and poke at the sand table, saying: "Gentlemen, have you noticed? Our truck container transportation team is not just a matter of getting to this point! In the future, after our chain organization is established, our logistics system will become more and more developed! It will connect every factory that sends goods to stores, gas stations, shopping centers, and deliver them to where they are needed at the lowest cost and fastest speed, allowing your investment to achieve the highest turnover rate! Most importantly, we will collect letters, documents, small packages, and even various items from people through our branch institutions in every city, load them onto container trucks, and quickly transport them to each node for rapid delivery services. We can even buy planes to provide the fastest transportation service in the world for customers who need special emergency transportation services. We will also establish our own airline, using bigger and bigger planes to transport goods and people! Gentlemen, this will be an unprecedented industry! We are going to take away the Federal Postal Service's rice bowl! I have even thought of a name for this logistics system, let's call it Federal Express!
Thomas and Hedda were utterly astonished, exclaiming "Ah! Ah! Oh! Oh!" as they listened to Chen Xiaoqi's non-stop, unbridled, and fanciful ideas pouring out of his mouth. As he drew on the sandbox with a long stick, every facility and scene transformed into pipes and pools overflowing with gold coins and dollars. The entire sandbox gradually filled up with imagined wealth, and the two people's breathing and heart rates accelerated along with Chen Xiaoqi's descriptions. Their faces flushed red, their eyes became dazed, they were lost in thought, and saliva dripped from the corners of their mouths!
Chen Xiaoqi spoke non-stop for a full hour, finally becoming hoarse and waving his stick as he shouted: "Gentlemen, you must be able to see that this is a wonderful thing! This will be a great opportunity for you to get out of your own circle! Your long-haired dollars in the warehouse will finally have a place to use! It will create a huge market that will not decline even after a hundred years, which is a safer and more effective investment than opening a bank! Think about it! You will control what billions of people eat, wear, walk and entertain, you will affect everyone's life, this is the greatest achievement!"
Controlling the lives of every individual, that's more meaningful than being an emperor. It's also a beautiful wish deep in the bones of every large financial group. If possible, who wouldn't want to monopolize this world? A vast empire, a huge web with no edges, a gigantic stage without borders - they can watch from above as billions of people perform their joys and sorrows on it. What a delightful thing! This is far more interesting than manipulating wars!
This is a truly long-term plan that will be implemented for decades or even longer, it is not a one-time achievement, nor can it be abandoned halfway. It is destined to be an indispensable part of human history, and as long as you participate in it, whether in the past or present, every role will continue to move forward!
At this time, the big financiers really didn't know where to put their billions of wealth, support industrial production? They are already doing it and doing well, before the advent of a new era, they have almost nothing to do, trigger a new war? But the world war has just ended, they need those actors to take a breath and calm down for a while, accumulate strength, this is also being done.
So Chen Xiaoqi undoubtedly provided them with a good method and plan, and this plan also has huge profits and influence, from both political and economic perspectives, it is a very worthwhile investment!
Finally, Chen Xiaoqi took out two thick planning books from a cabinet locked with multiple layers and handed them to the two men. With an unquestionable tone, he said: "Gentlemen, take a look! This 1,300-page plan is the result of my team's hard work over the years. We're ready now, it's up to you!"
That planning book was as heavy as four pounds, and it numbed the hands of the two big guys. They held this 2-inch thick, 16K-sized, incredibly large planning book with every page filled to the brim, and were shocked into speechlessness. This is a planning book! What kind of business is this that requires writing hundreds of millions of words?
