Chapter Sixteen: Mining Rights

  Morgan and Zhou Yu signed the contract with each other, and after being notarized by a lawyer, Zhou Yu finally took out his own detailed drawings, which had been marked with geographical features, mineral shapes, reserves, etc., as well as data on how to scientifically develop these minerals, and handed them over to Morgan.

  After Morgan's people had repeatedly verified, he finally confirmed that the total amount of minerals was much larger than Zhou Yu's estimated calculation, and his heart finally settled down. The contract also took effect at the same time.

  Zhou Yu also received a check for $40 million from Morgan Bank in the first year, as well as precision machinery, production lines and various mineral materials worth $40 million.

  At this time, Zhou Yu has also been in the United States for nearly a month.

  Zhou Yu sent the training materials and various documents to Morgan, then set off towards Central and South America.

  Simultaneously send telegrams to Chen Fang, Wei Han, Hu Xueyan, Huang Feihong, Liu Yongfu and others, dispatching a total of 40,000 people of all kinds to the United States to study, and repeatedly requesting that they be Chinese.

  We want people with high political awareness and a deep love for the Chinese nation, who have undergone initial training. Hu Xueyan is also required to send two trustworthy English-speaking deputies, one as deputy general manager and the other as deputy financial manager, to join Datong Morgan Ugg Group Company.

  They are required to speed up the expansion of the main base, and as soon as American machinery arrives, they will immediately start organizing production. Various mineral materials must be purchased in sufficient quantities, and overseas transportation companies will be established in various places.

  The shipyard is required to mass-produce ocean-going cargo ships, and the troops are required to conduct live-fire exercises without fear of waste. Two hundred million out of four hundred million US dollars were left behind, and the rest was remitted to them. They were required to increase intelligence gathering in various places and countries, and speed up the construction of bases.

  After making specific arrangements, Zhou Yu set off for his next destination - Colombia. After arriving in Colombia, Zhou Yu negotiated with the Frenchman Reseb about the right to excavate the Panama Canal.

  Of course, Zhou Yu was negotiating with the French in the name of a full representative of Morgan, USA. If he were to negotiate as a Chinese person, the French might not even give him the time of day, because at that time China had no international status!

  The Panama Canal, which the French are about to excavate in the central part of the Isthmus of Panama in Colombia, is an important waterway connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. If it is opened, it will greatly shorten the voyage between the two oceans and have a global strategic significance similar to that of the Suez Canal.

  However, due to the harsh natural conditions, the French canal company, after on-site demonstrations by many technical experts, found that the difficulty of excavation was not ordinary, and the number of laborers required was a staggering figure. As a result, Réseguier, the founder of the French Canal Company, has been having a headache lately.

  Although they bought the excavation rights of the canal at a low cost, due to the difficulty of excavation and the long duration of the project, it is impossible to achieve short-term returns.

  It's like a chicken rib, it's tasteless to eat and a pity to discard. Now that Morgan from the US has come to take over, I'm more than happy to get out of here!

  In order to gain higher profits, Frenchman Reseb still haggled with Zhou Yu in a fierce bargain.

  Mr. Reseb, your company initially bought the Panama Canal excavation rights for less than $1 million, and with later investments, the total is around $1 million. Now I'm willing to buy it from you for $5 million, so you and your company will still make a net profit of $4 million. What do you think?

  No, dear Mr. Zhou, you are wrong. We acquired the mining rights from the Spanish for $80 million, not $10 million as you said. Now I want at least $500 million to sell it.

  If we are to excavate, the Panama Canal is at least 82 kilometers long and 152-304 meters wide. Conservatively estimated, the total investment in the later stage will be at least $500 million. So I would like to ask Mr. Lesseps, after the excavation is completed, how much profit can our company make?

  That's your and your company's business, I don't need to worry about it haha!

  Looking at the smugly smiling Frenchman, Zhou Yu was extremely displeased, and so he smiled slyly and said: Then, I won't buy it, can't that make Mr. Reseb worry? Hehe!

  You? No, no, when we do business, we must be sincere. Since that's the case, I can appropriately reduce some. What do you think? Laissez said with a huff and extreme pain:

  Mr. Naruseb, what do you think is suitable? If it's too much, we won't buy it! Zhou Yu looked like an old god, seemingly indifferent to this matter.

  How about three hundred million dollars for Mr. Zhou? This is a relatively low price, and I still have to account to the company's shareholders!

  No, Mr. Reseb, you are not very sincere. We have a saying in the East: "Business is not about morality, but since it's like this, let's just be friends then!" With that, Zhou Yu pretended to get up and leave.

  Oh! Dear Mr. Zhou, you're really good at doing business, how about 200 million? If not, we won't buy it either. Leisibu saw that Zhou Yu was about to leave and hastily reported his psychological price.

  Good! Since Mr. Laishebu has spoken, then it's settled! Zhou Yu took the opportunity to finalize it.

  In the end, the excavation rights of the Panama Canal were bought by Zhou Yu from Frenchman Réseau at a low price of 20 million.

  Later, Zhou Yu used 10% of the shares of the Panama Canal concession to offset Morgan's $100 million for himself.

  Zhou Yu, why did you want to buy the concession for the Panama Canal?

  Because in the afterlife, the Panama Canal is called "the bridge of the world" and "the heart of the universe" due to its connection between North and South America and communication between two oceans. For the United States, the canal has even greater economic and strategic benefits.

  It is the "Golden Waterway" of US trade and economy. With the benefit of the canal, the three major oceans surrounding the United States are connected as one, allowing the US military to radiate globally. If there were no Panama Canal, it would take at least 15 days for the US Navy to make a strategic maneuver via Cape Horn.

  If during the war, the Panama Canal is the Achilles' heel of the US Pacific region's logistics support, then it must be controlled or delayed in its development process, setting obstacles for the US Pacific strategy.

  Because deep down in their own hearts, they know that America will be the biggest obstacle to their development, and they must think of every way to suppress it, weaken it, and reduce its threat to a minimum before it becomes strong.

  According to the course of history, due to the outbreak and spread of epidemic diseases and financial difficulties, the French excavation project would finally come to a halt in 1889.

  The Americans took over the project in 1904 and it was completed in 1915, after more than thirty years of work.

  Now that it's been stirred up by itself, who knows when it can be completed and opened to traffic? The various industries in the United States will also be affected to a relatively large extent, and this has added precious time for its own development and layout in the Pacific.

  Zhou Yu also had a more secretive matter in Central America, which was negotiating with the government of the Republic of Costa Rica on an agreement to purchase the usage rights of Cocos Island.

  T. Guardia Gutierrez was the dictator of the government of the Republic of Costa Rica during this period, and due to T. Guardia Gutierrez's intentional weakening, the original controllers of the political power in Costa Rica, the Mora Porras and Montealegre families, were extremely hostile towards T. Guardia Gutierrez.

  When Zhou Yu and T. Guadalupe Gutierrez proposed that Morgan & Co. buy the right to use Cacao Island, wanting to develop it, the desperate T. Guadalupe Gutierrez immediately asked Zhou Yu to spend $200 million to purchase the permanent ownership of Cacao Island.

  Zhou Yu didn't say another word and immediately sent a telegram to Morgan, asking him to remit $10 million to himself.

  Although T. Guadalupe Gutierrez had also heard that there were treasures on the island, he decided to sell the small island of little use to Zhou Yu for his own dictatorial rule.

  Because he estimated that the Thompson treasure was a false message released by pirates, and at that time the pirates were making up nonsense to survive, using it as a means of confusing people.

  Besides, I urgently need to use money to develop my own strength now. With such a large sum of cash, I can develop a large number of troops loyal to me and achieve my long-term autocratic rule.

  Zhou Yu, why did he spend a large sum of money to buy Coco Island?

  Because in Zhou Yu's original Earth, he had executed a special mission for the M country on Coco Island before, and he knew that there were large amounts of gold, silver, jewels and pirate treasures on Coco Island.

  Another reason is that we need to arrange the next foothold at our own doorstep in the United States, hang a sharp sword over the head of the Americans, and be able to give them a fatal blow at any time.

  On the island of Coco, the treasure of British pirates led by William Thompson, Zhou Yu knew that there were 32 boxes instead of 24, including the golden statue of Saint Mary, gold candelabra, gold plates, a large number of gold coins, gold cups and many gold and silver jewelry, gems, etc., which can be said to be worth a city.

  Also during the Age of Exploration, Europe's famous one-eyed pirate Al. Camille hid his treasure on Cocos Island, but why is it called Treasure of Gold and Silver? Because Cocos Island was at that time the main Pacific base for the Caribbean pirate Al. Camille, who stored all the gold, silver and jewels he had plundered over countless years there, affectionately referring to Cocos Island as "Treasure of Gold and Silver".

  Later, Caribbean pirate Al. Kamir was killed by others, and his treasure became a mystery.

  Zhou Yu became famous in later generations because he executed the M country's treasure hunt plan and landed on Keke Island. At that time, Zhou Yu and his companions were all stunned by the treasure worth a city that was dug up.

  This information is what Zhī Nǎo helped him recover from his missing memories at the beginning.

  Now that Zhou Yu has this opportunity, how can he possibly give it up?

  After Morgan's money was remitted to Zhou Yu, Zhou Yu immediately signed a contract with T. Guadalupe Gutierrez for the sale of Coco Island, and the person used by Zhou Yu was also an American engineer named George from the Hawaiian shipyard.

  In fact, Zhou Yu and George had signed a secret agreement: the content was that Zhou Yu could use George's name to set up companies around the world, these industries belonged to Zhou Yu, and Zhou Yu only needed to pay George $500 each year.

  Now, Coco Island is actually Zhou Yu's private industry.

  After signing the contract, Zhou Yu immediately sent a telegram to Zhang Long, asking him to send troops to occupy Coco Island.

  In '83, Zhou Yu secretly excavated the treasure on Coco Island and transported it to his own little treasury in Hawaii.

  At that time, Zhang Longle was so excited for several days and couldn't close his mouth. He told everyone he met that Zhou Yu was a godlike person, which also created the legend of Zhou Yu being a godlike person in the later Zhou Yu Group.