Chapter 38: Refining Steel Equipment

  Lin Yushan was delayed on his return trip because Nissenbaum had returned from the United States with a large quantity of machinery stipulated in the agreement. After obtaining Chen An's consent, Lin Yushan promptly paid the full amount and invited Nissenbaum to visit the North China Industrial Corporation.

  Nilsen Bohm received the goods in advance, was overjoyed, and very succinctly took Lin Yushan to the ocean ferry that was changing into a British small steamer, opened a secret cabin door, "I also brought some other little things, help me greet your boss, see if he needs them?"

  Chen An received a telegram from Yu Shan in cryptic language, and after deciphering it, he found out that Nissenbaum had also brought an additional set of steam turbine generators and a set of hydroelectric generators, as well as several boxes of Springfield 1903 rifles.

  Chen An, who lacked everything, directly asked Lin Yushan to buy it all and asked if he had any science education books. Nissenbaum hesitated for a moment before telling Lin Yushan that he would spend money in the concession to buy a batch of current books and give them to Jiazhou, but could he let him invest in the Northern Bank.

  Without waiting for Chen An's response, Krause, who was in charge of Shanghai affairs, directly refused and loudly shouted that this was the boss's private property and no one was allowed to enter with any reason.

  Chen An was very curious, and after asking Laine carefully again, he learned that the high-level banker who had framed Krause was a Jew, and even the bank itself was founded by Jews. Laine also hated the greed of the Jews, directly scolding them as evil vampires in front of everyone. In Shanghai, Krause naturally strongly opposed it.

  Chen An was stunned. Are Jews that unpopular in Europe? Some weirdly told Laine that Kovar is also a Jew.

  This time Laine was sulky, and it took him half a minute to respond, saying that Koval had already become Chinese under the boss's influence, and could no longer be considered one of the most greedy Jewish capitalist vampires.

  Chen An let the topic go with a wry smile, but he remembered the term "capital vampire" and decided to add a note to the financial department's memo, stating that no one with a Jewish background was allowed to participate in financial work or invest in any capital of the company.

  Nissenbaum didn't bother with this as he had already made enough, and those books were still bought to be given as gifts to Chen An.

  Lin Yushan brought Nilsen Bohm back to Bijiawu Dock, it was already late autumn.

  The third batch of military supplies has been loaded onto the ship and is ready to head south, with Zhao Si in charge of escorting it this time. In addition to the six large cannons and their corresponding ammunition, there are also 1,000 7.9mm Hanyang-made rifles and one million rounds of 7.9mm bullet ammunition. The Hanyang rifle is 1250mm long without a bayonet and weighs 4.06kg when empty.

  Apart from the cost of artillery and shells, which was 126,000 taels, the cost of rifles and ammunition was not much, only 37,000 taels. The maximum profit was more than 20,000 taels, far less than the profit of 70,000 taels from artillery. However, those who could afford to buy artillery were in the minority, and it is estimated that the most profitable business in the future would still be rifles and ammunition.

  Chen An, with the spirit of "even a mosquito is still a piece of meat", still felt that he couldn't give up on the firearms and ammunition market.

  The results of the first artillery test firing have already been released. Cao Kun's telegram said that everyone was very satisfied.

  Upon seeing this ambiguous telegram, Chen An almost burst out laughing and spat out his tea. The Beiyang New Army had bought more weapons with the same amount of money, which had filled certain people's pockets to their satisfaction. However, they needed to be even more cautious now. Those people from Hanyang were bold enough to bomb their own factory's general manager, so it was likely that once they found out what was really going on, they would send someone to cause trouble in Jiezhou.

  All the bulk goods were unloaded in Zhao Hua, and a large number of carts were hired to travel by land, because even the best sailors couldn't guarantee that those oversized guys could reach Bi Kou safely.

  Lin Yushan arranged for people to clear the way, building roads and bridges as they went, slowly making their way towards Biku. He didn't have a better plan, so he had no choice but to use this most stupid method.

  After paying off the full amount of goods to Nelson, and using a lot more on subsequent equipment transportation, Lin Yushan still had less than 50,000 taels of silver left in his hands, not even enough for the principal of this batch of military supplies. He didn't exchange it for gold, but directly transferred the silver to the newly built vault of the Northern Bank.

  Kouval ran over to greet Nissenbaum with joy, and took him directly to the county town's wine tower. What Chen An didn't expect was that Yin Weijun had actually arrived in Gansu with the fleet.

  Looking at the elegant and refreshing Yoon Wei-jun, Lin Yu-shan appeared with a rare hint of shyness beside him. Chen An flew in quickly, blinking her eyes, really wanting to say "indeed one thing suppresses another". Lin Yue-er was overjoyed to see Wei-jun arrive, threw down a financial report, and took the young girl to stroll around Chen's village, with Lin Yu-shan following behind with a thick face.

  Picking up the report and taking a look, Chen An's face turned pale. Fortunately, Yin Weijun had arrived; otherwise, he would have been scolded by Yue'er again.

  Several rounds of military spending have gone out, and the entire group's finances have turned into a debt of nearly 300,000 taels. The silver left in the Gansu branch of the Northern Bank is only about 70,000 taels, even with Lin Yushan's new allocation. If there is a run on the bank at the end of the year, it will be finished.

  Also, if the more than 100,000 taels of silver used to open the Northern Bank are returned, and Nissen & Co.'s goods are paid for with a little less, there will be nearly 200,000 taels of silver available to fill the gap. However, it was necessary at the time. Chen An had no choice but to decide that the company's expansion would have to stop for at least half a year, after all, there were still almost 60,000 taels of silver to be paid out in one lump sum at the end of the year.

  He immediately sent a telegram to Shanghai, informing Klauser that after Zhao Si delivered the third batch of military supplies, he would hurry back with the silver. Chen An thought about it and decided it was better to be safe than sorry. Exchanging such a large amount of gold would inevitably take time, which they didn't have.

  After seeing the construction of Beifang Industrial Company, Nissenbaum was confident in the company's development and once again suggested to Chen An that he invest in a bank or the company.

  Chen An vetoed it without hesitation.

  "Nissenbaum argued loudly, 'Companies that don't understand financing develop very slowly. Moreover, bosses who do not give employees stock dividends cannot motivate their enthusiasm.'"

  Chen An remained unmoved and replied slowly, "I have enough money already. What's the hurry? China is not Europe. If employees think too much, bosses won't be happy."

  Nissenbaum was speechless.

  It turned out that little girl Yin Wei Jun actually came with a mission, rather than being kidnapped by Lin Yu Shan, which surprised Chen An greatly.

  "Didn't you say you could provide arms?" Yun Wei Jun asked bluntly.

  Chen An hastily nodded in agreement, almost forgetting about this matter.

  Yin Weijun spoke quickly, "I asked Yushan what he was doing in Shanghai, but he never told me. I asked him about the arms deal, and he actually told me to come with him to Gansu. What's going on?"

  Chen An's eyes widened suddenly, Lin Yushan called you to come, and you came. Be careful that he sells you to the Lin family as a daughter-in-law, of course, this is just said in his heart, who dares to say it out loud?

  "Alright, alright, how many firearms and ammunition do you want? I'll directly take them from the hands of the patrol camp and give them to you, is that okay?" Chen An hastily accompanied him.

  Mentioning silver, the little girl became somewhat embarrassed. "We raised funds everywhere and only managed to collect 5,000 taels of silver, but we didn't bring it this time."

  Five thousand taels? What can be done with such a small amount of silver, the inflow and outflow of silver is too much, Chen An's vision has already been very high, not taking it seriously.

  "After some calculation, Chen An spoke up and said, 'I'll give you 135 Hanyang-made guns, each with 100 rounds of ammunition. I'll send someone to deliver them to Shanghai, so you won't have to pay for transportation. The silver can be settled in Shanghai.'"

  "Isn't it expensive?" The little girl with big eyes immediately launched a sentimental attack.

  "Alright, alright, I'll sell it to you at cost price, just 150 rifles will do." Chen An was intimidated by the little girl.

  Finally managed to get fifteen, Yin Weijun also felt quite accomplished.

  Suddenly I remembered that I also wrote an application and secretly joined the Guangfu Society. Would this stinginess be scolded by Bo Hu's big brother? Chen An quickly added, "First transaction, give you a lucky start, I'll send you 50 rifles, with 100 rounds of ammunition for each one."

  Yin Wei Jun's mouth was agape, at a loss for words. Others' gifts were more generous than what they had discussed for half the day? Lin Yu Shan beside him was even more stunned, what first-time gift-giving, those firecrackers had never been known to be discounted by a single cent!

  Chen An smiled secretly and felt a bit embarrassed.

  It took only a few days by water, but overland it had taken nearly half a month. Nissenbaum's heavy equipment finally arrived at the Northern Industrial Company's construction site.

  The whole county was stirred up, and the officials led by the county magistrate came to the scene. Chen An had no choice but to send someone to temporarily set up a banquet in the company's internal office to entertain them.

  Xu Shangwu, the head of the technical department, personally took charge of the installation and was even more skilled than the six technicians from Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau who were hired by Nissenberg at a high price from Shanghai. Of course, when these technicians saw the person in charge, they were all very respectful, which shows the prestige of the Xu family in domestic military enterprises.

  Chen An had no intention of returning these technicians to Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau from the very beginning, anyway, it was not him who invited them.

  Especially when these few technicians found that there were three foreign technicians who completely followed the instructions of Director Xu, they admired them even more.

  Fifteen years ago, in the 16th year of Guangxu, or 1900 AD, Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau's steel plant purchased a three-ton open-hearth furnace from Britain. The following year, it was built and put into production in the old factory building of the manufacturing bureau located at Gaochang Temple in the southern part of the city, marking the beginning of Shanghai's iron and steel industry. In the 20th year of Guangxu, another fifteen-ton open-hearth furnace and a batch of rolling equipment were introduced from abroad with 270,000 taels of silver.

  Chen An entrusted Nissenbaum to purchase the same type of open-hearth furnace and rolling equipment.

  According to the technicians of Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau, if managed properly and with sufficient supply of raw materials, this 15-ton steelmaking equipment can reach an annual output of 1,800 tons of high-quality steel.

  Xu Zongban was enthusiastically directing the installation of equipment while asking Chen An, "Chen Daren, after the steel refining equipment is installed, what are you planning to produce? Is it just providing high-quality steel for sale?"

  Chen An answered with a proud smile, "I plan to build a railway between Biku and Chenjiazhuang."

  Xu's office was instantly blown away.

  Others around were also frightened by the huge cost, just to build a railway on their own land that may not even work?

  "Director Xu's office burst into a loud scolding, 'Do you have the technical personnel to build railways? Have you sent people to survey the terrain along the route? Have you calculated whether the cost-benefit ratio is suitable for construction? Do you have locomotives and cars on the railway? None of these? What are you talking nonsense about?'"

  It was the first time Chen An had seen Director Xu blow up in such a big way, and he was left speechless.

  Finally remembered, the other party is the boss, and I am an employee, feeling a bit awkward, Director Xu muttered a few words, and simply turned a blind eye, leaving with a flick of his sleeve.

  In the late afternoon, Director Xu found Chen An with a gloomy face and handed him a letter. "This is a letter I wrote to Zhan Tianyou in Beijing. He's currently in charge of the Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway. I asked him to send over a few technicians to support us."

  Chen An was overjoyed and repeatedly expressed his agreement.