Chapter 27 Northern Industry

  In the backyard of the inn, the whole yard had been booked by Chen An. Two foreigners were chatting and laughing with each other, occasionally getting excited and standing up to gesticulate.

  Lin Yushan handed Chen An a stack of documents, "This is the agreement, both Chinese and English versions, Xu Bohui asked someone to review it carefully, said there was no problem, a normal business contract."

  "He pointed to the Pole next to Koval, "His name is Nisenbaum, a Polish neighbor who grew up with Koval. He escaped from the Russian-controlled area and immigrated to America, where he became a professional broker. Koval didn't escape and was drafted into the army."

  "Kowal, Kowal, hold on a minute, you translate, I'll talk to Mr. Nissenbaum." Chen An called out to the two foreigners who were continuing their conversation.

  Nissenbaum quickly sat down in front of Chen An and directly opened his mouth to say in Chinese, "Oh, no need for translation, I've been in Shanghai for over two years, I can speak Chinese now." Koval shrugged his shoulders, indicating that this was true.

  These foreigners learn Chinese so easily, how come I can't understand those bird languages? Chen An cursed silently for a few sentences.

  Lin Yushan felt embarrassed, "Forgot to tell you, he can speak Chinese."

  "That's better, we can negotiate directly then." Chen An said indifferently.

  Nissenbaum was delighted, "Koval's boss!"

  Hearing this title, Chen An was stunned for a moment and looked at Koval, who smiled and nodded in agreement.

  Nilsen Bohr continued, "From a business point of view, you buy these things, it's a fifteen-ton open-hearth furnace and matching rolling equipment that costs 270,000 taels, plus enough wages to attract foreign technicians to your remote Gansu, all of which requires huge funds."

  "Not to mention, you'll also need two sets of different types of power generation equipment, as well as telegraph lines and telephones, electric lights, all of which require a large number of spare parts for maintenance. All in all, it will cost at least 400,000 taels. Of course, if you have enough money, I guarantee delivery to Chongqing. As for going further up, that's your own responsibility." Nissenberg said with some hesitation.

  "Money is yours to earn, don't worry about it. I just need more modern military equipment, but not too much of each. Just a dozen or so guns and two or three cannons will do, we can trade for the rest later. And this time, at least one batch of original Mauser 1888 rifles and bullets, and as much tungsten ore as possible. As for technicians, salary is 100 taels per month, with a year-end bonus of at least 300 taels if they do well. Go ask them, will they agree?"

  Chen An has been inquiring about it for the past few days, and found that the Russian ruble's reputation isn't very good. Especially after the Russo-Japanese War, Russia's army was defeated, and the exchange rate of the ruble against other countries' currencies also plummeted. However, it can still be exchanged. The large sum of rubles obtained from Liaoyang last time is equivalent to 500,000 to 600,000 taels of silver after conversion, which is enough for this trip's expenses.

  It was previously discovered that the production of gun barrels requires tungsten ore, but at that time the quantity was not large and could be procured locally. This time, in order to manufacture a large amount of military supplies, it is natural to procure them in advance, so as to prevent Gansu from finding insufficient tungsten ore.

  Nissenbaum thought for a moment and nodded. "Alright. Mauser 1888, I'll just buy some directly from German soldiers."

  Just as they were about to sign the agreement, Nissenbaum suddenly remembered something and hastily reminded him, "Kowal's boss, don't you need to set up a special company to do business with me? I don't recommend using your own name to complete the transaction."

  Chen An thought for a moment and agreed that having a foreigner's name on the company would be even more ideal, as it could reduce a lot of trouble.

  Turning to Koval, "Since you admit I'm the boss, how about helping me set up a company? We'll sign another agreement and I'll fully acquire your company. Of course, your salary and bonuses will be doubled compared to technicians, and you can also enjoy stock dividends."

  Koval was overjoyed and almost rushed up to kiss his boss, Nissenbaum was also enviable.

  A few days later, the Northern Industrial Company, registered in Shanghai's public concession with Polish Jew Kowal as its legal representative, was formally established. Immediately afterwards, an order worth nearly 400,000 taels was signed with Nissenberg from the United States.

  Jewish? Chen An muttered for a while, wasn't Kowal a Polish person, how did he become Jewish again?

  For this hard-won contract, the US Consulate in Shanghai was even shocked, and the consul personally invited Koval to a dinner party, expressing gratitude for the Northern Industrial Company's choice of American goods, but also puzzled by Koval's decision to develop steel industry in the remote Gansu province.

  Koval fully demonstrated the style of a Jewish nouveau riche, sparing no expense whether it would be effective or not, and finally letting people whisper to each other that he was another Jewish young master who suddenly inherited a huge fortune, and managed to get by with his connections.

  Gansu was also shocked. Shaanxi-Gansu Governor Xiang Yunting specially sent a telegram to inquire and expressed that he would send Lanzhou Road Peng Yingjia to personally receive the entry of Kowloon Northern Industrial Company into Gansu.

  Chen An unexpectedly discovered that there were many spies lurking around the inn, and even people from the imperial court would occasionally appear. The commotion was getting quite loud.

  Decisive, Chen An immediately brought the newly acquired steam-powered generator and hired a British paddle steamer to head straight up the Yangtze River to Chongqing and return to Gansu. He simply bid farewell to the Yin sisters, while the others set off, leaving only the two sisters behind.

  Koval and Lin Yushan racked their brains, whether it was a bank or the black market, they quickly exchanged all the rubles in their hands for US dollars, even if the exchange rate was lower, there was no time to slowly exchange them. Nissenbaum wanted US dollars, but not rubles.

  After leaving enough dollars as a deposit, Kowal followed Chen An and retreated, and the three foreign technicians who were responsible for installing the power generation equipment also left with them. They would have to stay in Gansu for at least half a year to teach Chen An's men how to operate and maintain the power generation equipment.

  As for teaching techniques, that's not even worth considering. The people of Chenjiazhuang benefited from Mr. Lin's public-private school and most people knew a few characters. Others were basically illiterate. Fortunately, there was Koval, who learned some and naturally understood the necessary techniques.

  Sitting on a British ship, Chen An whispered to Kowal for a long time and finally decided to choose a dozen clever boys from Chenjiazhuang to start learning with Kowal. The technique must be mastered by oneself, or it would not be reassuring. Otherwise, if something goes wrong, the foreign technicians are not around, wouldn't that be a waste of money?

  What Chen An never thought of was that the technical personnel problem surrounding this set of steelmaking equipment was only the first difficulty he encountered, and there would be many more later.

  From Chongqing upstream, the cargo was transferred to wooden boats carried on men's shoulders. The three foreign technicians who followed immediately found Koval and told him that this waterway was impassable for large equipment, either by land transportation or by blasting the rapids to allow steamers to come up.

  Chen An was stunned when he heard the news, and there were such things, using horse-drawn carriages to transport by land, how long would it take to transport, and all the way were mountain roads, wasn't that still opening up mountains and splitting rocks?

  It's not over yet, the rapids above are even more turbulent and treacherous everywhere, directly tossing several foreign technicians into a state of vomiting yellow bile, shouting that they want to add injury compensation, otherwise they will resolutely refuse to work.

  It's all settled, thanks to the silver. The three foreign technicians really fell ill. Koval, who had once been seriously ill due to unaccustomed water and soil, was surprisingly energetic this time and never collapsed.

  Forced to take a good rest at Biku Matou for two days, he set out again. With the help of the boatmen, safety was no longer a concern, and as for the patrol camp, Chen An didn't have the energy to receive them yet, after all, the Shaanxi-Gansu Governor had not gone to pay his respects yet.

  When they arrived at the Yuelai Guan Iron Chain Bridge, the foreign technicians were frightened and refused to walk on it. Chen An was annoyed and ordered people to cover their eyes with cloth, tie them to a horseback and pull them across the bridge.

  The southerners were closely watching the horsemen, and when they saw Chen An tie up the foreigners without any courtesy, they were all scared away. Whoever dares to treat foreigners like monkeys must be a formidable person! Chen An was secretly amused, thinking it's not that I'm trying to scare you, but you're really not used to being scared.

  After crossing the iron chain bridge, the pale foreign technician, after all, still had professional demeanor, and told Chen An in a startled manner that those flat furnaces and rolling steel equipment would absolutely not pass through the iron chain bridge, or else they could only build a pontoon bridge.

  Chen An was really dizzy this time. Four hundred thousand taels of silver were spent on buying things, but would it take four million taels of silver to transport them?

  Chen An, who had been bitter in his heart like a dumb person eating rhubarb, finally returned to Chenjiazhuang after much hardship and saw Liu Shi standing at the gate of Chenjiazhuang, which was already built, smiling and welcoming him. He could finally put his mind at ease for the time being.

  The foreign technician looked around and then walked towards Koval.

  Chen Anxin sank for a moment, what else is not in line? Is it finished or not, if it's really not possible, can't I just forget about those things?

  As expected, after a series of chirps and chatter with the foreign technician, Koval turned to Chen An with a sympathetic expression, "Young master, they say that the surrounding space here is too small to accommodate a large factory like a steel mill. However, there is a piece of land upstream from the county town that is very flat and suitable for building a factory."

  Chen An was lazy and thought he could just buy land again?

  Tears streaming down his face, "Ask them if those power generation equipment need to be installed upstream of the county town as well?" Chen An said weakly.

  After a few exchanges, Kovalenko replied, "They said that the power generation equipment can be installed anywhere, but you still need to buy coal, otherwise there will be no steam for power generation."

  Chen An stumbled and almost fell to the ground. The electrical equipment actually still needed coal?

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