Chapter 6: Gilded Age

"He wants to carry out stone exploration in Texas?" Annabel asked quietly, "No other purpose?"
"No. For the time being, Standard Oil is looking for new oil areas, and I don't know their purpose. But it's not surprising to think of it. It's a bit impractical for our hardtop." Isabella asked bite her lip, asking , "Do you want to reject them?"
"That's not necessary, don't you haven't come yet, don't worry!" Annabel motioned a little. "Maybe it's just a random exploration. Rockefeller wanted to replicate the feats of whaling the oil industry in Ohio and Pennsylvania in Texas, but we The home is not those small workshops, so he can't just reap. "
"I hope so!" Isabella sighed. "In the past two decades, the South has really been thrown farther and farther away."
"Humph!" Annabel grunted. "Yan Kielo deliberately widened the gap between the north and the south through war. Before you were born, we were no better than the number of rich people. We are not worse than the north, but the industrial development is really true. It ’s much stronger than a plantation. A deserter from the Civil War who took advantage of the opportunity to hoard food has become an oil predator. "
Before the Civil War, in order to escape military service, Rockefeller pretended to be sick, and could not afford to pretend, so he spent money to find a substitute. Before the outbreak of the war, Rockefeller did everything he could to invest all the funds to hoard grains, salt, ham, and strategic materials such as cotton and coal. With the expansion of the war, the crops failed, the prices of agricultural products and other living materials skyrocketed, and orders flew to him like snow flakes. Only Rockefeller knew how much money he made.
Rockefeller is actually very concerned about the Civil War. His office is like the Army Staff. Rockefeller spent money to buy a large map of the United States and hung it on the wall, marking the latest battle report from Washington in yellow and red. Rockefeller, like a general, often speaks highly of the current situation on the map. More people believe that Rockefeller ’s location on the map is actually his business network: the yellow label represents grain, and the red label represents ham. The so-called battle map is actually a commercial offensive map.
"Many plantation owners ran to Brazil after the war. Although our family was a bit lonely, there were fewer competitors in the south." Annabel was obviously more relaxed than her daughter, comforting her nervous daughter, "Yan Kielo is just a lot of people, any single family, our family can break the wrist, don't be nervous."
Now that the Sheffield family is dominant, it is actually the result of the Civil War. Prior to this, there were actually many planters of the same level. In Sheffield, Louisiana, they are not the largest planters. But after the war with Mexico, Edward Sheffield, who succeeded in inheriting his family, rallied himself to move his family to move to Texas, and fancy the wider land of Texas, which created the current result.
"Don't worry, just wait for them to come home!" Annabel came out a little tired and slowly, "If it's only domestic, Yankee is a little stronger than ours, but if not limited to domestic, we It ’s not weaker than anyone. It ’s better to worry about DuPont, whose family has business conflicts with us. "
This business conflict lies in gunpowder and firearms. The Dupont family is mainly engaged in gunpowder. This is precisely the business operated by the Sheffield family. Compared to the Dupont family, Sheffield is a latecomer. This is slightly different from the DuPont family who sold Louisiana to the United States.
Because of the French Revolution, after DuPont arrived in the United States, Pierre also made a heavy effort to produce gunpowder in the United States. The United States is different from France after all. Although Pierre is familiar with many officials in the United States, he always feels a little uncomfortable in doing things. The father and son of Pierre started the idea of ​​the US government. Yrel Dupont suggested that his father let him give advice to the then President Jefferson to purchase the French territory of Louisiana in the Americas.
Jefferson actually thought about buying French Louisiana as early as a year, because at this time the United States actually occupied New Orleans, and the sovereignty of New Orleans belongs to France. In order to protect New Orleans, it is the best way to buy Louisiana. But the French government does not seem to be interested in the US proposal, or that France cannot accept the conditions imposed by the US.
After Pierre participated in, Jefferson was very happy. He immediately appointed Pierre as the plenipotentiary of the purchase of French Louisiana, and negotiated with Napoleon on behalf of the United States. Finally, France agreed to sell Louisiana to the United States. The general French How important is Louisiana? After the United States bought him back, he was probably divided into 14 states with an area of ​​more than 2 million square kilometers, which was equivalent to the land area of ​​the United States at that time and more than one-fifth of the land area of ​​the United States.
However, a civil war changed this situation. The Civil War changed the situation in the United States. After all, only the Texas legion in the southern states was well preserved. The accident of the head of the legion was a conditional surrender. Giving a psychological comfort to the residents of the South, this has a place in the domestic chemical raw materials.
It's just that the United States hasn't fought any wars recently. Both of them have a bad life in explosives and firearms, and the competition is not so fierce, but the two are also in transition, and the competition has expanded to other chemical fields.
Sheffield, who has been shut down for several days in a row, is still preparing for his graduation. Graduation from college is a trivial matter. From now on, if he does not go to college one day, he can still get a diploma. After all, in this gold-plated era, it is not real gold. Under the gilded appearance, the chaos in the dark is also amazing.
In simple terms, it is the brutal expansion of capital, so there is a lack of order, and many things have been illegal. This led to a lower threshold for accepting bribes. Later, if a person wanted to carry out an obscure operation, he had to buy the entire board of directors, and even all the senior executives of the university. After everyone agreed, Sheffield could not learn and do nothing. The cost of graduating from higher education institutions in the United States is not affordable for ordinary people.
The lack of order now leads to a lower threshold for accepting bribes. Many universities in the United States will be able to graduate with dignity as long as they can get through some key figures. Without supervision, the courage will increase.
This is an era of assholes, where even a common people can earn profits in a stately manner, as long as they just pour money. With order, it is different. At that time, civilians did not have the financial resources to pay bribes, depriving ordinary people of their bribery rights. Only I can pay bribes to make bribes, so there will be order.
"Tradition at home, a bit more courageous, anyway, there is a Galeries Lafayette backing up." Sheffield bite the pen to discuss for a moment, and then began to work hard.