The arrogance started from Chinatown

Chapter 463: Don't Want to Release the Person, but Want the Gun
After letting the reporter publish his words, Chen Zhengwei put the matter aside for the time being. After all, it would take time to open the court.

Although the trial had not yet begun, he knew he had won.

And Juan finally came back from Cuba.

Juan returned home, changed his clothes, and went to the club to visit Chen Zhengwei.

"Sit down. You must have had a hard time along the way! To be honest, you were so slow that I thought something happened!" said Chen Zhengwei.

"It will definitely take some time to talk to those plantation owners." Juan smiled as he sat down.

"Fortunately, the trip was not in vain. I finally got some results."

"I spent a lot of time convincing them, and they agreed to exchange some of their people for guns and bullets!"

"Some people?" Chen Zhengwei narrowed his eyes.

"Yes, they are willing to exchange 30% of the Chinese laborers on the plantation for guns and bullets! But the price needs to be negotiated!" Juan said.

"Is this what you call a gain?" Chen Zhengwei sneered. "In other words, they want to make money and also want guns..."

Chen Zhengwei sat on the chair, leaning forward, looking at Juan and saying word by word: "They think so well... What are they thinking?"

"I'm sorry, Mr. Chen, I tried my best to convince them! At most, they are only willing to exchange 30% of their Chinese workers for weapons!" Juan explained, knowing that Chen Zhengwei was very dissatisfied.

Although he did not try his best this time, the plantation owners really did not want to give up the Chinese laborers.

Hiring locals would cost a lot more.

So they finally came up with a "best of both worlds" solution, exchanging some of the laborers for weapons, this way the impact on the plantation would not be too great, and they could still get a batch of weapons in hand.

"If Mr. Chen wants to exchange all the Chinese workers, it will be difficult for me to convince them..."

"Then there's no need to convince me! There's no need to talk further." Chen Zhengwei interrupted him directly.

What the hell is there to talk about?

Those people didn't want to release the people, but they also wanted the guns.

Do you think he is a fool?

I'll spend my own money to buy them, and use guns and bullets to exchange for the person... Since they don't want to let them go, I might as well just rob them.

You don’t even have to spend money.

"Don't worry, I'm not the kind of person who likes to vent my anger on others! Whether this matter is successful or not, it will not affect our cooperation!" Chen Zhengwei said to Juan again.

"But I wanted to talk to you before. I need so much goods now, the price should be lowered!"

"I agree! I think one dollar and 80 cents is a very reasonable price!" Juan said. After all, Chen Zhengwei wanted a lot of goods, three million cigars a year, so he could lower the price appropriately.

"Juan, what's the point of you thinking the price is reasonable? I think this price is unreasonable!" Chen Zhengwei raised a finger.

"One dollar and thirty cents!"

"Mr. Chen, for this price, I can just go through the regular channels." Juan said with a wry smile, "And that way my transportation distance will be shorter, I can land directly in New York or Houston!"

"Just because you can go ashore doesn't mean you can spread the goods! Apart from me, who can take so many goods? Who dares to take these goods?" Chen Zhengwei said with a smile.

The most important thing is who dares to take over this batch of goods?
As long as Chen Zhengwei opens his mouth, at least no one in major cities in the United States dares to take it.

Expect those villages and small towns to sell 300 million cigars? Juan can sell 30 cigars a year, so Chen Zhengwei thinks highly of him.

Of course, although the price is lower, Juan doesn't have to worry about anything. 300 million cigars a year is nearly million US dollars, and he still earns more than before.

"Okay, Mr. Chen, I agree to this price!" Juan agreed after considering for a moment.

Only then was Chen Zhengwei satisfied.

If the price of cigars dropped from $2 to $1, he could make an extra $30 million in profit a year.

He would sell these cigars to gangs in major cities across the United States for $3 to $4, depending on the quality.

The gangs would sell them to various corners of the city for $4 to $5.5.

Hotels, restaurants, bars...

This way everyone can make money.

The gangs make more than $400,000 a year from the slot machine and cigar businesses.

In a big city like New York, you can even earn more than $800,000.

Chen Zhengwei can earn more than 20 million US dollars a year from these two businesses.

The two men verbally agreed on the future price of cigars, and Juan said goodbye and left.

"Senior brother, aren't we going to replace those Cuban people?" Li Xiwen asked from the side.

"Change your shit! They think I'm a fool!" Chen Zhengwei cursed, and his voice became louder and louder.

"What's the point of exchanging only one-third of the people? Don't we have to take the rest back? I don't care what happens to these people in Cuba, but there are so many people in the Qing Dynasty that they can't even get enough food. Xiwen, do you know how many people have starved to death in the past two years? Tens of millions!"

He heard this from Rong Jiacai, and Rong Jiacai also heard it from the piglets he sold.

……

From 1876 to 1879, droughts, floods, and locust plagues continued in Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Zhili, and Shandong provinces, killing more than million people with starvation.

Even someone as ruthless as Chen Zhengwei finds this number shocking.

The Qing Dynasty also provided disaster relief. The Qing government allocated 25 taels of silver to Henan. There were more than 500 million disaster victims in Henan, and each victim was given only half a cent of silver, which was barely enough for one or two liters of rice, and would be gone in two or three days.

The Qing Dynasty was unable to provide disaster relief, so some private organizations went to the disaster area to provide relief, and foreign missionaries also raised funds for relief and missionary work.

Some local officials felt that this was inappropriate, and when they saw foreigners coming to provide disaster relief, they tried to persuade them to leave.

They even posted a notice: "I would rather eat barbarian meat than barbarian millet."

Funny isn't it?
This matter has been reported in the International Gazette.

In the disaster area, a dou of rice cost 5000 wen. Many places set up human markets with clear prices. You could buy a young woman for 1000 wen.

One US dollar can be exchanged for one tael of silver, and one tael of silver is 1000 wen.

A dollar can buy a young woman.

This is the origin of some of the piglets last year.

He was sold from Zhili to Guangzhou, and then to San Francisco. When chatting a few days ago, Rong Jiacai sighed intentionally or unintentionally and told Chen Zhengwei about this.

Chen Zhengwei didn't say much when he heard it, he just complained that the Qing Dynasty didn't treat people as human beings.

But sometimes I feel angry when I think about it.

Sulk.

He even had a fight with Lin Changning because of this.

One day, he was almost asleep in the middle of the night, and then he suddenly remembered it. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got, so he kicked Lin Changning.

Lin Changning was not one to be bullied.

The two started fighting on the bed and continued for five hours.

……

"Who cares if more than 10 million people starve to death in the Qing Dynasty? Can you care? I can't do anything about it either."

"I'm lucky enough that I can manage these people in North America. Who cares whether these tens of thousands of people in Cuba live or die? But I have to let them know who the hell I am!" Chen Zhengwei cursed.

"Didn't Ah You and Schultz send people to Cuba to inquire about the situation of the Chinese there? Ask them to find out everything about Cuba!"

"I want all the plantations in Cuba and the information of the leaders of the independence army."

"Open a local trading company and buy off some locals."

"As long as we have money, there will definitely be people working for us!"

After Chen Zhengwei finished speaking, he kicked the cabinet next to him and broke it into pieces.

Why did he sell guns to Guangzhou?

To make money?
It really is.

But I also have other ideas. If I really encounter any natural disaster or man-made disaster, there are dozens of guns in a village. The worst that can happen is that I can just rob them!

When the people can’t get enough food to eat, they go and rob the government!
Chen Zhengwei has always been like this. Whatever I want, I will go and get it myself and grab it with my own hands.

Anyway, the gun has been sold to you, you can do whatever you want with it.

If you don't live up to your expectations, you can't blame anyone else. I'm not a fucking god.

"Brother, I understand!" Seeing that Chen Zhengwei was in a bad mood, Li Xiwen didn't dare to say more and ran away quickly.

However, thinking of Chen Zhengwei's words, he sighed after going out, feeling a little depressed.

More than 10 million people!
I also felt that my senior brother was just being stubborn. He said he didn't care about those people's lives, but he still went to snatch them away.

……

At the same time, on the route from Hawaii to San Francisco, several wooden sailboats were sailing up and down on the sea not far away.

The waves hit the hull, causing it to shake continuously.

And in the dark cabin, hundreds of women huddled there, with only a few rays of sunlight shining through the gaps in the deck, forming beams of light.

Those women were all young, the youngest was less than ten years old, and the oldest was only seventeen or eighteen years old.

Each of them exuded a foul odor, with only anxiety in their eyes. They didn't know what was waiting for them and missed their loved ones in their hometown.

I don’t know what happened to them, I don’t know if they… survived.

These women were all sold from Zhili. After being sold to Guangzhou, they were locked up for two months, fed well and well for two months, and then loaded onto a ship and sent to San Francisco.

Otherwise, according to their original situation, most of them would have died before reaching Hawaii.

After all, women are very valuable when sold in San Francisco, and the cheapest one can be sold for $200.

Those who sold the piglets were reluctant to let them die.

A day later, the four piggy ships arrived in San Francisco.

"We're finally here!" The captain of a ship smiled as he looked at the port of San Francisco. "After this trip, I can retire now and not have to worry about the rest of my life!"

When the ship entered the port, several captains asked the crew to take a census of the situation, mainly to count how many were brought in alive.

This group of people were well fed and well drunk on the ship. There were 1000 people on board and nearly 900 people disembarked.

Then, without waiting for them to send someone to notify, Yan Qingyou's men noticed these ships and came over to inquire.

"Why did you arrive at this time?"

"The sea is not calm this year, but fortunately we arrived safely!" said a captain with a smile.

"What cargo are you transporting?" asked a thug.

"This time, they are all good stuff! They are all women, more than 890 of them! Please inform Mr. Chen!"

"Nearly 900, you're going to make a fortune this time!" the henchman said with a grin. "Where did they come from?"

"They are all miserable people! Their families have suffered disasters and they can't even eat. They were sold by their parents to survive. In fact, I am doing a good deed... Everyone knows that you can eat and drink well in the United States with Mr. Chen!"

“Even Chinese people in North America eat meat every day!”

"I brought them here, so they can enjoy themselves!" said the captain with a smile.

"If you say so, it's really the case!"

"A lot of people died last year? What disaster happened?" the henchman asked.

"It's still the same few places...there are not many survivors in each village." The captain sighed.

"Do you still have any compassion in your heart?" the thug said with a smile.

"How could it be possible? I'm doing a good deed!" the captain immediately stiffened his neck and said, it was hard to say what happened in the past, but this time, he was really doing a good deed!

If these women survive, they will have the best food and drink in the future.

He also made money.

Chen Zhengwei was still happy.

Isn’t this a good deed!

　Adjust your work and rest schedule and update in advance
　　
　
(End of this chapter)