Chapter 92 (1/2)
Huang Xuan spent the following day at the Beta factory, watching the banknotes continuously come out of the machine, he even felt that the noise sounded pleasing.
The printers that had been retrofitted by Rolin still looked and worked the same, but the banknotes were real. To make it easier to use the money, Huang Xuan asked Rolin to make the notes look used. This was normally a simple operation, but asking Rolin to do it costed him around $3,000,000 USD worth of energy.
By a rough estimate, Rolin had already used $25,000,000 USD since they had arrived at P101. If it wasn't for the light oil they had purchased before, if they just depended on the electrolytic aluminum plants, then they wouldn't even have enough energy to return home. Luckily, its reached the time for them to harvest their returns.
Beta Factory printed $15,000,000 USD worth of banknotes overnight. Even before the great depression, this amount was equivalent to half of Ford's yearly profits, enough to put him on the list of richest people in America.
Huang Xuan first put around 20 kg of green bills, around $2,000,000 USD or so, into a duffel bag. Afterwards, he put the rest of the banknotes into the Plane Pa.s.sage, then he turned off the machines and left the workshop. He gave the duffel bag to Hans and said, ”Chase Manhattan Bank.”
In the lobby of the bank, Joseph immediately noticed the tall Hans and the bag in his hand.
”How may I help you?” Joseph asked while holding his white gloved hand with fingers cross near his waist. He led Huang Xuan into the VIP room. With a deposit of 600,000 dollars, he could use this room at anytime.
There was only the three of them inside this delicately decorated room. At this time, there wouldn't be anyone monitoring the room, so Huang Xuan took the bag from Hans, opened it and said, ”Please count the money inside, I would like to deposit all of it into your bank.”
With only a quick glance, Joseph knew that his goal for the month had just been achieved. He quickly called for his deputy to come in, refilled coffee for Huang Xuan and said, ”Please wait for a moment, our employees will be done counting soon.”
Huang Xuan nodded apathetically. ”I want to meet with Mr. Rockefeller, John Rockefeller.”
”I will pa.s.s on your request for you,” Joseph responded and walked away.
Huang Xuan was confident that Rockefeller would meet with him. $2,000,000 USD was a lot of money, if you must compare, it would be equivalent to $100,000,000 USD in 2001. Especially in 1931, when liquid a.s.sets was in short supply, this infusion of cash could be seen as rain after a drought. During the 1933 bank runs, many banks closed due to lack of liquidity. Two years prior to that, warning signs could already be seen.”
”Hans, go get the design from the car.” Huang Xuan said as he gently stirred his coffee.
”Alright.” Hans looked at the employees in the room, called over a bodyguard and whispered a few words. Afterwards, he stood behind Huang Xuan again.
Rockefeller Jr. spent a lot of time on Chase Manhattan Bank's business, today wasn't any different. After he received the message from Joseph, he quickly finished up and went downstairs. He shook hands with Huang Xuan and said, ”I heard you are from China? It is a beautiful place.”
In the 1930's, China actually wasn't that good, the golden age of national capitalism had just ended. However, it gave Huang Xuan a favourable impression that Rockefeller had started the conversation with that.
”Mr. Rockefeller, I know you are very busy, so I will cut to the chase. I heard that you have invested in Pan Am. Is it true?”
”Yes.” Rockefeller poured some whiskey for himself and added, ”Are you interested in investing in Pan Am as well?”
During the great depression, Pan Am was one of the few large corporations that wasn't losing money. By 1931, there was more and more people who wanted to invest in Pan Am. Naturally, Rockefeller thought that Huang Xuan was thinking of the same thing.
To his surprise, Huang Xuan shook his head. Huang Xuan took the designs from Hans' arms, opened them and said, ”You must be curious to why Mr. Sloan and Ford both have connections with me.”
”A little bit.” Rockefeller acknowledged.
”It is because of this.” While speaking, Huang Xuan opened the design and handed it over to Joseph. Standing beside Rockefeller, he said: ”Are you interested in it?”