Six Hundred and Seventy Busy Holidays

"Captain, in the direction of 10 o'clock, Long Island is visible!"

Under the guidance of the lookout, Lorraine moved the telescope steadily to 10 o'clock, and then slowly raised it until the lush coastline came into view.

The distance is about 42 km. The result of the calculation quickly jumped out of his mind.

The current speed is 7 knots, the wind is calm and the view is good. The distance between Valkyrie and the central coastline of Long Island is 42 kilometers, and it takes about 5 hours to reach New York.

On December 12, 1787, Valkyrie arrived in New York.

New York is the heart of the United States. As the festival approaches, there are still a large number of merchant ships on the busy inbound and outbound routes, and there are more than 10 ships in sight.

You must know that the Christmas holiday is the off-season for shipping. In order to make room for their own sailors and outstanding sailors, most chambers of commerce have taken the initiative to reduce their business scale.

New York Harbor can still maintain such a large flow at this time, which is enough to show its prosperity on weekdays. It is no wonder that Chuck Parker, the president of the American branch, has claimed more than once that New York has more potential than Miami, and may become the London of the New World in the near future.

The funny thing is that Lorraine, who has the memory of later generations, thinks that Chuck is talking nonsense, and other people who don't have the memory of later generations also think that Chuck is talking nonsense. The two craps mean different things, but not much difference in the hit to Chuck.

Fortunately, the blow didn't stop Chuck from making a big bet on New York.

Last year, he pushed back on the board of directors of the branch and bought a piece of flat land adjacent to the Upper New York Bay in Brooklyn, Long Island at a high price of 40,000 pounds. The area reached 1,500 acres (about 6 square kilometers).

He plans to build a Drake Shipping Center there that integrates terminals, docks, warehousing, freight and bulk commerce. The project planning has been sent to Carmen’s asset management company. The construction is expected to take five years and cost 120,000 pounds.

Lorraine supports this project in his heart.

Although the impression that the future Brooklyn District is only the lower city of Greater New York, the land won by Chuck is very close to New York Harbor. Once it is completed, it can be regarded as an extension of New York Harbor, or an extension of better supporting facilities. The prospect of the project Nothing to worry about.

The main obstacle to this investment is money.

The promise of the revolving door plan will be fulfilled in the near future, and 70% of the treasury of the asset management company has been sealed, not to mention that Lorraine wants to increase the follow-up investment, the amount is as high as 240,000.

The capital chain of the association is already very tight. This time when Carmen went north, one of the itineraries was to negotiate with Chuck. Either push the shipping center project to two years later, or install the investment in installments. The initial capital injection should not exceed 30,000 .

It is conceivable that Chuck will definitely not be satisfied...

If he was more serious, he might touch the old scar of the "New World London", making him mistakenly think that the board of directors of the General Assembly is not interested in this project.

Should I ask Carmen to speak more bluntly? After all, in addition to being the president of the American branch, Chuck is also Lorraine's agent in the United States, and is responsible for the U.S. dollar and the First Bank project.

He should be able to understand the priorities. Even if he doesn't understand, Carmen has the ability to persuade him to understand.

Just as Lorraine was thinking, Karen turned up to the high platform with a grunt.

"Captain, look at the direction at 3 o'clock, the distance is about 20 kilometers."

"Left and right?" Lorraine asked speechlessly.

"Uh... 16 to 24 kilometers?"

Lorraine happily decided to look for it herself.

Karen's proficiency in lookout is not as good as that of a professional sailor,

In fact, even during the period of the Artis Beauty when manpower was extremely scarce, Lorraine did not try to let this Germanic man of three big and five thick enter the watch sequence.

Same this time. Karen appeared on the mast to accompany his wife to find the whale. Judging from his tone, he probably hit it. As for why Lorraine must watch it together...

Lorraine is going to wait until he finds it before complaining.

He quickly found the "whales" 20 kilometers away. They were two slender warships, one large and one small, and they were all black.

"Constitution and..."

"The USS Maryland." Keren said with certainty, "it was delivered to the US Navy together with the USS Constitution in July this year. It is the last batch of the order in 1986."

"If I remember correctly, she should have been incorporated into the Baltimore Fleet as the flagship with the other two Brigantines. For some reason, she came to Long Island and started maneuver training with the USS Constitution, the flagship of the Long Island Fleet..."

"General military transfer..." Lorraine casually said.

In fact, he also knew that his reasons were untenable.

Because the Maryland has only been established for only five months, the US Navy Department is tantamount to admitting that its earlier arrangements were inappropriate.

What's more, sea drills are still going on near Christmas, which is almost equivalent to announcing that the two flagships of Long Island and Baltimore have given up their Christmas holidays.

What reason can persuade the sailors on board to give up their holidays? All Lorraine could think of was fighting. If the United States really has a combat plan in preparation, then the reason for the USS Maryland's appearance on Long Island is very clear, and it can only be a military buildup.

"Maryland..." He murmured, put down the binoculars and stared at the two ship shadows wandering in the sky, "If it is really a gathering, all the high-speed warships should be gathered in Sag Harbor now."

"But who is their target? They don't even care about Christmas. Could it be that Shaq is planning to invade New York?"

...

In the evening, Valkyrie finally sailed into Drake's exclusive berth at the mouth of the East River, near Newport, New York. Chuck and old Leonard greeted him at the pier hand in hand, and reported in a low voice when they saw Lorraine.

"Chairman, there are guests waiting for you, and they have been waiting at the headquarters for half a day."

"Guest?" Lorraine frowned, "America? Or an association?"

"Association."

Lorraine smiled and shook his head: "Really, I'm still so impatient even after getting old, those old things..."

"How many people in this world have the opportunity to participate in a business plan worth 10 million pounds?" Chuck said indifferently, "Chairman, is my shipping center plan going to be postponed?"

"You guessed it?"

"I guessed it when I heard that Minister Hamilton was going to have a showdown at the Christmas dinner." He said, "Considering that the promised shares will be honored, I have asked the exchanges to concentrate funds in New York. Excluding next year's budget, it can be handed over to The general limit is 140,000 pounds, and the limit is 270,000 pounds."

"Carmen has enough cash." Lorraine waved his hand, "This year's dividends have all been handed in, not to mention just like you spent money to buy land in Brooklyn, don't underestimate the land price in Miami."

"I understand. After Christmas, I will return the cash to each exchange." Chuck didn't say much, "Is the chairman going to meet with the guests right away?"

"Leave immediately." Lorraine stretched helplessly, "Although I want to see the place where Pierce got married first, but if I don't see them right away, those old people will talk to death..."