In the First World War, the allied countries led by Britain and France won the final victory.
However, the victorious England and France were not considered victors.
They were the victors, but not the victors.
England almost lost its position as the world's largest country, and the United States took advantage of the situation to rise and press on step by step.
France was even worse.
This was because the war was fought on French soil.
After the war, France was in a mess. The people were destitute and the political situation was turbulent.
This battle had almost wiped out a generation of young people in France, and it had also wiped out the spirit of France.
Not only the civilians, but also the capitalists of France.
During World War I, France produced a large amount of equipment for the war.
Because until the moment the war ended, no one knew that the war would end.
Moreover, France at that time could not even drive Germany out of its territory.
Under such circumstances, who could have predicted that the war would end so quickly?
Before the end of the war, the factories in France produced a large amount of supplies.
These resources could be used as the basis for France to continue the war, so that they would not lose the war.
But after the war, these resources would rot in the warehouse.
Because the war was over, no one would need these anymore.
Among them, the arms dealers were the biggest losers.
For example, Schneider Company.
"Tom,"
France, in an office in Schneider's company building.
A middle-aged man sitting at his desk said slowly," How much liquid funds do we have left?”
"Mr. Luke, there's not much left."
The man called Tom smiled bitterly." The company knew nothing about the electrical industry. Now that we're suddenly changing our business, we need a lot of money. Almost all of our money is spent on this. I estimate that in at most half a year, the company will face the risk of a shortage of funds.”
"Half a year?"
Luke Schneider, the chairman of Schneider Company, was silent.
Big capitalists really made money.
Was Schneider Company rich?
Of course they had money. During the First World War, they were the second largest military enterprise in the world, second only to Krupp, and they had earned enough capital.
However, the money was not cash, but bonds.
In other words, the French government still owed them a lot of money.
However, France was busy rebuilding, and the government had no money to cash in these bonds.
Moreover, if they asked for money at this time, the angry people would tear them apart.
If the bonds could not be redeemed, they could not be converted into cash flow.
Once the capital chain broke, Schneider would face the risk of bankruptcy.
"Bond. Once the company goes bankrupt, what's the point of these bonds?”
Luke Schneider smiled bitterly. He had thought of borrowing money from the bank.
However, in order to produce more weapons and win orders, he had already borrowed money from all the banks.
He still owed the bank a lot of money, and the bank could not continue to lend him money.
"What about the firearms market?"
Luke Schneider took a deep breath and gritted his teeth." Are there any new buyers?”
"No, I haven't."
His secretary, Tom, smiled bitterly and said," The international market is already saturated. No one is willing to buy our cannons.”
Luke Schneider had a headache, and he was even a little desperate.
Schneider Company had enjoyed boundless glory back then.
They had once invented Miss 75, who had led the trend of the times.
In the first battle, Schneider Company also won the most orders from the French army.
At the same time, they also produced a large number of weapons and equipment.
For example, Miss 75, Schneider had produced more than 20000 of them.
However, at this moment, the war suddenly ended.
It was as if the war had quietly arrived, and he had suddenly ended it.
The end of the war made the hardworking people cheer, but it put Schneider Company in a desperate situation.
In order to obtain more orders, their arsenal had been working day and night, producing a large number of weapons and equipment.
These were originally meant to be used by the French army, but the war had suddenly ended.
The French army no longer needed to order more weapons from Schneider.
As a result, the weapons and equipment produced by Schneider almost lost all their capital.
Although Er had earned a lot of money in the past few years.
However, the government used bonds to settle the bill. To put it bluntly, it was an IOU.
They were good arms dealers, but in the end, not only did they not make any money, but they were also scolded for making money from the war.
Schneider couldn't stand this grievance. In order to protect themselves, they had to start transforming into the electrical industry.
However, the transition was not easy. It was equivalent to starting from scratch and required a lot of financial support.
However, what they lacked was money.
He originally thought that if the French army didn't want orders, he could go to the international market.
As a result, the international market was simply impossible to get through.
This was because Schneider's weapons were not competitive at all.
Although Schneider's cannons had superior performance, they were too expensive.
He didn't need those he could afford, and he couldn't afford those he needed.
"Can you contact the Americans?"
Luke Schneider asked tentatively.
"I've already contacted him."
Tom shook his head and said regretfully," They don't need more weapons and equipment.”
The Americans were isolated overseas. They had purchased a batch of cannons during the First World War to study and replicate them.
But it was impossible to buy their goods all the time.
After all, eating other people's lollipops would make the American capitalists unhappy.
"Mr. Schneider!"
Just as the two of them were having a headache, an employee rushed into the office excitedly." Urgent report! Urgent report! Mr. Matt sent a telegram from Huaxia!”
"Matt?"
Luke Schneider's eyes lit up.
But Matt's wife was his own sister!
"Let me go!"
Luke snatched the telegram and was overjoyed when he saw it.
Hao Ran had written in the telegram,"
There was a buyer from China who was willing to spend at least three million pounds to purchase their firearms!
Although the other party mentioned that they wanted to buy a new production line, Luke was extremely excited.
This was a good thing!
If it had been during World War I, he would never have sold the production line.
Because this would put them at risk of having their business snatched away.
However, the war had just ended, and the large number of factories they had had to stop production or even close down.
Because if they did not stop production, they would have to hire a large number of workers to continue production.
And the produced cannons couldn't find a buyer, so they had to be smashed in their hands.
This was undoubtedly a vicious cycle. They could only cut off their production line.
The production line that had been shut down was no different from waste.
It would be better to sell it to recover HP and earn as much as possible.
"Tom!"
Luke immediately ordered," Gather the board of directors for a meeting. At the same time, ask the accountant to estimate the price of our cannon production line.”
"Yes, Boss!"
Tom was equally excited and nodded hurriedly.
As a member of Schneider, he would lose his job if the company went bankrupt.
Now that the company had a chance to revive, how could he not be excited?
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。