At the welcome reception, Scrooge not only met the famous Lincoln, but also met more businessmen, and received a lot of compliments of "the future will become Vanderfastness", and a lot of people who saw his business was good and wanted to come to get a share of it asked him if the McDonald Infantry Weapons Company needed a new partner. The company's partners in the company's businesses were not only disappointed, but they were also disappointed. But most of them were disappointed, because although Scrooge was in desperate need of capital to expand production capacity, there was no great difficulty in the financing, either from Morgan or from the Rickard family, they could borrow money, although the borrowed money was subject to interest, it was better than giving part of their company to others.

Theoretically, this is not difficult, as long as Scrooge is willing to let the assembly line production mode ahead of time, it can greatly increase production capacity without increasing personnel and equipment, but, assembly line such a killing machine technology threshold is too low, too easy to be imitated by others, in the gun production, it is unlikely to achieve a monopoly It seems that it is not particularly cost-effective to expose this mass murderer in the business of the consortium. Since the company is still profitable and can make a lot of profit, it is probably better to use the traditional means of recruiting more workers and buying more machines.

Before assembly line production, a product was often made from start to finish on a machine by one or more workers. The machine was just an extension and reinforcement of the worker's limbs. In this case, experienced workers are especially important. Scrooge suddenly remembered a rumor he had read about the Japanese Self-Defense Forces before he crossed over.

The Japanese Self-Defense Force is a very odd organization, it is not a military, and members are considered civil servants. This way, a common problem of the civil service system appeared in the Japanese Self-Defense Force, that is - more officers than soldiers. In a small section, there is a full section chief, three deputy section chiefs, five assistant section chiefs, and one or two sections staff this situation in the twenty-first century in some government departments is no news. The Japanese Self-Defense Force, which is organized by the civil service, has also inherited this habit, so there is also the spectacle of more lieutenants than soldiers in their place.

However, this spectacle once scared a lot of people, many military critics believe that the Japanese Self-Defense Force's layout of more officers and fewer soldiers is an ulterior motive, to be able to quickly expand the number of troops once needed - because the time needed to train junior officers is saved.

Of course later, with the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, the SDF's various oddities made everyone's jaw drop: what sent to disaster relief still strictly adhere to the 9 to 5 civil service work schedule, determined to resist any overtime; what drove a car carrying relief supplies to Fukushima, halfway through the run, the more frightened, simply dumped the relief supplies on the side of the road, and then drove back; what drove a helicopter to the response pile to cool down, but did not dare to go near the What drove a helicopter to the reaction pile to cool down, but did not dare to close to sprinkle water, but directly from the height of thousands of meters to sprinkle water down to finish; What ran to the hospital to open the certificate of physical discomfort can not be opened, then reveal the big bird, ran to the street to molest the flower girl in order to be arrested by the police and thus avoid the trip to Fukushima, and television helicopters before the tsunami flew live tsunami, half an hour later, the Self Defense Force aircraft and helicopters are still Did not fly up, on the ground by the seawater soaked or something. In any case, the Self-Defense Force made a fool of itself, even the pants are not left. What the Self-Defense Force staff is competent and well-trained has become a big joke.

However, Scrooge felt that the misunderstood method of preparing for rapid military expansion was very enlightening for his current situation. Three years later, war was bound to break out. This was the first industrial war in the world, the first overall war. In the original history, 3 million troops were organized on both sides in this war. Taking into account the damage, obsolescence and necessary backup of guns, at least 6 million rifles were needed for the Civil War. Now, the United States only had a federal army of about 16,000 men, and the capacity of Springfield Arsenal, which supplied them with weapons, was also very limited. Obviously, after the outbreak of the war, the one whose production capacity grew faster would get a bigger slice of the pie. Think about it, 6 million rifles, even if you take a tenth of them, and then earn $10 per rifle, it is a whole 6 million dollars, with this money, you can start those things that can lay the foundation of an empire. If he can hoard more skilled workers now, after the war breaks out in the future, he will be able to expand the production capacity as fast as possible and thus get the biggest piece of the cake.

"Perhaps I should shorten the working hours of skilled workers in key positions from the current eight hours to six hours so that I can stock up on more skilled workers in my factory. Of course, this will further increase the cost, but considering the future benefits, it is still worth it."

Scrooge was determined to sacrifice his immediate profits to prepare for the future expansion of production capacity. Just as he was about to have someone go to the newspaper to place a job ad, a big sale came to his door.

"Boss, Mr. Ferrari sent a business card saying he wants to visit you in the morning to discuss a deal with you. The sender is still waiting for a reply, how should I reply to him?" Scrooge's assistant, Roland, came in.

Scrooge looked down at the card. Robson Ferrari, an Italian businessman. Robson Ferrari, an Italian businessman. "Why would an Italian come to see him? Is it possible that his rifle has gained international influence so quickly?" Scrooge was a little surprised.

"Well, Mr. Roland, I don't seem to have any important events tomorrow, do I?" Scrooge said.

"Yes, boss. Tomorrow afternoon, representatives of the Federal Army are coming to visit the factory. Do you need to prepare for that tomorrow morning?"

Although the sale of the McDonald 1857 to the Union Army was unlikely now - how could a Democratic, pro-Southern administration strengthen the Union Army now? Wouldn't that be like hanging yourself? But the basic gesture must still be done, and the government, by custom, issued a new procurement of guns for the Army to replace the old and obsolete ones (the number of procurement is pathetically small); Scrooge participated in this government tender with a special intention - in the future, if someone accuses him of having a large number of McDonald's in the hands of the Southerners, he will be able to get them. 1857, he could argue that he had participated in the government bid and that the government had failed to purchase his rifle, and that the Democratic federal government should be held responsible.

Since the so-called bidding and inspection were just a formality, it would be uneconomical to interfere with a normal sale for this. So Scrooge replied bluntly, "For the Army's tender for less than a hundred guns? I don't think there's any need to prepare for it unless they are interested in purchasing the McDonald 1857 precision shooting version. Go and tell the messenger that I shall be at the office at eight o'clock tomorrow morning."

The next morning, Scrooge was waiting at the office. At a little after 7:40, Scrooge saw from his office window that a carriage was parked not far from the office, and a short man got out of the carriage, waved his hand at it, and it went on its way.

The short man straightened his clothes, then took a pocket watch out of his pocket and looked at it, then stood there looking at the door of the MacDonald Infantry Arms Company, and after a few minutes, he again took out his pocket watch and looked at it, then put it in his pocket and walked toward the MacDonald Infantry Arms Company. The office clock struck eight o'clock.

"When did the Italians become so punctual? That's not Italian." Scrooge remembered that at least in the time before he crossed over, Italians were not like this. Well, if you had a date with an Italian and it was 8:00 a.m., you could sleep until 8:00 a.m., then take an hour to shower and eat breakfast, then take another half hour to get to your date, then wait patiently for another half hour, and then you'd see the Italian appear in front of you slowly, and say to you in amazement, "* *I didn't expect you to be here so early."

"Please come in," Scrooge says.

The door was pushed open and Roland walked in with the short man.

The short man took off his bowler hat, bowed to Scrooge, and then said to Scrooge in not-very-good English, "I am Robson Ferrari. I hope I'm not disturbing you with my intrusion." Scrooge felt that there were not a lot of Italian flavors in the English, but rather an Irish accent in the pronunciation of some words.

"Why not? I'm happy to have a friend who wants to come to visit me." Scrooge had spent two or three months of his spare time learning Italian for a manual before he crossed over, so he replied directly in Italian.

Hearing Scrooge's answer, the man looked at Scrooge with his eyes wide open in surprise, and then also replied in Italian: "Mr. Scrooge, I didn't expect you to be so knowledgeable at such a young age."

"You flatter me." Scrooge smiled slightly at the Italian accent of this Mr. Ferrari, which was not authentic.

"My Italian is only a few words of greeting, so let's talk in English. What kind of deal do you want to make with me when you come to North America?" Scrooge asked.

"I come from the Kingdom of Sardinia. As you know, just a few years ago, our country suffered great losses in the war against the Austrian invaders for the independence and freedom of Italy. But we have never forgotten the clear mandate to liberate Italy, and we are always waiting for the opportunity to take revenge. The Austrians did not let down their guard either, and, to be honest, the Austrian military power was far superior to ours. Not long ago, I saw your company's rifle while I was trading cotton in North America. If our Sardinian army could be equipped with such rifles, we would be able to defeat the Austrians completely. Therefore, I hope to order a large number of Macdonald Model 1857 rifles from you." The short man, who called himself an Italian, replied.