House Detective Firm in New York.

Detective House handed a survey report to Chen Qiang, and then said, "Mr. Chen, this is the investigation result you want. The data I investigated shows that these scrap irons were mainly purchased by a Japanese company called 'Jingchuan'. In addition, this Jingchuan company is enough to buy some scrap equipment and used mechanical parts."

"There are also scrapped equipment and used mechanical parts?" Chen Qiang frowned.

"Yes, according to the informant's account I bought, the price of Japan's acquisition of scrap equipment and scrap machinery parts is higher than the normal purchase price, and many old equipment actually did not reach the scrapping period." Detective House answered.

"In other words, someone deliberately sold the equipment that can still be used to Japan in the name of scrapped equipment." Chen Qiang asked.

"I'm afraid it's like this. In addition, I also investigated and handled another very interesting thing. My friend in the Far East told me that the main shareholder of Jingchuan Company is a company called Riman Steel Co., Ltd.." House continued.

After hearing this news, Chen Qiang could still confirm that the scrap iron acquired by Jingchuan Company was eventually transported to the steel plant in the Northeast and then re-purposed into steel for use in Japan's war of aggression against China.

At this time, Chen Qiang became increasingly determined to stop scrap iron from continuing to sell the king.

...

When he returned home, Chen Qiang carefully looked at Detective House's investigation report. He didn't know if he didn't read it. He was really shocked when he saw it.

According to House's investigation records, the Jingchuan company imports nearly 50,000 tons of scrap iron from the United States every month! You should know that in 1935, the steel production in China was only 50,000 tons. After the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, China's territory fell in large quantities. Originally, many industrial cities were occupied by the Japanese. Now, China's annual steel production is probably less than 20,000 tons.

In 1940, Japan, including the occupied colonies, had an annual steel output of about 6 million tons, with an average of 500,000 tons per month. The import of 50,000 tons of scrap iron from the United States per month is already one-tenth of Japan's steel output!

Thinking of this, Chen Qiang was even more eager to cut off the 50,000 tons of scrap iron source of the Japanese. For a country like Japan that lacks resources, cutting off one-tenth of its steel source is enough to affect Japan's entire industrial system.

Chen Qiang then looked at the investigation report of Detective House. The report showed that in addition to scrap iron, the Japanese also purchased many so-called "scrapped equipment" and "scrapped parts". One of them was called "Nakajima" and even purchased parts of scrapped aircraft!

As early as 1937, US President Roosevelt imposed an embargo on the parts of aircraft transported to Japan on the grounds of a "humane embargo". However, it is obvious that this embargo clause did not prevent Japan from purchasing parts of aircraft from the United States. In the face of money, American capitalists obviously did not care about any presidential order. They had a way to bypass Roosevelt's order and continue to transport parts of aircraft to Japan. In the future, when the US Air Force shot down Japan's Zero fighter jets, it was embarrassing to find that all the American parts inside were also very embarrassing.

Chen Qiang knew that the Nakajima Company must be the vest of the Japanese military. In addition to Jingchuan Company purchasing scrap steel and Nakajima Company purchasing aircraft parts, Mitsubishi Company also purchased a large amount of scrap aluminum, which must be used for shipbuilding. At that time, aluminum was still a relatively expensive metal, and it was generally only to build expensive warships that would be willing to use aluminum as a material for some key locations.

"Detective House also bribed US customs. According to data provided by US customs, Japan purchases 'waste' from the United States every month worth more than US$13 million, which is only 150 million US dollars this year!"

Chen Qiang sighed lightly, but a feeling of powerlessness arose in his heart. He wanted to stop the Japanese from purchasing "scrap" from the United States, but the amount was more than 150 million US dollars a year. How many interest groups are involved? There may be a lot of members of Congress behind those interest groups, including Democrats and Republicans. Even US President Roosevelt may have to choose to surrender in the face of this 150 million US dollars business.

In the United States, you can never fight the power of capital! Whether it is politicians or media, they are just for capital services in the end.

"The only thing that can defeat capital is capital, and this matter must be solved with money! But the key is that I have no money!" Chen Qiang thought depressedly.

...

The war between the Soviet Union and Finland had ended, and the two countries signed the Moscow Armistice Agreement. Finland eventually lost a large amount of territory and was assigned to its own sphere of influence by the Soviet Union.

However, the Finns were not willing to become the Soviets' younger brothers. Soon after, Germany's attack was attacked by Northern Europe, and Finland began to retaliate with Germany. With the help of Germany, the "continue war" was launched to regain the Karelia region. However, at the end of World War II, the Germans were about to be defeated and the Karelia region was recaptured by the Soviet Union.

On April 3, Germany began to invade Northern Europe, and its first target was Norway. This time, Britain finally became tough and sent troops directly to Norway to help Norway fight against Germany. However, the Norwegian government was not so tough, and the senior Norwegian officials fled directly to the UK.

Norway is vast and sparsely populated, and its military power is completely insignificant than that of the powerful Germany. Therefore, while attacking Norway, it also attacked Denmark. The Danes only persisted for six hours before announcing their surrender.

Among the Nordic countries, Finland was just pressed to the ground by the Soviets, Denmark surrendered to the Germans, and Norway could not hold on for long, leaving only Sweden. At this time, Sweden expressed neutrality while decisively surrendering to Germany.

Sweden was also the most powerful country in Europe when it was the strongest. Viking pirates almost robbed the entire Europe. The French emperor and the German prime minister had ruled the European continent, but they never landed on the British islands. However, the Viking pirates could run to the British islands and snatch it up, and then returned to Nordic Europe with gold, silver and jewelry.

Even as Sweden entered the 20th century, it had already declined, but it still maintained its strong style of Vikings as the whole nation. Although Sweden was only in Northern Europe at that time, its national defense was still very strong. Germans or Soviets had to pay a huge price to eat Sweden, which was not worth the effort. Therefore, after Sweden surrendered to Germany, Germany did not launch an attack on Sweden.

At this time, we can also see that if a country wants to ensure its own safety, it still needs to have its own national defense force. Sweden and Switzerland have strong national defense, so they can remain neutral in World War II. Denmark's national defense is weak and surrenders in six hours. What about Britain and France, it is unreliable, and people will not protect you at critical moments.

While Nordic was trapped in war, Chen Qiang appeared in the stands of Madison Garden Square holding a comic book.

Chen Qiang is in the hands of the 38th issue of "Detective Comics". In this issue of the comic, Batman's good partner Robin made his debut for the first time.

In front of Chen Qiang, the Stanley Cup match in the US Hockey League was being held.

In the 1940 Stanley Cup, the two sides were against the New York Rangers and Toronto Maple Leafs. The game was a four-win system in seven innings. The first two games were held at Madison Garden Plaza, the home court of the New York Rangers, and the next four games were to go to the Maple Leaf Garden Stadium in Toronto.

The winner of this series was the New York Rangers, who won the Stanley Cup in 1940 with a big score of 4-2. However, it was a pity for New York audiences to fail to witness the New York Rangers' championship moment. Because the sixth game was held in Canada, the New York Rangers won the final victory of this series on the road.

The matter of China's loan from the United States again was also submitted to the US Congress for deliberation. Since the last tung oil loan was profitable, the US Congress successfully passed the loan. Isolationists such as Arthur Vandenberg did not object, and they did not dare to stop American capitalists from making money.

On April 20, China and the United States officially signed the "Hua Tin Borrowing Contract". This time, the United States borrowed 20 million US dollars from China, which can only be used to purchase materials produced in the United States, while China uses Yunnan's tin mine as collateral.

With money, Hu Shi came to New York again to prepare for a big purchase.

Chen Qiang gave Detective House's investigation report to Hu Shi.

...

"Sir, look, these are the information I commissioned to investigate by the detectives. Although the Japanese cannot buy American steel, they can buy scrap iron at all. In addition, there are some old machinery and parts, even parts of the plane." Chen Qiang said.

Hu Shi's results investigation report carefully, then sighed: "It's true."

"Sir, you know it long ago?" Chen Qiang asked in surprise.

"I don't know, but domestic intelligence says that the United States has been providing important strategic materials to Japan." Hu Shi paused and continued: "Before, Japan said it would build a military base on Sakhalin Island and explore oil. It purchased a large number of mechanical equipment here in the United States, and even many high-end precision equipment can be used to produce aircraft parts. Originally, this type of machinery was controlled, but the United States heard that the Japanese had to deal with the Soviet Union, so it sold these controlled machinery to them."

Chen Qiang thought a little and roughly understood what was going on. Although the war in Europe had already broken out, the United States still tried every means to kill the Soviet Union. So when the Japanese said they wanted to explore oil on Cook Island, the Americans were eager to fight with the Soviet Union, and even the embargoed machinery and equipment were sold to the Japanese. These precision machinery and equipment eventually produced aircraft parts were either used in the war of aggression against China or on the battlefield in the Pacific.

Chen Qiang said, "Sir, it seems that the United States has almost no effect on Japan's embargo. Apart from oil, the Japanese can still get the supplies they want."

"Yes, but what can we do? The Japanese bought these supplies in the name of buying waste. Even if I protested to President Roosevelt, it would not be of great effect!" Hu Shi said.

"Sir, I have an idea." Chen Qiang said.

"I know you have many ideas. If you dare to show me this report, there must be a way. Let's talk about it!" Hu Shi said with a smile.

"Didn't we just borrowed 20 million US dollars from Americans? We can buy all the scrap iron, scrap machinery and old aircraft parts from Americans, so that the Japanese will have no need to buy it. I don't think there will be a lot of waste in Americans. Whoever is idle and doesn't save a lot of rags at home. Our 20 million US dollars can almost snatch the goods from the Japanese for two months!" Chen Qiang answered.

Hu Shi frowned and thought for a long time, then shook his head: "No, this money is used to purchase strategic materials that are urgently needed in China. How can it be used to buy scraps? And information shows that Japan has gathered in southern Henan again. This time the Japanese's target may be the main force in the Fifth War Zone, so what we need most now is guns and ammunition to resist the Japanese's attack."

"Those scraps are also strategic materials. We buy scrap iron, which can also be refined into steel, we buy second-hand machinery, which can also be used by weapons, and we buy airplane parts, which can also be used by ourselves!" Chen Qiang continued to persuade.

Hu Shi nodded: "Air parts are OK. Since the war started, our air force has suffered heavy losses. If it weren't for the fact that Haihua and Overseas Chinese have been donating planes, maybe we wouldn't have planes to fly now. Now there are many planes in China that have been damaged and have no parts to repair, so they can only stand in the air raid shelter. If you can buy a batch of aircraft parts, it will be useful. But this scrap iron..."

"What's wrong with scrap iron?" Chen Qiang asked hurriedly.

"Buying scrap iron and then going back to make steel by yourself is indeed much cheaper than buying the ones just now. However, in our domestic situation, steel mills cannot digest so much scrap iron at all. Shanghai has been in the hands of the Japanese for a long time. The steel mills around Shanghai are all in the hands of the Japanese. Now Wuhan has been lost, and the Hanyang steel mill is also scrapped. The steel mill in Chongqing is often bombed by the Japanese. Even if the Chongqing steel mill is running at full capacity, they cannot produce ten tons of steel a day. Americans can sell 50,000 tons of scrap iron a month, and it is useless if we buy it. With our ability, we can't make so much steel at all!" Hu Shi explained.

"We just bought scrap iron, and we don't have to make steel." Chen Qiang said.

"Just to make it impossible for the Japanese to buy it? Isn't this harming others and not benefiting oneself? No, it should be killing one thousand enemies and losing 800 yourself! No, it should be killing one thousand enemies and losing 800 yourself!" Hu Shi shook his head and continued: "For the Japanese, 50,000 tons of scrap iron are less than 50,000 tons per month. Although there is a loss, it will not hurt the muscles and bones. But for us, these 20 million US dollars are used to save lives! We don't have to use life-saving money to waste with the Japanese. Our country has a weak foundation, and fighting economic war with the Japanese is not worth the loss."

"Sir, we can buy scrap iron, save it for two months, and then sell it!" Chen Qiang said.

"Sell it? To whom? What do you mean?" Hu Shi asked in confusion.

"Sir, according to my judgment, Germany and Britain and France will soon fight in Europe. The price of steel will inevitably rise sharply by then. If the French cannot defend the German attack, there will be only the British left in Europe. Not to mention scrap iron, even iron slag will be rushed!" Chen Qiang said.

"France cannot defend? It's impossible. The French are not vegetarians, not to mention that Britain sent more than 100,000 troops to France. Britain and France cannot stop a Germany!" Hu Shi shook his head and said.

"I can't stop it, I think the French can't hold on for even a month!" Chen Qiang said firmly.

"Impossible!" Hu Shi shook his head, but when he looked at Chen Qiang's firm look, he felt that Chen Qiang was not aimless.

"Chen Qiang, do you know any inside information?" Hu Shi asked.

Chen Qiang felt that if he had no insider information, he would definitely not be able to convince Hu Shi to use the 20 million yuan loan to buy scrap iron, so he had to nod: "Yes, I have absolutely reliable news. The Germans have secret weapons that can defeat the British and French coalition forces in one fell swoop. Sir, please believe me. Let's buy scrap iron first, wait for two months before selling it. There will definitely be no loss, and we can make a big profit. But we can buy more food and weapons!"

Hu Shi hesitated. The 20 million US dollars loan was life-saving money for the Chinese. It was definitely impossible to make a mistake when using it to purchase strategic materials that were urgently needed in China.

However, if you use money to buy scrap iron and wait two months to make a big profit, and by the way, weaken the Japanese's industrial capacity, it sounds like a profit, but in fact it is full of unknowns and risks.

If the 20 million US dollars were Hu Shi’s own money, Hu Shi might have chosen to believe Chen Qiang without hesitation, but the 20 million US dollars is really too important to China. This is money to save the country, making Hu Shi dare not take risks.

However, deep down, instinct kept telling Hu Shi that Chen Qiang was right!

Over the past year, Hu Shi has taken Chen Qiang's actions seriously, from publishing "Rabe Diary", holding a photo exhibition, and running to borrow money from Americans, and recently getting shot in order to drive away the puppet traitor of Wang's puppet. All of this shows that Chen Qiang is a patriotic person who is willing to sacrifice for China, and he will not joke about such Chinese life-saving money.

"Well, I'll bet with you once!" Hu Shi replied.

However, until Hu Shi said this, he didn't know where he got the courage. He dared to use the 20 million US dollars of life-saving money to be crazy with Chen Qiang!

...

At the Japanese Embassy in the United States, Japanese Ambassador Matsuoka Yoshi looked at the information in his hand with a sneer.

"The Chinese just borrowed 20 million US dollars from the United States and actually used it to buy scrap iron! These Chinese people think they are very smart, but in fact they are very stupid!" Matsuoka Yoyu said.

"Mr. Ambassador, Chinese people use US loans to buy supplies. They have approval from the US Congress, so they can get priority purchase rights. Therefore, our Jingchuan Company may not be able to buy enough scrap iron this month. In addition, the procurement of aircraft parts by Nakadao Company has also been greatly affected." The counselor next to him said.

"The 50,000 tons of scrap iron a month is almost one-tenth of our Japan's steel production. This will indeed affect the domestic steel supply, but don't worry, the Chinese are only 20 million US dollars at most. Even if they are asked to buy it, they can buy it for at most two months. After two months, they will have no money. I think Americans can't always lend money to China, right?" Matsuoka Yoyu said.

"But Chinese buy scrap iron and transport it back to make steel, which will also enhance their potential for war!" said the counselor.

"The essence of China has been occupied by the empire, and their industries are almost gone. With China's remaining industrial capacity, even if they give them 50,000 tons of scrap iron, they can't make steel!" Matsuoka Yoyu paused and continued, "That's why I said that the Chinese think they are smart, but in fact they are stupid! If you want to use this method to attack Japan, they will collapse first! If you want to hurt people with your own expenses, you must have sufficient capital first!"

—————
Chapter completed!