The Madison Garden Plaza cost $4.75 million when it was built, but that was in 1925. Now 17 years later, real estate prices in New York have risen a lot, so the price offered by Mrs. Ricard is $6 million.

Of course, Chen Qiang would not bargain and directly paid 6 million yuan for things. When buying things, the cheaper the better. What's more, this industry worth millions of dollars can save 60,000 US dollars even if it's just 1% cheaper. So bargaining is inevitable.

The same is true for the seller Mrs. Ricard. She earns 60,000 US dollars less if she is 1% cheaper, so Mrs. Ricard is reluctant to give in easily.

For the final price, the two sides began a tug-of-war negotiation.

...

In the office, Chen Qiang was negotiating with Mrs. Riccard.

"Mr. Chen, I have reduced the price to 5.8 million, which is already a very sincere price cut." Mrs. Ricard said.

"Mrs. Ricard, the price of 5.8 million is still very expensive. Madison Garden Plaza is a gymnasium, not an apartment building or office building. In this world, stadiums not only do not make money, but also pay for operation and management fees every day." Chen Qiang replied.

"My husband spent 4.75 million to build Madison Garden Square. After 17 years, I only sold 5.8 million now. In Manhattan, you can't find such a cheap place. If it's an apartment building or an office building, how could it only increase by 1 million US dollars in 17 years!" Mrs. Ricard continued.

Chen Qiang spread his hands: "Investing always has profits and losses, right? In the past seventeen years, there have been many investment projects with higher returns than New York apartment buildings, such as oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico. However, when landlords in New York City sell their apartment buildings, they cannot set prices based on the return rate of Mexican oil fields. Therefore, a stadium cannot calculate returns according to the standards of apartment buildings."

"Madison Square Garden covers a very wide area. Even if you buy this land and build a high-rise apartment building, you will make a fortune." Mrs. Ricard said.

"Then it will cost to demolish existing buildings. What's more, in New York, you can't buy steel bars for construction, let alone build high-rise buildings." Chen Qiang paused and continued: "Mrs. Ricard, we have a term in China, called chicken ribs. You must know what the chicken ribs look like. If you want to eat meat, the little meat on the chicken ribs is not enough for you to stuff your teeth, but if you throw them away, it's a pity. After all, the Chinese are poor, and we won't give up the slightest source of protein. Madison Square Garden is like a chicken drumbeat, which tastes tasteless, and it's a pity to throw it away."

"I probably understand what you mean, but we Americans will throw away the junk directly." Mrs. Ricard replied.

"Mrs. Ricard, you should know that, except me, no one in New York is interested in Madison Garden Square. Those rich tycoons look down on such useless investments, and ordinary people cannot afford so much money." Chen Qiang said.

Mrs. Ricard thought for a while and finally sighed: "Okay, then how much money are you willing to pay."

"5.2 million US dollars!" Chen Qiang said.

"This is impossible. I wouldn't accept such a low offer." Mrs. Ricard shook her head.

Chen Qiang took out the set of scientific research funds when he was a university professor, pretending to be hesitant, then seemed to have made up his mind, gritted his teeth hard, and then said, "I will add another 100,000, 5.3 million US dollars to you, no more!"

"5.3 million won't do it!" Mrs. Ricard shook her head firmly.

"Madam Ricard, how much do you think the money is appropriate?" Chen Qiang asked.

"First price, 5.7 million! Compared with the previous quotation of 6 million, I have reduced the price by 300,000." Mrs. Ricard said.

Mrs. Ricard is a businessman, and those who are good at gambling are all talented, so naturally they will not be deceived by Chen Qiang's tricks. Chen Qiang was not discouraged. When he asked for scientific research funds, he was like squeezing toothpaste. He added 10,000 yuan to 10,000 yuan. As long as he was patient, he would always get more funds.

So the two began a new round of bargaining.

After talking for a long time, Mrs. Ricard finally held on to 5.6 million yuan and was unwilling to reduce the price any more.

"Mr. Chen, 5.6 million, this is my final offer. I will not lower the money any more." Mrs. Ricard said resolutely.

Chen Qiang frowned and began to think: "5.6 million, although it is still higher than my psychological expectations, this price is worth buying. After all, this is Madison Square Garden!"

The name "Madison Square Garden" is indeed fatal to Chen Qiang. Although this is only the third-generation Madison Square Garden and is destined to be demolished in the future, as the owner of Madison Square Garden, Chen Qiang can also get a share of the pie when building the fourth-generation Madison Square Garden in the future. If Chen Qiang is rich, he can even go directly to the Pennsylvania Station to build the fourth-generation Madison Square Garden.

Chen Qiang has also visited New York many times in the future. He has been to the third generation Madison Square Garden, which is between 49th Street and 50th Street in Manhattan. The building that stood here in that era was the landmark Universal Square One in the 1990s in New York. In other words, after the third generation Madison Square Garden was demolished, the original address was built.

Manhattan is a treasure of every inch of land, and Universal Plaza No. 1 is even more valuable. The reason is that the location here is good enough. It is no exaggeration to say that the land at this location is the most expensive in the world! In this regard, even if you only buy the land, it is still very valuable, and the future appreciation potential is unlimited.

Chen Qiang was planning to agree to a quotation of 5.6 million US dollars, and a riot sounded from outside, and then someone knocked on the door and came in. This person was an employee of Chen Qiang.

"What happened?" Chen Qiang asked.

"Boss, the latest news has been sent back to the front line." The employee said.

"Is it good news or bad news?" Chen Qiang asked immediately.

"There is good news and bad news," the employee replied.

"What is the bad news?" Chen Qiang asked again.

"Just yesterday, the Japanese captured the Aleutian Islands." The employee replied.

Upon hearing the news, Mrs. Ricard was shocked: "What? The Aleutian Islands were occupied by the Japanese! Is the news accurate?"

"The Ministry of Defense has confirmed this news, and there will definitely be no false." The employee said.

Mrs. Ricard was stunned with a hint of embarrassment.

Chen Qiang said, "Mrs. Ricard, I think we can negotiate the price again?"

...

The Aleutian Islands are the part that extends westward between the Bering Sea and the North Pacific Ocean. Most of the Aleutian Islands belong to Alaska, the United States, and the westernmost part belongs to the Soviet Union.

The total area of ​​the Aleutian Islands is about 17,000 square kilometers. There are many volcanoes on the island. Influenced by the Alaska warm current, the winter here will not be very cold, which is around zero degrees. However, the climate here is very harsh, with many houses all year round, and there are often strong winds. Because the wind on the island is too strong, there are basically no big trees on the Aleutian Islands, and the vegetation is mainly grass and moss.

The Aleutian Islands have no resources, and the residents on the island mainly make a living by fishing. However, the strategic location of the Aleutian Islands is very important. Controlling the Aleutian Islands is equivalent to controlling the North Pacific and the barrier from the Pacific to the Arctic Ocean. During the Cold War in the future, the Aleutian Islands were also covered with military bases of the US military. The US military operated the Aleutian Islands into a military fortress to prevent the Soviets from launching an attack on the United States from the Far East.

Before World War II, the United States' defense focus in the Pacific was mainly on Hawaii, and the defense power of the Aleutian Islands was very weak. However, when Japan occupied the Aleutian Islands, the Americans realized the important strategic position of the Aleutian Islands.

Through the Aleutian Islands, the Japanese can easily land in Alaska. Through Alaska, the Japanese can attack Canada all the way east. Once the Japanese arrive in the Canadian Shield area, they will go south to the Great Lakes of the United States. The essence of the entire United States is in the Great Lakes.

The key is that the United States has not deployed too many troops in Alaska. After all, Alaska is far away from its homeland, the weather is cold and the land is barren. There are not many people who have ever been there for any kind of ghost place where birds do not shit. Canada is also vast and sparsely populated. Perhaps even the Japanese army in Canada cannot stop the poor troops in a division. If the Japanese really attack the United States through the Aleutian Islands, they may directly attack the core area of ​​the United States.

Although Japanese submarines fired more than a dozen shells on the west coast of the United States, for Americans in the central and eastern regions, they were still very far away. Even if the Japanese army really landed in California, there were still large deserts of Nevada and Rocky Mountains. These could stop the Japanese army from advancing and the central and eastern regions would not be attacked.

However, the loss of the Aleutian Islands made the people of the central and eastern United States feel a strong sense of crisis. The United States has always been unprepared for Canada. If the Japanese occupy Alaska and then come from the north, the United States will really have no danger to defend.

This is no longer just a matter of the advantages and disadvantages of the North Pacific strategic advantage, but whether the most core area of ​​the United States will be attacked by Japan. If the situation develops towards the worst situation, the Japanese will really go south and attack the Great Lakes area, and New York will no longer be safe.

There is no doubt that this is another bad news for the United States. Next, the United States will inevitably regain the Aleutian Islands at all costs, locking the northern battlefield as much as possible within the scope of Alaska, and never giving the Japanese a chance to go south.

Perhaps for the Americans, losing Alaska is more frightening than losing Hawaii. Without Hawaii, at least the Western Pacific is still the barrier, the strong US air force and navy can also prevent the Japanese from landing. Without Alaska, the Japanese can directly launch an attack on Canada. The long border between the United States and Canada is simply unable to defend.

Since the Second War of Independence, the United States' territory has never been seized by other countries. The Philippines, which was previously stolen by the Japanese, can only be regarded as a colony of the United States, rather than a real American territory. But the Aleutian Islands are truly American territory, which means that this is the first time that the United States has lost its territory in the past 128 years.

Moreover, the Aleutian Islands are easy to defend but difficult to attack. In history, the United States took more than a year to retake the Aleutian Islands again.

...

Both Chen Qiang and Mrs. Ricard have realized what it means to the United States to occupy the Aleutian Islands by the Japanese.

If a region is about to encounter war, then the first thing to collapse is the real estate industry in this place. Because other industries can run, the real estate industry cannot run. For example, during the Anti-Japanese War, enterprises, factories, schools, and even many century-old brands chose to move to the southwest, but those courtyards in Beijing and those luxury villas in Nanjing could not be moved away.

After hearing the news that Japan occupied the Aleutian Islands, Chen Qiang's face suddenly showed a hint of joy, because he knew that after the news came out, the real estate market in New York would inevitably be turbulent, and Madison Garden Plaza should also cut prices.

Chen Qiang couldn't help but secretly think that he was really lucky. If the news came a few minutes later, he might have agreed to Mrs. Ricard's offer of 5.6 million US dollars.

Mrs. Ricard, opposite, looked depressed. Seeing that Chen Qiang was about to agree to the price of 5.6 million, such bad news came. Now it seems that Madison Garden Plaza will inevitably have a price cut, and she will lose hundreds of thousands of yuan.

Mrs. Riccard said, "Mr. Chen, I want to go out and make a phone call."

"Okay, take Mrs. Ricard to call." Chen Qiang ordered his employee, he knew that Mrs. Ricard was calling to confirm the authenticity of the news.

I don’t know how many phone calls Mrs. Ricard made, but it always took almost an hour before Mrs. Ricard returned.

Judging from Mrs. Ricard's expression, the news that the Japanese army occupied the Aleutian Islands was obviously true.

"Madam Ricard, can we renegotiate the price now?" Chen Qiang asked.

Mrs. Ricard nodded helplessly: "Okay, I can save another 100,000 US dollars and sell it to you 5.5 million!"

"No, no, 5.5 million is too expensive. I think 5 million is more suitable!" Chen Qiang shook his head and said.

...

In the end, the two parties finalized the transaction price of 5.2 million yuan and then signed a transaction contract.

After seeing off Mrs. Ricard away, Chen Qiang breathed a sigh of relief.

Perhaps many Americans are worried that the Japanese will capture Alaska and then attack the United States from Canada, but Chen Qiang is not worried about this. Although he is a novice in history, he also knows that the Japanese did not set foot on the American continent during World War II. The Americans' worries are just nothing more than nothing.

For Chen Qiang, the news that Japan occupied the Aleutian Islands was a timely rain, saving him a full 400,000 US dollars.

Looking at Mrs. Ricard's car gradually fading away, Chen Qiang turned his head and asked the employee who had just come to report the message: "You said before that there was good news and bad news. The bad news is that Japanese-June occupied the Aleutian Islands. What is the good news?"

"The good news is that our navy sunks four Japanese aircraft carriers in Midway Island, and of course we also lost one aircraft carrier. But if we change one, we will make three more. I think this should be good news!" the employee replied.

"Is the Battle of Midway over? This is indeed good news." Chen Qiang nodded slightly.

The turning point of the Pacific War has arrived. After the end of the Battle of Midway, the strategic advantages gained by the Japanese by sneak attack on Pearl Harbor have disappeared. The United States and Japan have entered a stage of even rivalry on the Pacific battlefield.

"Fortunately, I asked bad news first, so that Mrs. Ricard knew that the Aleutian Islands were occupied by the Japanese army. If I asked good news first, and that Mrs. Ricard knew that Midway Island had won, maybe she would not lower the price!"

—————
Chapter completed!