Chapter 98 Classic of Mountains and Seas?
As always, Phoenix Group spent money to have Martin boots and sneakers appear in major newspapers. The novel style of Martin boots quickly attracted people's attention.

"These are cool shoes, aren't they?" Jack Twist said to his Ennis Del Mar.

Both of them were cowboys on a ranch. They saw an advertisement for Martin boots in the newspaper and thought they were very fashionable and suitable for their current jobs, so they went to a nearby town to buy a pair and take them home to try.

"It's really cool. I think the boots are suitable for my girlfriend after all." Ennis Delma also said.

"Hey, you are here with me to buy shoes, don't always think about your girlfriend." Jack Twist curled his lips and said somewhat unhappily after hearing this.

"Okay, I'll pay for your shoes too, okay?" Ennis Delma soothed.

As expected, the Martin boots became a hot-selling item as soon as they were launched on the market, and soon everyone who could afford them was wearing a pair.

This pair of shoes is not only a representative of fashion trends in this era, but more importantly, it is very practical. It makes work easier for many workers, is safe, wear-resistant, and the leather is easy to clean. It has become popular because of these many advantages.

"Kui cattle, what kind of cattle is this? But this pattern looks very fierce, which suits me very well." Ennis Delma picked up a pair of short boots and said while looking at the red Kui cattle logo on the side of the shoes.

"Kui Niu, also known as the Thunder Beast, is a mythical beast recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Its roar is like thunder, and is accompanied by the light of the sun and the moon. It comes from the Eastern Chinese Kingdom." Jack Twist replied.

"How do you know this? What is the Classic of Mountains and Seas?" Ennis Delma asked puzzledly.

"Oh, I saw it on a poster on the wall of the store. I don't know what the Classic of Mountains and Seas is. It's not written there," Jack Twist explained.

"Okay, next time I must find a Chinese person to ask." Ennis Delma said casually without any hesitation.

In the end, the two bought three pairs of shoes and returned to the ranch happily.

"This pair of shoes is good, especially the long ones, which are very suitable for my job." said a middle-aged man engaged in excavation work.

"I think the short-shoe ones are also good. They won't cause sprains easily, the soles are non-slip, and they're made of leather, so they're easy to clean," said a mining worker.

After the designer divided the shoes into two types: spring and summer and autumn and winter, Zhang Feng thought that the shoes could be designed into short boots, mid-calf boots, and long boots.

After Martin boots became popular, Zhang Feng also sent someone to contact a general in charge of logistics in the American military who had previously purchased aircraft from Lockheed.

In the end, I used my financial power to convince him to include Martin boots in the purchasing list of military boots. This was another long-term and stable income. If I had waited until World War II, I would have made a huge profit.

As for the sales of sports shoes, they are lukewarm because the prices are higher and people are not very receptive to them. Currently, only children from fairly wealthy families will choose to buy them.

Zhang Feng asked the football, baseball, ice hockey, basketball and other athletes under the Phoenix Sports Club to change into Kuiniu sports shoes and display them more on the field to promote them.

It doesn’t matter if you don’t make money now. You can first implant the brand in the minds of the audience. After a few years, when the economy improves and people have money to spend, these people will become loyal users of Kuiniu.

Middle East, Red Sea.

Three huge immigrant transport ships docked at the port of Loulan. The port of Loulan was built in the 14th century and was once the main export port for Yemen's high-quality coffee. In the international market, high-quality Arabica coffee is called mocha coffee. It was a prosperous and famous port at that time, but declined in the 19th century due to the development of Aden and Hodeidah ports.

With the arrival of Chinese immigrants, this place is about to be revived again.

Although Zhang Feng's shipyard in the United States has been building ships at the lowest output, the number of immigrant ships and cargo ships has increased year by year.

Of course, this output is also carefully designed. With the development of Madagascar's military industry, the amount of equipment that needs to be transported from the United States and Europe is also increasing.

Now that Yemen has oil resources, oil transportation will require a large number of ships. Once Madagascar is fully occupied, the influx of immigrants will also increase explosively.

A few years later, when World War II came, the Allies were in urgent need of transportation capacity. Starting in 1940, Britain was facing a serious threat from German submarines to its merchant fleet and was in urgent need of increasing its transportation capacity.

The British government ordered 60 cargo ships from the United States, which were called the "Ocean Class" and were the predecessors of the Liberty ships.

Starting in September 1941, the United States passed the Lend-Lease Act, decided to provide more military aid to the Allies, and expected that the United States would soon join the war. Therefore, the U.S. Maritime Commission formulated an emergency shipbuilding plan to build 9 "Ocean-class" freighters and named them "Liberty" ships.

These cargo ships were assigned to 18 different shipyards, which adopted an assembly line production method and made extensive use of welding technology to continuously improve construction efficiency and quality.

September 1941, 9 was designated as "Liberty Fleet Day" and the first batch of 27 Liberty ships were launched at the same time. The first ship was the "Patrick Henry" and President Roosevelt personally presided over the launching ceremony. During the launching ceremony, President Roosevelt quoted Patrick Henry's famous words: "Give me liberty or death" and announced that these freighters would bring freedom to Europe. From then on, these freighters were officially called "Liberty" ships.

在1941年12月美国正式参战后，自由轮的建造规模进一步扩大，到1943年达到了每天3艘的速度。到1944年底，共计建造了2710艘自由轮。

Therefore, Zhang Feng maintained a large-scale shipyard, on the one hand to provide transportation capacity for the development of his territory, and to obtain shipbuilding technology so that it could be replicated in Madagascar. On the other hand, he could also make a fortune in World War II. Moreover, the reconstruction of various countries in the world after the war and the new round of prosperity were inseparable from ocean transportation. This was a business that was sure to make money.

The most notable feature of the free wheel is that it uses a lot of welding technology instead of traditional riveting technology. This can save steel, reduce weight, speed up construction, reduce costs, and facilitate subcontracting production.

Now Zhang Feng has provided the idea of ​​the Liberty Ship to the shipyard for careful study and design of a cargo ship that is both cheap and quick to build, waiting for orders from the American government during World War II.

"Get off the boat, line up, and get ready to disembark!" the crew on the immigration ship shouted with a tin horn.

The Chinese who had never been to such a faraway place were looking at this strange land. Some were at a loss, while others were very excited.

After the immigrants got off the ship, they were greeted by fully armed Yulin mercenaries and their Yemeni wives. Since these mercenaries who had fought for half a year were very rich, most of them married at least two wives.

With half a year's salary for working overseas plus high allowances, they don't have to spend any money on food, drink, and toilet. The most they spend is the betrothal money to their Yemeni father-in-law.

After the de facto ceasefire with Saudi Arabia, the Yulin mercenaries only retained 1000 military forces on the border between Saudi Arabia and Yemen, and all the others withdrew to Loulan for rest.

After reaching an agreement with the British, the war was basically over. Some of the wounded soldiers were arranged to be discharged and became the first residents of Loulan, while some were transferred to civilian positions and became grassroots managers of the company in Loulan.

The remaining nearly 1 soldiers continued to maintain necessary training in Loulan and rotated with the troops stationed on the Saudi-Yemen border.

After these people arrived in Loulan, they paid to hire Yemeni civilians to build their own houses in Loulan. According to the plan of the Meihua Company, they built buildings in the residential area that combined Middle Eastern style with a small amount of Chinese style.

They also used the remaining money to build more residential buildings and houses in commercial areas together with the Meihua Company.

Houses in residential buildings can be rented out to new immigrants, and houses in commercial areas can be used to open shops or rent out.

Every year, the Meihua Company would take out a portion of the rental income to distribute dividends to these people. In addition to the fact that the Meihua Company was short of funds, it was more of a way to reward them. After all, Loulan was obtained by these mercenaries at the cost of their lives.

Moreover, Loulan will still need these soldiers to continue to guard it in the future, so Zhang Feng is willing to share this benefit.

However, in order to prevent them from forming an interest group based on the Yulin mercenaries, very strict restrictions were imposed on them. For example, the Meihua Company would monopolize all industries in Loulan in the next five years, and they could only open shops and do small businesses at most.

Most of the management will also be drawn from Zhangjiacheng, and when new immigrants arrive, the active mercenaries will be deployed, and most of them will be required to return to Madagascar to settle down.

Through these measures, the influence of the Yulin mercenaries on Loulan can be reduced to prevent them from becoming too powerful to be controlled or even relying on foreign forces to rebel for independence.

Although the possibility is small, we still have to take precautions.

Mabri, Yemen.

An oil exploration team was conducting oil exploration work in the Mabri area under the protection of the Yulin mercenaries. These experts were temporarily hired by Zhang Feng from the United States.

If they have the real talent and can successfully complete this mission, they can join the newly established US-China-Yemen Oil Company.

According to the previous agreement, Meihua Company and the Yemeni royal family established a joint company: Meihua-Yemen Energy Co., Ltd., and Meihua Company will obtain 50% of the interests of all mineral and oil resources in the Yemen region, as well as the company's operating rights.

Meihua-Oil Company is a subsidiary of United Corporation.

"Oil is coming out! Oil is coming out!" a worker who was drilling with a machine shouted excitedly.

When the people who were resting not far away heard it, they immediately ran over and found that a black liquid was gushing out from the drill hole.

"Yeah!" Everyone cheered. Months of hard work finally paid off and everyone smiled.

"Go back and inform the company headquarters immediately." A team leader immediately ordered.

The communicator in the team immediately returned to the tent and reported by radio.

A few days later, the Sino-Yemen Oil Company and the Sino-Yemen Natural Gas Company transported the mining equipment that had been prepared long ago.

On May 1935, 5, the Sino-Yemen Oil Company officially produced its first barrel of oil, ending the history of Sino-Yemen Oil Company’s inability to produce its own oil.

(End of this chapter)