I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France

Chapter 570: After the change - 570 War Wealth

Lavaz Town, the tractor factory was soaked in continuous rain, with the sounds of metal clashing and banging echoing persistently.

Before Joseph set off, Shire took a trip to his office.

Joseph’s office was quite simple, featuring only a desk and a guest sofa, with a pot of French daisies in the corner, Joseph’s favorite.

Seeing Shire at the door, Joseph broke into a broad smile, eagerly setting aside his file and welcoming Shire with a hearty handshake.

"Long time no see, Young Master Shire." Joseph habitually addressed Shire this way, though he felt slightly awkward upon seeing Shire’s military uniform.

"Should I call you General now?" he asked.

"It’s fine, Joseph," Shire replied. "We’re like family, no need to mind these formalities."

"It’s an honor, Young Master Shire," Joseph agreed readily.

He knew acting too reserved at this moment would be like denying the "family" sentiment Shire spoke of.

Sitting on the sofa, a trace of guilt seeped into Shire’s heart.

During the times Shire’s family was bullied by Francis, Joseph had been assisting in secret, showing exceptional care for Shire, almost treating him as his own child.

Yet, Shire hadn’t visited him for nearly a year, not even stopping by the tractor factory when returning home.

Joseph did not hold Shire at fault.

Young Master Shire was busy saving France, rarely able to visit home, even during holidays, immersed in work.

Despite this, he still managed to rescue Matthew and help him grow into a capable and confident individual.

Joseph felt gratified and held nothing but heartfelt gratitude towards Shire!

"Have you considered how to develop once you move to the United States?" Shire took the coffee Joseph handed him.

Joseph hesitated: "I think we should start with grenades. They are not difficult to produce, have low costs, suitable for mass production, and easier to establish a foothold."

Beginnings are always difficult, and Joseph aimed to choose a simple start.

But Shire disagreed with his idea: "No, Joseph, you should diversify the military production quickly. Not just grenades, but also mortars, submachine guns, rifles, even helmets."

"Helmets?" Joseph looked at Shire puzzled, "The American army doesn’t wear helmets, Young Master."

He had briefly learnt about the American arms market the previous night and discovered this.

Besides, helmets involved aesthetics, first considering whether Americans were willing to use them, which usually required discussions before decisions.

But Shire insisted on his view: "Just focus on production, don’t worry about the rest."

The Americans would surely use them, Shire was confident.

Because that period was when the Americans were desperate; they’d put anything on their heads, even a cooking pot.

"Okay, Young Master." Joseph nodded in agreement.

Young Master Shire must have his considerations. If worst comes to worst, these helmets shipped to France could still fetch a good price. During wartime, such items always sold well.

Shire added: "You have roughly one billion US dollars in funding."

Just seated, Joseph looked at Shire in shock; Young Master Shire was certain of making money through American military production, placing all his chips down in one go!

"Isn’t this too risky?" Joseph hesitated.

"No, Joseph," Shire replied. "Do as I said. You need to think about how to utilize the funds at hand to expand production capacity, producing as many qualified products as possible in the shortest time."

"As you wish, Young Master Shire." Joseph straightened up, seemingly feeling the weight beyond his tolerance: "I will proceed as you instructed."

Joseph guessed that Young Master Shire, being a general, must know the direction in which the war was evolving, thus choosing this seemingly risky yet opportunistic approach.

Then Shire instructed, "But keep the produced equipment in the warehouse, don’t let the Americans know, especially the American military."

This Joseph understood, it’s a common capitalist tactic, known as "hunger marketing": creating a false shortage to raise prices and then suddenly selling at high prices for huge profits.

What Joseph didn’t know was that the situation was far more complex than he imagined.

Shire’s logic was clear and precise.

At that time, Americans thought they wouldn’t engage in this war, hence the military only planning small-scale procurement.

Colonel Johnson might say they’ll give Shire a "minimum procurement volume" to ensure his military factory doesn’t collapse.

It seemed like offering Shire many preferential policies, but in reality, it would keep his factory barely afloat until the Americans learned all technological skills and cultivated a large workforce and technicians.

But they never expected Shire to exploit this mindset.

In negotiations over "minimum procurement volumes," Shire could use it to raise prices:

"What? Only 1000 units?"

"That’s too little, these are rifles, in Europe, they demand hundreds of thousands!"

"10000 units won’t suffice; it’s not even a fraction of Europe. Profits won’t cover machinery and factory costs."

"15000 units... fine, but at double the price, otherwise there’s no profit margin!"

...

The Americans calculated that it was reasonable; they couldn’t let Shire just go bankrupt, so the deal was pleasantly sealed.

Not only rifles, but all equipment followed a similar pattern.

The American military thought they had a bargain, acquiring the same advanced equipment used on European battlefields at minimal costs, plus the technology, tactics, many things money couldn’t buy.

However, one day, they suddenly knew they had to join the war, the situation was dramatically different:

"We need 100,000 rifles, immediately!"

"What? Limited production capacity?"

"We’ll pay more, the sooner the better!"

...

Thus, masses of equipment reached American soldiers at several times the normal prices, and it was definitely more than "100,000."

(Above is an image of American soldiers in 1917. The US Army had only 130,000 soldiers in 1917, rapidly expanding to 4 million within a year once they decided to join the war, with over 2 million deployed to the Western Front. The equipment in the photo appears extremely rudimentary, subsequently American troops were urgently supplied with hundreds of thousands of French or British helmets.)

Shire’s development strategy targeted the period when the American army’s rapid expansion led to a shortage of various equipment.

Not only rifles, grenades, bullets, but even fabric for uniforms, canteens, medications and so on would see prices rising sharply.

Americans planned to sheer Shire as the "lamb", but little did they know they’d end up being heavily fleeced by Shire.