1929 I am a chaebol in the United States

Chapter 269 The party begins

Fefuli and Lu Chen continued to communicate in depth, and after careful consideration, they finally determined the next course of action. Fefuli decided without hesitation to go in person to find James and urge him to meet with Governor Franklin as soon as possible to discuss matters.

A few days later, James, accompanied by Favre, visited Governor Franklin. They expressed their firm support for his policies and expressed their willingness to contribute to the governor's campaign.

Time flies, and in a blink of an eye it is the day Franklin agreed to meet. This private party was not held in the state capital as usual, but was held in a hotel. When Lu Chen hurriedly arrived at the party, he was surprised to find that more than a dozen guests had already arrived here.

Lu Chen looked around and examined everyone present one by one, but he was quite surprised that among these dozen people, only Farley and Franklin were familiar to him.

Seeing Lu Chen appear, Franklin's face immediately showed joy. He pushed the wheelchair forward quickly to greet Lu Chen and greeted him with enthusiasm: "Mr. Lu, we sincerely welcome you to take the time to attend this party."

As soon as he finished speaking, Franklin turned his body to face the other participants and clapped his hands to attract everyone's attention. When everyone turned their eyes to him, Franklin pointed to Lu Chen beside him and introduced him to everyone solemnly: "Dear guests, today I have the honor to invite a new friend, Mr. Lu Chen, who successfully signed orders worth more than 200 million with two shipyards last time."

After Franklin finished his introduction, everyone's eyes instantly focused on Lu Chen. There were all kinds of emotions in their eyes, including astonishment, confusion, and even disbelief.

At this moment, Farley, who had met Lu Chen once before, stood up. He stared at Lu Chen with surprise on his face and said, "Mr. Lu, I never thought that you have become a billionaire in just over a year! I remember that you are not an ordinary person, so how can you represent them to sign an agreement with us?"

Although Lu Chen had to temporarily act as a representative of Xiao Rizi for some specific purpose, he would never easily agree that he had any connection with Xiao Rizi, because he always remembered that he was an upright Chinese citizen, and he was incompatible with Xiao Rizi.

Therefore, Lu Chen hurriedly explained: "Mr. Farley, long time no see! Here, I must solemnly declare again that I am an upright Chinese citizen and have nothing to do with those hateful little days. This time, I was entrusted by them to come to the domestic shipyard to sign the warship procurement contract. It is purely an ordinary business behavior. Please do not have any misunderstandings."

Facing Lu Chen's defense, Farley was obviously skeptical and did not believe it completely. If Lu Chen had nothing to do with Xiao Ri Zi, how could the other party safely entrust the warship order related to the fate of the country to an outsider? However, despite his doubts, Farley did not refute Lu Chen's words in person. After all, Lu Chen was standing on his side at the moment, and behind him was the entire country as a strong backing, which was undoubtedly extremely beneficial to his side.

Then, Farley smiled and responded in a gentle tone, "Oh, I see! It seems that I did misunderstand you, Mr. Lu."

Franklin smiled and said slowly, "Mr. Lu has now become a member of the United States of America, and this time he has brought such a huge order to our country, which has given our country's economy a glimmer of hope. This undoubtedly gives us hope of getting out of this economic crisis. For this reason, I specially invited him here, hoping that he can join us and contribute good ideas to saving the American economy."

After that, Franklin began to introduce everyone at the scene one by one. He pointed to Farley first, then turned to Lu Chenyan and said, "Mr. Farley, I don't think I need to say anything more to Mr. Lu."

Seeing this, Lu Chen quickly responded, "No need, no need." His words revealed a familiarity with Farley.

Then Franklin stretched out his arm, pointed in another direction, and introduced to Lu Chen with a smile:

"This is my good friend Mr. Morley, a famous professor at Columbia University Law School!"

Hearing this, Lu Chen couldn't help but have a little more respect for the gentle, bespectacled man in front of him.

Lu Chen politely nodded to Molly to show his greeting and respect. Then, Franklin pointed to the thin middle-aged man next to him and said, "This is my right-hand man, Mr. Louis."

Lu Chen still remembered this person clearly, because as early as when Franklin was a member of Congress, Louis had followed him. He could be said to be one of his loyal followers and an important member of his think tank.

After realizing that Louis might be helpful to him in the future, Lu Chen decided to take the initiative and actively establish a good relationship with him. So, with a smile on his face, he quickly stepped forward, shook Louis' hand very warmly and forcefully, and exchanged friendly greetings.

"Hello, Mr. Louis."

Louis also said with a smile on his face: "Mr. Lu, I have heard of your name for a long time! Mr. Franklin has mentioned you more than once. I see today that you are indeed worthy of your reputation."

After greeting Louis, Franklin enthusiastically introduced another person: "This is Mr. Johnson, who once served as an army colonel."

When Lu Chen heard this, he immediately gave Johnson a standard military salute. This action surprised Johnson very much, and he couldn't help but ask curiously: "Mr. Lu, are you also a soldier?"

Lu Chen smiled slightly and replied, "Mr. Johnson has a good eye! To be honest, I am still serving in the US military base in the Philippines and have been awarded the rank of major." There was a hint of pride and confidence in his tone.

Then, Franklin enthusiastically introduced the other people present to Lu Chen one by one. When everyone was introduced, Lu Chen couldn't help but feel a little suspicious. Because he found that most of these people were members of Franklin's think tank for future plans. So, Franklin specially invited him to come this time. Could it be that he intended to include him as a member of his think tank?

After Franklin finished his introduction, he smiled and motioned for everyone to start eating. After a hearty meal, Lu Chen followed Franklin into a spacious hall. After everyone found their seats, Franklin cleared his throat and said, "The purpose of gathering you all here today is to discuss the specific content of my next speech. I hope everyone will speak up and put forward valuable opinions so that we can discuss it in depth together."

Farley cleared his throat and said seriously, "In my opinion, in the next speech, we should take a moderate approach, take into account the interests and demands of the middle and lower classes, and actively win their support and support for us! After all, Hoover now emphasizes the implementation of assistance policies in the financial field such as banks and national debts, but has not really touched upon the actual difficulties faced by the lower classes of society. Therefore, only by winning this group of people over to our side can we enhance our strength!"

Morley nodded slightly to show his agreement, and then he put forward his own opinion: "Speaking of this, we have to talk about the recent popular 'expert governance theory'. This concept is deeply loved by the general public. If you can properly quote relevant views in your speech, perhaps it will resonate with more people."

However, Louis could not wait to stand up and refute: "I don't think it's right! These so-called experts only have a set of theories. In fact, they have no practical experience at all! Many of the suggestions they put forward are often just talk on paper and cannot be put into practice in the real world! If we quote these views in our speeches, won't those politicians mistakenly think that we are just like those experts, pure laymen? That would be bad!"

Colonel Johnson said seriously: "If you want to win the support of the people, then this group of veterans who are asking for relief will be a very good choice. These people have served the country, but were treated roughly by the Hoover administration and were ruthlessly expelled from the camp. They have suffered great trauma both physically and mentally."

Farley shook his head helplessly and responded, "I'm afraid this method won't work! If you want to win them over, you have to give them relief funds as compensation. However, their number of veterans is huge, there are millions of them. If all the subsidies are distributed to them, it will take at least billions of dollars. Judging from the current financial situation of the government, it is simply impossible to bear such a huge expenditure, and Congress will definitely not approve such a large sum of money."

While Johnson and Farley were arguing over whether to issue the subsidy, Franklin's eyes involuntarily turned to Lu Chen who was silent on the side.

Seeing Franklin's eyes cast towards him, Lu Chen was startled and quickly lowered his head, pretending not to notice. Are you kidding? That's a population of several million! It's definitely not comparable to a few hundred people. With his current financial resources, he simply can't afford the livelihood of such a large number of people.

Although he was reluctant to get involved in this dispute, Lu Chen knew clearly that Franklin invited him here because he wanted to use his experience in handling similar matters to solve the difficult problem at hand. If it weren't for the fact that he had successfully accepted more than 10,000 retired soldiers before, Franklin would never have easily approached him. So he might not be able to escape.

As expected, Franklin turned to look at Lu Chen and said, "Mr. Lu, you successfully received more than 10,000 veterans last year, and you know these veterans quite well. In your opinion, how should the placement of veterans be properly handled this time?"

When Lu Chen heard this, he immediately became angry and cursed inwardly. He thought to himself, what real experience do I have? Last time, I barely accepted 10,000 people. How can it be compared with the current situation involving millions of people?

Faced with such a difficult task, Lu Chen felt the pressure doubled, and for a moment he didn't know how to respond to Franklin's question. However, under the attention of everyone, he had to bite the bullet and think about a response. After thinking for a while, Lu Chen said:

"Mr. Franklin, it is difficult for any one person to properly resettle these millions of veterans. This is an arduous and complex task that requires concerted efforts from all sectors of society!" Mr. Lu responded earnestly.

Franklin smiled to show his understanding and agreement. He went on to say, "Mr. Lu, I know you are very wise, please don't misunderstand me. I don't want to put this heavy burden entirely on you. I just think that if you have any unique insights or good ideas, you might as well share them with us. Let's brainstorm and discuss together how to better solve this problem and see if it is feasible. After all, many hands make light work!" After that, Franklin looked at Mr. Lu expectantly.

Lu Chen said: "These veterans gathered together to ask for subsidies because they have no livelihood now. If the government can arrange some jobs for them, I think they will not be in a hurry to ask for the subsidies. In this way, they will not gather together to cause trouble."

After hearing Lu Chen's words, Molly showed a look of contempt and disdain, and sneered: "Of course we know that as long as we help these people solve their employment problems, they will naturally stop causing trouble. But now the economic environment is so bad, which company would be stupid enough to hire them? What you said is simply a bunch of nonsense!" After that, Molly rolled his eyes.

Franklin also stared at Lu Chen with doubt, thinking to himself: With Lu Chen's current status and wealth, it is impossible for him to have such superficial insights. If so, how did he accumulate such a huge fortune? With full of curiosity, Franklin asked Lu Chen:

"Mr. Lu, could you please elaborate on your idea a little more?"

Lu Chen smiled and replied calmly, "Such a large number of workers cannot be fully absorbed by ordinary factories alone. Only large-scale engineering projects can accommodate so many people, such as the construction of roads, dams, hydropower stations, reservoirs and other major infrastructure projects. Not only that, such projects can also promote the vigorous development of related industrial chains. In my opinion, this method may be able to properly solve the living difficulties of many veterans."