1929 I am a chaebol in the United States

Chapter 325 Confirmation of Road Construction

Lu Chen was very surprised by Fu Mingzhuo's arrival. Fu Mingzhuo was a busy man, and he had not come to his house many times. He didn't know what he came here for this time.

Full of doubts, Lu Chen pulled Fu Mingzhuo aside and asked him.

"Mingzhuo, you came to me this time. Is there something going on at the factory?"

After saying that, Lu Chen looked at Fu Mingzhuo with a nervous look on his face, fearing that Fu Mingzhuo would say some shocking bad news. At the same time, he was praying in his heart, hoping that it would not affect his road construction.

Fu Mingzhuo glanced at Lu Chen and said, "I came here to see what you are up to. You are hiring a few chefs. Are you planning to have a wedding? Xiaochen, let me tell you, if you dare to get married without permission, your parents will beat you to death."

Hearing that Fu Mingzhuo was not here to cause trouble, Lu Chen felt relieved. He smiled and said:

"How can I get married secretly? I don't even have a girlfriend right now."

As he spoke, Lu Chen brought Fu Mingzhuo into the villa.

After entering the villa, Fu Mingzhuo saw Dio and others sitting in the living room. He immediately realized that he might have misunderstood Lu Chen this time, but after a moment he realized that he had come to the right place today. Lu Chen was probably going to spend money again. He must keep an eye on him and not let him spend money lavishly again.

Seeing Lu Chen enter the room, Adams couldn't wait to ask Lu Chen:

"Lu Chen, do you really have a way to reduce the cost of road construction?"

Lu Chen nodded and said, "I'm sure I have a way."

Adams continued, "How much can you reduce the cost to?"

Lu Chen didn't rush to answer Adams. He smiled and said:

"Adams, I will answer this question later. Let me ask you a question first."

Adams asked, "What's the problem?"

“It’s how you deal with the slag from your steel plant.”

Adams said: "What else can we do with it? Just throw it away."

Lu Chen said: "That means the slag is worthless."

Adams pouted and said, "Why, you want it? If you want me to have someone deliver it to you directly, you don't even need to pay for the shipping."

Lu Chen smiled and said, "Adams, if I can find a way to build roads with slag, wouldn't the cost be much lower than using wood and stones to build roads?"

Adams looked at Lu Chen in surprise, thought for a moment and said:

"But the slag from my steel mill can't meet your needs. A highway of several hundred kilometers requires a lot of slag."

Lu Chen smiled and said, "You are not the only steel company in the United States. If I tell those steel mills that I have a way to process slag, and the cost is very low, do you think they will be willing to give me the slag?"

Adams smiled and said, "Those steel mills will definitely be willing to give you the slag. They would also be willing to give you some money. After all, it costs a lot of money to rent a piece of land to store the slag in a year."

Dio said beside him: "Lu Chen, using slag to build roads can indeed save a lot of money, but processing the slag into usable materials should cost a lot."

Lu Chen waved his hand and said, "It doesn't cost much. All you need is a large crusher. After processing, you can just add cement and other materials and pave the road. This kind of road is stronger than those paved with concrete. The number of maintenance in the future will also be much less."

Dio thought for a moment and nodded. He looked at Lu Chen and said:

"Lu Chen, you didn't ask us to come here today just for this idea, did you? I don't believe that you want us to build the road with you just for this idea."

Lu Chen smiled and said, "I definitely didn't call you all here just for this matter. I called you all here because I want to discuss something with you."

Dio said, "What's going on?"

Lu Chen said: "I want all the roads we build to be toll-free."

Duncan, who had been silent until now, stood up and said, "How can this be possible? If we don't collect tolls, the money we spent on road construction will be wasted."

Lu Chen smiled and said, "It will definitely not be in vain. If we don't collect the toll, we can make up for it from other places."

Dio said: "Lu Chen, tell me in detail."

"As we all know, the railway system in the United States is already very complete. Basically every major city can be reached by rail."

Dio and others nodded. The railway network in the United States is indeed quite complete.

Seeing that everyone agreed with his statement, Lu Chen continued:

"Look at the highway system in the United States. It is relatively backward compared to the railways. There are only a few highways and most of them are dirt roads."

"Compared with railways, our advantages are much less. In addition, train tickets are much cheaper than the cost of driving a car, which makes many people unwilling to drive long distances."

After hearing this, Dio and the others nodded again.

Lu Chen took a sip of water and continued, "If we still charge tolls at this time, I don't think many people will be willing to drive on the road we built. After all, you can still go to where you want to go by train."

"So we let those cars run on this road we built for free, which is a highlight to attract those car owners. Then we will build more gas stations, hotels and restaurants on the road. If we raise the prices appropriately, the loss of tolls will be recovered!"

After listening for a while, several people nodded and thought that Lu Chen's idea was very good.

Seeing that everyone agreed with his idea, Lu Chen was very happy and said, "In that case, let's discuss how much we are each prepared to contribute to build this road."

Soon, everyone decided on their own investment amount. After estimation, Lu Chen himself would need to invest nearly 20 million. Hearing that Lu Chen was going to spend such a large sum of money again, Fu Mingzhuo could not sit still. He quickly pulled Lu Chen aside and whispered to Lu Chen:

"Xiaochen, the company still has so much money..."

Hearing Fu Mingzhuo talking about money, Lu Chen quickly stopped Fu Mingzhuo from speaking. He said:

"Mingzhuo, don't worry about the money. I won't use the company's money."

After saying that, Lu Chen returned to his seat and continued to discuss the road construction with Dio and the others.