When a financial storm broke out in the Far East, Wang Chenhao's fleet was docking at the dock of the Saronik Bay Port in Athens. As before, all the members of the salvage team were busy auctioning the antique artifacts on the ship.

Wang Chenhao originally planned to stay in Athens for one day and set off at night. However, because King George I of Athens yearned for ancient Chinese culture, he was very interested in Wang Chenhao's auction of antique artifacts from the Tang and Song dynasties in China. With his help, Wang Chenhao's auction income in Athens increased by 200,000 pounds. To express his gratitude, Wang Chenhao stayed in Athens for one more day and visited George I's palace and some famous buildings in the city of Athens. Wang Chenhao gave George I several exquisite porcelains in return, in order to receive George I's hospitality in the palace of Athens.

April 6, 1896 was the time when the first modern Olympics was held in Athens, Greece, the hometown of the Olympics. At that time, 311 athletes from 13 countries will participate in the Olympics. At the invitation of King George I of Athens, Wang Chenhao, on behalf of the Qing Empire, promised him to send a team to participate in the first modern Olympics of Athens. King George I of Greece was very happy.

Since Wang Chenhao had no time to stay in Athens and wait for the Olympics, Wang Chenhao asked the Qing Empire Consulate General in Eastern Europe to draw a consulate, several embassy staff, and some students studying in Eastern European countries to form a 20-person team to go to Athens to participate in the Olympics. The funds required for the team were borne by Wang Chenhao alone.

On March 20, Wang Chenhao left Athens, and his fleet sailed on the pleasant Mediterranean Sea. He visited Naples, Rome, France's most developed Mediterranean city, Toulon, and Spain's Cartagena. A week later, he entered the Atlantic Ocean through Gibraltar controlled by the British.

Subsequently, Wang Chenhao's fleet advanced along the Bay of Biscay on the coast of Western Europe along the Atlantic Ocean, and successively docked in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, the largest city on the Atlantic Ocean, La Corunia, and Brest in France. Finally, he entered the English Channel to dock at the Portsmouth Port, the most important shipbuilding and naval base in Britain. There, Wang Chenhao visited the two under construction of the Dengyun-class battleships, the Dungyun-class and the Thuyun-class armored cruiser, and the Haiqi-class armored cruiser that Wang Chenhao paid for his own money. The materials and equipment required for the construction of her sister ship Haitian have arrived in Gaochang Temple in Shanghai. At this time, Wang Chenhao's Shanghai Ship Heavy Industry was constructing by himself. Wei Han and the shipyard engineers were learning the relevant shipbuilding technology and experience of the Haiqi-class armored cruiser sent by the British as apprentices.

When Wang Chenhao arrived in Portsmouth, a large team of 600 international students sent by Shanghai Shipbuilding Heavy Industry were learning relevant shipbuilding knowledge and technology in the shipyard. They were composed of students recruited by Wang Chenhao from Tianjin Naval Academy, Jiangnan Naval Academy, Fuzhou Naval Academy and Guangzhou Huangpu Naval Academy. Among them, there were both front hall manufacturing classes who specialized in ship construction and learning, as well as back hall driving classes who specialized in the pilot ship driving and reserve officers who would be on board for service in the future. They also came to the shipyard to learn to be familiar with the overall construction process of warships, so that they could accurately judge various damages and problems of warships when commanding warships in the future and improve the comprehensive capabilities of commanders at all levels.

Among these students from the four major naval naval schools, there are a large number of future naval celebrities. Such as Lin Jianzhang, Du Xigui, Wang Shouchang, Chen Qingping, Gao Erqian, You Xuekai, Chen Changling, Lin Fan, Chen Jiliang, Chen Shaokuan, Zhao Sheng, etc., they are all pillars of the country's future.

Among them, young naval officers represented by Lin Jianzhang and Du Xigui will not only learn about ship knowledge and technology, but also study at the Royal Naval School for one to two years. Their expenses are all funded in Wang Chenhao's personal name. These international officers will naturally become Wang Chenhao's wings after returning to China after completing their studies.

When Li Jingfang was young, he was promoted to ambassador to the UK, so he naturally took care of all Wang Chenhao's itinerary in the UK.

As the world's third largest economy, the UK's huge wealth averages 29.3 million, making the UK's per capita wealth ranked first in the world and one of the richest countries in the world. Wang Chenhao naturally would not miss the opportunity to pass by the UK. He still has more than 60,000 antiques. He is planning to sell 40,000 pieces at the largest auction house in London, the richest UK, and then sell the remaining 20,000 pieces at the Amsterdam Auction House in the Netherlands, and then happily go to St. Petersburg with a huge sum of money to attend the coronation ceremony of Tsar Nicholas II.

Li Jingfang received a telegram from Wang Chenhao half a month ago, and he had already done the matter of Wang Chenhao asking him to help contact the London Auction House.

The London Auction House, founded in 1659, is the largest auction house in the UK. The bank auctions more than 300,000 antiques and rare treasures every year, with a transaction volume of more than 100 million pounds. The handling fee of such a large auction house costs 30% of the profit, but its extensive connections and sales channels can increase the price of auction items by 30% to 40%. For Wang Chenhao, he is still making money, which is the result he hopes.

The London auction house has a very strong publicity. As an international financial center, London has gathered countless wealthy families and wealthy businessmen. For them, their spending money makes them prefer to collect antiques and cultural relics. The older they are, the happier they are. The large number of antiques from the Tang and Song dynasties in Wang Chenhao's hands are in line with their appetites. Although the treacherous auction house owners increased the auction floor price by 30% to 40% or even several times, these rich people don't care at all, and even the more expensive they like them. In this atmosphere, the goods in Wang Chenhao's hands were basically sold at a good price. Wang Chenhao originally planned to only sell 40,000 pieces, and the other 20,000 pieces were taken to Amsterdam. However, under the persuasion of the auction house owner, Wang Chenhao also sold the remaining 20,000 pieces in London. In return, the London auction house only charged 20,000 pieces this time.

The London market can completely eat all the goods left by Wang Chenhao, so Wang Chenhao canceled his trip to the Netherlands and Germany. However, the London auction house needs time to promote the auction items and notify celebrities outside London. This takes two weeks, so Wang Chenhao will stay in London for two weeks until the auction is over before going to St. Petersburg. According to the auction estimate provided by the owner of the auction house, Wang Chenhao's last more than 60,000 antiques will receive an income of about 13 million pounds because they are the final high-value antiques. At that time, Wang Chenhao's shipwreck treasure salvaged out of the water will receive a huge income of 30 million pounds. Wang Chenhao was excited about this and did not sleep for one night.

During his stay in London, Wang Chenhao received telegrams from China. In addition to Wang Shizhen reporting about the situation of the Beiyang New Army, there were also some things about Zhili Steel Company. Overall, it was operating well and was not affected by Wang Chenhao's departure. Among them, the first phase of Zhili Steel Company was progressing rapidly. At present, several iron ore mining factories and coke plants have been built and operated. Ninety percent of the blast furnaces of the iron smelting plant have been completed, and more than half of them can produce molten iron. The infrastructure of the blast furnace of the most important steel smelting plant has been completed, and the second phase of the project is expected to be completed one month ahead of schedule.

Beiyang Ordnance and Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry are also under construction as planned and will be renovated before the end of the year.

Tang Shaoyi called and said that the American Banking Industry has completed its restructuring. Due to its good credit in New York and excellent management of the new president, Geddener, has led to a continuous increase in bank deposits. Currently, the bank reserve funds have reached 100 million US dollars. Geddener suggested entering Wall Street and purchasing a piece of land on Wall Street to establish the Bank of America headquarters building to increase influence and popularity.

As we all know, Wall Street in New York, USA is the most prosperous and luxurious street. There are tall buildings on both sides of the street, all of which are real estate of corporate giants from the United States and Europe. The turnover on that street is far lower than sales, and all companies are in losses. However, the advertising effect there is very good. Being able to buy a piece of land there and set up a company landmark is extremely beneficial to the company's future development. Therefore, major corporate giants purchase land properties on Wall Street at all costs, just to make a name for themselves.

Wang Chenhao knew the effect of advertising, and if he wanted to make the company bigger and stronger, he had to spend all his money on advertising. Therefore, Wang Chenhao agreed to Gdener's suggestion and invested $7 million to purchase a 24-story 300,000 square meter business office building at 66 Wall Street as the headquarters of Bank of America. During this period, the tallest building on Wall Street was the 28-story Morgan Building of the Morgan Consortium.

Wang Chenhao was very open-minded. He knew that the land on Wall Street would continue to grow wildly, especially after World War I, it would become the world's financial center. Therefore, Wang Chenhao supported buying land on Wall Street, and even had the idea of ​​going to the United States to speculate on land in his mind.

Well, Wang Chenhao admitted that he had fallen into the money eye.
Chapter completed!