The thin smoke soon filled the small wooden house.

The handsome white man stopped and raised his head. The mustache in the middle position was extremely eye-catching: "Where are the people you trust? You have been out for three hours, and have you not got a ticket to leave San Diego?"

The two men who were smoking slowly looked up, one looked cold and the other was slightly loose.

The loose man put down his cigarette, took out a black pistol from his arms, and said in a low voice: "Mr. Tesla, don't be impatient. Our Carnegie Group has always been calm and reliable in doing business! It is as solid as the steel bridge we lay."

Leng Jun also flicked off the ashes, pulled apart the hem of his clothes, revealing the gun hood on his waist: "Don't worry, we will protect your safety, it's useless to be anxious now. Poderson is the local snake here, we have to choose to believe him! Wait."

That's right, this handsome white man is the weird scientist Nikola Tesla. He was born in 1856 and is 37 years old this year. In the words of later generations, it was the golden years of "academic explosion". However, at this moment, although his face is still handsome and elegant, layers of sad clouds seem to be embedded in his eyebrows, as if he was poisoned and could not be dissolved for a long time.

Those who know Tesla know this result well: Who made him offend Edison, the "King of Invention"?

Challenging Edison is like a graduate student in later generations who works against his supervisor. Not only can he not publish a paper, but he is even at risk of being dropped out of school!

Because of his persistence in AC electricity, Tesla was kicked out of Edison's company, but he was not discouraged and continued to work hard. Not only did he establish his own company in 1886, but he also became an American citizen on July 30 last year.

Good things are one after another, and even better news is coming. In the first quarter of this year, he received a notice that he was nominated for vice president of the American Electric Power Engineers Association!

This association is not very famous at this time, but if it is put a hundred years later, it will be the only choice for almost all science and engineering students to search papers: IEEE.

Although Tesla can't beat Edison, he is also a businessman who opens his own store. Therefore, he is bound to win the position of vice chairman of IEEE (not called this name now, for convenience. I will call it that way first)! With this position of vice chairman, he can promote his alternating power in the power circle, operate his own network, and clean up Edison's slander for himself in the past... In short, the benefits are so many.

However, before the election, Tesla got bad news from the IEEE circle: this election is highly likely to be a bribery campaign!!

As the name suggests, bribery is to spend money to attract votes. Several IEEE judges have come to Tesla and vaguely proposed: Whether you can be elected as vice chairman depends mainly on how much money you can pay.

I was finally nominated. How can I back down?

Tesla gritted his teeth and prepared to withdraw some of its own funds from its already insufficient funds to fill the desires of these hypocritical judges.

Unfortunately, Tesla once again underestimated the moral bottom line of these bribe-seekers, or to be precise, Edison's determination to kill him!

Edison has been paying attention to Tesla's movements. Based on his intelligence sources, he soon learned about the IEEE's election bribery. So Edison spent 5,000 US dollars to support his opponent running for vice chairman with Tesla. The purpose is obvious, that is, Tesla cannot become the vice chairman and is always suppressed by himself.

Tesla doesn't think about comparing financial resources with Edison. Five thousand dollars is just a drizzle for the chaebol, but for Tesla, it is undoubtedly an insurmountable mountain.

However, facing this "mountain", Tesla had no way out because he knew that it was too late for Edison to intervene in the election bribery. At this time, he had already spent a huge sum of 1,000 US dollars. If he retreated, he would not only not be the vice chairman, but even the huge sum of slap and slap would be lost!

The resentment towards Edison and the resentment of the judges who collected money on both sides made Tesla make a decision: fight to the end and raise the bet! Even if it sells the company, it will raise money and continue the battle of bribery!

Tesla vs Edison, if you use the scientific research genius of the two, it will probably be evenly matched, but if you spend money, Tesla's hope of winning is really slim.

Tesla contacted several friends and raised another 1,800 US dollars, but the gap between the 5,000 US dollars is still too big... Seeing that the election is getting closer, Tesla couldn't help but despair. Do you really want to sell the company to raise money? And the money raised may not necessarily win this battle of bribery... You know, Edison is not an NPC, and when he finds that 5,000 US dollars is not enough, he can add a bet at any time.

After thinking about it, Tesla's idea of ​​"can't swallow this" gained the upper hand and decided to sell the company!

Selling companies is not a random sale, there must be some particularity. Tesla has studied it. Although its company has unlimited potential, it will definitely not be able to sell well in the eastern United States, because the industries related to electricity are controlled by Edison and the super chaebol behind him. Here, Baiyu can only be sold at a bargain price.

The buyer Tesla chose was Carnegie, the Iron King who moved from Pittsburgh to California.

Tesla made this choice after careful consideration.

If it were the Iron and Steel Group before the relocation, Tesla might not have chosen it, but now Carnegie is a down-and-out Phoenix in the eyes of everyone. If you choose him as the buyer, Tesla believes that its company will definitely be able to sell at a good price.

A lean camel is also bigger than a horse, let alone a slightly down-and-out phoenix?

Tesla feels that its company will definitely be favored by Carnegie, and selling it for tens of thousands of dollars is not a luxury.

Yes, it's tens of thousands of dollars. Due to the vision, Tesla now feels that tens of thousands of dollars are already a large amount... This is not the same order of magnitude as Long Hao spends 100,000 million yuan in money.

After making a choice, you have to contact Carnegie. Unfortunately, Tesla's company is too small, even the smallest unit in Carnegie's Iron Kingdom is not as small as that of Carnegie's steel kingdom. Want to meet Carnegie? It's purely a dream!

What should I do if I can’t see it?

He could only entrust an agent, and while contacting, discussing, and waiting, Edison made efforts. He directly exposed Tesla's bribery of the IEEE judges, and also listed the crimes of Tesla's embezzlement, misappropriation, and embezzlement of Pittsburgh government property committed by Tesla during the relocation of the Carnegie Group... These are easy to be fabricated, and only one sentence of a big man in the Morgan consortium is enough.

For companies that dare to contact Carnegie Group, the Morgan Consortium has definitely killed the wrong person and has not let it go. Tesla is just a little person who has been leveraged by Edison and has suffered the disaster.

Caught off guard, Tesla had to flee hastily. He entrusted the company to the trusted agent, took some money, and hurried south to escape from America.

There is no need to mention the process of escape, and it is not necessary to mention the embarrassment. However, Tesla's life is fine. After all, bribery and greed... are not a serious crime. As long as Tesla leaves the United States, the Morgan Consortium will not be interested in trampling on a small frog to death.

Shortly after Tesla left the United States, he received news from his agent. Andrew Carnegie also seemed to have left the United States, with an unknown whereabouts.

At this time, it was about when the San Francisco Exchange had just opened and Carnegie took a boat to Australia to explore the White Whale Energy Group.

If you can't find Carnegie, the company will not be sold for a good price. Tesla is a little confused, and the limelight is tight at this time. Edison and Morgan do not send anyone to continue to arrest him, but it does not mean that he can turn around and return to China.

So Tesla kept the money in a tight spot and wandered around Central American countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, and Honduras, and refused to stay away from the United States.

Tesla really had some chance to wander around this.

The people from the field team found Tesla and told him that they could help Tesla clear the charges and return to the United States.

But the premise is that Tesla is required to join the field team's peripheral organizations to provide them with commercial intelligence.

Don’t get me wrong. The Field Team found Tesla not because it knew Long Hao’s order to recruit this big shot in the power field, but because... he offended the Morgan Consortium.

Not bad. When the field team approached Tesla, they treated him as a small person. Because the field team stared at Morgan, Rockefeller, DuPont and other super consortiums in the eastern part of the United States, according to the principle that the enemy is a friend. When the field team came to Tesla, they also wanted to win over an ally and have more people and more power.

The field team is the foundation, but the identity they revealed to Tesla is: Bear Invincible (BH) security company.

The reason given to Tesla is: If BH wants to enter the business field, it needs various types of commercial companies to provide them with business secrets and transaction updates. You are lucky to be selected!

However, Tesla thought about it, but did not agree immediately.

Although Tesla hates Edison, he is being affected by the aftermath of the election bribery incident, so he is still quite disgusted with the "business spy" job.

Although the conditions provided by BH are very attractive, Tesla still said it would think more about it.

A conceited scientist turns into a commercial spy who sells intelligence. The mental journey of this transformation will definitely not be short.

Of course, the main reason is that Tesla is not at the end of its reach at this moment. He still has a company and hopes to contact Carnegie. After all, his agent is still working hard in the United States for him!

BH's contact person is of high quality and does not blame Tesla's politeness for refusal.

The fact that we are willing to win over external intelligence spies is originally a matter of mutual affection. As the saying goes, business is unsuccessful. In order to create a good reputation, the contact person of BH also kindly expressed that he was willing to arrange for Tesla to meet Mr. Andrew Carnegie.

When Tesla heard about this, he was overjoyed. He felt a little guilty when he was feeling a little bit over BH.

Who is Carnegie?

That is a legend, the king of steel!

He clearly rejected the other party, but the other party still used his energy to arrange for him to meet with the Iron King, a "fugitive".

Such a favor is really heavy!

In fact, Tesla misunderstood. The arrangement for BH to contact the person was not intentional, but a pure coincidence. It was considered that Tesla was lucky and caught up.

Because Carnegie and her daughter were returning from Australia, the destination on the way was Tesla's city: Costa Rica, Port Puntarenas.

Costa Rica is a country that is peaceful and stable and advocates democracy among Central American countries. Therefore, most merchant ships and fugitives in other countries choose to stay here to take refuge.

Carnegie heard about the San Francisco blockade crisis and came back to inquire by boat. When she was resting in Port Puntarenas, she contacted BH's stationed personnel here.

It can be said that the meeting between Carnegie and Tesla was a coincidence and a fateful arrangement...

After the meeting, Carnegie turned around and returned to Australia (Long Hao means), while Tesla was energetic!

Why?

Because Carnegie's generation hero recognized Tesla's value, gave his company an amazing acquisition price, and invited Tesla to resolve the troubles in the United States (those messy charges) and went to San Francisco to find him.

It was recognized by the Iron King. Tesla inhaled a breath of refreshing cool air. The haze brought by this dark day of escape was wiped out: the purchase price of 50,000 US dollars! And it also allowed itself to retain the company's operating rights!

This is like getting an angel fund in later generations and not interfering in your own development plan!

How happy should this be for a science master dedicated to promoting AC electricity?

Tesla, shrouded in happiness, immediately sent a telegram to the agent who stayed in the United States to inform the good news.

However, things in the world are always bloody, and the bloody level is even better than the dark Murphy's Law (Note: If you don't understand, please don't get water here...). It's smooth sailing. Hello, I, good things for everyone, are limited to fairy tales.

Following this law, the follow-up of Tesla's good news is bad news, and the bad news that instantly causes our electric monster to fall from the Nine Heavens of the Sun to the cold cave!

The American agent mortgaged Tesla's company...

For this reason, Tesla spent twenty dollars to rent a telephone line and spent two minutes furiously questioning the unreliable agent!

"Trumen, you're crazy? The company is mortgaged. Are your head full of maggots?"

"Nicolah, don't scold people, do you know, how much did I mortgage? You must not guess that I mortgaged 17,000 yuan for your company that no one wants, and it's a total of 17,000 dollars! Haha. Am I very awesome?"

"You're so amazing! You have a maggot in your asshole, do you know who I've met? Carnegie, Andrew Carne's basic person! Do you know how much I sold the company? 50,000, TM's 50,000 US dollars! In comparison, your 17,000 US dollars is a fart, or a fart with the smell of maggots!"

“…”

"You can't speak anymore? Tell you, I'll withdraw the mortgage for me, and then prepare the corresponding procedures. According to this contact information, transfer the company to the card for me..."

"Yes, sorry, Nicholas!" The agent Truman interrupted in the middle, and the sound of swallowing could almost reveal from the phone receiver: "The mortgage, withdraw, cannot be withdrawn..."

"Why?"

The quiet telephone office was suddenly alarmed by an octave-high voice.

"Because...the money has been invested in the stock market!"

"What, what?"

Another high octave sound line, and then... there was no more, because Tesla was bombarded by the manager of the telephone bureau.

Afterwards, Tesla spent several telegrams and finally found out that his agent Truman had used the mortgage company's money to speculate in the stock market. To be precise, it was betting that the Earl's sector collapsed and profited from the bombardment crisis!
To be continued...