novelSusiti Chapter 310 The Shock of Future Technology
Chapter 310 The Shock of Future Technology
Chapter 310 The Shock of Future Technology
The air in the card room thickened the moment J.P. Morgan opened the report.
The smoke from burning cigars swirled upwards, gathering into a cloud under the crystal chandelier, blurring everyone's faces. The other three tycoons at the card table, along with the American ambassador Bayard, held their breath, their eyes all fixed on Morgan's unpredictable expression.
Time passed by, second by second.
Morgan looked at it very slowly and very carefully.
His sharp eyes scanned every word and every piece of data in the report, word by word.
His expression also began to change visibly.
From initial caution, to astonishment in the middle, and finally to shock.
His breathing became heavier.
This report completely exceeded his expectations!
There isn't a single empty theory or unrealistic fantasy in it. The whole thing is filled with cold, irrefutable data and a business model that's outrageously clear.
The first part of the report uses the simplest language and mathematical formulas to illustrate the overwhelming advantage of alternating current over direct current in long-distance transmission.
—"By using a combination of step-up and step-down transformers, the voltage can be increased to one hundred times that of the current DC system, while the transmission loss is reduced to less than one percent of that."
"————It is estimated that the cost of laying each mile of high-voltage power line will be reduced by more than 60% in copper consumption————"
If this part was merely a technical crushing victory, then the second part of the report sent a chill down the spine of Morgan, the financial tycoon.
That was a complete business closed-loop concept that far surpassed the current era.
It started with the establishment of large hydroelectric or thermal power plants as energy sources, then moved to high-voltage transmission networks to deliver electricity cheaply to cities and industrial areas hundreds of miles away, and finally to the establishment of standardized community substations to bring electricity to every household.
This is no longer a technical report.
This is a business plan that could revolutionize the entire power industry! It's a map to divide up the wealth of the future world!
The report even included a detailed cost breakdown at the end.
It accurately calculated that if this alternating current system were used to light up the entire city of New York, the cost would be 40 percent lower than Edison's solution!
This 40% profit margin is enough to create a super empire that is far larger than railroads, steel, and everything the Morgan Group currently owns!
"Snapped!"
Morgan slammed the report shut with a sharp crack.
Everyone in the card room was startled by the noise.
He raised his head, his eyes burning with a fierce flame. He stared intently at Constantine, his voice hoarse with excitement, carrying an irresistible sense of pressure.
"Who wrote this report?"
This is not a question, it is an interrogation.
Like a dragon that has discovered a great treasure, questioning the person who offered it to him.
Constantine's face remained calm. He reached out and took the report back from Morgan with an elegant and composed movement.
"A genius forgotten by the world." He put the report back into his briefcase. "Now, he's working for me."
Morgan's pupils contracted slightly at this answer.
He understood. The patent for this technology, and the genius himself, were firmly in the hands of the young Greek crown prince before him.
Constantine didn't give Morgan much time to be shocked or think.
He took out a second document from his briefcase, also wrapped in kraft paper, and gently placed it on the table.
This time, everyone's gaze in the room was fixed on the new document, like iron filings attracted by a magnet.
“Mr. Morgan,” Constantine’s voice slowed, with a strange guiding quality, “if you find electricity interesting, then I can only say that it is at best an appetizer.”
He extended his finger and tapped lightly on the new document.
"The real main course is here."
Morgan's gaze fell on the cover of the second report.
The title above was even more shocking and subversive than the previous one, "Alternating Current".
A prospective analysis of the geological structure of the Aegean continental shelf and the potential offshore oil reserves.
oil!
Morgan's heart skipped a beat!
He quickly picked up the report and roughly tore open the cover.
There were no complicated mathematical formulas inside, but rather several hand-drawn, yet exceptionally clear, geological cross-sections.
The map uses lines of different colors to mark the sedimentary rock layers, anticline structures, and impermeable layers that stretch for hundreds of kilometers beneath the seabed.
These geological terms were not unfamiliar to Morgan, whose consortium had also invested in oil wells in Pennsylvania and Texas.
But what's amazing about this report is that it uses a completely new theory that he has never seen before to directly equate these geological formations with "oil reserves"!
Constantine re-derived the mature "petroleum geology" theory of later generations using language and logic that could be understood in this era.
He even precisely marked several specific coordinate points on the map with red crosses.
The northern waters of Thassos Island.
Kavala Bay.
That is the location of the Prinos oil field and the North Aegean Sea oil field, which later became the most famous oil fields in Greece!
The report concluded with a declarative passage, like the devil's whisper, echoing in Morgan's ears.
"The era of coal is slowly coming to an end. The driving force of the next century will no longer come from the hard black rocks underground, but from the black blood flowing deep underground. The next century will be the century of oil."
"Whoever controls oil controls the factories of the future, the fleets of the future, the wars of the future, and—the world's hegemony of the future."
"And now, there is a potential oil treasure trove that no one has ever touched. It is not in the distant Middle Eastern desert, nor in the icy Caucasus of Russia, but in the heart of Europe, beneath the blue waves of the Aegean Sea in Greece."
Morgan's breathing became rapid and heavy.
His huge, purplish-red nostrils were flapping violently.
He stared intently at the geological maps, as if the lines and words were no longer before his eyes.
Instead, towering derricks were spewing out viscous, gleaming black gold from the azure sea!
A coal shipping route not controlled by the British Royal Navy, an oil field in Baku unaffected by the Russian Tsar—a completely new...
An independent energy empire located in the heart of the Mediterranean!
The only key to this future empire is in the hands of this excessively young crown prince!
"boom!"
Morgan felt an irrepressible surge of fervor.
He suddenly raised his head, his eyes no longer showing any contempt or caution.
Instead, there is the greed and desire of a top predator when it discovers a rich hunting ground that has never been touched before!
He no longer had any doubts.
He saw a brand new, perfect investment paradise, free from the control of any old European powers!
"Your Highness."
Morgan spoke, his voice hoarse and dry from extreme excitement.
What do you want?
"How should we cooperate?"