After the plane taking off from New York landed at the Havana airport, a private car provided by the hotel was waiting beside the runway inside the airport.
As soon as the passengers got off the plane, a driver stepped forward to greet them and help carry their luggage.
One could be certain that a hotel capable of driving private cars onto the airport runway was definitely not cheap.
However, Li Yi’an did not care about the price of the hotel.
One thing was certain: when you are unfamiliar with a place and its people, staying in a high-end hotel is definitely the right choice.
At least you don’t have to worry about safety issues.
When the car arrived at the Hotel Nacional, Li Yi’an found he had even less to worry about—not only was the hotel located in the bustling downtown area, but it was also a typical luxury hotel.
In fact, it was true.
The Hotel Nacional de Cuba was not only luxurious, but its shareholders were mostly Cuban elites and ultra-rich Americans.
Because of this, its private cars could drive right up to the airport runway.
But this had little to do with Li Yi’an.
After all, he came to Havana this time to open up trade routes.
After checking into the Hotel Nacional, Li Yi’an took a car to the Legation.
The so-called Legation was actually just a small building.
In fact, even this building was donated by local overseas Chinese.
Before the War of Resistance, the Minister to Cuba was always a concurrent post held by the Minister to the US.
After the war broke out, to raise donations from overseas Chinese, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent a full-time Minister.
Since Li Dijun assumed office as the Plenipotentiary Minister to Cuba, his daily task had been to raise donations.
After all, for the domestically collapsed economy, after Nanyang was occupied by the Japanese army, Cuba, with its hundreds of thousands of overseas Chinese, became the most important source of overseas remittances and donations.
As usual, just as he was racking his brains thinking about how to raise donations, a guest came to visit over there.
The person who came was none other than Li Yi’an.
“Junior pays respects to Minister Li.”
Because of his relationship with Li Guoren, seeing Li Dijun, he naturally had to show the etiquette of a junior.
“Zhiyuan, no need to be polite.
Before you came, Guoren sent a telegram.
I didn’t expect you to arrive so quickly.
Did you fly over?”
Right now, anyone who could afford a flight ticket costing several hundred dollars was definitely a rich person.
Should I ask him for donations?
But he is my nephew’s friend, after all.
Moreover, I shouldn’t urge him to donate right from the start.
“Yes, after all, the seas are engulfed in the flames of war right now, so taking a plane is more convenient.”
“You are Guoren’s friend.
Having arrived here, whatever help your uncle can provide, I definitely will.
However, worthy nephew…”
Pausing for a moment, he said.
“Currently, although commerce and trade in Cuba have great potential, wartime is not like peacetime. Read this novel at novelping.com for the best experience.
If you want to trade in Cuba right now, you absolutely must have ships.
Although Cuba’s sea routes are not cut off, merchant ships are very tight.
Those ships are either controlled by American companies, or by…”
Before Li Dijun could finish, Li Yi’an said.
“To tell you the truth, Uncle Li, among the people this junior knows, there is someone who can help me solve some transport capacity issues.
Well, although it’s not a lot, shipping ten thousand tons a month is still doable.”
“What!
Ten thousand tons!”
Li Dijun suddenly stood up, looked at Li Yi’an and said excitedly.
“Is this true!”
“Yes, at least four or five thousand tons is still doable.”
“That’s good, that’s good…”
Rubbing his hands together excitedly, Li Dijun asked directly.
“I wonder if worthy nephew is interested in transporting and selling cane sugar?”
“Cane sugar…
this, this…”
Seeing that Li Yi’an seemed a bit troubled, Li Dijun said.
“Worthy nephew probably doesn’t know, right now the most profitable thing in Cuba is cane sugar.”
With that said, he continued to explain.
“Worthy nephew should know that cane sugar is the pillar of Cuba’s economy.
Eight or nine out of ten of Cuba’s agriculture is based on cane sugar planting.
Since the outbreak of the war, cane sugar from places like Hawaii and the Philippines has been cut off, and the price of sugar has skyrocketed to 20 cents per kilogram.
Therefore, cane sugar production has been continuously increasing.
Currently, the annual output is no less than 7.3 million tons!”
“Wait, what is the current price of sugar?”
Li Yi’an asked somewhat in astonishment.
“20 cents per kilogram, maybe slightly lower.”
Li Dijun continued.
“In the past, Cuba’s sugar industry was almost entirely controlled by Americans, and it was hard for outsiders to enter.
Since the outbreak of the war, because the price of sugar skyrocketed, and to stimulate official Cuban encouragement for the development of the sugar industry, some Chinese merchants started getting involved in the sugar industry.
But unexpectedly, American companies used their monopoly over shipping to demand that Chinese merchants sell the sugar to them at a low price.
Right now, all the Chinese merchants who invested in the sugar industry are suffering deeply from this.
If worthy nephew has ships, it could exactly solve the urgent need of our compatriots!”
Of course, if he, as the Minister, could help his compatriots solve this matter, he could naturally openly and honorably urge them to donate.
After all, the domestic war was raging, and donations from all walks of life were urgently needed.
20 cents per kilogram!
One kilogram equals 2.2 pounds, which is roughly 10 cents a pound.
55 cents!
On the black market, it can reach 1 dollar!
Doesn’t this mean a 10-fold profit!
How does the saying go?
With a 100% profit, capitalists will brave the danger of the gallows.
And this is 1000%!
Because Li Yi’an was solely focused on calculating the profits of sugar, seeing him not speaking, Li Dijun hurriedly said again.
“Does worthy nephew have some difficulties?”
“Difficulties…”
Thinking for a moment, Li Yi’an said.
“For the sake of our compatriots, what difficulty could there be!”
One sentence made Li Dijun burst with excitement, saying repeatedly.
“Worthy nephew has high righteousness, worthy nephew has high righteousness.
I wonder where worthy nephew is staying now.
Tomorrow I will bring several overseas Chinese merchants to visit worthy nephew.”
After speaking, Li Dijun asked about his residence again.
Upon learning that he was staying at the Hotel Nacional, the way he looked at him changed a bit.
It couldn’t be helped; everyone knew that the biggest characteristic of the Hotel Nacional was…
expensive!
Expensive!
It was indeed very expensive.
A steak cost 5 dollars.
Dollars in this era weren’t paper, they were gold!
However, compared to a certain place where fried rice cost 698, one could only say the Cubans weren’t greedy enough.
Although the price wasn’t cheap, the service was indeed very good.
Unlike the various controls in the US, there were no controls in Havana.
As long as you had money, you could enjoy everything.
Even while Americans were living frugally for the Allied cause, American beef was still being shipped by the boatload to Cuba.
It couldn’t be helped, Cubans had to eat meat too, and of course, they also drank alcohol.
American beef, French wine…
It’s just a pity there were no British waiters, otherwise it would be three major powers serving him simultaneously.
After spending a dozen dollars on a meal, the idle Li Yi’an glanced at the beautiful Cuban women sitting by the bar with longing eyes, and then left the restaurant.
He didn’t walk towards the casino like many others.
Instead, he returned to his room.
After all, after a long journey, a person will get tired.
He even turned a blind eye to those passionate Cuban women.
There will be plenty of time for that later…