"20% of the shares of Yili Railway Company is beyond my authority. I can only grant you 10% of the shares at most. For this 10% of shares, I still need to fight for it on the board of directors."

James said with an embarrassed look on his face.

"As for the transfer of the railroad line from Chicago to Cleveland, I can agree to it now."

Although the value of Yili Railway Company's shares is shrinking, many shareholders have already thought of selling their shares, but 20% of the shares is simply too much.

James may not be able to convince shareholders to give up so many shares.

Even James himself holds only 11% of the shares of the Erie Railroad Company, while Fish holds 8%.

Neither James nor Fish held a combined 20% stake in the Erie Railroad.

The railroad route from Chicago to Cleveland, given that the authorized railroad routes of Liang Yao's Delaware and Hudson Railroad Company are currently limited to several coastal states, does not have a direct competitive relationship with the routes controlled by the Erie Railroad Company.

After thinking about it, James and Fish agreed happily.

With their connections, it would not be difficult to apply for another rail line between Chicago and Cleveland.

Of course, the reason why James and Fish were so happy was that neither of them knew that Liang Yao had plans to acquire the Baltimore-Ohio Railroad Company.

If they knew about Liang Yao's acquisition plan, they would never agree to Liang Yao's conditions and transfer the railway line between Chicago and Cleveland to Liang Yao, creating a strong competitor for themselves.

James and Fish agreed to transfer the railway line between Chicago and Cleveland, which made Liang Yao ecstatic.

However, he still doesn't want to make too big concessions in terms of shares.

"10% of the shares is far from my expectations. My bottom line is 15%. If it is lower than this ratio, the negotiation between us will stop here." Liang Yao's attitude is very tough.

James and Fish wanted to continue fighting for it, but Liang Yao still insisted and refused to let go, so they had no choice but to agree to Liang Yao's request.

"Okay, after we go back, we will convince the shareholders of the Yili Railway Company to get 15% of the shares for you." The two said.

"I have one more thing to ask for your help." Liang Yao stood up from his seat, "Bank of America wants to open a branch in New York, and opening a branch requires authorization from the local state government. I hope you can help me get it.

Get this permission."

The market in California is limited. If Bank of America is limited to a corner of California, the upper limit will not be high in the future.

If Bank of America wants to grow bigger, it must expand its business to the broader eastern market, and New York is the largest financial market in the United States and the most suitable city for opening branches and expanding business.

"No problem, it's easy."

Fish agreed. With his connections and influence, it was very easy to obtain a bank authorization in New York State.

Ideological issues are not unique to the establishment of the first socialist country in the 20th century.

There were also ideological issues in the 19th century, but the ideological issue in this period was the ideological issue between monarchy and republic.

Americans are proud that their country is a powerful modern republic in the world and believe that this system is advanced and unparalleled.

The republic is the most perfect system among the existing political systems in human society.

In the middle of the 19th century, republicanism was not yet mainstream. There were not many countries that adopted republicanism, and even fewer big and powerful countries.

The monarchy prevalent in most countries in Europe and Asia was the mainstream in the 19th century. Even in France, President Louis Bonaparte declared himself Napoleon III, the French Emperor.

Next year, the president of the Second French Republic will abolish the republic and restore the monarchy, becoming the first emperor of the Second French Empire.

The Polaris was launched from the Simonson Shipyard and towed by tugboats to the pier of the Allaire factory for assembly of two huge engines.

The entire process attracted onlookers and cheers from the American people, who were excited and proud of this behemoth that was about to be launched into the water.

Because this is the pride of the United States, and the level of American shipbuilding has reached a whole new level!

The United States, which was only founded 75 years ago, is now able to independently manufacture large steamships that are comparable to those of Britain and France!

The upcoming completion of the Polaris and the display of the Pioneer have become the hottest topics in the United States.

The prestige of Vanderbilt and Liang Yao, the two super rich Americans, has also increased in the minds of the American people.

In order to cater to public sentiment, the "New York Evening Post" launched America's most popular billionaire voting event at the right time.

In this event, Vanderbilt topped the list, followed closely by Liang Yao, who ranked second.

Liang Yao is not interested in the rankings of the New York Evening Post. This is not because he is number one on the list or because he thinks the list is not authoritative.

On the contrary, he agrees with this list.

Steamships were the largest, most complex, and most expensive industrial products of our era.

If the Polar Star can be successfully tested, the United States will become the third country after the United Kingdom and France to independently manufacture steamships with a displacement of more than 2,500 tons.

All of this is the result of decades of hard work and accumulation in the shipbuilding industry by outstanding American entrepreneurs like Vanderbilt.

For this reason alone, Vanderbilt deserves the title of America's most popular billionaire.

Although Vanderbilt built the Polaris for the purpose of showing off his wealth and comparing with others, objectively, it was also because of his efforts that the American shipbuilding industry slowly caught up with the pace of the British and French.

As a soul from China in the 21st century, Liang Yao can understand the mood of these Americans at this moment.

Everyone has been through this, and in the end they have become what they hated the most at the beginning.

The United States hates the British Empire in the Victorian era not because it hates it, but because it is not the global hegemon that makes the whole world tremble.

Liang Yao held a copy of the New York Herald Tribune in his hand. The comments in this newspaper made him particularly interesting.

The European monarchies are both surprised and panicked by our growing strength, surprised by our progress, but also terrified that these experiences will quietly penetrate into their own countries and be learned by the oppressed people in their own countries.

Polaris and Pioneer will allow them to directly see the superiority of American democratic politics.

"Scientific American" even bluntly said: An ordinary citizen in New York can frustrate the pride of Queen Victoria, Russian Tsar Nicholas and Napoleon III.

Seeing this, Liang Yao smiled knowingly. It turns out that ideological infiltration is also a traditional American art.

It's just that the United States was still too weak at this period, and it was just for its own entertainment. Neither England nor France would take these remarks of the United States seriously.

For ideology to successfully penetrate and export, it requires a country with very strong national power and influence.

Obviously, the current United States cannot meet this standard, and its influence in Central America is not even as good as that of Britain and France.

These inflammatory words can only make the people of this country self-aggrandizement.

The progress of the United States is only compared to their own. When compared horizontally with Britain and France, there is still a big gap between the industrial level and manufacturing level of the United States.
Chapter completed!