The purpose of coming here is nothing more than to enclose the land. In Sheffield's eyes, the land in Puerto Rico is a high-quality asset and has the same advantages as Hawaii. It has a small population, a good geographical location, and most importantly, its political status is ambiguous.

The ambiguity of political status is very important. The advantage of ambiguity in political status is that Puerto Rico will definitely have room for maneuver outside the law. If there is room, there will be room for maneuver.

Sheffield gave an example: a country's laws, whether it's the Soviet Union or the United States, as long as the laws exist, you can find ways to get around them, but there won't be a lot of gaps for profit.

When did large-scale profit-seeking appear in the Soviet Union? The answer is that after Ma Mu came to power, the country's thinking changed, and many laws were ineffective, which led to the emergence of oligarchs one after another, and eventually led to the collapse of the country. Those short few years were accompanied by

Political turmoil has created a group of oligarchs.

Sheffield does not have such good luck in catching up with the gluttonous feast, but Puerto Rico is now at this stage, where laws in the strict sense do not exist, and everything is decided by the Governor's Palace. This kind of environment is Sheffield's favorite,

The United Company has always been a company that strongly supports the war, so it naturally takes the lead and appears in every newly occupied land.

"What do you mean by being interested in the land here?" Alan's eyes flashed with thought, and he asked uncertainly.

"It means..." Sheffield was also a little unsure, and finally said vaguely, "Sheep eat people..."

The woolen industry in Britain and other countries was prosperous, and the demand for wool surged. Sheep raising became a very profitable business. British landowners fenced off their own land and public land to graze their sheep, and forcibly occupied farmers' land.

Land. Peasants lost the land they relied on to support their families, took care of their old and young, and wandered to unfamiliar places. This was the "sheep-eating-man" "enclosure movement" in the history of British capitalism.

The enclosure movement first started by depriving farmers of their public land. In Britain, although the land had long been owned, public lands such as forests, grasslands, swamps and wastelands did not have fixed owners. Some nobles used their power to first

Expand the flock and forcefully occupy these public lands.

When these lands could not meet the needs of the nobles' growing flocks, they began to use various methods to drive out the farmers who had rented their land for generations, and even enclosed the entire village and nearby land, turning it into a

Sheep pasture.

To be honest, this kind of land enclosure has appeared in Chinese history, that is, the nobles in the Southern and Northern Dynasties did this. Especially the nobles in the Southern Dynasties enclosed the mountains and swamps into their own private territory.

But the Northern and Southern Dynasties seem to have a very bad reputation. Basically, the Han court and the Hu court are more shameless and have no bottom line. In the eyes of ordinary people, it is almost a period without merit. Sheffield can easily find out by comparing the enclosures of Britain and China.

The conclusion is that China is not suitable for the emergence of capitalist society. The social structure closest to the British sheep-eating man period is the Northern and Southern Dynasties. There will be no capitalist society in the following historical periods. The East and the West are completely two systems of society.

.

"Sheep eats people? Do you want to enclose the land in Puerto Rico?" Allen looked at Sheffield with a complicated expression, and finally nodded, "I wonder if I can be of any help."

"How is it possible that there is no place where Mr. Governor can help? In fact, United Company and other friends' companies have always wanted to be friends with the Governor. After all, Governor Allen should know something about the southern base. We have always been aware of things in the south.

We are all very interested!" Sheffield raised his eyebrows and pointed out, "Puerto Rico is in the south!"

Southern base is a political term, referring to the southern states where the Democratic Party has never lost in previous elections. The one thing these states have in common is that they have all joined the Confederate States of America. As the governor of Puerto Rico, Allen certainly knows the stubborn Dixie people. On this point

How stubborn.

The Democratic Party has always appeared to fight for the rights of the poor because the southern states are really poorer than the northern states.

For Sheffield, Puerto Rico is nothing more than coming here to take advantage of it, first encircling valuable places and hoarding them, and then slowly thinking of ways to develop them. Even if they don't shit first, they have to occupy the latrines first.

If you don't occupy it, some gay Yang guys will come and occupy it, which is unacceptable.

"Actually, it's not impossible?" Allen said hesitantly, "I heard that the governor of Hawaii has a good relationship with you, William. I don't know if it's true."

"Not only is it good, we are the closest partners. The governor of Hawaii is part of the sugar trust system!" Sheffield showed an understanding smile and said calmly, "The governor can set the price, after all.

I personally love making new friends, as the governor of Hawaii can attest."

Before coming here, Sheffield conducted an investigation on this first governor. This governor was not a person who believed in integrity. In fact, in this era, there are really not many civil servants at all levels in the United States who are not corrupt.

.In the Gilded Age, it was very normal to be gold on the outside but shit on the inside.

As for collusion between government and business, this is not the first time Sheffield has done it. He can be friends with the Ku Klux Klan, so what’s the big deal with being friends with other people? Let’s see what price the governor is going to charge?

"William, I actually bought a coffee plantation in Puerto Rico!" Alan said thoughtfully, "I heard that you control most of the coffee in the domestic market now."

"We farmers, even those who do plantations, it is very normal for it to fall into my hands." Sheffield said modestly, "Currently, there are two main planting areas for coffee, the Philippines and Cuba in Asia. Of course, I also know

"Coffee was also an important industry in Puerto Rico before, so it is not surprising that the governor has a coffee plantation in his hands."

As for which Spanish nobleman this plantation belonged to before, it doesn't matter at all. Since you lost, you have to bear the price of losing. The key is who it belongs to now.

The Governor of Puerto Rico formally set out conditions, hoping that his coffee plantations would be included in the domestic sales system. However, if Sheffield agreed, he would help the United Company obtain the most valuable land in Puerto Rico.

"No problem!" Sheffield quickly and neatly agreed to the other party's request. Compared with the election war that was gradually heating up in the country, he had already begun to enclose territory in Puerto Rico.

You can never wake up a person who is pretending to sleep. For the current increasingly heated election, Sheffield is just pretending to be asleep. As long as California and southern states are still in the hands of the Democratic Party, it does not matter whether he wins the White House or not.

Important. Well, he was really comforting himself now that winning the White House was actually very important, but William McKinley caught up with the boom period between the two capitalisms, and Roosevelt was a well-known war hero in the country.

On the Democratic side, the candidate is William Bryan, who hates trusts more than anyone else. This battle is impossible to fight. Although judging from Roosevelt's later actions, Roosevelt also fought against trust companies in order to centralize power, but

Several of the most powerful companies were not touched. The most important thing is that Roosevelt did not express his dissatisfaction with the trust companies before he became president. He was settling accounts after taking office and killed the major companies by surprise.

William Bryan used the dismantling of trusts as an election goal, which is difficult to resist! The political donations given by Sheffield were just a little incense for the Democratic Party. Although the candidates were the same, the issue of the general election had changed.

Although monetary policy has attracted the attention of many people, the Republican Party has chosen issues that are more beneficial to them, such as political victory, military victory, and economic prosperity, for propaganda.

In Sheffield, Puerto Rico, several enclosure allies soon joined in. They conducted an extensive survey of Puerto Rico and selected several of the most valuable beaches and plantations.

Many shareholders are also very satisfied with the environment here. When it comes to fighting for the empire, they all unconditionally believe in Sheffield's vision. The boss of the United Company said that this place is good, and it is good here.

"Puerto Rico is not far from the mainland, and it has exotic customs. You are all men, so you should know the weaknesses of men! I am going to open an overseas casino here." Sheffield said his thoughts, "Puerto Rico's ambiguous political status

, can help me succeed. As for what business you want to do, I will not interfere. This can be used as a place for some wealthy people in the country to linger. It is more difficult to investigate if it is not in the country. Whether it is a wealthy businessman, a judge or a senator,

Can come!"

"If it is really done, I can't even imagine what the scene will be like. In fact, I think the scope can be wider, and not just target the domestic customers." McHale pondered for a moment and followed Sheffield's thoughts.

He said, "Human weaknesses are common, and it does not distinguish between Americans and Mexicans. Puerto Rico is located in the Caribbean and in the middle of North and South America. Its location can fully accommodate the upper class society of the entire Americas, so that it can establish a certain

level of national connections.”

"The most important thing is that this kind of network is actually very useful. If the upper class of the entire America gathers here." Gale said with a smile, "William, the internationalization you have always been thinking about will be a lot more helpful."
Chapter completed!