Manhattan Reborn 1978

new York.

Noon~

In the southeast corner of Manhattan Island, next to the Brooklyn Bridge connecting Brooklyn, New York's largest seafood wholesale market, Fulton Fish Market (Fulton), covering an area of ​​about 7 hectares, is gradually quieting down~

(In 2005, Fulton Fish Market moved to the easternmost part of the Bronx in northeastern Manhattan, called the New Fulton Wholesale Seafood Market, across the sea from New York's LaGuardia Airport. It is now the second largest in the world The largest seafood wholesale market in the United States.)

If you want to trace the history of Fulton Fish Market, you have to start from the early 17th century.

In 1626, Dutchman Peter Mitsui dramatically purchased Manhattan from the Indians for $24. .

After that, a large number of Dutch immigrants came here across the ocean. In just 30 years, the economy of Manhattan Island has developed rapidly.

In 1659, the Dutch who lived on the island opened the first farmer's market where the fish market is now.

In more than 300 years of great changes, Manhattan has grown day by day, and Fulton has also prospered day by day.

Moreover, as citizens' demand for seafood ingredients continues to increase, it has gradually evolved from a farmer's market to the single fish market it is today.

In 1921, a fire burned the Fulton Fish Market to rubble.

The fish market was rebuilt on the ruins and was eventually named after Dutch businessman Robert Fulton.

Today, Fulton Fish Market’s annual wholesale seafood sales exceed 2 million yuan!

A variety of fresh fish and a wide variety of seafood have made it famous throughout the United States and the world.

For example: fresh stone crabs from Chile, tuna from the Philippines, giant cuttlefish from Senegal, bright red snapper from Venezuela, mussels from New Zealand, squid from Belgium, lobsters and sea urchins from Canada, etc.~

These fresh seafood products are all flown here from all over the world. Together with local seafood, the total category reaches nearly 200 types.

. . .

Fulton Fish Market, in front of a five-story old building at the southernmost end.

Erica, the bartender at Wildfire Bar, stood by the car with her arms folded and complained to Mike Bai next to her.

"Why has the price of oysters increased so much recently?"

“I remember that in the summer, I could buy a box for only 6 yuan.”

"Tsk~"

Mike Bai leaned against the car and blew out a cloud of smoke, smiled wryly and spread his hands: "I haven't been here for more than two months. I had no idea the prices had increased so much~"

"..."

Erica opened the car door in frustration and sat in the back seat. She turned her head and glanced at the five-story old building not far away, and knocked on the car glass a few times with her hand.

Mike Bai took a few puffs of his cigarette, threw the butt at his feet and stamped it out, then sat in the cab and looked at Erica in the rearview mirror.

"We'll wait a little longer Ludy."

"Are you going to go back to the bar later?"

"Um.."

"Otherwise? Where else could I go?"

"Hehe~"

Mike Bai reached out and touched his pants pocket, thought about it, turned back to look at Erica and said seriously.

"Wait a minute, after we send Ludy back..."

"Take me to meet your child!"

"..??"

Erica didn't quite understand what he meant. She shook her head with some resistance and said, "Why do you want to see him?"

"I don't even want to see that kid now..."

"what!"

Mike Bai felt very interesting and smiled: "Then I should go and meet him!"

"I haven't had a father since I was a child, and I don't want him to be like me."

"..."

Erica stared at Mike Bai in the rearview mirror for a while, frowned and nodded.

"Ok."

"But I want to remind you that if you don't get along well, it's best not to see each other again in the future."

"Ok!"

Mike Bai chuckled, wiped the stubble on his cheeks with his hand, and began to think about how to deal with Erica's son when he saw him later. .

. . .

Two 10 minutes later.

Lu Di walked out of the old building, waved to the three middle-aged men following him, and sat in the passenger seat.

Mike Bai started the car, waved to the three people, and slowly drove the car out of the fish market.

on the way.

Lu Di frowned and stared at the street outside the car, seemingly worried.

Mike Bai stopped the car at a red light, tilted his head and looked at him, and asked.

"Shall I send you back directly? Or...?"

"Don't go back yet~"

Ludy rubbed his forehead with his hands, paused and said, "I just contacted Polly, she is waiting for me in the office."

"Ok!"

Mike Bai put the gear into gear, turned left after the green light came on, and drove the car toward the company's small building on 40th Street.

----

Manhattan.

Gold Coin Hotel, fourth floor.

After Odis Parker had lunch, he was just about to take a lunch break when he heard a knock on the door.

The hotel manager, Winston, walked up to Mr. Parker with a file bag in his hand and whispered.

"Someone wants to turn in the task in advance."

"Oh?"

Mr. Parker opened the file bag curiously and looked through it carefully. He felt that the information seemed incomplete.

"Is that all there is to it?"

"No~ this is only one third."

"Um.."

"What is the room number of the person who submitted the task?"

"Call over and I'll ask him."

"This..." Winston hesitated for a few seconds, nodded and walked to the phone, pressed the speakerphone and dialed.

"Du, du, du~"

After ringing for more than ten seconds, someone on the other side picked up the phone and asked in English with a slight accent.

"what's up?"

Mr. Parker was surprised when he heard this strange woman's voice and walked to the phone and asked.

"The mission information you handed in is incomplete. I need to verify the second half personally."

"..Can!"

“But I want half of the commission first!”

"No~"

Mr. Parker glanced at Winston, who was standing next to him with his hands hanging down, and said with a smile: "The intelligence information you gave only has the last two sentences and the photo, which I have never seen before."

"They are not worth half the commission!"

"Winston will be waiting for you at the elevator door on the fourth floor."

"Within 10 minutes, if you haven't decided yet, I will think that you have decided to cancel this transaction unilaterally~"

"..." The woman opposite didn't say anything and hung up the phone directly.

Mr. Parker put down the phone in great interest and looked at Winston: "When did she check into the hotel?"

"last month.."

"Have you investigated her?"

"I checked, but no one knows her specific information yet. Only one person said he had seen her in Vienna."

“Vienna, the capital of spies??”

"Hehe~"

Mr. Parker once again showed a nervous smile that made Winston feel "uncomfortable" and shook his head.

"You go first~"

"After this transaction is completed, we can play with her again!"

"...Hmm!" Winston responded as he wanted and strode out of the room.

Mr. Parker stood by the phone, thinking blankly for a few minutes, then picked up the phone and dialed.

----

USA, Texas.

West of downtown Houston, 19 Piney Point Village, Memorial District, Piney Point Village.

David, who had been busy writing a book for three hours in a row, walked to a small tree in the backyard of the house, looked up at the cloudless sky, and let out a sigh of relief.

"cough~"

Mr. Tianniu suddenly and silently appeared not far behind him and coughed lightly.

"Um..?"

David looked back at him, smiled and asked, "What's wrong? Is something wrong?"

"Yes!"

Mr. Longhorn walked up to David, looked around the yard, and whispered quickly.

"Xena, Elena and Toby, the Duke of Somerset they met in London, mentioned the New York real estate businessman Lontro Brinkman, do you remember?"

"Uh... remember!" David crossed his arms over his chest and nodded.

"Mr. Parker has obtained very detailed investigation information."

"Lontreu Brinkman, born in 1929 in New Haven next to Yale University."

"His father is a watchmaker, and he has four sons and three daughters in his family."

"Lontro Brinkman, his third son."

"In 1945, after the United States won World War II, Lontreau's father moved his family to Queens, New York."

"In 1951, immediately after Lantrault graduated from the History Department of Fordham University in New York, he held a wedding with the third daughter of the Goldman family of Goldman Sachs."

(Fordham University was founded in 1841 and was formerly known as St. John's College in the Catholic District of New York. After changing its name in 1907, it has been used to this day. It is a private research university and is often translated as Fordham University. University. Its popularity is second only to Columbia University and New York University, and it has a very large and strong alumni circle in New York.)

"Goldman Sachs?" David raised his eyebrows in surprise when he heard this familiar name.

Mr. Tianniu showed a smile, nodded and explained: "After Goldman Sachs was founded, it was actually run by three families for most of the time, namely the Goldmans, the founders who were intermarried with each other, and the Schaches family. The Sachses, and the rising star The Weinberges.”

"Sam Schaches of the Schaches family was a friend and collaborator of Marcus Goldman. Later he married Marcus's youngest daughter Luisa and became Marcus's son-in-law."

"After Marcus Goldman retired, his son Henry and son-in-law Sam took charge of Goldman Sachs,"

"Sidney Weinberg joined Goldman Sachs in 1907."

“In 1915, Henry Goldman and Sam Schachez of Goldman Sachs and Philip Lehman of Lehman Brothers joined forces for the first time.”

"In the following years, the two investment banks worked together in underwriting business, almost regardless of each other."

"But before the outbreak of the Great Depression, the relationship between the two companies deteriorated rapidly. Almost the entire Wall Street knew that there was only a relationship of interest between them, but they did not trust each other~"

"This has made Goldman Sachs and Lehman even become the laughing stock of Wall Street and one of the hottest topics of gossip."

"In 1929, Goldman Sachs introduced stock trading business, established a trust investment company, and named it Goldman Sachs Trading Corporation (GSTC)"

“That same year, the Wall Street stock market crashed, triggering the global financial crisis.”

"Goldman Sachs Trading Company has been under tremendous pressure from the stock market decline. The company's stock has plummeted from 326 yuan per share at its peak to 1.75 yuan per share."

"Goldman Sachs lost 92% of its original investment, almost completely wiped out, losing all its money, and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy."

"Thirty-six years after the Great Depression, Goldman Sachs and Lehman Brothers signed a memorandum of understanding to formalize their partnership."

"Most of the clients they worked with were assigned to Goldman Sachs, and a small amount was reserved for Lehman Brothers."

"Until now, there are still many conflicts between the two companies, and some even generated some hatred."

"However, from 1930 when Sidney Weinberg took over Goldman Sachs to his death in 1969."

"Weinberger spent 39 years gradually recovering from the bottom of Goldman Sachs' disastrous defeat and leading Goldman Sachs out of the shadow of the Great Depression."

"But the person who really gave Goldman Sachs a foothold on Wall Street was Henry Ford II of the Ford family!"

"He and Weinberg met in 1947, allowing Goldman Sachs to establish a long-term regular client relationship with Ford."

"In 1956, with the help of Goldman Sachs, Ford successfully issued the largest stock offering in history at that time."

"After that, Ford handed over most of its investment business to Goldman Sachs."

"Oh~"

After listening to Mr. Tianniu's "expanded" introduction, David nodded and fell into thought.

At this time, Mr. Tianniu turned his head and looked around again, frowned vigilantly, and continued to whisper.

"After Lontro Brinkman got married, he first went to work at Salomon Company as an intern."

"In 55, he left Salomon and joined the equity underwriting department (IPO department) of Goldman Sachs and became a junior partner."

"In 1967, Lentero left Goldman Sachs and founded his own real estate development company. In the same year, he obtained the business of the old apartment renovation project in Queens from the government."

“In 1974, Lontreau met Lynch Colson, who had not yet been successfully elected as mayor of New York City.”

"In 75, when Lynch Colson was running for election, he contributed money and effort to help Lynch successfully be elected mayor of New York."

"In 76, he obtained from Lynch a project to renovate several old abandoned piers in lower Manhattan."

“But before these projects could officially start, they were aborted because the city council’s financial budget was insufficient~”

"Last year, after the real estate company affiliated to Da Company purchased many housing properties in Manhattan and submitted the relevant building construction plans to the city government, Lantro immediately found Mayor Lynch Colson."

"After that, the two met many times, and the project progress of Da Real Estate Company also slowed down and encountered a lot of resistance."

"And then there's..."

Mr. Tianniu looked at the frowning David, paused for a few seconds, and whispered: "You and the new New York Mayor Frant Hardman have mentioned the plan to renovate the old abandoned piers in Manhattan. Luo was very angry..."

"He thinks you are deliberately touching the cake on his plate!"

"So, those homeowners and property owners who had agreed to Da Real Estate's offer last year and were about to sell their sky rights regretted it almost overnight."

"Sky power...?!" David muttered and repeated the word.

Mr. Tianniu couldn't help but twitch the corners of his mouth and explained patiently.

"If you want to build a building in New York, you must first secure the property rights of the house + related land, and then purchase the sky use rights of the surrounding owners of the land before you can start building the building."

"Because the property rights of land only include the actual area of ​​the surface + the ownership of the land within 800 meters underground."

"The right to use the sky 500 meters above the earth's surface must be approved by the surrounding neighbors, and after negotiation with the other party, an expensive fee must be paid."

"So, those owners who had verbally agreed to the conditions of Da Real Estate Company suddenly regretted it without being bound by any agreement~"

"Um.."

"Any more?"

"Have!"

"Lontreau and his wife were nominally married ten years ago."

"Both of them play their own games and have constant lovers~"

"However, Frantro valued his eldest son Philipp Brinkmann very much."

"Philip Brinkman, also a graduate of Fordham University."

"After graduation, he concealed his identity and interned at Lehman Brothers for two years."

"Lantero realized that Philip's son had grown up, so he invested in a small real estate company for him~"

"Last year, Da Real Estate Company used various means to obtain some very good housing rights from Philip Brinkman in the franchise area."

"This makes Lantrault even more hostile to the company..."

"Understood!"

David took a deep breath, exhaled it slowly, and smiled helplessly at Mr. Tianniu: "Not only did you touch his cake, but you also bullied his son?"

"..Yes!"

"Hehe~"

David paced back and forth in the yard with his hands on his hips, thought for a while, and said.

"You contact Odis Parker first and tell him not to act rashly until I get back."

"I will contact the Sidrich family and ask them not to worry, wait a moment!"

"Ok!"

"..correct!"

David looked at Mr. Tianniu and asked with curiosity in his eyes: "Can you tell me something about... before you came to the United States?"

Mr. Tianniu stopped, lowered his head in silence and thought for a moment: "Before coming to the United States, I spent most of my time living and working in cities such as Vienna, Buenos Aires, Berlin, Casablanca, and Istanbul."

"Wow~"

"I have never been to any of the places you mentioned."

"Hahaha~"

"If you have the chance, can you be my guide and go to these places?"

Mr. Tianniu's calm expression seemed to have a hint of weird "excitement" as he asked.

"Do you really not know the nicknames of these cities?"

"I don't know!" David answered honestly, spreading his hands.

"..."

Mr. Tianniu sighed speechlessly and shook his head slightly: "The city of conspiracy and assassination - Istanbul, the forefront of the Cold War - Berlin, the paradise of eavesdropping - Vienna, the exchange of intelligence dealers and black marketeers - Casablanca, the Eden of spies - Buenos Ellis."

"Are you sure you want to go to these places?"

"Forehead.."

After hearing the nicknames of these cities, David felt as if he had forgotten something and smiled dryly.

"I'm just a kid who wants to travel around and relax. I'll be fine going to these places...right?"

"Hehe~"

The beetle felt very amused and spread his hands and said with a smile: "The world is so big, where can you go?"

"..All right!"

David scratched his head vigorously and wisely suppressed the thoughts that suddenly appeared when his brain was "twitching".

. . .

At this time~

Lilith, wearing a yellow and blue striped apron, smiled and shouted at David and Mr. Beetle.

"Lunch is ready~"

"Come here!"

"ok~"

"coming!"