"No money?" Fang Lang couldn't help but be stunned by the seller's statement. What do you want when selling something for free? He quickly asked: "Then what do you want?"
"Cigarettes, is this your first time here? Today's lira in Italy is the same as waste paper, so I don't accept lira." The Italian looked at Fang Lang's serious face and said.
"Why cigarettes? Can't we use US dollars?" Fang Lang was very confused. He never thought that he would use cigarettes to shop.
"The U.S. dollar is not bad, but in our army, cigarettes are stronger than the U.S. dollar. If you give me U.S. dollars and I want to buy cigarettes, it will be difficult to buy them." The Italian's statement took Fang Lang a while to react. It turns out there is still such a way to play.
"Aren't cigarettes distributed directly? Why do you need to buy them?" As far as Fang Lang knows, the US military's logistics supplies are sufficient. Each soldier has a fixed quota of cigarettes every month. Normally, there should be no shortage of cigarettes. yes! Why are cigarettes on the black market now a hard currency stronger than the U.S. dollar?
"Yes, cigarettes are all distributed, but a one-month quota will be used up in three days on a high-intensity battlefield. If you want to smoke again, you have to wait for next month's quota or exchange for one. So, you know! "The words spoken by the Italian were like parting the fog and allowing Fang Lang to see thousands of golden lights.
Cigarettes spread from the Indians, and Brazil happens to be the main tobacco growing area. Although Brazilian cigarettes do not have a big brand now, there are many small-scale cigarette factories, such as Fang Lang's uncle Yang Zong's family runs a small workshop-style cigarette factory.
Fang Lang, who was originally thinking about how to purchase goods and sell them in the United States to make money, suddenly discovered the New World. He quickly asked again: "Brother, are you Italians the only ones trading in cigarettes, or is everyone trading cigarettes? Does it depend on the brand?"
Because Fang Lang didn't smoke, he never thought that cigarettes had become a hard currency in the army. Then, were the cigarettes that he had been allocated in the Brazilian Expeditionary Force directly embezzled by the commander? I feel like I have lost 100 million, and my heart hurts.
"Of course, everyone uses cigarettes to trade! Including the Germans. As for the brand, it is not very important. Of course, the most popular cigarettes on the market now are American Lucky cigarettes. It seems that you don't understand the market at all! You don't have any cigarettes on hand. Right? How much US dollars are you willing to pay for this watch?" The Italian obviously felt that Fang Lang had strayed too far from the topic, and wanted to bring the topic back to watch trading.
Seeing that the Italian did not want to continue to promote market information to Fang Lang, Fang Lang was not angry. Instead, he whispered in his ear: "Brother, I am a crew member on a U.S. Navy transport ship. I just arrived in Italy, so I am not very familiar with it." I understand the market, but I will be traveling between the United States and Italy frequently in the future. Do you understand what I mean?"
When the Italian heard Fang Lang's words, a bright golden light burst out in his eyes. He glanced around at the people around him, and after seeing that no one noticed the two of them, he lowered his voice, pointed at Fang Lang's armband and said, "Brother, this is not the symbol of the U.S. Navy."
"Hehe... Yes, I am the Brazilian Expeditionary Force Navy, but we are under the command of the US Navy's Fourth Fleet, and I happen to be an officer in the Naval Logistics Department, so..." Fang Lang wanted to make this Italian Believing in his ability to obtain enough cigarettes, the man had to reveal a little bit of his identity.
The Italian's eyes began to glow green, and he whispered to Fang Lang: "Brother, how about we change places to talk?"
Fang Lang knew the Italian's thoughts very well. He was not willing to let him feel that he could have his own channel exclusively. He had to put enough pressure on him in order to obtain more benefits.
"Brother, let's continue talking about the price of this watch! I really don't have any cigarettes in my hand right now. I don't know how many dollars you want to sell them to me." The deliberate emphasis on the word "now" made the Italian Clearly understood what Fang Lang wanted to express.
"Brother, the watch is a small problem. If you can bring a lot of cigarettes, what does it matter if this watch is given to you?" The Italian is very polite and is obviously a big business person.
"You'd better tell me how many cigarettes this watch is worth!" Fang Lang, who was also a man who never let go of rabbits, continued to tease the Italian.
"Brother, you want to know how much a pack of cigarettes is worth in US dollars, right? No need to test, I want to be a long-term business partner with you, and I will never deceive you on this kind of thing!" the Italian said directly and honestly.
Fang Lang didn't react for a moment. He was used to the Chinese character in his previous life, and he wanted to test the bottom line repeatedly with this Italian. Unexpectedly, he would not go around any corners with you.
"Okay! Brother, let's all be honest. I will definitely have to confirm it with others. So can you tell me how much a pack of cigarettes is worth here?" Now that others have opened the skylight and revealed what they have said, Fang Lang stopped beating around the bush.
"Brother, if you have cigarettes to sell to me, I will buy them at the price of five dollars a pack. Of course, this price will also depend on the market, but I believe that the price will definitely become more and more expensive. I believe that the whole of Naples should not Someone can offer a higher price than me." The Italian said with determination and confidence.
This price indeed exceeded Fang Lang's expectations. You must know that the U.S. dollar in this era has not been depreciated in later generations, and its purchasing power is quite strong. One U.S. dollar today can definitely be regarded as the currency value of one thousand yuan in two thousand years. , because one dollar today is approximately equal to one gram of gold.
If Fang Lang remembered correctly, the price of a pack of cigarettes in the United States is almost twenty cents, so if the cigarettes are shipped from the United States to Europe, the price will directly increase by twenty-five times. Is there any more profitable business than this? Fang Lang didn't even dare to calculate how many times the profit would be if he purchased it from Brazil's own cigarette factory.
"Brother, your quotation is really attractive to me. I think I will know what products to bring when I come back from the United States. I don't know how much you can eat." Fang Lang calculated the capital he had on hand, and found that five hundred US dollars would suffice. Buying 2,500 packs of cigarettes and selling them to him at a price of 5 US dollars a pack can turn into 12,500 US dollars. With this money, you can buy 62,500 packs of cigarettes worth 30 US dollars in the United States. Twelve thousand five hundred dollars. This business is definitely worth Fang Lang's life. You must know that in the United States now, a car only costs about a thousand dollars, and if Fang Lang makes two trips, he can turn the money that is not enough to buy one car into enough to buy three. The price of more than a hundred cars. Logically speaking, it shouldn't be his turn to discover such a good business!
"I don't have many US dollars on hand, but my uncle has absolutely enough funds. It's absolutely no problem to scrape together tens of thousands of dollars." In this era, tens of thousands of dollars is really a big deal, so tens of thousands of dollars from Italians, There is definitely confidence that the funds are sufficient.
"To be honest, the profits in this business are huge. Are there no other businessmen doing it?" Fang Lang didn't believe that no one else had discovered such a good business opportunity.
"Of course someone has already started to do it, otherwise how could the price be set! Are you wondering why no one has directly shipped the whole ship here?" The Italian asked with a smile on his face, which was in Fang Lang's heart question.
Before Fang Lang could answer, he answered by himself: "Do you think the German submarines at sea are vegetarian now? Except for the fleets protected by escort fleets, the risks borne by other civilian merchant ships are not worth this price. Who would be willing to reap the benefits! Those who are protected by the escort fleet are transporting strategic materials, so they will not do business with you! In fact, the time when cigarettes can be used as cash only started when the Yankees landed and counterattacked. It only takes more than four months. It also takes time for large merchants to prepare their fleets. As far as I know, some merchants took the risk and never came back. This caused the price of cigarettes to become even stronger."
