Chapter 798: Foreign Army

Translator: _Min_  Editor: Rundi

120 billion US Dollar was definitely not a small number for Future Group.

But if the 120 billion US Dollar was used to forge this key to the universe, then it would only just be a meaningless number.

After the completion of the space elevator, ignoring the 120 billion number, it would be a question if Future Group would use US Dollar for settlement. The aerospace industry would complete its leap from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age. The cost of entering outer space would be even lower than that of the civil aviation. The original unrealistic space mining would also become a reality. The changes to civilization would be described as world-changing.

And to achieve all this, only 120 billion pieces of paper would suffice.

After coming out of Aerospace Institute, Jiang Chen went to Xia Shiyu’s office, and communicated with her the 120 billion space elevator project. Although Jiang Chen had previously disclosed that the cost of this project may be quite astonishing, after Xia Shiyu heard the actual figure, she could do nothing but gasp for air.

“Do you think the company is printing money? Even if many projects make money, it will take time for us to recoup the investment.”

Even if Future Group’s annual revenue exceeded 100 billion US dollar with the total profit close to 60 billion US dollar, it would take a year to generate the fund. Since its establishment, Future Group had been expanding its business, and the step-by-step expansion required cash in every step.

“Did we not open a bank?” With question after question slammed on Jiang Chen’s head, he rubbed his nose in embarrassment.

When she heard this, she sighed helplessly and patiently explained to him.

“Even if we opened a bank, it does not mean that the money is free to use. Space elevator… just from the name, it won’t be the kind of project that would recover investment in the short term. All the 120 billion US Dollar are locked in on the same project. This can no longer be described as risky.”

“What about borrowing money from other banks?”

“Have you ever thought about repaying the money?”

“Of course, I not only considered repaying the money. I also thought about whether US Dollar would be worth the same when the space elevator is built.” Jiang Chen responded with a confident smile despite Xia Shiyu’s skepticism.

Xia Shiyu was stunned, she opened her mouth, but nothing came out. Just as she was about to ask why he said so, she soon realized the meaning from her economics background prior.

When any kind of currency could monopolize a market, the influence of this currency would change other markets based on its relevance to other markets.

To give a very simple example, oil settlement must use US Dollar, which is one of the reasons that established US Dollar as a hard currency in international trade. For now, there is no commodity other than oil that has had a greater impact on other markets. Because no matter what is produced, oil must be consumed directly or indirectly.

If a space elevator is built, it would mean that Celestial Trade could monopolize the portal to space. Even if Celestial Trade printed money, and pointed at those papers stating that all future space trade must be settled with these papers, governments around the world must swallow and accept the fact.

She uttered a sentence from her throat after a long silence

“This is too risky.”

“But we have a lot to gain,” Jiang Chen looked at Xia Shiyu, in a serious tone.

…

The space elevator would start on schedule and Future Heavy Industries would begin to adjust its production capacity to expand the production of graphene on Ange Island.

The construction plan was to launch the material into outer space first, and after the establishment of the synchronous orbital space station, the construction of the space station as a “counterweight” would start simultaneously along with the tracks to ground.

After the orbital section was built, it would no longer be necessary to transport materials by rocket. The graphene tracks would be used to send materials directly to space. This would significantly decrease the construction cost of the space station.

In other words, the 120 billion budget may not be exhausted in the end.

At present, the space elevator base station on the equator line had been built, and it looked like a Rubik’s cube from afar.

For safety reasons, Celestial Trade deployed a battalion of force at the base station. Many foreign media had already smelled the wind. Future Group seemed to be ready to make headlines again in the Pacific, so they sent out their fastest reporters.

However, with the media inquiries, Celestial Trade and Future Group were all silent on this issue and made no mention of the use of this giant offshore platform. However, many people already had an idea from the recent frequent space activities of Celestial Trade, but they were still unwilling to believe it.

A space elevator?

It would be ridiculous.

Jiang Chen did not bother with the rumors on the internet, because he had more important matters to attend to.

He understood possessing something he couldn’t be protect will be a sin. Although the big five under the UN framework would not necessarily be as savage as the Victorian superpowers, the desire for the space elevator would inevitably lead to many unnecessary troubles for Celestial Trade.

Therefore, before the completion of the space elevator, Celestial Trade must possess matching strength!

One week after the military exercise ended, that is, in early June, Celestial Trade published a recruitment advertisement on its official website.

From any country, anyone interested in Celestial Trade could download test programs in the application market of the Phantom Helmet and pass the Celestial Trade assessment in the form of VR games. For people that pass the test, Celestial will provide free tickets to Xin to participate in an interview.

If the applicant passed the interview, they would be incorporated into Foreign Corps and become a Celestial Trade employee.

At present, the permanent population of Penglai City had exceeded half a million. The total population of Xin had already exceeded the 800,000 mark. With the gradual decrease in labor gap, Xin had begun to tighten its originally loose immigration policy and the number of labor visas issued.

It was not as easy as it was a year ago to immigrate to Xin.

No money, no education, and want to immigrate? Then go become a soldier!

According to the conscription policy of Celestial Trade, Xin enacted the Foreign Corps Act. Any foreign employee engaged in a military-related industry in Xin country would be able to acquire its nationality and become a Xin citizen after serving for three years. For foreign soldiers killed during their service or have served for five years, immediate family members would obtain Xin nationality.

When the recruitment advertisement for Celestial Trade was announced, it harvested tens of thousands of resumes from all over the world. Many people came there not for the paycheck, but to obtain the immigration qualification.

When it came to immigration, an interesting phenomenon must be mentioned

Since the completion of Penglai City, the number of immigrants from Europe increased substantially.

They were not refugees but the reasons for immigration were more or less due to refugees.

Since the EU adopted a high-pressure policy on refugees, it completely ignited the contradictions buried in European society. In the long run, this may allow Europe to escape the danger of “greening” in the future, but in the short term it would undoubtedly exacerbate social unrest.

There were terrorism attack every month in many cities. Most cities had announced a state of emergency. The high-welfare Europe was no longer the immigration paradise and developing countries with good economic growth became the first choice for European immigrants.

Perhaps because of the relatively cold nature of Western Europe, Xin lactating on the edge of the Equator line was particularly favored by European immigrants.

In particular, immigrants from Frankberg and Fran had brought a large number of new and high-tech talents to Xin. Among them were experts in the electronics, robotics, artificial intelligence, and other fields and contributed greatly in the growth of the country.

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