Chapter 60: Soaring Eagle

"Will this really be okay?"

Florence hesitated as she looked at the seaplane parked beside the pier. Just half an hour ago, she had eagerly wanted to be among the first passengers of Eagle Airways.

"I've seen planes in Germany often, but this will be my first time actually flying in one!"

Florence's "rival," Edna, dressed in riding attire, also felt a bit nervous in the presence of the humble HS-2L patrol aircraft. Zhang Hainuo smiled faintly, acknowledging the typical behavior of girls who, while competitive over trivial matters, would reveal their true selves when it came to the real deal.

"Don't worry. This is our best pilot. He served in a top German fighter squadron and shot down two enemy planes. Manned flight is a piece of cake for him!"

Fred, seated in the pilot's position, heard Zhang Hainuo's praise and politely waved to the two ladies. In preparation for today's flight, he had shaved his beard clean and donned a neat flight suit. To Zhang Hainuo's amusement, Florence and Edna had also chosen what they deemed appropriate attire: Florence wore a sun hat, jacket, trousers, and hiking boots, while Edna opted for standard riding gear, her long, shapely legs attracting the attention of men under the snug pants and tall boots.

Whether riding gear was conducive to flight safety was unknown to Zhang Hainuo, but he advised Florence not to wear the sun hat on the plane if she didn't want to lose it in the air.

Seeing the ladies still being courteous, Zhang Hainuo graciously took the seat behind Fred in the cabin. The seaplane had five standard seats, with the observer's seat at the front for military patrols. During military duty, a machine gun would be mounted in this position. The pilot and co-pilot seats were below the engines, with the so-called co-pilot usually not actively involved in flying the plane. Behind the pilot was the bombardier's cockpit—when used for civilian purposes, it could accommodate passengers or cargo. And that was where Zhang Hainuo had just seated himself. Under normal circumstances, it could hold two people.

A minute later, as Florence and Edna squeezed into the cockpit one after the other, Zhang Hainuo suddenly regretted not sitting beside Fred. But it was too late to change now, as the two ladies firmly grabbed his arms as soon as they sat down—one on each side. Which side was exerting more pressure? Zhang Hainuo felt both sides were equally firm, especially when the plane started taxiing.

Amid the envy of onlookers, the so-called patrol aircraft manufactured by Curtis Company smoothly ascended into the air after gliding along the surface of the water for a distance. Initially, the plane flew just thirty meters above the sea surface. Zhang Hainuo nudged the two ladies, indicating they could open their eyes and look down.

With the sunlight reflecting off the sea, it looked like a large fish scale from this angle. Some seabirds, which preyed on fish, were flying even lower than the plane, appearing like white embellishments on the fish scales. Despite their fear of new experiences, their hands still firmly grasped Zhang Hainuo's arms, as if they would fall off if they let go. Nonetheless, the two ladies bravely opened their eyes and observed the world from a completely new perspective. The noise from the three engines was loud, and Zhang Hainuo strained to hear the voices of the two ladies. They both said, almost simultaneously, "It's so beautiful!"

As the plane continued to climb, it wasn't obvious when looking at the sea surface. But when Fred turned the plane around and headed towards the land, the ladies couldn't help but be surprised. The people and scenery on the ground seemed like toys beneath their feet.

Half an hour later, when the two ladies stepped out of the cockpit, their initial apprehension and nervousness had been replaced by a completely different excitement. From that day on, they became regular customers of Eagle Airways. And the price of long-term riding on the "king of the sky" was to serve as models for the company's promotional paintings and photos for free— in an era when advertising wasn't as developed, their figures undoubtedly became a beautiful sight.

Next, to open the Salvador-Caraweira-Victoria-Rio de Janeiro route, Zhang Hainuo and Otto took separate actions. They established ticket offices and repair parts warehouses at ports in the three locations, and used newspapers, leaflets, and other means for advertising. Initially, they even invited some citizens to experience flights for free. On November 11, 1920, the second anniversary of Germany's defeat, this route officially began operation.

In the early 1920s, the aviation industry was gradually rising in Europe and the United States. However, in South America, this industry had not yet truly taken off, and people held a cautious attitude towards this emerging mode of transportation. During the trial operation phase, although many bold young people participated in the flying experience offered by Eagle Airways, when the official operation began, for a long time, people only used this route to transport small items. Even though some purely wanted to experience flying, they were a minority.

After Christmas, Carter Danaman personally came to the shipyard to pick up his precious daughter. Seizing this opportunity, Zhang Hainuo took him on a tour of the factory area. Although only two 2,000-ton dry docks were completed and started building cargo ships, the scale and facilities of this shipyard still amazed the son of the cigar tycoon. He predicted that Schneider Shipyard would soon become the largest shipyard in Brazil. Compared to the shipyards in Rio de Janeiro and Victoria, this place was full of vitality and endless energy.

To thank Zhang Hainuo for taking care of his daughter during Christmas, Danaman gave him two boxes of premium cigars—though these boxes were not much larger than pencil cases, their exquisite workmanship spoke of their high quality. Zhang Hainuo warmly invited Carter to have coffee in his office, and they talked about Danaman's markets in Europe. Carter told him that Danaman's main markets before the war were the United States and Western Europe. The harsh unrestricted submarine warfare conducted by Germany during the war had brought their trade in Europe to a halt. Although maritime transport had resumed in the last two years, post-war depression had prevented the European cigar market from recovering to pre-war levels.

Every time Zhang Hainuo returned to Europe, he would personally bring some Brazilian goods for Danaman. These Danaman cigars were one of them. Zhang Hainuo had no intention of engaging in the cigar trade, but high-quality cigars were still popular among the upper class in Europe. Therefore, he tried to inquire about the possibility of bulk purchasing these premium cigars. Carter readily agreed to supply them at a price ten percent lower than the local market price—although Zhang Hainuo wasn't greedy, he would only buy one or two hundred boxes at a time.

Not only cigars, through Carter Danaman's connections, Zhang Hainuo also secured a $8,000 advertising contract for Eagle Airways, lasting one year. Although distributing leaflets and banners seemed a bit silly to Fred, a professional fighter pilot, it still had a market in this era. After Danaman, several local Brazilian entrepreneurs approached them requesting similar advertising services, which almost became Eagle Airways' main business in the initial period.

After four months, Eagle Airways surprisingly maintained a zero accident rate. Zhang Hainuo used this as a selling point for a vigorous publicity campaign and held occasional flight performances in these cities. With the passage of time, more and more crew members learned to fly, and some of them gradually showed their talents in flying.

According to Fred's evaluation, Zhang Hainuo classified them into three grades—A, B, and C—and recorded them. There were nine in grade A, fully capable of piloting fighter jets; eleven in grade B, with good flying skills, capable of piloting ordinary military aircraft, and with effort, they also had the opportunity to transition to fighter jets; seven in grade C, who were not yet suitable for solo flight, and needed to improve their sense of direction.

Gradually, businessmen began to board their planes after purchasing personal insurance. By June and July 1921, as long as the weather wasn't too bad, there were passengers flying on their planes almost every day from the four cities mentioned above. So busy were they that during peak times, Zhang Hainuo and his team would add one or two extra flights on top of the regular schedule.

After the operational situation of Eagle Airways gradually improved, Zhang Hainuo took Otto to the United States. Through Barbassa's son-in-law, who resembled Napoleon, they purchased an additional four HS-2L patrol aircraft, four Jennys, and four brand-new NC aircraft from Curtis Aircraft Company. This large seaplane, with three engines, had previously set a record by carrying 51 passengers. After improvements, it now had 22 relatively comfortable seats, truly qualifying as a large passenger aircraft of the 1920s. After receiving these aircraft and familiarizing themselves with their performance, Eagle Airways opened the Salvador-Recife-Fortaleza-São Luís route and dispatched a flying performance team led by Fred to various coastal cities in eastern Brazil for touring performances. The reputation of Eagle Airways continued to grow in Brazil.

It wasn't until September 19, 1921, that an HS-2L patrol aircraft crashed near Rio de Janeiro due to mechanical failure, resulting in one fatality and three injuries. Only then did the aviation craze of this phase come to an end. Although this unfortunate incident brought lawsuits and hefty compensation to Eagle Airways, it didn't stop Zhang Hainuo and his team from continuing to advance in the field of aviation. With the assistance of technical personnel dispatched by Curtis Aircraft Company, they conducted a comprehensive overhaul of the existing aircraft, replacing some severely worn components, and upgrading the engines of some aircraft on the advice of these technical personnel.

Two months later, the airline resumed operations and jointly launched a series of new personal and property insurance products with a local insurance company in Brazil. To their delight, although passenger air transport at this time did not match the peak period, many people still boarded their planes or had goods transported through their routes.

By early 1922, Eaglet Aviation finally gained favor from the Brazilian postal department, undertaking the light mail transport duties in seven major coastal cities in the east at relatively low prices. Prior to this, all mail was transported by railways and ships, but the efficiency of airplanes meant that letters that used to take two or three days to deliver could now reach recipients in just a day.

From 1920 to 1921, the first economic crisis of the 1920s hit the United States. During this period, the country's financial and futures markets suffered some trauma, with rising unemployment rates and plummeting prices of agricultural and livestock products. Taking advantage of this opportunity, with the help of Balbas, Zhang Hainuo purchased a struggling coffee processing plant, the Perfect Coffee Company, at a low price. Prior to this, the company's main business was importing coffee beans from Brazil, processing them roughly, and finally entering the New York market with canned coffee beans and canned coffee grains. In recent years, it had been importing 500 tons of various quality Brazilian coffee beans annually and producing 400,000 cans of various specifications of canned coffee each year, with an annual turnover close to a million dollars, ranking fourth in the New York coffee market!

However, a million dollars in sales did not mean that this coffee factory had substantial profits. On the contrary, due to the mature canned coffee market in New York and relatively intense price competition among various manufacturers, the profit earned per can of coffee, after deducting the costs of coffee beans, labor, depreciation, advertising, and taxes, was only a few cents. The annual profit was less than thirty thousand dollars, meaning the operating profit margin was only three percent, much lower than industries such as oil and steel, and even inferior to condensed milk canning companies in the food industry. From an economic perspective, when bank interest rates exceeded three percent, business owners would consider depositing their money in banks rather than investing in this coffee processing factory, as it might bring them more benefits!

In the eyes of outsiders, purchasing a business with a profit margin lower than the market average or even negative was considered a failure unless you could increase its profit in a short period. However, Zhang Hainuo was evidently well-prepared. After taking over the Perfect Coffee Company, he simultaneously launched extensive advertising campaigns, hiring coffee and food experts, and temporarily shutting down one canned coffee production line. The nearly hundred idle workers who were willing to switch to sales were sent to establish Perfect Coffee's local direct sales network in several major cities in the eastern United States. Those unwilling to switch careers were temporarily dispatched to distribute free coffee and do promotions on the main streets of New York every day. Although the workers were puzzled by the new owner's policies, as long as their jobs and salaries were preserved, they had nothing to complain about.

The benefits of the economic crisis not only allowed Zhang Hainuo to buy this coffee processing factory at a low price but also made any job opportunity a hot commodity in the eyes of the army of the unemployed. In less than a week, more than 500 people came to apply for the 20 positions of coffee and food experts and nutritionists provided by the factory. After selecting the most experienced and skilled 20 individuals, Zhang Hainuo formally established the Research and Development Department of Perfect Coffee, which consisted of one coffee expert and one nutritionist from the factory, along with the newly recruited personnel, to start research on instant coffee.

The challenge in this technology lay in how to turn coffee beans into instant coffee powder while maintaining the original taste of the coffee as much as possible. Initially, it took Nestlé nearly eight years to discover the most effective method, which involved spraying concentrated coffee extract with hot air jets, followed by solidification drying and vacuum packaging methods.

However, Zhang Hainuo was basically clueless about this. After purchasing Perfect Coffee, he had high hopes for the new research center. Every time he visited the United States, meeting with Balbas, inspecting the work at Perfect Coffee, and researching the latest trends in the Wall Street stock market became his three must-do tasks. Each time he visited the factory, he would convene meetings with the experts to hear about their recent research results and provide them with some potentially useful suggestions based on his impressions of instant coffee.

Months went by, and the experts worked diligently on their research. By the autumn of 1921, Zhang Hainuo finally managed to poach Caleb, the son-in-law of Balbas and a skilled salesman, from Curtis Company. He appointed Caleb as the general manager of the company, and the employees who had switched to sales established sales points in more than 30 cities along the eastern coast of the United States. Everything seemed to be in place, just waiting for the right moment.

However, much to Zhang Hainuo's chagrin, it seemed that he underestimated the manufacturing process of instant coffee. The mixed powder developed by the experts, although reducing the melting time from the initial 4 to 5 minutes to less than 2 minutes and greatly improving the taste of the coffee drink by adding creamer, spices, and sugar as per his suggestion, still did not meet the requirement of instant dissolution. Moreover, the issue of residues remained unresolved.

There's a saying, "If you try to force a flower to bloom, it won't; if you don't care, weeds will grow abundantly." Zhang Hainuo brought the unsuccessful coffee powder back to Brazil for Elton and Mathew to taste. As they chatted and drank coffee, by the time the coffee cooled, Mathew couldn't be bothered to reheat the half cup of coffee. His casual remark, "This stuff tastes good even when cold," gave Zhang Hainuo a flash of inspiration—since instant coffee wasn't working out for now, why not make liquid canned coffee?

The summer of 1922 had just arrived in the United States when the advertisement "Shake before drinking, even better when chilled" first appeared on billboards in Manhattan. Although it was suspected of plagiarizing a Chinese brand in later years, Zhang Hainuo was pleasantly surprised to find that it worked wonders—after two weeks of extensive tasting events, the 10,000 cans of All-American canned iced coffee that hit the market sold out within four days, all through the 22 sales outlets of All-American Coffee in New York!

Next, the two production lines of the All-American Coffee Factory worked at full capacity, and workers put in overtime hours. Despite this, the canned coffee produced could only meet the demand in the New York market. It wasn't until two months later that sales outlets in other cities gradually received supplies. Residents living along the east coast of the United States quickly discovered that with the gradual disappearance of the shadow of the economic crisis, All-American iced coffee at 9 cents a can swiftly claimed the high ground in various office buildings and workplaces!

As summer lingered on, various cafes followed suit and introduced their own versions of iced coffee priced between 5 to 10 cents a cup, which had some impact on All-American's sales. However, the convenience of canned coffee was unmatched by these paper cup offerings. At this point, Caleb demonstrated his talent in business operations, and with the support of Zhang Hainuo, they launched the second wave of advertising - "All-American Canned Coffee, Your Perfect Companion for Picnics and Leisure Vacations". In the advertisement, the focus was not on boasting about the taste of this coffee but rather on listing the dilemmas people faced when wanting to drink coffee during leisure activities such as traveling, picnicking, or sunbathing, which All-American Canned Coffee conveniently solved.

Throughout the entire summer, All-American iced coffee sold an astonishing 2.2 million cans. Despite the hefty advertising expenses, they still managed to generate a profit of nearly $50,000 - surpassing not only the previous year's total profit of Old All-American but more importantly, propelling the All-American brand to fame, quickly dubbed by mainstream newspapers like The New York Times as the "miracle of the American coffee industry"!

The rise of All-American Coffee naturally attracted media and public interest in its behind-the-scenes bosses. Eighty percent of the factory's shares belonged to Brazil's Schneider Shipyard, fifteen percent to New York antiquarian dealer Balbas, and five percent to General Manager Caleb. People's attention naturally turned to the mysterious South American continent. After two New York business reporters wrote an article titled "Schneider Shipyard, the Future of Brazil's First" upon their visit, this previously unknown Brazilian shipyard quickly became a topic of conversation after dinner.

With the arrival of autumn, people's enthusiasm for iced coffee rapidly waned. Nevertheless, Caleb, who was skilled in business operations, with the support of Zhang Hainuo and Balbas, once again invested heavily in the advertising market. This time, their advertisements mainly highlighted the advantages of canned coffee in terms of portability and heating - "Open the can and drink, heating is even warmer." In their advertisements, they emphasized that anyone going on a family trip should bring a few cans of All-American coffee in their picnic basket. Just steep it in hot water for a minute or two, or open the can and place it near the fire, and soon you'll have a hot and flavorful cup of coffee.

At this time, with the recovery of the economy and the overall improvement of the stock market, Americans were gradually shaking off the shadow of the 1920 economic crisis, and the comfortable life was gradually returning to the people. This creativity coincided with people's longing for the leisurely life of the past. Additionally, the fast-paced life in metropolitan areas made white-collar workers particularly fond of this instant coffee. The recycling of tin coffee cans quickly became an ancillary industry, providing a source of income for the lower class.

The "picnic basket" in autumn, "warmth in hand, warmth in heart" in winter, and the "mysterious Turkey" in spring were constantly being searched by Zhang Hainuo from his mind for the most successful advertising strategy of his time. These preliminary ideas, when implemented by Caleb, continued to spark new waves of All-American coffee craze in the market. Meanwhile, they were continuously improving and innovating their products. Just as people were starting to get tired of the Brazilian flavored canned coffee, a new canned coffee with the rich flavor of mysterious Turkish coffee was introduced. This rich flavor outshone the canned coffees imitated by other coffee companies and what made All-American Coffee even more famous was their pioneering "coffee delivery service". Simply call to order at least six cans of All-American Coffee, and their staff will deliver it to your door as soon as possible - thanks to the numerous business outlets they had previously established, All-American Coffee's advantage in this aspect was unmatched by other coffee companies!

After entering 1923, when the bubble of the American economy appeared as history had developed, Zhang Hainuo began to show his advantage in economics - on one hand, he continued to expand the scale and output of All-American Coffee, preparing for the listing of this rapidly rising enterprise, and on the other hand, he used the $200,000 capital raised from Balbas to start his own financial journey.

Every day, Wall Street's stock market and futures market were creating new millionaires, but Zhang Hainuo's goal was not merely to become a millionaire. He sometimes took profits when he saw fit, and sometimes decisively bought or sold based on various information. By the spring of 1923, when All-American Coffee shone in the stock market, he had nearly $1.5 million in personal funds. Shortly thereafter, he and Balbas joined forces to buy more than five million shares of All-American Coffee at the issue price. Just a month later, under the powerful advertising campaign, an unprecedented Blue Mountain coffee craze swept across the North American continent. Along with last summer's almost dominating Brazilian flavored iced coffee and the Turkish flavored coffee introduced in the spring, three powerful reinforcements were formed. Under the promotion strategy of "buy 6 get 1 free, buy 12 get 3 free", the sales volume of All-American Coffee soared, and the factory had to put all three production lines purchased in winter and spring into full operation to barely meet market demand.

The strong performance in sales caused the stock of All-American Coffee to soar rapidly after a period of stagnation. When they finally released the stocks at the end of the summer, the initial investment unexpectedly received a return of four times!

The summer's gift strategy caused several major competitors of All-American Coffee to suffer from a sluggish market. Seizing this opportunity, Zhang Hainuo and Balbas, with the support of the Jewish Chamber of Commerce, acquired the two largest coffee processing factories and a condensed milk processing factory in the eastern United States through an unknown small company. They merged them with the previous All-American Coffee factory into a brand new All-American Coffee Group. By the fall of 1923, this powerful group had become the leading giant in the American coffee industry. Although their influence was still limited to the eastern United States, their momentum had already made other coffee processing factories feel embarrassed.

On the other hand, by the summer of 1923, the second 10,000-ton dry dock of Schneider Shipyard was finally completed. The successful construction of 2,000-ton and 5,000-ton freighters before, coupled with timely publicity, earned them unprecedented fame in the Brazilian shipbuilding industry. Some of these ships were bought by All-American Coffee in the United States for transporting coffee beans, while the rest were mostly bought by German-Brazilian timber merchants in Brazil - affordable prices, reliable quality, and "authentic German goods" made them very willing to order freighters from Schneider Shipyard. The first 10,000-ton freighter built by the shipyard was bought by the wealthy German timber merchant Sir von Barn, and the second, which was about to start construction, was already reserved by the German-Brazilian mining tycoon Krolon.

Shipbuilding and coffee were the two biggest ideas Zhang Hainuo had when he came to the Americas, and now they were both on the commercial track. Even the "by-product" of the eagle had become the largest airline in Brazil. While achieving great success in business, Zhang Hainuo did not forget his fundamental purpose. For this reason, despite the fatigue of travel, he shuttled between Europe and the Americas, and since the end of 1920, he established permanent agencies in the two major port cities of Bremen and Hamburg in Germany. Externally, they were the sales departments of Brazil's Schneider Shipyard, but in reality, they were responsible for scouting and recruiting professionals.

In just two years from January 1921 to January 1923, Zhang Hainuo and the personnel stationed in these two permanent agencies used various means to hire nearly 50 top-notch shipbuilding, submarine, and naval weapon experts from Germany. Among them were some chief technical officers of large and medium-sized shipyards during World War I. The poor economic situation in Germany after the war forced many shipbuilding, boatbuilding, and artillery technicians and workers with rich experience and skilled techniques to go abroad for a living. Brazil's favorable immigration policy and the generous treatment provided by Schneider Shipyard attracted more than 1,200 middle and senior technicians and skilled workers from the shipbuilding industry during this period. They either moved to Brazil with their families or came alone to the distant South America for "gold rush". Schneider, a once insignificant Brazilian small shipyard, has now become a company with the largest gathering of German elite talents in the Americas!

While talents continued to enrich the shipbuilding industry, Zhang Hainuo continued to recruit skilled personnel in Germany - pilots and former naval personnel were the most popular. By early 1923, 55 pilots who had served in the German Air Force during World War I had joined Eagle Airlines, and there were more former German Navy personnel who applied to join the transportation fleet under Schneider Shipyard. There were so many of them that Zhang Hainuo had to arrange them according to their resumes, specialties, and ranks - officers and sailors who served on large surface warships were assigned to the ocean shipping department, while those who served on small surface ships temporarily worked on medium and short-haul cargo ships.

As for those officers and crew members who had served in the German Navy submarine force, they undoubtedly became the most valued group. They were incorporated into the newly established technical service department and divided into groups of 30 to 50 people according to the submarine force's habits. Their daily tasks were like waiting for the new submarines to be received. They used various components dismantled from U-148 for simulated operation training. Of course, all of this was done in secret.