Chapter 1125: Bad Idea

  Chapter 1104 – Bad Idea

Credibility was a good thing, and the reputation that Franz had operated for a long time had now reached the time to exert its power.

No matter how much the Russians assured, everyone couldn’t believe it, but a member of the Habsburg family came out to vouch for it, and everyone quickly accepted it.

Daring to make a guarantee, Louis was naturally not without purpose. To be able to have him, a member of the royal family, personally come out, in itself meant that this deal was extraordinary.

Don’t look at the surface of the arms dealers spontaneous action, but behind the scenes is Vienna and St. Petersburg together finalized, the real arms seller is the Vienna government.

Catch a war money is not easy, all the way to the Far East, Louis naturally can not give up this opportunity to make money.

Vienna government sell arms, medicine, he can also sell other strategic materials ah! Once the war started, it was gold, no matter what to sell is profiteering.

No goods on hand, no relationship, the ground has. Jin merchants worried about the Russians money is not easy to collect, but Louis is not afraid at all.

The Russian bureaucrats are not stupid, bullying businessmen without background background is just a matter of time; black Vienna government goods, lend them a dare not dare.

“Pulling the tiger skin, pulling the banner.”

Deterring the Russian bureaucrats in the Far East is still enough. Even if someone has the energy to investigate, the Habsburg family’s brand name can also be able to calm the scene.

What really needed to be paid for was still solving the official trouble. Not only the pressure from the Far East Empire, but also from the Japanese government.

In fact, this is also very simple, as long as in the critical moment to come out to stand, and show some tough on the line.

You should know that Louis was now a representative of the Shinra Imperial Family, and had come to the Far East in order to strengthen inter-royal exchanges.

Even if he didn’t have much actual power, there was absolutely no problem in taking out this identity to scare people.

Although Shen Luo and Britain, in the Far East region of the power are like goods, in addition to the appearance of looking scary, the actual ability to put really limited, but the outside world does not know ah!

Just look at the explicit military force, Austrian South Seas has the strength to defeat Japan, or the Far East Empire, at least in the eyes of many people in the Far East is so.

Reference template is the Battle of the Philippines, a fallen Spain are able to and the Far East’s first power Japan to play half a catty, the national strength of more than ten times more powerful Shinra naturally to be overestimated.

Jinshang is not rootless, as a local snake once let go, can use the energy absolutely beyond imagination.

You have to know that two hundred years ago, they are by virtue of their own power to feed the ……

Other do not dare to guarantee, at least the Russian army’s food problem can be solved, this is also the mission of Louis this trip to the Far East.

In the words of Emperor Franz, that is: can not let the Russians starve, the same can not let them eat too much, and Japan to play half a catty just good.

To do this, it is necessary to strictly control the amount of strategic materials imported. More is not good, less is not good.

Zhang Xingbai clasped his hands, bowed to the old man: “Xingbai is young and unintelligent, just now more offended, please bear with me.

I’m not going to lie to you, just yesterday I just received news that the family merchant group sold goods to the Russians and only received 70% of the payment.

I believe we have all encountered similar situations, if we can introduce a partner to ensure the normal delivery of goods, Xingbai will be the first to support.

However, Sir Louis comes from a high position in the Habsburg dynasty, after he joins in, how should the benefits be distributed?”

In a sense, the defeat of the Russian army in the original time and space, but also by their own bureaucrats pit.

For the sake of profit, the quartermaster in charge of purchasing often enriched himself by receiving kickbacks, or even frothing the goods.

If the transaction amount is too large, there may even be blackmail, directly kill the black pot to the bandits, make the smugglers are afraid.

Until the matter has become a big deal, only a high-ranking officer of the Russian army came out to stop, but at that time has already been spilt.

Even if there is a change, willing to take the risk of the caravan also reduced, many people simply turn to do business with the Japanese, so that the smuggling of supplies greatly reduced.

It was just beginning now, and each transaction was small enough that it hadn’t grown to the point of blackmail. However, it was still common to receive kickbacks and press the final payment.

Being able to solve these problems was indeed very important. However, we are more concerned about the specific “distribution of benefits”.

After lifting the tea cup and taking a small sip, President Wang slowly said: “Let’s start with the current Xikou trade, there are two types of cooperation.

One is to sign a contract with Sir Louis buyout, we directly transported to the Russians even if completed, the follow-up issues are all communicated by him and the Russians, to ensure that everyone’s gross profit is not less than fifty percent.

The second is to set up a joint venture, we are responsible for specific management operations, Sir Louis is responsible for dealing with the Russians, the shareholding ratio according to the amount of capital to determine.

After the end of the Westport trade, the merchant bank to open up overseas trade routes to any part of the world, he can help coordinate relations.

However, these human relations need to be made up by everyone elsewhere, and the specifics will be discussed by everyone at that time.”

A buyout deal sounded good, with a fifty percent gross profit margin, but in reality it was not. The prerequisite for getting the profit was to get the goods to the destination safely.

Although the other party promised to smooth out the official troubles, the mountain bandits and bandits along the way were an equal threat.

Although everyone has a relationship, give a buy money on the road will be fine, but there is always the time of accidents.

Cooperation was different, if the goods were lost, the loss would also involve the money of the Shen Luo royal family, and that would involve an international dispute.

As long as they were informed, the government would be more anxious than they were. They will send troops to eliminate the bandits in minutes, even if the goods can not be recovered, the loss can be recovered.

Especially after hearing “the shareholding ratio is determined by the amount of capital contributed”, the eyes of the crowd became brighter.

Frankly speaking, beforehand, the people did not even think that the other side will contribute money. In the crowd’s view, it was just a second generation who wanted to use his connections to make a profit.

The crowd had encountered this kind of situation too many times. Usually it was a sum of dry shares sent up, and then everyone was their own person.

The partnership of taking dry shares and personally paying for the partnership were obviously not in the same class.

The former each other nothing out, out of the problem directly throw hands away; the latter everyone’s interests are bound together, the real meaning of a loss, a glory.

Liu Rusong incredulous: “Wang Lao, sure is according to the proportion of capital allocation shares, no other additional conditions?”

There is no way, such cooperation conditions, not to mention the Jin merchants, none of the nation’s merchant gangs can refuse.

Though each of them had their own needs, the social structure of the Far East Empire, which was based on “the scholar, the farmer, the industrialist, and the businessman”, inherently made them shorter than the others.

Looking at the shocked crowd, President Wang calmly said: “Don’t worry, I have personally confirmed it. According to Sir Louis, this is the family rule of the Habsburg family.

It is forbidden for the children to utilize their status for profit, and all foreign business cooperation must be just and fair so as not to corrupt the family’s reputation.”

At first, when he heard this news, President Wang was equally disbelieving that there were still people in this world who were too much money and didn’t want any of the money that was sent to their door.

But after sending telegrams to find his son who studied in Europe to inquire, he found that the Habsburg Dynasty did have this family rule, and there is still a high reputation in the European world.

“Just and fair” is purely shouted out to play, the network of contacts placed there, innate advantage, but take dry shares is indeed Franz expressly prohibited.

On the one hand, it is really for the family reputation; on the other hand, it is really not lack of money.

There are many similar family rules, most of which are aimed at playboys. Once violated, the light is to withdraw the title, surname, heavy is the royal prison waiting.

Whether it could be enforced 100% in the future was unknown, anyway, Franz had been in power for so many years and no one had tried it yet.

Before coming to the Far East Empire, it was obviously a bit difficult for Louis to come up with enough principal, and the royal allowance was clearly not enough.

But after arriving in the Far East Empire, everything became different. Along the way, it was a soft receipt of gifts.

Especially when they arrived in the capital, a few banquets down, it was an explosion of earnings. Although it was also necessary to make a courtesy return, but after all, it was still a lot of money.

Louis is not a national public official, this time out and is the exchange between the royal family, mutual gifts is purely normal behavior.

That is, in the Far East Empire tycoon more, in Europe such exchanges, to be able to keep the capital is good, want to make a big profit is simply impossible.

So the common practice, these gifts are owned by individuals. Neither the government, nor the royal family, will not interfere.

If it is not in a hurry, it is estimated that Louis will have to put the Far East Empire’s royal relatives, all the feast can not be.

There was no way, these people were too polite. Anyone who is invited, no matter whether the person does not come, the gift is certainly to arrive, there is no one empty-handed to come.

As a representative of the Divine Luo royal family, Louis couldn’t afford to be rude when others gave him face. A return gift must be prepared, so as not to let others feel disgraced.

The insufficient number of gifts prepared in advance was also one of the reasons why Louis quickly came out on business. It was estimated that when the gifts ordered from China arrived, the banquet exchange would continue.

Although the gifts were not cash, they could be discounted all the same. The Jin merchants were specialists in this area, underwriting the gifts of a third of the bureaucrats in the Far East Empire.

After listening to President Wang’s explanation, the morale of the crowd soared for a while. It was so hard to meet such a disciplined partner.

Such an opportunity naturally could not be spared, and as for offending the Japanese, it was nothing at all.

……

Don’t know has been easy to deal with Sir Louis, at this moment is still worried about the matter of raising supplies. There is no way, hundreds of thousands of Russian troops of food and drink, the tsarist government actually entrusted to him.

It sounds childish, but the Russians did entrust the heavy responsibility of raising supplies to the Vienna government, and then Franz the Great authorized him to handle it with full authority.

The reason was very simple: there were not many members of the Shinra royal family in Asia to begin with, and even fewer who knew Chinese.

This task requires a high status to communicate, otherwise it will not be able to deter the bureaucrats, and the royal family members are the most suitable.

In order to accomplish this political task, from the Austrian South Seas to the Far East Empire, Louis did the first thing is to make friends.

The effect is also very obvious, by virtue of the signboard of the royal family of God Luo, coupled with his talent for socializing, soon met a lot of “new friends”.

No matter how unreliable this friendship was, it was still possible to ask for some information. If he wasn’t worried that the number of people involved would be bad, he probably would have dragged a bunch of powerful people in to make a fortune.

Of course, it is fortunate that he did not do so, otherwise he would have to learn what is called: “What to do, what can’t be done, messing up the first place”.

Originally Louis is still very confident in raising supplies, but after seeing the road of the Far East Empire, he was completely desperate.

Such bad transportation, to solve hundreds of thousands of army logistics, in his view is simply an impossible task.

If not for his friend recommending the Jin merchants to him, and citing the feat of transporting grain out of the customs to solve hundreds of thousands of people’s food two hundred years ago, Louis couldn’t believe that anyone would be able to do it.

Since someone can do it, then there is no doubt that it is natural to cooperate.

It was important to realize that more than two months had passed since the order was received. If the next progress is not faster, the Russian army on the front line will be cold.

Louis could care less if the Russians died or lived, but he could not fail in his own mission.

Seeing Louis in a bad mood, the interpreter comforted: “Sir, you don’t need to worry at all. The Jin merchants are all smart people and know what to choose.”

Knowing Chinese also needs to be paired with an interpreter?

There is no way, there is no unified Mandarin these days, there are a whole lot of dialects everywhere. Including the one Louis learned, which is a southern Min dialect.

After a pause, Louis shook his head: ”Li, you don’t understand the military. The consumption of supplies by a modernized army is completely different from an ancient army.

From the information provided by the Russians, half a million Russian troops consume an average of more than 5,000 tons of supplies every day, even if the Russians are able to solve half of them by themselves, there is still a gap of 2,500 tons, and that’s a gap of 7.5 million tons in a month.

If it is in the country, this point of supplies is not worth mentioning at all, nothing more than a dozen or so train cars per day.

But here is the Far East Empire, relying entirely on manpower and animal power, to transport two thousand five hundred tons of supplies to the front line every day, that is simply unimaginable.

Now I don’t even have the luxury of meeting all the logistical needs of the Russian army, just solving the problem of feeding them and supplying them with weapons and ammunition, that would be enough.”

Interpreter Lee: “Sir, the problem is actually not that complicated. As long as the Russians have money, none of this is a problem.

If the food transportation can’t catch up, it’s entirely possible to acquire a batch of livestock from the grasslands nearby and just drive them there directly.

Now we just need to get the weapons and ammunition over there, and if that’s not possible, we can also sell a number of transportation airships to the Russians.

I remember your country in the continental war, once set a record of one day air drop five thousand tons of bombs. Relying on the transportation blimps for a temporary emergency should not be a big problem.”

It could be seen that this interpreter really didn’t know much about the military. It wasn’t true that five thousand tons of munitions were airdropped in a day, but the price paid behind this was that in the following days, Shen Luo’s airship forces collectively took a break to rest.

There was no other reason, after the extreme flight, the airships had to be completely overhauled, or else they risked turning into fireworks.

Of course, that was the airships of more than ten years ago, now that airship technology has advanced, large transport airships can even transport hundreds of tons of supplies at once.

Theoretically, as long as you get a few dozen megaplane, you’ll be able to solve the Russian army’s logistical problems in a short period of time.

The prerequisite is not to meet the enemy’s aircraft, or else it will be a large fireworks display, and when the explosion goes off, there will be nothing left.

In practice, there will be more constraints, such as high operating costs, logistical and maintenance problems, the need for specialized technical teams and so on.

After a little thought, Louis affirmed, “Good idea, I will immediately send electricity to the country, this is another big business.”

Obviously, the weakness of airships Louis knew it all. Even if you get a blimp transportation, at most it will work in the early stages, and when the Japanese react to it, it will be scrapped.

Affected by the continental war, the airplane is early on the stage of history. The Russo-Japanese War was rarely used, mainly because Japan and Russia were poor and could not afford to raise the air force.

Although the price of airplanes is not high these days, it is relative. Especially the logistical maintenance trouble, after each flight mission, the crew must be overhauled.

The air force maintains not only the airplane, but also the crew behind it. Discounted, an airplane with supporting facilities down, the cost is much higher than an infantry battalion.

In addition to the two tycoons, Shen Luo and Britain, who dared to equip them on a large scale, even if other countries wanted to follow suit, their financial resources would not allow them to do so.

Know to know, but this does not prevent Louis to increase an order. Knowing that Shinra had to retire a large number of airships every year, he was worried about finding a home to take over.

It was just right to sell them to the Russians for a temporary emergency. As long as the number wasn’t too large, it was believed that the Tsar’s government would still be able to come up with crews.

(End of chapter)