Early the next morning, the U.S. envoy Andy Fred arrived at the "White Castle" estate to meet Louis Bonaparte, chairman of the Louisiana Development Bank, who was known as the invisible governor of Louisiana.

The carriage he was riding in made several circles along the winding mountain road before he came to the gate of the manor. The carriage stopped there, and Andy Fred got out of the carriage, walked to the door, and handed a business card to the porter. In a few moments the door opened, and a man dressed as a waiter revealed to Andy Fred that Monsieur Bonaparte was waiting for him in the drawing-room.

Andy Fred followed the man into the manor, through the garden with the fountain in front, then through the marble-floored hall, and upstairs to a small living room on the second floor. A young man, steamed inside, was waiting for him.

"Hello, you may be seated, I am Louis Bonaparte, President of the Development Bank of Louisiana. I've heard people say you have a business to talk to me about. Louie knew that Americans, or people in the New World, didn't like to beat around the bush when doing things, so he said very simply.

"Well, you know, we recently had a war with the British. And Britain is also an enemy of your country...... "said Andy Fred.

"No, Mr. Fred, you may be mistaken about a few things." Louis shook his finger and shook his words, "First of all, you may have mistaken my identity. I'm the chairman of the Louisiana Development Bank, and I'm a businessman, and I care about the growth of the company's wealth. That's what I'm doing. Although some people may have said that because of my brother, they think I will interfere in politics. Well, that's a statement that is wrong most of the time. If there's anything I think I'm meddling in politics, it's that they themselves don't figure out the difference between making money and politics.

Also, there is a problem with your statement, even if you think only about politics. First of all, we do not consider Britain to be our enemy. France and England are still at peace. Of course, there has been a bit of unpleasantness between us and the UK lately because of trade issues. However, trader disputes are a common occurrence between any two countries. If, I mean, tomorrow the British change their attitude on trade and recognize and respect the principle of free trade and open doors, then we are friendly neighbours in the truest sense of the word. So you can't think of us as enemies of the British because of that.

Of course, we and the United States are also out-and-out friendly neighbors. Therefore, we are also willing to achieve a win-win outcome for both sides through free trade. If you're coming to me about trade, you've got the right person. But if it's for other purposes, I think you're probably looking for the wrong person. ”

"Ah, Monsieur Bonaparte, I have indeed come to discuss the question of trade." Andy Fred hastened to say, "You know, our country is now under the savage aggression of the British. We need to buy weapons, and we need to lease two cruisers from the Louisiana detachment. ”

"You want to lease two cruisers? It's not easy......" Louis said.

"There are already precedents of successful cooperation between us and your country." Andy Fred said he was referring to the US government's lease of the "Free Trade" and the "Common Market" from France.

"It's different." Louis shook his head, "At the time of the conclusion of that lease, your country and Britain were still at peace, so it is completely in line with the principle of trade and the principle of war for our country to lease these two warships to your country." But now it is different, and now your country and Britain are at war. If it's just an arms deal in general, and a civilian arms deal in particular, you know, Louisiana and your country have a long border. It is also inevitable that there will be some smuggling and the like along this border. So, if there is a large-scale flow of French-made civilian weapons into your country, I don't think it will have a big impact.

But warships are not the same as these things. It is impossible for warships to be smuggled past, and it is impossible for France to lease warships to warring countries. This is contrary to the French principle of maintaining peace. Well, at least, it's impossible for us to lend the warship to you directly. Louis Dao, in order to avoid the American buns not being understood, he also deliberately said the word "direct" very seriously.

It turns out that there is nothing wrong with the intelligence of the Americans. They can still understand the simple meaning.

"Mr. Bonaparte, does that mean that this agreement can be reached if it can be made once by some change of hands in the middle?" Andy Fred hurriedly asked.

"I think it's a viable option." Louis replied, "At least, there would be no problem in law by doing so." ”

"Thank you for your teaching," said Andy Fred very earnestly, "and, Mr. Bonaparte, who do you think is more convenient as an intermediary?" ”

Andy Fred asked this not because Americans couldn't find a suitable middleman. But in the process, it's clear that there are a lot of gaps where you can legally get commissions and other income. This benefit is, of course, to Louie, or rather to the Louisiana Development Bank. If you don't even know this basic principle, then you can't do it.

"Ah, I think Santo Domingo is good, don't you think?" Louis replied.

Just a year ago, Santo Domingo had just completed its independence and officially became a "protectorate" of France. And the governor of Toussaint Louvidur also became a consul for life.

Although Santo Domingo has become "independent", it is still a part of the French economic circle, and it accepts the "protection" of France, just like Bhutan in later generations accepts the "protection" of the third brother. It offered to lease the cruisers of the suzerain, and then the French immediately agreed, which was not a problem at all. And after Santo Domingo got the French cruisers, he immediately changed hands and subleased these two cruisers to the Americans, because Santo Domingo did not understand the norms of the international community and took advantage of the loopholes in the contract. Besides, it's normal for something like that to happen in a black country, isn't it?

Of course, in this process, there will definitely be a "middleman to make the difference" thing, but such a thing, if there is no "middleman to make the difference", who will do it for you?

After the two sides have agreed on issues of principle, all that remains is the details. These things don't need to be discussed by high-level executives like Louie. So the two of them casually said a few more words, and Andy Fred got up and left.