Under pressure from the British and French governments, the bankers agreed to borrow from the Rus' state, but there was no certainty as to how much they would be able to lend.

Alexander II ordered the foreign minister of the Rus' state, his brother-in-law, Lopunov, to go to Paris to negotiate with the bankers on the terms and amount of the loan.

As soon as he arrived in Paris, Lopunov went to Versailles to meet with the King of France, hoping to borrow an extra sum of money through the King's influence in Europe.

At present, the Rus' state is very financially constrained, not only does it not have enough money to wage war with the Great Zhou, but it also does not have the funds to maintain domestic stability.

It can be said that the treasury of the Rus' state has long been empty.

So, before leaving Moscow, Alexander II instructed Lopunov to get more money from the bankers.

But is the banker's money so easy to borrow?

Therefore, as soon as he arrived in Paris, Lopunov went to Versailles to meet with the King of France, hoping to use the influence of the King of France to raise some more funds.

After reading Alexander II's handwritten letter, the King of France's brow furrowed slightly.

Without him, the Rus country borrowed too much money this time.

Three million gold francs, equivalent to the currency of the Great Zhou, will be as high as more than 20 million taels of silver.

With so much money, even if the King of France exerted pressure, the bankers would not have easily agreed.

So, after a moment of silence, the King of France spoke: "Your Excellency Lopunov, is your country borrowing too much money?"

As far as I know, your country only plans to send 30,000 troops to the Great Zhou this time, even if the road is long and the logistics consumption is huge, but one million gold francs is enough! ”

"Your Majesty, the King of France, is really strapped for our finances, so I want to borrow more. ”

The King of France also knew what the financial situation of the Rus' country was.

It can be said that the government of the Rus' country was the poorest of the European powers.

Many of the weapons in service in the Rus' country are second-hand weapons eliminated by France, which can be seen.

But this time, as soon as the Rus' country opened its mouth, it was three million gold francs, which was really a lion's mouth, so the king of France did not reply for a long time.

Seeing that the King of France had some hesitation on his face, Lopunov also knew that it would be very tricky for anyone to borrow so many people at once.

So Lopnov said: "Your Majesty, Dear King of France, please rest assured that before this departure, His Majesty the Emperor of our country has already said that as long as he can borrow three million gold francs, His Majesty the Emperor of China is willing to mortgage a part of the country's minerals to the bank. ”

Seeing Lopunov say this, the King of France breathed a sigh of relief.

At the same time, the King of France said: "Your Majesty the Emperor may say so, but I cannot guarantee how much the banker will be able to lend in the end."

However, I can assure your Majesty the Emperor that I will do my best to help Ross raise funds.

In the end, how much bankers can lend depends on your efforts! ”

The meaning of the King of France's words is obvious, he and the French government can help the Rus' country as much as possible, but in the end, how much money the Rus' country can borrow depends on how many minerals the Rus' country can mortgage, and naturally depends on the performance of Lopunov himself.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your help!" Although the King of France did not specify how much he would lend, Lopunov expressed his gratitude.

After all, without the help of the King of France, Lopunov believed that with the credibility of the Rus' state in Europe, he was afraid that he would not be able to borrow even half a million gold francs.

This was mainly due to the fact that among the European powers, only the government of Rus' was the least credible.

Pierre, who had just sent off Lopnov and had just returned from the Great Zhou, came to Versailles to meet the King of France.

Apparently, Pierre had already learned of the news that Lopunov had come to see His Majesty, and as soon as he saw the King of France, Pierre asked: "Your Majesty, Loponov has come to Paris this time, but he has come to borrow money?" ”

"Not bad!" The King of France nodded in acknowledgement.

"Your Majesty has promised Lopnov?" Pierre hurriedly asked.

"Promised!" The King of France nodded again in acknowledgement.

Seeing that His Majesty the King nodded again, Pierre was a little anxious and said, "How can Your Majesty agree to the request of the Rus' Kingdom?" I'm afraid that the money lent out this time will be lost! ”

"Oh?" Seeing Pierre say this, the King of France asked in some surprise: "Didn't you tell me before that the Great Zhou was a completely agricultural country and could not support a large-scale war at all?" ”

The large-scale war in the mouth of the King of France is, of course, the war of the age of hot weapons.

In response to the king's questions, Pierre explained: "Wechen went to the Great Zhou this time and found that after purchasing a batch of machinery and equipment from our country and England, the industrialization process of the Great Zhou had begun.

Besides, with the huge population of the Great Zhou, as long as a very small part of the industrialization is carried out, the Rus Kingdom is not the opponent of the Great Zhou.

His Majesty should not forget that the industrialization of the Rus' country can be said to be the most backward in the whole of Europe, but its military strength is only a step behind our country and England. ”

The Rus' state was a system of serfdom, and industrialization progressed extremely slowly.

But when it comes to military strength, apart from France and England, there is really no country that is his opponent.

Speaking of which, we have to say that Germany, the neighbor to the east of France.

Germany was originally a unified country, but now there are dozens of states in Germany.

The most powerful of these is Austria to the south.

Secondly, there is Prussia to the north.

However, compared to Austria, Prussia had an extremely complete industrialization, and it was only because the country was too small that it had little influence in Europe.

"That's okay!" Seeing that Pierre was in such a hurry, the King of France said unimpressedly: "This time, the Rus' country is mainly borrowing money from bankers, and France is just making some efforts in it."

Even if the Rus' state is unable to repay the loan in the end, it will have no effect on our country. ”

Originally, the borrowing of the Rus' state this time was not a loan between countries, but a loan from the bankers, so the king of France was not worried that the Rus' country would not be able to repay the bankers' loans.

"But Your Majesty, this will affect the relationship between our country and the Great Zhou. If Da Zhou heard that the Rus Kingdom was through His Majesty the King, he borrowed a war loan, and he was afraid that he would stop trade relations with our country. ”

Normal trade with Da Zhou is an extremely important part of France's future strategy, so it is no wonder that Pierre is not in a hurry.

Compared with the Great Zhou thousands of miles away, it is obvious that the Rus' Kingdom not far away has a more important position in the eyes of the King of France.

After organizing the language, the King of France said: "Now that the Great Zhou has not set up a consulate in Europe, and no Great Zhou merchants have come to Europe, how can he know the specific situation of the Rus' country?" And how did you know that it was the Rus that borrowed the war loan through our country? ”

The words of the King of France are not unreasonable, the Great Zhou Dynasty is thousands of miles away from Europe, and the entire Great Zhou court, except for Zhang Lingyang, the Son of Heaven, has a vague understanding of Europe, and the rest of the ministers are really unclear about what the situation in Europe is.

It can even be said that it is a black eye.

Even Zhang Lingyang, the son of heaven from the earth, has a very vague impression of Europe, only knowing that Europe has now started industrialization, and Zhang Lingyang does not know the level of development of industrialization in specific countries.

"Your Majesty, don't forget that there are not a few people in Europe who have established diplomatic relations with the Great Zhou, just like through which merchants or England are behind the scenes, the Great Zhou can also know the role of our country in this."

Pierre's words made the King of France stunned, and then smiled: "Impossible, England also played a role in this, if he dared to leak this news to Da Zhou, wouldn't he slap himself in the face?"

As for those merchants who went to the Great Zhou?

Give them an order directly, as long as someone talks about it in Da Zhou, the government will severely punish them according to the reason for leaking state secrets! ”

"Well, Your Majesty!" Seeing that he could not persuade His Majesty, Pierre had no choice but to leave.

……

After returning to the consulate of the Rus' state in the eastern suburbs of Paris, Lopunov pondered for a moment, went to his study to write a letter by hand, ordered it to be sent back to Moscow, to Alexander II by hand, and then began to prepare a list of invitees for this loan.

The loan to be borrowed by the Rus' state this time was not a small amount, and if it were not for the bankers with rich assets, they would not be eligible to participate in it at all.

This is also the pride of the Rus' kingdom.

Even if the country is about to be poor and can't open the pot, the decency it should have still needs to be considered. Otherwise, if all the characters can participate, then the Rus' country is afraid that it will lose face.

With a wave of his hand, Lopunov crossed out all the banks with less than five million francs in liquidity.

After all, the Rus' country had borrowed too much money this time, and if the liquidity was less than five million francs, I am afraid that it would not be able to raise this money.

With a stroke of the pen, Lopunov directly cut down eighty percent of the bankers in Europe, and the rest were banks with rich assets, but the number was somewhat small, less than twenty.

But this is enough for the Rus' country.

If nothing else, as long as the twenty largest European banks agreed to borrow money from the government of the Rus' state, three million gold francs would not be difficult at all.

Of course, this is just Lopunov's wishful thinking.

The exact amount of loan that can be borrowed in the end will be discussed on a case-by-case basis.

In addition to those bankers, the other invitees were naturally high-ranking officials of the French government and the presence of ambassadors to France.

Of course, Lopunov is not a brainless person either.

Just in case, Lopunov also invited several senior officials of the English government to attend the talks. In order to put further pressure on those bankers.

With only a narrow channel between England and France, distance is not a big problem at all.

Not to mention the reaction of the senior officials of the French and English governments and the ambassadors to France, but also the bankers who were surprised when they received the invitation letter from Lopunov.

It was no secret that the Rus' country was going to borrow three million gold francs, and in less than a day, it spread throughout Paris.

And they also heard that with a stroke of the pen of Lopunov's pen, small and medium-sized banks were not on the list of invitees.

"What the hell is this Lopnov doing?" This was the first reaction of the crowd after receiving the invitation.

After all, they learned from reliable sources that the number of bankers invited by Lopunov this time was simply less than twenty.

Borrowing three million gold francs from less than 20 banks means that, on average, each bank has to contribute at least 150,000 gold francs.

With these few bank assets, it is naturally not difficult to take out 150,000 gold francs at once.

Can it be done later?

Borrowing from bankers by European governments was a common occurrence in this day and age.

When other countries look at it, you lend so much money to the Rus' country at once, so when they come to borrow money in the future, can they also open their mouths?

Moreover, there are less than twenty well-funded banks, a third of which are run by Jews.

Some time ago, the government of the Rus' country was still vigorously checking the assets of the Jews in the country, is it possible that these Jewish bankers are not afraid that their investments will be in vain?

But Lopinov just did it.

Whether you say that he is arrogant or that he is a fox and a tiger, no one dares to go to this loan meeting without giving this face.

Otherwise, it will offend the two European hegemons of France and England.

The bankers who offended the country of Russ and did not invest in the country of Rus' are really not afraid, but they dare not offend France and England.

Otherwise, they will not be able to move an inch in Europe, let alone do things.

So, on the day of the meeting, the bankers, whether they wanted it or not, went to the conference venue and forced a smile on Lopnov, the foreign minister of the Rus' state.

The banks that participated in the Rus' National University borrowing conference, except those run by Jews, all had national or aristocratic backgrounds.

For example, the Bank of England and the Bank of France are all rich in assets and have a national background.

If the Jewish banks of this era were the ATMs of the governments, then the other banks were interested in the mines that the Rus' country was going to mortgage this time.

If it was a bank run by the Jews, even if the Rus' state said that it would mortgage some of the country's mines to them, I am afraid that they would not believe it.

Because they had already done such things as commonplace, after successfully borrowing money from the Jews, after three or five years, they would take back the mortgaged minerals for various reasons.

This kind of thing has not only been done by Rus, but also by other European countries, but it is not as ugly as Rus'.

But for other banks, the Rus' country did not dare to do this, because other banks have a deep political background in Europe, and if they are not careful, the Rus' country may offend other countries......