Early the next morning, Jochen went to the German Embassy, and at a brief welcome ceremony, Jochen expressed his condolences and thanks to all the embassy staff for working in a foreign country, and then chatted with Rodenhan and Ladurin about how to deal with Robertov, an old slippery man.

"Your Highness, I heard that you had dinner with His Highness Nikolai last night, did His Highness Nikolai say anything?" Rodenhan asked.

"We just had a casual conversation and didn't get too involved, but in general Nikolai really wanted to come to an agreement with us. Because if the Russians were left alone against the British, they would most likely not have been able to get Arthur.

The main purpose of the French was to concentrate in the south, and they were not dead set on Canton and Taiwan, but it was absolutely impossible for the British to allow an additional French naval base next to Hong Kong, so the demands of the French were doomed to be unsatisfied, so it was impossible for the French to support the Russians and then satisfy their own wishes.

And we can support the Russians, so if the British must choose one between Lushun and Canton, the British will probably prefer to relax on the Lushun issue. I think Robertov should be able to realize this, and now it is nothing more than to put aside the French matter to make it difficult for him to make a decision, right? Jochen said.

"If His Highness Nikolai wishes to unite with us, then the attitude of Robertov's side should not be too firm, and now the question is how can we impress the Russians, and I don't think that a single Lushun will be enough to make the Russians leave the French like this.

Although His Excellency Caprivi had said before he came that we could provide loans for the Russians if needed, we would be more passive if we threw this condition out now. Rodenhan had a tricky idea of how to impress Robertov.

Before coming to Russia, Germany had a set of plans to support Russia and let the Russians abandon France, and supporting it to obtain Arthur was one of them, and with Port Arthur, it could also allow the Russians to tilt the focus of naval construction to the Far East, so Germany could support this.

On the other hand, the Russians took out loans from the Germans. Historically, after the intervention of the three countries to return Liao, Russia and France immediately abandoned Germany and reached an agreement in private, forcing the Qing State to borrow money from Russia and France, thus signing the "Four Percent Loan Contract" to borrow 400 million francs from the Qing State, equivalent to about 100 million taels of silver in the country.

However, this money was not shared equally between France and Russia, but Russia as a guarantee, and France took the lion's lead, not only did the economic ties between the two sides become closer, but also was able to meddle in the customs affairs of the Qing Dynasty.

Jochen naturally wanted to prevent the French from succeeding, although the mere 400,000,000,000 francs was not much in the face of the total amount of Russian loans to France and the issuance of French national bonds. But if Germany intervenes, it can also re-establish the already largely rigid financial ties between Germany and Russia.

However, this hole card cannot be discarded immediately at the beginning of the negotiation.

"How much money do the Russians have at their disposal now?" Jochen asked Radolin.

"The exact situation is not very clear, but now that Russia's finances are weak, and the Minister of Finance Sergei Yuryevich has been trying to increase the reserves of funds in the treasury, I think the Russians are preparing to move to the gold standard, and now spending almost 100 million rubles at once may disrupt his pace." Radolin speculated.

"Very well, Your Excellency the Chancellor of the Exchequer should also be involved in our negotiations, right? Then try to find a breakthrough from him first. Jochen looked at Ladurin approvingly: "Robertov, the foreign minister, must not interfere with the transition plan of the gold standard of the whole of Russia." ”

Ladurin was right, and the gold standard was introduced in 1896 and implemented in 1897 after Witte had accumulated more than 1 billion rubles of gold for the Tsarist treasury during various tax reforms.

Now let the Russians take out nearly one-tenth of the funds in the treasury and estimate that the Chancellor of the Exchequer will be crazy, and Germany is taking the lion's share for the Russians at this time, plus its own share, it is not too big a problem to take out 400 million marks.

Of course, Germany has paid so much, and Russia's remuneration is naturally to support Germany to obtain concessions, reduce tariffs, and expand the market.

And Sergei Yuryevich Witt was the breakthrough not only because he was pushing forward the financial reforms in Russia, but also because Witte himself was trusted by Jochen's cousin Nikki, who was not only the Minister of Finance and Transport of the Russian Empire, but also the Chairman of the Council of Ministers and the first Chairman of the Council of Ministers, that is, the Prime Minister of the Russian Empire. He was also a reformist who advocated eastward expansion and demanded that the empire focus be on the Far East.

Therefore, using him as a breakthrough to help Russia increase its influence in the Far East and expand its sphere of influence will naturally receive his strong support.

The policy was set, Jochen would not participate in the specific negotiations, and after the state funeral of Alexander III, Nikolai had to start preparing for his wedding, but the atmosphere in the Russian court finally slowly came out of the heaviness.

At the first reception held in the Hermitage after the state funeral of Alexander III, Jochen met his patron, Lieutenant General Paul Petvich Tiltov.

"Your Highness Joachim, it is an honor to meet you here." His Excellency the Lieutenant General took two glasses of vodka from the tray in the waiter's hand, and handed one over: "Your Highness, taste our 'water'." ”

Jochen had no choice but to hand the wine in his hand to the waiter, then took the glass, and said with a smile: "Your warship will be completed in many months, you are not here to rush me, are you?" ”

"Of course not, how dare I urge Your Highness." Tiltov smiled and said, "On the contrary, I very much hope to have a good exchange with His Highness." As he spoke, he raised the wine glass in his hand slightly.

"Oh? What advice does Your Excellency Lieutenant General have? Jochen raised his glass slightly, then took a sip of vodka.

"How does it feel?" Tirtorf asked with a smile.

"The taste is very pure and soft, but after drinking it, it feels like my whole body is on fire, please forgive me, I'm not very proficient in alcohol, but it doesn't seem to be the same as my impression of vodka." Jochen responded.

"Of course, this is the recipe that Standa, Mr. Mendeleev made this year." Tirtorf was proud of Jochen's response.

"Mr. Mendeleev, the chemist?" Jochen was surprised.

"That's Mr. Mendeleev." Tirtorf smiled a little smugly.

"Is the chemist's recipe? It's really special. Jochen exclaimed, but talking about a kind of chemist-made zuò wine didn't seem to be the reason for Tirtorfer to come to him: "Your Excellency, Lieutenant General, what did you mean by saying that you wanted to communicate with me?" ”

"It's about the cruiser that your country sold to the Japanese before the war, and we are very interested in her appearance in two naval battles." Turnoff confessed.

"Then Your Excellency the Vice Admiral should know, this ship was originally designed by Austria-Hungary, not us." Jochen is sloppy here.

"But what I do know is that after the launch of this battleship, some design modifications were made according to the two new ships of your country in the Far East, and presumably the two cruisers in the Far East Fleet should be even better." Tirtorf said in the affirmative.

"It seems that Your Excellency is interested in our country's newest cruisers, so you should be interested in ordering a few more better ones from my shipyard?" Since the Russians are interested, then they might as well go straight to their business.

"Hahaha, you just came to the door-to-door sales, since you said that there is a better design, presumably the German Navy also purchased it?" Tirtorf tentatively did.

"Of course, our shipyard has the best designers, so our design is naturally adopted by the navy, but because of financial problems, the design selected by the navy is not the most perfect design of our designers, if your country is interested, you can purchase one, I can guarantee that this is definitely the best cruiser in the world now." Jochen complimented.

In the age of freedom of the arms trade, it is not a problem for the owners of the shipyards to sell ships that are better than their own. Moreover, Pooper's design ideas can be very easy to match a variety of different configurations of ship shapes, and Jochen can also take this opportunity to make a real yàn with Maozi.

"The best cruiser in the world, presumably the best price in the world." Tiltorf said with a smile.

"That's natural, of course good things must have a price worthy of her, and no one will be interested in bad things, no matter how cheap they are." Jochen replied.

"It's the same as your BMW's top-of-the-line luxury car, and I have to admit that you're right." Tirtov nodded.

"Although I would love to bring BMW to Russia, it's a shame that the weather in Russia is not very kind to the delicate engines." Jochen jokingly responded.

"It's a pity for us as well." Tirtorf replied with a dejected look.

"What are you two talking about so happily?" A voice suddenly interjected.

"Your Highness." Tiltov immediately bowed down and saluted, and it was none other than the Russian Crown Prince Nikolai.

"Cousin Nikki, Your Excellency first invited me to taste the best vodka in Russia, and then we talked about the new cruisers, and I joked with Your Excellency, saying that if he came to my shipyard to order, I would sell him one of the best in the world."

"Oh? The best cruiser in the whole world? Nikolai, who likes the navy, immediately became interested: "Cousin, you want to do business for your shipyard, right?" As far as I know, the 4 fleet minestormers we ordered are your shipyard's first contract for warships. Nikolai teased.

"Nicky, perfect design, good workmanship determine the performance of a ship, and it has nothing to do with how long the shipyard has been established. The British had the largest and most experienced shipyards in the world, but in the field of cruiser design, it can only be said that they were complacent and stubborn. The British simply did not grasp the true meaning of how exactly the future cruiser should be designed. ”

"So tomorrow my cousin would like to go to the Baltic shipyard and see our new cruiser."

"Gladly." RS