Soon after reaching an agreement with Schneider, Napoleon III invited Zhu Jinglun to meet. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The meeting of two emperors is the most boring thing, all kinds of etiquette constraints, are afraid of losing etiquette and shame, so they will often be decent, and even appear stiff and rigid, and even in the end the words become formulaic greetings, this is the so-called diplomatic rhetoric, the Chinese call it haha.

I chatted with Napoleon for a long time about all kinds of weather, scenery, and history, but I didn't mention political affairs, mainly Napoleon, worried about saying the wrong thing, he can't compare with Zhu Jinglun, Zhu Jinglun doesn't have to worry about making the wrong decision, because even if it is what professional officials talk about, in the end he makes the decision, and even the professional officials of the Ming Dynasty are not as professional as Zhu Jinglun, but Napoleon's level is definitely not as good as the French technocrats, so he tries to avoid talking about specific things, so in the end he can only talk about the weather.

As for the negotiations between the officials, there is actually nothing to talk about, and where to put the negotiation benchmark with Britain, at most it can give France corresponding conditions, and it will definitely not be more favorable.

There is nothing to say about the establishment of diplomatic relations, but the treaties of reciprocal recognition, which involve real interests, are mainly trade treaties.

The French were very interesting, they expressed their willingness to give duty-free raw silk imported from the Ming Dynasty in exchange for the condition that the Ming Dynasty gave them a duty-free exemption on their silk products, and it is hard to imagine that the French would have the whimsical idea to export silk to China.

Zhu Jinglun's first reaction when he saw this condition was that the French were really romantic, and romantic people were naïve, but think about it, they really have this ability, because the French silk has begun to be produced by machines, Zhu Jinglun can't help but worry, but if the French can give Daming raw silk tax exemption, then the market of the largest raw silk importer, Daming will have a dominant position, and the Japanese will definitely join in the production of raw silk in a few years, and the cheap Japanese raw silk will compete fiercely with Daming and can obtain tariff advantages, of course good.

And competition is a double-edged sword, it depends on whether you are competitive or not, Zhu Jinglun decided to agree to come down, and turn back to vigorously promote the development of the machine silk weaving industry in Daming.

After the agreement was signed, Zhu Jinglun saw optimistic newspaper comments in France, the French believed that they would soon be able to supply silk products to this tea-producing country with a population of more than 50 million, and the sentimental newspaper also said that it was of historical significance to sell silk to the hometown of silkworms, which symbolized the victory of industrial civilization over ancient civilization.

In addition to silk, among the agreements reached with France, there are also agreements such as France opening up the tea market in exchange for the Ming Dynasty opening up the steel products market, and both sides are tax-free on each other's handicrafts.

In the atmosphere of the French taking advantage of themselves, Zhu Jinglun embarked on a journey to England.

Britain was not the focus of this visit, so there were not many official exchanges with Britain originally arranged, but Zhu Jinglun suddenly decided to find a school for naval officers, so it became necessary to have deeper communication.

When Zhu Jinglun was still in France to meet with Napoleon, the minister to Britain had already expressed these demands to Britain, and the British were also quite interested in this, first of all, the Ming was willing to learn from the British, which was a recognition of the British Imperial Navy, and secondly, the plot of the Europeans who were good teachers in this era, and again there were some other purposes.

As for this purpose, there is the purpose of influencing the Ming Navy through this way, which is a common practice in this era, all countries hope to train talents for other countries to achieve influence on each other's countries, for example, the United States is very keen on educational cooperation with the Qing Dynasty, for which they even gave up the Gengzi indemnity to fund Chinese students, the American officials at that time believed that whoever cultivated the next generation of China, who will master the future of China, the purpose of the British Navy is nothing more than this, As for whether they will add a potential opponent, the Europeans are particularly generous in this regard, and Britain has hardly refused the request of other countries to send naval students in history, and it is not afraid that the Qing Dynasty, Japan, or Turkey have all sent naval personnel to Britain.

Another purpose is when Zhu Jinglun arrived in the United Kingdom to know, Britain hopes that the Ming Dynasty can purchase the British shipyard to build the ironclad ship, the current British warrior-class ironclad ship costs as much as more than 300,000 pounds, equivalent to a million taels of silver, a ship is a big deal, and the design of the ironclad ship is still in the process of improvement, if you use other people's funds to improve, it is tantamount to the Ming Dynasty in funding the British warship design research, in history Germany built warships for Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Navy at a preferential price, In fact, this is the main purpose, you must know that the Germans themselves did not have much equipment for ironclad ships at that time, so they used Li Hongzhang's money to do research.

But Daming has been able to build his own ironclad ship, the British say that the ironclad ship built by Daming himself is not only technically inferior to the British one, the Guangdong is 6,000 tons, and the Warrior class is 9,000 tons, and the price is not cost-effective at all, for this ironclad ship Daming spent three million taels, and the British shipyard only needs one million.

The British's rhetoric can make many Ming officials excited, but Zhu Jinglun knows very well that this is not a matter of money, and there are some things that no amount of money can buy.

In the end, Zhu Jinglun said that if the Ming Dynasty wants to purchase warships from the West, it must give priority to the United Kingdom.

Although the British were slightly disappointed, it was better than nothing to get this guarantee, anyway, they thought that it would have been a meaningful thing to help the Ming train naval officers.

As for the rest, it is just some official activities, such as walking around the industrial areas of Britain, and Britain at this time generally produced a number of large factories, which is different from other countries.

These factories may not be much different in technology from small factories or even workshops in continental Europe, but they are greatly improved in efficiency and greatly reduced in cost, which is the advantage of mass production.

It can be said that the British are still proud of the whole world at this time, both in terms of scale, technology, and quality.

However, Zhu Jinglun felt that the British industry had no point in visiting, because the British were the initiators of the industrial revolution, and their industrial revolution was a natural evolution, and there were no competitors at that time.

Therefore, Britain has completed the industrial revolution in a good way, but their conditions, latecomers cannot have, except for the United Kingdom, including the Ming Dynasty, other countries can be regarded as catch-ups, so Zhu Jinglun feels that it is more meaningful to visit other countries.

In between visits, I used my spare time to meet with British capitalists.

Many people are very willing to meet with Zhu Jinglun, such as the London banker who has been in contact for a long time.

They want to give Daming a loan.

But Chu has no plans to take out a loan in the UK, preferring to issue bonds in Kowloon, and he is determined to make it a financial center.

"I would like to give you a professional suggestion, and I do not think that the present financial situation of your country is suitable for continuing to issue bonds in the country. So I think you should seriously consider my advice, maybe you need a professional financial advisor, and we at Rothschild are more than willing to help with that. ”

The most active and powerful family of bankers is headed by the Rothschilds.

They came up with some data to prove that Daming's financial situation was very poor, in order to prove that Zhu Jinglun's intention to issue bonds in China was very risky, they believed that Daming's economic situation had lost the ability to continue financing, on the one hand, they hoped that Daming could issue bonds in London, and they were willing to underwrite Daming's bonds on favorable terms, on the other hand, the Rothschilds were very active in hoping to do the business of Daming's financial advisors, and they had already done this service to many nobles. Some small countries are also managing their finances in accordance with their family's advice.

If Zhu Jinglun didn't have tens of millions of taels of silver in his hand, it was really easy to be moved by this Jew, no wonder they could rise in this era, it was really not a fluke.

The Rothschilds didn't know about Zhu Jinglun's windfall during the American Civil War, but the Bahraini family knew, so why did they also think that it was necessary for the Ming Dynasty to take out a loan?

Zhu Jinglun then held talks with the Bahrain family.

"Because we think you're going to build a lot of railroads. In case you didn't know, the cost of building a railway is unbelievable, and the section of the road you are currently preparing is likely to cost far more than budgeted, with preliminary estimates of up to £3 million. If you have a follow-up plan for construction, then I would like to issue bonds in London, which is the most feasible option. ”

The representative of the Bahraini family said with great confidence.

Zhu Jinglun secretly sighed in his heart, the Ming government's plan to prepare for the railway has not been made public, but it is quietly stockpiling land, and they can judge the section of the railway built by the Ming Dynasty through these movements, which is obviously done very carefully, Zhu Jinglun has reason to believe that Hurd has helped their compatriots in it, because the reserve land has always been the responsibility of the customs, and Hurd's connections in the customs are stronger than any official in the Ming Dynasty.

This is not a big problem, the construction of the railway is not a strategic secret, and the reason for the secrecy is that it is afraid of causing the stubborn forces in the countryside to obstruct it from the beginning, so the land is currently being acquired in the name of repairing the official road.

But being able to tell the terrain along the way, and also calculate the budget from it, is what the British did that really makes people sigh.

Three million pounds, equivalent to 10 million taels of silver, if this section of the railway is so expensive, and Zhu Jinglun plans to extend it outward, then the financial pressure is indeed beyond the conformity.

But Zhu Jinglun still doesn't plan to borrow money in the UK for the time being, the local tyrants of the Ming Dynasty have money, rather than burying them in the silver cellar, such as finding a way to pry it out and turn it into circulating capital.

It's just that some businesses can still be done with these bankers.

"I don't know about borrowing money from the Japanese government, how do you think about it?"

I've had people contact them before.

The representative of Bahrain shook his head: "Judging from the current situation, the situation of the Japanese government is not good, they may lose the war with the rebels, we cannot take this risk." ”

Zhu Jinglun smiled: "What if you fail? Do you think that after the new Japanese government comes to power, it will dare to repay its debts? ”

Bahrain wondered: "Do you think they will admit the debts of the opposition?" ”

Bahrain's concerns were not unfounded, and immediately after the end of the American Civil War, Lincoln announced the cancellation of the fifteen million dollars of debt borrowed from Europe during the Southern War, a move that cost the British, who were the main underwriters of the cotton bonds of the American South.

Historically, the Soviet Union overthrew the tsarist regime, announced that it would not recognize the tsar's debts, and was sanctioned by the European financial market for a long time, and after World War II, the Soviet Union was forced to admit the debt, and before the collapse of the repayment, more than half of it was repaid, and the last debt was paid off by the Russian Federation in the 21st century.

The Americans say that if they are in debt, they will be in debt, and no one can sanction them.

The Japanese obviously do not have the strength of the United States, so they are not qualified to pay their debts.

Therefore, Zhu Jinglun is very confident: "I don't think that in Asia, anyone can owe Daming money and not pay it back." I also don't think that anyone can owe money to the British Empire and not pay it back, do you say? ”

The representative of Bahrain probed: "You mean that your country will use official means to guarantee that Japan will be able to pay its debts?" ”

Zhu Jinglun said: "Of course, protecting the interests of its own people is the unshirkable duty of the Ming government. ”

The representative of Bahrain understood: "I think we can think about it. ”

It didn't matter what the result of their consideration was, it was a big deal that Zhu Jinglun lent the shogunate 10 million taels of silver alone.

It's time for his trip to the UK to end, and his next stop is Denmark, where he needs to communicate with the students studying in Denmark. (To be continued.) )