"I know it's rude to say that, but...... Perhaps Your Majesty has overestimated the strength of the Ford Motor Company, manufacturing companies need a lot of capital turnover, $2 million is already the upper limit of the amount of money we can invest in the European market, and the 1912 Model T production license discount of $1 million is a very fair valuation, if Your Majesty insists on the $4 million equity transfer price, our only way is to reduce the equity acquisition ratio, otherwise we can only regret giving up. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo”

When he said this, Azel Ford appeared serious and sincere, and Natsuki, who was sitting opposite, quietly took his expression and small movements into his eyes - judging from Ford Jr.'s answer, the US side hopes to make a deal at the price of $3 million, although there is room for negotiation, but it is estimated that it will not be too large.

In view of this, Natsuki said in no hurry: "If Ford can give Limerick Vehicles the ability to produce 10,000 Model T cars a year, we can consider lowering the requirements on the equity price." ”

"As long as the vehicle company uses all the cash funds we inject to purchase production equipment and train enough qualified workers according to our requirements, it will not be difficult to achieve the goal of producing 10,000 cars a year." When little Ford replied, the technical director of Ford Motor Company, who accompanied him, whispered a few words in his ear, and he quickly added: "Of course, the metallurgical plant in Ireland needs to provide enough metal materials according to our standards, and if it does not meet the requirements, it must be imported from abroad in time and in sufficient quantities, and several countries in Europe have such technical conditions." ”

"So if we meet these conditions, Ford will be able to make sure that we have the capacity to produce 10,000 cars a year?"

Little Ford hesitated slightly: "Yes, Your Majesty, this seems difficult, but Ford Motor Company has broken through this production capacity six years ago, and today's production line is more efficient than before." However, with all due respect, Your Majesty, it is one thing to produce an annual volume, it is another thing to sell how much a year can be sold, and whether a company can make a profit or not depends on a number of complex factors. ”

"Your Excellency is right." Natsuki raised the corners of his mouth lightly and smiled slyly, "When I was in Germany, I was in charge of running a shipyard called the Friedrich Royal Shipyard. Thankfully, my business performance is not bad. ”

In Germany and even in Europe, this is a well-known inspirational story, but on the distant side of the ocean, the impression of the name Joachim is more about military and war. Little Ford had obviously done some homework before coming, but it wasn't deep enough, so he had to laugh awkwardly: "I see, then my previous worries were really unnecessary." ”

Xia Shu said: "The population of Europe is more than five times that of the United States, Europe is currently the world's largest market for industrial and consumer goods, and many European countries have modernized their social life and transportation conditions, and the demand for family vehicles is no less than that of the United States." Even if the annual production of 10,000 vehicles is far from meeting the needs of the European market. ”

After a brief exchange with the taciturn technical director, Ford Jr. nodded: "Your Majesty's analysis and expectations of the market are very close to our judgment. So far, there are hundreds of vehicle manufacturers in European countries, but none of them have an annual output of more than 10,000 yuan, if Limerick Vehicles can reach this scale, it will be a European precedent and become a new benchmark in the field of European automobile manufacturing. That's why we want to buy at least 45 percent of it to ensure that we both get the best bang for our buck from this partnership. ”

As Azel Ford said, this cooperation has the potential to accelerate Ireland's industrialization by five to ten years and increase Ireland's military potential substantially.

"As far as my personal wishes are concerned, I would like to see a pleasant co-operation between Ford Motor Company and Limerick Vehicles, but the key to the establishment of a partnership depends on the commercial negotiations between the companies, and the Irish Government, as an equity participant in Limerick Vehicles, will not deliberately create any obstacles in the negotiations, and the representatives sent by the government are intended to ensure that the national interest is fully guaranteed. Good luck to all! ”

At this point, Little Ford and his party got up to say goodbye.

After the American guests left, Natsuki returned to his desk. The Kingdom of Ireland has been established for less than a year, and all industrial projects are basically planned and started after breaking away from British rule, and now Ireland has the ability to make airplanes and ships, and its industrial capacity has been greatly improved, but it is still 108,000 miles away from a first-class industrial country, and its industrial research and development capabilities are particularly weak. Take the Limerick Vehicle Company as an example, a few months ago, it referred to the Mercedes-Benz "Lightning" and the design of the 1908 Ford Model T to launch its own high-end and cheap cars, although there are suggestions for improvement given by Natsuki, but the effect is still not ideal, the actual car on the road after frequent breakdowns, if not solve such a basic technical problem, Ireland's "puppy" tank may become a perfect piece on the drawing board and a real failure product with high failure, low efficiency and expensive cost.

Due to the relationship between Germany and Ireland to jointly establish a ship design and development institution, Ireland's ship research and development capabilities have jumped from a near blank state to a leading position in the world, and enjoy independent technical patent rights in the three projects of heavy cruisers, ocean-going submarines and high-speed torpedo boats, but limited by the basic industrial level of Ireland, many projects that have been launched by surprise have similar problems, the first thousand-ton submarine built by the Royal Shipyard of Ireland - the ocean-going U-boat program of German-Irish cooperation, It's the one that makes Natsuki quite troubled. The project was codenamed R-03 and was originally built at a budget of 4.8 million marks, or £240,000, equivalent to one-tenth of the total cost of the King-class dreadnought. With a water displacement of 1,600 tons, the R-03 adopts a saber-shaped straight deck and curved hull shape, which has excellent water navigation performance compared with ordinary submarines, and has strong self-sustaining ability, which is suitable for transoceanic voyages. According to theoretical calculations and past experience, if it is put into mass production, the manufacturing cost of this type of submarine can be reduced by at least one-third. Now that the main body of the R-03 is nearing completion and the actual construction cost is about to exceed 4.8 million marks, the Royal Dockyards have applied to the Irish military for an additional 400,000 marks, taking into account subsequent tests and adjustments. After deliberation, the Irish Parliament approved the funding, and the R-03 would be the most expensive submarine ever built, regardless of the final cost.

Apparently the "Hohenzollern genius" was notorious, the R-03 had not yet been tested, and the intelligence officers of the Great Powers had long been eager to take it, and the Austro-Hungarian and Italian military expressed their strong willingness to participate in the project through various channels. Soon after the stunning appearance of the modernized and overhauled "Belfast", the Russian government sent an olive branch to the Irish shipbuilders, first negotiating with the Royal Irish Shipyard in Limerick about the possibility of converting an old cruiser for the Russian Navy, and then put forward a surprising intention to build a ship, hoping to order a ship from the Royal Shipyard of Ireland with a standard displacement of 160,000 tons. A heavy cruiser built at a cost of £1.2 million.

Heavy cruiser is a new concept of ships born after the end of the war, its tonnage, function and cost are between armored cruisers and battle cruisers, suitable for performing military tasks that are difficult for light ships to do, and the main warships are not very suitable for military tasks. Under the strategic agreement between Germany and Ireland, the largest and most powerful Royal Shipyard had already begun construction of a heavy cruiser, and was preparing to start construction of a second in 1917. The Irish Government will bear 70 percent of the construction cost of these 150,000-ton new warships, and the German Navy will provide 30 percent of the free support. After completion, the two warships were included in the Irish Navy sequence, and the crew was mainly composed of Irish Navy officers and men, and the German Navy sent personnel to board the ships to understand and master the performance of the ships, so that they could be incorporated into the battle lineup of the German fleet when the situation required it, and accept the unified dispatch of the German fleet commander.

Interestingly, the native-born Irish believed that the business would bring considerable profits to the Royal Irish Shipyard and would help to establish the Irish military shipbuilding industry, while the Germans, who became Irish citizens, strongly opposed it. Naturally, the German side will not ignore this heavyweight news. German Prime Minister von Batemann wrote letters to Natsuki and Irish Prime Minister Horders respectively, reminding them that the Russians had two sinister intentions, one was to drive a wedge and destroy the alliance between Germany and Ireland, and the other was to steal the shipbuilding technology of Germany and Ireland, and that the Irish government must not be blinded by immediate interests and do things that harm its own strategic interests.

Today, Limerick's shipbuilding industry is largely in shape, with a number of shipyards in operation. During the war, the belligerents lost more than 4,000 merchant ships, and the Irish shipbuilding industry immediately ushered in a golden age due to the rapid growth of international trade after the war, and the demand for new shipbuilding increased sharply. Whether from the perspective of economic interests or strategic development, Ireland does not need Russian shipbuilding orders at this time. In Natsuki's view, if he bluntly refused the request of the Russian Navy, it would not have much impact on the diplomatic relations between Russia and Ireland, and it would only lose a precious opportunity to show the world the strength of Irish military shipbuilding, but if he accepted the Russian order, it would arouse the disgust and even opposition of the Irish people and German allies, so it would be appropriate to refuse it on the grounds that the dockyard was already full.

However, the application for the purchase of the Tsarist Russian Navy still reminded Natsuki of the early 21st century in the old time and space, when Russia ordered a Mistral-class amphibious assault ship from France, which was quite a sensational case in the international political and military fields. Today's international landscape is more or less similar to that time.

(End of chapter)