Fortunately, the three conditions given by Li Hongzhang are not so difficult, the battleship is refitted, the acceptance of foreign students, and the invitation to Guo Ye to review the drawings, although Guo Ye is good at fighting, but fighting a war to build a battleship is completely different things, even if the drawings are given to him, it is useless!

Fiterley gritted his teeth and accepted Li Hongzhang's three conditions, two million pounds, for eighteen warships of the Chinese Empire, for five years, and the payment was paid in five installments. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

After the British, the French followed, and two or three days was enough for the French to discuss this issue.

The loan amount given by the French minister Jabucci is 80 million francs, in fact, 80 million francs is not much value, you must know that according to the exchange rate, 25 francs is the value of one pound, and the value of francs and silver is also about three to one, 80 million francs is only more than 20 million taels of silver and 3 million pounds, Guo Ye is not only dissatisfied with the interest of the French, but also dissatisfied with the amount given by the French.

"Mr. Duke, I think the amount of the loan we gave is indeed too small, only three million pounds, which is a lot for a small country and a weak country, but for a big country like China, it is not a lot of ......."

Chancellor of the Exchequer Tulum said in a deep voice.

French Prime Minister Gramont's face was a little gloomy, and he replied: "Hmph, this Guo Ye is still not satisfied, three million pounds, how much is our military expenditure a year?" It's only 10 million pounds! How much more do they want? ”

Tulham smiled bitterly: "But, Mr. Duke, we must be clear that we urgently need heavy machine guns to protect our homeland, according to intelligence, the Prussians did not just order three thousand heavy machine guns, but five thousand, five thousand, this is too much of a threat to our French mainland!" It will take at least three to five years for us to develop a heavy machine gun of the same level, and it will take even longer to produce it on a large scale, but Prussia will never give us that much time......"

Gramont's heart jumped, yes, whether it was Wilhelm I or Bismarck, both of them were ambitious figures, and their ultimate goal was to dominate the European continent, and even overturn England to dominate the world! The French Empire is definitely the most powerful stumbling block on the road to Prussian hegemony, and there will be a war between the two countries!

"Okay, in that case, tell Jabuchi that if we authorize him, we can provide a loan of up to 120 million francs to the Chinese Empire, and as for the interest, try to get a fixed interest rate of five percent, if it really doesn't work, then four percent will be four percent, but these francs can only be used to buy trade between China and France! Strive to be able to purchase at least 5,000 heavy machine guns from the Chinese Empire to arm the French Army! ”

Yabuqi, who had been authorized, appeared in front of Li Hongzhang and Tang Tingshu again.

"Lord Li, Lord Tang, I have been authorized by our Prime Minister, Duke Gramont, as the plenipotentiary representative of this negotiation, to submit a motion to your country to purchase heavy machine guns!"

Jabuchi replied.

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "Mr. Yabuqi, so we have a loan?" “

Yabuchi said in a deep voice: "There is no problem, we can put it together and have a discussion, how about it?" ”

"Okay, let's talk about the loan first!"

"Master Li, I don't know how much loan you want to get?"

Jabucci asked.

Without thinking, Li Hongzhang replied: "Of course, the more the merrier, well, about 150 million francs, it should be a more appropriate number!" ”

Jabucci's heart jumped, 150 million francs, specially, the Chinese really dare to speak, that's 150 million francs! Can you Chinese afford it?

"Master Li, as far as I know, even if your annual financial income in China is only tens of millions of taels of silver, it is only a little more than 100 million francs, and you have borrowed so many loans in one go, and you still have Prussian loans to repay, I have to worry about your ability to repay! I am responsible for the people of my country! ”

Li Hongzhang rolled his eyes and replied, "What? How do you know we can't afford it? Since we can borrow it, we must pay it back! ”

"I'm sorry, such an amount is not something that ordinary banks can afford, even our French banks can't afford it, I can give you a number, 100 million francs, this is already our limit, and this number is already huge enough, enough to support the construction of your country......"

Li Hongzhang clicked his mouth, 100 million francs, that is, more than 30 million silver, just now he said 150 million francs is pure nonsense, really borrowing so much, but it will cause a huge burden on the empire's ability to pay debts, but it is not a good thing.

"Well, 100 million francs, we can accept it, and what about the interest?"

"It's as you ask, a fixed interest rate of four percent per annum, but we have another requirement......"

Jabuchi said in a deep voice.

"Tell me about it!"

Jabucci replied: "That is, the loan that we have lent you in France can only be used for the construction of your country and for trade with France, that is to say, you can only buy French things......"

Li Hongzhang pursed his lips and replied: "Look at your stingy appearance, buy yours and buy yours, however, we can only give priority to buying your country's goods, but when your country can't provide us with suitable goods, I'm sorry, we have to think about other countries to purchase, your country, but we can't set the threshold!" ”

"Well, we accept your request! Next, it's time for us to focus on the heavy machine gun arms purchase, and we, the French Empire, hope to get 5,000 heavy machine guns and corresponding ammunition from your country! ”

"Five thousand? Impossible! ”

Li Hongzhang said with a smile: "All we can prepare for you is a maximum of 2,500 heavy machine guns!" ”

"Why!"

Jabucciden was anxious and exclaimed, "I really don't understand, why can other countries not restrict purchases, but you want to restrict our French Empire?" It's incredible! ”

Li Hongzhang said in a low voice: "I'm not afraid to tell you, but you can't spread it, because, when we signed a cooperation agreement with Prussia, the Kingdom of Prussia put forward such restrictions, and we have no choice, but in five years, after five years, presumably Prussia will not be able to control our exports......"

"Prussian ......"

Jabuchi was so angry that he was dying, damn it, one wrong step, one wrong step, he knew that today, he should have started earlier! It was preempted by little Prussia!

(To be continued.) )