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The British were not successful, and the Germans were able to provide the Kingdom of Lanfang with free aid and long-term loans at low interest rates, which the British were not willing to do. That is simply to support competitors for themselves, now the military strength of the Lanfang Kingdom is very powerful, but the economic foundation is still very poor, the industry is extremely backward, and the new battleships of the British Empire are built, after the troops are installed, it may not be impossible to suppress the Lanfang Kingdom, if they are given loans and the economy of the Lanfang Kingdom is raised, then the possibility of suppressing the Lanfang Kingdom is very small, and the British Empire's voice in the Far East will be replaced by the Lanfang Kingdom, so it is resolutely not to provide economic and technical support to the Lanfang Kingdom, It is only possible to watch the Germans enjoy the feast of orders.

Two days later, Jean Renaud, the representative of the French Governor of the Indochina colony, arrived in Shangjing and was personally received by Foreign Minister Hua Guoqiang, giving the proud French face enough.

Renault explained to Hua Guoqiang that he hoped that the Kingdom of Lanfang would take out a loan from the French Republic and use the loan to buy French industrial products.

Zhang Wei was very incomprehensible when he learned about this, how could France take the initiative to lend money to the Lanfang Kingdom?

Hua Guoqiang explained: "Your Majesty, France has a small population and few heavy industries, but its colonies are huge and light industry is developed, and it has accumulated a lot of money, and there is no investment direction, so it can only issue usury. ”

Zhang Wei said: "Then this kind of good thing will follow, but don't attach any political clauses." ”

"This is the French begging us for a loan, how can there be a political demand? However, they followed the conditions of the Germans and adopted an economic demand, that is, the money had to buy French products. ”

"Is the interest rate high?"

"It's not high, and it's also based on the German method, which is partly a long-term loan with low interest from the government, and partly a long-term commercial loan with a slightly higher interest rate."

"Then we can accept it, or a 15-year loan term, agree to their request, and the funds are all used to buy French products."

Now Zhang Wei agreed to the request of the French, so that the negotiations took only 2 days to negotiate.

In 1906 and 1907, the French government provided low-interest loans of 100 million francs to the Lanfang government at an annual interest rate of 2%; For two years, the French commercial bank provided a low-interest loan of 150 million francs per year to the Lanfang government at an annual interest rate of 4.5%; Each loan must be credited by September 1 of each year; The term of the loan is 15 years, and the maturity date is reached and the principal is repaid in a lump sum with interest.

Renault did not expect the negotiations to be completed so smoothly, and after sending the negotiated contract to the French government, it was waiting for approval.

In the process of waiting, the Lanfang Kingdom warmly received Renault, not only sent a special person to accompany him to visit the construction of Shangjing City, but also approved his application to visit the Lanfang battlefleet, and asked the naval commander Li Yunhai to personally accompany him to visit the Lanfang-class battleships and Lanfang-class battlecruisers.

Renault was extremely satisfied with the attitude of the Lanfang King, and originally had the attitude of giving it a try, and submitted an application to visit the Lanfang-class battleship, but he didn't expect them to agree. In my heart, I despise the people of the Lanfang Kingdom very much, such an important battleship is not kept secret, and I am allowed to visit the ship, aren't you afraid of leaking secrets?

Foreign Minister Hua Guoqiang said to Renault: "Your Excellency Renault, you are so lucky, you are the only representative who has been personally approved by His Majesty the King to visit the battleship, and even the representatives of the British Empire and the United States of America have not had the opportunity to visit our battleship. You must know that the weapon of the state cannot be shown, and in view of the friendship between our two countries, this is approved by His Majesty the King himself. ”

"It is my honour, Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, that you would like to take me to express my heartfelt gratitude to His Majesty the King."

Although Renault is not from the navy, he has seen a lot of battleships, and he is still shocked by the strength of the Lanfang-class battleships and Lanfang-class battlecruisers. The huge hull, the unified caliber of the main guns, and the latest power system left a deep impression on Renault, and it would be nice if France also had such a powerful battleship.

Li Yunhai introduced him and said: "Just this 1 battleship can compete with 3 or even 5 active battleships of various countries now, you see, these 5 double-mounted main guns, unified firing, smaller error, faster firing speed, easier to hit the target, and fast speed, if the number of the opponent's battleships is too much, we can't beat it and still run, now the active battleships of various countries can't catch up." ”

"For this warship, we gave him a separate name, called the battlecruiser, it has both the speed of a cruiser and the firepower of a battleship, it can be called the overlord of the current naval battle, the battleship can't catch up with him, and other warships that can catch up with it are not its opponents, 10 main guns, can destroy any battleship except the battleship."

"Your Lanfang Kingdom's naval fleet is really a great fleet, with so many new battleships, it will definitely be able to dominate the sea in the future."

"Haha, Lord Renault, thank you so much for the compliment, I am indeed proud to be the commander of this fleet. However, our Lanfang Kingdom is a peace-loving country, and will not participate in those battles for hegemony, just want to protect our people well, our king said, warships are to maintain world peace, not to fight for hegemony, how boring it is to fight and kill, what can't you sit down and negotiate well, and solve it through negotiation? ”

"His Majesty's words are too philosophical, warships are for maintaining world peace, not for hegemony."

After Renault's visit, he returned to the hotel and sent a telegram to the governor of the Indochina colony, claiming that the battleships and battlecruisers of the Lanfang Kingdom were so powerful that one battleship could defeat five old battleships, and suggested that the French government must have similar battleships; The fact that the Kingdom of Lanfang can agree to me visiting their battleships and battlecruisers proves that they are not hostile to our France, and that it is entirely possible to deepen the military exchanges between the two sides.

Five days later, the French cabinet approved Renault's negotiating agreement. and informed Renault that he would continue to communicate with the Lanfang Kingdom to see if he could buy Lanfang-class battleships or blueprints.

After receiving the telegram, Renault began to negotiate with Hua Guoqiang.

Hua Guoqiang means referring to the German model, France does not restrict the products purchased by the Lanfang Kingdom, as long as the Lanfang Kingdom is optimistic about the machinery and equipment, technology, etc., can be purchased, and can not be full of prices, at the market price or slightly lower than the market price for trading.

Renault said: "Your Excellency the Foreign Secretary, we can not impose restrictions on the products you purchase, except for military products, unless the Kingdom of Lanfang also opens up military products to France. ”

"Your Excellency Renault, this is completely possible, after all, the conditions must be equal, we can be completely open to France, as long as you are optimistic about the products of our Lanfang Kingdom, we will definitely sell them to you at a reasonable price, the friendship between our two countries is not something that can be measured by gold and silver."

"I don't understand the military, if that's the case, I want the French government to send a military delegation to negotiate with you, and I'm still in charge of commerce, what do you think?"

"Welcome, then I look forward to the arrival of the French military delegation, today we will only talk about business, military matters or let those professionals deal with it."

Under the deliberate operation of Renault and Hua Guoqiang, the agreement of the French government to provide low-interest long-term loans to the Kingdom of Lanfang was successfully signed.