One thing everyone knew, Yang Ru and all the aides he brought with him, including the disgraced Bai Swen, all of whom knew nothing about military affairs - so before the talks began, Duncan, O'Connor, and Harrington were quite optimistic that things would end soon. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

But unfortunately, they were wrong because of their lack of experience in dealing with Chinese bureaucrats. At the very beginning of the talks, there were signs that they could not end quickly: Yang Ru first announced on behalf of the Qing government that he would accept the military advisers sent by the Umbrella company, and then the secretary, Miss Ross, took out the contract that had been prepared several months ago, and then ......

"The military advisers you send, our government will naturally pay them money, but why should we pay your company?" The translator said.

"Because they're military advisors sent by the company." O'Connor replied.

"What's the reason for that?" Yang Ru's opinion was first sought, and then Bai Siwen shouted, "The imperial court has also hired military advisers in the countries of Europa before, but it has never paid the governments of the countries. ”

"Because we're not a government, we're a commercial company. Simply put, it's business, and we need to make a profit. Qin Lang shrugged.

"Ridiculous."

"It's a pity, but that's the way it is."

Bai Siwen wanted to continue to refute, but Yang Ru glanced at him, so he had to calm down. Then, Yang Ru whispered a few words to the translator, and then the translator announced: "Our government will not accept such a clause, it is obviously too illogical and international practice. ”

Yang Ru and his staff didn't know what commercial mercenaries were all about, and Qin Lang knew it very well, so he chose to take a step back. "It could be modified a bit. It can be that the Chinese government pays us directly, and then we pay the salaries of the military advisers. However, the total amount of the price remains the same. ”

Yang Ru fell into deep thought and didn't say anything, so Bai Siwen skipped the question and moved on to the next one. "The total amount of the payment also needs to be revised, the price you proposed is too high for the imperial court to accept."

"Fifty of the best American servicemen, together with the payments paid to the company, are forty thousand dollars a month, which I don't think is a high number at all." Duncan said.

"Not tall?" Bai Siwen snorted, "Forty thousand dollars is more than fifty thousand taels of silver, and in this way, the imperial court will pay you close to 700,000 taels every year." It doesn't take much to hire a German military adviser. ”

"The Germans are not as good as our military advisers." Duncan smiled contemptuously, "And our military advisors used to be high-ranking officers in the U.S. military. ”

"It's all your own words." Bai Sven's challenge is ried-back.

"If you don't believe it, we can prove it with facts. And eventually, of course, you'll find out that—"

A very light but clear cough came from Yang Ru's position. Duncan and Blank turned their heads at the same time, and saw that Mr. Minister seemed to have something to say.

"Your Excellency, do you have a new opinion you would like to express?" Duncan looked at the translation Yang Ru had brought. The translator immediately relayed his question, and Yang Ru nodded slowly.

"What do you think?"

Yang Ru turned a flat, expressionless face to Duncan, but quickly looked at Qin Lang again.

"I want to know, since your company is sending military advisers in the capacity of a commercial organization," the interpreter apparently already knew what Yang Ru was going to say, so he began to speak—with some modifications. "So who exactly do they fall over, our government or your company?"

"It's up to us." Qin Lang replied, "It has been clearly written in the contract that, in principle, the military advisers we send will be fully under the command of the Chinese government, but if the Chinese government requires them to participate in activities other than those stipulated in the contract, they must first obtain the consent of the company." ”

"The imperial court will never accept such a clause." Yang Ru's face immediately became ugly, his eyebrows furrowed, and at the same time, he no longer told the translator what he wanted to say first, but said directly: "Since they are military advisers hired by the imperial court, they must completely accept the command of the imperial court, and they can no longer accept your orders." ”

"But they are still employees of the company." Before Qin Lang could speak, O'Connor preemptively made an emphasis.

"That's not going to work either." Yang Ru's attitude was so resolute that both Duncan and O'Connor were confused - if Yang Ru couldn't afford to mess things up and refuse their demands, as Qin Lang said, how could he be so resolute?

Did he get some kind of clear instructions from the Chinese government? They speculated, but in reality, Yang Ru was given very simple instructions, Beijing only asked him to hire some advisers and buy the weapons needed by the Beiyang New Army as soon as possible, as for the other specific details, it is obvious that he can only deal with them.

So that means he has to take full responsibility for what he does. Of course, Yang Ru didn't mind being responsible, but the current situation made him start to worry.

The price was not an issue - although 700,000 taels was a high number, it was not worth mentioning at all; Again, it's not a question of who should lead the military advisers – the adults in Beijing don't care about and don't want to care about such trivial matters anyway.

What really made Yang Ru feel uneasy was actually Qin Lang...... More precisely, his identity.

There is no doubt that Qin Lang is a Han Chinese, and his ancestral home is in Chongqing. He then said he had never been to China and that he had no relatives still in China, and while that might be a cover-up, it could be true. In this way, it is worth considering when and why his parents or grandparents left China.

Yang Ru had to worry about Qin Lang's rebellious relationship with what the Qing government perceived: maybe he was one of them, maybe he had close contacts with them, maybe he sympathized with them...... Although there was no evidence, and it was impossible to verify anything through this meeting, he still had to be careful.

The attempted riot in Guangzhou last year and the escape of several rebellious leaders reminded Yang Ru that he must always be vigilant for the safety of the Qing Dynasty.

He must not let Qin Lang's conspiracy succeed, if he really has any conspiracy.

Yang Ru's mind was full of these questions, and as a result, he fell silent after a short speech, of course, no one knew what he was thinking, otherwise Qin Lang would have laughed out loud - of course, he was also looking for an answer, how to bypass the stubbornness shown by the minister in front of him.

In fact, this stubbornness can often be bypassed, by influencing something else rather than the one in question, but he needs a method that can be quickly effective.

Qin Lang thought about it carefully, and at the same time listened to the heated argument between Duncan and Bai Siwen—a shallow argument related to price, and the question that Yang Ru had just raised was naturally ignored by them. But this is also very normal, they are not really responsible people, and can only discuss some inconsequential details, but not the key ones.

Then he rolled his eyes a little, and turned his gaze to O'Connor and Lieutenant Colonel Harrington, who had no role in the argument at all, and said almost nothing. However, Qin Lang thought, they would soon be able to play a role.

He had an idea.

"Please be quiet for a moment, gentlemen." Qin Lang said, both for Duncan and for Bai Siwen, "It seems that it is difficult to get a result from this controversy." Therefore, I propose to adjourn the meeting for the time being, and in the meantime I cordially invite Mr. Minister and all delegates to visit our training camp. I hope that this will help to give gentlemen a more accurate assessment of the value of our military advisers. ”

The staff began to whisper, but more eyes were on Yang Ru.

He hesitated, then agreed, "Yes." But he added: "However, the old man is not in good health, so he will not visit." ”

"In that case, then I will remain here to accompany our minister." Qin Lang said immediately, then turned sideways and gave O'Connor a sneaky enough look. "I'll leave it to you, Sean. Make a strong enough impression on them. ”

"No problem." O'Connor knew what he meant, "They're sure to get a deep enough impression that I can vouch for it, Qin." ”

So everyone left the conference room, even Qin Lang's secretary and Yang Ru's translator also left, leaving only the two of them, sitting on chairs and staring at each other, staring at each other with big eyes and small eyes. At this moment, the vigilance in Yang Ru's heart increased, but he also wanted to know Qin Lang's purpose.

There was even a little expectation that he had in his own eyes that was extremely out of place; Many times, a separate secret conversation is always something to look forward to......

He shook his head imperceptibly, expelled the little expectation in his mind, and then heard Qin Lang say, "I think it is necessary to emphasize to you, Mr. Minister, that this business is very important to me and involves my relationship with Washington. Therefore it must succeed. ”

Yang Ru smiled, but didn't say anything.

"And I think the terms in the contract are very reasonable, and there is nothing worth changing." Qin Lang continued.

Yang Ru was still smiling, and still didn't say anything.

"So the current situation confuses me. If you think about it, maybe it's because there are some areas where I'm not good enough. ”

Although his expression did not change at all, Mr. Minister's eyes narrowed.

"I'm a businessman, and I like to get straight to the point." Qin Lang habitually crossed his fingers, rubbed them, and squeezed out a faint sneer at the corner of his mouth that was easily misunderstood as a smile, "In this way, Mr. Minister, I will give you a quarter of the contract price as a payment, and pay half of it first." ”

It was too direct, too direct to be acceptable, and at the same time it showed even more that he had a conspiracy - but a quarter of 700,000 taels, and only for a year......

Yes, why refuse? As for the other minor and non-relevant side issues...... Why bother so much?

The smile on Yang Ru's face became more obvious, and so did Qin Lang. (To be continued, if you want to know what will happen next, please log in to the www.qidian.com, more chapters, support the author, support genuine reading!) (To be continued.) )