"Oh, I'll let Knight Lawrence talk to you about these things." Prince Albert did not continue the subject, "Let's talk about something else. In case you didn't know, I was a Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. My son, Prince Edward, also studied at Cambridge. Cambridge has been committed to the study of the natural sciences since the great Sir Newton. Upon learning of your arrival, many scholars have expressed to me that they would like to invite you to give lectures at Cambridge. ”

"Ah, this is also a rare opportunity for me to communicate. Thank you very much for having me, Your Majesty. Of course, Scrooge would not turn away from such an opportunity to brush up his reputation.

"Oh, my wife and I are very interested in the part where you mentioned in "The Causes of Some Infectious Diseases and the Therapeutic Effect of Certain Chemicals on Their Therapeutic Effects" to avoid puerperal fever in pregnant women, but I am still quite uneducated in this area, and there are some questions that I have not yet understood. Hmm, can I ask you a few questions? In addition, in recent years, I have always felt that my energy is not as good as before, and I am always tired, but I always can't sleep at night. Do you have research on medicine like this, what do you think about it? ”

"Your Royal Highness, as you know, I am not a doctor, and in fact, I am not qualified to practice medicine. I'm just a chemistry enthusiast who made a little bit of a discovery by chance. Scrooge first modestly said, "However, I heard that His Royal Highness has very little time to rest every day, and he sits at his desk for a long time to deal with affairs. I know that this way of working and resting is very bad for the body. Maybe you should do more sports like jogging and swimming. ”

"Ah, Dr. Watson keeps saying that about me. It seems that Dr. Watson is right. Prince Albert smiled, shook his head, and moved on to another topic. In your paper, there is a mathematical method for analyzing the logarithm jù that I don't understand too well, can you tell me about it......"

……

After lunch, Scrooge left Windsor Castle and returned to London under the "dark canopy". The Lawrence Knight escorted him all the way back to the hotel. At this time, it is already the time when the lights are on. So instead of immediately negotiating with Scrooge on how to cooperate, Lawrence Knight set a time for tomorrow morning.

Seeing Lawrence away, Scrooge began to recall Prince Albert's conversations with him, speculating about his intentions.

"When Prince Albert mentioned the patent on sulfonamides to me, he said 'me and Victoria', and he didn't add the word queen after Victoria, what does that mean? Well, if I remember correctly, during the Victorian period, the traditional aristocracy of England didn't seem to have a very good time. Although the traditional income obtained from land has not decreased, it is simply not worth mentioning compared with those new business people, and the big nobles that everyone envied in the old days, except for those who reacted quickly and ran to do business for a long time, many of the rest are actually going to become poor (relative), as if even the noble queen Xià, before she ascended the throne, life was quite poor. Although the aristocracy looked down on the industrial and commercial nouveau riche, who wouldn't want to break out if possible? Prince Albert didn't mean to make this deal a deal for the two of them to make money for their private house, right? Scrooge thought.

Since the Glorious Revolution in England, private property has become sacrosanct. The king could no longer collect taxes as he pleased. Moreover, even those taxes collected were not for the king to spend indiscriminately. Although the United Kingdom is growing and the United Kingdom government is collecting more and more revenues, the hole is as big as the snake is, and the government's various expenditures are also increasing, and the money that can be distributed to the royal family is still pitiful. Considering that the queen has so many children, it will be more money to spend in the future. In such a situation, it is not surprising that Prince Albert wants to use this to get some private money for the royal family.

"If Prince Albert had such intentions, then the negotiations should not be too difficult." Scrooge thought as he fell asleep.

Early the next morning, the Lawrence Knight arrived as promised. He told Sù Scrooge that Her Majesty the Queen and His Royal Highness Prince Albert intended to build a factory for the production and sale of sulfonamides at the expense of the royal family and some of the great nobles. To do this, they needed Scrooge's cooperation. As for the way to cooperate, Scrooge could choose one of three ways. The first way is for the British to give her a sum of money to sell his patent in one go; The second way is that Scrooge buys shares with his patents, and as for the amount of shares, both sides need to study carefully; The third way is that during the term of the patent, the factory pays Scrooge a certain amount of royalties for each product sold, and of course, how much this fee needs to be discussed in detail.

In Scrooge's view, the first model is the least desirable. First of all, although the current market is not small, in the future, the market for this drug will expand rapidly, to a point that some people do not dare to imagine now. In the current situation, although it is possible for Scrooge to negotiate a one-time transfer price, it will be very difficult for him to find a business that is more profitable than sulfonamides. Not to mention that after adopting this method, Scrooge could not use this patent to gain influence in the UK-controlled area. So this way, for Scrooge, well, is absolutely not cost-effective.

And for Her Majesty Prince Albert and Queen Victoria, it is not necessarily easy to come up with a large sum of money at once. It is true that the royal family has a lot of money, but the royal family needs to spend more money, maintaining so many royal palaces and castles, and maintaining a large team of servants, which all costs money. Among other things, the sewer system at Windsor Castle, where Prince Albert and Queen Victoria lived for a long time, was in shambles, but at least while Prince Albert was still alive, the royal family really couldn't afford to fix it. If a large sum of money were to be given to Scrooge at once, the money to expand production would have to be borrowed from the Jewish vampires, and then the repayment of debt and interest would be another expense. Therefore, Scrooge feels that the royal family should not be too interested in this plan.

Of the remaining two options, Scrooge prefers to invest in patents. Because this can not only ensure that you can profit with the expansion of the market, but also allow yourself to gain a certain voice in the British economic circle. Therefore, Scrooge decided to set his main goal in this direction.

But just like in a war, once you've decided on a main target, the next step is to hide that intention. Therefore, Scrooge did not directly talk about how to buy shares with patents, but asked with great interest about the price of a one-time buyout of patents.

"As you know, my factory in the U.S. is running out of capacity right now, and I urgently need some money to expand it. I could have relied on credit or something like that to raise the money, but it would be at negative interest and I would have to agree to some other conditions. So, it's always better to have a sum of money that belongs to me. Scrooge said carefully, observing the look of the Lawrence Knight as he spoke.

"I want to know, how much are you willing to pay for this patent in one lump sum?" Scrooge asked.

"It depends first and foremost on the scope of your patent. If it is worldwide, of course the price will be a little higher, if it is only European, then it will be lower, and if it is limited to the United Kingdom, it will be lower. Lawrence Knight said.

"It's not possible worldwide because it leads to competition among patent owners. You know, in North America we also have our own factory, which is also producing sulfonamides, and if the sulfonamides you produce enter the North American market, it will compete with us, and finally lower the price of each other, and the benefits for all of us will be greatly reduced. Scrooge replied, "Even in the European part, there are a lot of problems." Those countries on the European continent must not be willing to give up this market, and they will definitely copy it after they get a sample. Of course, they have a treaty with us to protect patents, but what if they take the attitude of pretending not to see this kind of violation? So can the United Kingdom stop them? For example, if the French had done so, would the United Kingdom have declared war on France for this? Personally, I don't think it's possible. Unless His Royal Highness was already preparing for a war to conquer the European continent and just needed an excuse. And once these countries start copying it, these imitations will not only flood their own markets, but may even endanger the markets under our control in the form of smuggling. This is clearly not what we want to see. Scrooge said as he watched the reaction of the Lawrence Knight. He saw Lawrence nodding slightly, knowing that his reason had been approved by him. So he continued:

"So, I suppose that the scope of this patent can only be granted to the United Kingdom and its dependencies. Sulfonamides produced in your country may not be sold in other regions, and sulfonamides produced in other regions may not be sold in areas controlled by your country. In this way, self-competition is avoided and everyone's interests can be guaranteed. ”

"You have a point." Lawrence said that before the negotiations, Lawrence felt that even if Scrooge was a demon, he must have his limits. The more energy a person spends on this aspect, the less he spends on the other. Since Scrooge has achieved so much in science, it is likely that he is inferior in other areas. For example, some of the scholars in Cambridge he met were close to children in terms of how they behaved in the world. But Scrooge was clearly not such a person, which greatly exceeded his estimates.

"If the licence were confined to the United Kingdom and its possessions, the market itself would be only about £10,000,000,000 a year,(a figure which seemed to Scrooge to be obviously on the small side) and if the third option had been taken, the fee would not have exceeded five per cent of the selling price, according to the usual practice now, so that the total for the term of the patent over a fourteen-year period would be seven million pounds. But because it's a one-time payment, obviously you can't get that much. We can only provide you with a maximum of £1,000,000. Lawrence said.

"This price is too low, I can't accept such a price." Scrooge said. At the same time, he noticed that Lawrence did not show any expression of disappointment after hearing his answer, and even seemed to be a little more relaxed.

"That's the biggest number we can come up with." Lawrence Knight replied, "If you find it unacceptable, then let's talk about another way to work together." ”