Chen Qiang knew that the Louvre Museum in later generations had more than 30,000 pieces of Chinese cultural relics.

Although Chen Qiang does not know how the French preserved these cultural relics during World War II, one thing is certain, that is, after the end of World War II, these precious cultural relics were still in the hands of the French, and were not snatched by the Germans.

Since these antiques were still intact in the hands of the French after the end of World War II, it means that the blank check written by Quenell can be cashed. Chen Qiang can take advantage of the lack of money for the French to buy these antiques first, and wait until the end of World War II to let the French deliver them.

For anyone, these French antiques are an ethereal thing, after all, the French mainland is still under the control of the Germans. But Chen Qiang knew that these antiques were still in the hands of the French in the end, so he had already decided to buy them.

It's just that before buying, the price must be lowered, so that the people of the Free France feel that these antiques are worthless things, so that Chen Qiang can buy these antiques at a lower price. Therefore, in front of Quesnel, Chen Qiang deliberately found fault, making Quesnel feel that this was an empty glove white wolf, lowering Quesnel's psychological expectations, and then Chen Qiang only needed to pay a very low price to buy this batch of Chinese cultural relics.

This is probably like a lot of people go to buy second-hand houses, obviously very satisfied, but in order to reduce the price, you still have to pick bones in the eggs, what floor is not good, the house type is not good, the lighting is not good, the property is not good, the community greening is not good, even if you see a stray dog at the door of the community, it is a reason to reduce the price.

……

As early as the outbreak of the war in Europe, when the flames of war did not reach France, France had already launched a project to protect its cultural heritage, and a large number of cultural relics in the Louvre were scattered among thousands of castles, monasteries and estates in France.

There are more than 10,000 castles of all kinds in France, large and small, and the number is even more with the addition of manors, and the French have scattered their cultural relics in the castles, so as to avoid the search of the Germans. Moreover, many of the castles were left over from the Middle Ages, and the secret rooms in the castles were not even clear to the current owners, and it was impossible for the Germans to find out the cultural relics hidden here.

As for the Louvre, it was also not destroyed at the time of the German invasion of France. After the retreat from Dunkirk, the French realized that the tide was turning, so they declared Paris an undefended city early, and the Germans occupied Paris without a single soldier. Since there was no fighting, there was no destruction, and the Louvre was preserved.

This was also done when Italy announced its surrender in the future, the Allies landed in southern Italy and occupied southern Italy without bloodshed, while the Germans went directly south and took over the northern part of Italy, with neither side firing a single shot. The Italian soldiers in the south surrendered to the Allies, the Italian soldiers in the north surrendered to the Germans, and then the Allies and the Germans met in Italy. As for the lovely Italian soldiers, they set up a prisoner of war camp for themselves, locked themselves up, and then escaped from one prisoner of war camp to another in order to eat pizza, and their captors promised to eat pizza once a week, and the group of escaped prisoners of war returned.

Due to the early surrender and the complete surrender, the Italian mainland was not damaged in World War II, and did not suffer much damage, most of the buildings have been preserved, and now you can see many ancient buildings when you travel to Italy. It is said that the most serious damage in the Italian city at that time was that the Italians were worried that the Allies would attack their ammunition depots, so they put ammunition in the church, they thought that the Allies would not attack the church, but the Allies did not have an air raid, but the rain and lightning hit the church, causing a fire and detonating the ammunition, causing serious damage to the entire city.

……

To get back to the point, Quesnel felt that this antique could not be sold, and planned to say goodbye to Chen Qiang and leave.

Chen Qiang motioned for Quesnel to sit down, and then said: "Mr. Quesnel, after the 1936 Berlin Olympics, I had the honor to visit France, and I was deeply impressed by Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa. Now that France is under German control, will your country's collection of antiques, such as the Mona Lisa, be snatched to Berlin by the Germans? ”

"As early as 1933, we had a project to protect the works of art at the Musée National de France, and after the outbreak of the war in Europe, we had already shipped art from Paris to the provinces, and Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was the first material to be transferred, and as far as I know, the painting should have been hidden in a convent somewhere in France. The Germans would not have attacked the monastery. Other works of art have also been transferred to castles, monasteries and manors throughout France, with the only problem being that some places can be humid and may affect the preservation of famous paintings. Quesnel replied.

Chen Qiang nodded slightly, it is said that there should not be many famous paintings that France snatched from China, after all, Chinese paintings and oil paintings are completely different, and the French may not know the goods. As for metal and ceramic ware, you should not be afraid of humid environments.

Chen Qiang pretended to ponder, and then seemed to have made a lot of determination, and then said: "Mr. Quesnell, I have decided to accompany you French people to gamble, your Chinese antiques, if the price is right, I can buy them!" ”

"What? Mr. Chen, I heard you right, right? Do you really want to buy it? Quesnel was shocked.

"Yes, Mr. Candle, you heard me right." Chen Qiang nodded.

"Mr. Chen, you must know that even if you buy these antiques now, we will not be able to complete the delivery, and those antiques are still in mainland France, in the German-controlled area." Quesnel spoke.

Chen Qiang nodded: "Of course I know, so after driving out the Germans and recovering France, I hope you can deliver the antiques to me as soon as possible." ”

"Mr. Chen, why are you doing this? As you said earlier, this is an antique futures with no delivery time! Quenell asked, puzzled.

"Didn't I say that we are allies, and I believe that you have the courage and ability to recover the French mainland." Chen Qiang said with a smile.

Quesnel opened his mouth slightly, but did not answer.

Chen Qiang let out a long sigh and said quite passionately: "Mr. Quesnell, I empathize with what France is experiencing now, because my country is also suffering from the invasion of the Japanese, the land is being lost, the people are enslaved by the invaders, and the time is even longer than that of France, so I can understand your thoughts now!" That's why I'm willing to help you, and I see my shadow in you, because our two countries are suffering the same. ”

"What we are suffering is beyond the comprehension of the British and Americans, although the British homeland has been bombed, but the homeland has not fallen, and the American homeland is far away from the war, most Americans do not feel the cruelty of the war, they do not know what kind of torture the people of the invaded countries are suffering, and they do not know how desperate we who have lost our homeland are to drive away the invaders and recover our land! They can't even understand our determination and courage to fight! ”

Chen Qiang's impassioned words moved Quesnel greatly, Chen Qiang's every word made Quesnel feel empathetic, at this time Quesnel couldn't help but want to cry, in his eyes, Chen Qiang became an international friend who had the same tragic experience with the French, and was a difficult brother of the French!

"I just opened a blank check for antiques in France, and he was willing to pay for it. What a fearless spirit of internationalism! Extremely moved, Quesnel returned to Washington.

Looking at the back of Quesnel's departure, Chen Qiang let out a sigh of relief. Although he hoped that the Allies could achieve victory as soon as possible, he had not yet reached the level of internationalism.

Chen Qiang's empathy with Quesnel is nothing more than to find a suitable reason for himself to buy cultural relics after lowering the price.

……

Three days later, Chen Qiang arrived in Washington, where he met with the Free French envoys, and negotiations began on the sale of antiques.

The first thing Chen Qiang wants to confirm is whether he can get those Chinese cultural relics in the future, in case the French don't be trustworthy and take Chen Qiang's money, but don't give Chen Qiang antiques in the future, or replace them with other things, Chen Qiang won't lose a lot! If the French are really scoundrels, Chen Qiang has no choice, he can still fight against the state apparatus alone!

Facing de Gaulle's envoy, Chen Qiang said: "Mr. Special Envoy, first of all, I hope that you can guarantee that after the recovery of mainland France, I can indeed get the goods I have purchased. ”

"Mr. Chen, you don't have to worry, we French people are absolutely honest and trustworthy. As long as we sign the contract, we will abide by the contract. The French envoy replied immediately.

"Mr. Special Envoy, although I have great confidence in the credibility of the Government of the Free France and of General de Gaulle, business is business, and as a business act I hope that you may find a guarantee, so that neither of us may have to worry about anyone defaulting." Chen Qiang said.

"I wonder what kind of guarantee Mr. Chen wants to get?" The French envoy asked.

"It would be great if there was a U.S. government as a guarantee." Chen Qiang said with a smile.

"Well, I can figure it out." The French envoy spoke.

"I have heard that Mr. Special Envoy has a relatively good relationship with some members of the Senate of the United States Congress, and I think the members of the Senate are able to represent the United States Government." Chen Qiang continued.

Before coming here, Chen Qiang had already inquired that the French envoy was very comfortable in the US Senate and had close personal relations with several senators, and one of them, named Harry Truman, had the closest relationship with the French envoy. In next year's U.S. presidential election, Truman will be nominated by U.S. President Roosevelt as vice president, and soon after Roosevelt dies of illness, Truman succeeds him as president, and then successfully wins re-election.

And Chen Qiang's real intention was to let Truman vouch for the French.

At the time of the victory in World War II, Roosevelt had died of illness, Truman was the president of the United States, and if there was a president of the United States as a guarantee, the French would never dare to repay the debt, the French would not be ashamed, but the president of the United States would still have to face it. What's more, in the post-war Marshall Plan, the French received more than two billion dollars in aid from the United States, and for these more than two billion dollars, De Gaulle did not dare to offend Truman.

In the eyes of the French envoy, Chen Qiang's request was not excessive, after all, he was a white wolf with empty gloves, relying on a blank check to exchange money from Chen Qiang, and it was normal for Chen Qiang to find a guarantor. Even if you go to the bank to get a loan, you must either have a mortgage or a guarantor.

Next, the two sides began to discuss the price of antique artifacts.

Since all the artifacts were hidden in French castles, monasteries and estates, the Free French were not really in charge of antiques, so they did not know exactly what they were, only a general number.

"Mr. Chen, according to our preliminary statistics, we have a total of more than 32,000 Chinese antiques that can be sold to you." The envoy said, holding a form.

"This number is too general, and I hope to get some specific information." Chen Qiang replied.

The French envoy whispered a few words to the people around him, and then nodded: "Mr. Chen, we can provide the approximate location and quantity of the collection of antiques." ”

As the French envoy spoke, someone handed a form to Chen Qiang, Chen Qiang looked down, and the form was written in French and numbers, and with Chen Qiang's French level, he could generally understand the content on it.

These French are written about some places, such as such and such a castle, such and such a monastery, such and such a manor, etc., and the following numbers represent the number of antiques collected in this place.

"The Castle of Ruth III, with 997 artifacts; St. John's Abbey, with 1,228 artifacts; Hugo family winery, there are 824 ......" Chen Qiang looked at the table, and the numbers on it did add up to more than 32,000.

Thanks to the plundering of the great French emperor, the Louvre at that time had a collection of more than 300,000 pieces, and these 32,000 Chinese cultural relics were almost equal to one tenth of the Louvre.

"Mr. Special Envoy, how much do you plan to sell these more than 32,000 antiques?" Chen Qiang asked.

"These are very precious antiques, some of which even have a history from the previous year, and if Mr. Chen is willing to pack them all up and buy them all, it will only cost 10 million US dollars." The French envoy replied.

"The French are really lions-mouthed." Chen Qiang smiled coldly. He felt that the French had probably found out his family background, so they offered such a price.

For $10 million, buying more than 30,000 Chinese artifacts in the Louvre is definitely worth a lot, and even in the future, counting inflation, this price is about the same as picking up for nothing.

But Chen Qiang didn't plan to pay so much, he had to bargain with the French.

So Chen Qiang opened his mouth and said: "Mr. Special Envoy, can you guarantee that in the future war, these antiques can all be preserved intact and will not be affected by the war?" ”

"Well, war is cruel and always destructive." The French envoy replied with some insincerity.

"Do you think that all antiques will not be damaged in the process of preservation and transportation?" Chen Qiang asked again.

"Well, after all, it's an antique, and man-made or non-man-made damage is definitely unavoidable." The French envoy spread his hands.

"So you shouldn't calculate the price based on the quantity of 32,000 antiques, we need to calculate a certain discount rate. That should be a reasonable request, right? Chen Qiang used the first trick to reduce the price.

——————

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