In the yamen, Yu Jingming said to Gu Yunji: "There are a lot of people in that Franc machine caravan, each with a different division of labor, and there happened to be someone I know who came to Zhejiang a few days ago, so I got in touch with them, and also expressed a few willingness to cooperate with them."

"I heard that the government wants to make a deal, and their attitude is still very positive, they should be happy to talk about the firearms business with the Great Xia Imperial Court, and said that if they can, they can find time to sit down with us in the near future and have a good chat."

Mei Feng muttered: "Some time ago, I have been writing to the imperial court about this matter, and the attitude of the central government is not clear at present, but His Majesty is still very supportive of us, and it is not impossible to buy firearms in large quantities."

"Since the Francophile took the initiative to mention it, then we can also contact them first, and after we have a general understanding of the firearms trade, we can continue to talk to the imperial court. In this case, I asked Yu Jingming to help convey it, and said that we are willing to talk to them."

Yu Jingming readily agreed: "Governor Mei, don't worry, this matter is on me, and the adults only need to talk about business when the time comes, and I will take care of the rest."

Su Qi touched his chin and thought for a while, "Anyway, it's just a casual chat, and before it's time to talk about the transaction seriously, then you can set the location in a teahouse or restaurant, and chat while eating, and the atmosphere is also harmonious." As for the time...... I don't think it's the third day of the next month?"

Mei Feng nodded: "Since we completely blocked the supply of the high thieves, the group of pirates on Mingsha Island quickly became agitated, and they may be on the verge of death when they will fight back, of course, the sooner we meet with the Franc Machine, the better."

"Even if you can't negotiate a deal with them right away, it would be nice if you could convince them to give up providing firearms to Gao Shishu. It's late August, and it's only a few days before the third day of September, which is about the right time."

Gu Yunji suddenly thought of something, and his eyes showed worry: "The other party is a Francophile, and he doesn't understand my Huaxia language, do we still need to find two translators?"

Su Qi smiled, as if he felt that his question was a bit redundant: "The language barrier is certain, but since they have all come to our court to do business, can there be no translator around?" We don't need to worry about this kind of thing at all, Yunji, you are too worried."

"What's more, the merchants in Zhejiang who are doing maritime trade business with Westerners have gone to sea, and people who are proficient in the language of the Franc machine have grabbed a lot of them, maybe Yu Jingming has been in the caravan for so long, and he can act as our translator." As he spoke, Su Qi raised his eyebrows and looked at Yu Jingming, "Did you say that?"

"That's really not it, nearly half of the Franc Chance caravan is Chinese, and I don't have many real Franc Men I have come into contact with, so I don't know their language very well." Yu Jingming smiled embarrassedly and shook his head, "But as Ding Guogong said, although we don't understand the language with them, there is still no shortage of translators."

Gu Yunji said with a straight face: "This is different. If we don't have a trusted interpreter, we will have to rely on each other's people for communication, and if they dig a hole in it, we will not be kept in the dark."

"We are officials of the Great Xia Imperial Court, and the other party belongs to the royal family of Franc Ji, to put it mildly, this is a deal between two countries. When it comes to diplomacy, we need to be cautious and cautious, and a single ambiguous word can lead to different results, so how can we pin all our hopes on the other side of the translation?"

Listening to Gu Yunji's words, Mei Feng's expression was slightly serious: "Yunji is right, diplomacy between countries cannot tolerate half a difference. Besides, we will talk about the firearms trade later, if the other party says one thing, and the other thing is written in the paperwork, won't we suffer a big loss?"

When Su Qi heard this, he immediately paid attention to it: "In this way, we really need to find a translator, and we can't fall into the trap of the other party unknowingly because of the language barrier. I'll tell you to go down now, and I'm sure I'll find it soon."

However, a few days have passed, and it is almost time to meet with Franc Jiren, but Gu Yunji still hasn't found a suitable translator.

Zhejiang's maritime trade is prosperous, and there are many Western businessmen who come to China to do business, and it stands to reason that there are many people who are proficient in Western languages, so they will not find any of them. can be what Gu Yunji and others need

The level of language in the translation is secondary, and it is important to be trustworthy enough.

The government and the Francophone caravan wanted to talk about the firearms business, and at the same time, it also involved a lot of anti-Japanese matters related to Gao Shishu, in view of the "criminal record" of the local businessman, Gu Yunji and the others really didn't dare to find a random businessman to act as an interpreter.

In case of bad luck and encountering a spy, as soon as he finished translating to the government here, he immediately ran to report to the thief, then Gu Yunji really wanted to cry without tears.

Moreover, in order not to alarm Gao Shishu, this meeting was prepared to be carried out in a secret and low-key manner, and Gu Yunji and others were not able to look for translators everywhere with great fanfare, so that the difficulty of finding the right candidate increased greatly.

The date of the agreed meeting was approaching day by day, but the government still did not find a trustworthy translator, and when Gu Yunji was worried, he suddenly thought of someone.

——

"You want me to be your translator?" After listening to Gu Yunji's story, Xu Shuhua was a little stunned.

Gu Yunji nodded vigorously, her eyes were bright, and she looked at her wife expectantly: "Yes, I want you to be our translator, what does the lady think?"

Xu Shuhua furrowed his brows slightly, and hesitated: "I know Western languages well, but I am good at English, and I don't know much about Franc Machine, so I am afraid that I am not competent, but I am afraid that I will not help you, but I will mess things up."

Gu Yunji knows his wife's language level, her English language is indeed the best, and the two can basically communicate in English without barriers. However, in this era, English is not the mainstream in foreign languages, and Xu Shuhua also has varying degrees of involvement in other Western languages.

Xu Shuhua's language talent is actually quite good, but because of the lack of relevant language environment, even though she understands everything, she learns a "dumb foreign language", and she can read the text well, but she is not very smooth in communication.

Gu Yunji smiled and said, "Your few books on the language of the Franc Machine are almost turned over, how can it be that you just don't know much? It doesn't matter if you're not good at communicating, as long as you can read the text and be able to check the paperwork for us."

"What we are most afraid of is that the Francophone man says one thing and writes another, the verbal agreement is empty after all, and the signed contract is real. Even if you don't say anything the whole time, just help us with paperwork-related things, it will already be of great help to us."

Xu Shuhua has never liked to do things that she is not sure of, she is self-taught, she has not used it for too long, and she herself is not sure if she can help Gu Yunji, so she is a little hesitant.

Seeing her swaying attitude, Gu Yunji made a pitiful look and begged, "I don't dare to leave this matter to outsiders casually, you are the person I trust the most." Shuhua, my good lady, can you help me?"