Not only Zhu Zhaoxin, but three of the four people in the room were taken aback by Chen Muwu's final request.

Asking for a 20% cut of net profit, what is the concept of this figure?

In 1901, the British engineer William Knox D'Arcy obtained a concession from the King of Persia, granting him a patent to discover, exploit and export oil, which was exchanged from the then King of Persia for 16% of the annual net profit after oil extraction, 20,000 pounds in cash and 20,000 pounds worth of shares in the oil company.

Darcy was the founder of the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, which was later acquired by the British government led by Secretary of the Admiral Winston Churchill and became a state-owned enterprise, which gradually evolved into BP.

Even the king of Persia, the owner of the land to which the oil field belongs, only dared to ask the British oil giant for 16% of the net profit, so why did he Chen Muwu have 20% of his mouth?

The king of Persia has land, what does he have in Chen Muwu?

As an aside, it is not easy to get the British, who are full of gentlemanly spirit and fully respect the terms of the contract, to abide by the treaties they have signed before.

By 1920, the Anglo-Persian Oil Company's annual production had reached nearly 1.4 million tonnes per year, but the Persian king received only 10 million pounds of the 32 million pounds stipulated in the contract, not even a third of the actual value.

Even if the oil company jointly opened by Chen Muwu and the Italian side could not make as much profit as Anglo-Persian Oil, if the production scale was one-tenth of the latter, according to the contract, Chen Muwu would be able to take a huge sum of four million pounds a year from the net profit.

This is equivalent to the construction of more than 20 cyclotron particle accelerators at the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University every year, and is equivalent to the cost of two-fifths of the Empire State Building.

If he could really get such a sum of money, then he wouldn't have to do anything else all day long, he just had to lie down and count the money.

After Ziano translated Chen Muwu's request, the big man on the other side didn't even have time to be angry, his face was full of surprise and all kinds of shock.

How dare you？

How dare he!

Zhu Zhaoxin, who was the first to react, hurriedly set up a round for Chen Muwu beside him: "Hanchen, did you say the wrong thing when you were excited?" It's not twenty percent, it's twelve, right? ”

Zhu Zhaoxin even felt that twelve percentage points was high, and what he wanted to say at first was two percentage points, but no matter what, it was impossible to open this mouth at once.

Perhaps instead of a physicist, Chen Muwu should join the diplomatic system and become a diplomat?

After all, he really dared to ask foreigners for conditions, and this alone could already surpass many of his colleagues.

Prime Minister Mo raised his eyebrows and stared at Chen Muwu for a long time, and then he slowly opened his mouth.

"Dr. Chen, isn't this 20% dividend a little more?"

He can be regarded as giving Chen Muwu a step down, if the other party is not decent, His Excellency the Prime Minister does not mind helping him to be decent.

"Well, I think it's a little bit more, too." Chen Muwu actually nodded along with his words.

Then he withdrew one of his two outstretched fingers, leaving only the lone index finger still on top of his hand.

"Otherwise, I have another plan, if I can really explore large-scale oil, and successfully drill wells and exploit it, I only need one point of profit for the oil company in the future, provided that you must agree to me a request."

"What requirements?"

Suddenly dropped from 20 percent to 1 percent, from 4 million pounds a year to 200,000 pounds a year, Chen Muwu made such a big concession in profits in a few minutes, who would not be impressed?

Ziano, who was sandwiched between the two people as a translator, even forgot his own job, he did not translate what Chen Muwu said into Italian for the first time, but subconsciously asked Chen Muwu directly.

Prime Minister Mo couldn't understand what Chen Muwu said, but his body language was basically universal, and he could understand the gesture from "two" to "one".

The demand was cut in half at once, but His Excellency the Prime Minister still seemed not so satisfied, wondering if he could get Dr. Chan to make some more concessions.

Ziano came to his senses before translating Chen Muwu's new request.

This made Prime Minister Mo suddenly have no intention of bargaining, the other party has already made the profit to the minimum, and if he continues to lower the price, how can he press it?

Swap the percent sign for the thousandth sign? As the prime minister of a country, he can't afford to lose that person.

"Your Excellency the Prime Minister would also like to ask Dr. Chen, what exactly is your request?"

Ziano borrowed the tone of someone else's voice to ask his question again.

"Starting next year, Italy will unconditionally accept no more than 500 Chinese workers every year to intern and work in major factories in the country, and each worker must ensure that they can work in the factories for at least five years, and that they are treated the same as Italian workers, and must pay sufficient wages on a regular basis and in a fixed amount, and ensure that the workers are not discriminated against and that all their rights and interests are not violated."

It sounded like Chen Muwu had made a strange request.

But he had told someone about it a few years ago, but instead of the Italian prime minister, he was the crown prince of Sweden.

Chen Muwu has long figured out one thing, that is, no matter how much money he earns abroad, when he returns to China in the future, he will definitely be detained by various countries for various reasons, and less than one-tenth of what he can bring back.

So the money he earns now only needs to be able to provide for himself and his family to live abroad without worrying about food and clothing, and there is no need to be greedy and swallow elephants, be a miser, and then make wedding dresses for others.

Since wealth cannot be brought back, it is better to convert this wealth into something that can be brought back to China, such as students who have learned advanced knowledge, and skilled workers who have accumulated rich work experience.

If he can continuously transport these two things back to China, it can play a greater role than if he returns to China alone.

If Sweden is a third-class power, then Italy can at least be regarded as a second-class power, and the level of domestic industrialization must be richer and more advanced than that of Sweden.

After Ziano translated Chen Muwu's answer again, Prime Minister Mo was a little unable to understand the brain circuit of the young man opposite.

Putting aside millions of pounds a year in profits, in exchange for sending 500 workers to internships, this deal is not cost-effective.

The average monthly wage of Italian workers is about 800 lira.

On August 28 last year, in order to curb inflation in Italy, the Prime Minister himself announced that the exchange rate between the lira and the pound would be "Quota novanta", that is, the exchange rate would be stabilized at about 90, and in 1927, this value was 1 pound equal to 92.46 lira.

So it is equivalent to a worker's annual salary of about 100 pounds, and the annual salary of 500 workers is only 50,000 pounds.

Moreover, these 500 workers do not lie down in the factory every day to grind foreign workers and eat white rice, they can provide a large amount of surplus labor in addition to the necessary labor.

Looking at it this way, the dividend has been reduced from 4 million pounds to 200,000 pounds a year, and an additional 500 young and middle-aged laborers have been provided to the Italian side.

But in a transaction, what is not cost-effective for one party is like a bargain for the other party.

Although Prime Minister Mo was a little puzzled in his heart, it was impossible for him not to agree to the big gift sent by Chen Muwu.

Seeing Chen Muwu's envoy to Italy representing the Chinese government, he seemed to understand something.

But he didn't see any communication between Chen Muwu and Zhu Zhaoxin in the dinner, could it be that before the dinner, Chen Muwu had already guessed that what he was going to talk about was this matter?

Asked someone to call the Chinese minister, but it was just to find a companion for the dinner, but I didn't expect to do the other party a favor.

"Dr. Chen, so you are not actually representing you personally, but on behalf of your government?"

After listening to Chen Muwu's previous answer and Ziano's current translation, Zhu Zhaoxin was already in a state of complete enlightenment.

Why did Dr. Chen suddenly drop his profits so much? Why did he offer to send workers to Italy?

In fact, the Prime Minister of Mexico asked a very good question, waiting until next year, after the Beijing government completely defeats the Beiyang government and comes to power, China and Italy will have a honeymoon period of nearly ten years, which will provide more convenience for Chen Muwu's plan to send workers.

However, Chen Muwu didn't want to let himself work hard to explore oil in exchange for the results and be picked by the government, so he planned to do it himself.

The matter of sending workers abroad, of course, must cooperate with China, but the object of cooperation must not be his own bald Zhejiang countryman, but his own fan brother, Xiao Zhang Gongzi in the Northeast.

Xiao Zhang Gongzi has money, and he loves to devote himself to various public undertakings, in addition to education, he also likes to run industry.

In addition to Northeastern University, Northeast China also has the most advanced arsenal, automobile factory and aircraft factory.

Although these things will be handed over to Ben after 1931, but after a careful analysis of Chen Muwu's request just made, he let these Chinese workers intern in Italian factories for five years.

He decided that after the first few workers came to Italy, they all went into the arsenals everywhere to study how guns and cannons were made.

He entered the factory in 1928, and five years later in 1933, when Xiao Zhang Gongzi had already arrived in Yi'an from the Northeast.

These first batch of well-trained workers will definitely not be able to return to the northeast, so after they return to China, most of them will have to put the arsenal built after returning from their studies in Shaanxi, which is still regarded as one acre and three points of land for Xiao Zhang Gongzi.

In addition to the Northeast Army and the Northwest Army, there is also a third-party force in Shaanxi.

After these factories are built, who will be able to use them? That's not so easy to say.

But one thing is clear, that is, the Italian guns and Italian cannons produced by these workers who have drunk foreign ink will definitely be very sought-after in the surrounding area.

Next to Shaanxi is Shanyi, there is a Ping'an County in Shanyu Province, no matter who is fighting Ping'an County, he Chen Muwu will definitely help the field!

"Your Excellency, Prime Minister, not with the Chinese government, but with me personally. You may not be very clear about the current situation in China, there is a government on both sides of the north and the south, and I don't know which side I should belong to, so how can I cooperate on behalf of the government? ”

After all, Zhu Zhaoxin is a representative of the Chinese government who is holding a festival abroad, and when he heard Chen Muwu's remarks, he always felt a little uncomfortable - although the Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not allocated funds for almost a year.

"Hanchen, such a big thing, I think we should discuss it with the domestic side."

Zhu Zhaoxin tugged on Chen Muwu's sleeve and whispered.

"Discuss? Who to talk to? South or North? ”

Chen Muwu didn't want to continue to talk to the minister on this topic, Zhu Zhaoxin said on the surface that he wanted to contact China, but among these ministers abroad, he was the most fierce in asking for salary.

He was the leader of the Federation of Ministers to Europe, and threatened the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Beiyang government, saying that if the money was not paid again, everyone would all fall to Wu Chaoshu on the side of Xuanzhou.

Because the topic of today's dinner is how and where to find oil, not which of the two governments of Italy supports the Beiyang or the Northern Expedition.

Everyone knows about this matter, and the reason why Zhu Zhaoxin raised the above question is just a formality.

Since Chen Muwu does not represent the Chinese government, there is no need to discuss this matter in depth.

"Dr. Chen, we fully accept your request, and even I can agree to you now, so there is no problem in having people prepare the treaty and sign it."

Prime Minister Mo also thought that he had picked up a big bargain, and he was afraid that Chen Muwu would regret it after realizing that something was not quite right, so he also wanted to settle the matter as soon as possible.

"That's great, of course, but it seems a bit of a rush tonight, and I'm not very good at the content of the terms myself, and I might have to hire some professionals to finalize it.

"But since we have reached a preliminary intention to cooperate, I will never change it, and I hope that His Excellency the Prime Minister will also ensure that this matter will not change again."

Chen Muwu doesn't know how to do business, but he has a lot of friends who can do business.

De Broglie, Oppenheimer, the children of the English aristocracy of the Cambridge Apostolic Society, and the little Marcus of the Valenberg family in Sweden, pick any one of them, and they are all business talents.

It couldn't have been easier to ask them to send someone over to help see if there was anything unreasonable about the proposed contract.

"Of course, of course."

Chen Muwu's thoughts coincide with Prime Minister Moxi, in his perspective, he was because of the unexpected joy of listening to the secretary read the newspaper, and he caught such a big fish as Chen Muwu, not to mention that he still has countless black wealth and oil behind him.

"Then I wish us a happy cooperation!" Prime Minister Mo raised his glass again, and this time he drank it all.

"Dr. Chen, can you tell us in advance where you think oil will be produced, which is not far from our Italy?"

"The Mediterranean, right in the Mediterranean."

Chen Muwu pointed to the map of Italy hanging on the wall.

(End of chapter)