Flowers, Swords and France

When I saw Andrei Bezukhov in the hotel again, he was even more enthusiastic than last time. He stood up and greeted Charles enthusiastically, and Charles naturally responded enthusiastically. .

Then the two of them sat down at the same time, and Andre, as the host, poured wine for Charles diligently.

"Char, looking like this, you seem to be doing well recently?" He asked with a smile, and then raised his glass.

"Thanks to you, it's okay." Charles responded with a smile, and then took a sip of wine as well.

"It's good that you're fine. When there were riots everywhere, I was still worried about you!" Andre sighed seemingly contentedly. He didn't know whether it was true or not. "It's been very chaotic here recently. That time I don’t even dare to go out! Hey, you French people are so full of energy!”

His words were full of exclamations, but there was actually an implicit approval.

"But it's good. At least it allows us to see the excitement, right? To be honest, it's much better than my hometown which is always lifeless..."

"For you, it is better for the French people to vent their excess energy on their own country than venting it outside of France?" Charles secretly sneered.

"Hey, look at what you said!" Andre laughed again, "Don't worry, even though I am a member of the embassy, ​​I don't care about this kind of thing at all. Everyone has wine, money and everything. Is that enough? How can we take care of so much? Gentlemen will naturally take care of other things. Come on, let’s have another drink!”

Then the two drank another drink.

"Speaking of this matter of making money. I would like to ask you something," Ciel asked after finishing the drink. "How is the harvest of the goods I gave you before?"

After hearing this question from Charles, Andrei Bezukhov's expression suddenly became much more serious.

"The profit was okay," he lowered his voice intentionally, "but not as big as expected. The sales were good at first, but later because the demand was too small, we had to lower the price before we sold it..."

then. He sighed again rather sadly.

"Hey, my compatriots really don't understand elegance! They just let go of the opportunity to embrace Western European civilization at a low price!"

After hearing his sigh. Ciel couldn't help but laugh.

"No wonder you are so anxious to find some new ways for yourself."

"You have to find a way to meet the expenses." Andre replied matter-of-factly, and then asked again, "You should have heard Albert's report? From your perspective, what does this idea look like?"

"It sounds interesting. Otherwise, I wouldn't come to you." Charles nodded lightly. "However, I think you still need to explain it to me in detail..."

"Okay, no problem, Charles." Andre responded enthusiastically, and then began to explain, "After I was dissatisfied with the profits from fake antiques, in order to find some new ways for myself, I endured I took a closer look at your laws and found out that there is a loophole. Diamond - The spirit of those gentlemen who made the laws for the benefit of farmers is commendable, but they hardly took into account the actual situation - well, this kind of thing is very common nowadays - they only restricted the import of grains. , but no restrictions on grain products... Do you know what this means?”

Then, he glanced around and saw the other party's interested look, so he got even more excited, "I'm afraid you know that my family owns a large piece of land in Ukraine, which produces a lot of grain every year. If we can process it, Turn it into starch, then transport it to the port, and then ship it over... Think about it, how good is this? "

"But the shipping fee will not be low." Charles pondered.

"But the volume is large! It's enough to offset the shipping cost!" Andre continued his persuasion work. "Charles, think about it, as long as we start doing this, how many bushels can be transported by each ship in the future? Starch? In just a few ships we can turn over a manor. Moreover, I have carefully calculated that after it is shipped to France, the price can be only 70% or even half of the local price, and we still make a profit! Opportunity? One boat can earn you tens of thousands of francs!”

Ciel frowned and pondered silently.

"In addition, I believe you have also seen that the situation in France is really unstable recently, and prices have been rising. Now if there is a low-priced food supply in the city, people will definitely flock to it! And taking this opportunity, we can definitely expand Open a market and make a lot of money for yourself! If we are lucky, we can continue this business, and then we will make a fortune!"

Without making a move, Andre had changed the subject to "we", closing the distance between himself and Ciel. "How about it? My friend, what a good idea I have? After I thought of this idea, I immediately thought of coming to you. I think you will definitely not be willing to waste such a good opportunity?"

Although he said it so nicely, Charles was not moved by him at all. He understands that due to the large scale and complicated procedures, this kind of business is not something that ordinary people can do, so Andre cannot find a suitable candidate in his circle of friends. If he doesn't come to him, who else can he go to first? ?

Therefore, although he was very excited, he still seemed calm and composed.

"It does seem like a good idea, but I think we still need to think about it."

"It doesn't matter, you should think about it first. We still have time anyway." Andre also understood the principle of haste, waste in speed, so he didn't push too hard. "It's only April now, and the spring wheat has just been sown. We still have time." It'll have to wait a little longer, but I think you'll want to make it as soon as possible. After all, the wheat should be harvested in the fall. We should prepare everything before then. I have already written to my father, informing him of my opinions, and also suggested that he purchase it at the manor first! Good machine, and I am also looking for a suitable shipping company..."

While explaining, he also implicitly gave his threat - I am already preparing for this, if you still hesitate, then don't blame me for finding someone else!

"Okay, I understand." Charles nodded slightly, still not showing any anxiety, "I will make a decision as soon as possible."

"Okay, let's have another drink!" Andre raised his glass again.

………………

In the following conversation, Andrei cleverly stopped mentioning the transaction and kept chatting with Charles about his experience in Russian embassies and consulates across Europe in the past few years. See It can be concluded that this libertine in the entertainment field is indeed very experienced.

"Hey, Europe is really uneasy right now!" As he spoke, Andre, who was already a bit drunk, suddenly sighed heavily, "You who are not in the diplomatic community may not know that the entire continent is in chaos now. , there is bad news everywhere, even me, a person who usually hangs out all the time, is a little uneasy..."

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"What's the matter, brother?" Charles asked casually.

"What's wrong? Needless to say? Didn't it start from here?" Andre replied rather gloomily, "Since the riots in Paris, turmoil is now happening in every city in Europe, including Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Rome...everywhere is in chaos, and our ambassador is worried to death. He is worried all day long that if Warsaw comes too, there will be trouble..."

Then, he sighed again, "Ah, the vibrant French nation has made Europe a mess again!"

After hearing his sigh, Ciel joked.

"In my opinion, although chaos is chaos, it may not be a bad thing. We have to liven up the mainland that has been dull for so long..."

"It's none of your business, you just think the excitement is not big enough..." Andre smiled bitterly, "But we members of the diplomatic corps are in trouble. Now we are being pressed by the superiors all day long, asking us to write reports and submit reports. What advice! Poor our ambassador, his hair has turned a lot gray recently. I think he is worried to death. I'm lucky, after all, France is a little more stable now. I heard that in Austria, the embassy staff are very busy all day long, for fear of making some mistakes... Poor Austria, I heard my colleagues! He said that there are revolutions in Bohemia and Hungary, and they might cause big trouble that day! "

"It's not a big deal. I think your Majesty the Tsar will send troops to suppress the Hungarian resistance for Austria." Charles suddenly replied. "And it'll be quick."

"Um?"

His answer made Andre suddenly tremble, and most of the drunkenness that had just hit his head disappeared.

He looked at Ciel with some suspicion, "How do you know?"

Whether the Tsar would send troops to extinguish the revolutionary flames in various countries, even embassy staff like them couldn't tell. How could this person say so confidently?

"I guessed it." Charles didn't expect that his casual words could arouse such a big reaction from the other party, so he quickly made a fool of himself, "I don't think your Majesty the Tsar will just sit back and ignore this? That doesn't suit his surname. grid."

He didn't dare to put his words to death - what if due to the butterfly effect caused by his time traveling, the senior officials of Imperial Russia suddenly decided not to send troops to save the Austrian Empire?

However, he feels that he is not yet able to bring about such a big change in the historical line. Tsar Nicholas I should still make the decision to raise troops to conquer Hungary and safeguard the Austrian Empire as he did in past history - although in hindsight, This is a decision that is not worth the gain.

"Really?" Sensing Ciel's perfunctory attitude, the doubts flashed across Andre's face. Then, he returned to his original nonchalant and optimistic demeanor, "Okay, maybe that's the case. But... never mind them! Let's just play our own game! Let's continue to have a drink!". )