Flowers, Swords and France

Looking at such a charming face opposite him, Eugene Schneider felt a little lost for a moment.

"Your sister...?" He looked at the minister in front of him in disbelief.

"Yes, she is my sister." Charles smiled and admitted again, "Don't you think it's strange?"

"Yes... no..." Eugene Schneider immediately admitted, and then immediately denied, "Sir, I mean..."

"It's nothing. It's normal for you to be surprised. You don't need to apologize to me." Charles shrugged, "Here today, you don't have to regard her as my sister, just as my assistant - originally you If you have anything you want to say to me, you can still say it to me now, and you can say whatever you want.”

"Your Excellency... Okay." Eugene Schneider still felt a little embarrassed at first, but he soon realized that he didn't have much bargaining power, so he had to agree.

"I came to visit you today because I actually want to ask for something from you." He immediately adjusted his mentality and then stated his topic. "I hope to get your help."

"Many people have asked me for help, and you are not the only one." Charles replied calmly, as if he really didn't understand the other person's intention, "Then you can tell me what specifically you need me for. help?"

"As you know, Your Excellency, I am now the person in charge of all the companies and factories under the name of the Schneider family." Eugene Schneider managed to calm down, and then continued, "I... I would like to ask you to be accommodating. , allowing us to accept more orders from the government in order to... maintain the operation of our factory."

"This sounds like a very embarrassing request." Charles couldn't help laughing. "The government's order was determined after detailed evaluation and consideration. I can't interfere, so how can we talk about it? Do you have to go online?"

"Your Excellency, there may be some problems with my wording, but I think you understand what I mean." Eugene Schneider was a little anxious, "In short, you can see that I and our factory need you very much. "

"I don't have any ideas now, sir. I just respect a senior in the industry, so when you want to see me several times, I will take my free time to meet your request." Charles But he didn't reveal anything at all, and just answered calmly, "If you have such an idea, you should tell me clearly beforehand, so that we can be fully prepared, right?"

There was a playful recovery in Charles's indifference, which made Eugene Schneider feel even more embarrassed.

However, he knew that he had something to ask for now, and Mr. de Treville was notoriously difficult to mess with, so he could only suppress his dissatisfaction.

"Your Excellency, I am not a person who is good at words, so please forgive me if I said something wrong... I actually have no other intention, I just want you to help me... No, not just Help me, but help many people." He took courage and looked at the minister sincerely. "I don't want to hide anything from you. In fact, our factory and our family business are in trouble now. We need orders to maintain the operation of our business. At this point, we extremely need your help. After all, you are the empire. The Transport Secretary can give us what others can't Compared with the help, as long as you show kindness, I think... I think we can get through this crisis and become a prosperous company again. Of course, we don't want to ask for your help for no reason. We, we are willing to pay any price for your help, any price!”

He repeated the last few words deliberately to impress the other person. Although there is someone watching next to him, he can no longer care so much.

After saying this, he stopped and quietly waited for the other party's decision. Because he is not good at words, he speaks very sincerely, which makes people moved.

"You...don't be so excited." Charles waved his hand slightly, indicating that the other party should not be anxious, "Okay, I understand what you mean. You are a famous industrialist in our country, and one I have always admired very much. Man, you have made great contributions to the development of French industry. To be honest, I am shocked and sorry to hear that your business is in trouble."

"As a businessman, business failure is common. We all go through this." Ou Ren smiled bitterly, "No matter how difficult it is, it will not be more difficult than when we started the business at the beginning. After all, we have accumulated a lot of experience now." Sufficient equipment investment and personnel reserves. Your Excellency, I can assure you that as long as the government provides sufficient orders, there will be no difficulties in our operating conditions. We can not only complete everything the government requires, but also do our best. To repay those who help us.”

Ou Ren looked at the other party carefully and almost said the word "kickback" directly.

During the July Dynasty, they used to use this method to win over politicians who were useful to them. Originally, they planned to use the same method to win over senior officials of the empire - but unfortunately the situation was very different from what they expected.

"Oh, of course, I am very happy to help people like you." Charles nodded happily.

The whole room suddenly fell silent. Eugene Schneider was in a daze at first, and then shouted out in surprise.

"Sir, are you... are you serious?"

Before he came, he had been mentally prepared to bargain or even grovel. He did not expect that the other party would give the order so easily. He only suspected that he heard wrongly.

Surprised, he immediately became suspicious. Mr. Treville was not such an easy person to talk to - not to mention that he was now a direct competitor of the other party?

"Of course I'm telling the truth, sir, you came to me for help, and then after I nodded, you suddenly became doubtful. Isn't that good?" Charles couldn't help but laugh again, "If you say that, I will too Very difficult.”

"No... Your Excellency... no, I'm just too happy. Please forgive me." Eugene Schneider apologized to him in a hurry, "I just said that I am willing to pay the due price for your help. Please forgive me." Tell me, sir, what do you want from me?"

"We are not helping you in return." Charles pushed back rather hypocritically, and then asked, "Then, what can you do for me?"

"If possible... I can give you a certain amount of rebate points." After hesitating for a long time, Oren Schneider didn't care too much and simply made it clear, "You can decide the specific points yourself, as long as we can maintain our We are willing to pay for the operation of the factory and the basic investment.”

His conditions were very humble, almost surrendering, and he just wanted to receive enough orders to keep the company running. But I can’t blame him. Now the Schneider family’s business is indeed in very serious operating difficulties. The continuous decrease in orders has caused serious financial losses. After seeing the operating difficulties of Schneider’s business, Paris, who was originally brothers with the Schneider family, The bankers quickly changed their faces, not only Instead of continuing to borrow money, some people even chose to withdraw funds. The combination of these circumstances naturally made the Schneider family's business situation worse. Fortunately, the family's accumulated wealth was quite substantial, so they could continue to inject capital to maintain it. But if If it continues, I'm afraid it will be difficult to support.

However, his declaration of surrender did not seem to impress the minister.

"Haha, your condition is really interesting. You actually said that you wanted to bribe an imperial minister! It would be bad to spread the word." Charles laughed slightly mockingly, "Also, let me remind you that you Where we are now is a huge factory. It can also take orders from the government and can even do more than you... and the profit it can provide will be more than what you can give, isn't it? ”

This merciless blow immediately made Eugene Schneider's face become even more ugly.

It's hard to hear, but it's true - isn't it much better for people to make a lot of money themselves than to get some kind of kickback?

"Your Excellency... I'm sorry, I may have said something stupid." After hesitating for a long time, Ou Ren finally calmed down, and then looked at the other party almost begging, "Then please tell me, what exactly do you need me to do? Please tell me how you can be satisfied."

"Sir, don't be like this." After discovering that the other party's psychological defense had finally been completely penetrated, Ciel restrained his smile, and then waved his hand gently, "We are both smart people, and we respect each other. We can Be as sincere as possible. I have already said that I am very sympathetic and sorry for your current predicament. I cannot bear to see senior industrialists like you facing disaster because of financial difficulties, so I want to help you. ”

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

After hearing his humble and respectful words, Eugene Schneider suddenly turned pale. The content contained in this proposal was too scary for him.

"Do you want to inject capital?" He finally pulled himself together and asked.

At this moment, he had already decided that if the other party insisted on forcibly injecting capital and controlling his company, then he would fall out and go home directly. He would rather hold on until the final failure of bankruptcy than give up the business that the two brothers had worked so hard to build.

"Huh? Don't get excited!" Charles quickly stopped the other party, "Don't worry, I'm not a villain who takes advantage of others' danger, and I don't intend to embezzle your family property... The capital injection I mentioned is just to provide you with It's just some funds. Of course, these funds must be converted into shares - but you can rest assured that it will never affect the control and management rights of your company. Didn't you just say that you can agree to any of my requests? I don't think this request is sufficient? Not harsh.”

Just asking for a capital injection and then a small stake? This time Ou Ren regained his composure from his anger.

Literally speaking, the request of the Minister is not very harsh, and it does not exceed his bottom line.

But is he such a kind person? He looked at the other person carefully, making guesses.

"Hey, don't act like this!" Charles couldn't help but laugh again, "I said, I really respect you and want to help you - well, let me tell you straight , I am planning a reform, a reform that will comprehensively reshape the French railway industry. I think it is necessary to rope in a prestigious industrialist like you to participate in this crucial reform. Those shares are just for letting It’s just some kind of guarantee that you’re involved.”

"You...can you explain it to me?" Ou Ren found that he could no longer understand what the minister meant.

"It's very simple. In order to adapt to the increasing technological innovation of the railway industry, we must change the terrible situation of disorderly competition in the market today - you see, there are many manufacturers in France today, producing everything needed for the railway industry. However, This is not a good thing, because excessive competition will cause everyone to continue to cut prices and compete with each other through price wars. In this case, the profits of all companies will become lower, and in the end there will be no way to invest in improving technology and equipment," Charles said patiently. Follow the other person's explanation, "In that case, do As the transport minister of the empire, I believe that it is necessary for me to reform this disorderly competition, and to establish a special enterprise organization to allow enterprises with sufficient strength to stay in the market, accept financial and policy concessions, and put them into use. Slowly support them so that they can have more energy to carry out technological research and development and progress. And you... Sir, your efforts over the past few decades have accumulated enough reputation. I think if you can be drawn into such an organization. It’s a very important part, come to think of it...you won’t refuse, right?”

"Being dragged into such a corporate organization?" Ou Ren was shocked again.

But this time it was ecstasy. His mood fluctuated so much today that he was a little speechless.

"I... of course I am willing, Your Excellency, I am very happy to serve you and the country." After a long silence, he agreed. "I already understand your conditions. If the shares you want are not enough to replace the control of our family, I am also very happy for you to inject capital into us to ease our current financial situation."

"How about letting her be the director and representative?" Charles pointed at his sister who had been silent next to him at any time. "I think this is necessary because she needs to participate in this corporate organization in an unobtrusive way."

Is this his purpose? Ou Ren finally understood. (~^~)