The next day.
On the cherry tree in the yard, some magpies or sparrows were chirping. There were dewdrops on the leaves. If the dewdrops were too heavy, they would flow down. If they were caught by another leaf, it would be like knocking over the little ones. The water basin rolled down like waves.
Only Huang Xuan lived in the room surrounded by a patio, and he was still sleeping hazily when hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.
"Who is it?" Huang Xuan was dizzy and took a sip of water, putting aside the blanket that he casually covered himself with last night.
"Mitsui Takasui led four other people." Lorraine answered quickly. In an era without electronic information, it was also very troublesome to figure out the identity of the other party.
"It seems that they are very anxious." Huang Xuan tidied his clothes, sat lazily on the ground, leaned against the wall, and said, "Iwasaki didn't come?"
"No."
"What about the overthrow army? Are there any signs of departure?" In front of Nengton, Lorraine did not waste energy and monitored day and night.
"The overthrow troops in Osaka were not ready to go, and there was no sign of British cargo ships or large quantities of ammunition."
Huang Xuan nodded. Osaka is the largest industrial base in Japan except Edo. Although there are very few modern machinery, as long as sufficient guns and ammunition are not produced here, the overthrow of the Tokugawa army can only rely on the British. If by chance, a British ship came to Japan to sell arms, he would have to sink it. According to Lorraine, sinking a 1,000-ton armored ship within 100 kilometers of Kyoto may require 100 million yuan of electricity, equivalent to the price of 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles. He was not prepared to do this unless absolutely necessary.
Iwasaki is not as prosperous as he was after the success of the Meiji Restoration, but in Osaka, or the Kanto region, his influence is already very great. As the predecessor of the joint organization of chambers of commerce, his Kurayashiki has developed very well, and his overall financial strength is only slightly inferior. Just the Mitsui family. As for the businessmen whose politics were leaning towards the shogunate army, they are almost all falling apart now. Huang Xuan doubted whether Iwasaki founded Mitsubishi by plundering the property of these shogunate merchants.
Ito Hirobumi stood behind Mitsui Takasui with his waist bent. After Huang Xuan washed up and opened the door, he raised his head alertly and looked at the man who brought the latest technology to Japan.
This is a young and over-the-top Chinese, but he is different from the Qing Dynasty people he often sees. It is not just his hair, but more of a temperament. In his memory, only those arrogant foreigners have this kind of temperament. This seems to be an innate sense of superiority, just like the inferiority complex of Japan, a small country with few people.
Ito Hirobumi was still thinking in his mind that Mitsui Takasui had already started his routine greetings. Although he was anxious when he was outside the door and deliberately made noise to wake up Huang Xuan, when he sat in the room, he We started talking about the weather, like an Obasan.
Huang Xuan responded casually, and waited until the waitress at the hotel brought tea and snacks. Mitsui seemed to wake up and said, "Master Huang, you haven't had breakfast yet? I'm really sorry..."
"You haven't eaten either." Huang Xuan said with a hint of ridicule.
Mitsui said unconsciously: "I just went out to eat a little."
"Let's eat together." Huang Xuan pushed the plate and said, "I didn't expect there are Chinese meals here. You may not eat them very often."
Mitsui chuckled and said a few words casually. After another gesture with his eyes, Ito Hirobumi sat up straight, cleared his throat and said: "Ito Hirobumi, what is Mr. Huang's bid for the drawings?" Similar to modern Japanese corporate culture, there are very few people with higher status. Offer to introduce people of lower status.
"One million taels of silver, we have said that." The ignorant Huang Xuan has not had the chance to hear the name of Ito Hirobumi. With his learning method, if it were not for the influence of his family and mother, it would be difficult for him to know the Mitsui Zaibatsu. .
Hirobumi Ito smiled and said, "If Mr. Huang wants to draw a complete drawing now, I'm afraid it will take a long time."
The complete design drawings and instructions, even if copied, may take one person several months. Since Huang Xuan has nothing to offer, the Japanese are naturally suspicious.
Huang Xuan curled his lips and said, "As long as you can afford it, there are any number of drawings."
He really wasn't bragging.
It seems that today the Japanese relied on Ito Hirobumi to negotiate. He smiled, his mustache stretched twice, and he smoothed the clothes on his legs. He did not bother about where the drawings came from. He followed Huang Xuan's words and said: "We really can't get it." It’s a lot of money, but I still have 00,000 taels of silver.”
Huang Xuan laughed loudly, stood up and wanted to leave, saying, "Then there is nothing to talk about."
Mitsui Takasui quickly got up, stood at the door of the Japanese room, and said: "Sir Huang, although we can't get cash, we can use materials as collateral."
He didn't really want to raise the price, it was just a statement.
Huang Xuan sat down again and said: "How much can you put out as collateral?" He waved his hand again and said: "In 10 days, Mr. Li Hongzhang will come. If before then, the transaction cannot be If it’s done, there’s no need to say it.”
Huang Xuan said this to reassure the Japanese people. Ito Hirobumi thought, "Sure enough," and then smiled at Huang Xuan and said, "Sir Huang, could it be that these drawings were originally given to us by the Qing Dynasty?"
He said this very tactfully, and Huang Xuan sneered: "Give it to you? It's almost enough to give it to North Korea. 800,000, one price. If you don't want to talk anymore, forget it."
"Master Huang, you have to let us see the drawings." Ito Hirobumi said to smooth things over.
With a sneer, Huang Xuan turned around and opened the large cabinet used to store bedding in the hotel. The filled drawings were immediately poured out.
Yamao Yuzo hurriedly went to pick it up, but Huang Xuan didn't want to kneel down, so he spread his legs and leaned against the wooden wall, saying: "There is almost a fifth here, and I will tell you the rest when I see the money."
Hirobumi Ito pulled out a drawing and looked at it, and said: "It always takes several years to build a steel plant. If there is no one to guide it, problems will easily occur. Mr. Huang has time."
"No." Huang Xuan knew that he wanted to lower the price, but in fact he didn't care about lowering the price. His bottom line was 00,000 taels of silver, which was far from as high as the Japanese imagined.
Hearing Huang Xuan follow his words, Ito Hirobumi immediately said: "Sir Huang, without anyone's guidance, we will have to spend a lot of money to find foreigners. This will make our funds even tighter."
"Then don't buy it." Huang Xuan narrowed his eyes, looking like he didn't want to speak.
Ito Hirobumi and Mitsui Takasui looked at each other. The latter waved his hand and finally said: "Sir Huang, last time you said you wanted to buy some abalone to take back. I don't know what kind of abalone you want?"
"What's there?"
"The best abalone is made by the Hanagani family. The best abalone is made by the Shihirata Goro family. The best abalone is made by the Kumagai family. Why not bring some of each back?" Mitsui Takasui is very considerate.
Huang Xuan didn’t know that there were famous experts in abalone drying. In fact, even in modern times, Japanese sun-dried abalone is the best, but you have to go to Hong Kong to cook it.
"What's the price?"
"One catty of net abalone costs 00 taels of silver, while top-quality abalone and hemp abalone only cost 00 taels of silver." The catty he was talking about was naturally Sima Jin.
00 taels of silver. According to the silver price at this time, it is about 175 US dollars. A conservative estimate is about 500 US dollars. At this price, you can only eat one fresh abalone in Guangzhou.
As for a net abalone, it is easy to sell for three to five million. Thinking of this price, Huang Xuan shuddered, secretly cursing himself for being useless, pretending not to wake up, rubbing his face, and said: "Then the remaining 60 If you have ten thousand taels of silver, exchange it for abalone.”
Ito Hirobumi looked at Mitsui and said with a smile: "Master Huang, let alone there are so many abalones, 600,000 taels is too much, how about a total of 400,000 taels of silver?" He did not dare to say 00,000 taels directly. .
"Think about it slowly. You can take a look at these drawings first. If you want them, prepare abalone and silver coins now. One abalone will be calculated according to the price you mentioned. The price of two abalones per catty will be divided by 4. Three Just divide the number of abalone by 16 and count them in order. "At this time, the concept of several abalone has actually been established, but the Japanese are not good at it and don't eat much.
Ito Hirobumi was a little dazed, Huang Xuan had already moved out of the Japanese room, and said: "I want to go to Kyoto first and have a look. When I come back in a few days, there are half of the foreign gun production plans in the other room. It is a deposit for you. , when I come back, I hope you can figure out how much to pay.”
The active biological bomb has just arrived. It is said that His Majesty the Emperor was in the palace castle in Kyoto until the capital was moved. With the bomb in hand, if we don't make a mess there, we will waste a lot of energy.
As he spoke, he stretched and walked out with Dian Wei, who was also yawning. Even a hero will feel sleepy if he stays up late. (To be continued. If you want to know what happened, please log in to .qidian. There are more chapters. Support the author and genuine reading!) (To be continued)