Fox of France

Except for the batch of the Poles, there are not too many orders for weapons, especially the orders for the French army are even less. Although Kano tried very hard to give the order to Joseph and the others, Kano's status is far from what it used to be, and he can't even decide on military matters.

However, the original Naval Research Institute, because it was far away from Paris, Joseph acted quickly and got it before others, so some key technologies of this research institute have not been lost. Therefore, only their family can build flying clippers, at least in Europe at present.

During this time, the advantages of clipper ships in smuggling have been fully demonstrated. Since the clipper ship was put into use, until now, no clipper ship has been caught.

Although the carrying capacity of the flying shear ship is not ideal, but after calculating the shorter round-trip time brought by the higher speed, everyone finally came to the conclusion that the transportation efficiency of this kind of cargo ship is actually better than that of the conventional ones of the same size. Cargo ships are even taller. So more orders for clipper ships flew into Joseph's hands.

Joseph deeply felt that the capacity of the shipyard attached to the research institute was far from enough, so the expansion of the shipyard was also put on the agenda. However, the shipyard is a big project and requires a lot of money. But the money in Joseph's hand was not enough.

Of course, at least for now, the economic situation of the Bonaparte family is quite healthy. Almost all businesses are making money, and Joseph has more and more money. In the eyes of most people who were used to slowly building up an industry over several generations at that time, he was already making money very fast. But in the view of Joseph from later generations, the speed of expansion is really unacceptably slow.

"This era really lacks reliable financial means." Joseph couldn't help saying this to himself. Banks in this era can provide very limited funds, but the interest rate is surprisingly high. Twenty percent of the annual interest rate is regarded as friendship interest. And the general economic growth in this era is just a little more? Even in peaceful times, one percent is not necessarily there. Most businesses cannot support such interest rates. Even if the profit margin of the business in Joseph's hands is very good, but he is used to the interest rate of later generations, he still feels that he has such a good project in his hand, but it is too much to borrow a loan with an interest rate as high as 20%. loss.

If you don't borrow money, you can only attract more investors. But this means the dispersion of equity, which is also unbearable for Joseph. Therefore, the matter of expanding production has become a headache.

"It seems that we can only oppress users." Joseph has only this way for the time being.

At the very beginning, because of the good performance of the "Flying Shear Ship", it was not widely known. In order to attract customers, Joseph adopted the method of installment payment when selling the ship. But now it seems that this method can be completely changed, um, just change it to full payment in advance.

Of course, high-quality customers can still get certain discounts. For example, Joseph even plans to establish a "Bonaparte Shipping Bank" that specializes in providing loans for the purchase of ships. High-quality customers can get ship purchase loans with friendly interest rates from him.

However, the profits of the flying shear ship will not last long, because the technology of the flying shear ship is basically in the shape, so it is almost impossible to keep it secret for a long time. It may not be long before other countries, especially the British, will be able to master the manufacturing technology of flying shear boats.

At the end of December, it took only one month and three days for the clipper ship "Black Pearl" to complete the round trip from Marseille to New York, with an average speed of more than ten knots at sea. This round-trip speed was twice that of an ordinary cargo ship, and this ship became a legend all of a sudden.

Following the black pearl from the United States to France, in addition to various urgently needed goods in France, there were also a few Americans.

As soon as these Americans arrived in Marseille, they came to the investment promotion office of the Bonaparte Institute in Marseille.

The investment promotion office of the Bonaparte Institute is different from other places. There is a large curved counter on the street, on which are placed various short muskets and related accessories, as well as some models of cannons and ships. On the wall behind the counter are various rifles and bunches of small melons. There are usually one or two fairly pretty female shop assistants sitting at the counter, and two or three burly men.

Many times, when a smuggling ship docks, a businessman on the ship will walk over slowly, asking for a few boxes of "little melons" and other things. By the way, he will tease the female clerk, and then pay the money neatly. , Called a few people to pick and go to the boat.

If it is the big boss who bought the boat, a female clerk will lead them to the reception room upstairs, and pour them freshly brewed coffee smuggled from Turkey, and then a manager will come over and talk to them slowly .

At this time, these Americans walked into the investment promotion office and came to the front of the big counter.

"I heard that you can order ships here?" A middle-aged man in his 40s or 50s asked in Bordeaux dialect. He was a little bald, maybe because he often ran on the sea, so his face was black and red.

As soon as they heard that it was a big customer who planned to order a ship, the two female shop assistants stood up.

"Sir, it is indeed the business of ordering ships here, and we can manufacture all kinds of the fastest ships in the world. If you have such a need, it is really right to come to us. Sir, please follow us upstairs Come up and talk in detail."

Two shopgirls led the Frenchmen to the upstairs reception room. A clerk poured them coffee, and another clerk called Du Thier, the manager in charge of this type of business.

Du Thier came to the living room with a young clerk, and he and the young clerk sat down on the sofa in front of these Americans: "Gentlemen, hello. I am the Investment Promotion Office of the Bonaparte Institute Du Thier, the manager. Is there anything I can do for you?"

The bald middle-aged man glanced at the young Du Thier and said: "I am Stephen Gillard, a trader from the United States. We came here from the United States, of course to buy ships-clippers. I am very interested in this kind of fast merchant ship. If you can meet my requirements, maybe I will buy seven or eight ships at one go. But what I want is not a clipper ship the size of the "Black Pearl" today. Like A ship of that size has too limited a range of use. In terms of cost of use, it is only suitable for transporting some high-value cargo, and I need a larger clipper ship, some clippers that can be used to transport ordinary cargo Ship. I wonder how big your clipper ship can be built?"

"Sir, at present, the clipper ships we manufacture are a little bit bigger than the 'Black Pearl'. For example, the 'Flying' class clipper ship has nearly twice the cargo capacity of the Black Pearl. I don't know if it meets the requirements. What do you want?" Du Thier asked.

"Only twice the size of the Black Pearl?" Stephen Girard shook his head, "It's still too small. Isn't there a bigger one? Or, can't you build a bigger clipper ship than this?" ?”

"I'm sorry, I'm not clear about this question, but I think it's actually..." Du Thier was about to think of a way to persuade these Americans, but he didn't want the young clerk beside him to suddenly interject: "We can make more A big clipper ship, even one as big as a battleship is not a problem."

Stephen Girard glanced at the clerk with interest, and he noticed that when the clerk interrupted, Du Thier, the manager, did not respond.

"Generally speaking, a manager would not like a clerk who intervened in a negotiation. But the clerk intervened at will, but the manager didn't respond at all. It seems that the identity of this young clerk is not simple."

"Sir, do you say that clipper ships can be made very large?" Stephen Girard asked.

"There is no problem in theory, at least that's what my brother said. Of course, he has never built such a large clipper ship, and there may be some technical details that need to be studied. However, there should be no major problems. Hmm , Joseph said, the main problem is the need for money." The young clerk replied.

"Ah, may I take the liberty to ask, who is your brother?" Stephen Girard asked.

"Oh, my brother is Joseph Bonaparte - owner and director of the Bonaparte Institute, determiner of the speed of light, inventor of the clipper ship and the melon. I am his brother Lucien. Very happy I can see you here."

During this time, Lucien was assigned some social practice tasks by Joseph, one of which was the Dao Merchants Office, working as a clerk for the manager to increase social experience. So he happened to meet Stephen Girard and his team who were hoping to buy a large clipper ship.

"It turned out to be Mr. Bonaparte." Stephen Girard hurriedly greeted, "When I was in the United States, I heard all kinds of stories about your brother. Can you introduce me? I hope you and your brother Brother, talk about building a large clipper ship."

Lucien thought for a while, and he felt that there should be no problem. It is not a big secret that the clipper ship can be made bigger. And if this Yankee can really buy seven or eight boats in one go, then he can be regarded as helping Joseph earn a lot of money.

"Well, Joseph should thank me for this." Lucien replied after thinking this way: "Of course, but you may not know what he has been doing recently, spending all day in the laboratory I don't know when I can see him. Maybe you need to wait here for a day or two."

"Thank you, I think the 'Black Pearl' has saved me a lot of time. And we have to buy some other things. Waiting for a day or two is not a problem for us."