Chapter 398 Gifts
"Hey, Djoka." When Djoka appeared at the door, James greeted him with a smile and shook his hand enthusiastically: "Nice to meet you. I wanted to visit you when I passed by Darvaz last time, but they said you were busy in the factory."
This is a cliché. James has never left Paris during this period.
"Yes, there's a lot going on at the factory lately," Djokovic replied.
"So, the insurance company made a lot of money, right?" James asked casually.
"Just so-so." Djokovic smiled softly. "Besides, it can't be called 'profit'. No one can predict the risks during wartime."
James hummed, took two glasses of red wine from Paulina, and handed one to each of them, "Charles is right, no one can compare to him in this regard, just like when he bombed the steel mill."
There was thorn in James' words, but his expression remained amiable, as if he was talking to an old friend whom he had not seen for a long time.
Djoka laughed: "Char is just trying his best to defeat the enemy."
This is a double entendre. The enemy can refer to the Germans on the battlefield, or the capitalists who target Charles in the business world.
James was stunned for a moment, then he and Djoka looked at each other and smiled.
After a heated exchange of words, both of them realized that the other was not someone they could easily deal with.
But unlike last time, Djoka was much more relaxed. He was wearing his usual old suit, but he looked more confident and generous.
Instead, it was James who was a little nervous. He was pretending. He didn't want Djoka to see his anxiety.
"You came this time." James sat down on the sofa as elegantly as possible, raised the red wine in his hand and raised it to Dejoka from a distance: "Are you going to bomb somewhere again?"
"Of course not, Mr. James," Djokovic replied. "I'm here to discuss cooperation with you."
"Cooperation?" James pretended to be surprised.
In fact, he had guessed long ago that Djokovic's intention was probably to buy some high-quality assets from Schneider while Schneider was in trouble both internally and externally.
"Yes." Deyoka put on a helpless expression: "Bernard Company is not easy either, Mr. James. Although we bought the steel mill, we have no technology and no talent. The steel mill is still in the German-controlled area and has not been recovered."
Then Djokovic shook his head in self-mockery: "I don't know how long it will take to produce qualified steel by myself."
James said "hmm". He understood what Dejoka meant. "You want to buy smelting and forging technology from me to prepare for the steel plant?"
Dejoka nodded heavily: "Yes, Mr. James, it would be even better if you could transfer some skilled workers."
James smiled slightly: "When do you need it?"
"The sooner the better." Deyoka replied: "I have opened an experimental factory in Darvaz and plan to train a group of qualified workers first. You know, to prepare in advance for taking over the factory."
"Hmm." James nodded and praised: "Good idea."
As he lowered his head to drink, a hint of disappointment flashed in his eyes.
The sentence just now was a test.
If Djokovic answered with a specific time, James knew that Charles hoped to take over the steel mill before then.
So James could use the Germans to cause more trouble for Charles.
However, Djokovic was very tactful and gave a vague answer.
After thinking for a while, James replied: "No problem, Mr. Dejoka, since you asked, I will certainly try my best to meet your request. You can make a list another day..."
"Thank you very much." Djokovic couldn't wait to take out a document from his briefcase and handed it over.
The smile on James' face was a little unnatural.
This was not what he wanted. Skilled technicians were valuable assets to the company, and some of them involved industry secrets and could not be transferred at will.
However, James knew he couldn't stop it.
In fact, Charles didn't need to go through James. The workers were now on strike outside the door in protest. Charles only needed to raise his arms and most of them would run to Charles' factory.
The reason why Charles wanted James' consent was that he hoped to ease the conflict with James, at least that's what James thought.
This is beneficial to James because he can announce to the public that Snyder and Charles have reached a certain degree of cooperation, thereby easing people's protests and resistance against Snyder.
James took the form and looked at it, but found no problems. Djokovic didn't want many people and was careful to avoid sensitive positions, so it was obvious that he had made preparations.
"In addition," Deyoka added, "I heard that your company has a batch of 'Saint-Samond' in the warehouse that cannot be sold. I can buy it at a unit price of 10,000 francs, which is just right for training workers. If the price is right, I can also purchase the industrial property rights of 'Saint-Samond' to avoid any property rights disputes."
When James heard this, he was surprised!
There happened to be more than a hundred "Saint-Samond" vehicles piled up in the warehouse. They were originally going to be recycled as scrap metal, but now they could still be sold for 10,000 francs. With the industrial property rights included, they would cost at least two million francs.
Although the money was not much, every penny earned counted, so I agreed without thinking too much.
James never expected that Djokovic went through so much trouble and seemed to have bought "Saint Samon" as a gift, but in fact "Saint Samon" was what he really wanted.
To be exact, it was what Ciel really wanted.
Djokovic found it difficult to understand when he heard Charles's thoughts on the phone:
"Are you crazy, Charles, buying 'Saint Salmon'?"
"Isn't that what the Germans were defeated time and again on the battlefield?"
"People have already determined that it is not suitable for the battlefield. Your 'Char A1' is much stronger than it, and you want to buy it now!"
Charles didn't explain much, he just replied: "That's because they don't know how to use it, father. Saint Shamon is not useless. It can find its place on the battlefield."
Seeing that Charles insisted, Djokovic stopped objecting. After all, a few million francs was just a small amount of money, so he just bought it.
However, Djokovic was embarrassed the next second: "James is not a person who is short of money, Charles. If we tell him directly about our intention to buy, he will definitely guess that Saint-Samond has value that he has not considered, which will increase the difficulty of buying it."
"Yes," Ciel replied calmly, "So, we should make it look like a trivial gift."
"Gift?" Djokovic was stunned.
"Yes, a gift." Charles explained: "Our steel mill needs workers, and the workers need to observe and practice, preferably with scrapped tanks, so we need 'Saint Shamon'."
Djokovic on the other end of the phone opened his mouth for a long time without responding.
Is this still the same Charles he knew before?
(End of this chapter)
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