Chapter 289: Negotiation (500 monthly tickets plus additional content last month)
Perhaps, almost all mechanics' laboratories are not neat and clean.
Lilia's laboratory has only been completed for half a year, and it's already like this.
Several processing machines are placed everywhere, and the ground is covered with various parts. Although there are shelves for placing things around, it is impossible to expect to place them in a fixed place!
Don’t think this is a mess. For the mechanics themselves, it is a kind of order in chaos, and they can always find what they want.
But if someone helps them clean up, they won’t be able to find anything.
His Majesty Bartholomew took Roy and the other two through the laboratory and into the reception room inside.
The area here is not very big, but it is covered with expensive cashmere carpet, which is very comfortable to step on. It is also close to the window, so you can look out.
It can be seen that on the Ruhr River, countless people are busy and boats are shuttling back and forth, creating a busy scene.
Although this is Lilia's home ground, His Majesty Saint Bartholomew is more like the host.
He sat down first, then pointed for everyone to sit down as well. Then he raised his hand and took out the steaming black tea from the dimensional bag and automatically pushed it in front of everyone.
Apart from other things, he has already mastered the spell of 'Mage's Hand' to perfection.
However, he did not give Luo Yi time to taste the tea, but asked directly: "Tell me, what do you want?"
Luo Yi did not answer immediately, but picked up the teacup, took a sip, and then said slowly: "I want an order!
Regarding the Maxim Magic Heavy Machine Gun order, the timeframe can be extended, but the order quantity and profits must be substantial, and payment must be quick."
His Majesty Saint Bartholomew's expression froze. He looked up in surprise, staring at Roy and saying, "I thought you would ask for a large sum of gold, in the name of a patent, from the Empire."
Luo Yi smiled and said with a bit of self-mockery, "It's okay for ordinary machinery, but this is a firearm, a killer weapon on the battlefield. It's a bit ridiculous to use so-called patents to restrict it.
I believe that when Christina produced the first finished product, she would have sent the data back to the Empire, and the Imperial Military would have already completed its trials and started small-scale deployment."
"My request isn't excessive. After all, it's just a small part of this huge production capacity, which is enough to keep me busy."
"But why? Can you tell me? In my opinion, it's okay if you just ask for money directly!"
“Wealth is just one of the criteria for measuring a person. It seems extremely important and everyone loves it, but it is not that important.
What I want now is actually a hotbed for cultivating talents, a workshop for honing skills, accumulating sufficient technology, and producing high-quality products."
His Holiness Saint Bartholomew still had a puzzled look on his face. It was obvious that although this person was powerful and proficient in magic machinery,
However, he did not understand the principles of economics very well, let alone the operation of a factory.
Luo Yi thought for a moment and then changed his words: "Your Majesty, I built an arsenal. You know about it, right?"
"I know about the Brussels Arsenal. What's wrong?"
"You see, once the arsenal is built, we need people, products, and sales channels, but none of these are important. The most important thing is orders!"
“As long as the Empire gives me enough orders, I can allocate mechanics, recruit apprentices, purchase raw materials, and produce these heavy machine guns.
Although things may be slow and there may be problems at first, once you take the first step, everything will go smoothly.”
"And if I deliver these heavy machine guns to the Empire, I can exchange them for Jintir, pay salaries and bonuses, maintain relationships with suppliers, organize new R&D teams, and even ship them by rail or sea...
You see, it's just a few more orders, but I gained arsenals, skilled workers, weapons production lines, and various technologies.
It even earned gold, gave the knights and vassals hope, and supported the upstream and downstream industrial chains."
"This is what orders can bring. There are so many benefits, which cannot be compared with simple patent fees!"
Luo Yi looked at His Holiness Saint Bartholomew again and asked, "Am I asking for too much?"
His Majesty Bartholomew shook his head slightly and said, "It's not too much, but too little.
In a sense, you are the creator of this magical weapon and should own most of its intellectual property rights.
Now, only a few orders are needed, which makes my Habsburg Empire seem very stingy."
Luo Yi couldn't help but smile bitterly: "Your Majesty, this should be your idea, not those ministers in the Imperial Cabinet, right?"
"I didn't communicate with them, what's wrong?"
"If it were them, they would probably go even further, maybe even eat it all up without leaving anything for me."
"How is that possible?"
"Your Majesty, this heavy machine gun is a powerful weapon capable of changing the course of war. You should imagine that the Empire will never give it up.
I am afraid that if I ask for too much, those in the cabinet will have other ideas.
For example, he stopped supporting the Flower Territory and instead abandoned the Raymond family just to monopolize the knowledge and patents of heavy machine guns.
I believe they can and will do it.”
"So, I want to be careful and only ask for very little to put everyone at ease!"
Luo Yi's idea is not groundless. There is a saying that goes "great favors turn into hatred". When a favor reaches a certain level, it becomes an enemy.
At this time, all the enemies are destroyed, and there is no need to repay the favor.
The size of the empire is there, and in comparison, the Flower Territory is really nothing.
He was afraid that what he took out would be too good, and would cause a situation like "a child carrying gold to cause trouble", and then life would be really difficult.
So, this time, Roy was even unwilling to negotiate with the Imperial Ambassador Lord Robin Water, but went directly to His Majesty Saint Bartholomew.
Although this person actively participated in the affairs of the empire, it was obvious that he was not one of those black-hearted politicians.
But even so, Luo Yi spoke frankly without hiding anything, and carefully put forward his request.
But even so, he still felt it was not enough, and added: "Of course, in order to facilitate this order, I have also prepared two gifts."
"Gift?"
Up to this moment, His Holiness Saint Bartholomew had already caught up with Roy's train of thought.
After all, he was a man of rich life experience, and after a little thought, he realized that Luo Yi's worries were extremely necessary.
Those people in the cabinet are so cruel and ruthless that they are capable of taking advantage of everyone.
At this moment, he looked at Luo Yi with a higher opinion, narrowed his eyes slightly, and asked, "I want to see what gift you prepared?"
Luo Yi raised his hand, took out a parchment scroll, handed it over, and said, "This is 20% of the shares of the Brussels Arsenal. In the future, you will also be one of the shareholders of this factory.
The specific amount of profit depends on how the factory is run and what level of development it has reached."
His Majesty Bartholomew paused after taking the parchment scroll. His expression faltered, and even a hint of anger brewed on his face. "Are you bribing me?"
“No, no, no, you can think of it as a ceremony of apprenticeship.
After all, Lilia has studied with you for so long and gained a lot. I must show my gratitude and respect to you."
“It’s just that His Majesty’s vision is too high, and I don’t have much to offer, so it has been delayed until now.
This 20% stake can also be converted into some money. I can get some dividends every year, which can be used as pocket money to subsidize the experimental needs."
"That's a beautiful thing to say! It's comforting to hear, but it doesn't change the nature of bribery."
Luo Yi chuckled and said, "The second gift I prepared is actually a bribe. Would you like to take a look?"
"Take it out and let me see it!"
This time, Loyi took out a large stack of information from the dimensional bag, placed it on the table, and pushed it in front of His Majesty Bartholomew.
He said, "Since I promised Your Majesty that I would come up with some interesting mechanical designs, I won't break my promise!
The Maxim Magic Heavy Machine Gun is just a small test. I also have a six-barreled Gatling Heavy Machine Gun and a single-soldier explosive weapon, hand grenades, that can be used directly in castle attacks and defenses."
In fact, the grenade was not originally created by Roy. The Habsburg Empire had such a design, but its instability caused multiple explosions.
There was even an incident where a warehouse was bombed and dozens of people were killed, which made it unpopular.
Luo Yi picked up this design again. As for the solution to the safety problem, it was ridiculously simple. He just added a safety device!
This time, he really hit upon the place where His Majesty Saint Bartholomew was raised, and he directly picked up the document and read it.
He reads very quickly, often just taking a quick glance and then turning to the next page.
When he was halfway through, he separated the drawings and the information, because the lower half was the design drawing of the grenade.
But at this moment, a hand stretched out and was about to touch the design drawing placed aside, but was quickly stopped by him.
"What are you going to do?"
This was the question asked by His Majesty Bartholomew, and the person he questioned, Mage Christina, smiled embarrassedly at first.
But after she realized what was happening, she jumped up again and said, "Your Majesty, Your Majesty, this should have been mine. Give it to me! Can't I even take a look at it?"
"no!"
At this moment, he no longer looked at the drawings in his hand, but looked up at Luo Yi.
He seemed to be organizing his words, and after a moment he finally spoke: "This is a good gift, I like it very much."
"What about the order?"
"I agree! I will discuss it with the Imperial Cabinet. It shouldn't be difficult to resolve."
"In your name?"
"In the name of Saint Bartholomew!"
"That's good! That's good! Thank you!"
"I should thank you too. You used your wisdom to guide the magical machinery down another path and explored another possibility. That's very good!"
At this moment, Roy and His Majesty Saint Bartholomew smiled at each other. The originally tense atmosphere disappeared without a trace, and became much more relaxed.
I wrote this chapter last night, but I didn’t feel it was very good. I accompanied my wife for a pregnancy checkup this morning and just finished revising it!
(End of this chapter)
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