Chapter 1577 is bound to win
Compared with aspects such as financial resources and strategies that lack sufficient information to draw conclusions, judgments from a military perspective appear to be more well-founded. The paper military strength of the East India Company and the Matalan Kingdom was no secret. Yan Chujie's analysis was also based on the military intelligence possessed by Haihan. The conclusion he drew was indeed more realistic than the situation argued by Bai Kesi and Schneider.
In the last battle between the Netherlands and Malta, they ultimately relied on the superior strength of the maritime armed forces to defeat the Malta people. As long as the Dutch can maintain and amplify their advantages in this field, they can ensure that they can defeat their opponents in maritime battles. If you cut off the opponent's sea channel to attack Batavia City, you really don't have to worry too much about how many army weapons the opponent has purchased from Haihan.
These millions of weapons and equipment may indeed greatly increase the combat effectiveness of the Malta Blue Army, but without the guarantee of powerful maritime armed forces, it will be difficult for the Malta Blue Army to directly threaten the city of Batavia. As for the The Dutch obviously have a clearer and deeper understanding of this point. Therefore, Yan Chujie believes that Su Keyi's strategy is very clear, which is to concentrate firepower to compete for the most important projects with limited budget funds, while Ma Dalan's side is more similar to the operation of the nouveau riche, and has insufficient understanding of this arms bidding. Simply want to take down all the items.
In Yan Chujie's view, Su Keyi's choice was more in line with the actual situation of the East India Company, and was obviously more sophisticated than his opponents at the operational level. But Yan Chujie also had to admit that Ma Dalan's financial resources perfectly made up for their immaturity in operations. This method of using strength to defeat cleverness was really difficult to resist.
"You are all wrong." Tao Donglai shook his head slightly and said: "To determine who will win the final project, we don't actually look at information such as budget, bidding strategy, and military use. This information can at most deduce who will win. The probability is higher, but it may not be the final result.”
"If you don't look at these, what are you looking at?" Yan Chujie asked in shock.
"Of course it depends on who we need to win." Tao Donglai's answer was unexpected, but it seemed reasonable.
Whether it is the original arms sales ban agreement or the reopening of arms sales to these two countries today, the root cause lies in Haihan's own interests. The original ban on arms sales to these two countries was because the Executive Committee did not want the dying East India Company to die too quickly after the Battle of Batavia, resulting in a power vacuum near the Sunda Strait in western Java, which could be taken advantage of by other countries. enter. The reason for reopening now is that Haihan feels that the two countries have almost accumulated their strength, and it is time to provoke them into a new round of fighting to weaken their strength. As for the "peace" that Tao Donglai repeatedly emphasized before, that was really just talk.
Of course, the Executive Committee would definitely be happy to take advantage of this opportunity to sell old weapons whose production costs have been reduced to a minimum at high prices. Although there is still one last bidding that has not been completed, judging from the five that have been completed, the gross profit that Haihan Ordnance Industry and Shipyard can obtain from it should be close to 3 million. This amount is already higher than that of Haihan so far this year. The total profit from all foreign military sales projects is still high, which can be called an excellent operation.
From Haihan's point of view, we actually don't want the two parties to compete too quickly. Maintaining a strategic balance between them is the most beneficial situation for Haihan. Especially after the sale of weapons and equipment, the two countries will gradually become dependent on Haihan for their military in the future, and Haihan can also use the arms trade to make certain political demands on them. For example, on the basis of the Haihan Commercial Store in Surabaya Port in the past, it further requested Matalan to give Haihan the right to build its own port at a designated location to achieve Haihan's goal of expanding shipping routes to the South China Sea.
But if the final result is one-sided, then after the East India Company is eliminated, the Matalan Kingdom will have basically no competitors in the waters along the Java front, and its dependence on Haihan will definitely be greatly reduced, and that is not Haihan. The situation you want to see. So if we want to say that the most beneficial result for Haihan is to let the Dutch win the warship order to ensure the balance of power between the two sides.
"But what if the Dutch don't have enough budget to grab the horse and blue people?" Bai Kesi asked.
"Lend them money!" Tao Donglai pointed at Schneider and said, "The God of Wealth is sitting here. Lend the Dutch as much as they want!"
Since the loan provided by Haihan is earmarked, the money will not stay in the hands of the Dutch at all. It is just a formality for the left hand to the right hand, so there is no need to worry about anything going wrong after the money is loaned out. No matter how much the two countries want to borrow from Haihan, there is no pressure on Haihan. It is nothing more than a reminder to pay back the money when it is due. If Haihan wants to relax or tighten the loan conditions, it is just a matter of a word from the executive committee.
Tao Donglai continued: "You have all seen the bid for this project just now. Su Keyi made a high bid of 1.5 million as soon as he came up. Luo Hong didn't even touch the door in the first two rounds, and by the third Luo Hong was determined to win this project, but when his opponent still had two rounds of bidding opportunities, he only offered 1.7 million. Think about the previous ones. His bidding rules for the project hardly leave any room for his opponents to counterattack, but this project has taken such a big risk. What does it mean? I think this means that it has reached the upper limit of the budget he has control over!"
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After listening to Tao Donglai's analysis, everyone nodded thoughtfully. If Tao Donglai's analysis is true, then it will not be difficult to calculate the upper limit of the Malta Blues' budget.
Tao Donglai continued: "Su Keyi raised the price to 1.5 million in the first round, but after being overtaken by Ma Dalan, he obviously gave up in the next two rounds of bidding. This shows that his first round bid was not It's not impulsive, but premeditated. If I'm not wrong, he is also testing the upper limit of the horse and blue man's budget, and is waiting to see if the other party's quotation of 1.7 million is not enough. If the amount is too small, Su Keyi may have seen through the horse’s trump card.”
"But even if he knows that the Malayan people have spent all the budget, he can't guess how much the other party is going to borrow from us. Two to three million is possible. He is still not sure of winning in the last round. ? "Schneider is still not optimistic about Su Keyi.
"He is not sure, but as I said just now, who will win in the end depends on who we need to win." Tao Donglai brought the topic back to his previous point of view: "We will help him with the loan, you Go say hello to Su Keyi, he is a smart man and he naturally knows how to win.”
Tao Donglai's opinion actually has nothing to do with the subsequent bids of both parties. It is that he clearly wants to give the Dutch the secret. As for whether this will lead to the loss of shipbuilding technology, Haihan is actually not too worried. After the Dutch bought the Haihan warships, they would definitely dismantle one or two of them to study the advancements in structural design. Even if they could be imitated in the future, the construction cost and construction time would still be far from the relatively mature Haihan warships. The shipbuilding industry contends. What's more, the most critical weapons and power systems on the ship are the most powerful models installed by the Haihan Navy, and only the Tiandu Industrial Zone in Sanya can produce them. This cannot be stolen under any circumstances. technology.
"Okay, then I'll go talk to Su Keyi." Schneider stood up and left the conference room.
A moment later, in another lounge, Schneider had a conversation with Su Keyi alone.
"Time is limited, so I'll get right to the point. Do you have enough budget for this last item?" Schneider asked. Su Keyi hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "It's not enough. I probably need to borrow money from you."
"Then how much do you need to borrow to guarantee victory?" Schneider continued to ask.
Su Keyi seemed to have a special meaning from this question. He looked up at Schneider and said, "What do you mean?"
"I think the budget of the Marathon vs. Blue Men has reached its bottom. If you have the courage to borrow a little more money from us, you should be able to win the last game." Schneider explained his purpose: "You will not give up this item. , right?”
Su Keyi thought for a longer time this time and answered after a long time: "Even if I have to ask you to borrow money, it is still unknown how much money the Matalan people will spend on this final project. I will not give up, but I also There is no guarantee of victory.”
"That's why I came to you. Your budget may not be enough, but your luck is really good... We hope that the East India Company can win the last project, so when it comes to the loan, we are going to give it to you Some special offers." Once he got into the rhythm of business negotiations, Schneider was at ease and could lead the other party by the nose.
Sure enough, when Su Keyi heard Schneider's statement, his breathing immediately became much heavier: "You're not lying to me, are you?"
"I am talking to you about this matter on behalf of the Haihan Executive Committee." Schneider said to Su Keyi in a condescending tone: "As long as you want to win, we can let you win."
Su Keyi himself is also a smart man. He immediately understood Haihan's intention, with a wry smile on his face and said: "This is not to support us, but you don't want the Ma Dalan people to win too easily in the south. You arrange this bidding, Was this the result you wanted from the beginning? If Luo Hong and I switch positions, then the person you will support in the end will probably be Luo Hong... Who would have thought that I would become your prop?"
Schneider ignored his emotion and just continued to say calmly: "You are a smart man. What to do is most beneficial to the East India Company and your boss. I shouldn't need to teach you."
After a short break, all three participants returned to the conference room to prepare for the final bid. During the break just now, both the East India Company and the Materan State applied for loans from Haihan Bank in accordance with the procedures, and were approved by Schneider immediately. So before this round of bidding started, both parties already owed Haihan a large amount of money. However, the specific contents of the loan contracts they signed are completely different.
The loan contract signed by Luo Hong and Haihan Bank was normal and had nothing special about it. But Su Keyi's contract was a bit unusual. No matter what proportion of his final bid needed to be settled through loans, the repayment was ultimately only half of the actual amount. In other words, if his final bid requires a loan of 1 million from Haihan, then he can actually repay 500,000 after the deal is concluded. The intensity of this preferential treatment was clearly intended to support the East India Company in winning the final round. With this contract as a base, Su Keyi would naturally be able to operate more easily.
"This is the last bid. I hope that no matter which side wins in the end, these weapons and equipment can bring peace to the South China Sea instead of endless war." Tao Donglai acted in the full version, Su Keyi and Luo Hong It is impossible to imagine that the person who arranged this situation was the high-ranking Haihan official in front of him who always talked about "peace".
"Then representatives from both sides can make the first round of bidding." Bai Kesi announced the start of the last part of the game.
Su Keyi continued his previous bidding strategy that had achieved excellent results. He directly quoted his upper limit bid in the first round and beat his opponent's bid without any suspense.
In fact, the price Luo Hong quoted in the first round was not low. The base price of these warships was already as high as one million, and he increased the price by 800,000 yuan on top of the base price. The total price even exceeded the previous item. The transaction price of up to 1.7 million is to prevent the opponent from shouting a high price in the first round and making himself passive. However, his strategy was in vain. After looking at the numbers of bids from both sides, Bax announced that the East India Company had won the first round of bids.
Seeing that his opponent was confident of winning, Luo Hong gritted his teeth and raised the price by another 800,000 yuan in the second round, bringing the total price to more than 2.6 million yuan. During his break just now, he applied for a loan of three million yuan from Haihan Bank, thinking that the budget, which was more than twice the reserve price, would be enough anyway. However, the cruel reality hit him hard again, and his second The round price still failed to exceed the opponent's.
"Representative Ma Dalan, this is your last chance to bid."
At this point, Luo Hong has no other option but to pledge all the loans he applied for. But seeing that his opponent still had a calm expression, Luo Hong already had a bad feeling in his heart. The Dutch bid card is hung upside down on the wall in front of the conference room. When the result is announced, the highest bidder's final bid will be turned over and displayed in public. Luo Hong suddenly felt cold when he saw that Bai Kesi and others had no intention of putting the bid on the wall after seeing his bid.
Baix picked up the gavel and knocked on the table, and then announced the result: "The naval warship order in this bidding was finally won by the East India Company!"
(End of chapter)