Chapter 380 Working for the Russians
Ferdinand and Carol were both from royal families. Although they were not as luxurious as the Russian royal family, they were not poor country boys with little knowledge.
Although the grade of 11.9 is very good, the reserves are not even announced and the princes are allowed to spend huge sums of money. This is obviously beyond the scope of Carol's understanding.
Ferdinand was not surprised. The Dukes were not bidding for gold mines, but for the right to carve up Guandong.
The Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg have always complained that George dominated the Far East.
Now, George will use the resources in Guandong, and everyone will compete based on their ability. If they can't compete, it won't be George's problem.
At the level of tens of millions, there are only a few people who are qualified to participate in the game.
The upstart Yankee couldn't keep his composure and ended up early. He failed to scare others into not talking, but instead exposed himself.
The British, French, and Germans have not yet taken action. They all appear in the form of consortiums. Especially in the British team, there seem to be Japanese figures.
“1050!”
The bid for Xiyi’s private room is still going on, so I’m bound to get it.
No one raised a sign for a whole minute. Not many people dared to compete with Grand Duke Sergei.
Granada looked at Werther who nodded slightly, and finally spoke.
“Are there any new bids?”
“10—60!”
Dongsi didn’t want to give up, but the price increase also began to decrease.
Three or four rounds were added to the two boxes of one hundred thousand and twenty, and Dongyi's box finally couldn't help but take action.
“15 million!”
Buzz——
There was another commotion in the auction house. Grand Duke Yuriev was indeed as rich as the legend.
In the tsar's box, Vladimir's face was ashen, his clenched fists were trembling, this price clearly penetrated his bottom line.
“Heh——”
Sergey looked at Nikolai who was chatting with Alex and whistled easily.
Nikolai will not let George’s hard work go in vain, Sergey is Nikolai’s entrustment.
“15.1 million!”
Vladimir was still bidding and didn't notice that Nikolai's eyes had changed.
In recent years, prices have soared, and the annual salary of the Russian Grand Duke has increased year by year, reaching about 300,000 rubles.
Including other income, under normal circumstances, the Grand Duke's annual income can exceed one million rubles.
No matter how good Prince Vladimir is at managing money, his annual income will not exceed 1.5 million.
Then the problem arises.
Neither Grand Duke Vladimir nor his wife were good at business. They were extravagant and wasteful on weekdays, attending dances and banquets. When Ya San was still alive, even the queen was overshadowed by the Grand Duchess.
So, where did Grand Duke Vladimir get his money?
“Twenty million!”
Compared with Grand Duke Vladimir, George is really rich, and every kopeck is earned innocently.
"Annie is so lucky——"
Alex and Nicola whispered.
“Haha——”
Nicholas chuckled.
The mineral resources in Guandong were discovered by George, so part of the auction proceeds belongs to George.
George was generous and took the initiative to share with Nicholas.
Excluding the portion that George deserves, George only needs to pay about 12 million.
Vladimir had luck after luck, and finally slumped down on the back of his chair.
If you can't beat it, you can't beat it.
“Are there any new bids?”
Granada is elated. Although the Ministry of Finance is not qualified to distribute money, it is qualified to collect taxes.
Although the gold mine is attractive, 20 million rubles is still too expensive. After all, the reserves are not even known, and the risk is too high.
The game itself is an adventure.
So after half a minute of silence, the French consortium finally couldn't help but take action.
“21 million——”
The bidder on behalf of the French consortium was João Lyon, director of Daosheng Bank.
This bid was difficult because the capital of Daosheng Bank was only 6 million rubles.
When Daosheng Bank was established, the French consortium was arranged by the St. Petersburg consortium. Although it contributed more capital, it did not gain the dominance of Daosheng Bank.
This is normal, after all, Daosheng Bank was established under the leadership of St. Petersburg.
Although the French consortium does not have the leading right, it knows how great the interests of Kanto are through Daosheng Bank, so it organized a group to come to St. Petersburg.
"Are there any new bids?"
While Granada was speaking, she had already picked up the gavel.
This action made many people change their faces.
When Grand Duke Yuriev called out the price just now, you stayed there for half a minute and had no intention of touching the hammer.
Now that the Frenchman has just come off the field, you want to make the final decision.
What's the matter, today's game was set up to trick the French.
Perhaps even Werther didn't expect that George didn't want to give up.
“2200!”
As soon as this bid came out, the venue began to commotion again.
If anyone here knows how much gold reserves there are, it can only be George's people.
Since George is still bidding, the value of the gold mine must be more than 22 million rubles.
"2300!"
Joao Lyon is not to be outdone, this is the benefit of forming a group.
Although group formation reduces profits, it also spreads risks.
London is not the only financial center today.
Paris too.
Not even New York. "2500——"
The Americans, who had just been quiet for a while, gained confidence again from George's bidding.
“2600——”
“2650——”
——
Unconsciously, George has withdrawn from the competition.
The competition between the Americans and the French was pushed up to 30.5 million before the French won the final victory.
Boom!
Granada finally has the final say.
"Let us congratulate João Trust from Paris, you won the competition, God bless you -"
Granada was full of joy, this is no faster than fighting for money.
30.5 million is not the highest.
The iron ore discovered in the suburbs of Fengtian was finally auctioned for a high price of 59 million rubles, and was acquired by the previously unknown British Henry Company.
No one had ever heard of this company before this auction.
This is normal, because this company has just been established less than a month ago, and it can be said that it was established specifically for this auction.
Nicola was very happy.
The final price of the entire auction exceeded 200 million rubles. The British and French became the big winners, while the Americans traveled thousands of miles across the ocean and gained nothing.
The Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg also found nothing.
At the imperial meeting the next day, Nicholas finally got angry.
"Internal fighting is an expert, external fighting is an outsider! Aren't you guys shouting every day to ask George to open up Guandong? George opened up Guandong, but which of you got in? At last night's banquet, someone actually had the nerve to complain about George's price gouging - George The quotation has earned at least 50 million rubles for the empire. What are you doing?"
Sergey held his chin and said nothing.
Alexey was writing and drawing on paper, probably calculating how many battleships he could build with this money.
The Minister of War, General of Infantry Alexey Kuropatkin, was silent. All this was done by the Russian Army.
Witt looked at the position of Grand Duke Vladimir, his eyes full of mischief.
Grand Duke Vladimir was absent from the imperial meeting today due to unwellness.
Where is the physical discomfort.
Obviously, he has no face to see others.
George had no idea how exciting the St. Petersburg auction would be.
On September 7, the "Peace Outline" was officially signed in the capital of the Qing Empire. The British Henry Company, which had obtained the mining rights to Fengtian Iron Ore at the St. Petersburg auction, finally arrived in Vladivostok.
Although the Kanto region is still under the control of the Russian army, the Fengtian Iron Mine is garrisoned by personnel from the Amur Military Region. Without the consent of Vladivostok, the British Henry Company will not be able to construct it.
From the perspective of Kaneda Kojima, the deputy general manager of Henry Company, it is just a matter of completing the formalities.
General manager Robert Henry doesn’t think so.
“Be prepared to face difficulties!”
Robert Henry was an English nobleman and knew the virtues of his Russian colleagues.
"Can you still recognize the words written in black and white? Is there any spirit of contract in this?"
Kanada Kojima is too naive and really thinks that the spirit of contract is a universal value.
There is also a mutual defense alliance between the Russian Empire and the Qing Empire.
Who did you guard against?
The Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded the Qing Empire. The Russian Empire not only refused to help, but was more ruthless than anyone else——
Oh, no.
The Russian Imperial Army invaded Kanto under the pretext of protecting Kanto. The thief shouted that the thief was caught.
George is not without the spirit of contract.
But if you want to mine on George's territory, you must be prepared to be scratched by George.
“It is okay to mine iron ore, but all the equipment you need to mine iron ore must be ordered from Amur; mining workers must also be hired from Amur.”
Ivanovich, director of the Finance Department under the Amur Resources Agency, is sharpening his skills.
Robert Henry Gujingwubo.
Kanada Kojima looked ridiculous.
Amur workers themselves are not enough, so every year they go to great lengths to hire laborers from Japan and Korea.
Are there enough workers now?
"Don't worry about this, this is our problem, we will find a way to solve it -"
Ivanovich is not scraping it, it is clearly going to be cut into eight pieces.
"How to pay for the equipment?"
If Henry doesn't agonize over the minutiae, and if he doesn't satisfy the Russians, he really won't even think about leaving Kanto.
“Full payment, of course!”
Ivanovich is confident.
Henry didn’t ask about the price, he had to take this stab.
"Is it in stock?"
"Sorry, it is not in stock. We are responsible for the needs of our customers, so we have to design according to your needs and then produce them. You don't want us to use A bunch of rags that are about to be eliminated are fooling you——"
Ivanovich now started to get into the spirit of contract.
"Then how much time do you need?"
Kanada Kojima finally realized that the Rakshasa Ghost was indeed well-deserved.
“It’s hard to say——”
Ivanovich finally made no false promises on this issue.
But this made Kaneda Kojima feel even more uncertain.
"We have paid 59 million rubles for the iron ore. Isn't this enough?"
Kanada Kojima gritted his teeth.
In the Qing Empire’s Xinchou compensation, Japan received a total of 75.92 million taels of silver, accounting for 7.73% of the total——
Japan dispatched a total of 540 navy and 20,300 army troops, adding up to 20,840 soldiers, which is The country that dispatched the most troops among the Eight-Nation Alliance.
Not only that, Japan was also the country that fought the most brutally among the Eight-Nation Alliance. In all difficult battles, Japan took the lead.
The money has not been obtained yet, but it has been exploited by the Russians.
It’s hard to say about other countries. Japan purely works for the Russians.
(End of this chapter)