Two months later...

After receiving the approval and authorization of His Majesty the Emperor, Strauss returned to London again. This time he did not delay a second and went directly to Scekri.↗,

If we say that the Russian ambassador to the United States has been staying in the UK, Scekriculum is really good, but fortunately, he has an excuse, that is, the London Peace Conference is still open, although representatives from some countries have returned.

The two Jews made an appointment in a hotel restaurant. They were obviously going to eat and chat, but given the dark British cuisine, both of them were a little prepared this time.

"Mr. Stekri, this is the tomato sauce I brought, and it is pretty good with British fried potato bars. This is a specialty of our empire, produced by the company of Queen Chitose."

"Ah? Mr. Strauss, your queen's company still does this?"

Scekri feels very interesting about this matter. The current European royal family actually has its own business, but they generally rarely make food. This industry is low-end. Most European royal families engage in finance, and they mainly occupy the high-end.

"Yes, and I heard that this tomato sauce was invented by our Emperor!" Strauss said, and made the tomato sauce out, and then the fried potato strips were dipped in a little tomato sauce and signaled: "Mr. Scecre, try it."

There wasn't much in total in Scekriculture, so I picked it up and ate it. At that time... "Oh!"

This tastes great!

After eating this French fries and tomato sauce in Scekris, he was so moved that he was about to cry... He could live this British Empire!

"Why don't the British buy such a good thing?" Scekri was worthy of being a diplomat. He immediately noticed this matter.

"This...haha... there are not many trade agreements." Strauss seemed to have some concerns.

"Oh. I understand." But Scekri was also a smart person, and he quickly understood.

After that, the two started to eat and chat, but there were other things in this business, but it involved very little.

In fact, both of us now know that this tomato sauce is not available in Britain. It is just a microcosm of trade. This is fundamentally because of the blockade of the American Empire by Western countries!

The so-called blockade is naturally the trade blockade. When the American Empire was founded, the trade was stopped directly, and the most direct impact was this tomato sauce.

Of course, ketchup is just a representative, but this trade blockade is really powerful. Fortunately, Li Mengyang sent two special envoys, plus the international environment at that time, the civil war in the United States, so he opened up two trade routes. One was from Panama to Cuba, then Cuba to Florida, and the other was to trade directly with the Qing Dynasty.

Without these two trade routes, the empire's economic situation would be very difficult, which is obvious. But, this also had a certain impact on Europe and the United States, such as the absence of ketchup.

Although this thing is very simple, it is really hard to do if you suddenly stop it, especially in some countries that like food, such as France. So, some smuggling situations occur!

It should be said that smuggling cannot be blocked. The reason for smuggling is that the trade route is blocked by artificial or political factors, so smuggling occurs, but this amount is too small.

In Europe, fried potato bars are already a very common dish, but how can they be delicious without ketchup?

So, the tomato sauce that was leaked through smuggling was basically wrapped by the French, and naturally there was no such thing as the British. Fortunately, the people of the corrupt country said that they had eaten well before... Anyway, the taste system was a burden to them.

In fact, the problem of ketchup is just a small microcosm, and there is actually a very big economic problem behind it. The American Empire has many products, but these things are now difficult to sell to Europe, and they basically rely on the smuggling channel.

Scechris was thinking about this while eating. He knew very well that the London conference now had already talked about the big things, and now they were talking about these seemingly small things, that is, the international economy. For example, everyone is doing business, so what should we do about the tariffs?

In fact, the biggest violation of smuggling is the point of not paying taxes!

If the country does not have taxes, it will naturally be lost, so it is absolutely impossible to see smuggling continue like this.

So, during this process, Scekri couldn't help but think, "What better to talk about this Alaska deal and add some extra things...

Straus didn't think much about it at this time. He knew that it would be difficult to negotiate a business. It was normal for everyone to eat and chat about that business, but it was normal, but Scekri finally put the topic on the focus.

"Mr. Strauss, His Majesty the Emperor of your country, his valuation of the land of Alaska..." Scechri did not say all of his words, but everyone knew what he meant.

"Oh." It was a bit surprising, because Strauss didn't expect Scechill to be so direct. Finally, he negotiated the price. Everyone would play the technique of "holding the pipa and half-covering the face", but now that he has said it directly, Strauss is not negligent.

"Mr. Scekri, in my discussion with His Majesty, His Majesty hinted to me about his passion for Alaska. It was a good place... In this way, His Majesty said that if he could really buy it, he could pay some money, but you may not know that His Majesty, our Emperor, is quite simple. He does not have much money in his hands, otherwise the Queen Qiansu would not have traded tomato sauce. Moreover, the empire is still blocked and its economic situation is not good. But, in order to express sincerity, His Majesty said, does he think he can replace it with something else?"

Something else to replace?

Scekri was a little unhappy when he heard this, but he immediately remembered that the American Empire seemed to have obtained Mexico. If that is to say, they might trade Mexican silver.

This is not bad. Silver and money are not big!

"Of course, this substitution can be studied, but what to replace it?"

Facing this question from Scekri, Strauss smiled and heard him say, "His Majesty the Emperor hopes to use aluminum instead of currency!"

"Aluminum?" Scekri was shocked at the time!

Aluminum, what is aluminum these days?

A precious metal that is more expensive than gold!

Isn’t that great that the emperor of America actually wants to use this metal to replace currency?!

"Then, how much aluminum is your Majesty going to use?" Scechri was excited.

Straus looked at Scekri's current expression. He knew he should hold back his laughter, but he couldn't help it. Fortunately, the laugh was not too exaggerated, and then Straus reported a count.

"Your Majesty is going to exchange three thousand kilograms of aluminum for this land of Alaska, Mr. Scekri, what do you think?"

"Three thousand kilograms? Isn't that just three tons?" Scekri was in a bad mood!

This is a good price!

Three tons of aluminum, then isn’t it nine tons of gold converted into it?

You should know that the currency this year is like this. The US dollar is a gold-silver-copy system, one dollar is equivalent to 24.057 grams of silver. And 1.6 grams of pure gold. This is a definition. Of course, the currency is actually fluctuating continuously, but this definition is very telling.

The price that the United States can offer is so low now. In fact, Sward's latest offer is $2 million!

Yes, that's the price, and Sward told Scechris at that time, don't bother too much, don't bother too much...

How many things are there? I want to buy Alaska for $2 million?

It would be strange if Scekri had a good face at that time!

But in fact, Sward is also indescribable. The United States has not supported him in the acquisition of Alaska. There is basically no one. I won’t say that Chase has stumbling on him. Lincoln’s entire cabinet, Lincoln did not help Sward.

Because the current situation is that no matter how you look at it, buying Alaska is simply unprofitable, and the United States can't even stretch its hands, so what's the use of buying it?

The 2 million US dollars Sward mentioned were actually his slap in the face. Congress does not support it, and the cabinet does not support it. In other words, he has to pay the money himself. But he, as a secretary of state, sounds tall and powerful, but if he really wants to give out real money, he doesn’t have 2 million!

$2 million is a lot of money now. Those who have this wealth are all super rich in the United States.

In fact, offering such a low price also made Scekri retreat. It was this transaction. We were not due to other factors or the price was not negotiated. That's all, and everyone saved face.

But now, three tons of aluminum and nine tons of gold!

This is the nine million gold francs. Although it is not as good as the US dollar in terms of definition, everyone understands that the current US dollar issuing paper money. Who can’t understand the real value of that thing?

Just say that the United States is still fighting a civil war now. If one of them is not good and the north loses, the dollar will collapse immediately!

so……

"Your Majesty is really a kind and generous monarch. There are so many 3,000 kilograms of aluminum... But your country can really take it out. I'm not saying..." Scechri was a little excited.

"Mr. Scekri, don't worry, I actually brought a ton of aluminum as a deposit, that..." Strauss whispered: "Just on Liverpool's boat..."

What else can I say about other people’s sincerity?

"Okay! I believe my Majesty will be satisfied with this business!" Scekri made a decision directly!

In fact, during this period, it was obvious that he had communicated with him and had already said everything he should have said.

"Okay! I wish us a happy cooperation!" Strauss reached out and held Scekri.

"Okay! Hahaha... But, however, I feel that Britain and France are both wrong now. How can they implement such strict control of your country's goods? This is wrong, not correct..."

This... Strauss knew as soon as he heard it, something good happened again! (To be continued...)
Chapter completed!