His Excellency the Count of Grandet

Back to Victor.

According to diplomatic etiquette, the Secretary of State personally greeted the French delegation, and when they arrived at the White House, they had an audience with the President.This was a formal meeting, and Victor, who was leading the delegation, was not a government position like the chairman of the Council of Ministers, so he could only talk about strengthening business exchanges between the two countries and other unnutritious scenes.If there is any meaning in the words, only people in the circle can understand them.

Then there was a meeting with the Secretary of State and the ministers of related departments. Everyone sat in a large circle, listening to the two leaders in the middle of the long table, and occasionally the people beside them added a few words.Fortunately, in this era, there are no reporters and photographers with long guns and short guns, so there is no need to over-exaggerate facial expressions or postures.

On the French side, of course, Victor sits in the middle; no one can do better than him in terms of being able to blend in business and politics at the same time.In addition, because of his high status, Ferdinand sat next to him and took a seat.

America is still Adams.This is partly because of the position, and partly because he is the one who actually does the work.Compared with him, the chairman of the Federal Chamber of Commerce is weaker at 01:30; as for the banker, the sense of presence is even thinner——

Because both Monroe and Adams opposed the chartering of the Federal Bank; because they believed that it was an opportunity for big capitalists to monopolize.Under such circumstances, American bankers are naturally in a tight position.

Another thing is that both of them hope to use high tariffs to protect the development of their own industries.

Therefore, one can imagine Adams' attitude towards Victor—Victor is a big banker and a big capitalist. Although he does not dominate the French financial world, he also has the ability to call the wind—he has no innate affection at all.

As for Victor, he had already inquired about the situation before he came (he believed that the other party must have done the same), so he knew exactly what Adams's attitude was without looking at his words.In any case, he didn't think they could convince the President and Secretary of State of the United States in one trip, so he didn't take this as an entry point at all—

The United States is a federal system, and not one person has the final say; they can always find people with the same interests and requirements, so why waste their saliva with some people who are already different from each other?What's more, they do have someone they should fight for?

One doesn't catch a cold at all, and the other is thinking about ending early and giving birth early. One can imagine the atmosphere of the meeting: it's just going through the official cutscenes, and then go back to each family to find their own mothers.People on both sides sat facing each other, except for dry official speeches, most of the time they stared awkwardly.

It should have ended in such a dull and boring way, but when the meeting was scheduled to end, someone else came in.A tall fat man was sweating a little on the tip of his nose, but when he saw the person coming, he vacated his seat with a face of joy, and slipped away immediately, as fast as a pack of jackals were chasing him.

As for the other people in the United States, they also breathed a sigh of relief imperceptibly after seeing the person coming - because it was none other than Webster.

——Will Webster and the Frenchman have more to say than Adams?Anyway, save the stiff atmosphere!

As for Adams, a small muscle under his right eye twitched slightly.Webster's position is delicate -- at least he's certainly not going to listen to the president -- so he's not sure if the other side's involvement is a good thing or a bad thing.But either way, he was now obliged to introduce Webster.

Victor nodded as he listened.He could see that his information was correct, because Webster happened to be sitting diagonally across from him, directly across from Ferdinand.

He is obviously a master of the middle class, so late in appearance and arranged in such a position, really...

"I've heard of you for a long time, Mr. Lafitte." After Adams' introduction, Webster said the opening remarks bluntly.Then he nodded to the people around Victor, and continued: "We are flattered that you have done a lot of work to facilitate this investigation. In that case, can we ask if you already have a partner you want to cooperate with?" What about?"

This move was straight to the point, and immediately mobilized the spirits of everyone present; their backs were slightly straightened.

But an unexpected straight ball is certainly not enough to break through Victor's defense. "That is not what I meant; I crossed the Atlantic at His Majesty's command. If you want a definite request now, I am afraid I cannot give it to you."

Webster couldn't help but glance at Adams.The meaning of the immediate boss, this is really a good excuse! "So?" He raised his eyebrows slightly, "Then it seems that we'd better ask someone to accompany you to visit Washington and Virginia first. If you don't mind, I can tell you that these itineraries have been properly arranged."

"That sounds good." Victor affirmed, thinking that Webster would do things—whether the cooperation could be successful or not, at least he wouldn't directly express "I'm not interested" at the beginning; according to this trend, Even if the other party refuses him, he will refuse very politely.

"It is our honor to get your approval." Webster said again. "If you have enough time, I would also like to invite you to visit Boston. I dare to say that your ship surprised all of us present today. In this case, maybe you would like to see our shipyard?"

Victor paused slightly, and glanced over at Adams—the slight twitch of that face didn't miss his eyes for a moment.

It wasn't that he was afraid of going to a shipyard, but there was a problem, and Webster's law firm was in Boston.Although Massachusetts is the territory of the northern faction, and both the president and the secretary of state are also part of the northern faction, this position is still different from Webster's.Now that Webster directly brought it up, Adams' reaction must not be very good.

"Since it's a shipyard, I think we have similar operators here; as long as I have time, I'd be happy to introduce it to you." Victor finally said this, putting his hands together with his fingertips, neither agreeing nor refusing.

cunning!

For a split second Webster could only think of that word.He had just seen how Charles had a lot of success among a group of American businessmen, but he didn't expect that there was another one here.After all, the other party brought so many people, it is understandable to want everyone to use them.But having said that, he didn't want to waste his saliva and time on ordinary businessmen who had no right to speak.

"It sounds like you already have some ideas?" Webster naturally wouldn't give up easily, "If you have, please tell us generously; in this way, we can make better arrangements for you."

This is actually a polite statement. After all, the main itinerary of the delegation still depends on the opinion of the host.Victor doesn't really care where he goes, whether it's Washington, Boston, or Virginia, it doesn't make much difference in his eyes.

If I must say, there are only two differences: business opportunities, Shire.Or there is only one thing, that is Shire - because the place where Shire is going must be a place with business opportunities.

Victor only thought for a moment. "You know, most of our regiment are not government officials. Besides, we have heard that the southern countryside is beautiful, and we are all yearning for it. Why don't we go south from Virginia and go north when we finally return to Washington?"

This meant that Washington couldn't keep people, and Adams' pupils shrank slightly.Although literally, Victor means to go all over again, but go south first and then go north.There is no problem with going there; however, the issue of position has always been preconceived. The south is inherently unstable. What if it gets the support of the French again...?

From the bottom of his heart, he didn't want to see the French mixed with the Southern faction at all—they had finally driven France out of North America, how could they welcome the colonists back?Even if it is no longer colonized, promoting the independence of the South is terrible!

Webster also vaguely thought of this question.But this cannot be rejected explicitly, so he could only say: "It turns out that you also prefer the magnificent natural scenery, which is really understandable. But speaking of this, Massachusetts also has..."

Before he finished speaking, he suddenly realized who Shire was dealing with before—it was either an import and export trader or a plantation owner, and what these people had in common was tariffs.

Considering that Shire already has three types of industry factories under its name, the kind that can outshine other N streets in terms of technology and output—although Shire doesn’t make much publicity, this kind of beyond-level things is naturally spread. It's coming.

In this way, Shire definitely has little interest in investing in multinational industries, at least there is definitely no urgent demand for raw materials.

Considering the current situation, the French are obviously taking a two-pronged approach: Victor confronts the official meeting head-on, while Charles has already discussed the general itinerary with someone in private, and even cooperated!If Charles can determine the route first, then Victor can say according to the previously discussed caliber that the internal needs to be reunified, and then talk to them later——

In this way, the pace of the investigation will follow the French!

One light and one dark, the coordination is just right; young people nowadays really can't look at their faces...

No, wait, there seems to be a problem?Although he opposes high tariffs from the perspective of free trade, this does not mean that he wants to see that his country cannot get French industrial investment!

What Webster thought of, Adams also thought of, but the focus of the two is different.Even so, they exchanged glances through a person in the middle, and they both saw these few words from each other's eyes——

So hard to deal with!

It's not that they don't work hard, it's that the cards in their hands are really not very good!

This silent exchange, Viktor noticed.But he didn't make a sound, he just lowered the originally supported fingers and put them in a cross.Before he came here, he had a premonition that the Americans themselves hadn't settled down internally, and it was impossible to unify with the outside world; the current situation not only verified his conjecture, but it was even worse——

From Adams' point of view, the other party should first prevent their delegation from taking place.But as he sat here now, he could tell that the other party had clearly failed.You must know that the forces represented by the president want to implement trade protection, but there are still many Americans who want to do business with foreigners.

Then the other party can only settle for the next best thing and let them return without success.So Adams seemed to dislike him very much, just wanting him to retreat.

As for Webster, this one is in a better position than Adams, but only a little bit.Because obviously, the free trade that Webster hopes is to obtain capital and technology from foreigners, so that Americans can earn money and the United States can develop.The other side believes that U.S. manufacturing is competitive in the free market, even if it will take an uncertain amount of time.

Anyway, there is an essential gap between the two.

——Even if you are both from the Northern faction, your positions cannot be completely unified. How are you going to live this day?Just like the Missouri Compromise reached by the Americans two months ago, one compromise can be achieved, and two compromises can be achieved. Can it be possible to continue to compromise for a lifetime?If the South and the North are pinching each other like this, they will get divorced sooner or later, right?

Victor thought so, but he didn't want to say anything.The young couple from the other family were fighting with goblins, so he didn't have to go into the muddy water.But then again, what about his family?In the past half a day, I guess I've had a good time with a lot of new friends, right?

The author has something to say: Southern faction & Northern faction: Who is dating the North/South couple?Goblin fights?Negative score, okay? (╯－＿－)╯╧╧Victor: Whoever is excited is the one╮(￣▽￣")╭Stop talking, if you don’t go to my Shire, your friends will become rivals in love!

Monroe & Adams & Webster & Hampton & Clay:  …