Xiao Letian and the Duke of Newcastle finalized an investment project with a total value of 200,000 pounds in less than two hours with jaw-dropping efficiency. . Zero↑nine△
Currency is very valuable in this era. Two hundred thousand pounds is not much in the 21st century, but it was a huge sum of money in the 19th century!
The weekly salary of a mature skilled worker is only more than ten pounds at the moment. This income is enough to support his family to live a relatively decent life in London.
Even the higher middle class have a monthly income of less than one hundred pounds. Why? It was because the pound at that time was on the gold standard and was locked to gold. Its purchasing power was astonishing, and the word inflation had never been heard of.
In this deal, the Duke of Newcastle did not obtain the marketing rights for Xianzhiyuan throughout Europe, and Xiao Letian was not stupid, he would not put all the chickens and eggs in this basket.
The Duke got the exclusive agency rights for Chinese restaurants and fresh spices in the British Isles. Originally, he wanted the agency rights for France, but Xiao Letian would definitely not agree. In the end, after bargaining, the territory of Gibraltar also had the rights to the Moroccan region opposite. The power of agency was also assigned to him.
In the cooperation, after all, the Duke was a local snake and was very familiar with the local situation, so he held 51% of the shares and obtained the daily management rights. Xiao Letian did not need to invest any capital and relied entirely on secret recipes and talents to invest in the company, accounting for 49% of the entire business.
Not only that, the Duke must also ensure that Xianzhiyuan's patent is registered with the Patent Office in the shortest possible time to ensure the commercial interests of both parties.
The Duke wanted a lot more. He even wanted Xiao Letian to set up a Xianzhiyuan production base in the UK. This proposal was flatly rejected by Xiao Letian.
Are you kidding? This is Europe surrounded by wolves. The superficial civilization cannot hide their inner greed. If the spice production base is placed here, it is estimated that no secrets will be kept within a month.
This production plant must be placed in Ryukyu, and production must be carried out under the strict protection of the army. Anyway, this thing does not take up space. One ship at a time can be enough for the British to use for a year.
At present, Xian Zhiyuan can only use the simplest extraction method of boiling. After the funds to return to China are in place, a chemical research team must be established to study the method of extracting glutamic acid from grains.
Xiao Letian did not study chemical engineering, but he knew very well that chemical experiments are actually a lot of fumbling and repetitive hard work.
As for creativity, it mainly involves prejudging the direction. Of course, those chemists who study principles are great masters, but ordinary chemists basically conduct repetitive experiments step by step, and bet their own fortunes in the experiments. Good luck, just in case you get something new!
In this case, as long as someone can pay in the right direction, such as sodium glutamate, Xiao Letian clearly told chemists that this substance is widely present in food and seafood, and that would be enough.
As long as the direction is right, the only thing left is to repeat various chemical refining and separation methods. As long as you are willing to spend time and money, you can definitely develop an industrial process for refining MSG.
This secret must be locked in the hands of the Chinese forever, of course first in the hands of Xiao Letian. In the future, this will be an inexhaustible gold mine, and the attached European upper class will have to spend a lot of money to buy it even for the sake of face. The source of freshness.
Everyone wants to socialize and hold banquets. Other people's chefs use top-notch Chinese imperial chefs. Mysterious oriental spices are added to the ingredients, which are so delicious.
But your family's banquet was dry and the same, and the food was bland and tasteless... There is no harm if there is no comparison! Once the human desire for comparison appears, reason is rubbish.
Both Xiao Letian and the Duke of Newcastle understand this truth. It is precisely because both parties understand this golden prospect that they can quarrel without breaking up, be noisy but efficient, and finally reach a cooperation intention in a short period of time.
At this time, the clock has pointed to three o'clock in the afternoon, and even the most energetic people need to take a rest. The Duke and his subordinates were enjoying afternoon tea in the cabin, while many senior Chinese officials were pacing on the deck. Looking at the scenery, Xiao Letian and Huang Xiyi were whispering in a corner of the bow of the ship, probably discussing the follow-up progress of this business cooperation.
After a while, Director Wang came over. He glanced at Doctor Huang and said calmly, "I have some things to discuss with the head of state. Please step aside first..."
Doctor Huang didn't dare to disobey, so he nodded quickly and turned around to leave. Wang Huaiyuan stared at Xiao Letian for a long time before saying, "How come you have desecrated yourself to such an extent? Have you wavered in our plan?"
Xiao Letian touched his nose in embarrassment. "What are these words? I have never wavered..."
"Okay! Don't hide it from me. If you hadn't been wavering in your heart, would you have played the role of a businessman in front of everyone without spending any money?"
"It's amazing. This incident will definitely become a joke among European politicians when word spreads. The Chinese head of state just arrived in the UK and discussed business with the Duke of Newcastle before he even got off the ship. How greedy is this?"
"Are you worried that the UK will have a hard time getting through this, so you deliberately put on such a posture to make them look down upon you and lower their hostility towards you?"
Director Wang is worthy of being the leader of the CIA, and his meticulous skills in observing words and expressions are so amazing that the last thing he said was that Xiao Letian's face changed.
He grabbed Wang Ju's clothes and took him to a more secluded corner, and then whispered, "Shut up, keep your voice down, do you have to be heard? What can I do? The British have already put a knife on my neck." …”
"Zaichun failed me this time. I really didn't expect that he would have the guts to make such a decision at the last moment. His words left me speechless. It has been proven now. Zai Chun must want to take advantage of it." British power!"
"We have been targeted by the British, and they are looking at us with hatred. Of course, it is not necessarily all British people, but at least Benjamin is! Where did I provoke him? Do I have to kill me like this?"
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