The appetizer is over, the real meal is finally here, and the topic finally returns to the situation!
After having had enough food and wine, the three of them moved to the study room. They had already prepared hawthorn tea, which is good for stomach and digestion. It is sweet and sour and is just the right way to relieve tiredness!
"Since the head of state has talked about this topic, let me be honest. This time I came to visit you two. In fact, the main purpose is to discuss the withdrawal of troops. This war is over. When can your troops withdraw from France?
Xiao Letian and Bismarck smiled at each other, "Leave? It seems that our negotiations are not over yet. We haven't gotten what we deserve, so how can we withdraw our troops?"
"No, no, no, you will get what you want soon..." Thiers said eagerly, "During my stay in Bordeaux, I have coordinated relationships with many parties. The war compensation you want will not cost you even a single franc." There will be less..."
"Twenty-six million francs will be transferred into your designated account in batches within two months..."
Two hundred and sixty million, this is the amount agreed upon in the armistice agreement signed between the Provisional Defense Government controlled by Trochu and Favre and Prussia.
Among them, Prussia received 200 million, and Xiao Letian received 60 million francs. It was because of this temporary ceasefire agreement that peace prevailed in the following months.
Today, Thiers is eager to implement this treaty. His first priority is to invite these two great gods away. The occupying forces must first leave France.
After that is the suppression of the Paris Commune, and the final third step is how to govern the country and restore order.
It can be said that if the Chinese and German coalition forces do not leave the French mainland, Thiers' governance will be criticized and its foundation will be unstable.
Two hundred and sixty million francs, of course, was a huge sum of money. At this moment, the French treasury had no money, and Thiers took over an empty country.
But 260 million is just drizzle for French private capital. Thiers had secret negotiations with many capitalists before the election.
The first thing he did after taking office was to issue a batch of internal government bonds. This is the batch with the highest interest rate and of course the best credit. He will attract 400 million francs from the private sector.
Among them, 260 million were used as war reparations to take away the two great gods, and the remaining 140 million were military expenses for the civil war. I believe this money is enough for Thiers to suppress dissidents and reorganize the army.
Four hundred million is simply a small sum of money to the capitalist class who make loan sharks. As long as you pay high interest and use national credit as a guarantee, this money is easy to raise.
With money in hand, the loyalty of the Paris garrison and the Southern Corps, money and guns, Thiers came to negotiate with Bismarck and Xiao Letian with great satisfaction.
In his calculation, he paid out 260 million in compensation and sent away the occupying troops. The only thing left was to suppress the Paris Commune and restore the prosperity of Paris. If these two things were done successfully, his ruling foundation would be solid. .
After that...of course he has other plans, but that's not fair to outsiders!
Thiers' thoughts were beautiful, really beautiful, much more beautiful than the person he was!
Looking at the French president who was trapped in narcissistic fantasy, Xiao Letian smiled like a flower and poured him a cup of hawthorn fruit tea affectionately. "Dear Mr. President, you are so beautiful... and your thoughts are even more beautiful!"
"Who told you that 260 million is enough?"
Thiers' face suddenly darkened. "Are you going to tear up the treaty? This will trigger public outrage..."
"No, no, no... don't misunderstand me. I have no intention of tearing up the treaty, but this treaty was never an armistice agreement from the beginning!"
"Please read it clearly. It is clearly written in the treaty. This is called a temporary armistice treaty... It is temporary. It is just Trochu and the others who spent money to buy us an armistice!"
"Would the real armistice agreement be so hasty? How many things ended without being negotiated properly?"
"Haha, 260 million francs is not even enough for our military expenditure. Do you still want us to withdraw our troops? You really have a beautiful idea!"
Thiers couldn't taste the sweetness of the hawthorn fruit tea at this time. He put down the cup and said sharply, "Two hundred and sixty million francs, this is an astronomical figure, nearly eleven million pounds!"
"There has never been such a large amount of compensation in history. Isn't this enough to satisfy your appetite?"
"Your Majesty the Head of State, how much is the annual tax of the Qing Dynasty? Is it more than this number?"
Xiao Letian looked at the excited president and shook his head, "In the most prosperous period of the Qing Dynasty, that is, during the Qianlong period, they could earn 50 million taels of silver a year, which is incredible..."
"Your money is comparable to the Qing Dynasty's treasury income in two years. It's really a lot, a lot... but it's still not enough, it's really not enough!"
Xiao Letian stretched out his hand and pressed it lightly, "Don't get excited yet. Let's not talk about the amount of the money. Let's talk about the many specific terms that have not been negotiated at the moment!"
"The temporary armistice agreement does not involve the amount of compensation for Belgium. Yes, you heard it right, it is Belgium... You must know that the French emperor sent cavalry to invade Belgium!"
"So many people have died, and war has been declared. The Belgian army was under my command in Sedan, and they also participated in the war..."
"The money needs to be calculated, right? How much property did you destroy in Belgium and how many people did you kill? How much is the equivalent of compensation?"
"There is no discussion in these temporary ceasefire agreements!"
"Let's talk about the Chinese people. We have to calculate the accounts one by one. Starting from the moment when the French emperor sent the expeditionary force to attack Naha, how much damage did France's series of war actions cause to the Chinese people? We have to calculate Be clear..."
"How many people our Chinese have died and how much wealth we have lost need to be calculated, and then add in the military expenses we spent using so many troops... By the way... you also have to include the repair costs of the Zhiyuan! "
"My Zhiyuan fired all the cannonballs in the naval battle. These are also money... small money cannot be counted as money!"
"To add all these things together, there has to be a total, and then there's more... we have to add some punitive fines!"
"Don't be angry, of course you will be fined! France declared war first, you are the initiator of the war! You lost in the end, and your behavior has been despised by mankind. In order to teach you a lesson, should I be fined!"
"You have to be fined, otherwise you will lose your memory and invade others in the future."
"Haha, look, how many accounts we haven't calculated clearly... Is 260 million enough?"
At this time, Bismarck twirled his beard and said, "The head of state has made a mistake! We still have so many French prisoners. If we want to release them, we have to pay for them!"
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