After determining the direction of cooperation in the free trade area, the meeting paused for a while and then continued.
Wedemeyer first tested his attitude towards the development of the Ural region.
“...Our idea is that oil and gas resources are buried underground, and there are natural rivers between Daming and Lucia.
"Both of us can maintain communication and cooperation, but each can develop within its own boundaries. There is no need to set up a joint venture to jointly manage the affairs of both parties.
“We know that His Highness Prince Dashi is used to being direct, and we also directly state our true inner thoughts.
“We in Lucia have only found this clear oil field so far, so we hope to ensure full control of this oil field.
“And Ming Dynasty already has many oil fields around the world, so it shouldn’t need to worry about this uncertain oil production.
"We speak out so openly and honestly, and we hope that Ming Dynasty can understand our situation."
Lin Zexu actually felt that what Wedemeyer said made sense.
Daming really doesn't care much about the oil and gas resources here.
In Zhu Jingyuan's previous life, the best quality light oil in the world was from the North Sea Oilfield, which had not yet been discovered.
At this time, the best light crude oil in the world was in the Nanyang region, belonging to the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty.
The world's largest heavy oil field is in Nanyinzhou, which was Venezuela in Zhu Jingyuan's previous life and was under the jurisdiction of the Xintianfu of the Ming Dynasty.
The large oil field with the most complete variety of crude oil in the world, the lowest extraction cost, and the most abundant output is in the Persian Gulf. It now belongs to the land of the Ming Dynasty's food country.
The Tyumen Oilfield developed under the guidance of His Highness Prince Dashi is now confirmed to be rich in resources. Kazakhstan, Khiva, and Persia also seem to have discovered oil along the Caspian Sea coast.
With the development of the oil fields in these inland vassal states, the supply of cheap oil and gas in the inland areas of the Ming Dynasty will be guaranteed.
Lucia only has this oil field now, so it is understandable that she wants to hold it tightly.
But reasonableness does not necessarily mean acceptance, and being understandable does not mean understanding.
Lin Zexu said with a straight face:
“When there are borders, there are estrangements. When there are separate developments, there are misunderstandings. When there are estrangements and misunderstandings, conflicts arise. When conflicts escalate, border conflicts may arise.
“The purpose of Ming Dynasty’s hope of cooperating with Lucia to develop border oil fields is to firstly supervise and avoid the presence of Lucia’s military facilities and personnel in the local area.
“Then it is to prevent local oil and gas resources from being used for industries that threaten the security of the Ming Dynasty’s border.
"So all strategic resources in the border areas between the two sides must be jointly developed and operated by joint ventures from both sides."
Wedemeyer and Lucia suddenly felt very uncomfortable.
Lucia wants to ensure complete control of this oil field, and Ming Dynasty must prevent this oil field from being completely controlled by outsiders and then used for industries that threaten Ming Dynasty's security.
Wedemeyer regretted it a little. He was indeed direct in his speech, and Daming was equally direct.
But when there is a conflict between the two parties, both parties directly express their attitudes and demands, which is a direct contradiction and conflict.
It’s hard to find even room for maneuver now.
Fortunately, there are still people on both sides of the negotiation.
Wedemeyer said very helplessly:
“We already know the attitude of Ming Dynasty, and Ming Dynasty should also understand our attitude.
“These are things that we, the representatives, cannot directly decide.
"So why don't we just stop here today and let's go back and report and ask for instructions?"
Lin Zexu did not refuse, so the meeting was suspended again.
After both parties left the meeting, they immediately sorted out the content of today's meeting and reported it to their respective superiors.
When Emperor Nicholas of Lucia read Wedemeyer's report and suggestions, he felt waves of extremely oppressive feelings:
“The oil in the Urals is not important to the Ming Dynasty at all, but it is very important to Lucia.
“However, Ming Dynasty insists on things that are not important to them, and must prevent Lucia from completing her very important strategy...
“The straight-line distance between this oil and Moscow is less than a thousand kilometers, and it is a full five thousand kilometers away from Ming Dynasty’s Xi’an Prefecture, but Ming Dynasty asked to jointly develop it with Lucia!
"Da Ming is wary of Lucia's threat to Daming in a place like this!"
Nicholas was first instinctively angry, and then before the anger could burst out, it turned into a weak sigh.
He slumped down on his throne and looked up at the chandelier on the ceiling:
“Although it is far enough away from the core area of the Ming Dynasty, it is indeed the political boundary of the Ming Dynasty.
"It is a demilitarized zone recognized by both sides...
"This is the contradiction. What Lucia wants to ensure, Daming will want to take precautions against...
“Things that are very important to Lucia have no meaning to Ming.
“Da Ming has enough ability to insist on things that are not very important to them.
"Lucia was unable to protect her very important things and had to make sufficient concessions at the strategic level."
After muttering a few words to himself, Nicholas closed his eyes and began to wander:
"Father, why did we fight a world war in the first place? Why did we challenge the Ming Dynasty?"
“If there had not been this world war, most of the Xianbei wilderness would still belong to us Lucia, and the entire Ural region would still belong to us Lucia.
“The Volga Field is hundreds of kilometers away from the border of the independent Kazakh Khanate, and the Ming Dynasty is thousands of kilometers away.
"Big Lucia...Is the Lucian nation very powerful? No, the Lucians are all idiots!
"'Yelang is arrogant', 'overestimates one's capabilities', and 'the mantis' arm is like a chariot'.
"The people of Ming Dynasty are indeed powerful!"
After all, Nicholas was the heir who stood out among a group of princes. Although he was mentally shocked and kept mumbling for a long time, he finally picked himself up.
"It's too late to say anything now. There is no 'regret medicine' in this world.
"It is even more impossible to be an enemy of Ming Dynasty now...
“Now we should be fortunate that Ming Dynasty did not reveal its intention to ask for this land at all.
"I'm just asking for cooperation in oil field development, and I'm just trying to tie other countries into Ming's economic system..."
After Nicolas carefully considered Wedemeyer's suggestion, he wrote him a reply.
“We can try to propose the establishment of a development company, jointly held by Emperor Ming and Emperor Lucia.
“The establishment of the head office should be composed of Daming and Lucia in a one-to-one ratio.
“The head office is not directly involved in resource development and commercial operations.
“The head office has two branches, which are responsible for the development of land resources on both sides of the boundary line.
“Da Ming and Lucia each have their own people and run branches in their respective territories.
“The head office dispatched supervisory and financial institutions composed of two people to supervise the operations of the two branches.
"This way we can maintain cooperation and avoid conflicts while retaining a certain degree of independence."
Zhu Jingyuan also received Lin Zexu's report. Lin Zexu believed that there was no need to make concessions on the development of the oil field.
Lucia would definitely not dare to have a direct conflict with Ming, and they would definitely come up with new compromise ideas.
After Lucia compromises, Daming will make demands on that basis, and he should be able to negotiate a good result.
Lin Zexu believed that most of Ming Dynasty's goals should be achieved.
After Zhu Jingyuan read it, he also wrote a reply to Lin Zexu with a few words of encouragement.
Two days later, under the organization of the Duke of Xianbei, representatives of Ming Dynasty and Lucia met again.
Wedemeyer has received Nikolai's response, but this time he did not say it directly:
"May I ask the representative of Ming Dynasty, what does Ming Dynasty think of the previous negotiations?"
Lin Zexu said of course:
"We believe that our request is very reasonable. Comprehensive cooperation in business and management will be beneficial to the Lucia royal family and court as well as the people.
“In the process of cooperation, Lucia can not only gain profits that are likely to exceed those of operating alone, but more importantly, she can learn and draw on Daming’s process technology and management concepts.
“Lucia’s workers can also receive better welfare benefits in the factories that Daming participates in management.
"The Lucia royal family and court will also be able to obtain a more stable output of oil resources."
"We hope Lucians don't get confused in places like this."
Wedemeyer sighed in his heart. As expected, Ming Dynasty would not take the initiative to give in.
I may have many diplomatic methods, but most of them are useless when facing Ming Dynasty.
In the end, he honestly came up with the plan he discussed with Nicholas.
That is, the head office cooperates, and the branches operate and develop their own plans.
Lin Zexu listened expressionlessly and said:
“Local resource development and operation and management must be completely integrated, and there is no need to set up branches within the borders of both parties.
“The entire company, from management to workers, must be made up of people from both sides.
"And the entire oil field must be included in the free trade zone."
Before Lin Zexu came to negotiate, when discussing with Zhu Jingyuan, he once proposed that "the income related to resource exploitation on both sides of the border line should be accounted separately, and the management level must be merged." However, Zhu Jingyuan rejected it.
Zhu Jingyuan knew that this oil field was mainly located in Lucia, west of the Ural, and basically disappeared east of the Ural.
There are oil resources along the Caspian Sea, but those places are not within the scope of this cooperation.
That was exclusive to the three vassal states of Kazakhstan, Khiva, and Persia.
Lin Zexu's words, although he still basically did not give in, showed an attitude that was open to negotiation.
Wedemeyer breathed a sigh of relief, and then sighed again. Now he finally entered the bargaining stage.
But instead of starting the bargaining in the middle of the bottom line of both parties, the bargaining started after Lucia made a large concession, and the bargaining started close to Lucia's bottom line.
Wedemeyer felt melancholy, but he immediately cheered up and began to ask for as much price as possible:
“It can be jointly operated by both parties, but the framework of the head office and branches must still be maintained.
“For branches in Lucia, the proportion of Lucia employees cannot be less than half.
“The people from Lucia will be the management, and the people from Daming will be in the supervisory position.
“For branches in Daming, the proportion of Daming people cannot be less than half.
“The people from Ming Dynasty will serve as the management, and the people from Lucia will take the simple positions.
“The finances of the two branches should also be separated, that is, each should calculate its own income.
"The income from Lucia's branch belongs to Lucia, and the income from Daming's branch belongs to Daming."
Wedemeyer proposed to calculate the income separately, not because he knew that there were no oil fields in Ming Dynasty.
It's because the Ming Dynasty has not started exploration yet, while Lucia has already started construction.
From Lucia's point of view, it is completely unknown how much oil resources Daming has.
Even though the Ming Dynasty was rich in oil, the Ming Dynasty deliberately did not explore or develop it.
Lucia has no choice but to consume the resources on Lucia's side.
Although Daming's reputation has always been good, avoidable risks should be avoided as much as possible.
As for the idea of asking for the profit to be divided in half, and then praying that Ming Dynasty would have more resources, and finally Lucia could take advantage of Ming Dynasty, the idea flashed in Wedemeyer's mind for a moment and was immediately strangled to death.
His Royal Highness Prince Dashi has reminded you many times to consider whether it is in the interests of Ming Dynasty before doing anything.
It is impossible for Ming Dynasty to allow things that are not in Ming Dynasty's interests to happen, and it will certainly not allow it to continue if it has already happened.
So Wedemeyer simply put forward the idea of revenue separation as a precaution.
Wedemeyer felt that this suggestion should be easily recognized by Ming Dynasty. After all, this is the fairest plan.
This can prevent you from suffering losses after discovering more oil. Whether you endure the losses or break the contract and stop cooperation, it is not a good thing for Ming Dynasty's reputation.
With Ming's current size, he shouldn't care about this profit, and should pay more attention to prestige.
However, Lin Zexu had received orders from Zhu Jingyuan and was not allowed to calculate the income separately.
This income is indeed nothing to Daming, but no one will give the money away.
On the other hand, in terms of cooperation on this kind of engineering project, Daming will definitely provide oil extraction technology.
And Zhu Jingyuan already knew that there was not much oil on the Ming side.
If the finances are calculated separately, then Daming will not get much benefit, which is equivalent to providing technology to Lucia for free.
That is of course impossible.
Although Lin Zexu didn't know whether there was oil there, he would strictly abide by the instructions given by Zhu Jingyuan, so he rejected Wedemeyer's request without hesitation:
"Are you worried that Ming will breach the contract? Or are you worried that Ming will take advantage of you, Lucia?
“The purpose of Ming Dynasty is economic cooperation and establishing closer ties with Lucia.
“So you can have branches and arrange personnel according to your plan, but the company’s finances must be consolidated.
“In the first ten years since the official production of oil began, the profits of both parties were divided 70-70.
"Da Ming takes 70%, because in the early stage of the cooperation, Daming wants to provide technology, which is equivalent to a technology transfer to you.
"Between the tenth and twentieth years, the income will be divided into 60% and 50%, and after the 20th year, the income will be divided into 50% and 50%."
Lin Zexu's response directly exceeded Wedemeyer's expectations.
Mainly the requirements for financial consolidation.
However, coupled with the way Daming takes the majority of the revenue share and the technology transfer that does exist, it is barely justified.
I'm afraid that if Ming Dynasty really has no oil resources at all, then Lucia will suffer a big loss.
However, Wedemeyer feels that the unexpected situation should not arise.
And this is also negotiable.
Wedemeyer organized his thoughts, considered the language, and once again proposed modifications:
“I don’t think the income should be distributed directly according to fixed proportions.
“If any party produces more oil, it will be de facto unfair.
“Unfairness will lead to contradictions, and contradictions may lead to conflicts, so we should find ways to avoid them in advance.
“My suggestion is that the benefits from oil development should first offset the costs of inputs from both parties.
“A certain share ratio can be given to Daming’s technology in the early stage, and then it should be offset according to the actual investment ratio.
“After recovering the development costs and offsetting the investments of both parties, the final net profit dividend will be distributed according to the oil production of both parties.
"This should be the fairest and most secure distribution method."
Lin Zexu couldn't help but frown after hearing this.
Wedemeyer's proposal sounds very reasonable.
But Lin Zexu didn't know why Zhu Jingyuan requested financial merger, so he didn't dare to respond rashly.
After careful consideration, Lin Zexu expressed that he would go back and think about it.
So the meeting was suspended again, and Lin Zexu sent Wedemeyer's suggestions to Zhu Jingyuan.
After Zhu Jingyuan received it, he tried again to review his memory and recall information about the Volga-Ural oil and gas area.
The peak development period of this oil field should be from the 1950s to the 1970s. At that time, it was the largest oil field in Red Lucia. After that, the production declined year by year, and the throne of the largest oil field gave way to the Tyumen Oil Field.
However, exploration of this oil field began in the 1930s, and production capacity began to explode in the 1950s.
There may be demand factors, there may be technological factors, and war factors.
However, Zhu Jingyuan basically did not have an in-depth understanding of the exploration and development process, and of course he did not dare to make extreme decisions rashly.
In the end, I decided to be more conservative and wrote a response to Lin Zexu.
Let him compromise again and accept Wedemeyer's suggestion to first allocate the proceeds according to the investment and actual costs.
For the remaining net profit, Daming will get 70% in the first ten years of development, and 60% in the tenth to twentieth years.
The profit share that Damingduo gets is used as the consideration for Daming's technology transfer.
From the 20th to the 40th year, the two sides were divided 50-50.
Distribution will be based on actual output after forty years.
Zhu Jingyuan did not reach the limit. This oil field was still the second largest oil field in Lucia before Zhu Jingyuan crossed it.
After the 1970s, only the explosion of production capacity ended, and with the development of the Tyumen Oilfield, the proportion of production capacity declined rapidly.
Daming participated in the development, invested heavily in the development process, and only participated in the early stage share, which is not too much.
Zhu Jingyuan made a decision, and the talks ahead began again.
Lin Zexu stated Zhu Jingyuan's request and gave a more serious reminder:
"This is already His Highness' generosity and giving you the greatest care, so decide as soon as possible."
(End of chapter)
