"Mr. Kahn, can't there be more?" In the presidential suite parlor of the George V Hotel in Paris, De Gaulle looked at Josie Kahn in front of him and said unwillingly, "My people are starving!
"
"Mr. de Gaulle, I am a businessman, not a philanthropist, not to mention not French. A ton of canned meat is my respect for your personal qualities... In addition, I have to remind you that you are not French.
Legal representative!" Qiao Xi put down the coffee cup in his hand and said slightly indifferently.
Time has entered September, and the Allied forces are still clearing away the remaining German resistance forces across France, while the other side is constantly making final preparations to counter the Eagle's Nest Plan.
But the last man in France standing in front of Josie has been busy with another thing recently.
That is the food problem.
France is short of food, Paris is short of food.
As a long-established agricultural power in Europe, it is also the second largest colonial country in the world after the United Kingdom.
France has not experienced a food shortage for a hundred or two hundred years. Even during World War I, France was actually very abundant in food and other industrial and agricultural products.
But with the rapid defeat of World War II, the situation completely changed.
In order for Germany to supply its huge military system, it is far from enough to rely solely on its own country's output.
Naturally, they have to plunder from those occupied countries.
If there are some of Germany's "own people" such as Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, etc., Germany will naturally be gentler.
But with a feud like France's, no one has any scruples when it comes to attacking.
From 1940 to the occupation in 1944, 72.5% of the wheat, 100% of the sugar, 87% of the butter, and 64.6% of the beef produced in the German-occupied areas of northern France were forcibly expropriated or purchased at low prices by Germany.
Most of these agricultural products were either put on trains and transported back to Germany, or they were used to feed the German troops occupying France.
The situation in the southern Vichy Free Zone was slightly better, but 27.5% of wheat, 13% of butter and 35.4% of beef were shipped to Germany.
This is just food, not to mention various other supplies.
So despite the fact that the German troops in Paris surrendered and this pearl of Europe did not suffer the baptism of war, a well-preserved city cannot be used as food. If you need to be hungry, you will be hungry. If you need to be without cigarettes, there will be no cigarettes.
.
The American soldiers outside can spend a night with a beautiful French girl with a pack of cigarettes and a few pieces of chewing gum, which is cheaper than a British girl.
Not to mention a tycoon like Qiao Xi. The world-famous George V Hotel in the future where he now lives was purchased directly with a batch of materials that were extremely cheap for him.
As his white glove, Lyndon Schneider was also very busy after arriving in Paris. The supplies were directly borrowed from the US military's transportation team, and convoys were transported to the city from unknown places outside the city every day.
All goods are free of charge in francs... After being occupied for so long, France's economy is already on the verge of collapse. Inflation is terrible, and this is just the beginning.
If the British economy was still barely stable after the war, the French economy was in decline after the war...it was not until de Gaulle came to power in the 1960s that it was officially stabilized.
Yes, as a French hero, de Gaulle, apart from serving as a temporary leader for a few months when Paris was just liberated, was quickly kicked out by the newly formed Conqueror and had to remain idle until the 1960s before re-emerging.
More importantly, de Gaulle's current status as interim leader is not recognized by the three countries of Britain, the United States and the United States... They only recognize de Gaulle's military position and not his government position.
This is why Josie said that De Gaulle was not the legitimate representative of France.
In this case, Josie would only collect francs if she was very clever.
If you want to buy his goods, bring us dollars or real money!
High-end jewelry? This is fine, but it requires a 30% discount.
Land deed? This is also possible, and I can give you a fair price.
Factories, minerals? So-so, 50% off.
Pounds? Okay, but if you don’t want ten or twenty pounds, you’ll have to get a 20% discount.
In just over a month, Lyndon has already earned more wealth and assets than he did in the UK.
Of course, such a hugely profitable business will definitely attract people to covet it.
But this time Qiao Xi directly asked the US military stationed in Paris to transport goods and maintain order. His salary was cigarettes and alcohol, and there was nothing wrong with asking for US dollars.
Who dares to touch his business?
Even the last man in France in front of me had to condescend to visit a businessman like Josie just to beg for help.
But as Josie said, he is a businessman, not a philanthropist... If he were in China, he would not mind doing more charity for the sake of reputation, but in France? There is no need at all!
So no matter what de Gaulle said, in the end Josie just ended up with a ton of canned meat... To be honest, this was Josie giving face to the other party.
Now that this ton of canned meat is placed outside, it can be bought all over the street.
"Then I will buy from you on behalf of the French government. Is it okay?" Seeing that Qiao Xi had no intention of letting go, De Gaulle looked helpless. He thought that after France was liberated, everything would develop for the better, but just when
Within a month of meeting the representatives of the provisional government, he discovered that the situation was far more complicated than he had imagined.
A ton of canned meat may sound like a lot, but for the whole of Paris, it's just a drop in the bucket - there are millions of mouths in Paris.
"Your Excellency de Gaulle, it's not that I'm mean, but the current French provisional government...does it have money?" Qiao Xi spread his hands helplessly.
What is a provisional government? It is just a scapegoat who does the dirty work.
That is, only true patriots like de Gaulle, or people with ulterior motives, would go here.
We need money but no money, we need supplies but no supplies.
That is to say, there are still a few armies that can barely be seen...but these armies were formed by de Gaulle in Africa after begging his grandfather and grandma.
"We can mortgage...!" However, before de Gaulle could finish speaking, he was interrupted by Qiao Xi raising his hand.
"Your Excellency de Gaulle, don't write bad checks from me. As long as your interim government can provide decent collateral, you should not show up here now, but at our embassy!" Qiao Xi was a little worried.
Said impatiently.
What Josie said about going to the U.S. Embassy actually refers to the Lend-Lease Act proposed by the United States as the "leader" of the Allied Forces during World War II, and used it to provide massive support to the United Kingdom, Mao Xiong and many other allies.
But among them, France received the least support.
The reason is very simple, because France, as an occupied area, does not have a formal political power that can be truly recognized by the world.
And this also means that no one in France has the right to pledge any French national assets to the United States to obtain supplies.
The only American material support France received were the two Free French armored divisions belonging to de Gaulle.
It was only after de Gaulle promised independence to Algeria that he received some donations. Coupled with various empty promises, he obtained equipment for two armored divisions from the United States. In the end, it was the United States that helped solve the food crisis in this time and space.
Yes, but the war is not over yet, and American supplies must be given priority to the army.
After supplying the army, supply to Britain was also given priority.
France will have to wait at least one or two months to receive support from the United States.
The problem of how France would exchange its debt after the war also stemmed from the fact that it had no formal political power.
After France was officially liberated and established its own government in the original time and space, De Gaulle was directly pushed out of office.
Almost none of the bad checks he had promised could be fulfilled.
For example, Algeria gained its independence through war.
Some loans from the United States were initially repaid through the opening of the French film market, but within a few years they were abandoned due to public opposition.
Look, France is like this and dares to default on the United States' debts. If Qiao Xi believed de Gaulle and gave him supplies, he would really be like a meat bun beating a dog.
Hearing Qiao Xi's unhesitating refusal, De Gaulle's expression darkened. He actually knew that he couldn't do what he said, but it was just for the sake of this country that he had to risk his face to make various promises.
That's all.
To be honest, this last man in France is actually quite pitiful. He has been bearing responsibilities for this country that he should not bear.
But pitiful as it is, Qiao Xi would not sacrifice his own interests to help the other party.
but……
"Actually, it's not like you have nothing to pledge!" Josie knocked on the table and said.
"What do you want? As long as it's reasonable, you can consider it!" After hearing Qiao Xi's words, de Gaulle's eyes flashed and he said.
"Haha, you don't have to say anything about the French stuff, but the German stuff is still fine!" Qiao Xi said with a smile.
De Gaulle was able to single-handedly push France from a victimized country to a victorious country, so he was naturally a very smart man. He immediately understood the meaning of Josie's words.
That's right, he, the interim leader, cannot make the final decision on France's national assets.
However, as a representative figure of the French military, he had great autonomy in the carving up of Germany and its allies after the victory.
What Qiao Xi meant was to use France's temporarily unknown post-war carve-up interests as a pledge in exchange for supplies.
"Absolutely. All the war compensation received by France after the war can be selected by Your Excellency first, but it cannot exceed the value of the materials you provided." Without much consideration, De Gaulle agreed to Qiao Xi's conditions.
You have the right to use it and it will become invalid upon expiration. De Gaulle also understood this very well.
"Of course!" Josie agreed readily.
After World War II, although France was only the most insignificant among the four major Allied countries, it still had a large occupied area. It occupied a total of four years from 1945 to 1949. What is the output above?
It’s enough to repay Qiao Xi for the supplies he provided.
Originally, Austria and France would also have an occupied area, but as long as the operation to return to the Eagle's Nest is successful, I am afraid that Austria will suddenly become a member of the victorious country, and France will naturally not be able to take part in it.
"The whole of Paris needs at least 120,000 tons of grain to get out of trouble. How much can you provide and how much is the price?" De Gaulle asked impatiently.
In addition to German plunder, another reason why France is short of food is actually the poor wheat harvest this year.
The wheat in France is mainly winter wheat, which is basically mature and harvested from June to July every year. The war was so severe before, and coupled with the German harvest rush, the wheat that France can actually harvest is less than one-fifth of the normal year.
To feed so many people in the country, this amount of food is simply not enough.
As for potatoes planted in August, they will not be harvested until at least November.
In fact, other places are fine, because farmers will hide grain, but this is not the case in big cities like Paris.
There must be at least enough food for two million people for two months to be able to sustain it - and this is when Paris implements a rationing system.
"I definitely can't bring out 120,000 tons of grain." Qiao Xi thought for a moment and said.
You can take it out but you can't take it.
Normally, it would be easy for him to transport a few tons or dozens of tons of grain to Paris every day. After all, despite the war, there are still bold people who transport materials to the war zone through shipping, land transportation and other means.
It seems too strange.
The military won't care either.
But it's impossible for the U.S. military's logistics department to come up with 120,000 tons at a time. If Qiao Xi really dared to do this, there would be no way to cover it up.
Moreover, the business of selling supplies is not only done by Qiao Xi himself, but also by many American businessmen, but their living goods are not as good as Qiao Xi's, nor are they as abundant.
Even the U.S. military itself is doing it.
Qiao Xi can eat meat, but he can't even deny soup to these people, let alone smash the pot.
Otherwise, it would really cost someone a life.
"But ten thousand tons per month is still okay." After thinking for a while, Qiao Xi came up with a number that was not too exaggerated.
Ten thousand tons, which is the load of two Liberty ships, is just enough to be "sent" once a month based on the distance from the United States to Paris and the speed of the Liberty ships.
"But it's mainly canned meat, wheat and potatoes. I don't have much, so I won't supply it." Josie added.
"That's enough! What about the price?" De Gaulle was not stupid, so he knew very well that it was impossible for Qiao Xi to provide 120,000 tons of food at once.
But the 10,000 tons of canned meat a month was beyond his expectation.
I just don't know about the price.
"Ten thousand dollars a ton, I think this is a very reasonable price!" Josie directly quoted a number without thinking much.
Upon hearing this price, De Gaulle's lips trembled.
Ten thousand dollars a ton.
That means one kilogram costs US$10.
There is no doubt that this is an extremely high price in terms of the purchasing power of the US dollar.
But for today's Paris, this price is really not expensive.
The current official exchange rate between the franc and the U.S. dollar is 5 francs per U.S. dollar.
But what are the prices in Paris now? A chicken of about one kilogram costs 100 francs, and even an egg costs 3 francs.
Converted to U.S. dollars, one kilogram of chicken costs US$20, which is fully twice as expensive as the price of canned meat given by Josie.
And that's the price of a live chicken, and at least 20% of the loss of internal organs and bones must be deducted when it is turned into meat.
As for the canned meat sold by Qiaoxi, De Gaulle had also eaten it. It was really full of meat, extremely rich in fat and almost no starch.
In comparison, the price of US$10,000 per ton given by Josie is really a very conscientious price.
Before coming to Qiao Xi, De Gaulle also approached many other big businessmen in Paris, but either they refused to sell, or the prices were sky-high.
No one talks better than Josie.
But de Gaulle was still heartbroken.
Twenty thousand tons in two months, that’s US$200 million.
It's enough for him to form ten more armored divisions.
Taking the Free French 2nd Armored Division as an example, its main force is 85 Stuart light tanks, 164 Sherman medium tanks, 36 M10 "Wolverine" tank destroyers, 64 armored vehicles, and 664 half-tracks.
and patrol vehicles, 27 M8 "Scott" 75mm self-propelled howitzers, and 54 M7 "Priest" 105mm self-propelled howitzers.
And the price of these weapons? A Stuart is less than 40,000 US dollars, and a Sherman is 50,000 to 60,000 US dollars.
The M10 "Wolverine" tank destroyer is the most expensive, costing nearly 100,000.
All in all, the rest of Lin Lin's salary is actually just over 20 million.
Doesn’t 200 million US dollars equal ten armored divisions?
"This price - very reasonable!" De Gaulle tremblingly took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it and took a puff, blew out a few smoke rings, and said in a deep voice, "When will the goods arrive?"
"Don't be anxious, Mr. de Gaulle. Although you have a lot of autonomy in the post-war carving up, you can't just talk in vain, right? So the contract must be signed. In addition, I will invite our country's ambassador and General Eisenhower as witnesses...
Is there any problem?" Qiao Xi said calmly.
"Huh...of course it's okay!" De Gaulle took a long breath and nodded.
"Then I wish us a happy cooperation!" A bright smile appeared on Qiao Xi's face, and he extended his hand to De Gaulle.
De Gaulle felt both relaxed and very heavy at the same time. He did not speak, but just stretched out his hand and touched Qiao Xi.
"I asked someone to host a banquet. Would you like to have a casual dinner with me?" Qiao Xi didn't mind, but rather generously invited him to dinner.
When it comes to business and not business, Qiao Xi doesn't mind making friends with this person.
After all, he is the last man in France, and he is indeed an endangered species.
De Gaulle did not refuse Qiao Xi's invitation. He had shouldered so much for this country and this city, couldn't he still have a good meal?
The next day, at the special invitation of Josie, the U.S. Ambassador to France, who had just arrived in Paris less than half a month ago, and the witness of General Eisenhower, Josie and de Gaulle signed a contract in the conference hall of the George V Hotel.
.
In fact, under normal circumstances, Eisenhower, as the commander-in-chief of the Allied Forces, held a high position and was not so easy to recruit, and his relationship with Josie was not that close.
But this agreement is good for the United States... because the United States actually doubts whether de Gaulle or the French government will be able to repay the debts of the two armored divisions after the war is over, or whether they will be willing to repay the debts of the two armored divisions.
.
But now that Josie and De Gaulle have signed this contract, as long as France dares to default on its debt, the US military can justifiably deduct France's post-war compensation!
So Eisenhower was happy to be a smooth favor.
The day after the contract was signed, two Liberty ships filled with canned meat appeared on the Seine.
These two Liberty Ships were second-hand goods that Josie bought from a shipping company at half price when he was in England.
It is specially designed to "ship" bulk goods.
With the thousand tons of canned meat provided by Josie and the rationing system that had been implemented since the fall of France, the food panic in Paris was barely that serious.
And even if so many canned meats are sold to the interim government at a "low price", it will not affect Qiao Xi and other businessmen from continuing to make money.
Food shortages still exist, but people are not starving to death.
The wealthy citizens of Paris are still willing to spend a little more money to make themselves fuller.
Even if there is no money, beautiful French girls can still make money from American soldiers.
Besides, even if Qiao Xi doesn't sell food, he can still sell other things.
Since they are starving to death, the romantic French people are not allowed to smoke cigarettes, drink some wine or coffee, and taste candies or something?
The interim government will not distribute these things to the people.
In this way, Qiao Xi kept picking up the wool of the French people while quietly waiting for the "Return to the Eagle's Nest" plan to unfold.
…………………………
"I thought you wouldn't come back before the plan started!" A few days later, in the study room of the presidential suite, Josie said to the woman sitting opposite while gently wiping a bronze faucet on her hand.
"Don't I miss you so much? If I can't see you, I can't even eat or sleep!" The woman fiddled with the collar around her neck and said with a smile.
Needless to say, this woman is none other than Ophelia.
"Really? I really didn't know I was so charming!" Qiao Xi raised his eyebrows and carefully put the faucet into the box in front of him. Miss him? I'm afraid I miss him to death!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, His Highness Kahn is really too humble. Those young girls in Paris want to spend a night with you. It's just a pity that our Highness Kahn seems to have a problem with his orientation." Ophelia faced.
Lu sneered.
"...Haha, are you provoking me?" Qiao Xi's face turned cold.
In fact, Vito and the others had recently reported to him that there were rumors in Paris.
The reason for this rumor is also very simple, because during the period after Qiao Xi was in Paris, although he often visited nightclubs such as Moulin Rouge and Lido, there was never any real rumor that he and that woman were actually involved.
What erotic news.
This is actually an incredible thing in this era, especially in France, which is famous for its romance.
Coupled with Josie's extremely outstanding appearance.
From the outside, this is very abnormal.
So for some reason, some rumors began to appear that there was something wrong with his orientation.
However, Qiao Xi has always been dismissive of such rumors from the outside world.
It's not up to you to decide whether we are men or not. In the final analysis, he is more picky. France is said to be a romantic city, but to be honest, ordinary women really don't catch his eye very much.
And this was just a rumor after all, and under normal circumstances no one would dare to say it in front of him.
People in high positions will not offend him without thinking, but if ordinary people dare to say this, they will wait to feed the fish in the Seine River.
But now that Ophelia mentioned this, it was purely provocative.
But it's not the fault of Ophelia's provocation. In fact, she went back to Austria and tried many methods, but she couldn't untie the collar.
The resentment towards Qiao Xi has deepened.
It's just a pity that she seems to have forgotten the fundamental function of this collar.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that, but...ahhhhhhh!" Ophelia originally wanted to hurt Josie, but Josie directly pressed the button on the anti-mind control necklace.
With a click of a button, she fell down on the sofa and started twitching.
"Tch, that's all!" Qiao Xi shook his head, opened another box on the table, and took out the bronze snake head inside.
Yes, these two bronze heads are exactly the zodiac heads of the Old Summer Palace.
Josie just bought it from a collector in France. He also found rats and rabbits before.
He had also picked up four when he was in England before.
In other words, he has now collected eight.
The remaining four have not yet been accounted for.
But Qiao Xi was not in a hurry, he looked slowly and he could always find it.
In addition, Qiao Xi also found many national treasures from these two countries.
For example, Napoleon's bay leaf golden crown... To be honest, it's quite ugly because all the gold leaves on it have fallen off and only three are left.
Just as Qiao Xi was playing with the copper head, the phone in the study room rang.
Josie picked up the phone, and General McGuinness's angry voice came from the other side of the phone.
"Josie, go to the window! We're about to start!"
Hearing McGinnis's words, Josie was stunned for a moment, and then there was a loud banging sound in her ears. She quickly put the things in her hands away and walked quickly to the window.
The sky was filled with darkness, and countless planes were flying toward the northeast from the sky above Paris.
Return to the Eagle's Nest begins!
"It's so spectacular!" Ophelia, who didn't know when she recovered, also walked to the window and murmured while looking at the spectacular scene in the sky beside Josie.
Josie glanced at her, then pressed the shock switch on the collar.
Then Ophelia fell to the ground and twitched again.
Only then did Josie turn around and watch this spectacular scene unprecedented in human history... There were many more planes dispatched for this operation than the Normandy landing.