"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.
To be continued...