This time Siemens won the bid, which made Dika Stern very happy, and it was worth all the efforts he had put in. General Motors once again failed in the European market, and Siskel also left with a disappointed face.
In fact, the lowest bidder in the bidding was not Siemens but General Motors, but the price is just a reference, and there are other things affecting this bidding. In the end, Edel chose the option that is most beneficial to Romania now, so the price gap between Germany's Siemens and Siemens was not large.
Winning the bid in a big situation is not difficult to understand.
In subsequent discussions, Siemens will help the newly established Cold Power Company (the company established for this power plant construction) train personnel and guide the construction of the power plant. In return, Siemens will receive priority in choosing Siemens at the same price as other equipment.
"Are there any other problems that need to be solved now?" Edel asked his captain of the bodyguard after finishing the power supply.
"There are still many things that reflect the backwardness of domestic medical care and the high neonatal mortality rate. The military has reported that the production of ammunition is less, which is not conducive to future combat requirements. There are also reports that the wages of workers in private factories are generally lower than those in state-owned factories, and even more
Not to mention the royal family’s industry, in terms of education..."
Hearing Karust's continuous reports on various problems, Edel regretted the questions he just asked. These are major issues related to people's livelihood, education, agriculture, national defense and other aspects reported by the guard captain. There are currently solutions to these problems.
, all need money, and it is not a small amount, which makes Edel have the idea of robbing the vault of the Bank of Scotland.
Now Edel can only choose one problem that seems to be easier to solve. Edel is thinking about the various problems just reported by the captain of the guard. The military industry can be solved first. The investment is short and the results are not quick. It is related to national defense. This is a problem.
Not a bad solution.
Edel asked the captain of the guard to bring over documents about the low inventory of military ammunition. He found that the Bucharest arsenal has basically reached the design production capacity, with an annual output of 50 million rifle bullets and 5,000 machine gun bullets. At that time, it was based on the design before the reorganization.
After the Russo-Japanese War, the amount of ammunition used by various countries in wartime has reached a new level.
After the reorganization of the Romanian army, the standard amount of ammunition consumed for daily training is 100 rounds of ammunition per soldier per year, and machine gunner training requires 1,000 rounds per year to meet the basic requirements. In addition, the army now fully uses Mauser's 7.92-caliber tip
There was no inventory of bullets before, which aggravated the military's concerns, so it was urgent to increase the production of bullets.
"The captain of the guard will help me make an appointment with Ambassador Baslob." Edel could only tell the captain of the guard. Now he can only hope that William II can be more generous.
The next day, Ambassador Baslob came to the palace and met Edel. The Crown Prince saw the ambassador smiling like a spring breeze. "Ambassador Baslob is very happy that you can take time out of your busy schedule to meet."
"Your polite Crown Prince, my most important job in Romania is to promote relations between the two countries, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is the key to it. I am honored to be summoned by the Crown Prince." Ambassador Baslob didn't know what the Crown Prince was looking for in him.
However, he did not forget to release Germany's friendship to Edel. As an ambassador, Mr. Baslob is still qualified.
"Mr. Ambassador, I have a business to discuss with the Ambassador." Edel first told the good news.
"I wonder what kind of business requires the Crown Prince to discuss in person?" Ambassador Baslob asked curiously.
"You know that in the ammunition production line that our country introduced before, there was a deviation in the estimate of bullet consumption. Now we need to introduce two more bullet production lines. One with 50 million rounds of 7.92-caliber rifle bullets, and the other with 30 million rounds of 7.92-caliber machine gun bullets."
Edel stated his needs.
Ambassador Baslob made a rough mental estimate of the price of the two bullet production lines, which was not too expensive at around 8 million marks.
"If there is any problem, I can send a telegram to the arsenal in China. I believe they will be happy to complete the deal." Mr. Ambassador agreed casually.
"Mr. Ambassador, our government's finances are currently in difficulty. I hope this order can be included in the previous payment." Edel now stated his request.
"Well, this is beyond my authority. I need to ask for instructions from the country. I hope His Highness will not mind." Faced with the crown prince's request, Ambassador Baslob could only ask for the answer from the domestic report.
"No problem, I will wait for your reply."
After seeing off the ambassador, Andel also had a new understanding of the government's financial difficulties. If the financial division between the government and the royal family had not been very clear, he would have thought of helping the government fund it, but this was unrealistic.
It is of no benefit to anyone. We can only ask the crown prince to come forward to solve this difficulty.
After Ambassador Baslob returned to the embassy, he sent a message to the country with Edel's request, leaving these issues for the big shots to consider.
After the German government received the message from Ambassador Baslob, it placed Romania's request on Prime Minister Bernhard's desk.
"Are these Romanians really that poor? Now their economic development is quite good." The Prime Minister picked up the telegram and said to himself after reading it. After the secretary heard the Prime Minister's words, he handed over the investigation report of the German military attache in Romania.
After handing it to the Prime Minister, Prime Minister Bernhardt picked up the report, read it for a while and said, "So that's it."
Faced with the demands of the Romanians, Prime Minister Bernhardt was unwilling to make his own decision. Taking this cable and other government reports, he planned to seek approval from the Kaiser. Bernhardt knew why Wilhelm II chose him as prime minister.
In the palace, Wilhelm II was listening to Prime Minister Bernhardt's report on various constructions of the empire. After talking about these domestic matters, the Prime Minister took out Romania's request and told the Kaiser.
"Your Majesty, this is a message from Romania requesting a loan to purchase two sets of bullet production lines."
The Kaiser took the telegram from the Prime Minister and read it. After reading it, he told Prime Minister Bernhardt, "I remember that Romania's economy is developing well now. I have heard about their cars in Berlin."
Knowing that William II wanted to ask such a question, the Prime Minister told the Kaiser the report of the military attache's investigation. "Your Majesty, Romania's economy is developing well now. Most of it is due to the royal family's funds, and the government's investment is all
In terms of infrastructure, and because they are now burdened with reorganizing the army, their government funds are very tight now, so they hope to get loans this time to ease the pressure on the government."
After hearing what the Prime Minister said, William II thought of his nephew who came to visit three years ago. The boy who was still relatively immature at the time has now shown extraordinary strength and made such a big impact in economic development.
contribute.
"This is a small amount to approve their request." In the opinion of Wilhelm II, the amount of 10 million marks is not a big problem, and the most important thing is to get Romania on board. Now the Kaiser's impression of Romania is
It has a capable army (this is the credit of the advisory group) and has initially developed into a small country with certain strength.
"Our advisory group has been in Romania for more than three years, right?" William II asked the Prime Minister about the military advisory group in Romania. Ludendorff, the head of the advisory group, had been in Romania for more than three years. The Kaiser thought it could be changed
A group of personnel went over and allowed the military advisers in Romania to return home to receive their rewards.
"Yes, it has been more than three years. In fact, it would be a good idea to let them return to the country to receive His Majesty's medals and replace them with a group of officers." Prime Minister Bernhardt suggested.
"Prime Minister, please take care of these matters first. I'll tell Little Moltke then."
Within a few days, Edel received a message that Germany agreed to increase the loan for Romania to purchase bullet production lines. While Edel was happy about this, he did not know that the Kaiser planned to replace a group of military advisers.
