Chapter 348: Win-Win

"What conditions?" Liang Yao asked.

Given the nature of the Rothschilds, it would be abnormal not to ask for such a huge loan.

However, Liang Yao is not at a disadvantage in the cooperation with the Rothschilds. After all, he is the only one in the world who can provide kerosene, a good quality and cheap commodity.

As long as Lionel and James are not stupid, they will not make excessive demands and push Liang Yao to their competitors, such as the Barings.

It is true that Hills is a fool, but it does not mean that all members of the Barings are fools. After reacting, the Barings will definitely seek to cooperate with Liang Yao and get kerosene from Liang Yao.

The Barings started much earlier than the Rothschilds, and their influence in the UK, especially in the British political circles, is better than that of the Rothschilds.

Lionel will definitely not be able to prevent the Barings from cooperating with Liang Yao in the future.

Lionel still has a very clear understanding of this.

However, although it is impossible to organize the Baring family to cooperate with Liang Yao and get a share of the kerosene trade, before the Baring family and Liang Yao contacted each other, Lionel was still able to let the Rothschild family take the lead in reaching some agreements with Liang Yao to ensure that the Rothschild family gained an advantageous position in the kerosene trade.

"Regarding the five requests you made to August last time, I will do my best to meet you. Almost every powerful country in Europe has our friends. As long as you go to Europe, we will introduce you to some powerful friends, even members of the royal family of various countries.

As for supporting President Fillmore's re-election, His Excellency the President has now been successfully re-elected, and I think you should have no worries now.

You want to open up the European market with us, and we welcome it.

Of course, we can also hand over the new cannons and drawings you want to you now."

James said very clearly.

"What you need to do is to give priority to our high-quality partner in providing kerosene, and we want to get kerosene from you at the most affordable price. That is to say, in the future, if your other partners want to get goods from you, the price cannot be lower than the price you give us.

This is our only condition. If you can agree to this condition, we can sit down and continue to discuss our cooperation happily together."

Leonard's request was not excessive. Liang Yao agreed after a little thought.

"Of course, we are partners. I promise you that the Rothschild family will get kerosene from Standard Oil Group at the most favorable price."

"Then we will have a happy cooperation."

Leonard, who always thinks highly of himself, took off his gloves and shook hands with Liang Yao cordially and friendly.

After leaving the factory, Liang Yao invited Lionel and others to dine at a restaurant in Los Angeles.

There were no high-end restaurants in Los Angeles. After all, before the development of the chemical industry, the population of Los Angeles was less than 10,000, and the number of wealthy people was even smaller. There was no demand for high-end restaurants.

But with the development of the chemical industry, a group of wealthy businessmen poured into Los Angeles and the rise of the middle class, Los Angeles became rich almost overnight.

High-end restaurants and luxury stores have also sprung up in Los Angeles to meet the needs of the emerging class in Los Angeles.

The most high-end restaurant in Los Angeles is located near the Los Angeles Plaza, where every inch of land is worth a lot of money. This is the most crowded place in Los Angeles.

This restaurant is called Guangli Restaurant. It is opened by a Chinese-French couple and can provide authentic French and Cantonese cuisine.

The male owner of the restaurant is a branch of Guangli, one of the Thirteen Hongs in Guangzhou, and the hostess is a poor little noble in Normandy, France.

Since Liang Yao is going to treat guests, Deng Wenshun naturally brought Liang Yao to the most prestigious restaurant in Los Angeles.

Seeing that Mayor Deng Wenshun was leading the way in front with a respectful attitude, the male owner of the restaurant, Lu Shen, did not dare to neglect it and personally brought his wife to entertain these distinguished guests.

"Who is this distinguished guest?" Lu Shen couldn't help his curiosity and asked Deng Wenshun carefully.

In Los Angeles, only others can nod and bow to Deng Wenshun. This is the first time Lu Shen has seen Deng Wenshun nod and bow to others.

"This is my cousin." Deng Wenshun answered proudly.

"Your cousin?" Lu Shen quickly reacted, and he slapped his forehead, "Your cousin, isn't that General Liang?"

"Go and do your work, you are very lucky today. The general wants to receive guests here, and you must serve these gentlemen well. The general is negotiating a big deal of several million pounds with them." Deng Wenshun said.

Lu Shen nodded in agreement and led the group to the private room on the third floor. Then he prepared meals for these guests as quickly as possible, including various Chinese and French meals.

"I didn't expect to eat such authentic French food in such a remote place." James was very satisfied with the arranged meals.

It seems that the development of California has far exceeded his expectations. James is now even considering leaving his capable man August in California to develop the market here.

Perhaps there are more businesses here than just kerosene.

Lionel's mind was still on kerosene: "Mr. Liang, how many liters of kerosene can be refined from each ton of crude oil? And at what price will you sell the kerosene to us?"

Production and profit were the issues that Lionel was most concerned about.

"According to the technology we have mastered, about 25 liters of kerosene can be refined from each ton of crude oil. However, the specific amount of kerosene that can be refined depends on the quality of the crude oil. Good quality crude oil can be refined into more than 30 liters of kerosene per ton, while poor quality crude oil may only be able to refine more than ten liters of kerosene per ton." Liang Yao thought for a while and said.

"As for the price I will give you, the high-quality kerosene is 12 cents per liter, the medium-quality kerosene is 10 cents per liter, and the low-quality kerosene is 8 cents per liter."

The average cost of kerosene produced in Los Angeles is currently between 4 and 5 cents per liter. If it is sold to the Rothschild family at this price, there will be at least 100% profit.

Although this profit is very high, it is certainly not comparable to the profit in the United States.

The storage and transportation cost of transporting kerosene from Los Angeles to New York is about 10 cents, while in the Crystal Palace Mall, the price of kerosene of different qualities is between 20 and 30 cents per liter, and the profit can be seen.

However, since the European market is being opened up in cooperation with the Rothschild family, the profit of kerosene in the European market will definitely not be so high, and it is necessary to give some to the Rothschild family.

Moreover, the main purpose of Liang Yao's cooperation with the Rothschild family is to use Rothschild's resources and connections to build his own sales network in Europe, and then sell other products.

After all, he now has more than just kerosene.

"This is not much different from the price that those retail investors pay in kerosene stores. Mr. Liang, your purchase price lacks the sincerity of cooperation."

Leonard was not satisfied with Liang Yao's offer.

Of course, he was not angry. When talking about business, they could still bargain with each other.

"But those retail investors cannot guarantee that they can always get the goods, and you don't have such troubles. The kerosene in Los Angeles will be supplied to the Rothschild family first." Liang Yao did not intend to give in on this price, and he explained to Lionel.

"This price is the price you receive after the goods are shipped to Europe, including the storage and transportation costs in the middle. I am now the largest shipping company in the United States. These goods can be transported by my fleet and delivered to you safely without going through other people's hands.

After these kerosene arrives in Europe, you have the final say on what price you want to sell it at. My people are only responsible for assisting you in sales and will not interfere with your pricing.

The current market price of whale oil is 50 cents per liter, and the prices of other animal fuels and plant fuels are also between 40 cents and 60 cents, that is, as long as you have a profit margin of more than 300%.

I think my price is sincere enough."

After hearing that this was the price without shipping to Europe, the expression on Lionel's face gradually relaxed.

After some bargaining, the two parties finally signed a cooperation agreement in the restaurant and formally reached a cooperation.

Leonard also handed over the four new artillery pieces and two boxes of technical drawings he brought this time to Liang Yao.

After finishing the meal and drinking a little wine with Lionel and others, Liang Yao took out his pocket watch to check the time.

But the pointer on the pocket watch did not move at all. Liang Yao even suspected that he had hallucinations because he drank too much.

He rubbed his eyes and looked carefully. The pointer on the pocket watch was still motionless. Obviously, there was something wrong with his pocket watch.

"Wen Shun, what time is it now?" Liang Yao asked Deng Wenshun the current time.

"10 o'clock and 5 words in the evening. It's late, otherwise I will stay in Los Angeles for one night?" Deng Wenshun took out his pocket watch and looked at it and replied.

"Zi" is a time measurement unit in most places in Guangdong and Fujian. The Chinese immigrants in California are mainly from Fujian and Guangdong, and this measurement unit with regional characteristics has also been brought to California.

One word represents that the minute hand on the clock jumps from one number to another, which is five minutes.

10 o'clock and 5 words is 10:25.

His housekeeper, his third uncle Liang Shaoyu, sent him a telegram saying that Guangdong Navy Admiral Hong Mingxiang and his fifth uncle Liang Shaoqiong had been waiting for him in San Francisco for many days.

These two people came to see him, mostly to purchase arms and the affairs of the Guangdong Brave.

There were still many things waiting for him to deal with in San Francisco. Liang Yao did not plan to stay in Los Angeles, but to go to the train station in Los Angeles.

A year ago, there was a train between Los Angeles and San Francisco, and it was very convenient and fast to return to San Francisco from Los Angeles.

If we set off now, we can arrive in San Francisco around ten o'clock tomorrow morning.

"No, I have to go back to Jinshan."

Liang Yao put on his coat and asked about the next itinerary of Lionel, James and others.

"Are you going to rest in Los Angeles and return to Europe or do you have other plans?"

"The development of California is beyond our expectations. We are very interested in California now and plan to continue to investigate California for a while."

James and Lionel discussed for a while and replied.