Chapter 361: The Best Advertisement

"Thank you, Sir James, for your kindness. However, Standard Oil has just received £1 million from your bank, and Standard Oil currently has sufficient funds.

The problem Standard Oil needs to consider now is how to make good use of the £1 million on hand, rather than needing more funds."

Liang Yao put the teacup in his hand on the tea table and said.

"I am here to tell you a good news. His Majesty Napoleon has decided to provide another huge order to California, an order for 50,000 sets of military uniforms." Le Goff said.

"Also completed within half a year?"

Faced with this sudden large order, Liang Yao wanted to be happy but couldn't be happy.

Last month, Gibson also threw an order for 13,000 military blankets and 5,000 sets of military uniforms to his clothing factory.

In addition to these military orders, the clothing factory also has the original civilian orders.

Liang Yao's Lotus Garment Factory occupies more than 75% of the production capacity of ready-made clothes in California. The scale and output of other garment factories are still relatively small. Even if Liang Yao transfers part of the orders to these garment factories, it is probably impossible to complete the order of 50,000 sets of military uniforms within half a year.

"Your Majesty hopes that you can complete this order within half a year. If you really can't complete it, you can complete this order within 9 months." Le Goff said.

Napoleon III hopes to get this batch of military uniforms within a year. Excluding the transportation time, completing the order within 9 months is the bottom line that Le Goff can accept.

"If it is 9 months, then I will definitely complete this order as scheduled. You just need to wait for the good news of the delivery of military uniforms at home." Liang Yao breathed a sigh of relief.

In 9 months, if the workers work overtime, they can still complete the order of 50,000 sets of military uniforms.

"In addition to military uniforms, Sir James also won a military order for you." August on the side interrupted.

"Military order? Your Majesty is interested in our rifles made in California?" Liang Yao's eyes lit up.

Although Hong Mingxiang helped him digest the inventory of 5,100 Walter 1851E rifles, due to the large inventory, including the newly produced guns in the past three months, the Sacramento Arsenal still has 33,000 Walter 1851E rifles in stock.

As for Liang Shaoqiong's Yueyong, they purchased the full-blooded version of the Walter 1851 rifle. The production of this type of rifle was not high, and the inventory was relatively small. Liang Yao was not worried about the problem of too many Walter 1851 rifles in stock.

After all, he also needs to use this type of rifle himself.

The reason why the Sacramento Arsenal has always had poor sales is that in addition to the damn congressional masters in Washington who have always refused to purchase more advanced rifles for the army to replace the old Springfield M1842 rifles, poor exports are also a very important reason.

Good wine is afraid of deep alleys. The low popularity of the Sacramento Arsenal is the main reason for the poor export performance of the export-oriented Walter rifles.

In addition to giving priority to purchasing weapons from their own arsenals, the armies of various countries tend to prefer to purchase imported weapons from established arms factories.

Because the weapons of those established factories have been tested in war, and their quality and reputation are relatively guaranteed.

Compared with established military factories such as Springfield, Enfield, and Dresser, the Sacramento Arsenal is almost unknown.

The best place to test the quality of weapons is the battlefield, and the battlefield is the best advertising platform for weapons.

The only record of the Walter M1851 rifle participating in the war is Liang Yao's expedition to Japan.

And this war had little influence on the European continent.

If the French army can use the Walter M1851 rifle to achieve good results in the Near East, the reputation of the Sacramento Arsenal will naturally spread.

It is difficult to find a customer like France, whose army is both capable and the country is not short of money.

It is Liang Yao's dream to sell light weapons produced in California to France.

"That's right. Sir James offended a lot of people in order to sell your rifle to His Majesty." August said.

August was not exaggerating. Selling foreign weapons to the French army would inevitably offend French arms dealers.

If it weren't for the kerosene business, James, the old fox, would definitely not help him recommend California's arms products to Napoleon III.

"I owe Sir James a big favor for these." Liang Yao smiled, "I wonder how many rifles His Majesty wants?"

Liang Yao thought that since the French army wanted equipment and the Crimean War was imminent, the number of rifles Napoleon III wanted must be very considerable.

"50,000 rifles." August smiled and said, "But your majesty hopes the price can be cheaper. After all, the price of a rifle is 155 francs, which is too expensive." (1 US dollar is about 1823 francs)

The order of 50,000 rifles made Liang Yao very happy. After all, it is a long-established European power with deep pockets.

"How about 150 francs each?" Liang Yao put a zero.

"You are not sincere enough, Mr. Liang. This is a large order of 50,000 rifles. The British army began to replace the 1851 Minié rifle in 1851, and only less than 20,000 rifles have been replaced so far. Our majesty has placed a large order of 50,000 rifles for you in one go under pressure." August was not satisfied with the price.

"What price do you think is sincere enough?" Liang Yao narrowed his eyes and looked at Auguste.

"130 francs per rifle." Auguste quoted the price.

130 francs is 25 US dollars. This guy directly cut the price from 30 US dollars to 25 US dollars, which is a bit beyond Liang Yao's bottom line.

"One price 140 francs (27 US dollars) per rifle." Liang Yao looked painful.

"Okay." Auguste accepted the price reluctantly.

After the price was agreed, the next thing was some details, such as when all the guns could be delivered, the amount of ammunition, and the proportion of the deposit paid by the French side.

In the end, the two sides reached an agreement that the Sacramento Arsenal would deliver 33,000 rifles immediately, and the remaining 17,000 rifles would be delivered within six months.

The French side paid 60% of the payment, that is, 3.9 million francs as a deposit, and the remaining 40% of the payment was guaranteed by the Bank of France and the Rothschild Bank.

The payment will be made after the remaining 17,000 rifles are delivered and accepted.

The French government currently has a good reputation, and after Napoleon III came to power, the French political situation has gradually stabilized, and the economy will enter a period of rapid development.

Liang Yao does not have to worry too much about the French government defaulting.

Of course, the Rothschild Bank guarantee also makes Liang Yao feel at ease. After all, it is hard to say that the final payment of 2.6 million francs will be a huge sum of money for the Rothschild family.

In order to increase the production of kerosene, Liang Yao decided to form the California Petroleum Association and open Standard Oil's refining technology to the members of the association.

However, before opening Standard Oil's refining technology, Liang Yao has a bolder idea, which is to first establish a chemical company in which the government holds an absolute majority of shares to improve the financial situation of the California state government in the future.