Chapter 67 Minister’s Line

March 2, 1867.

St. Petersburg.

Cross, the judgment expert of the Hechingen Consortium, is bargaining with Count Sergei (a fictional character), a close confidant of Tsar Alexander II.

"Your Excellency Count Sergei, is the news about your country's intention to sell Alaska really reliable?"

Cross cautiously asked Count Sergey for confirmation. After all, this was a big deal and there was no room for sloppiness.

"With my status and status, I don't have such little thoughts to play tricks on you. In fact, some ministers previously proposed to His Majesty to sell the Alaska Territory. Some even wanted to get in touch with the US government and let them take over the Alaska Territory. "Count Sergei said seriously.

"Now Alaska is already a burden on the empire, and it is also facing threats from the British, so there are calls to sell the Alaska region."

After hearing this, Cross knew that the news was almost complete, so he asked: "Mr. Sergey, will your country stop expanding to the Americas?"

Cross's words were very rude, but Sergey, who had already taken the money, didn't care at all.

Explained: "Since the Crimean War, the empire has embarked on the path of reform, reform! That costs money, and now our focus is on Central Asia, and we currently have no energy to develop American colonies. In order to manage and develop the Alaska colony, we must not only make a profit, but also suffer losses from time to time. The economic situation of the empire has not been good in the past two years, and some people have long wanted to sell Alaska for cash."

Cross then said: "Yes, our Hechingen Consortium has the intention to purchase your country's Alaska colony."

"Of course there is no problem, but if you want to use me to build a bridge, it will cost you a lot of hard work... you know!" Sergey made a gesture of counting money with his fingers.

"Your Excellency Count Sergei, if you can make this deal for us, we will never forget the friendship of our friends." Cross said hurriedly.

With that said, he calmly handed a check for 20,000 rubles to Sergey.

"This is just a greeting gift. It's a small gesture, not a sign of respect!"

After looking at the check in his hand and counting the amount, Sergey was quite satisfied.

He asked: "What effect do you want? I can find some friends to help, but the reward cannot be low!"

Cross cautiously probed: "Your Excellency, Count Sergei, would you like to ask if it is possible to purchase Alaska with a few million rubles?"

"This is absolutely impossible! You must know that Alaska covers an area of ​​more than one million square kilometers. Even wealthy Americans cannot get Alaska without spending millions of dollars." Sergey said firmly. .

"What are your country's psychological expectations?" Cross asked.

Sergey thought for a moment and stretched out a finger.

"Ten million dollars!" Cross suppressed the shock in his heart. The Russians really dared to think that.

Cross has also done some research. The so-called Alaska is actually a large snowy land. Although the area is large, it cannot grow food and has no minerals. The Russians also developed the fur business in Alaska.

In the past two years, I have heard from Russian fur traders that the fur business in Alaska is not easy to do now, so where is the value?

If the company hadn't sent him here to discuss business, Cross wouldn't have wanted to buy this large piece of snow.

"Your Excellency Count Sergei, you and I know very well that although Alaska is very large, it is actually just a piece of snow with little value. It is not worth ten million US dollars at all." Cross said to Xie Ergai said.

"And our consortium does not have any urgent need to purchase this land, so the price cannot be too high."

Sergey asked curiously: "Then why did you buy such a large piece of white land with no economic value?"

Sergey also knew that the Alaska colony was now a completely bad land, with little output, and that it cost the empire a lot of financial resources every year to maintain its sovereignty over the Alaska region. Now Russia is busy looking for a bad guy to acquire Alaska, but Currently, only the Hechingen Consortium has taken the initiative to contact the empire.

Cross pretended to be helpless and explained to Sergey: "It's just the boss's own little idea. He once told us that if something cannot be done, there is no need to force it." Cross said calmly.

"Mr. Cross, I actually don't quite understand why someone would buy such a piece of wasteland. Does your boss have any quirks?" Sergey asked curiously.

"If you don't like it, Mr. Sergey, our boss does have a hobby. This is just our guess!"

Cross said to Sergey mysteriously, "It is said that he also took over a piece of land in Africa for colonization, but what about Africa? I believe you also know that in addition to tropical diseases, there are also terrifying natural diseases. Due to the environment, he actually set up a plantation industry there in a whimsical way, and even recruited immigrants from other places at a loss. To be honest, the local indigenous people are the most suitable labor force. Isn’t this a sacrifice of the good and the weak?”

"This doesn't look like something a shrewd businessman could do," Cross said.

All in all, our boss is a weirdo and has been taken advantage of. If we miss this village, we won’t have this store. If you don’t cherish us, we won’t serve you.

"Mr. Cross, it's not that I don't want to help your company, but the price offered by your country is indeed too low, so our country will naturally choose Americans to purchase Alaska." Sergey and Cross said.

Isn't that what you said when you collected the money? Cross complained in his mind.

However, Ernst had already predicted this. If he wanted the Russians to contribute, he would have to use their interests to dangle them. Imagine that in his previous life, in order to get the money to sell Alaska, Russia, which has always been greedy, had to bribe the United States. It's a bit of a joy to get the money back only when the officials come. (There are also versions saying that Russia did not receive a penny, but it is unlikely.)

So what Ernst chose this time was to bribe the Russian ministers. I can't offer a better price than the Americans, but can I bribe the Russian ministers?

As for whether the United States has the same idea, it probably doesn’t. After all, historically Americans have been the majority opposed to the purchase of Alaska, so they are unlikely to be so active.

So Ernst, Cross and others gave orders: "This time when we go to Russia, we should not deal with the Alaska issue head-on, but rather bribe those ministers from the side."

So Cross said: "Your Excellency Count Sergei, as long as you can convince your government to sell the Alaska colony to us, we will provide you with a reward of 300,000 rubles, provided that it cannot exceed 15 million rubles. If on this basis , for every 1 million rubles you can reduce the purchase price for us, we are willing to pay an additional 100,000 rubles each time..."

Sergey's eyes shone, and a greedy look overflowed from his eyes involuntarily.

"Mr. Cross, if you had told us the conditions earlier, you wouldn't have been in such trouble. Don't worry! Leave the rest to me, and I will definitely satisfy your company."

For Sergey it was no different than picking up money.