"Hello, Mr. Moller." Although Sauvage II is similar in age to Veronica of the Desai family, he is serious and insists on shaking hands with Alphonse in a more mature manner.<

/p>

"Here, let me introduce you. This is Uncle Will Morty. I guess you have met him at Uncle Darren's house. This is my girlfriend, Miss Ann Charles." Alphonse held his hand casually.

Sova II introduced the two of them to him with his arm, and at the same time looked at Francis with a meaningful look. Sure enough, he understood it all at once, took Alphonse's words with a smile and continued:

"Sova naturally knows this guy Will, but it's a bit surprising that Miss Charles is your girlfriend. After all, Miss Charles is so beautiful, but you are not very outstanding."

"Pfft." An covered her face with a small fan and smiled, continuing to tease Alphonse as Francis said: "But being willing to spend money is a good quality. I always have to spend some for him before I get rid of him. Please

Come inside, Mr. Otong..."

"You didn't save any face for me." Alphonse smiled and asked Ann to hold his hand. He first made fun of himself, and then accompanied Francis and his son and Will Morty into the banquet table in the hall.

Since the Oton family is a devout Huguenot, taking into account some differences between religions, but to be on the safe side, there will be no fish at today's banquet. Instead, traditional French steaks, fresh meat and vegetable soup, and large dishes will be served.

Pieces of white bread, meat fillings with artichokes, mushrooms and other ingredients, French desserts and Bordeaux red wine.

Although it was placed directly on the table at once and it seemed that there were not so many dishes, the full appearance still made Otong and his son feel that the other party had strong financial resources. After all, a banquet that cost dozens of livres in one meal was not enough.

It's not surprising, but it seems that the standard of the banquet this time is too low. There are only a few people, and the home-cooked meal like a family banquet also costs tens of livres, which makes it appear that the wealth is even greater.

"The only feeling I have when I come to Calais is that the food here is too salty. Every bite seems to taste like sea salt." Alphonse smiled while cutting the steak with a knife and fork: "There was someone there two days ago.

He told me that his grandfather ate a lot of salt, so he lived to be 106 years old."

"Really?" An put down the pepper and went to get the salt shaker.

"This possibility is very small. I have been a doctor for so many years and I have never seen anyone live so many years, let alone eat so much salt." Will Morty smiled and answered: "I always live by the sea.

Many people suffer from rheumatism or gout, which is closely related to salt."

"That's true." Francis Oton next to him also smiled and took over the topic: "I heard that no sailor can live beyond the age of sixty, and the difference between them and us is that there is not so much fresh water to drink and eat.

There’s too much salt.”

"God shouldn't have invented such a thing as salt." An said vigorously as she sprinkled pepper on the steak.

"Without salt, there is no physical strength. Do you think it is so easy to operate a boat?" Alphonse smiled and said: "Besides, sailors earn money by working hard. If a boat goes out, who can guarantee that it will come back with all its tail and tail? It's not like today.

Are you drunk today? Mr. Francis has the most say on this point."

Francis Otong, who was being carried around by Alphonse, was startled at first, and then realized that Alphonse was paving the way for him, introducing him to the tavern business in his hands!

"Sailors are sailors who have the dream of being a man at sea. But once on the ship, they naturally understand that many things are not as beautiful as their dreams." Francis picked up the wine glass and smiled: "Not to mention the distance, I just served in the army.

When I boarded the ship, I had a fight with the people on the ship for half the first night on the ship. The reason is very simple. Everyone wants to take advantage of you in every way."

"Why dad?" This is the first time Sova II heard his father mention this matter.

"Our ship is very small. Under the captain, adjutant and four sea officers, there are only four bosuns in charge of 20 sailors including me. As soon as we boarded the ship that day, my direct bosun told me

, the army gave me a monthly salary of 150 sous, but I could only receive 80, and the other 70, half should be given to the first mate and half to him." Francis continued with a smile: "I told him

, if I get even 149 sous by the end of the month, I will break one of his arms."

"Then what?" Sova II asked.

"Then, another boatswain's man didn't let me get on the bow because I had to pay to pass through their cabin on the bow." Francis continued with a smile: "But the bow is the only place on the whole ship.

There is a toilet, which means that if I don’t pay, I won’t even have a place to poop.”

"How disgusting, how could you say this while eating?" Anhao said breathlessly.

"Then I beat up the person who blocked me, and then, when we were eating, another boatswain who was responsible for serving lunch poured my meal on the deck because I didn't buy wine for him.

"Francis continued: "I ate his share; and that night, I was almost beaten to death by a total of 18 people from these three gangs."

"God! What happens next?" Sova II covered his mouth and asked in surprise.

"I was wounded and got off the ship. When I came back for treatment, I bribed a colonel with 200 livres, and the next day I became the new captain of the ship. I spent my own money, one livre each.

We hired 40 people to hang all the 18 people who beat me on the edge of the boat to dry in the sun for three days." Francis still said with a smile on his face:

"If I didn't have a good life experience, I probably wouldn't be able to get revenge in my life, and they just didn't have a good life experience, so after being doubly revenged by me, they had to retire and leave the ship in despair. They might have died somewhere.

corner."

"They..." Sova II didn't know what to say.

"Even the navy is like this, and the sailors on other ships are even more unbearable: they usually beat those who can afford to offend and confess to those who can't afford to offend; and then spend all the money as soon as they dock, drink and find women, and spend all their time together.

On the one hand, it is to vent all the unhappiness on the ship, but on the other hand, it is also because it is afraid of giving others an advantage." Francis said with a smile:

"So my tavern business has always been very good, not only because they need to drink and play with women, but also because no one dares to bully them in my place. This is the blessing of the Otong family."

"Let's drink to Mr. Francis's feat!" Alphonse raised his glass and said with a smile.

"Cheers." Everyone raised their glasses and toasted, then drank happily.

"By the way, is that colonel Colonel Bashar?" Alphonse put down his wine glass and asked Francis directly.

"Uh...no..." Francis was about to say something else, but Alphonse already chuckled and took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Francis and said with a smile: "This is the evaluation form that An gave me today, take a look.

”

"Okay." Francis put down the wine glass, took the paper and looked at it, then frowned deeply, then looked up at Alphonse, thought for a while and then said: "What do you think?"<

/p>

"It's too low." Alphonse smiled and said: "No matter whether it is your property that gives An a bad impression, but if it is not much different from this valuation, then there is really no investment value; because this is a sum of money.

If we want to do this huge business, we must take the initiative, and I can be sure that you have no intention of giving up more than half of your shares."

"What do you mean?" Francis obviously did not expect that Alphonse felt that his business was too small and there was no investment prospect.

"Look at this, everyone here has their own reputation in Calais, your family, my family, Uncle Will's personal reputation, and An's connections in Calais. We can definitely integrate a stronger

Resources come. My idea is that I can provide money, and other families can provide whatever they can afford, including money, land, industry, manpower, and even their own connections." Alphonse smiled:

"When the whole business is up and running, I need enough employees, sailors, factories, warehouses, docks, docks, transport carriages, raw materials and everything else; we are creating a big city, which lacks everything, which means,

Everything is business."

"You want to launch the Port Committee again?" Francis asked with some surprise.

"Of course not. I am a maritime businessman. I do transnational business. It is really not easy to get too involved in local affairs and politics." Alphonse smiled slightly and continued:

"My idea is a chamber of commerce. I have a large amount of money to invest. Now as long as I join the chamber of commerce, it is my expected investment target; in other words, I will either invest in you or your competitors, because each

In business, the fewer people who share the business, the more they can share."

"Why don't you tell us about this chamber of commerce?" Francis asked with a smile.

"I have no intention of taking over the entire Calais, so my idea is for multiple groups to join in. Currently our partner is a chamber of commerce in the Netherlands. In addition, I will build a chamber of commerce independently. Uncle Darren, Uncle Will and a few of their friends

An independent chamber of commerce will also join in, and we are coordinating the influence in our respective fields." Alphonse chuckled:

"We have a fleet and workshops, the Dutch have goods and markets, Uncle Darren and the others have sales channels, local warehouses and land, and we are now also considering adding more sectors.

If possible, I hope you can integrate local hotels, taverns, and docks to help the shippers do business, and then cooperate with the operation of the General Chamber of Commerce; hotels make money from merchants, taverns make money from sailors, and docks make money from the chamber of commerce.

Calais becomes a better place, and at the same time, the Chamber of Commerce in Calais becomes more important."

Francis almost threw the cup and pointed at Alphonse and complained loudly: Is this called not wanting to rule the entire Calais? Is this called not being too involved in local affairs and politics? You are just a reversal of the East India Company, ruling

All aspects of Calais, and then use fleets and artillery to open up markets in other places, making a lot of money!

However, although the ambition is huge, the benefits are also huge! There is an opportunity to become a shareholder of the East India Company. Does Francis have the necessity or courage to refuse this? And this is also a time when he can exert his limited family prestige.

In the future, Alphonse will really take charge of the entire Calais, so what else will he do?

"You can rest assured that I will meet some friends during this time." Francis thought for a while and nodded.

"Mr. Alfred." Alphonse called back with a smile, and Alfred came over with a small bag and handed it to Alphonse.

"400 British gold pounds. Since we will cooperate no matter what, this is the money I will lend you to complete the hotel in Boulogne first. We will discuss other matters after Uncle Darren comes back." Alphonse smiled.

Then he pushed the small bag in front of Francis.

This really shocked Francis, and he easily took out 6,000 livres in cash and asked to lend it to him! Francis didn’t think that the other party needed to worry about him getting away with the money, he was mainly frightened by the amount of hot cash from the other party.

Damn it, Francis hasn’t made that much money in recent years combined!

"Thank you very much for your support. The Autong family will definitely remember your help." Francis finally took the money and replied seriously: "Although the Autong family has declined a lot, I, Francis Autong, am still in Calais.
Chapter completed!