Britain's artillery manufacturing technology was indeed ahead of Europe at this time, and seeing that Yi Zhizhi was content to buy machinery and equipment for making artillery, Yilu understood that the other party was sincere and difficult, but he had to ask for help, and he also hoped to cooperate with Yuan Qi to get a fair competition opportunity for railway construction, he knew very well what it meant once the Qing Kingdom began to build railways, and he also knew how big the market was.

As far as Britain is concerned, there is an urgent need to open up foreign markets, especially the Qing market, which has not had an economic crisis and is rich, and he has just learned that there has been a serious economic crisis in Britain, and the 12-year economic boom brought about by the great development of metallurgy, coal, locomotive manufacturing, transportation and other industries driven by the railway industry has begun to show a significant recession, and the agricultural harvest has also failed, and the prices of agricultural products have risen sharply.

The economic crisis in the United States also occurred at this time, and the financial contraction and sluggish demand caused the British exports to the United States to fall sharply by two-thirds, and the ensuing blows caused the British domestic factories to close down and go bankrupt, and the unemployment rate rose sharply.

Having experienced the two economic crises of 1816 and 1825, he knew very well how big the impact of the economic crisis was, how wide the impact was, and the duration of the event might not be as short as before.

After thinking for a while, Yi Lu spoke: "Has Mr. Yi heard of patent rights?" ”

Yi Zhishu nodded and said, "I've heard of it." ”

Yilu smiled and said, "The machinery and equipment used to manufacture artillery is the patented technology of the Karon Machinery Factory. The government has no right to intervene or interfere, Mr. Yi's request, I can't help, this needs to be directly negotiated with the Caron machinery manufacturer. ”

See him push it all the way up. Yi Zhizhi smiled and said, "It seems that Your Excellency and your country's government. The government is not sincere, and I will convey your request to the Governor. ”

This is an eviction order, Yilu hurriedly said: "No, I think Mr. Yi has misunderstood, to help your country promote industrialization." Myself and England. Politics. The government is full of sincerity, but for advanced and cutting-edge technology, especially in the military field, for the sake of national security, it is completely necessary to carry out an appropriate technical blockade, and with Mr. Yi's wisdom, he should be very clear about this. ”

Glancing at him, Yi Zhicontent politely asked, "Can I smoke a cigar?" ”

"Please." Yilu hurriedly stretched out his hand.

Yi Zhishu picked up the cigar with his hand. He took a puff, slowly exhaled the smoke in his mouth, and said, "What does Your Excellency the Superintendent need?" ”

"I hope that your country will be able to treat everyone equally, and allow our businessmen to have enough freedom like American businessmen." Yilu said slowly, "I also want to get a fair chance to compete." ”

Yi Zhishu slowly smoked his cigar silently, and it was a good thing for Yuanqi to let Britain and the United States compete, and even let European countries such as France and Germany participate in the competition. But he doesn't want to change the course of history now, once Britain is allowed to play fair. He was afraid that Britain would have some scruples and would not start a war brazenly, and he needed crows. Only in this way can he have the opportunity to develop rapidly and build a commercial armed force sufficient to protect himself. In a peaceful environment, Yuan Qi is always a fish on the chopping board to be slaughtered by the imperial court.

Of course, he didn't want to provoke Britain, he didn't want to be charged with provoking war, and more importantly. He didn't want to openly break with Britain, which would not be beneficial to Yuanqi's future development, Great Britain, the empire on which the sun never sets, is now a well-deserved world hegemon, and Yuanqi cannot erect this strong enemy in the stage of development and growth.

After a long silence, he spoke: "There is an old saying in our country, 'If you want to hurry, you can't reach it', and you should know that your Excellency should know that our country has always been closed to itself, and the imperial court is very strict against European countries, and does not allow foreign businessmen and foreign missionaries to enter the interior.

Yuan Qi's construction of railways and factories in Guangzhou can be described as an ice-breaking move, allowing the skilled workers who built the railways to enter the interior to survey the railway construction routes, and the imperial court disputed it for half a year before allowing it, if your country again asks for equal treatment, it will inevitably cause opposition from the ministers of the DPRK and China, and the construction of the Focan-Guangzhou railway is likely to be terminated.

Yuan Qi built the Fozhou-Guangzhou railway, is to let the imperial court to inspect whether the railway has practical value, I believe that your Excellency is very clear, how much the value of the railway, once the Fozhou-Guangzhou railway is completed, I believe that our country will set off a wave of railway construction upsurge, then, with your country's rich experience in the construction of railways and strong production capacity and the long history of trade between the two countries, your country can fully obtain sufficient railway construction rights, relax the restrictions on your nationals, it is also a logical thing. ”

After a moment of silence, Yi Lu said: "What Mr. Yi means is that he hopes that I will consider my long-term interests and not destroy the plan of Yuanqi Bank. ”

"Not bad." Yi Zhizu said: "I believe that Your Excellency the Director can weigh the pros and cons of this." ”

Yilu quickly said: "But I still don't understand why Yuan Qi chose to cooperate with the United States from the beginning instead of my British Empire. ”

"The reason is simple." Yi Zhizhi said with a smile: "Since the collapse of your country's East India Company, the trade between your country's retail merchants and the Thirteen Banks has been in a disorderly and bad competitive situation, and all the merchants of the Thirteen Banks are very dissatisfied with this. ”

"I will seriously consider Mr. Yi's suggestion." Yilu stood up as he spoke, he knew that he couldn't delay too long, "Mr. Yi is the wisest of the merchants of your country that I have come into contact with. As he spoke, he stretched out his hand and said, "I solemnly and sincerely invite Mr. Yi to come to the British Merchant House as a guest." ”

Seeing that he was interested, Yi Zhixiang hurriedly got up and said with a smile: "It's a pleasure to talk to Your Excellency, and I will definitely take time to visit." ”

Sending Yilu away, Wu Changqing, who had been silent, said: "Does Brother Zhilu know that this director of Yilu is against the crow. The opium trade, he once said, was a disgrace to England to make a profit from the opium trade. ”

"Oh?" Yi Zhicontent said with a smile: "It seems that Changqing still has a lot of British friends, so you can find out if there is an economic crisis in the UK." ”

Wu Changqing said in surprise: "Contentment suspects that there is also an economic crisis in the UK? ”

Nodding slightly, Yi Zhizhi said: "The economic crisis in the United States has been determined, if there is also an economic crisis in the United Kingdom, this matter will be big, and it is likely to affect the whole of Europe, and this business will be difficult to do." (To be continued.) )