Let Middlemen Profit from the Price Difference

Early the next morning, United States. envoy Andy Fred arrived at the "White Castle" estate to meet Louis Bonaparte, chairman of the Louisiana Development Bank, who was known as the invisible governor of Louisiana.

His carriage wound its way along the mountain road for quite some time before finally arriving at the manor gate. The carriage stopped there, Andy Fred alighted, walked to the gate, and handed a business card to the doorman. A moment later, the gate opened, and a man dressed as a waiter informed Andy Fred that Mr. Bonaparte was waiting for him in the drawing room.

Andy Fred followed the man into the manor, through the front garden with its fountain, then through the marble-floored hall, upstairs to a small living room on the second floor. A young man was waiting for him there.

"Hello, please have a seat. I am Louis Bonaparte, president of the Louisiana Development Bank. I heard that you have a business to discuss with me." Louis knew that United States, or rather people from the New World, didn't like beating around the bush, so he spoke directly and simply.

"Well, as you know, we recently went to war with Britain. And Britain is also your country's enemy..." Andy Fred said.

"No, Mr. Fred, you may have misunderstood a few things." Louis shook his finger, emphasizing his words. "First, you may have misunderstood my identity. My identity is the chairman of the Louisiana Development Bank. I am a businessman, and my only concern is the growth of corporate wealth. That is my job. Although some people may have said that because of my brother, they think I would interfere in politics. Well, that's wrong most of the time. If I have done anything that makes people think I'm interfering in politics, it's because they themselves don't understand the difference between making money and politics."

Furthermore, even considering only politics, your statement is problematic. First, we do not consider Britain our enemy. France and Britain are currently at peace. Of course, there have been some recent unpleasantness between us and Britain due to trade issues. However, disputes between traders are common between any two countries. If, and I mean if, tomorrow the Britain change their attitude on trade issues, acknowledging and respecting the principles of free trade and the Open Door Policy, then we will be an unadulterated friendly neighbor. Therefore, you cannot regard us as the enemy of the Britain because of this.

Of course, we and the United States are also truly friendly neighbors. Therefore, we are willing to achieve a win-win outcome through free trade. If you've come to me about trade, then you've come to the right person. But if your purpose is something else, then I think you may have come to the wrong person."

"Ah, Mr. Bonaparte, I am indeed here to discuss trade matters," Andy Fred said hastily. "You know, our country is currently suffering from the barbaric aggression of the Britain. We need to purchase weapons, and we need to lease two cruisers from the Louisiana Squadron."

"You want to lease two cruisers? That's not easy to do..." Louis said.

"We already have a successful precedent of cooperation with your country," Andy Fred said, referring, of course, to the United States. government's lease of the Free Trade and Common Market from France.

"It's different," Louis shook his head. "When that lease was made, your country and Britain were at peace. Therefore, our country's lease of these two warships to your country was entirely in accordance with trade and war principles. But now it's different. Now your country and Britain are at war. If it's just a general arms deal, especially a civilian arms deal, you know, Louisiana and your country have a long border. Some smuggling along this border is unavoidable. So, if a large number of France -made civilian weapons flow into your country, I don't think it will have a significant impact."

But warships are different from these things. Warships can't be smuggled over, and France can't lease warships to countries at war. That would violate France's principles of peace. Well, at least, we can't directly lease warships to you,"Louis said, emphasizing the word "directly" to avoid the United States bumpkins not understanding.

It turns out that United States are not intellectually challenged. They can understand such simple meanings.

"Mr. Bonaparte, does that mean this agreement can be reached if it goes through someone else in the middle?" Andy Fred asked quickly.

"I think this is a feasible solution," Louis replied. "At least, there are no legal problems with doing so."

"Thank you for your guidance," Andy Fred said sincerely. "Also, Mr. Bonaparte, who do you think would be the most convenient person to act as an intermediary?"

Andy Fred asked this not because the United States couldn't find suitable intermediaries, but because there were clearly many loopholes in the process through which they could legally earn commissions or similar income. This profit, of course, should go to Louis, or rather, to the Louisiana Development Bank. If even this basic principle wasn't understood, then the business was certainly doomed.

"Ah, I think Saint-Domingue would be good, what do you think?" Louis replied.

Just a year earlier, Saint-Domingue had completed its independence and officially become a France "protectorate." Governor-General Toussaint Louverture also became a lifelong governor.

Although Saint-Domingue had declared independence, it remained part of France's economic sphere and accepted France protection, much like Bhutan later accepted India's protection. It was perfectly reasonable for Saint-Domingue to request the lease of cruisers from its former colonial power, which the France readily agreed to—no problem whatsoever. However, Saint-Domingue, after acquiring France cruisers, immediately subleased them to the United States. This showed that Saint-Domingue did not understand international norms and exploited loopholes in the contract. Besides, in a predominantly Black country, such things are not uncommon, are they?

Of course, there will definitely be middlemen making a profit in this process, but if there weren't middlemen making a profit, who would do it for you?

After both sides reached an agreement on the fundamental issues, what remained were the details. These matters did not require discussion by a high-ranking official like Louis. So the two exchanged a few more casual words, and Andy Fred got up and left.