Chapter 117 Krina, the goddess Nymph of Dagel

At this time, France had come out of the shadow of the Prussian War, and its capital, Paris, became more prosperous.

Even in March, the weather is still very cold, and Paris is a beautiful city, at least much more beautiful than London, full of romanticism.

Hu Chuyuan and his group of more than 20 people stayed in a luxury hotel in Paris, not far from the Louvre. The next day, he couldn't wait to make an appointment with the beautiful Miss Wu Shuzhen to visit the Louvre.

Walking in the long corridor, Hu Chuyuan looked very leisurely, and Wu Shuzhen was also very happy. The two of them discussed and watched those rare treasures.

Especially before the world famous Mona Lisa, they stayed the longest.

While watching and chatting, Wu Shuzhen couldn't help but be a little curious. She felt strange and didn't understand how Hu Chuyuan would be interested in these works of art in Europe.

Along the way, when he arrived at the part of the modern painting museum, Hu Chuyuan finally saw another famous painting he liked more - "Freedom to Guide the People", but Miss Wu Shuzhen, who was always elegant, also looked a little embarrassed.

Probably because of the beautiful woman with her breasts in the center of the oil painting.

Wrong, it's because of the beautiful woman**'s breasts.

Hu Chuyuan looked at it with great taste and seemed to get a strange power from it, which made him want to do something as big as the woman and child in the painting and become more brave.

He likes this painting very much, but unfortunately he can't get it.

Delaclova is already a very famous painter. He has been dead for more than a decade. In addition, the number of works is not large. The main works are treasured in the Louvre, and the rest of the works are also at a high price in the current European art market.

It's a little late to invest in him now.

Instead of this, it's better to invest in the paintings of Van Gogh, Manet, Monet, Cézanne and others. These people are miserable now. They basically belong to the state of eating the last meal. If you buy it casually, you can get rich in the future and have to worry about eating and drinking for the rest of your life.

"Forget it, I won't watch it!"

Hu Chuyuan suddenly decided to leave.

Wu Shuzhen couldn't help but be a little surprised and asked, "What's wrong with you? Is there anything urgent?"

Hu Chuyuan said, "No!"

Wu Shuzhen asked again, "Then why did you leave? Aren't you quite interested just now?"

Hu Chuyuan sighed very seriously and said, "I can only see it. I can't buy it. I'm very depressed. Let's go and see what we can buy. Think about it, as long as they are some famous painters now, when they die, the price of paintings can be doubled several times. What a good business this is. With the money in my hand, I decided to buy more for my children and grandchildren to show off.

Wu Shuzhen laughed on the spot, giggling non-stop, and her cheeks were so red that she couldn't breathe.

She finally stopped, but said, "You are so funny that you are thinking about your children and grandchildren at such a young age... However, what you said really makes sense. You can only watch, not buy, so let's find some places to buy things!"

"Hmm...?"

She thought about it again, and suddenly asked Hu Chuyuan with some interest, "Let's go to the jewelry store?"

Hu Chuyuan asked puzzledly, "Why? As for my status, I still need to go to the jewelry store. Let's buy the best gems directly and ask someone to customize it."

As a anniverser who will certainly leave a great reputation in history, he is too clear about the profits of the jewelry store. If he goes in, he will be slaughtered. What's more, he is ready to invest in a jewelry store by himself.

How high is the profit margin of this industry!

Wu Shuzhen couldn't help laughing and said, "Well, I know you have money, so continue to find a place where you can buy art!"

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "It's okay to go to the jewelry store. Anyway, I'm just wandering around today."

The two immediately agreed to go to the nearby jewelry store first, and then go to see the cultural relics and art collection market.

However, Miss Wu Shuzhen visited almost all the jewelry Stores nearby, but only bought a pair of diamond earrings for only 400 francs.

This efficiency really makes Hu Chuyuan speechless.

After leaving the whole street of the jewelry store, the two took a carriage to another block and bypassed the Seine, which is a railway station in Paris. There are a large number of salon galleries nearby, especially the official salon of the French Arts Council.

There, a large number of paintings are always on display year after year.

Sure enough, in the first small gallery, Hu Chuyuan got lucky and saw "The Flute Boy" at a glance.

When he asked about the price, the gallery owner uneasily said a price that seemed to be discountable - 200 francs, that is, 8 pounds, 32 taels of silver.

Oh my God!

Hu Chuyuan exclaimed in his heart that it was too easy to make money. After saving it at home for 130 years, the value of this painting will rise to 800 million RMB.

The opportunity came so easily, which made Hu Chuyuan full of doubts, so he couldn't help questioning the gallery owner several times, and finally determined that it was really the work of a depressed painter named Edward Manet.

It is estimated that Edward Manet is about to die, and a good opportunity must not be missed.

Hu Chuyuan bought it immediately.

He is really lucky this time. There are hundreds of galleries in this area. At this time, there are too many painters in France, and most of them will never be famous.

With his artistic vision, it is really difficult to get high-quality products from it.

So, he only talks about people to buy.

Through difficult communication with the owner of the gallery, Hu Chuyuan finally figured out the original French names of Manet, Monet and Cézanne. He also felt that the owner of the gallery was a very good businessman, so he asked the other party to help buy the works of these three people.

He wanted to know Van Gogh's French name, but Van Gogh was so unknown that the owner of the gallery didn't know who he was at all.

Walking out of the gallery, Wu Shuzhen asked Hu Chuyuan curiously, "How do you know these people? I don't think the gallery agent is very clear?"

Hu Chuyuan thought for a while and said, "I saw it in an old newspaper a few days ago. It is said that it was scolded by the French art world. You don't know that the more scolded now, the easier it will be to become famous in the future. When they die, their paintings will be valuable. The more scolded, the more valuable it will be."

Wu Shuzhen couldn't stand it and couldn't stand it with a smile.

After a while, she sighed, "You're so funny."

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "Anyway, it's worthless. Just take it as gambling. In case I win the bet, I will be rich."

Wu Shuzhen, Uh-huh, but smiled and said, "Please, you have been developed for a long time. Even if you win the bet, when their paintings are valuable, it seems that you should bury them in your sleep!"

Hu Chuyuan became more serious and said, "That can also be left to the children and grandchildren. I have thought about it. In the future, I will open an art museum to display my collection of art treasures and collect tickets to keep these works of art. I have figured out the name, and it's called Jiangnan Art Museum.

Wu Shuzhen praised and said, "To be honest, you are really a curious man. You can think far away. Well, let me also invest in this plan. You have to pay me 500 pounds a month to invest in art. At that time, my things will also be exhibited in the museum.

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "Why don't you just ask your family for money to invest in business with me? I promise that when we die, your investment will rise to an amazing level."

Wu Shuzhen smiled and said, "For the sake of helping you so much, you can lend me hundreds of thousands of taels of silver. If you really make money like what you said, you should not lose money?"

Hu Chuyuan sighed and thought, the wool came out of the sheep!

He said generously and said, "Then I'll lend you one million taels of silver and invest another one million taels myself. If we do business in partnership, I don't know what kind of business you want to do!"

Wu Shuzhen immediately became interested. What a good thing.

She thought for a while full of longing, and then asked Hu Chuyuan, "Have you noticed that the price of gold in Europe is twice as high as that of gold in China. The price of gold and silver here is 20 to 1, and 10 to 1 in China...!"

"Don't do it!" Before she finished speaking, Hu Chuyuan refused and said, "First of all, the Qing court strictly prohibited the outflow of gold, and could not sell domestic gold transportation at all. Secondly, even if it could be sold, I would not do it. One day, China will also become a gold standard system. At that time, we will need gold more than anyone else.

Wu Shuzhen smiled and said, "Yes, one day, the price of gold in China will rise to 20 to 1. Now we invest in gold and store a lot of gold, can't we make a lot of money?"

Hu Chuyuan sighed and said, "You are talking about the law, and it's really not so rational to do business. Think about it, I don't know how many years it will take. If you have to wait for 20 years, the return on investment is too low. Unless I have enough capital to hoard half of the domestic gold and artificially pull the soaring price of gold, it will not be a good time to invest in gold for the time being.

Wu Shuzhen had to admit, saying, "When it comes to doing business, there are really few people who can compare with you. Juno City in Alaska seems to have gold mines, and there are many, but it's too cold there and the development has not been smooth. If you want to invest in gold mines there, I can do it for you.

Hu Chuyuan thought for a moment and said, "I really can't bear to let you go to such a cold place. You'd better stay with me!"

Listening to this, Wu Shuzhen was secretly happy, and a blush gushed out of her cheeks. She whispered with shame, "What are you talking about?"

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "This business can be done. After about half a year, I can take out a large amount of money to invest in the United States. At that time, I can let Wanqi Yanghang handle it."

Wu Shuzhen asked, "So what kind of business do you think I'm going to do?"

Hu Chuyuan said, "We invest in a jewelry store in Shanghai, also engaged in gold and silver, import gems from Sri Lanka and Africa through Taikoo Yanghang, import platinum, and purchase gold in China for design and processing."

Wu Shuzhen couldn't help but say, "Really, aren't you afraid that I will steal and steal the best jewelry quietly?"

Hu Chuyuan smiled and said, "That's better than spending money on others, right?"

He is a man who thinks for a long time. If he opens a jewelry store by himself, he will definitely save a lot of money in the future.

Wu Shuzhen is also very happy, and there is an indescribable sweet taste in her heart.

Back to the hotel, Wei Yuan, who was in charge of negotiating arms sales in France, had rushed over from Finister Province to report to Hu Chuyuan and the progress of the French negotiations.

Affected by the Yingfu Arms Sales Agreement, the negotiations with France suddenly became very smooth. Wei Yuan and others have made good progress, so Hu Chuyuan did not plan to get involved too much and tried his best to let people like Wei Yuan, who really understand technology, talk about it.

Hu Chuyuan himself devoted his main energy to collecting works of art. Through the contacts he accumulated in Britain and France, he got a list of personnel of the British and French allied forces at that time, and secretly repurchased the national treasures robbed from the Yuanmingyuan from those people, their descendants and successors and successors - of course, this has to be done secretly, if the court Ting knew that he had bought these things, and maybe something would happen again.

Not only that, he also bought Edward Manet's Breakfast on the Grass, Olympia, and Monet's Impressions, including some other works of the two.

At this time, Van Gogh also became a professional painter, and no real works came out, which should be regarded as a regret of Hu Chuyuan's trip to Europe.

Hu Chuyuan has his own aesthetic taste. In fact, he doesn't like impressionism. He prefers romanticism and aesthetic style of paintings. He especially appreciates the works of British Lord Leyton and French painter Kulbert, although he has not even heard of the names of these two people before.

He doesn't care how much these two people's works will be worth in the future, as long as he likes them.

He asked Sir John Brooke and French art dealer Paul Nadafi to act as his agents. He took out 600,000 pounds at a time to buy 12 works such as Lorddleyton's most famous Music Class, Greek Girl by the Sea, Kerina, Dagger's Nymph and so on.

Like the national treasure he secretly repurchased and Monet's Impressions, these works are carefully treasured in his Belize mansion.

He thought that if one day the British and the French wanted to buy back these works of art from him, it would be interesting! Although these paintings may not have appreciated in the end because of his collection, they don't seem to care much.

He focuses more on his own likes and psychological happiness. If he can really buy most of Van Gogh's works, he thinks that in the future, he can continue to raise prices with his identity and so-called enthusiasm.

Even if it's Van Gogh's work, he may not care much about it. The only exception is "Krina, Dagger's Nymph", because he likes it very much.

I don't know why, this painting seems to have a kind of magic, which deeply attracts him and awakens a desire in his body.

He thought that if there were such beautiful spring spirits in the world, he would rather give up everything and live in seclusion by the spring of the mountain forest just to see her.

Half a month later...!

The "French Arms Sales Agreement to China" was finally reached. Based on the transfer of Laroche-class offshore defense ship manufacturing technology from France to Fuzhou Shipping Administration, Fuzhou Shipping Administration purchased four Weijiang-class defense ships with a displacement of 1,350 tons from France, requiring that all of them must be completed and handed over by March 1882.

The French navy agreed to the invitation of the Fuzhou Ship Administration and sent six technical experts, mainly white workers, to the Fuzhou Ship Administration for a four-year consultancy work, and was willing to continue to accept and train the students of the Ship Administration School.

At this time, the envoy Li Fengbo was still arguing for the ultra-long-range ship, the Yangwei ship and the British. The main reason was that Jin Denggan, the messenger, was too exaggerated and the general ship boasted too well, which induced Li Hongzhang to sign the contract. The result was not the same at all.

For specific technical negotiations and supervision matters, Hu Chuyuan was handed over to Wei Han, Lin Yiyou and Yang Lianchen, led by Wei Han, and set up Fuzhou Shipping Offices in Brest and London. Wei Han and Lin Yiyou served as the affairs, while Chen Zhaohao and Zheng Qinglian returned to Fuzhou Shipping Administration.

Among the many talents trained by Fuzhou Ship Administration School, five naval generals, Sa Zhenbing, Chai Zhuoqun, Ye Chen, Jiang Chaoying and Zheng Puquan, who are studying in the UK, will also return to Fuzhou together. Fang Boqian, Lin Yingqi and Chen Jinrong have been recommended by Li Fengfu to Li Hongzhang's Beiyang Marine Division.

Ye Fu, Deng Shichang and nine others went to the Royal Naval Academy to study as they wished. Ye Boyu and Huang Jianxun wanted to transfer to the Army Artillery Tactics in the United Kingdom. Hu Chuyuan thought of many ways and finally recommended them to the Royal Army Academy for further study through the relationship with Armstrong Company.

Luo Fenglu, who studied chemistry in the United Kingdom, Yan Fu, who studied social sciences, Luo Zhenlu, who studied chemistry in France, Chen Jitong, Wang Qiaonian and others who studied law and politics, Hu Chuyuan also recommended Oxford and other universities for further study for two years.

After finishing these things one after another, it was mid-April 1880. Hu Chuyuan originally wanted to go to Germany to lay the foundation for future cooperation, but Tan Yiyun sent a telegram from Danguo Dabei Telegraph Company, forcing him to suspend his trip to Europe. With only a few people, he quietly rented another Clipper back. Country.

(to be continued)