Chapter 76 Who is fooling whom?

Naturally, Joseph did not squeeze in with the ordinary audience, but directly entered the theater through the VIP channel under the escort of the guards.

His seat is in the luxurious box on the third floor of the theater facing the stage. It is very spacious and can accommodate 12 people, but he is the only one sitting here at this time.

As the audience entered one after another, the surrounding music sounded, and the curtain of the stage slowly opened.

In the light gray castle, a blond boy wearing a blue double-breasted coat carved runes into a conical glass bottle, and colored mist suddenly rolled up in the bottle.

The old man in the robe in front of him took a look and said in an indifferent voice: "Thank you for the gift of the elements. Hunter Xiao, you have reached the third level of alchemy."

There were sarcastic voices all around, "Oh, did my ears deceive me? Our genius is only level three?"

"He must have been spurned by the elements. He has made no progress for many years..."

Joseph didn't expect that these actors performed well. As he was enjoying the performance, he heard someone knocking on the door of the box.

Eman glanced outside, leaned into Joseph's ear and said, "Your Highness, you are the British Ambassador."

"Let him in."

Immediately, the box door opened, and a middle-aged man in a gray-black robe took off his hat and bowed to Joseph: "Dear His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I didn't expect to meet you here. I am so lucky.

"You may not know me yet, but I am David Hartley, the current British Ambassador to France. Of course, I am here to see you today in a private capacity."

Joseph nodded to him: "Nice to meet you, Mr. Ambassador. Please sit down."

Hartley sat down at the back side of the box. From this position, he could not be seen from other boxes. As the ambassador of a country, it is actually very inappropriate for him to meet with the French Crown Prince in private. If word spread, it may even cause diplomatic disputes.

"Dear Your Highness the Crown Prince, I can often hear people praising you." Hatri smiled and said, "The talent of the 'Son of God's Favorite' shocks the world. He is extremely kind and full of wisdom..."

After blowing a lot of rainbow farts at the beginning, the British ambassador then continued: "Your Highness, you know that I have always advocated the firm development of the traditional friendship between Britain and France..."

Joseph's eyelids twitched, thinking that Britain and France still have traditional friendship? You mean the kind of friendship where you spend all your time digging up each other's ancestral graves?

Hartley is worthy of being a veteran politician, and his lies are extremely sincere: "However, in the past, due to the instigation of some careerists, there have been a lot of frictions between the two countries, which is very regrettable.

"Even now, there are still many people who don't want to see our friendship."

He glanced at Joseph and said tentatively: "So, I think we should work harder to promote this valuable friendship. What do you think?"

Joseph didn't know what medicine he was selling in his gourd, so he followed his words and said: "Yes, long live the friendship between Britain and France."

Hartley's eyes lit up. He did not regard the thirteen-year-old boy in front of him as an old fox at all. He secretly thought that the crown prince was indeed pro-British and the information was correct.

He talked about the broad prospects of British-French cooperation, changed the subject, and said: "Your Highness, I have actually always had a proposal that is beneficial to both our countries."

Joseph put on a very interested posture: "Oh? Please elaborate."

Hartley sat up straight: "I heard that His Highness once strongly opposed the waste of money to build large warships, and I deeply agree with this."

Joseph's eyes narrowed. This was something discussed at the cabinet meeting. How could the British get the news? This mole must be investigated carefully.

Hartley continued: "Actually, there are some guys in the UK who keep advocating building warships and wasting tax money. I think there is no need to waste this money. As long as everyone stops building warships like crazy, the mutual threat will disappear.

"So, I suggest that we can promote the signing of a treaty to limit the scale of shipbuilding in various countries.

"For example, the British launch no more than 5,000 tons of warships every year, and the French do not exceed 2,000 tons. Oh, you know, the British maritime trade is very large and needs more ships.

"Of course, countries such as Spain and the Netherlands must also participate in the signing of the treaty..."

Joseph couldn't help but frown, did he really treat me like a child?

In history, both Emperor Kaiser and Kaiser Wilhelm II have proven with bloody lessons that continental European countries will be blocked to death if they lose the ability to compete for hegemony at sea.

I asked the navy to suspend the production of sail warships just to avoid waste. I didn't expect that the British would misunderstand it as giving up the challenge to the British navy.

Seeing that Hartley was still eloquent, he immediately interrupted him and continued to the rhythm he wanted:

"Mr. Ambassador, the shipbuilding treaty seems a bit far away. How about we study the existing treaties."

 "current?"

"Such as the Treaty of Eden."

Hartley was immediately alert and said: "Your Highness, I think this treaty is very complete and reasonable, and there is nothing worth talking about."

"Yes, it is very reasonable, but there is still room for improvement." Joseph smiled, "Actually, France's industrial manufacturing capabilities are very weak and it cannot produce a large number of necessities on its own. However, high-quality and low-price British products are exactly what we need. .

"But you know, the tariffs stipulated in the Treaty of Eden are still too high, causing the prices of these goods to be inflated, and the French people will spend a lot more money for this."

Hartley was stunned. This was not quite right. Normally, the French were desperately trying to raise tariffs to protect their own industries, but the Crown Prince actually thought it was too high...

He is indeed pro-British, that's right!

Hartley asked cautiously: "What is your suggestion?"

Joseph said righteously: "I think we should continue the negotiations on the Treaty of Eden and further reduce tariffs! This is in the interests of our two countries."

Hartley smiled: "Can you tell me more specifically?"

"First of all, the tariffs on industrial products including textiles, steel, paper, etc. should be reduced by at least half." Joseph glanced at the British ambassador's expression and added, "In order to reflect the equality between our two countries, the United Kingdom should also treat French industrial products at the same time." reduce."

Hartley nodded: "Equality, yes, you are right, equality must be reflected."

Britain's current industrial scale and capabilities far exceed those of France, and it is not afraid of dumping of French industrial products. In his view, even if Britain's import tariffs on industrial products are reduced to zero, it will have no impact.

Seeing how he suppressed his excitement, Joseph knew that he could close the net: "But, you know, if I want to promote treaty negotiations, I must first shut the mouths of those guys in the country. What they like to say all day long is damaging to France. Interests'.

"So, I want to change the approach, such as temporarily increasing France's industrial product tariffs to 25%, and then lowering it year by year, reaching 5% within 7 years. In this way, they will get short-term benefits and will not be so resistant."

The current "Treaty of Eden" stipulates that France's industrial product tariffs are between 12% and 15%. According to this model, it will only take 4 years to reduce to the current level.