In 1889, a boy was born in Peres Palace in Romania, where the world turned into a fork.
In 1905, the spring breeze blew through Peresburg, and everything was reviving, and the grass was growing happily. Su Wen looked at all this, and he was not unfamiliar with it. Of course, that's because Su Wen has lived there for sixteen years now. Looking at the lavishly decorated castle, Su Wen once again had a feeling of unreality. Now he is the son of King Carol I of Romania, a man who has never been seen all over again, Eder Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, which is Suvin's full name now. Because King Carol I of Romania was from a side branch of the German royal family, Su Wen also called Wilhelm II his uncle.
"In this world, I have rights and lives that are hard for ordinary people to believe. And I can also rewrite and influence history. It's a pretty good life. Suven smiled slightly, but now it is necessary to increase the strength of Romania, as a young country that only became independent in 1880. Romania exports agricultural products and primary minerals, does not have its own industry, the military industry can also make some light weapons, the output is not high, quite famous oil, sorry is still in Ploiesti, there are a few small oil extraction technology that is quite primitive, in the Balkans looks pretty good, but if you want to make some benefits in the First World War, it is quite unsightly. Now it's time for our Highness Eder to do something about it.
"In general, Romania still has a lot of potential for development," commented the young prince after three years of learning about the situation in Romania. The main thing is that the Romanian royal family is very rich, although the government finances are not very good, but who makes this a monarchy. Now the first thing to convince his father, the sixty-six-year-old Carol I, to take the money.
"Father, this is a report on the large-scale exploitation of the Ploiesti oil field, according to which we need to buy oil production equipment, a large refinery and an oil pipeline to Constanta. To reach the scale of 1.5 million tons of crude oil per year, it will require an investment of about 3 million pounds. Eder sent a report to his father, Carol I of the Kingdom of Romania. The white-haired, but still majestic king, slowly turned a few pages and did not respond, but looked at the court governor next to him, Viscount Adri. The latter was responsible for the main day-to-day work of the Romanian royal family and therefore had a specific knowledge of royal funds
'At the present we have to keep enough money for the maintenance of a few castles, and there are 5,000,000 pounds, of which 200 are bonds, but the king has fifty-eight properties at home, and forty-three abroad, and thirty-two can be sold for £840,000 at home, and £1,040,000 abroad. There are also some shops. We receive £1 million a year from the government and industry, but the majority of our wealth is land. Carol I waved his hand to stop talking and asked the crown prince, 'How much do you need.' Eder replied, "I'm going to ask for 600,000 from Standard Oil in the United States, and they will be interested, and then 600,000 in Germany, and I believe they also want to invest." We only need £1.8 million, and the land is still ours, and they can't get too much of a stake. Carol nodded in satisfaction, "You go ahead and I'll let Edri prepare the funds for you." "'Thank you, father,' said Edel and walked out.
Now with his father's consent, Eder was in high spirits and asked the guards to find Mr. Smith, the head of Standard Oil in Romania. The next day, Smith and his assistant came to Peresburg to meet Eder. "Hello Your Royal Highness Prince Eder, I don't know what Standard Oil can do for you. Smith and his assistant asked after saluting Eder. "You know the Ploiesti oil field. Japan is planning large-scale mining, so I think your company should be interested. "Yes, we're very interested in this, I don't know how the crown prince is going to develop your country's oil?" Smith replied, adding that before World War I, with the massive use of internal combustion engines, the demand for crude oil in Europe also increased massively, and oil prices were also growing slowly. Standard Oil had investments in Ploiesti as early as 1871,
However, because of the intervention of the Romanian government, this scale is not large. Now that Romania wants to develop itself, it will be very profitable to invest in it. Edel asks the guards to give Smith the contract. "You can take a look at it first. "Smith took the document and saw that 'the development of the Ploiesti field is led by the Romanian royal family, with an investment of 1.8 million pounds and 70 percent of the production license plus land, and 600,000 pounds of standard oil and 15 percent of the investment in technology, extraction equipment and refining facilities, and the same quality and price are preferred by Standard Oil.' Looking at the contract, Smith thought it made sense.
"Your Highness Eder, I will send this document to the company. In my personal opinion, I don't think there is a problem. "
"Hopefully Mr. Smith will bring good news, and that Britain, France and the Netherlands will be interested. "
"Your Highness Eder, I will send it back to the company as quickly as possible, and Standard Oil has the best technology. I believe this is a wise decision. "Smith clearly has a lot of faith in his company.
Smith went back to send a telegram to his company. Eder asked the guards to invite the German ambassador, and he was confident that Germany would not invest in the oil field. If it weren't for their own lack of funds, they wouldn't have let other countries invest at all. Both Standard Oil and Germany were carefully selected by Eder. One was that the United States had little influence in pre-World War I Europe, and that Germany was paving the way for later plans.
Borges was the German ambassador to Romania, and he was as serious and punctual as most people have of Germany. But sometimes I know how to be flexible. "Does His Highness Eder know what's going on?" Ambassador Borges asked the Crown Prince.
"We plan to develop the Ploiesti oil field, I wonder if your country is interested"
"I don't know how your country plans to develop it," Borges asked, a little uncertain. Edel had the contract handed to the ambassador. With a total investment of £3 million, the Romanian royal family contributed 1.8 million and land plus influence accounted for 70 percent, and Germany contributed 600,000 to get 15 percent. It seems like a good investment, and it only takes a few years to make it back. , thought Ambassador Borges. "There is no problem with that, and I am confident that my government will answer it soon. "
"Ambassador Borges has one more thing. "
"Your Highness, please speak"
"I would like to be able to visit Germany, mainly to buy some equipment and technology," which was good news for Germany, which was just starting to improve economically.