Chen Qiang knew that the Louvre in later generations contained more than 30,000 Chinese cultural relics.

Although Chen Qiang didn't know how the French preserved these cultural relics during World War II, one thing is certain, that is, after the end of World War II, these precious cultural relics were still in the hands of the French and were not stolen by the Germans.

Since these antiques were still kept intact in the hands of the French after World War II, it means that the blank check written by Knell could be cashed. Chen Qiang could take advantage of the time when the French were short of money and then let the French deliver the goods after World War II.

For anyone, these antiques in France are all illusory things. After all, the French mainland is still under the control of the Germans. But Chen Qiang knew that these antiques were ultimately in the hands of the French, so he had decided to buy these antiques long ago.

However, before purchasing, you have to lower the price first, so that people in Free France feel that these antiques are worthless things, so that Chen Qiang can buy these antiques at a lower price. Therefore, in front of Knell, Chen Qiang deliberately found faults, making Knell feel that he was making money by making money and reducing Knell's psychological expectations. After that, Chen Qiang only needed to pay an extremely low price to buy these Chinese cultural relics.

This is probably like many people go to buy second-hand houses. They are obviously very satisfied, but in order to reduce the price, they still have to pick the blame in the eggs. The floors are bad, the apartments are bad, the lighting is bad, the property is bad, and the community is not green. Even if you see a stray dog ​​at the entrance of the community, it is a reason to reduce the price.

...

As early as when the European War broke out, the war had not burned to France, and France had already launched a cultural relics protection plan. A large number of cultural relics collected in the Louvre were scattered into thousands of ancient castles, monasteries and manors in France.

There are more than 10,000 castles of all kinds in France, and the number of manors is even greater. The French hide cultural relics in the castles, thus avoiding the search by the Germans. Moreover, many of the castles were left in the medieval period, and even the current castle owners cannot figure out the secret rooms in the castles. It is impossible for the Germans to search for cultural relics here.

As for the Louvre, it was not destroyed when Germany invaded France. After the great retreat of Dunkirk, the French realized that the situation was hopeless, so they declared that Paris was an unguarded city early, and the German army occupied Paris without a single soldier. Since there was no battle, there was no damage, and the Louvre was preserved.

This is also the case when Italy announced its surrender in the future. The Allied forces landed in southern Italy and occupied southern Italy without any bloodshed. The Germans went straight south and took over northern Italy. Both sides did not fire a single shot. The Italian soldiers in the south surrendered to the Allied forces, the Italian soldiers in the north surrendered to the Germans, and then the Allied and the Germans met in Italy. As for the cute Italian soldiers, they excitedly established a prisoner of war camp for themselves, locked themselves up, and then escaped from one prisoner of war camp to another for pizza. The people who were warding them promised to eat pizza once a week in the future. The group of prisoners who escaped were back.

Because of the early surrender and the thorough surrender, the Italian mainland was not damaged during World War II and did not suffer much damage. Most of the buildings were preserved. Now, traveling to Italy can see many ancient buildings. It is said that the most serious damage in Italian cities at that time was the Italians worried that the Allies would raid their ammunition depots, so they placed the ammunition in the church. They believed that the Allies would not raid the church. As a result, the Allies did not raid, but it rained and thunder hit the church, causing a fire, detonated the ammunition, causing serious damage to the entire city.

...

Back to the point, Knell felt that the antique could not be sold, so he planned to say goodbye to Chen Qiang and leave.

Chen Qiang signaled Knell to sit down, and then said, "Mr. Knell, after the 1936 Berlin Olympics, I had the honor to visit France. Leonardo da Vinci's "Mona Lisa" left a deep impression on me. Now France is under the control of Germany. Will the antiques collected by your country, such as "Mona Lisa", be snatched into Berlin by the Germans?"

"As early as 1933, our French National Museum had an art protection plan. After the outbreak of the European War, we had already transported art from Paris to other provinces. Leonardo da Vinci's Mona Lisa was the first batch of transferred materials. As far as I know, this painting should be hidden in a monastery somewhere in France. The Germans would not attack the monastery. As for other artworks, they were also transferred to castles, monasteries and manors in various parts of France. The only problem is that some places will be relatively humid, which may affect the preservation of famous paintings." Knell answered.

Chen Qiang nodded slightly. It is said that France would not have many famous paintings snatched from China. After all, Chinese paintings and oil paintings are completely different, and the French may not be able to recognize them. As for metal utensils and ceramic utensils, they should not be afraid of the humid environment.

Chen Qiang pretended to be contemplative, then seemed to have made a lot of determination, and then said, "Mr. Knell, I decided to gamble with you French people. If the price is right, I can buy your Chinese antiques!"

"What? Mr. Chen, I heard it right? Do you really want to buy it?" Knell looked shocked.

"Yes, Mr. Knell, you heard it right." Chen Qiang nodded.

"Mr. Chen, you have to know that even if you buy these antiques now, we will not be able to complete the delivery. Those antiques are still in France and are in the control of the Germans." Knell said.

Chen Qiang nodded, "Of course I know, so after driving away the Germans and regaining France, I hope you can deliver the antiques to me as soon as possible."

"Mr. Chen, why do you do this? You just said that this is an antique futures without delivery time!" Knell asked in confusion.

"Didn't I say that we are allies. I believe you have the courage and ability to regain the French mainland." Chen Qiang said with a smile.

Knell opened his mouth slightly, but did not answer.

Chen Qiang sighed and said excitedly, "Mr. Knell, I empathize with what France is doing now, because my country is also invading by the Japanese, the country is declining, the people are enslaved by the invaders, and it takes longer than France, so I can understand what you think now! This is also the reason why I am willing to help you. I see my shadow in you, because our two countries are suffering the same suffering."

"The suffering we are suffering cannot be understood by the British and Americans. Although the British mainland was bombed, the country did not fall, and the United States was even far away from war. Most Americans could not feel the cruelty of war. They did not know what kind of torture the people of the invaded countries were suffering. They did not know how urgent we, those who lost our country, wanted to drive away the invaders and regain our country! They could not even realize our determination and courage to fight!"

Chen Qiang's passionate words moved Knell very much. Every word Chen Qiang made Knell feel empathetic. At this time, Knell couldn't help but want to cry. In his eyes, Chen Qiang became an international friend who had the same tragic experience as the French, and was the French brother-in-law!

"I just wrote a blank check with antiques in France. He was willing to pay for it. This is really a true love for trouble! It's such a fearless spirit of internationalism!" Knell returned to Washington with an extremely touching mood and went back to Washington to report.

Looking at Knell's departure back, Chen Qiang breathed a sigh of relief. Although he really hoped that the Allies could win as soon as possible, he was not yet selfless to the level of internationalist spirit.

What empathy between Chen Qiang and Knell is nothing more than finding a suitable reason for buying cultural relics after the price is reduced.

...

Three days later, Chen Qiang came to Washington and met the special envoy from Free France. The double-decade negotiations began to sell antiques.

The first thing Chen Qiang wants to confirm is whether he can get that batch of Chinese cultural relics in the future? If the French do not trust and take Chen Qiang’s money, but do not give Chen Qiang antiques in the future, or use other things to replace them, wouldn’t Chen Qiang be a big loss? If the French really act like a scoundrel, Chen Qiang has no choice. Can he still fight against the state machine alone?

Facing Charles de Gaulle's special envoy, Chen Qiang said, "Sir Special Envoy, first of all, I hope you can guarantee that after regaining the French mainland, I can indeed get the goods I purchased."

"Mr. Chen, you don't have to worry. We French are absolutely honest and trustworthy. As long as we sign the contract, we will definitely follow the contract agreement." The French envoy replied immediately.

"Mr. Special Envoy, although I trust the reputation of the Free French government and General Charles de Gaulle very much, business is business. As a business act, I still hope that you can find a guarantee so that neither of us has to worry about someone breach of contract." Chen Qiang said.

"I wonder what kind of guarantee Mr. Chen hopes to get?" asked the French envoy.

"If there is a US government as a guarantee, it would be the best." Chen Qiang said with a smile.

"Well, I can think of a way." The French envoy said.

"I heard that Mr. Special Envoy has a good relationship with some members of the U.S. Senate. I think the members of the Senate can represent the U.S. government." Chen Qiang continued.

Before coming here, Chen Qiang had already inquired about the fact that the French envoy was very happy in the US Senate and had close personal relationships with several senators. One of them was named Harry Truman, who had the closest relationship with the French envoy. In next year's US presidential election, Truman would be nominated for vice president by US President Roosevelt. Not long after, Roosevelt died of illness, Truman successfully succeeded to the president and was successfully re-election.

Chen Qiang’s real plan is to let Truman provide guarantees for the French.

Roosevelt had died of illness during the victory of World War II. Truman was the president of the United States. If the president of the United States was used as a guarantee, the French would never dare to pay the debt. The French were shameless, but the president of the United States was still shameless. What's more, in the post-war Marshall plan, the French received more than 2 billion US dollars in aid from the United States. For the sake of this more than 2 billion US dollars, Charles de Gaulle did not dare to offend Truman.

In the eyes of the French envoy, Chen Qiang's request was not too much. After all, he made money by empty-handedly. It was normal for Chen Qiang to find a guarantor with a blank check. Even if he went to a bank to make a loan, he either had a mortgage or a guarantor.

Next, the two sides began to discuss the prices of antique artifacts.

Since all the cultural relics are hidden in ancient castles, monasteries and manors in France, Liberty France is not the real master of hiding antiques, so they don’t know at all that they are, and there is only a general number.

"Mr. Chen, according to our preliminary statistics, we have a total of more than 32,000 antiques from China that can be sold to you." The envoy said with a form.

"This number is too general, I hope to get some specific information." Chen Qiang replied.

The French envoy whispered a few words to the people around him, and then nodded, "Mr. Chen, we can provide the approximate location and quantity of antiques to collect."

As the French envoy said, someone handed a form to Chen Qiang. Chen Qiang looked down and said that the form was written in French and numbers. With Chen Qiang's French proficiency, he could roughly understand the above content.

These French are all about places, such as a castle, a monastery, a manor, etc., and the numbers behind them represent the number of antiques collected in this place.

"The Castle of Ruth III has 997 cultural relics; the Monastery of St. John has 1,228 cultural relics; the Hugo family winery has 824..." Chen Qiang looked at the table and the numbers on it really add up to 32,000.

Thanks to the plunder of the great French emperor, the Louvre had about 300,000 collections at that time. These 32,000 Chinese cultural relics were almost one tenth of the Louvre.

"Mr. Special Envoy, how much do you plan to sell these more than 32,000 antiques?" Chen Qiang asked.

"These are all very precious antiques. Some of them even have history from last year. If Mr. Chen is willing to pack and buy them all, it only costs 10 million US dollars." The French envoy replied.

"The French are really a lion." Chen Qiang smiled coldly. He felt that the French had probably found out his family's background, so he offered such a price.

It is definitely worth buying more than 30,000 Chinese cultural relics in the Louvre for 10 million US dollars. Even in the future, including inflation, the price is similar to freely picking it up.

But Chen Qiang didn't plan to pay so much, he had to bargain with the French.

So Chen Qiang said, "Mr. Special Envoy, can you guarantee that in the future war, these antiques can be preserved intact and will not be affected by the war?"

"Well, war is cruel and always causes damage." The French envoy replied insincerely.

"Do you think all antiques will not be damaged during the preservation and transportation?" Chen Qiang asked again.

"Well, this is an antique after all, and human or non-manual damage is inevitable." The French envoy spread his hands.

"So you shouldn't calculate the price based on the quantity of 32,000 antiques. We need to calculate a certain loss rate. This requirement should be very reasonable, right?" Chen Qiang used the first trick to reduce the price.
Chapter completed!