I Became a Plutocrat in World War I: Starting with Saving France-Chapter 111 The Belmondo Family

Francis confirmed the other’s gaze, arrogant, disdainful, contemptuous, with an expression of disgust and unwillingness to talk further.

Indeed, he was a noble, just like Grevy and Arman.

"Your Excellency is..." Francis asked cautiously, bending over.

"Valtan!" The old nobleman replied, holding a cup of coffee: "Valtan Belmondo!"

Francis originally had little impression of the name, but the servant standing next to the old nobleman added softly: "We are from Algeria, sir!"

Francis’s head exploded with a loud bang, the Belmondo family from Algeria? The one with several plantations that almost monopolize the coffee market in that country?

"I am very sorry, Mr. Valtan!" Francis nervously stepped forward to shake his hand: "I... Would you like some wine?"

"No, Mr. Francis!" Valtan smelled the coffee and then put it down, answering: "This is fine, familiar taste."

Francis was very relieved, he had always been drinking Algerian coffee, it seemed his luck had come.

Valtan took the initiative to ask: "Let’s talk business, I heard you have a lot of tractors in your warehouse?"

"Yes, yes!" Francis nodded repeatedly.

"Great!" Valtan leaned back against the chair, crossed his legs casually, and placed his right hand on the sofa, saying: "I happen to need tractors!"

"May I ask, how many do you need?" Francis asked cautiously.

"How many do you have?" Valtan replied with another question.

Francis answered confidently: "We have eighteen hundred, sir!"

He thought this amount would surely meet Valtan’s requirements, but Valtan frowned slightly: "Not much, but it might be enough!"

This shocked Francis, does this mean... buying all the tractors? God, eighteen hundred tractors, totaling nearly two million francs, this is the largest business deal ever!

But Francis stayed alert, years of business experience told him, the bigger the deal, the more careful he must be, otherwise he might end up losing everything if not paying attention.

"Mr. Valtan!" Francis pretended to be surprised, actually probing: "So many tractors, enough to plow the whole of Algeria!"

Valtan showed slight impatience on his face, his eyes a bit angry: "France has conscripted over one hundred thousand soldiers from Algeria, which forces us to consider purchasing tractors!"

Francis immediately understood, just as he thought, the plantation owners’ needs didn’t reflect those of the people. They lacked labor and needed tractors due to fewer people, while the people worried about conscription, didn’t dare to buy tractors.

"Also, Algeria is far from Paris!" Valtan continued: "I believe people would prefer to buy from me rather than come all the way here themselves!"

Francis nodded, realizing that Valtan saw this business opportunity and hence wanted to buy a large batch of tractors to act as a middleman.

No wonder Shire Tractor Factory couldn’t satisfy him, their production capacity is insufficient with no stockpile, especially since Algeria doesn’t need advanced tractors, they need solutions to having any at all.

"If you are not interested..." Valtan made a gesture to leave.

"No no, Mr. Valtan!" Francis hurriedly apologized: "Of course, I am interested, very sorry!"

Considering Valtan came from Shire, Francis hesitated before putting out a conservative unit price: "1100 francs, sir, this is our cheapest offer!"

Valtan smiled lightly: "Shire’s tractors are also at this price, sir, do you think I would choose ’Holt 60’ at the same price instead of ’Holt 75’?"

Damn, Francis cursed in his heart, the profit at this price is only a mere 130 francs.

However, should he be considering profit at this time? Shouldn’t he be selling them quickly and focusing the funds on the production of new tanks?

"1000 francs, sir!" Francis updated the offer: "This is already the lowest price, we have never sold so cheap, I assure you!"

Valtan seemed to accept this price, nodding slightly.

This made Francis secretly rejoiced, nobles are like this, they don’t know he is willing to sell at a loss during this period.

Valtan hesitated for a moment and added: "If I pay in full at once, can the price be a bit lower?"

Francis was both shocked and delighted, 1.8 million francs paid in full at once, indeed a noble.

At the same time, his remaining doubts about Valtan were thrown out of the window, a cheat would never offer to pay in full at once, they would find various excuses to delay payment and then default the debt.

Cash transactions, what kind of trap could there be?

Thinking this, Francis immediately agreed: "Certainly, sir! If that’s the case, each for 980 francs!"

Valtan seemed not to care about this trivial reduction, he had some dissatisfaction on his face but was unwilling to waste time, nodded casually: "Alright... show me the contract, Mr. Francis!"

Francis was so excited he almost jumped up; this would instantly clear all the inventory piled up in the warehouse, is this the Lord’s favor upon the Francis family?

But he restrained his joy and did not show it, smiling slightly and bowing: "Please wait a moment, respected Mr. Valtan, I’ll draft the contract immediately, it won’t take long!"

He just straightened up but saw Joseph talking to Valtan’s servant by the carriage outside the window, with a sincere and anxious look on his face.

Francis secretly thought it’s bad, Shire Tractor Factory obviously didn’t want to give up this big order.

Sure enough, the servant rushed in, bowing to whisper in Valtan’s ear, Valtan looked surprised and asked: "Is this true?"

"Yes, sir!" The servant glanced out the window: "Mr. Joseph is waiting outside, hoping you would talk to him again!"

Francis looked at Joseph with fire in his eyes, this traitor! Not only betraying him but now trying to snatch his business!

But Francis obviously wouldn’t show this, he hurriedly stepped forward to reassure Valtan: "They can’t meet your needs no matter what, Mr. Valtan, his factory just opened recently and can only produce dozens of units per month!"

"But they will expand production, ensuring 100 units per month!" Valtan replied: "And the price is also just 1000 francs each, I don’t see the difference from your 980 francs!"

Francis ground his teeth so hard they made a "grr grr" sound, he understood, Shire intends to force his tractor factory to the wall, thus willing to abandon profit to fight a price war!

"900 francs!" Francis gritted his teeth: "If you agree, sign the contract immediately!"