Chapter 40 On the eve of the launch of Huaxia Zhonghai
"The equipment has been tested and there is no problem."
"Mr. Li, the remaining balance can be sent to our little ally."
An old man sitting in the front seat smiled peacefully and teased Mr. Li. Looking at Joseph, the equipment from Nord had been in China for two months. It took two full months for Chinese engineers to assemble and test it.
"Don't worry, our little ally is not short of money now. The hot sales of Audi have made him plenty of money. I heard that he bought a large number of antiques and oil paintings in Europe. Those alone cost more than three to four million US dollars."
" Mr. Li, Mr. Li, your little ally will be so angry if you know this?"
"You can't be so angry. There are still many places where we will need his help in the future. Let's pay the remaining balance as soon as possible!"
Mr. Li pretended. The panicked look made several elderly people in the conference room laugh. The secretary waiting on the side was also very happy. These elderly people had not laughed so happily for a long time.
...
Joseph naturally didn't know what happened in China. At this time, he was listening to the report from the director of Nord Royal TV. Since the show "Millionaire" was launched, it has become very popular in France, the United Kingdom, and Switzerland in just over a month. Television stations from various countries have rebroadcasted and purchased the rights.
Not counting copyright income, the sponsorship fee alone has made Nord Royal TV very profitable, and the talent show that Joseph previously proposed has been officially put on the agenda.
The territories of European countries are not large, so the competitive pressure on European TV stations will be very high in the future. It is important to start to increase their own influence at this time, because publicity has always been the key external caliber of governments.
"Your Highness, our signal tower is still not strong. It can only cover the western part of France. The central and eastern regions are really powerless. Otherwise..." The station director did not finish what he said, but Joseph understood what he meant. If citizens from various European
countries Everyone has requested Nord TV, so it is self-evident what it means to Nord and the Ragnar royal family.
Europe is not the Middle East or Asia. As long as you have enough influence in Europe, no country can touch you easily. France does not dare, the United Kingdom does not dare, and even the United States does the same.
Of course, being strong is also essential. People dare not touch you easily only if there is no reason. And even if there is no reason but you have no ability to resist, they can still kill you secretly.
Influence is software and military is hardware. Both are indispensable. If you only have military but no influence or cannot win the hearts of the European people, then there is only one way to go. Germany is a typical example.
"I will let the Ministry of Commerce be responsible for solving this matter. Please prepare for the election in June. This is the first time for the Principality of Nord. I hope no accidents will happen." Nord Law: Elections are held every five years,
specific In mid-June, members of the House of Commons are elected for a term of five years. The Grand Duke or the House of Lords are eligible to remove members of the House of Commons midway.
At this time, the 36 members of the House of Lords were already full, and most of them were composed of lawyers and palace servants. From this, we can see that the House of Lords is actually just an external caliber of Joseph, and it is not of great significance.
"Your Highness, is it a live broadcast or..."
This kind of thing is relatively sensitive, and the station director was very cautious when asking, but his question still caused Joseph to frown.
"Of course it's a live broadcast. There is no need to hide this kind of thing." There is
indeed no need, because Joseph has the right to dissolve the House of Commons, even if he wants to preserve his reputation and does not want to do it himself, he can signal the House of Lords to do it. Of course, he also hopes to see true representatives of public opinion. Only in this way can the country be better built.
"I will urge the Ministry of Commerce and the Research Center to let the signal radiate throughout Western Europe before July. I need Western European citizens to see Nord's fair, just and unconcealed parliamentary elections." After talking about the election, Joseph mentioned it
again Regarding TV programs, there are many refreshing ideas. It is conceivable that Nord Royal TV will definitely become a very important media unit in Europe within ten years.
On May 6, the Prime Minister of Nord Cabinet returned to Nord. On the same day, he reported on the contents of the EU formation meeting in Paris. Just as Joseph imagined, this meeting failed due to uneven distribution of interests and mutual distrust. end.
Joseph saw disappointment on James's face, but at this time Joseph's mood was completely different from James's. This may be a bad thing for Europe, but it is not the case for the Principality of Nord, because even if it was formed at this time , the Principality of Nord can participate, but at this time Nord's economy is destined not to have a high status in the EU. "In the next three years, we will focus on exporting light industrial trade, especially to the United Kingdom, France and the United States. I hope that eight out of ten of them will wear clothing from our Nord Principality brand." This was at the May meeting.
The only words Joseph said were categorical orders that were not allowed to be questioned or refused. Smith, the Minister of Commerce, felt that the pressure on him was too great.
If we say which department has the most power in the Principality of Nord at this time, it must be the Ministry of Commerce. Even the Ministry of Finance is not as important as the Ministry of Commerce at this time. Similarly, if you ask which department is the most overworked, it is also the Ministry of Commerce. The Ministry of Commerce has the largest number of Nordic civil servants. Except for the staff on duty every day, including Smith, the Minister of Commerce, there is no chance to work in the Ministry of Commerce. Keep.
However, their contributions are also huge. They created the name of Europe's fashion capital, they were behind the establishment of the Nordschleife, and they also contributed to the millions of Audi A1 sales.
Joseph did not treat them badly. As for the cadres and civil servants of the Ministry of Commerce, their salary was even three times that of the police. In terms of the upper, middle and lower classes of the Principality of Nord, every civil servant of the Ministry of Commerce was considered to be in the upper middle class.
Smith was busy with this matter in the next few days after the meeting. The first was that Smith went to France to meet with the Deputy Minister of Commerce and Trade in charge of foreign trade. The second is that the Deputy Minister of Nord Commercial Department went to London to sign consignment sales agreements with a number of luxury stores. At this time, the entire Nord Commercial Department seemed to be running back and forth across Western Europe.
The effect of this is huge. In mid-May, more than a dozen more garment workshops were added, and the foreign trade orders that have been signed have reached more than one billion US dollars, and most of these orders are agreement orders that last for many years.
At the end of May, Audi held a press conference. As if it smelled something, heavyweight media from Europe and the United States from all over the world came one after another. In those days, Nord's economy suddenly increased by several percentage points.
At 9:10 a.m. Nord time on May 26, 1981, the office on the first floor of the Royal Hotel Nord
"Hello, I am a reporter from Paris Daily. I would like to ask Mr. Smith, does the Ministry of Commerce play a role in the listing of Audi?
" Our guidance has always been auxiliary and never interfered with their operations." "
I am Wall Street Journal reporter Fanny. I would like to ask Mr. Schwade, don't you think that Audi's listing in the United States is more conducive to financing and financing than Nord's listing? What is the future development?"
"First of all, Audi is a state-owned enterprise of Nord. Although it operates independently, it has reasons to assist the economic improvement of the Principality of Nord when necessary. Although Nord Exchange is just a new financing platform, I believe that it is backed by Nord. Germany, it has great development potential."
The press conference was full of people asking questions. Seeing this scene, Joseph left quietly because he was worried that reporters would swarm him if they saw him. Even if he wanted to leave at that time Not possible either.