"100,000 francs!"
Bonnet, being a shrewd businessman, offered an enticing price after breaking down Dejoka's psychological defenses.
Seeing Dejoka still hesitant, Bonnet added another sentence:
"No one else will offer such a good price, Mr. Dejoka. As I said, they can choose to imitate, of course, they wouldn't be willing to spend money to buy your property rights!"
Dejoka turned his gaze to Shire, evidently tempted. With workers' monthly wages being only 28 francs currently, 100,000 francs was no small amount. Besides, there were countless invisible hands around planning to seize by trickery!
Shire remained silent, recalling Bonnet's words in his mind, finally making a summary:
Using the threat of two hundred families to pressure Dejoka, then luring him with 100,000 francs, combining the stick and the carrot... Bonnet knows how to do business.
Bonnet looked at the silent two with a secret sense of satisfaction, believing that the battle was already won, and they had no choice!
However, Bonnet still underestimated Shire.
He did not expect Shire to have a business mind while being an inventor. Throughout the negotiation, Bonnet targeted Dejoka without guarding against Shire, perhaps because Shire had always sat harmlessly aside, posing as an ignorant young man.
"Mr. Bonnet!" Shire spoke, his tone unhurried, carrying the youthful yet powerful force: "If things are really as you say, you wouldn't have to rush over the moment we applied for industrial property rights, am I wrong?"
The smile on Bonnet's face paused noticeably, but years of experience in the marketplace endowed him with the ability to stay calm under pressure. He lightly smiled: "Mr. Shire, this is my style. I demand the same from my subordinates, otherwise, there wouldn't be the Little Daily!"
This made sense. To run a newspaper and capture the market, the most important thing was to seize opportunities in time.
But Shire did not believe his nonsense.
"I guess, you must have prepared in advance!" Shire glanced at the hall outside the VIP room: "You paid the staff beforehand to monitor applicants for tank industrial property rights, and report to you immediately if there was any!"
Bonnet responded with a smile, meaning "this is still my style."
Shire made a judgment: "If things are really as you said, that no one other than you would offer a higher price, then now shouldn't be the best time for negotiation, wouldn't you say?"
Bonnet's smile gradually froze on his face. He hadn't noticed this loophole, nor did he know how to cover it.
Dejoka initially didn't understand, but upon seeing Bonnet's unusual expression, he carefully savored what Shire had just said, then suddenly realized:
"That's right, this is not the best time to buy property rights!"
"Mr. Bonnet should have let us run into obstacles outside, and only step in when the two hundred families had ground us down to our last breath!"
"That way, you could buy the tank industrial property rights at the lowest price, and we would be grateful!"
"But Mr. Bonnet chose this time, when we haven't even left the city hall, to try to buy at a high price of 100,000 francs... why is that?"
The more Dejoka spoke, the more excited he became, and the last sentence even carried a bit of challenge.
He could almost conclude that the reason Bonnet was so anxious was because there were others intending to buy the tank industrial property rights, and the price might be much higher.
Bonnet was speechless, this couldn't be covered up with "style," it defied common sense. No businessman would refuse to buy low unless there was a reason, otherwise, he would have gone bankrupt long ago.
"But..." Bonnet struggled: "The price I offer is quite reasonable, don't you think?"
He glanced nervously at the two, trying to appear sincere: "If you produce tanks yourselves, under their suppression, you might not make 100,000 francs!"
Dejoka didn't know how to retort. The suppression of the two hundred families was an objective reality, they couldn't let the Bernard family monopolize tank production, this was an undeniable fact.
So, the price of 100,000 francs was indeed reasonable.
But Shire still ruthlessly exposed Bonnet's lie:
"No, Mr. Bonnet, you seem to forget the Paris Convention!"
Bonnet looked at Shire in disbelief, then calmly hummed: "Oh, yes. I seem to have forgotten it. Well, if you're not satisfied with this price, we can still discuss it!"
Dejoka instantly understood the reasoning.
The full name of the Paris Convention is the Paris Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property, signed in Paris in 1883 by countries such as England, France, and Russia, with the aim of protecting inventors' rights internationally.
Before the Paris Convention, it was difficult to uphold industrial property rights between countries, leading to the emergence of professional "copycats": they constantly monitored other countries' property registrations and immediately copied and registered in their own country, so that when the real inventor wanted to register in that country, they found themselves to be the "copycats."
The Paris Convention stipulates that invention applications from all contracting countries can be considered as having been filed on the date of first application in their own country, preventing the plagiarism of inventions in other countries.
That is to say, Shire's tank industrial property rights could also be registered in England, Russia, America, etc.
These countries also needed tanks, especially England and Russia, which were at war and allies. Thus, the value of tank industrial property rights was far more than 100,000 francs!
Dejoka seemed unable to tolerate Bonnet's face anymore and didn't want to continue talking with him. He pulled Shire up, saying:
"I am very sorry, Mr. Bonnet, this is not something we can decide, we need to consult my father's opinion!"
"You know, the Bernard family has always been under his control!"
Dejoka was quite restrained, not wanting to offend Bonnet. After all, he was the owner of the Little Daily, and the media he controlled held the power of speech.
"Of course!" Bonnet nodded helplessly, stood up, and handed a business card to both Dejoka and Shire: "If you change your mind, please feel free to contact me! Also, the price is negotiable!"
Bonnet emphasized the last sentence, implying that no matter how much others offered, I could offer more!
Finally, he didn't forget to compliment Shire: "That's a great invention, Mr. Shire, it saved France, my salute to you!"
Dejoka walked out of the city hall with Shire, glancing back in apprehension, he sighed:
"We nearly fell for this guy. Fortunately, we had you, Shire! You defeated this arrogant man!"
Dejoka looked at Shire with eyes full of pride, amazed at how quickly a teenage boy could change, almost unable to believe he was still underage!