Fox of France

Two days later, the banker Nathan Rothschild received an invitation. It was a director and CEO of Bank of Rome, and a famous banker, Mr. Bowan. The invitation invited him to a reception to be held at the manor of Mr. Bowan's family two days later.

The Bank of Rome is actually a banking union, composed of six French banks, which hold mutual shares, form a whole, and in fact play the role of a central bank. Franc banknotes issued by the French government are issued through the Bank of Rome.

It's pretty much Nathan Rothschild's dream. In fact, through the cooperation with Austria in these years, he has almost realized this dream in Austria. But the heart of the world is New Rome after all. This is where the most money can be made. In fact, hot money from various countries will basically come to France to find opportunities for investment or speculation. And to do these things in France, you have to deal with the Bank of Rome.

Nathan Rothschild naturally had a lot of contacts with the Bank of Rome. He even once hoped that his bank could change its skin and sneak into the Bank of Rome. Of course, this goal has not been achieved, and the French still have some rejection of non-French capital. But Rothschild Bank and Bank of Rome often cooperate together.

Of course, Nathan Rothschild would not refuse Mr. Bowan's invitation. Bowan Bank is one of the six members of the Bank of Rome. Although it is not the largest and the most capitalized one, Mr. Bowan is recognized as the best banker in France. Today, Mr. Bowan is the direct manager of the Bank of Rome, and being able to attend the reception at his home is already a symbol of identity and status for many bankers.

Nathan Rothschild adjusted various unnecessary schedules so that he could attend Mr. Bowan's reception on time.

Mr. Bowan has a not-so-small estate in New Rome, where every inch of land is expensive. Of course, this manor is much smaller than his manors in the Bordeaux area, but in New Rome, there are probably only a limited number of manors that can be bigger than Mr. Bowan's.

Although Mr. Bowan's manor is not the largest, his manor is definitely the most luxurious. And it is different from before. In the past, Mr. Bowang's residence was also very luxurious, with resplendent gold everywhere, as if wishing to use gold to cover the ground like Indians. (One of the bragging stories in the Buddhist scriptures, it is said that Indians can brag, which is really traditional.) But now, Mr. Bowang's estate looks much more modest. But those who really understand, go in and take a look, and immediately know what low-key luxury is.

Nathan Rothschild's two carriages stopped at the gate of the main building of the Bowan Manor (later some people called it the Bowan Palace), and several servants immediately greeted them. In the first carriage was Nathan Rothschild's butler, he showed the invitation letter to the servants who came up, and then Nathan Rothschild and his wife sat in the second carriage surrounded by the servants Next, walked into this building with obvious Roman characteristics.

As soon as you enter the door, you will see a very large circular hall. This hall has a total area of ​​seven to eight hundred square meters, and the height of the inner space is more than 20 meters, but there is no pillar. It is simply a small pantheon. And in the center of the hall, there is a black marble pedestal more than one meter high, and on top of the pedestal stands a white marble statue of Hermes with a broken part.

Nathan Rothschild knew that the statue had been bought from the Turks and was said to have been dug out of the earth by the Greeks while plowing their fields. It is said that the ignorant and pious Greek Orthodox Christians at that time recognized that this was an ancient pagan god and were ready to destroy it. But the Turkish lord stopped them - he knew that this thing could sell for a lot of money. So this thing is now placed here.

In addition to this statue, the various paintings hanging here and the sculptures placed in other places are also works of famous artists, which are of great value. In terms of value alone, some works are even more valuable than this statue of Hermes. It is only because Hermes, as the patron saint of merchants, is more in line with Mr. Bowan's wishes, that he can occupy the most central position.

The servants led Nathan Rothschild and the others through the hall to the back garden where the reception was held.

At this time, Mr. Bowan was talking with a young man, and when he saw Nathan Rothschild and his wife coming in, he just nodded to them from a distance, but he did not come over immediately, but continued to talk to the young man. chat.

Nathan Rothschild also picked up a glass of wine from a waiter's plate, raised his glass to signal Mr. Bowan, and went to talk to other people first.

"Mr. Bowan, who is that?" asked the young man.

"Ah, Supervisor Bonaparte, that person is the Jewish banker we just mentioned. This guy is very cunning. If you want to deal with him, Mr. Bonaparte, you must be more careful."

This young Bonaparte was Jerome, the younger brother of Joseph and Napoleon.

Jerome had just finished his school education at this time, and his brothers had many different plans for his future. At first Joseph wanted to try it out, to see if it would give him an aptitude for science. Joseph actually didn't have high demands on him. He didn't require his younger brother to reach his level in science. He only hoped that Jerome could approach Napoleon in this respect. Although this is not enough to become an expert, it is also enough to share the management tasks of some family industries, especially high-tech industries.

However, Jerome's performance disappointed Joseph. It's not that Jerome doesn't work hard. When it comes to studying, he doesn't know how much more serious than Lucien. However, his grades are not better than Lucien's, basically at the same level. If the test paper was easier, his score would be better than that of Lucien; if the questions were more difficult, his score would definitely not be as good as that of Lucien. Of course, whether it is him or Lucien, in Napoleon's view, they are all the same: "Scum, all scum!"

That is to say, compared to the eldest brother and the second brother, Jerome, who is more obedient, lacks scientific talent. So when he was in middle school, Joseph gave up his first training program.

Then Napoleon took over the younger brother. After graduating from Jerome secondary school, Napoleon arranged for him to enter the newly built Saint-Cyr Military Academy. But Jerome was quite uncomfortable, even worse than at King Louis's school. Although he also worked hard to learn well, he was really not this material. So that after seeing his results, Napoleon said angrily: "He has completely embarrassed me! Even letting Paulina go is better than him!" So Napoleon personally ordered that many grades be listed in the red Lamp's Jerome expelled from Saint-Cyr. Thus ended Jerome's student career.

Therefore, it seems that according to the rules, Jerome should be handed over to Lucien for training. But both the eldest Joseph and the second Napoleon believed that Jerome must not be handed over to Lucien. Jerome was sent back to Joseph again.

But this time, Joseph got Jerome a position as a supervisor at the Bank of Rome, and then asked him to put on his ears and eyes, so that he could look and think more at the Bank of Rome. Then I come to Joseph every week to make a report. It can be regarded as teaching him how to do business. So at this time, Jerome appeared here.

Jerome does not have any real power in his hands now. But he was Bonaparte after all, and the Bonaparte brothers were generally united. So even though he doesn't have much power now, Bowang still tries hard to have a good relationship with him. He knew that Joseph sent Jerome here to train his abilities, so he seized the opportunity to cooperate and taught him a lot of business tricks from time to time.

"Supervisor Bonaparte, let's go together and get to know the Jew. We have a lot of business dealings with him." Mr. Bowan said to Jerome.