From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

The hot summer sun reflects on the calm Seine River, and the sparkling surface of the river is like a mirror made of sterling silver.

But Mr. Montemar obviously didn't like this image. When he thought of silver mirrors, he thought of silver, and then he thought of the young Governor of Corsica and his damn silver company.

After Mr. Montemar and Lord Melly left the room, in order to prevent the Duke of Choiseul from hearing the conversation, they simply ran to the riverside behind the restaurant.

The two sat on a bench, looking at the Seine River in front of them, and were silent for a long time.

"Damn it, is that kid kidding me! Every day, managers of countless companies that want to go public run to my office with boxes full of materials, and he just tells me that his company is going public with nothing in his hands. ?!”

As Mr. Montemar spoke, he scratched his wig in annoyance, and the carefully tended silver curly hair immediately turned into a bird's nest.

Lord Merry sighed deeply and shook his head twice, but he had nothing to say.

"Hey, Mellie, old friend, what are you talking about."

Mr. Montemar said with his head lowered in some collapse. After sighing, he looked at Lord Merry.

Lord Mellie said with a bitter look on his face:

"What do I have to say? The Duke of Choiseul's intention is very obvious, that is, let us go through the listing procedures for that company. If I dare to say no, if you want to find me again in the future, just go to St. Ernst A nursing home, I don’t need to be the chief of the stock exchange anyway.”

After hearing this, Mr. Montemar could only nod helplessly, admitting that Lord Melly was right.

As a mid-level financial official, the Duke of Choiseul wanted to remove him with just one sentence. Even if the Duke was annoyed, his status as a Lord, which he had earned through hard work throughout his life, might be deprived of him.

As for Mr. Montemar, despite the fact that he has no affiliation with the Duke of Choiseul, if he really wants to offend this powerful minister, Mr. Montemar knows very well that he has absolutely nothing to gain.

After seeing Mr. Montemar remain silent, Lord Mellie sighed again, patted him on the back and said:

"Think carefully about the gains and losses. This is what you bankers are most happy to do anyway."

"You are right about that. If I disobey Duke Choiseul, the worst thing that could happen is that I will be completely destroyed."

Mr. Montemar gritted his teeth and said:

"If you follow them, you can form a good relationship. The Duke of Choiseul is not a person who asks for anything. Bonaparte's reputation is not bad. Maybe there will be some rewards. Once this kind of thing is exposed, ."

Lord Melly leaned back in his chair. Like Mr. Montemar, he was also worried about the matter being exposed. But after thinking about it, he had no choice but to shake his head and said:

"You also know the old saying in the financial world: If you are smart enough, you don't have to be dishonest. If you are honest enough, you don't have to be smart."

"But you can't be unintelligent and dishonest, that's right."

Mr. Montemar continued the second half of the sentence and sighed:

"We just have to try to be smart right now."

Lord Melly also nodded in agreement, and said with a wry smile:

"Think on the bright side. With the Duke of Choiseul and Governor Bonaparte covering us up, there is basically no chance of this matter leaking out. We might also be able to get some benefits from it. Didn't you always want to Looking for influence in the political world? Isn’t this a good opportunity to curry favor with the Duke of Choiseul?”

When Mr. Montemar heard this, his eyes suddenly lit up, and the unhappiness on his face gradually disappeared.

Capitalists like Mr. Montemar, even if they are wealthy, have very limited influence in politics and power. This is why the Duke of Choiseul directly scorned them as cowardly moles.

Of course, Mr. Montemar was not reconciled to this situation. He made considerable efforts to this end and even spent a huge sum of 120,000 livres to buy himself the title of Minister of State.

However, this so-called ministerial title is just a qualification to participate in the Imperial State Council. More than a hundred people attending this meeting are qualified to call themselves ministers of state. Therefore, this status has not brought any changes to Mr. Montemar. It just made him a noble in name only.

At this moment, there was an excellent opportunity for Mr. Montemar to gain a reliable political backer. After realizing this, Mr. Montemar's keen banker's nose immediately smelled the smell of interests and said slowly:

"You're right, this is indeed worth a try. Listen, we'll say this when we go in later."

In the dining room, as Lord Melly and Mr. Montemar briefly left, Lawrence and Duke Choiseul also walked out of the room and stood in front of the window at the other end of the corridor chatting.

After all, the two of them didn't want their private conversation to be heard by Mr. Montemar's employees.

"By the way, Governor Bonaparte."

Duke Choiseul, who was having a casual chat with Lawrence, suddenly changed the subject, looked at Lawrence meaningfully and said:

"What you said to Montemar just now, you must have said that on purpose, right?"

"Oh? What are you talking about?"

Lawrence looked at Duke Choiseul and said with a smile that seemed to understand.

"Hahaha, don't do this with me."

Duke Choiseul couldn't help but waved his hands and said:

"For a shrewd person like you, I don't believe that you would forget to bring those reports and information about the Ajaccio silver mine when you left Corsica. I bet those things are lying in the mansion on the Champs Elysées. Come inside.”

Lawrence could only smile bitterly and sighed that the Duke of Choiseul was indeed not a fuel-efficient lamp. However, after his little trick was exposed, Lawrence just shrugged and said:

"Okay, okay, you made the right bet. Fortunately, I didn't place the bet."

Duke Choiseul smiled proudly, and then asked with some confusion:

"But why did you deliberately create this? Don't you want the listing process to be as fast as possible? If you entrust them to re-make up the information for you, it will take a lot of effort."

Lawrence put his hands on the window sill, blowing the warm summer wind in front of him, and explained:

"You can think about it, if I brought the entire set of information today, I would be able to pass their review on the spot."

"Well, isn't that a good thing?" Duke Choiseul asked with a frown.

Lawrence smiled and shook his head and said:

"It is indeed a good thing, but it is not the best. If the information is complete, even if the formal review process is followed, the National Silver Company has a good chance of passing it. In this way, even if Mr. Montemar and Lord Melly relax the review for me If the standard thing is leaked, it will have no impact at all. After all, it doesn’t matter whether they let it go or not. This can only be regarded as a little private use of public power. "

"You mean?!"

Duke Choiseul finally came to his senses, looked at Lawrence in realization and said:

"And if you deliberately asked them to forge a complete set of information for you, the nature of such an incident would be countless times more serious. It is impossible for them to accept this kind of thing leaking out."

Lawrence smiled and nodded and said:

"Remember the consensus we once reached? Only relationships linked by common interests are the strongest. Now, neither we nor Mr. Montemar nor Lord Mellie want this matter to be leaked. Common interests have been established Yes, we are on a ship."

Duke Choiseul looked at the young man in front of him in disbelief. He didn't even know when Lawrence had planned this calculation.

Lawrence ignored Duke Choiseul's surprise and continued to explain:

"And if this matter is leaked, it will just be an embarrassing scandal for us, and it will ruin their careers and industries for the two financiers. Based on this alone, they will almost obey our words ”

Seeing Lawrence pull the two financiers to his side with just such a small trick, even though Duke Choiseul completely looked down on the financiers, he had to admire Lawrence's method in his heart:

"I'm afraid this Lawrence has many arrangements that I don't even know about. Fortunately, he and I are on the same side, otherwise it will definitely become a huge trouble."

It took the Duke of Choiseul a while to calm down the complicated emotions that were mixed with fear and appreciation for Lawrence, and then asked Lawrence casually:

"But if you go out of your way to win over these capitalists, they will do nothing except provide us with sponsorship funds."

“I do think the bourgeoisie is likely to become a force that cannot be underestimated.”

Lawrence paused and then said:

"Of course, their wealth cannot be underestimated. I like them very much."

After a while, the four people who had just left the room returned to their seats at about the same time.

Although Lawrence didn't know what Mr. Montemar and Lord Mellie talked about, judging from the bright smiles on their faces, they should have made up their minds.

Mr. Montemar was the first to speak, and he said with an embarrassed smile:

"Hahaha, Your Excellency Bonaparte, I'm really sorry for being with you just now. In fact, it's because of the special situation of your company. I need to work with Lord Melly to study how to help you."

Lawrence nodded slightly, put a piece of appetizer dessert covered with hawthorn sauce on the silver plate into his mouth with a fork, and said slowly:

"So what are the results of your research?"

"That's right. Since you are missing those necessary application materials, we are happy to help you and supplement the missing materials. Please rest assured that we have the most professional team to complete this task."

Mr. Montmartre spoke with such eloquence and confidence that it was impossible to tell that he had just made up this story a few minutes ago.

"That's great." Lawrence nodded with satisfaction.

Mr. Montemar couldn't help but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Lawrence showing a satisfied look. He just had to deal with this lunch and send that damn silver company to the Paris Stock Exchange as soon as possible. His mission would be completed.

Lord Melly on the side was also leaning back in his chair with the same relaxation. Now that they had decided to cling to Duke Choiseul, what they were going to do was clear.

As for the so-called National Silver Company itself, Mr. Montemar and Lord Merry didn't care at all. In their eyes, such a company would become a veritable junk stock even if it was listed on the market. They don't know why Governor Bonaparte is so obsessed with this. A company that hasn't even been established yet.

After all, no investor in Paris would put their money thousands of miles away in the mountains of Corsica.

Just when Mr. Montemar felt a lot more relaxed, he heard Lawrence suddenly say:

"Oh, by the way, Mr. Montemar, speaking of company information, I have the most important one here, the inspection report of the Ajaccio Silver Mine."

With that said, Lawrence handed Mr. Montemar the report that Academician Geta had just given to him in the morning.

"Thankfully, this really makes our job of replenishment a lot easier."

Mr. Montemar took the report and thanked him casually, then threw the report directly to a financial analyst aside, indicating that he would review it.

As for Mr. Montemar himself, he was not interested in this report at all. In his opinion, this was just a small silver mine in a valley. No matter how colorful the report was, it would not change its essence.

The financial analyst who took the report quickly read through it carefully. It could be seen that he seemed to have received an education in mineralogy. This should be the reason why Mr. Montmartre brought him here specially.

While a few people were having a meaningless chat, the financial analyst suddenly screamed, covering his mouth and shouting in disbelief:

"Oh my God, this is impossible?! This"

Upon seeing this, Mr. Montemar quickly gave the employee a gentle slap on the back of the head and cursed mercilessly:

"What's the name of the damn thing?"

"I'm very sorry sir, but"

The analyst hesitantly handed the report to Mr. Montemar and whispered:

"But this silver mine is simply incredible. Its proven reserves are almost five times that of the Lyon Silver Mine! Not to mention there are still unproven reserves."

"Seven times?!"

Upon hearing this, everyone present except Lawrence, Academician Getta and Lavoisier could not help but widen their eyes. Even the Duke of Choiseul did not believe that Corsica's silver mine reserves could reach Seven times as much as the Lyon silver mines.

Mr. Montmartre, who was stunned on the spot, also ignored any etiquette and asked his analyst directly in front of Lawrence:

"Are you sure? There won't be any fraud, right?!"

"I don't see any fraud here. There is no conflict between the data. And you can see these signatures. They are all well-known geologists. Oh my god, my supervisor at the University of Paris also signed it. "

The analyst showed the last signature page to Mr. Montmartre and said with confidence.

After receiving the assurance from his subordinates, before Mr. Montmartre could recover from his shock, he quickly turned to look at Lawrence, took a breath and asked cautiously:

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, does this silver mine really have such reserves?"

"I think the report is very clear, and as you can see, this report has been certified by many well-known scholars. I have no reason to doubt it."

Lawrence said with a shrug.

Mr. Montemar couldn't help but swallowed. The contempt in his eyes immediately disappeared without a trace, replaced by greed visible to the naked eye, as if the report on the table was made of gold:

"An undeveloped silver mine! There are still such amazing reserves. The investment in this will definitely make a profit!"

Lawrence, on the other hand, saw Mr. Montemar's greed in his eyes, shook his head and said silently in his heart:

"It looks like the first fish was hooked."