From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

The three of them chatted in the living room for more than an hour. At around 10:30 in the morning, the old housekeeper came to report:

"Monsieur Bonaparte, the Duke of Choiseul is here, and his carriage has stopped at the door."

Lawrence just nodded slightly, indicating that he understood, and was about to get up and go to change clothes.

"Oh my God, are you serious?! The Duke of Choiseul is at the door!"

Although Academician Geta knew that Duke Choiseul would attend, he couldn't help but grabbed the old housekeeper's hand after hearing what he said and asked excitedly.

When he thought of having lunch with such a powerful figure, Academician Geta suddenly felt that his future was bright.

Lawrence gently pressed down Academician Geta's hand, shook his head with a smile and said:

"Don't be excited, dear Mr. Getta. As a consultant to the National Silver Company, you will have many opportunities to deal with the Duke of Choiseul, as long as your work satisfies me."

"Oh of course, my work will definitely satisfy you, I guarantee it."

Academician Geta patted his chest vigorously and said to Lawrence confidently.

About ten minutes later, Lawrence put on a black dress and walked out of the mansion with Lavoisier and Getart.

I saw Duke Choiseul's iconic enlarged and elongated four-wheel carriage parked on the street at the door, and the stableman wearing white gloves stood at the side of the carriage like a guard, waiting for Lawrence to come forward. Come.

"Here you come, Governor Bonaparte."

Duke Choiseul, who was in the carriage, saw Lawrence coming out from the window. He opened the door himself, smiled and took Lawrence's arm and led him into the carriage. At the same time, he glanced at the two people behind him and asked casually:

"Who are these two...?"

"My friends, academicians of the Royal Academy of Sciences, have issued an inspection report for the Ajaccio silver mine. Since we have to deal with people from banks and stock exchanges, we'd better bring them with us."

Lawrence explained with a shrug and added:

"After all, I can't understand those dozens of pages of inspection reports."

"Inspection report? You have saved the people at the bank trouble, otherwise they would have sent people to Corsica again." Duke Choiseul nodded.

"Isn't this saving time? I don't want to wait for the bank people to spend several months to conduct any investigation." Lawrence said with a smile.

"Okay, okay, let's set off now. Even though it's only around ten o'clock, I think everyone over there has already arrived."

The Duke of Choiseul was naturally unaware of this completely false report. He thought it was Lawrence who had thought carefully and sent someone to evaluate the Ajaccio silver mine in advance, so he directly looked at the horse herder and signaled that this report would be removed. The two gentlemen also helped get into the carriage.

Academician Geta fearfully got into the carriage with the help of the horseman, and then sat next to Lawrence nervously without saying a word.

Although he wanted to express himself in front of Duke Choiseul, he also knew that he was just a marginal figure, so it was better not to show his shame.

Lavoisier was not as snobbish as his mentor, but he could not help but feel more restrained in front of the Duke of Choiseul, and he also lowered his head in silence.

After a few people were seated, Duke Choiseul greeted the horsemen:

"Let's go to Ile de la Cité."

Ile de la Cité is a small island of less than two hectares embedded in the middle of the Seine. It is connected to the city on both sides of the Seine through two Saint-Louis Bridges that are only over 50 meters long.

Despite its small size, this is the birthplace of Paris as a whole. It was already the center of the city when Paris was still called Lüdaiin.

Even today, this tiny island is home to three prestigious buildings - Notre Dame Cathedral, the Palais de Justice and the oldest hospital in France, the Hôpital du Dieu.

Lavoisier and Getart were particularly excited to hear that they could dine in a restaurant on the Île de la Cité. After all, only the top dignitaries would visit the Île de la Cité.

The carriage crossed the small Saint-Louis Bridge and drove to the Île de la Cité, passed the gate of Notre Dame de Paris, and finally stopped in front of a pure white restaurant on the bank of the Seine.

The decoration of the restaurant is very traditional and does not seem to be affected by the lively and lively Rococo style of the moment. Instead, it has the solemnity and tradition of the early Baroque style.

This style is indeed very popular with traditional hereditary nobles like the Duke of Choiseul.

Under the guidance of the restaurant waiter, several people walked up to the second floor, passed through a narrow corridor, and then turned into the innermost room.

The room is not big, but it is very finely decorated. There are first-class realistic landscape paintings hanging on the surrounding walls, which seem to be painted by the same artist. The red curtains in front of the window have been pulled open and hooked on both sides, making it look like The bright sunshine at noon and the scenery of the Seine River are projected into the house.

The dining table is a round table made of dark wood, with seasonal flowers and herbs placed in the center. In front of each seat are neatly arranged silver tableware and sweet and sour appetizers.

When Lawrence and his entourage entered the room, there were already six or seven people present, most of them wearing uniforms and sitting on chairs in a very formal and solemn manner.

There were only two middle-aged men in wigs and silk robes smoking pipes, standing in front of the window chatting loudly:

"I have to say that project was terrible. I should have used that money to buy short-term Treasury bonds issued at a discount. I made a lot of money on zero-coupon bonds."

"Yeah, I don't know what's wrong with your actuary, and the same with your risk controller, who actually released such a low-interest fund to that company."

"What a bunch of rubbish. I told them all to get out anyway. Huh, there are a lot of people who want to get into the financial industry. Even if I open ten more banks, I won't worry about finding employees. I dare say that even the beggars in Paris They all look at the balance sheet.”

"But your losses are not big, right? I heard that you only lost 20,000 livres."

"Only 20,000 livres? My God, if I lose 20,000 livres every year, I'll be bankrupt in seven hundred years!"

As the door opened, the two people who were talking loudly glanced at the door, quickly stopped their chat, and hurriedly put away the cigarettes in their hands.

Those who were sitting at the dining table immediately stood up, lowered their heads, and bowed slightly to the Duke of Choiseul at the door, not letting themselves make any noise.

"Your Excellency the Duke!"

The two people who had just been chatting had flattering and warm smiles on their faces, trotted up to him, and bowed to Duke Choiseul together.

Duke Choiseul smiled and nodded in return, pointed at the two of them and said to Lawrence:

"Let me introduce you. This is the chief executive of the Paris Stock Exchange, Lord Madzic Melly de Arot."

Lawrence looked at the man on the right and nodded slightly to him.

"This is Mr. Jean Montmartre, the president of the Bank of Commerce of France and the owner of this bank."

Lawrence looked at the man on the left again. He was also the man who just said that he would be bankrupt in seven hundred years. After hearing this, Lawrence looked at him meaningfully and nodded at him.

Mr. Montmartre was not unhappy at Lawrence's nod. Although he was a leader among financiers, he belonged to the third class after all, and he was also very aware of the status gap between him and Lawrence.

Although Lord Mellie, as the chief of the stock exchange, is considered a high-status financial official, he still keeps his profile low in front of Lawrence and the Duke of Choiseul.

Duke Choiseul patted Lawrence on the shoulder again and said with a smile:

"Then this one is."

"Oh! No need to trouble you to introduce him, we all know this handsome young man."

Mr. Montmartre said in a loud voice:

"Governor Bonaparte, the new Royal Tax Collector and First Chamberlain to the Crown Prince, I have long admired an outstanding young man like you."

Lawrence smiled politely, then pointed to Lavoisier and Getart behind him and said:

"You are exaggerating. These two are Mr. Lavoisier and Mr. Getard, academicians of the Royal Academy of Sciences."

Although Academician Getta bowed deeply to Mr. Montmartre and Lord Melly very attentively, and even almost knocked over the vase next to him because of his bow, the two financiers obviously had no interest in this poor scholar. He greeted me very coldly and politely.

Then Mr. Montmartre pointed to the few people standing there and said that they were his employees, accountants, actuaries and financial analysts under him.

After some introductions and pleasantries, a few people sat down at the round table.

Lawrence first stared at Mr. Montemar for a while. His last name felt very familiar to Lawrence. If he remembered correctly, he should be the Montemar family, a wealthy financial family in France.

This family accumulated countless wealth during the Louis XIV and early Louis XV periods, reportedly as much as 100 million livres. Although with the death of old Montemar, his wealth was divided among his children, but each The amount of money allocated to people is still an unimaginable figure.

Judging from Mr. Montemar's shameless words just now, his wealth is at least in the tens of millions of livres.

"What a rich man. If only all the bankers in Paris were so rich."

Lawrence looked at Mr. Montemar with a smile and silently calculated his wealth. Ten million livres was converted into about three tons of gold.

His wealth alone is enough to cover half of France's fiscal deficit for a year, not to mention that the money can be worth several years of fiscal revenue in Corsica.

Mr. Montemar was not aware of Lawrence's calculations. He thought that the young man was smiling at him to show his goodwill, so he quickly looked at Lawrence with a bright smile and asked:

"By the way, Your Excellency Bonaparte, I heard from Your Excellency the Duke that you have a company that you want to list on the Paris Stock Exchange?"

Lawrence came back to his senses, nodded and responded:

"Yeah, that's why we're sitting here."

In France at the end of the eighteenth century, the financial industry did not develop as freely as in later generations.

Before a company is listed on the stock exchange, it must first find a qualified bank, which will conduct preliminary qualification review and risk control; after passing the application, the bank will issue an application to the stock exchange for formal review and approval.

After the official listing, the bank will also set up a special representative office on the stock exchange to serve investors who invest in the company.

If there is any problem with this company in the future, the bank will also bear the corresponding responsibility.

Financial officials set such rules to minimize risks in the financial industry. Of course, this also limits the expansion and development of financial capital, which is naturally hated by capitalists.

As capitalists came to power, this rule was gradually abolished; at this time, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange no longer had such restrictions.

This is why the Duke of Choiseul specially invited two people today. Only when the bank and the stock exchange pass the application at the same time can the Corsica National Silver Company be listed and issue shares.

"Commercial Bank of France very much welcomes potential companies to apply to us for listing. Hahaha, after all, we can also draw a lot of commissions. The revenue from this business accounts for 11.45% of the total revenue. Ahem, sorry to get off topic."

Mr. Montemar took out the gold-rimmed glasses from his pocket and put them on the bridge of his nose. At the same time, he took a document from the accountant beside him. He looked at it and said with a smile:

"Since you are a friend of the Duke of Choiseul, I will do my best to help you."

Lord Mellie also nodded and said: "The stock exchange will also fully cooperate with you."

"Very good, thank you for your help."

Lawrence said with a smile.

Mr. Montemar nodded, took a deep breath, and asked seriously:

"So, what about the information about your company, Corsica National Silver Company? Let's do a simple review here."

"Information? What information?" Lawrence tilted his head and asked.

"Well, it is your company's operating status, such as the balance sheet, owner's equity statement, and income statement. These three tables are the most basic, as well as the certificates of your company's important assets."

Mr. Montmartre glanced at Lawrence and the Duke of Choiseul and reminded him carefully.

Lawrence didn't even listen, he waved his hand and interrupted:

"None of these things."

Mr. Montemar was stunned for a moment, couldn't help but look at each other and Lord Merry, and said hesitantly:

"What about the company's account books? They must be there. Even those illiterate village girls can keep accounts for their own families."

Lawrence picked his ears with his little finger and said nonchalantly:

"Perhaps, but those things are under the control of the Corsican Treasury, and I neither sorted them nor brought them over."

As soon as these words came out, Mr. Montemar's brows knitted together. If he hadn't known the noble status of the two people in front of him, he would have thought that this was a bastard trying to make fun of himself.

Lord Melly looked at Lawrence in disbelief. Although he had done a lot of things to make things easier for others, this was the first time he had seen Lawrence like this.

The Duke of Choiseul on the side said nothing as if it had nothing to do with him, smiling and tasting his coffee.

Mr. Montemar was obviously unable to make up his mind, but he did not dare to offend the Duke of Choiseul, so he could only quietly pat Lord Melly's thigh, wink at him, and then said to Lawrence:

"I'm sorry, sir, I have to discuss it with Lord Merry first. Please allow us to be with you for a moment."

Lawrence didn't speak, just smiled and nodded.

After the two people left the room, Lawrence asked Duke Choiseul casually:

"They won't deny you face, right?"

Despite asking this question, there was no trace of worry on Lawrence's face, and he seemed to be determined that even so, the two people would not refuse his request.

"snort"

Duke Choiseul snorted disdainfully, shook his head and said:

"These capitalists are as cowardly as moles, vulnerable to real power. If they don't even understand this, huh."

Lawrence went on to say with deep understanding:

"You're right, but that's also why the capitalists are completely unscrupulous once they take power."

Duke Choiseul curled his lips, shook his head and said without caring:

"That kind of thing will never happen on French soil for another two hundred years."

Lawrence just smiled and shook his head, saying nothing more.