From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

The waiter in the restaurant knocked on the door twice, said "excuse me", then pushed the door open with a silver tray, and then brought the fragrant grilled sea bass, rib steak, creamy vegetable salad and stew to the round table.

There was also a dedicated waiter holding a bottle of champagne with a solemn expression. While showing the bottle to everyone, he introduced the year of origin and taste of the wine. Finally, he solemnly took out the oak cork and poured half a cup of champagne for everyone. Finely sparkling champagne.

“Great lunch as always, your restaurant is as good as ever, I love it.”

Duke Choiseul smiled, picked up the wine glass, took a sip, and said with satisfaction.

"This is truly our greatest honor. Please use it with your leisure." The two waiters bowed in flattery and exited the room while maintaining their bowing posture.

Lawrence took a deep breath of the alluring aroma of beef fat and couldn't help but twitch his fingers. At the same time, he was glad that there were no strange things like grilled snails on today's lunch.

Lavoisier and Mr. Getard also picked up their knives and forks excitedly. Although they had good meals on weekdays, such feasts were not available every day.

Of course, if there is anyone who is indifferent to this table full of delicious food, it must be Mr. Montemar and Lord Merry.

The two financiers' noses had detected something far more enticing than steak and sea bass.

"Oh my God, I can't believe it."

Although the food had already been served, Mr. Montmartre was still immersed in the gaudy inspection report. Lord Melly on the side also hurriedly came over and browsed together on Mr. Montmartre's shoulder.

Neither of them knew much about mineralogy, but they could still understand some of the most basic descriptions and numbers in the report.

"God, there are estimated reserves of more than 30 million ounces. This is amazing. It also said that if fully developed, the maximum annual production is expected to be 500,000 ounces, my God."

Mr. Montemar read out the records in the report with wide eyes, and he could even feel his heartbeat speeding up.

Lawrence himself had not looked at the numbers above carefully. After hearing such reserves and production from Mr. Montemar, he couldn't help but quietly rolled his eyes at Academician Geta and whispered:

"You work really hard, Mr. Getta."

You must know that half a million ounces of silver weighs about 15 tons. When roughly converted into gold, it weighs 1.4 tons.

Even if this figure does not deduct costs and development investment expenses, it is almost half of Mr. Montemar's net worth.

"Haha. Don't worry, although these numbers are astonishing, they are not outrageous. And I am talking about the estimated maximum output when it is fully developed. When it is fully developed, it will be more than ten years later."

Academician Geta scratched his head in embarrassment and quickly explained in a low voice.

Although Duke Choiseul was also quite surprised by this figure, after looking at Lawrence's calm and composed expression, he could probably guess that this was Lawrence's deliberate move. In addition, he was good at numbers and finance. Not that sensitive, so I didn't take it to heart.

"Ahem."

Lawrence coughed twice, interrupting Mr. Montemar's voice of admiration. He smiled and spread his hands and said:

"Mr. Montemar, let's have dinner first. This report will be disclosed to investors soon. I can also send you a copy as soon as I get back."

"Oh yes, thank you for your thoughtfulness, but I have to say, this report is amazing."

Mr. Montemar reluctantly closed the report and handed it to Lawrence. Then after considering his words, he said carefully:

"I don't mean to doubt your noble character, but my intuition tells me that its authenticity seems to need to be tested."

Laurence nodded with a smile, not displeased by Mr. Montemar's suspicion.

It would be better to say that there is a problem when a big capitalist like him, who was born in a financial family and climbed to the top of a banker, easily believed this report.

Even if a completely true and error-free report is placed in front of him, he will definitely review it carefully first.

So Lawrence patted Academician Geta beside him and said with a smile:

"In fact, the author of this report is here and you can ask him any questions you have."

"Okay."

Montmartre hesitated for a moment before winking at his analyst. After all, he was not an expert himself, so he had to rely on an analyst with educational experience in mineralogy.

The analyst nodded, looked at Academician Geta, and said with some embarrassment:

"Then, Your Excellency, Academician, my biggest question is why there are mineral veins of this size on an island of the size of Corsica. This is very counterintuitive in geology."

Mr. Getta was obviously well prepared. He kept silent about the analyst's question. Instead, he raised his eyebrows and stared at him, saying displeasedly:

"I just heard you say that you went to college? What did you learn from college education? Geology is a natural philosophy. Can natural philosophy be understood with common sense? If that is the case, we might as well Leave Sir Newton aside and go read Aristotle!"

"Well"

The financial analyst wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Although he felt that he was no worse than the scholar in front of him in terms of wealth and status, in terms of academic status, he was still far inferior to the academician of the Royal Academy of Sciences.

"I'm just a little weird."

The analyst who was already at a disadvantage kept saying:

"Because this silver mine does not match the silver mines I have seen."

"Hmph, do you know why? It's because you have seen too few mineral veins!"

Academician Geta sat up straight and said loudly with righteous words and a loud voice:

"Let me tell you, during my last inspection in the Alsace-Lorraine region, I saw no less than five veins that were very similar in distribution and type to the Ajaccio silver mine, so I don't think this is the case at all. Something goes against common sense.”

"this"

The analyst suddenly became speechless. He also knew that his knowledge reserve was bound to be inferior to the other's. After all, he turned around and got into the financial world after graduating from university and getting a degree.

When Academician Geta saw that the other party had nothing to say, he pursued the victory with high spirits and said:

"By the way, you just said you graduated from the University of Paris? Who was your supervisor? I basically know everyone who teaches geology at the University of Paris."

The analyst's eyes widened and he could only grit his teeth and said:

"It's Mr. Red Fisher."

"Red Fischer? He's still my colleague, and his signature is on that report."

Mr. Getta put on a look of hatred for steel, shook his head at the analyst and said:

"Hmph, I will definitely ask Red when I see him tomorrow, how he brought out such a low-level student!"

Upon hearing this, the analyst was completely speechless. Even though his boss was sitting next to him, he was too worried to know what to say.

However, Academician Geta became more and more enthusiastic as he spoke. It seemed that he wanted to express himself in front of Duke Choiseul and Lawrence. He opened his mouth and said sarcastically:

"What's the matter, young man, do you still have questions? Why don't you come to the Louvre tomorrow? The Royal Academy of Sciences is there, and we can communicate with your mentor, Mr. Reid, to save you from being unconvinced by me."

Lawrence, who witnessed this conversation, couldn't help but chuckled and shook his head, secretly sighing:

"It seems that the academic circles in the past life and this life are all the same. As long as the status is not enough, any objections from the scholars below can be dismissed by the academic masters with just one mouth. Poor Lavoisier can be in this kind of situation It is really not easy to achieve results under the hands of others, or I don’t know how many Lavoisiers are buried in the hands of these people. It seems that I have to join the Royal Academy of Sciences as soon as possible. "

Academician Geta said this, but he did not answer a single word as to why the description in this report was contrary to common sense. He was just constantly criticizing the analyst's own low ability.

"This is really a kind of 'If you can't solve the problem, then solve the person who raised the problem.'"

Lawrence thought without emotion.

At the dinner table, the analyst had no room for refutation. After struggling for a moment, he could only turn to Mr. Montemar and said:

"Mr. Montemar, I still have a positive view of this report. After all, my mentor Mr. Reid also signed it. I think there will be no problem."

Naturally, Mr. Montemar did not understand the situation in the academic world. He only saw that his analyst was retreating step by step under Mr. Getta's words, and was finally silenced by the argument.

So he had a little more trust in this report.

However, out of caution, Mr. Montemar still said carefully:

"By the way, Your Excellency Bonaparte, can I send an exploration team to Corsica to conduct an on-site inspection of the silver mine?"

After hearing this, Lawrence’s smile gradually faded, he shook his head and said:

"Mr. Montemar, going to Corsica is not the same as going to Versailles. It is two thousand miles away. I estimate that more than half a year will have passed by the time your exploration team comes back, and I urgently need to raise funds for the company. If it is slow If you take your time, I can just go public according to the formal procedures. Why are you still sitting here together? "

"this"

Mr. Montemar still said a little unwillingly:

"If your company is in urgent need of money, I can lend you a low-interest loan, no, even an interest-free loan."

Lawrence slowly put his hand on his chin, looked at Mr. Montmartre with a gloomy face, and said in a deep voice:

"Since there are only a few of us here, I can tell you a piece of news, Mr. Montemar."

"What news?" Mr. Montemar asked with a frown.

"You may already know from some rumors the operating background of Corsica National Silver Company."

Lawrence looked closely at Mr. Montemar and said:

"And I can tell you with certainty that this company is indeed jointly run by the Corsican government and the French royal family. And I need to use this company to raise a sum of money to ease the financial pressure in Corsica. You Do you think you can take out such an amount of interest-free loan?”

Lawrence's words can only be said to be half-truths. He does want to use this company to raise funds for Corsica's finances, but is the amount of funds sufficient to alleviate financial pressure? There was another agenda, unknown to anyone except Lawrence himself.

Mr. Montemar obviously believed what Lawrence said and kept this inside information in his heart.

However, Lawrence’s purpose did not shock Mr. Montemar too much. After all, the misappropriation of the Corsican national silver money into Corsica’s finances, although it was not in compliance with the regulations and harmed those investors, in the final analysis, it was It's just a left hand turning to the right hand.

However, after it was confirmed that the royal family was involved behind the National Silver Company, Mr. Montemar's cautious attitude relaxed slightly. After all, a company with an official background should not be able to falsify such reports.

"If that's the case, my capital is indeed not enough to alleviate your problem."

Mr. Montemar smiled bitterly, and at the same time completely threw out his plan of sending people to Corsica for field investigation.

Now, whether to help Corsica National Silver Company go public is no longer a problem before Mr. Montemar. There is only one thing that embarrasses him at this moment:

Do you want to be the first investor in the Corsican National Silver Company?

In the financial world, being well-informed can completely determine the survival of a financier.

As far as Lawrence knows, in the 20th century, when many securities companies set up representative offices in the cities where the stock exchanges were located, they would deliberately set up the representative offices closer to the stock exchange, and even pay higher prices for this purpose. Several times of land.

Because the information at that time was transmitted through the wired network, being closer to the stock exchange meant that the latest bond prices could be obtained milliseconds earlier.

And just these few milliseconds are enough for brokerage firms to capture and squeeze the arbitrage space in the financial market faster than others.

This is why people usually say that theoretically there is no arbitrage in financial markets, because all arbitrage has been divided up in less than a second.

Now, Mr. Montemar is faced with top-secret information known only to one of his investors.

"Silver Company is a joint venture between the Corsican government and the French royal family. Its credit is undoubtedly guaranteed. There are also such huge fixed assets, and the mining company's operations are very stable. Damn it, investing in this is simply picking up money." money!"

Mr. Montemar was calculating silently, as if he had seen a mountain of gold and silver piled in front of him, and he was so happy that he could not close his mouth.

"Mr. Montemar, cough, your saliva is coming out."

Lawrence reminded with a smile and pointed at his chin.

After revealing the news that the French royal family was involved in the business, Mr. Montemar undoubtedly put down his doubts about the report, and Lawrence didn't need to think about it to know what Mr. Montemar was thinking now after he put down his doubts.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, I was distracted."

Mr. Montemar quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped the corners of his mouth, then cleared his throat, suppressed his excitement and said:

"Ahem, in that case, Your Excellency Bonaparte, I will do my best to help you complete the listing process and become your company's agent bank. But I have one more request."

"Request?" Lawrence asked knowingly.

"Isn't your company going public to raise funds from investors?"

Mr. Montemar said with a smile:

"I am also an investor, and to be honest, I am one of the top investors. And I am very optimistic about your company. I wonder if you would accept an immediate investment?"

Mr. Montemar is not unsmart. He understands that investing must be carried out decisively at the lowest point of value. If you really have to wait for this company to go public, its value will rise almost instantly. It would be too early to enter the market at that time. late.

"Of course I accept it, but I think I should set a minimum investment amount."

Lawrence smiled and nodded.

"Minimum amount? Just say it directly." Mr. Montemar waved his hand, pretending that he was not short of money.

Lawrence slowly stretched out a finger, looked at Mr. Montemar with a smile, and said loudly:

"One million livres, immediate delivery."