From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"One million livres?!"

Mr. Montemar was startled for a moment, and his always bright eyes were slightly weakened. He sat there and stared at Lawrence's extended index finger as if he was petrified.

If someone else quoted such a ridiculous price, Mr. Montemar would just laugh at the other person's ignorance and leave the table.

Even in Paris, where prices are high, it only takes about ten livres to feed a low-level commoner for a month; the monthly salary of shop assistants and handicraftsmen at the higher level is only thirty livres. You go up and down.

Five hundred livres is enough to cover all the expenses of a decent petty bourgeoisie or petty nobleman for a month, including rent and servants' salaries.

Even for a figure like the Duke of Choiseul, his annuity is only 60,000 livres. Of course, he has many other sources of income.

This is why Mr. Montemar couldn't help but be distracted when he looked at the index finger stretched out by Lawrence. In his eyes, behind this index finger was a mountain of silver coins.

Even with assets of tens of millions of livres, Mr. Montemar still felt panicked about such a huge investment.

Especially for a banker like him, this investment requires a significant portion of his cash flow.

If there is any problem with the bank's cash flow, then a run and credit bankruptcy will follow. When the bank reaches credit bankruptcy, it can be declared truly bankrupt.

Thinking of this, Mr. Montemar couldn't help but swallow his saliva. Although he knew that he was facing huge risks, this excellent investment opportunity in front of him was unique.

Lawrence sat in his seat and looked at Mr. Montemar with a smile, waiting for him to make the final decision.

"Then how many shares can I get?"

Mr. Montemar asked excitedly and nervously, twirling his fingers.

Lawrence was not an actuary, but he had never thought about running this company well, so after doing some silent calculations, he said casually:

"About a quarter, but I have to declare in advance that these shares only contain dividend rights and do not have corresponding board voting rights. Even after listing on the stock exchange, I will only issue non-voting shares."

"A quarter?! That's true!"

After Mr. Montemar heard this figure, he immediately gave his actuary a surprise wink and signaled him to start calculating the feasibility of the investment. At the same time, he subconsciously used his fingers to make calculations on the tablecloth.

As for the non-voting rights mentioned by Lawrence, Mr. Montemar is not concerned about it. Since the National Silver Company is run by the government, it is normal for the government to want to retain the right to make business decisions.

Even later stock investors will not care about this matter. After all, even if they have a vote on company affairs, it will not help. Once the two major shareholders, the Corsican government and the French royal family, make a decision, they will have no political opposition. possibility.

The actuary, who had been instructed by Mr. Montemar, skillfully took out a large stack of documents and flipped through them quickly. At the same time, he moved a small mechanical device similar to an abacus in his hand and muttered softly.

After a few minutes, the actuary's face showed some joy, and he leaned into Mr. Montemar's ear and said:

"Sir, if we use the short-term government bond interest rate as the risk-free interest rate for discounting, and then use the earnings of companies in the same industry to make revised estimates, the net present value of this investment can reach 1.7234 million livres, although the investment cycle will be a bit long. But it is undoubtedly an investment project with a AAA rating.”

"More than 1.7 million? Hiss."

Mr. Montemar couldn't help but take a breath after hearing this, and the greed in his eyes became even more difficult to conceal.

Net present value is the value of all future income discounted to the present, minus the current investment cost; in other words, as long as risks are not considered, Mr. Montemar's investment of one million is equivalent to him immediately earning one hundred and seventy-seven dollars. More than 100,000.

As for possible risks, Mr. Montemar would not doubt a company with dual background guarantees from the royal family and the government.

Even Lord Mellie sat there with great annoyance after hearing this. He regretted that Lawrence had set a minimum investment amount, otherwise he would have invested most of his wealth in this silver company with a promising future.

"Hahaha, Your Excellency Bonaparte, you are so generous. I don't know how to praise you anymore."

Mr. Montemar was so excited that his whole body was trembling. He quickly signaled his employees to start drafting a shareholding contract agreement, and said gratefully:

"I am very satisfied with your proposal. If possible, can we sign the contract here?"

"Of course." Lawrence nodded flatly.

The contract between the two parties was quickly signed at the dining table. Mr. Montemar packed up the contract with satisfaction and took his subordinates to say goodbye to Lord Melly and Lawrence.

Although the sumptuous lunch on the round table was almost untouched, Mr. Montemar had obviously feasted on a feast of capital and was secretly pleased with himself for picking up a big bargain.

As if he was afraid that Lawrence would regret it, Mr. Montemar hurriedly handed over to Lawrence a large pile of bearer deposit slips from the French Commercial Bank, and then hurriedly left with everyone.

As this group of people left, only Lawrence, Duke Choiseul, and two scholars from the Royal Academy of Sciences were left in the room.

"I didn't expect you to casually sell a quarter of your shares."

Duke Choiseul frowned slightly and looked at Lawrence who was counting the deposit slips, and said slightly unhappily:

"Although I don't understand finance, judging from the banker's expression, it seems that you let him get a big deal."

Half of the profits of the Corsican National Silver Company belong to the French. Lawrence's sale of company shares will certainly affect the profits of the French royal family.

This is why Duke Choiseul felt slightly unhappy after Lawrence sold his shares at a low price.

Faced with Duke Choiseul's accusation, Lawrence smiled nonchalantly and continued to count the bearer deposit slips in his hand.

There were basically no personal accounts in banks in this era. All deposits were reflected in this kind of anonymous deposit slip. Just like the several Venetian bank deposit slips that Lawrence had seized from the Genoese before, anyone could take them. Use such a deposit slip to exchange.

In this sense, this kind of deposit certificate is actually more like an acceptance bill.

In Lawrence's hands, there were a hundred deposit slips with a face value of 10,000 livres, signed by Mr. Montemar himself.

Taking out one card at random is enough for any citizen to spend the rest of his life wealthy and worry-free.

After counting these deposit slips and keeping them properly, Lawrence smiled and shook his head, looked at Duke Choiseul and said:

“He may have gotten a really good deal, but I also got exactly what I was worth in return.”

Duke Choiseul glanced at the deposit slip in Lawrence's hand and asked in confusion:

"Reward? One million livres is a big number, but you can obviously sell for more."

Lawrence pursed his lips and smiled, took a small sip of the champagne, and said slowly:

“You may not know this, but there’s a famous story in the financial world.”

"Oh? What story?" Duke Choiseul became more interested and asked repeatedly.

"A young entrepreneur went to a well-known investor for investment. The investor said he was very optimistic about the young man's project and was willing to invest 500,000 silver coins for him. The young man left with satisfaction, but after waiting for a long time, The investor did not send the money, so the young man found the investor again, but the investor said that he had already paid the young man 500,000 silver coins. "

Lawrence touched his chin and recounted:

"Do you know why?"

Duke Choiseul shook his head directly. He was good at politics, diplomacy and military affairs, but he didn't have much experience in finance and finance.

"The news that the well-known investor said that he is willing to invest 500,000 for young people is worth 500,000 silver coins."

Lawrence chuckled and said:

"This sounds ridiculous, but it is like this in the financial world. As a person at the top of the investment world, Mr. Montemar's investment decisions will undoubtedly be valued and imitated by countless people. In other words, he gave me His investment is only worth one million livres, and the fact that he invested one million livres in me is probably worth more than this one million livres.”

"There is such a thing"

Duke Choiseul put his forehead against his head and thought for a long time before he realized that what Lawrence said was indeed very reasonable. After all, the main body of transactions in the financial market is human beings. Once people gather together, they will inevitably form a collective mentality of following the trend and following the herd.

In this way, the value of the National Silver Company of Corsica and the capital injection of Mr. Montemar, a top banker, will make the Paris financial community, and even the financial community of neighboring countries, focus their attention on this company that has not yet been formally established. of the silver company.

And Duke Choiseul didn't need to think about it to know that what would follow would be an unimaginable huge amount of capital injection. He didn't know how much wealth would be gathered in this empty shell company.

Academician Lavoisier and Getard at the table were stunned when they heard this. From the conclusion of the deal amounting to one million livres just now to the follow-up plan mentioned by Lawrence, it was completely beyond their comprehension. Cognition of natural philosophers.

But Academician Geta is still very clear about one thing, that is, the National Silver Company where he is about to work will gather countless wealth, and as a consultant of the company, his salary will naturally increase.

When he thought of this, Academician Geta's eyes suddenly became more fiery. He had made up his mind to use all means to be courteous to Lawrence to ensure that the position of company consultant fell into his hands.

Lawrence also noticed his fiery eyes, looked at Academician Geta with a smile, and said slowly:

"Your argument was excellent, Mr. Getta."

"You're very flattering. Since this is a report compiled by me, of course I have to use my reputation to defend its truth." Academician Geta said with a hurried smile.

Lawrence nodded, deliberately looked up at the wall clock in the room, and said in a non-committal tone to Academician Getta and Lavoisier:

"I think it's getting late, and it's time to leave. But Duke Choiseul and I still have things to do. I'm sorry that I can't send you two back."

The two of them also understood very well that Lawrence was giving an order to exclude guests, so they stood up quickly, bowed respectfully to Lawrence and the Duke of Choiseul, and then left.

Now, only Lawrence and the Duke of Choiseul were left facing the feast.

"You have something to say? Governor Bonaparte."

Duke Choiseul asked unhurriedly. Since Lawrence had rejected the others, it meant that there must be some topics that needed to be discussed in private.

Lawrence nodded slowly.

There are two things that worry him most at the moment. One is the expansion of the National Silver Company in the Paris financial community, and the other is working with the Duke of Choiseul to deal with the political attack by the Duke of Richelieu.

Originally, in Lawrence's plan, the two things were one from the financial world and the other from the political world, and there would not have been much overlap.

However, after being tricked by Justice Maupp in the Palace of Versailles a few days ago, Lawrence quickly realized that the Duke of Richelieu and Justice Maupp would probably take the opportunity to insert their hands into the Corsican National Silver Company. .

After all, after Justice Maupp took over the negotiations with Lawrence, he would basically overturn all the results of Duke Choiseul, which naturally included the fact that the Corsican government and the French royal family jointly owned the National Silver Company.

The performance of the National Silver Company in the financial market will definitely be greatly reduced after losing the support of the royal family. This is definitely not the result that Lawrence expected.

Not to mention that the Duke of Richelieu might find a way to directly pin the National Silver Company to the financial market to prevent Lawrence from raising funds.

So after rejecting the others, Lawrence directly informed Duke Choiseul of his thoughts.

"Well, you are right. Justice Mopu will not let you dictate the financial market."

After hearing Lawrence's analysis, Duke Choiseul nodded in agreement, but his expression showed no concern. Instead, he took the initiative and asked:

"Since you have thought of this level, it means you already have a solution, right?"

"You praise me too much."

Lawrence said with a wry smile, but still nodded and analyzed:

"I think it is very simple to keep the royal family's share in the company. After all, the royal family itself will also benefit greatly from this financing."

Even according to the most conservative estimate, the National Silver Company can raise five million livres in this financing, and nearly 40% of this money will flow into the pockets of the royal family.

Including the one million livres that Lawrence just acquired, 375,000 of them are owned by the French royal family.

"So the royal family must be on our side on this matter."

Lawrence tapped the table and said:

"Then... maybe this is an opportunity to break the fragile alliance between Justice Maupe and Duke Richelieu."