Pastor's Tantra

Even Aiwass himself didn't expect that the fish could take the bait directly.

He didn’t even say a few words, he had just started to make a nest, and he hadn’t even officially set the hook... the fish just jumped ashore on its own.

——It seems that Mr. Fish is really in a hurry.

So Aiwass didn't point it out, but followed Mr. Fish directly to Lloyd's.

The metropolitan area is northwest of the Red and White Queens. If you want to go to Lloyd's District, you have to cross the entire Red and White Queens... But as a port area, Lloyd's District cannot have a backlog of goods that cannot be shipped out. There is more than one railway from the most populous metropolitan area to Lloyd's District on the seaside in the southeast. But they all bypass the red and white queen in the middle.

Attorney York took Aiwass on the train.

It was only after nine o'clock and they had already arrived at Lloyd's.

——Although Lawyer York said that they were not a commercial company, what came into view was a skyscraper.

A building with more than 30 floors is already quite astonishing considering the technological level of this era. This is the tallest building in the entire Lloyd District, in sharp contrast to the surrounding buildings that are only one or two storeys high.

It can be said that the Lloyd's headquarters building is full of people coming and going, and the people who come and go try to keep their clothes decent. The entrance to the building is a huge revolving glass door, and the marble floor of the hall is as bright as new.

There are many small round tables in the hall with low stools beside them. There were some young men in suits who looked like salesmen sitting there, chatting in low voices with some well-dressed but embarrassed people.

There is a huge display board on the side of the hall. On the left side are the names of Tyson Crude Oil, Nemancha Ocean Group, Bizu Metal and Wood Company, etc., and behind it is a row of flippable digital boards that are accurate to one digit after the decimal point. . On the right side are the names of some goods, such as cotton, soybeans, sugar, wine, etc. The flippable sign on the right is their price.

A large number of people in suits and ties gathered there. Some were discussing in low voices, some were nervous, some were talking nonsense, and some were standing in the corner holding notebooks to write down something. From time to time, people come over to flip the counting cards and adjust the numbers to the latest version.

After Lawyer York brought Aiwass and Lily in, someone immediately came to greet them.

A receptionist who looked to be in his early twenties, elegantly dressed, with mature and beautiful makeup came over and greeted politely: "Mr. Consultant."

"Who is there?" Attorney York asked.

"Mr. Boca, Mr. Forbes, Ms. Gray Green," the female receptionist replied.

"Isn't Mr. Lloyd here?" Lawyer York murmured in a low voice, and then ordered, "Please ask Vice President Boca to come to my office and tell me that I have brought new people."

"yes."

The female receptionist responded.

Immediately afterwards, York took Aiwass and Lily into the elevator and said to the elevator manager: "Go to the seventeenth floor."

The elevator manager is a middle-aged woman in her forties. She nodded, turned the roulette wheel at hand, and raised the gate made of barbed wire. Then she pulled the gate in front of her, and the half-opened elevator swayed up.

This is the first time Aiwass has seen an elevator in Avalon.

And this elevator is too old - when the elevator rises to the mezzanine of the two floors, you can even see the red bricks through the wire mesh door, and the elevator is still shaking and making knocks as it rises. noise. This made Aiwass suddenly worried, fearing that it would suddenly break and fall directly from the air.

From time to time, powder and fine gravel would fall into the elevator through the gaps in the barbed wire. The elevator manager was not surprised by this and kicked it down again along the gap in the barbed wire fence.

In the end, it rose safely to the seventeenth floor, and after a violent vibration, it slowly stopped shaking from side to side.

At least we arrived safely. Lily breathed a sigh of relief. Her fingers that were clenching the wheelchair so hard just now were turning white.

"Have you ever been in an elevator before?"

Lawyer York said with a smile: "I have brought many people to the Lloyd's headquarters, but when they came for the first time, they were all frightened by the elevator."

Co-authoring this is still the show of force you are preparing for, right?

Aiwass cursed.

But he just shook his head slightly and said very firmly: "I have never been in an elevator like this."

“This elevator, together with this building, was designed by architects from Star Antimony.

Lawyer York walked in front and introduced enthusiastically: "You may not know that our buildings in Avalon usually cannot reach this height. Buildings such as the Candlestick Cathedral and the Palace of Silver and Tin are all Designs from the Theocracy. But they are not that high.

"When a building reaches this height, special reinforcing materials are needed. Otherwise, if a strong wind blows, the high-rise building will be crumbling, and with a wheeze, it will easily bend and topple over."

As he spoke, he happily made famous gestures with his hands.

It was as if he had forgotten that he had just returned from the funeral, and as if he had finally let go of something.

That is the natural ease and ease. Even his steps became brisk, and he almost started humming a song.

"Not all buildings can be regularly maintained by conservators like the Palace of Silver and Tin. It is very normal for most buildings to gradually age over time. In this case, it is reflected The advanced technology of Star Antimony..."

As Lawyer York spoke, he highly praised the technology of Star Antimony Kingdom. He talked about the advanced technologies used in the building, from the architect to the physical structure, and then to the daily flow of people in the building.

——But you haven’t been to Xingzhi, I have really been there. Although it is a previous life.

The elevators used by Star Antimony people are much more advanced than this. Aiwass thought.

After listening to Lawyer York chatting for a long time, Aiwass finally couldn't help but interrupted: "Did this building exist at Lloyd's two hundred years ago?"

"...Do you actually know that Lloyd's has a history of two hundred years?"

Lawyer York was a little surprised, but soon realized: "Yes, you are also a 'Moriarty' after all.

"But unfortunately, no. It's less than a hundred years since the elevator was invented, and this building was built about seven or eight years ago."

Lawyer York said with a smile: "This building didn't even exist when I was a child. I remember that ten years ago, the old Lloyd's Building was attacked and demolished, so President Lloyd paid for the construction of this new building. .”

"President Lloyd?"

Aiwass knew where York wanted to turn the topic, so he complimented him appropriately: "Mr. Lloyd...does he have anything to do with the then Prince Lloyd?"

As expected, this is what York wanted to say.

He pushed open the door of his office and smiled happily: "Now that you know Prince Lloyd, it's easy to handle. Please sit down, Aihua - oh, I'm sorry. Please wait here with Mr. Aiwas, Ms. Lily." I’ll make tea for you two in a moment.”

Aiwass keenly heard that York deliberately said the wrong thing. His purpose was to temporarily interrupt the conversation between them.

In this case, Aiwass would look around when he was bored. This position can bring the entire room into view and clearly see the layout of the entire room.

The office is full of well-tended green plants, and there is a green parrot with colorful tail feathers in the cage. There are goldfish in the water tank next to it, and warm photos of Lawyer York and other friends hanging on the wall. Hooking up, smiling, and even taking photos of each other playing with each other - from their twenties until now, and those friends are almost all celebrities or big shots.

And when the water was boiling, York didn't stop completely.

When he estimated that Aiwass was starting to look at his photos, he once again introduced the history of Lloyd's: "How much do you know about Prince Lloyd?"

"A successful businessman, a disgrace to the royal family."

Aiwass replied.

Prince Lloyd's surname was not "Du Lac". He was a businessman named "Lloyd" more than two hundred years ago.

——More than two hundred years ago, Avalon's shipping industry reached its peak.

Prince Lloyd was just a coffee shop owner at first. Because he was good at making coffee, many businessmen in his coffee shop would come to patronize him. They also brought a lot of information during their conversation.

Prince Lloyd was keenly aware of the business opportunities and borrowed money at his own expense to publish a newspaper called "Lloyd News", which was published three times a week with a limit of 500 copies per edition. There are all kinds of shipping news and maritime intelligence on it. These items were extremely valuable to merchants on extremely costly ocean voyages.

At that time, the newspaper industry was not yet developed, and news lagged seriously. Lloyd's network of contacts is wide enough to provide the most accurate and reliable information in the industry. Because of this, "Lloyd's News" fetched a high price among weaker businessmen. Those who could not buy newspapers could only come to his cafe to deal with him personally and consult for information.

But in fact, the news written by Lloyd in the newspaper was only "second grade" news. He himself also has more secret "first-level" information, which he sells only to those who are willing to deal with him - exchanging his own information and favors for his.

By running his own intelligence business, Lloyd has gained a considerable voice. The captains, merchants, and loan sharks all had to please him. In this case, he set the rules in his own name and developed the insurance intermediary industry.

Initially, Mr. Lloyd did not issue insurance himself, but all "marine insurance" had to go through him, and he had to take 5% of the net profit.

This is a profit-free industry, and of course there will be people who want his life. So he began to run his own private armed forces. Finally, seeing that he had the power, he began to issue loans himself - also known as "Lloyd's Loans", which gradually became a behemoth. And he gradually entered the circle of upper class society.

In the end, as a businessman with a civilian background and no knight blood, he fell in love with the queen at the time and became a prince. But even so, he still did not give up the Lloyd's that he had built with his own hands. Instead, he took advantage of the authority of the royal family to approve Lloyd's members to operate all insurance businesses, including marine insurance, and changed the original "Lloyd's News" Renovated as Lloyd's Weekly.

Through Her Majesty the Queen, who was devoted to him, Prince Lloyd continuously drew blood from the royal family and passed various legal provisions that benefited Lloyd from the side. At the same time, it also operated an exquisite network of human relations, allowing some important members of the Knight family to join or join Lloyd's in disguise. By the time the queen died, Lloyds had become an unstoppable behemoth.

At this point, even the Round Table Hall is not in a position to take action against Lloyd's. It even correlates well with revenue across multiple divisions.

Prince Lloyd has become "a disgrace to the royal family." Because of Prince Lloyd, many of the royal family's powers were deprived and restricted. It was also after him that the knight family prohibited intermarriage with non-bloodline folk merchants.

But Lawyer York didn't care about Aiwass's sharp words and just smiled.

This is the first chapter of more than 3,000 words. The second chapter is not finished yet and will be posted at 6pm! I will resume double updates today!

I went to bed at nine o'clock last night and woke up at three thirty in the morning.

I feel almost recovered, although my head is still a little groggy. Although I think what you said makes sense, it’s already halfway adjusted, so I have to stop adjusting it (sad)

Let’s leave it like this for now——