Shadow of great britain

The truth is rarely pure, and it is never simple.

——Oscar Wilde

"Is the Draisait Bank willing to fully represent the new bank's operations?"

The uncle's proposal was like a bombshell, which not only shocked Schneider, but also shocked Arthur, who was quietly preparing to do something bad.

Indeed, for businessmen, there is no business that can be more advantageous than having a relationship with the government.

However, the government's business also depends on what kind of business it is.

If we take Britain as an example, the safest, most respectable and most stable business is the legal service contract signed by major law firms and various cabinet departments. Fighting lawsuits for these government departments can not only give you a good reputation, but also expand your network of contacts.

In addition, public works projects are also a piece of fat meat that makes people jealous. Laying railways, port development and urban infrastructure construction are all tens of thousands of pounds of business.

The reason why the Brunel Road and Bridge Construction Company shares that Arthur had previously purchased were able to come back from the brink of bankruptcy was because the company had successively won several large government engineering orders, first the Avon Valley Bridge, and then the Great Western Railway.

Of course, the reason why the company was able to get these orders was definitely not accidental, because in the list of shareholders of this company, in addition to unknown people such as Arthur Hastings and Lionel Rothschild, there were also Tory Party members such as Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel.

In addition to legal services and engineering services, the most sought-after project is a traditional reserved business of governments around the world - military procurement.

There are countless British companies that have established their commercial reputations by relying on their status as military suppliers.

These include Giffords \u0026 Hawkes, the British Army's supplier of custom uniforms and the British ready-made clothing industry giant.

Crosher \u0026 Blackwell, the Royal Navy's exclusive cannery and condiment supplier, and the lifelong enemy of Royal Navy sailors such as Elder.

Thomas Holloway \u0026 Co., a giant in the medical industry, whose main products are Holloway Ointment for treating trauma, ulcers, burns and infections and Holloway Tablets for treating indigestion, constipation and other internal diseases, and which is widely praised by the colonial army for launching a new drug, quinine.

As for the government business that Mr. Draisaitl is interested in, it is commonly known as financial services, and its main work is to help the government manage national debt, raise funds and provide financial consulting services.

Unlike the flourishing of other fields, financial services have always been based on the principle of winner-takes-all. The British government bond issuance business has always been monopolized by the two giants, Barings Bank and Rothschild Bank. Other small banks, let alone drinking soup, can be regarded as sinful even if they smell it.

As for the management of national debt, the Ministry of Finance has almost completely handed over this business to the Bank of England, which was jointly funded by the government and private investors in 1694. Therefore, according to the articles of association of the joint-stock company, its 24 directors are of course elected by the shareholders of the bank.

Therefore, the people sitting on the board of directors are naturally the richest and most powerful bankers in the City of London. In other words, they are old faces such as Nathan Rothschild, Alexander Baring, and John Reed.

Although the Draisait family is quite powerful in the financial circle and even participated in the construction of the Bank of France during the Napoleonic Empire, their strength in London is obviously not enough to participate in such high-level government business.

However, although the big meat from the Ministry of Finance cannot be obtained, it is not bad to get some small fish and shrimp from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the eyes of the old uncle.

Moreover, most of the big banks are disdainful of doing such dirty and tiring work. They have big orders from the Ministry of Finance and there is no need to attract flies for such a small piece of toothpick meat. The most important thing is that bankers have a bad reputation. Whether it is Rothschild or Baring, in order to get some positive reports from the newspapers, they have to spend a lot of money every year on charity and public welfare.

The Rothschild family has funded many education and medical projects around London, and is also the main sponsor of many academic projects at Oxford University and Cambridge University.

The Baring family also pays great attention to public medical and educational institutions, and London and southern England are their main areas of activity. During the previous cholera epidemic in the UK, Alexander Baring, who reached a private agreement with Arthur, also announced as a family representative that the Baring family would build a low-cost public housing community in Liverpool.

However, Draisaitl is different from Rothschild and Baring, who are high above and have begun to pursue fame in addition to interests. Although the three families are similar in terms of the time of their rise, Rothschild and Baring's status in Europe can be said to be rising steadily, while Draisaitl is like a grasshopper after autumn, and can't jump for a few days.

Although Thiers had privately ridiculed Emily's father at the ball at the Kedossai Mansion before, thinking that the old guy was greedy and insatiable.

Although Thiers' words are not wrong, if you consider the starting point between the two, you can taste another taste.

Thiers was born in Marseilles, France, into a middle-class family. His father was a local businessman, and later served as the director of the Marseille Port Authority for a period of time. Unfortunately, Thiers' mother was abandoned not long after marrying his father, so he actually didn't benefit much from his father's influence, and even borrowed money to finish college.

After graduating from the University of Provence, he first worked as a lawyer, and then boldly went to Spain to work as a war correspondent. After returning to China, he finally attracted the appreciation of the Republican leader Lafayette and the 'chameleon' Talleyrand by writing books and biographies. .

Finally, he used decisive measures to present the crown to Louis-Philippe, then Duke of Orleans, before everyone had time to react during the July Revolution. Only then did he get the opportunity to rise rapidly in the government.

So from Thiers' perspective, what qualifications does the Draisaitl family have to covet what he, a self-made Marseille boy, has earned by braving the hail of bullets and repeatedly dancing on the edge of a knife?

Moreover, even if they are far inferior to before and even if their positions are lower, the descendants of the Draisaitl family are still widely distributed in the political, military and business circles of France.

But from the perspective of the Draisaitl family, this family, which was once on par with many banking giants, is not willing to decline. Moreover, the older generation of the family never thought that they were any worse than Rothschild and Bahrain. If they insist on saying that they made mistakes, then their biggest mistake was at the two key moments of the Restoration and the July Revolution. The cautious style led to a half-beat delay in forming a line.

Rothschild bet on Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo, thus establishing his position in Britain.

Thiers made a big bet on Louis Philippe during the July Revolution. This short man from a single-parent family has now become the French Counselor and Dean. As long as the years go by, he will have the opportunity to challenge the position of Prime Minister of the Cabinet sooner or later.

As for Draisaitl, during the Bourbon Restoration in 1815, they did not decisively defect to Louis XVIII because of their old feelings for Napoleon. If Louis XVIII had not been a generous man and wanted to bridge the conflicts between the various political factions, they would have been brutally retaliated against.

During the July Revolution, when Louis-Philippe first came to power, Thiers was standing beside him, and James Rothschild, the spokesman for the Paris branch of Rothschild, had already put it on for his three-year-old son. National Guard hat, and Draisaitl discovered at this time that the Paris tricolor flag had been sold out, so he had to follow the crowd on the street and shout a few words "Long live the King"!

Seeing that the family's livelihood is not as good as before, although they can still live a high-class life in the eyes of ordinary people, the old uncle knows very well that sailing against the current will lead to retreat.

In London, after the parliamentary reform of 1832 and the decades-long industrial revolution, the way power flows in Britain has quietly changed.

In the Middle Ages, having power equaled having wealth. After 1832, this formula became reversible. Mastering wealth means you have mastered power.

But in France this formula, which had lasted for centuries, was only slightly loosened.

As soon as no one from the Draisaitl family enters the highest level of power in France, they will never feel at ease.

In order to solve this problem, they have thought of many solutions, such as taking the upper-level route like Rothschild, making friends with the royal family and big nobles, and providing them with financial convenience. But just as Wellington would not budge on the issue of Jewish emancipation just because Rothschild provided financial advice, France's powerful men were not in the habit of compromising on unthreatening purse strings.

To make matters worse, they had managed to establish some relationship with the Bourbon royal family, and they were overthrown in the July Revolution. And good relations with the Bourbons are usually considered a crime after a change of dynasties.

And if this road doesn't work, of course they will have a back-up, and that is Miss Emily Draisaitl, who has been given high hopes.

Although several of her older sisters were also born very beautiful, compared with this little daughter, all the ladies of the family were eclipsed.

But unfortunately, only sunflowers will always grow against the sun. Although Miss Dresser's parents and grandparents have invested huge sums in her, they want to make this young lady the leader who will lead the family into a new era. key. However, the high concentration of resources not only cultivated Emily's versatility, but also cultivated her vision of high standards and specifications.

Coupled with the extreme love for aristocratic status that has been cultivated by her elders for a long time, this also made Miss Dresset give some big surprises to her elders in her first social season in Paris.

The specific circumstances of this banquet were so tragic that they were rarely mentioned within the Draisaitl family.

The only thing outsiders know is that after this banquet, Thiers's nickname of "Marseille Dwarf" spread like wildfire. Of course, some civilized people with bad intentions will also call him "little guy".

All in all, M. Thiers has indeed targeted the Draisaitl family at every turn since then. And those traditional aristocrats also stayed away from Miss Emily Dressette, the flower of the high mountains.

Although there will occasionally be some lustful people who think they can withstand it and come to pursue Emily, their impure purposes are intolerable to the Draisaitl family. Although a romantic married life is a tradition in France, Emily is not married yet after all. If her reputation is ruined, all the investment over the years will be in vain.

Under the influence of such a twisted mentality, Emily has fewer and fewer suitors year by year. Young people who are willing to stay with her for life are looked down upon by Emily, while those young nobles who can meet the standards think that Dresser The Te family and Emily did not meet their requirements.

Therefore, after being unable to fool the Parisians, the old guys in the Draisaitl family gradually became discouraged. And Emily's task has changed from marrying a dignitary to finding a promising young man.

Therefore, under the arrangement of her elders, she began to appear more and more in various occasions where there were many foreigners.

The reason why the old uncle came to Paris from London this time was originally in response to Emily's father's request. He planned to take her to the other side of the strait to see if there was anyone who would like her while the social season in London was in full swing. .

But what the old uncle didn't expect was that this time his great-nephew's daughter had really good eyesight. She actually noticed the gold mine that even he, the old fox, had ignored before.

Arthur Hastings, a 23-year-old knight of the Order of the United Kingdom, thought he was being demoted when he was transferred to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but the current situation showed that his task was not simple. The second secretary of the foreign embassy does not understand the 'little treasury' of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Combined with Arthur's experience of serving in Scotland Yard, his topical and controversial pedigree, and the consistent style of the British Foreign Office, the identity of this famous London detective can be easily revealed.

This is a secret intelligence officer from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs!

Wearing the vest of a second-class secretary is just a cover-up!

According to Scotland Yard's police rank standards, the rank badge of the Assistant Commissioner of Police is equivalent to that of Lieutenant Colonel.

And if this young man is not actually demoted, then after he returns to London, he will basically have to be appointed based on his status as an army colonel.

If he returns to Scotland Yard, he will immediately be appointed as the head of the police agency responsible for security patrols in the entire Greater London area, and the Commissioner of the Greater London Police Department!

If he takes the regular promotion route of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, he is very likely to take over the post of consul general of a regional consulate.

Not an aristocrat, but better than an aristocrat.

Or just like his current position, he is actually a noble, but everyone must understand it tacitly and not reveal it.

In the midst of these chaotic thoughts, the old uncle confusedly signed a memorandum with Arthur, Schneider and others.

Seeing the old man's dazed expression, Arthur stood up and greeted with concern: "Sir? Are you in good health? I see that your mental state is not very good."

"Mental state? I'm very good!" The energetic old uncle stood up with a smile and shook hands with Arthur: "Give me this new bank, and I promise to take care of it for you. And Ai Milly can also help me. Don’t underestimate her. Although she is a girl, she is very good at mathematics, better than most accounting apprentices.”