Flowers, Swords and France

"Has it really been completed?" After hearing Charles's answer, Baron de Beauvain looked happy. "I didn't expect that you have been so busy recently and still have time to think about this kind of thing carefully..."

"In order to make a fortune, of course we should spare no effort." Charles replied with a smile.

"That's right! That's right!" The Baron nodded, "In this world, if you want to succeed, you must have such an energy that will never give up until the goal is reached. Only when we are full of hunger for further progress, can we To be able to really get what you want..."

Then, he glanced at the daughter next to him calmly, and it was obvious that these words were meant for her. Laura also nodded slightly, showing that she understood.

After the Baron finished speaking, Charles gently took out a few pages of paper from his arms, then stood up and walked forward, placing them on the Baron's desk.

The baron immediately took the pages, put on his monocle again, and read them carefully.

He read it very slowly, studying it carefully bit by bit, and Ciel also sat back again, waiting quietly for the other person to finish reading. Fortunately, in order to reduce time, he and his secretary had tried to keep the text concise enough, not as long and empty as the kind of report written to the parliament.

After about half an hour, the Baron finally finished reading all the information, and then he raised his head and looked at Ciel.

"That is to say, approximately 30 million funds need to be raised in the past year?" He frowned slightly, "30 million, isn't it too little?"

After discussions and planning between Charles and a lot of people in the ministry, their borrowing plan for the Ministry of Railways was finally released. It is initially set to borrow 30 million in the first year, and then increase it year by year.

However, although 30 million francs is an unimaginable huge amount of money in the eyes of most people. But in the eyes of financial giants like Baron de Beauvain, there are still some shortcomings. In addition, it is impossible for him to monopolize all the cakes and be responsible for the underwriting of all bonds, so it is normal to feel that it is not to his liking.

"We have just been established and have not yet accumulated credit in the market. Even if we are endorsed by you or other reputable people, we may still cause doubts in the market..." Charles expressed his thoughts, "So , we finally decided after discussion to issue 20 million first and test the market reaction.”

After thinking for a while, the Baron nodded. "Okay, it's understandable that you think about it this way. I hope you can do better in the future. Like this. I know you also have difficulties. There are too many people who want to get involved, so I will underwrite 10 million out of the 30 million. , I want five percent of the underwriting fee... one percent of which is for you."

Hey, this guy, he directly asked for one-third of the 30 million yuan, and he still showed himself to be high-spirited and upright! However, the underwriting fee of 5% is 500,000. He wants to give himself one hundred thousand francs, which is not stingy.

"Okay. I will try my best to fight for you. I hope I can really get a quota of 10 million for you." Thinking of this, Charles nodded lightly, "However, I think you can also help me by your side. Build up my momentum, so that I can speak more easily in the ministry... You also know that although Mr. Bonaparte is the president now, there are still too many people who have restraints on him. Even with the support of the minister, I can't do anything Tell the truth in the ministry.”

"Of course there's no problem with that." Baron de Beauvain nodded enthusiastically, "If you encounter any difficult people in the ministry, just tell me directly. If you can't do the first order well, we still can't do it. What to do next?”

"That's great if you can see it that way." Charles also breathed a sigh of relief.

"I have always been a reasonable man," Baron Beauvain replied calmly, as if he really was such a man.

Then, he suddenly grinned and said, "Mr. Treville, tell me the truth. In adjusting the progress so small and slow, do you have any other considerations besides market risk? For example, do you have other considerations? I want to wait until your steel plant is built before we start working on it..."

Ciel looked slightly embarrassed.

Because secretly he did think so.

"It doesn't matter, what's the point? It's only natural for people to try every means to seek benefits for themselves. There's nothing to be ashamed of! Well done, young man! Taking the entire country's money and stuffing it into your own pocket is what a man is. His demeanor!" Seeing Charles' embarrassment, the baron smiled even more cheerfully, "What does half a million mean to us? It's just a snack before dinner, we think! What can’t be done?”

Then, he turned to look at his daughter and whispered, "Do you see? Money is power, and power is money. As long as you have these two things at the same time, you can get whatever you want. Some people are exhausted. You can work hard for less than five francs a day, but in just one breakfast, we have added half a million to your family's wealth! You and your brother must not forget this."

Laura nodded, indicating that she had listened to her father's teachings. At the same time, she glanced at Charles secretly.

"That will have to wait a few years." Charles still remained calm, "We have to find a way to kick everyone out of the way so that we can have the cake all to ourselves."

"That's right, Mr. Louis Bonaparte must become emperor, so that we can use the emperor's hand to wipe out all pests." The baron agreed with his opinion, and a cold light flashed in his eyes. "Don't worry, I have already promised Mr. Bonaparte that whether it is a parliamentary route or a military coup, as long as I can help him take power, I will not be stingy in sponsoring."

He was so enthusiastic about helping Louis Bonaparte come to power, of course, not because of nostalgia for the empire, but out of naked selfish considerations.

Even those who have a bad impression of Louis Bonaparte must admit that the Second Empire was the era when France's industry developed fastest and most steadily, and Louis Bonaparte's policies were at least very successful in economics.

And what is the secret of industrialization?

It is the advancement of science and technology, the improvement of workers' quality, and of course the most important point is the investment of funds.

The Louis Bonaparte era was also an era when the French government's investment and expenditure increased sharply, and almost countless money was invested in France's science and technology, transportation, and industrial construction, allowing industrialization to proceed smoothly.

In this era, although the political situation is quite turbulent, the fiscal revenue of the French government is still relatively stable, with an annual government revenue of about 1.2 billion francs, which is about 154 million taels of silver at the exchange rate at that time.

At this time, the annual revenue of the entire Qing Dynasty under the rule of Emperor Daoguang was only about 40 million taels of silver - that is, the government revenue of France with a population of 30 million was nearly four times that of the Qing government with a population of 400 million, which was almost completely incomparable. The gap in strength between modern countries and ancient feudal dynasties is not only in science and technology and military, but also in finance.

The modern taxation and financial system allows the national government to mobilize resources far beyond the imagination of the old times (in the Jiawu year, Japan with a population of 40 million had a fiscal revenue that was almost equal to that of the Qing Dynasty with a population of 400 million, both of which were about 80 million taels of silver.)

The original text can be read in Liu # 9 @Shu/Ba!

Why did this result occur?

There are two reasons. First, the modern government has a huge administrative agency, which enables the government to control the most basic and lowest administrative units in the country and collect taxes to the maximum extent; at the same time, the rise of modern technology and the great improvement of transportation conditions have also made business unprecedentedly prosperous, thereby increasing government revenue, while the ancient feudal empire mainly relied on agricultural taxes, which could not rise any further after reaching a certain limit.

However, even with such unprecedented prosperity, the annual revenue of the French government could not offset its huge expenditure. In 1845 alone, it spent 1.48 billion francs, with a deficit of more than 200 million; and in 1849, when Louis-Bonaparte just came to power, the French government spent 1.65 billion francs, and the deficit was doubled compared to 1845!

This is not a big deal. After the Second Empire was rebuilt in 1852, the government of His Majesty Emperor Napoleon III spent more than 2 billion francs almost every year (twice as much as ten years ago), adding hundreds of millions of deficits to the government every year.

Louis Bonaparte believed in such a philosophy - although huge investments will bring huge deficits to the government, they can promote economic prosperity, expand employment, and increase government revenue at the same time, which is extremely beneficial to the government.

The same phenomenon occurred almost simultaneously in every country in Western Europe. Only with such huge capital investment could the Industrial Revolution be born and continue to develop, and Western European countries would have so many factories, such a huge railway network and telegraph network in a short period of time.

Such huge expenditures and deficits, of course, need to be filled by government debt. Throughout the Second Empire, the government had to borrow hundreds of millions of francs from the financial sector every year, which contained countless wealth, enough to dazzle anyone.

It is completely understandable that Baron de Bovan wanted to help Louis Bonaparte come to power in exchange for the opportunity to participate in sharing such huge wealth.

In the face of such huge wealth, anything is bound to happen. Along with the rapid economic growth, there were countless scandals in the Second Empire. Even today, when the empire has not yet been rebuilt, this has already begun. Charles sitting in this study is the most direct proof of this.

"Your loyalty and love for the motherland are really touching." Charles said this with a slight smile, and it is hard to tell whether it is a compliment or sarcasm.

"We, everyone," the baron replied very seriously.

"We should all love our motherland." (To be continued..)