Flowers, Swords and France

December 24, 1859

In the outer suburbs of Paris, there is a small country villa hidden among clumps of cypress trees, aquatic plants and tall wild grasses. The exterior of this villa is made of common red bricks, and the mortar joints are plastered white. The doors and windows It is painted bright green, and the wood is painted with a brown paint that is close to light yellow. The eaves on the roof protrude forward, the second floor is surrounded by a corridor, and a small balcony stretches out in the middle of the front.

It looks inconspicuous, with a remote location and a simple appearance. It looks like a place where small businessmen in Paris spend their summers. However, the villa seems to occupy a very wide area, so that you can't see other nearby villas as far as you can see. exist.

It was already noon, and the cold wind was blowing slowly, making the woods rustle. There was not a trace of sunshine in the sky shrouded by thick dark clouds. The whole world seemed to be gray, which made people feel sad. I felt extremely desolate and lonely.

Seeing this scene, the people standing on the balcony couldn't help but sigh deeply. Their breath quickly turned into white mist, and then dissipated into the void like blue smoke.

This man was wearing a heavy double-breasted coat, and his short blond hair was neatly combed. He was about thirty years old. Although his face was no longer young, it was still angular and handsome. He looked at the sky expressionlessly. , it seems that the whole person is immersed in thinking, a mixture of indifference and perseverance, and an inexplicable aura that makes people want to stay away from him.

However, even so, there were still people who dared to approach him.

"Are you swallowing the bitterness of failure alone? My dear Duke of Curzon, how are you? Doesn't it feel good to be kicked away by the Emperor?"

Suddenly, a slightly mocking greeting came from behind him.

The man, who had not been ridiculed in person by many people, frowned slightly, but quickly regained his composure.

"Well, yes. It's quite bitter and very uncomfortable." He answered slowly. Although his tone was as calm as possible, he still couldn't hide the deep loss and resentment.

"Huh ha ha ha ha!" The person behind him laughed, as if he was very happy to see him in such embarrassment. "It's really joyful to see you who were once so high-spirited, but now so depressed!"

Laura continued to laugh for a moment. Then she stopped her rather sharp laughter and looked at Charles again.

"So. What will our Majesty do with you now?"

Ciel turned around, looked at the woman in gorgeous clothes in front of him, and sighed again.

"He plans to send me to Vienna as ambassador. He will let me go as soon as the New Year is over."

The woman in front of her was wearing a thick white skirt, lined with intricate gold thread patterns, which shone brightly under the dark sky. The diamond brooch on her chest also shone with blurry light. Although she was in her thirties, , but the face that has been carefully cared for and maintained is still very delicate, as if it has not been eroded by the years at all. Her hair is tied up in a high bun, and she is as arrogant as a queen.

After hearing Charles' answer, Laura's face froze. She looked at Charles again, and then suddenly burst into a bigger laugh.

"Hahahaha! So beautiful! What a beautiful job! As expected of our Majesty, he can come up with such a perfect way to deal with you! I almost admire him."

Amid Laura's laughter, Charles remained unmoved at all and just shrugged regretfully.

"It is indeed a perfect strike. I will also admire Your Majesty."

In the summer of 1859, at the insistence of His Majesty the Emperor Napoleon III, the French Empire led its ally the Kingdom of Sardinia and went to war with the Austrian Empire. After several months of fierce fighting, the Austrian Empire failed and sued for peace. The Kingdom of Din gave up a large amount of its rights and interests in Italy. After defeating the Austrian Empire, Emperor Napoleon III's reputation in Europe reached its peak, but France did not gain any real benefits.

Because he strongly opposed going to war with the Austrian Empire but his opinions were not adopted, the Duke of Curzon and the famous politician Mr. Charles de Treville resigned angrily. After several attempts to save face, he resigned , His Majesty the Emperor approved his resignation half-heartedly.

After the war, the emperor planned to send the well-known pro-Austrian Duke Parkerson to Austria as ambassador. He must have wanted to repair the relationship between France and Austria as soon as possible. However, because he had just been severely humiliated by France Because of this, the new ambassador will definitely have to receive a cold reception there for a long time - thus His Majesty also inadvertently punished the Duke for defying his will.

"If you want to laugh, just laugh, Laura. After you finish laughing, we have to do business." After she laughed for a while, Charles spoke again.

"Business? I don't remember anything serious with you? I just invited you to come to this villa to have a rest..." Laura replied with a sneer.

Charles was stunned for a moment, then quickly reacted.

very good.

"Well, yes, I'm just here to take a rest. So, Laura, take me to enjoy your villa?"

"Of course, Mr. Duke." Laura replied with a sneer, then turned around. "Then please."

So, the two of them walked inside again.

This small and exquisite house is very inconsistent with its exterior. The living room is all hardwood flooring, which is carefully maintained by the servants, as if it is covered with a layer of glazed paint. The walls are covered with murals. The pictures with black background and gold frame are colorful flowers and birds and a green lake. The vivid and magical pictures shine in them. [,! ] I really don’t know how much effort was spent in the creation process.

The entire restaurant is covered with high-quality wood shipped from the Baltic Sea coast. The finely cut wood and the surrounding carvings make people feel as if they are in a wonderful fantasy. The staircase corridor and stairwell form a small lobby, painted like ancient wood and decorated in Gothic style.

If you only look at the simple appearance. No one would believe that this inconspicuous country villa would have such luxurious furnishings, but only in this way can it be worthy of becoming the most luxurious villa in France. The residence of the richest man in the Western Empire, right? Although she would not stay here for many days a year.

Led by Laura, the two did not stop, and walked along the stairs and corridor to an inconspicuous small room downstairs.

The room was very simply furnished, with only a few ordinary pieces of furniture, and it looked like a residence for guests.

Then, Laura walked to the closet, put her hand on the handle, and gently pulled it...

"Huh..."

A gust of cold wind made Charles feel cold.

Under the dim candlelight .Steps after steps extended down to the depths of the deep darkness. It seemed to lead to hell.

Accompanied by the cold wind, the sound of voices and machines running came out from inside and rushed into the ears of the two people.

"It's here." Laura said coldly.

"Okay." Charles nodded.

So the two walked down the steps again.

Perhaps to cover up the sound. The steps leading to the underground were very tortuous, with several turns. Charles followed Laura down step by step, and the original noise became louder and louder, just like a march.

After reaching the last step of the steps, Laura pushed open a door.

Then, the entire underground scene was presented to Charles.

There was a platform outside the door, which extended to the ground through more than a dozen steps, and the entire underground was a flat and spacious hall.

Yes. A very spacious hall.

There were wall lamps around the hall, and many machines were placed on the ground, running in an orderly manner. Making high or low sounds, and next to these machines, there were also Some people were walking around in their oily work clothes, while others were sitting in their seats, gently drawing something on paper with their hands, looking very focused and serious. They were like students who were studying painting seriously in an art academy.

In the brightly lit underground hall, machines and workers were running in a tense and orderly manner. It was no different from the scene in any factory workshop on the ground.

The only difference was the product of this factory.

It was precisely because the product was extremely special that they could only set up this factory underground where it could not see the light and carefully maintain the operation of the factory.

After inspecting the underground workshop, Charles nodded with satisfaction, and then followed Laura down the stairs to the ground.

Immediately, a middle-aged man wearing only a shirt and a brown beard came over and saluted Laura.

Lola just nodded slightly as a return gift, and then pointed at Charles and said to him.

"Show the finished product to this gentleman."

The middle-aged man bowed again in silence, and then led Charles and Laura without saying a word. Came to a small compartment.

Then, they saw the products of this underground workshop.

There were piles of randomly placed paper everywhere.

The colorful paper, stacked layer by layer on the shelf, seemed to be emitting the scent of ink just made, mixed with the turbid air underground, it became an indescribable smell.

Charles walked forward, then pulled out a piece of paper from it, and carefully examined it repeatedly.

The texture of the paper, yes.

The code on the corner, yes.

The font and signature of the words, yes.

The big de-mille-s on the paper cheered up Charles.

There was only one thing left.

Charles carefully looked at the portrait on the edge of the paper. On the pillar with two snakes entwined, the goddess was looking at him. She had no expression on her face, but she seemed to be smiling slightly, as if she was congratulating the hard work of this group of people, and as if she was wishing Charles success in the future.

Charles' hands couldn't help but tremble slightly.

It was still right.

"We... succeeded!" Under the impact of great joy, Charles barely maintained his composure.

Yes, this piece of paper was imitated from the banknotes issued by the Bank of France, which is what people usually call... banknotes. 1,000 franc banknotes.

"Same machine, same printing method. Same production process, even people who have received the same training, and spent so much time. It would be strange if it didn't succeed..." Laura, who was next to him, answered meaningfully, "Isn't it, the respected Minister of Finance?"

"I am no longer one." Charles was still looking at the papers. "Besides, if it weren't for the legacy of your father, who was the president of the Bank of France, I wouldn't have been able to do this easily. I will never forget the help that the late Baron de-Bouvan gave me..."

After hearing Charles mention the word "father", a cold light flashed across Laura's face for no reason. [,! ], and even her breathing paused for a moment, which was what Charles wanted to see when he said this deliberately.

But Laura quickly regained her composure.

"There is no de-Bouvan now, only the Duchess of Ricanisit." She replied indifferently. "Okay, we have already made the counterfeit banknotes you want, what do you want to do next?"

"This is not a counterfeit banknote, but a banknote that was produced without legal procedures... In other words, this is additional liquidity injected into the market."

Lola looked at Charles coldly, as if she wanted to see how thick this man's face was.

The original text is available at Six # 9 @Book/Bar!

But she miscalculated. Charles didn't show any embarrassment, but continued.

"How much can you make in a month?"

"In order to impact the economy and the market as much as possible according to your idea. We can't just make 1,000 francs. We have to make 500, 200, and 100 francs as well. In addition, the workers are all novices. So we can't make much. Besides, such a small workshop, even if it really runs well, what can it do? In the future, we can only make 100 million or 200 million francs a month."

"That's enough." Charles nodded.

It's enough.

One or two hundred million a month, more than ten or twenty billion a year, if it were in the 21st century, this money would be nothing. The government's printing factory could even supply so much money to the market in one or two days. However, in 1859 when the gold standard was still in place. This represents a very terrifying meaning-these papers, these papers that were thrown away and looked worthless, are worth hundreds of tons of gold, as long as no one finds out that they are counterfeit banknotes.

Even if they are found, it doesn't matter. If They can't tell the difference between real money and counterfeit money. If the redemption of banknotes is completely stopped, it will only cause greater panic.

"Next, you should carefully spread this money into the market through the banking system, and then use this money to exchange for real money and hoard it. As long as the time comes, we will run a run on the banks together! As long as we take the lead in setting off a trend, the people will definitely panic and run to the banks to run on the banks. There are suddenly so many banknotes in the market. They definitely can't pay so much gold. Don't I know them? They will be in trouble at that time!"

"At that time, they will either announce the devaluation of the franc or simply stop the redemption of banknotes." Laura answered calmly, obviously having figured out Charles's thinking.

"That's right! No matter which method they choose, they can only cause greater panic. At that time, everyone will want to throw out all the banknotes in their hands, and the empire's financial system will be in chaos." Charles commented without any emotion, "I don't think they can solve this problem."

"So at that time, they can only... You invite him back?" Laura glanced at Charles half mockingly and half admiringly. "Only the famous Mr. de Treville can save the empire's shaky financial and financial crisis?"

"That's it." Charles nodded, "When the time comes, he can only call me back and let me solve this crisis. I will wait for this day in Vienna. And this time, I will no longer keep my fate in the monarch's mind. I will never let myself suffer such humiliation again... He will never trip me again, I will let him know the price!"

The determination contained in this evil made Laura stunned for a while.

Very good, very good... so good.

"That's right, it's so right!" She couldn't help laughing again, "Even His Majesty the Emperor has no right to stop us. We are above the secular world, so of course we can't be bound by the secular world, even the emperor! "

In this way, the two people initially reached a plan of action for the next step.

As for how many people will lose their fortunes or even their families in this artificially created trend? The two of them No one remembered it, and no one even cared.

After inspecting the underground counterfeit money factory, Charles and Lola returned to the restaurant of the villa.

Lola made a gesture, and the servants began to serve the dishes slowly.

To Charles's surprise, there was another person next to Lola.

To be precise, it was a little girl.

The little girl was about four or five years old. She wore a skirt, had long chestnut hair, fair skin, and a very delicate face. Her brown eyes just looked at the plate in front of her, and her expression was very indifferent, just like a smaller version of Lola.

"Why did you bring her here too?" Charles was surprised.

"Since you are here too, I brought our daughter here to play. Is there anything wrong?" Lola answered as if it was a matter of course.

"But is this a place to play?"

"Isn't it?" Lola asked coldly.

Lola's righteous look made Charles speechless for a while. He didn't know what to say.

And the little girl was just eating quietly, as if she didn't hear the argument between the two adults at all.

"Leanna?" Charles gave up his plan to continue arguing with Laura, looked at the little girl in front of him, and said hello with a smile.

But the little girl just raised her head and glanced at Ciel. Then she nodded slightly, as if to say hello to Ciel, and then she withdrew her gaze and continued eating.

Seeing this child behaving like this, Charles suddenly felt a pain in his heart. An unspeakable sense of guilt made him feel very uncomfortable.

"Why did you bring Liana like this!" He looked at Laura with some annoyance.

"What's wrong with this?" Laura replied with a sneer, "Leanna is extremely smart.[,!] She never wastes useless emotions. This is how she is like my daughter."

"You..." Charles was furious for a moment.

However, Liana's concerned gaze drifted over secretly, which finally made Charles feel better. This child was not emotionless, but he just didn't like to show it.

Because the amount of food was small, Liana finished it quickly. With her mother's permission, she bowed to the two people decently and elegantly, and then slowly exited the restaurant. Obviously she is only this young, She actually behaved as calmly as an adult, which made Charles not know what to say.

This lunch was not very satisfying. Charles suppressed his dissatisfaction and finished eating, and then planned to say goodbye to Laura.

However, Laura stopped him.

"Mr. Treville, you seem to have forgotten to repay me for all the hard work I have done for you."

"Remuneration?" Charles was a little confused, "Do you think I'm just doing this for myself?"

"No matter what, at least I took a huge risk to help you." Laura was still very calm, "Since I helped, you should pay for it. This is what it should be, isn't it?"

"...Okay, then tell me how you want me to repay you." Charles gave up his intention to argue with her.

Laura was silent for a moment, and then showed a strange smile.

"This time, I want a son."

This sudden smile was so contrasting with his usual cold and frosty expression that it turned into a strange sense of charm, which suddenly made Charles feel a little stirred in his heart.

"Your husband is seriously ill." He quickly forced himself to suppress this sudden desire. "Shouldn't you go back early to stay with him?"

"Who cares what he does? That old guy should have died a long time ago, as long as he keeps the title. Even if he dies before I get pregnant, I can still find another one. Anyway, there are many dukes and princes in Italy who are very poor. , as long as they pay a little money, what do they care?" Although the words she said were cruel, Laura's smile did not change at all, "In the final analysis, this kind of person is just a bug, with no enterprising spirit. He also has no brainpower, he only knows how to enjoy himself, but he doesn’t even know how to control his own life. He is just a poor worm with an empty title. There are 30 million such bugs in this country, which is really uncomfortable... Charles, we are different, we are destined to transcend them, and my son, like us, will wear the title of Duke or Prince, and will be born to step on the heads of these insects..."

Seeing Laura's smile, Charles suddenly felt the uncontrollable passion again.

Nothing is a more powerful aphrodisiac than a woman's arrogance. Just like in the past, he once again couldn't help but want to throw this surprisingly arrogant woman onto the bed and ravage her. All turned into moans.

Well, maybe even this was within her expectation.

Okay, no matter so much.

"Okay, let's do it!" He gritted his teeth and stood up, then walked to Laura, hugged her horizontally, like picking up a large doll, and walked slowly to the bedroom. (Not finished. to be continued)

ps: This article is posted with a delay. When everyone can see it, I am also playing with my friends...

I wish you all happiness, and I wish you happiness too.

The next article will be posted tomorrow.

as! r752

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