Flowers, Swords and France

When the oldest and most prestigious person in this group of people chose to retreat and surrender, the others no longer had the desire to persist in confronting the will of His Excellency the Minister and the Empire, and no longer persisted in their objections.

However, even if they could no longer stop the will of the empire, they still wanted to gain some benefits for themselves. They all asked to participate in this supervision organization, hoping to use this method to avoid the inevitable trend and its losses.

However, Charles was not so talkative this time. He just expressed his position in very vague words while eating, and no longer expressed support for a specific person.

After all, this is a sudden attack, and someone must be harmed by it. After protecting the interests of the emperor and himself, he must find a way to average the losses as much as possible to avoid causing too much trouble. If he allows everyone here to escape this time, then the people will definitely suffer huge losses, which will in turn affect the empire's subsequent war.

By this time, everyone also understood that the minister was determined to make some people bleed.

There is no doubt that they are very angry about this, but under the current situation, no one dares to show this anger again. The air in this hall suddenly seems depressed, everyone is in a dull mood, and their faces are dull. Very ugly.

"Why does everyone seem to have no appetite?" When the banquet came to an end, Charles, who was already full of wine and food, looked at the frustrated people with unsatisfied thoughts, "Isn't today's dish not to your taste? If so If this is the case, it would really make me ashamed..."

"No, Your Excellency, today's dishes are very delicious, I am very satisfied. You have always entertained us very warmly, and we are very grateful for this." The others had not yet spoken, but Josédan Capafelle immediately said To compliment him, Your Excellency, he is now, because Charles gave him a chance to climb ashore just now, so now he has swept away the haze of pain and turned into the usual funny, gentle and happy old man.

However, his happiness further deepened the pain of the other people present. For a moment, some eyes full of jealousy and disgust were cast on the old man who had rebelled against his position. However, the old man remained calm and continued to take a sip of wine indifferently. Obviously I feel very grateful for my luck.

Seeing that the heat was almost over, Ciel decided to implement the next part of his plan - and this part, he had not even told His Majesty the Emperor himself yet.

"Okay, after all, you are all elites with great reputation and abundant funds. Why do you need to act like this now? It's just a small loss. Have you never suffered setbacks in so many years? Is this right? Is this an unbearable loss for you?" Charles put down his wine glass, and then looked at the group of people opposite him sternly, "Since Now that we are here, let me tell you frankly. Since Your Majesty and I came to the stage, how many things have we done to benefit you? Didn’t the empire bring enough wealth to you before? ? If so, then if the empire needs it now, it wouldn’t be too much for you to contribute a few cents to the empire, right?”

"Your Excellency, the Minister is right!" As soon as Charles finished speaking, Alphonse de Rothschild immediately agreed with him, "How much help has the Empire given to our operations over the years? When When she needs our loyalty, why should we not give it to her?”

The minister reprimanded him so sternly, and the heir of the Rothschild family jumped out to endorse it. This should have been enough to scare everyone, but the feeling of being attacked by someone was really uncomfortable, so some people were still aggrieved. In such a state of mind, I couldn't help but protest.

"Your Excellency, Minister... you are right. The empire ended the revolution, ended the chaos, and allowed us to expand our operations. We are very grateful. If the empire needs us to repay her now, we need to pay money. Come help her, we are more than happy..." One person couldn't help but whisper Protested to Ciel, "But the current situation is that the empire gave us a sap when we were unprepared. Can we still be grateful for this? In this situation, since we have come to this step, then we will acquiesce Reality, but please forgive me for not being able to laugh with you right now..."

This man's courageous words also resonated with the others, who all whispered in agreement, and then regained their straight faces and used this cold stare as a soft protest.

"Is it necessary for you to do this?" Charles frowned slightly, "We can take a longer view and don't worry about the little things now!"

"But the reality is that we have been hit hard by the empire, and we no longer dare to believe in the credibility of the empire in the future..." The other person was obviously heartbroken, so he couldn't help but protest to Charles, "Your Excellency, you have won now, we I would like to congratulate you, but when you are enjoying the joy of being a winner, you don’t want us to smile to flatter you now, right? No, maybe someone can do it, but I can’t.”

Because he heard others overtly and covertly ridiculing him for flattering the minister without moral integrity, a flash of anger flashed across Josédan Capafelle's face. His beard trembled and he wanted to speak, but was stopped by Charles' eyes.

"I really don't understand why you are so entangled in this small issue. Can't you take a longer-term view?" Charles frowned and threw the handkerchief directly on the table, looking like he was about to get angry. " The empire is indeed in trouble and has come to you, but do you think the empire will treat you badly? How the empire has treated you before will be how it will treat you in the future!"

After hearing such profound words from His Excellency the Minister, these people no longer got angry or argued for a while, but looked at Ciel with a strange look on their faces.

Regardless of whether Charles, the minister, is good or bad, no matter what, in the past few years, he has established his prestige through various means, and these people cannot help but respect him. Today he gave these people such a big surprise. In addition to being angry and annoyed, these people will feel even more terrible about this young minister.

Moreover, from what he said, the minister seemed to have prepared some method for others to recover their losses.

"I've said it before and I'd like to emphasize it again. This is an extraordinary measure and an inevitable move before we face a serious war crisis. Even we ourselves don't like to do this kind of thing often, so you just There is no need to think so much. This is an isolated case and it will definitely not become a normal behavior!" Ciel first gave another guarantee to let these people understand the good intentions of the imperial government, and then immediately changed the subject," And, I have to say, war is never a disaster for you, but an opportunity!"

"Good opportunity?" Following Charles's words, these people looked at each other, and then began to talk in low voices, guessing the intentions of the minister, and at the same time, the atmosphere became a little more lively.

"In a war of this scale, especially if we need an expedition, there is no doubt that the government will spend a lot of resources and money. The imperial government will need to expand its debt and expand the production of arms. In any case, this will be a great impact on the economy. stimulating behavior, and behavior that is beneficial to you.”

"Sir, are you saying that the government will issue special war bonds for this war?" A man probably understood something and asked Charles, raising his head.

"Of course it goes without saying that the empire will definitely do this." Ciel nodded.

"So do you mean that we will be given priority in issuing these bonds?" The person immediately asked.

"I am not the finance minister of the empire, so I can't give you a definite answer to this." Ciel smiled slightly and quickly avoided the obligation to answer directly, "But I can be sure that as long as you are sincere and sincere, If the empire has made contributions, then the empire will definitely never forget your contributions. And... we don't need to just focus on France. What we can see is a longer future that is more full of opportunities. right."

"What do you mean by this?" Even Alphonse was a little strange now and asked Charles.

"Obviously, we are going to war with Russia now. We will become enemies and hate each other, but... this hatred must be short-lived and must be changeable." Charles poured himself another cup without haste. After drinking a glass of wine, "The Russians will fail and may be full of resentment, but they will soon forget or tolerate this resentment and come to us for help."

"Ask for our help?" Josédan Capafelle asked with a frown.

"Isn't it obvious? Russia is a huge country, but it is also a poor country, a country that needs a lot of effort to modernize - and the war will make them poorer and more tolerable. ." Charles picked up the wine glass, then gently brought it to his mouth and took a sip, "Perhaps the failure of the war will even bring civil strife to the Russians, causing them to pay more blood and greater losses. This... undoubtedly brings us some kind of opportunity."

"You seem certain that Russia will be defeated?" Alphonse de Rothschild asked with interest.

"I'm pretty sure that this is inevitable, because it is against the empire, and it is against us!" Ciel slammed the empty cup onto the dining table, causing a snap, which shocked the others. Everyone's heart moved.

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"Everyone, please trust my judgment, because I have not lost so far, so I can come here and speak to you in the name of minister." He suddenly stood up, and then looked at them without any scruples, "Russians will not survive the war, but they will survive after the war is over, And then looking for a new life, whether it is to relieve the trauma suffered by the country or to rebuild their country, they will definitely need a lot of money, even countless funds - and they have enough resources to pay for it. The interest that capital brings is as long as we help them.”

"In other words, you think the Russians will lose, and then they will turn to France for help after losing?" Josédan Capafelle finally understood what Charles meant.

"That's how I see it." Charles nodded, "And I think that if we prepare in advance, then we can realize some expectations from such a future. Think about it, everyone, Russia is now It’s like sitting on a mountain of gold and being a beggar, but we can let those places develop and eventually give us the mountain of gold—as long as we take the right measures.”

"Is that so..." Charles' words once again aroused whispers from everyone present. However, unlike the slightly angry and frustrated atmosphere just now, the atmosphere now is much more lively, because these people have once again found profits. The atmosphere, they sincerely look forward to the prospect that Ciel mentioned.

Russia will lose, Russia will suffer heavy losses, Russia will show kindness to the empire, Russia needs to be reconstructed and would rather seek capital help from France. These events can only be said to be speculation, but when the minister said it himself When it came out, it seemed particularly convincing.

After all, as he said before, he has never lost when gambling on the future. It is precisely because of this vision or luck that he can proudly stand here as a minister at such an age.

In other words, no matter what, this can be expected.

"If... if... all of this can come true, then... we very much look forward to, with your help... um... serving the diplomatic interests of the empire and the prosperity of both countries." In Shen Shen After a moment, Alphonse spoke immediately. He seemed to have made up his mind to follow Ciel. "I hate the Russians, but if the Russians are willing to pay above-market interest rates to borrow money from us, I don't see any reason not to lend to them - of course, their payments must be creditworthy and stable. "

"War is terrible and necessary. However, it is only a means and not an end. In the end, peace will come and it will be in line with everyone's wishes." Charles smiled slightly and did not give any definite answer. But it feels like a promise.

He had already determined that the Russians would lose the Crimean War, and now he concluded that Russia would fall into civil strife, and whichever faction won would certainly come to France to ask for help - just as in That's what the Russians did in the original historical line.

And by then, he will be an old friend of the Russian people. And these people will forget the unpleasantness of today and follow him to profit from it.

With this thought, he calmly refilled himself with wine and then raised it, "Then let's drink to the prosperity of Europe!"

"Cheers!"(~^~)