Flowers, Swords and France

Just as Charles and his confidant, the young Duke of Gaston de Choiseul-Praslin, were playing billiards after lunch, another young man, Alphonse de Rothschild, walked out of his resting box and came to the reception room deep in the club.

This well-dressed young man had regained his composure at this time, no longer as angry as before, and thus looked more elegant.

He had just been too angry and disrespectful to Minister Treville. Now he knew that he had said something wrong and wanted to repair his relationship with the Minister. Charles specially summoned him to meet alone after lunch, which also gave him some illusions, making him feel that there was still a chance for things to turn around.

Just as he was secretly thinking about how to restore his relationship with the Minister, the door of the box was opened by the waiter again, and then a light footsteps reached his ears.

He looked at the door calmly, but then he slightly widened his eyes in surprise.

Because the person who came was not the minister, but a young lady.

"Miss Treville...?" He couldn't help but say in astonishment.

"Yes, it's me." The woman bowed gently, "It's a pleasure to see you here."

At this time, her golden hair hung down from her temples, her blue eyes seemed to be rippling with the sea, and the smile on her face seemed to be able to make everyone intoxicated.

"Oh, it's a pleasure to see you!" Alphonse also recovered from his initial astonishment, and then immediately bowed to the lady. "It's my honor to meet a beautiful lady like you here. But, may I ask, when will your brother come?"

"I'm sorry, he's a little busy now, so he sent me to see you." Fran still smiled. "Please rest assured, I can represent him with full authority."

"Then... when can I ask to see him?" Although he heard the other party's implication, Alphonse was still a little unwilling to give up and asked again.

Although most people would be very happy and even forget a lot of things if they saw such a beautiful woman come to see them alone, Alphonse would not.

He had seen too many beauties and experienced too much wine, sex and entertainment, so that he had developed immunity that ordinary people could not achieve. Moreover, for him, as the heir of the French branch of the Rothschild family, the charm of money was better than any beauty.

His biggest goal now was to repair the friendly relationship with the minister, and then do his best to make him change his mind and win back the territory that the family had lost accidentally. He was not in the mood to chat with Miss Treville - even though she was indeed one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen in his life.

"You can't see him today." Seeing that the other party was still so stubborn, Fran's smile faded a lot, "So you should talk to me if you have something to say. I said that my will is his will."

"..." Alphonse's face also sank. He was already very angry with the attitude of the Treville family.

At first, they launched a surprise attack, but they didn't explain it to him. Now they sent a woman to perfunctorily deal with him... This was nothing less than an embarrassing humiliation for him.

But now he could only silently endure this humiliation, so he returned to normal after a short breath.

"Well, then I dare to ask, do you understand the situation? Do you know what I want to discuss with the Minister?"

"Don't worry, although I just officially discussed this with you today, I am still quite clear about the basic situation. What's more, I have an assistant who can help me discuss this issue with you."

As she said this, another person came in immediately. Alphonse calmed down and found that the person who came was Miss de Leoran, the favorite mistress of the Minister.

Although he didn't think much of Marie, Alphonse was relieved when he saw Marie now. After all, Marie was one of the people who knew the inside story best. In any case, she could help Miss Treville understand the problem she was facing now, at least so that he wouldn't waste his energy talking for a long time.

"To be honest, it's not hard to understand why you questioned the Minister..." After Mary walked to Fran's side, Fran looked at Alphonse calmly, "You dislike my brother's approach to the upcoming financial crisis, right?"

"That's right, Miss." Alphonse nodded, "The Minister is a smart man. He should understand that giving Baron de Bovan a monopoly is very inappropriate and inappropriate for anyone, and even a disaster!"

"Why do you think so? He just wants to prevent these companies from going bankrupt in the upcoming wave." Although Alphonse said it very seriously, Fran didn't take it seriously.

"Miss Treville, let's be honest... your brother is a smart man, and I think you are definitely a smart man, so there is no point in saying those pretentious words, we can see the essence of the matter. "The professional habits developed over the years made Alphonse completely forget about the other party's astonishing beauty at this time, but continued with a purely business attitude without any emotional overtones," The essence of the matter is that your brother tried his best and even deceived us. He used a coup-like approach to force the companies related to the railway industry to succumb to his will, and then tried to use fait accompli to force us to swallow our anger. . This is not a matter of money. If we really want money, our Rothschild family will be very happy to open our purse for the empire. This is a matter of private exchange between him and Baron de Beauvin!"

"Don't get excited." Although Alphonse spoke louder and louder, Fran didn't seem to have any mood swings and still looked at him quietly.

"Sorry, Miss." Alphonse restrained himself for a moment, then raised his head again, facing Fran with his most sincere attitude, "Miss, you know that Baron de Beauvin is a mercenary vampire. He is a banker with iron-like hands and an extremely vicious heart. He is a banker who eats people without spitting out their bones. I don’t know what he used to confuse Your Excellency the Minister, but I can say with certainty that he only had the thought of devouring others in his mind and never paid attention to morality, so no matter what he promised Your Excellency the Minister, He may regret it regardless of the conditions, and he will regret it whenever he gets a chance!"

Fran and Mary were surprised that such words came out of Alphonse's mouth, because he is a member of the Rothschild family, and he is probably the least qualified person on earth to blame the Baron for his morality. People were gone - but Alphonse didn't feel any embarrassment and continued to talk.

"So, obviously, we must not listen to his words and let him take the opportunity to take the empire's huge railway industry into his arms, because this will be a disaster for the empire and for each of us! We must stop this devil. The trick succeeds, and it must be done as soon as possible! Fortunately, your Excellency, the Minister, still has the power of veto. He can veto this proposal at the last minute - I think this is definitely a good thing for the Treville family, whether it is from the actual situation or the family interests, I don't see any reason, your Excellency. Resolutely oppose my proposal. Miss Treville, please advise your brother!"

What he said actually made sense, and Fran secretly believed it. If Laura hadn't been pregnant, maybe Ciel would have thought the same thing.

But, sir, you don't have a daughter to give away to others... Fran couldn't help but secretly hate her brother for acting ridiculously.

"This is an expedient measure." After suppressing the annoyance in her heart, Fran replied calmly, "The main purpose of Your Excellency the Minister is to survive the current cold winter. He does not want us to have to fight for personal gain at the critical moment of the empire. There was internal fighting, so he decided to let the Baron handle the situation alone. This was a desperation, please understand..."

"Even as a stopgap measure, this is a disaster!"

Although Miss Treville was hinting that the situation would change in the next few years and that the Baron would not always be monopolized, Alphonse was still not satisfied with the result.

He knew that the Baron was very capable, and if he was given a few years, he would definitely be able to create a terrible situation. Maybe the Rothschild family would no longer be able to get involved, so he wanted to let him go from the beginning. The Baron could not succeed.

After saying this, Alphonse simply stopped beating around the bush and raised his head directly to look at Fran, "Miss, please tell us clearly. If you want the minister to take back his life and change this disastrous decision, How much effort do we need to make? I firmly believe that the sincerity that Baron de Beauvain can show can also be shown by our Rothschild family!”

Then, he lowered his voice again and persuaded Fran, "And you, you will have the opportunity to be the benefactor of our family, and we will use all our efforts to repay you... No matter what you like, we It can be delivered to you.”

This was close to an explicit statement, so Fran pretended to ponder for a moment. Alphonse seemed to see hope and stared at her eagerly, waiting for her to say something to change the situation.

But he was inevitably disappointed next.

"Sorry, sir, this is already a fait accompli. We can't change it. Your Majesty has already approved the arrangement of the minister... We can't change it anymore." After a moment of silence, Fran said calmly.

It's over, she is simply a stone head! Alphonse's mood fell to the bottom for a moment, and he couldn't help but lament in his heart.

This lady looked delicate, but her brain seemed to be made of stone. She was not moved by his threats or inducements at all. She blindly but stubbornly insisted on her own arguments, and no matter what he said, she could not be shaken in the slightest.

Years of experience tell Alphonse that this kind of people are the most difficult to deal with, because they only have one wish to achieve their goals and will not worry about anything else.

After the disappointment, anger arose, and he suddenly became extremely angry at the Treville family - because this family had frustrated his family's business plan and made him lose face. Will not accept a wasted result.

Just as he was still cursing in his mind, Miss Treville spoke again, and her tone suddenly became quite strange.

"Mr. Rothschild, haven't you figured out the situation by now?"

These sudden words interrupted Alphonse's thoughts, and suddenly gave him a little hope.

"Do you have any advice?" He suppressed his anger and asked curiously.

"You can see that since ancient times, people have always hated the rich. Isn't it written in the Bible? Wanting the rich to go to heaven is like asking a camel to go through the eye of a needle." Fran's attitude was as calm as ever, but The corners of his mouth moved slightly, " And your family happens to be one of the richest people. If you are just rich, then forget it, you... you also belong to a nation that the Gauls and Franks dislike at the same time. You are famous because of your nation and wealth. Got double hate, right?"

Alphonse frowned. The word "Jew" touched his sore spot.

"So what? Ordinary people can go as they please! They won't hinder us at all!"

"Economically, they may not hinder you at all, but politically this may not be the case." Fran shook her head slightly, "Sir, it's not that we don't want to get close to you, it's that we can't do this because of this It's bad for us and bad for you, people will hate you more and think we He is your puppet... Such suspicion will hit both families hard, and they will be hit at the same time. So, please understand that we have no ill feelings towards you emotionally, but politically, we have to make at least one decision. We need to keep a little distance from you so as not to make the people doubt our loyalty to the country.”

"Where do you start talking about this? I am a Jew, but first of all I am a Frenchman, and I am a patriot!" Seeing Fran say this, Alphonse finally panicked, "We are extremely passionate about the empire, just like the minister Same with you! No one should question us for this, it’s completely ridiculous!”

However, even he knew that such a defense was unconvincing. The Rothschild family had branches in England, Austria, and other places. These branches were connected by the same spirit and supported each other, forming a family bond. How can people believe that they only serve one country when they have a banking network that transcends countries?

"I have no doubt about your patriotic enthusiasm." Fran's smile deepened, "But ordinary people will doubt you, and politically we cannot offend ordinary people... So, please understand our difficulties."

This explanation finally calmed Alphonse down.

"In other words, the minister had to keep a distance from us due to political pressure?" He asked with some reservations, "In his original intention, he did not reject our friendship?"

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"Your friendship is so precious, how could he refuse?" Fran asked with a smile.

"Then there is no need for him to treat Baron de Beauvain so favorably, right?" Alphonse asked again, "Isn't it good to maintain the previous competition system? At least everyone can benefit from it."

After the other party's explanation, he also understood that due to political considerations, the government would not let him monopolize it, but he was also absolutely unwilling to see others monopolize this business.

"The competition system cannot cope with the fiercely changing environment. This is a last resort. You should be able to understand it." Fran became more calm now, "Besides, isn't this also good for you?"

"I didn't find anything good about it." Alphonse disagreed.

"Don't worry. Authorizing Baron de Beauvain to solve the problem does not mean excluding you. You will always have a seat in the Railway Federation. There is no doubt about it. My brother can guarantee you." Fran. According to Ciel's intention, he gave the other party a comforting promise, "Moreover, you can use other methods to circumvent the barriers built by the Baron."

Alphonse did not answer, but looked at the other person in confusion.

"We only care about whether the company has received the money and whether it can continue to operate. As for how the money comes from, we will not care." Fran hinted at the other party again, "If you can reach some kind of tacit understanding with the Baron, we will There will be no interference.”

Alphonse couldn't help but want to laugh. If the Baron was so easy to talk to, why would he come over to challenge Minister Treville?

But soon, his smile disappeared and his eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh!" He couldn't help but exclaimed.

Under the current circumstances, this lady was certainly not in the mood to joke with him. This was already a hint that the baron would negotiate a compromise with them.

"Well, what conditions does he have?" Alphonse knew this old rival very well. Of course, he knew that the Baron would never give benefits to others easily, so he felt a little uneasy.

"As far as I know, he wants to become the next president of the Bank of France, and he wants to do it quickly." Fran suppressed her smile, and then answered in a nonchalant manner.

This answer made Alphonse frown again.

As a Jew, although he is very rich, from political considerations, it is impossible for them to dominate the Bank of France. However, as an old enemy, if the Baron steps into this position, they are absolutely unwilling to see it.

"As far as I know, Count Algu is in good health now... Isn't it a bit inappropriate to discuss his successor?" He couldn't help but protest.

"This is the wish of the Baron himself. It's useless for you to tell me this." Fran replied unhurriedly, "We only act to fulfill His Majesty the Emperor's will. As for what compromises you have reached in private and what If the conditions are compromised, that is your business and we have no control over it.”

Alphonse took a deep breath.

After repeated trials and confrontations, he finally figured out the whole story.

It was obvious that Baron de Beauvain did not know what benefits he had promised. He colluded with the Treville family to launch a surprise attack and caught himself off guard. However, the Treville family did not want to break with them, but just out of fear of breaking with them. Political considerations have to keep a distance from themselves, so they still leave themselves room for change.

So now I need to negotiate a compromise with Baron de Beauvain - this demon who eats people without spitting out bones will definitely ask for a high price, but in a sense, he has also created a joint participation for himself. As long as the conditions for monopolizing the railway industry can be realized, it will definitely bring huge profits to the family and shut up all those in the family who question themselves.

What's more, the Treville family expressed reservations, indicating that they still want to maintain friendship with the Rothschild family - which is correct, why do they have to be enemies of the Rothschilds? Woolen cloth?

Under the helpless situation, this can be regarded as an unexpected blessing.

"I understand." After thinking for a long time, Alphonse finally nodded, "I think the Baron will not be too harsh a person after all. Sometimes I even think he is a good person."

Alphonse had forgotten how he cursed the Baron just now, and of course no one from the other two would be ignorant to remind him.

"Then you and this good man should think about how to cooperate." Fran held out her hand. "We will never interfere. Please understand that we have to worry about political considerations."

Alphonse understood that this was an eviction order. He looked at the other party again and realized that this slender blonde woman was so beautiful.

"I can understand, beautiful Miss Treville." Alphonse smiled.

After some negotiation without taking any advantage, this woman actually piqued his interest.

The woman from the Treville family is really amazing. No wonder the minister is so confident in sending her to negotiate with him.

"If you want any jewelry, just tell me, miss. I think I will please you."

After leaving these words, he bowed gracefully, picked up the hand and kissed the back of it gently, then turned around and left.

"You are simply a genius." After he left, Mary, who had been silent, couldn't help but speak, "I was worried just now, but then I realized that you had manipulated him without me interrupting. Now He can only submit obediently... This has knocked his momentum down, and I dare say he will never dare to look down on you again!"

She was indeed genuinely happy for her friend.

When Fran first appeared on the scene, she calmed the heir of the Rothschild family, so her work in the Federation will definitely go much smoother in the future, and she will no longer have to worry about panicking.

"I'm just following orders." Fran replied with a smile, "Of course, it's easier than imagined, and that's right...how many people in the world can be so dazzling that people can't even open their eyes..."

"I didn't mention it, but it comes from my family background!" Mary laughed. (~^~)