King's Landing in France

Chapter 308 This is Investment!Military expenses cannot be saved!

Josephine Beauharne looked at Ballas suspiciously: "How tall is it?"

Ballas held out five fingers.

"Five gold bars? That's alright..." Josephine breathed a sigh of relief, "If you want to be an ordinary clerk in Paris, you have to pay a few gold louis. Naturally, Frost is worth five gold bars." ..."

Ballas shook his head: "No, no, it's not that cheap."

Josephine gasped: "Fifty? That's really expensive..."

Ballas: "It's [-] ounces. I promised to invest [-] ounces in what he called the steam revolution, and that's how I got his support."

Josephine's complexion changed: "Five hundred ounces? I didn't even know you had so much gold! I mean, I really didn't expect you to spend so much money!"

"I don't have it anymore," Ballas said angrily, "All the oil and water that has been fished for over a year are gone. Frost is still ruthless. When he told me, he really acted like a man trying to promote the future. Progressive sages, it seems as though there will be some sort of steam revolution!"

Josephine Beauharnet commented indignantly: "This is where he is superior to you. It is also to make money. He has set up a high-sounding reason for himself, for France, for the steam revolution.

"They are all gangsters, and so is Robespierre, who obviously did something like a robber, but said he was doing it for the revolution!

"I finally understand that one Jacobin faction counts as another. They are all hypocrites, and they are not as good as true speculators like you."

Ballas covered Josephine's mouth: "Be careful! This is Frost's stronghold. If someone hears it, my five hundred ounces of gold will be wasted!"

After covering for a few seconds, Ballas let go of Josephine, who sighed: "Louis XVI still had a bunch of ministers and nobles holding him back, but now that the ministers and nobles are gone, Frost, who is like a king, has nothing to do." People check and balance."

Ballas shook his head: "Stop talking! Let's go."

So Josephine knocked on the front glass of the carriage, and the groom in front of the carriage whipped the horses to start moving.

The carriage left in front of the Royal Palace in this way.

**
After Ballas left, Christina entered Anning's study through a side door.

"I see that Fanny even prepared the poisoned wine, just waiting for your order to have a drink with Ballas." Christina said, "You didn't do it."

An Ning: "Because Mr. Ballas exploded the gold coins."

Christina: "How much?"

"Five hundred ounces of gold."

Christina gasped: "So many? This is almost catching up with you confiscating the church's property in Konta, right?"

"No, it's still not comparable to the offerings of the church, but it's a lot. As long as the five hundred ounces of gold are deposited in our newly established bank, other people who have gold hidden at home will come to the bank to deposit Gold, we'll get a lot of money quickly.

"Then the money can be used to invest in the steam engine industry and the machine tool industry. We are far behind the British in terms of steam engines. The British invented the steam spinning machine in 1785. Now the fabric produced by the machine is being sold all over France. , Killed all the handicraft workshops that produce fabrics on our side.

"We need to quickly establish our own steam spinning machine factory, at least to regain half of the cloth market."

An Ning was talking about this in high spirits, and suddenly noticed that Christina was looking at him with a smile, and asked, "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"

"No, but when you talk about this, your expression will be very dazzling. To be honest, I like you very much when you are talking about this."

An Ning scratched her head in embarrassment at her fiancée's sudden expression of love: "Yes, yes."

"Yes, if you don't believe me, you can ask Fanny." Christina laughed.

Fanny opened the door and came in: "Call me?"

"Come on, Fanny, tell me about the time when Andy talked about the Steam Revolution in high spirits. Is that when he is the most attractive?"

"Yes." Fanny said firmly.

An Ning: "Thank you."

But Christina changed the subject: "But it's not good for you to accept Ballas's five hundred ounces of gold so bluntly. Soon all Paris will say that Andy Frost is an insatiable guy, and your good reputation will be affected." .”

An Ning: "Whatever, as long as the industry can be developed, I don't really care. Rather, if all the ill-gotten gains made by these speculators in the past few years are stuffed into my bank, it will be a bad thing for France. Great job!"

Christina looked at An Ning, thought it over before asking: "I'm not saying that your statement is wrong, but think about it differently, assuming that one day in the future, Robespierre thinks that he should centralize his power, and he can be executed without a trial. What do you think of the perceived enemy of France?

"At that time, Robespierre would definitely think that it was for the good of France."

An Ning fell silent.

Because he knew that the real Robespierre in history did become like this in the end.

When Robespierre had a secret meeting with Saint-Just in his study for the last time before being overthrown, he said that he wanted to establish such a new mechanism that could send people to the guillotine without trial to defend France.

Once such a mechanism is established, Robespierre can "send all those cunning speculators to the guillotine to purify France."

At that time, An Ning saw this scene in a movie. The moment he saw this scene, he had a very complicated feeling for Robespierre: You can call him bad, he is really dedicated to France, but modern people know that once Things go this way and what happens after that.

If you don’t believe me, just ask the comrade who smokes a pipe and has a characteristic mustache.

An Ning: "So, did I seem so paranoid just now?"

"Actually, it's okay. I just think you should worry about the influence. But it's not all bad influence. When the honest people in Paris call you the same as those speculators in private, the smart people in Paris will think that you It is an object to curry favor with.

"They have a large number of people in Paris and have a huge influence. In this sense, you have helped me." Christina said.

"But I still hope that you will maintain the image of that noble guardian of the revolution. This is my little personal expectation."

An Ning thought for a while, and replied: "I will publish a news in the newspaper, saying that in order to support the ideal of the steam revolution, Paul Barras has deposited [-] ounces of gold in the newly opened bank, and he can withdraw it at any time. "

Christina: "Even if you say so, Ballas won't dare to take it out."

An Ning was speechless, and then replied: "Well, at the end of this year, we will give him a dividend according to the proportion of his [-] ounces in our total share capital.

"That way people will believe that the five hundred ounces are an investment, not a bribe."

When An Ning said this, his heart ached. The steam engine factory he opened was losing money, because France really didn’t need so many steam engines, but the steam textile factory he opened was profitable, and could make up for the shortfall of the steam engine factory.

It's a bit distressing to cut a knife to Ballas all of a sudden.

But in order not to live up to the name of bribery, it had to be like this.

Christina: "I will also try my best to explain to everyone that this is an investment, not a bribe."

"Well, please." An Ning paused, then changed her smile, "Why don't we talk about the wedding next? How are the preparations for the wedding going?"

Christina also smiled, and her face was full of happiness: "Everything is going well, and if there are no accidents, we should be able to get married in August."

(End of this chapter)