shadow of britain

Chapter 214 Rothschild's Visit (4K8)

Saying goodbye to Vidok, in the quiet living room, Alexandre Dumas and Arthur were writing hard.

Suddenly, the sound of a key opening the door broke the tranquility of the living room.

Elder walked in with a magazine in his arms. He glanced at Dumas and Arthur, looked around again, and asked, "Just you two? Isn't Charles here?"

Arthur leaned on the chair and stretched his waist: "Charles went to the Linnaeus Society in Burlington Palace to participate in the natural history activities. I heard that the Linnaeus Society recently arrived with a new batch of paleontological specimens. Charles seems to be interested in those things. very interested."

"Oh! Thank God, he's finally doing something serious." Elder said, "I also support his behavior. Always studying monkeys will make him lose interest in natural history."

"Studying monkeys?" Alexandre Dumas took a sip of coffee: "But I heard Charles say that his main research object is you."

"Fucking fart!" Elder yelled angrily, "I'm more advanced than a monkey."

Arthur heard the words, and took a sip of tea lightly: "Elder, you don't need to rush to compare in this kind of thing."

Elder was stunned by the two of them, so he could only make fun of him while Darwin was not there: "But did Charles really go to the Linnaeus Institute to do research? I remember Alexander said before that he was not talking to someone recently. Is he dating a mysterious lady? Do you think he might be... Well, to tell you the truth, I just passed by a restaurant on my way home, and through the glass window, I saw a beautiful girl at a table. Lady and a little bald."

Alexandre Dumas said: "In Britain, a man is bald. You can't judge a person's identity based on this. And Charles can't be considered bald. If it is reasonable to say, he is only in his 20s. Unfortunately, he was bald early. The forehead area is not very densely grown."

"Huh?" Elder refused to admit defeat: "If you are a man, you are bald? Then what happened to Arthur?"

Dumas glanced at Arthur's thick black hair, put his arms around his shoulders and replied, "I've already said that Arthur is an old Frenchman."

Elder asked again, "What about me?"

Dumas replied: "You? I tend to think that you are more advanced."

Hearing this, Elder couldn't help covering his throbbing heart, his legs went limp and hit the bookcase behind him.

He found sadly that since Alexandre Dumas joined their camp, there was one more person who could outshine him, a top student in the Department of Classics of the University of London, in words.

What's even sadder is that this guy is actually from France.

"Alexander, you fellow, I now know why King Louis-Philippe of France wanted to hang you so much."

But Dumas was not only not angry when he heard this, but also thanked him proudly: "Elder, I never thought I could hear praise from you."

Elder took out the magazine that was stuck in the creaking nest and slapped it on the table: "You boy, oil and salt don't get in, right?!"

This time before Dumas could reply, the Red Devil, who was sitting on the table wearing glasses and looking back and forth between Dumas and Arthur's manuscripts, was taken aback when he saw Elder's magazine, and he said to himself while pinching his chin.

"Lady's Wardrobe"? Arthur, you stupid friend still have this kind of interest? Fortunately, it's not the Middle Ages, otherwise his head will be cut off sooner or later. It is clearly written in the "Bible" that women can't wear it. Putting on men's clothes, correspondingly, the same is true for men."

Elder also seemed to have noticed that something was wrong with the books he slapped on the table.

He looked down at the cover of the magazine, slammed his head and shouted, "Damn it! Why did I bring my sister's book?"

Arthur just drank tea: "Forget it, Elder, you don't have to argue hard. The people sitting here are all our own people, and everyone will not report you. If you are not busy, you can give me some help next time." Our LPS intelligence personnel are undergoing training. I have just exchanged work experience with a cross-dressing master. Sometimes, if you can make good use of the advantages of men disguising themselves as women, you can often gain unexpected intelligence advantages."

Seeing that Arthur didn't believe it, Elder was about to get angry, but when he heard the second half of the sentence, he frowned and asked, "Men disguised as women? When did Scotland Yard start playing this trick? Can the Ministry of Internal Affairs allow you to do this?" kind of thing?"

Arthur put down his teacup and sighed: "If it was the time of the Tory Party cabinet, they would probably not allow us to do this. After all, there are quite a few priests among the Tory Party supporters, and their views are also biased towards Conservative because of tradition. But now it is the world of the Whig Party, and the Whig Party even dares to mention parliamentary reform, so I don’t think it’s a big crime to wear a skirt for intelligence, right?”

When Dumas heard this, he suddenly laughed for no reason.

Elder was taken aback by him, and asked, "Alexander, what are you laughing at?"

Dumas wiped away the tears from his laughter and said, "What Arthur said just now reminded me of something that Mr. Vidock told me before. When he was young, in order to avoid arrest and hanging, The prostitute who lives next door to him has borrowed a dress.

The result may be that he is too beautifully made up.Not long after he ran out, he was almost pushed to the ground by a group of drunk hooligans for 'just execution'.Fortunately, he has a strong physique, and he also carried a small knife as a self-defense weapon, otherwise, this matter would probably be a shadow of his life. "

Elder shuddered when he heard the words, he gave a thumbs up and said strangely: "This man sounds like an old Paris."

As soon as Elder finished speaking, there was another polite knock on the door outside the house.

The door opened, and Arthur looked at the gentle smiling face standing outside the door, and couldn't help being surprised: "Mr. Rothschild?"

Lionel Rothschild took off his black hat and greeted with a smile: "I am very sorry for the sudden visit without notice."

Arthur saw his slightly flushed face from the wind, smiled and gave up his seat, and asked, "Would you like to come in and sit for a while? It's already November, and the weather outside is quite cold." .”

Lionel certainly had no reason to refuse Arthur's invitation.

As the heir of the London branch of the Rothschild family, there must be a reason for him, a busy man, to come here specially.

After Lionel entered the door, he first greeted Elder and Dumas. After a few people greeted each other and drank a few cups of tea, Lionel, who had warmed up, finally started to get to the topic.

He took off his white gloves and put them on the table, and asked with a smile: "You may not know that your friend, Mr. Disraeli, is an old acquaintance like me. I heard from him that you are planning to get a new one recently. A literary magazine called The Brit?"

When Arthur heard the other party take the initiative to mention this matter, he probably had an estimate in his heart.

In order to help his son integrate into British society, Disraeli's father had him give up his Judaism and convert to the Anglican Church at an early age.

But in the final analysis, Disraeli was still a Jew by blood, and he was also a well-known social figure.

Although Disraeli did not have a good reputation, for the Rothschild family's commitment to the political goal of expanding Jewish influence, it is better to be famous than not to be famous.

In addition, Disraeli was a serious Jewish boy, a real man of his own, and it was not surprising that the two could be mixed together.

As long as Disraeli's request is not excessive, Rothschild is naturally very willing to provide him with some help within his ability.

Arthur remembered that Disraeli had mentioned before that he might seek a magazine sponsorship from the Rothschild family, so Lionel's surprise visit today was for this?Arthur estimated what Lionel was thinking, and said with a smile, "Benjamin told me about this before. He told me that apart from being passionate about public causes such as charity and education, the Rothschild family also It is also considering entering the fields of news media and literature and art.

And among the members of the entire Rothschild family, you are the most artistic.So let me guess, are you here today to contribute to a magazine, or are you planning to place an ad in a magazine? "

Lionel replied with a smile: "Writing manuscripts or something, although I also have this intention, but the works I wrote are really unrefined. Especially after I watched "The British" After the content to be published in the first issue, I feel that the little ink in my stomach pales in comparison, so I'd better stop humiliating myself in this regard.

Arthur, you should know that although the London real estate real estate consulting company I manage has some stable customers, it still lacks a certain reputation compared with several large London real estate companies.And according to my observations, it won't be long before "The Brit" replaces "Blackwood" as the new benchmark of British literature.

Being able to run an ad on The Brit would definitely give the company a massive boost in popularity.I have no doubts about this.But it is obvious that the establishment of a literary magazine will have certain difficult periods of operation in the early stage.I heard from Benjamin that your money is a little tight right now? "

Arthur looked at Lionel's smiling face, and finally understood the purpose of the other party's visit today.

It appears that he doesn't just want to run ads, but also, if possible, to take a stake in the magazine.

Lionel also noticed the change in the expression between Arthur's brows and eyes. He knew that the negotiation this time would not be easy.

In fact, when Disraeli found him at first, he just thought it was his Jewish friend who was possessed by the actor who came up with some unreliable ideas.

But when he learned that Arthur was actually involved, the new magazine, named "British", quickly caught Lionel's attention.

As we all know, Rothschild never thinks that doing business is simply doing business, and an investment of about a thousand pounds is nothing compared to the huge size of the Rothschild family as a whole.

But if you can continue to reap from this investment the friendship of Arthur Hastings, the favorite student of the new Lord Chancellor Lord Brougham, Scotland Yard's most promising police officer, and the rising star of British science, and even Rothschild The German family is tied to him.

Even if the business loses money, the hidden income from this investment can fully compensate for the monetary loss.

In fact, after the fall of the Tory Party and the discovery of the Duke of Wellington's indifference to Jewish emancipation, the Rothschild family was also thinking about whether to change the family's main attacking position from the Tory Party to the Whig Party.

But such a major political shift obviously cannot make the family make up their minds overnight.

Lionel's father, Nathan Rothschild, is now in a state of fear of wolves and tigers, and the cost performance of continuing to invest in the Tory Party is too low, not to mention the Duke of Wellington's previous indifference to Jewish emancipation, Even his opposition status as a Tory party made him scruples.

And if they directly abandon the Tory Party and turn to the embrace of the Whig Party, then the Rothschild family's flattery to the Tory Party for more than ten years will be in vain.

And no one can guarantee when the Tories will come to power again. If this happens, then the next time the Tories come to power, Rothschild will inevitably be destroyed.

This practice of putting all eggs in one basket is not in the interests of the family from an investment point of view.

Seeing that this year is coming to an end, the Rothschild family has left a little bit of political donations this year. Just when they don't know where to spend the remaining money, Arthur's appearance gives a new idea. new possibility.

After doing a detailed background check on Arthur, Lionel was pleasantly surprised to find that his police officer friend seemed to be at the balance point between the Whig Party and the Tory Party.

On the Tory side, Arthur was admired by the Duke of Wellington and a confidant of Sir Robert Peel.

And on the Whig side, this fellow was one of the first graduates of the University of London, the educational base of the Whig left.According to the news from Scotland Yard, the new Lord Lord Brougham had an arm-wrestle with the Ministry of the Interior before he took office in order to save his favorite student.

All in all, throw your money at Arthur, and it looks like bigwigs of both parties won't be offended.

Being able to gain such a degree of favor from both parties, this 20-year-old young man will at least become the person in charge of the Metropolitan Police Department and even the entire British local security system, even if the future is bad.

If he can build a good relationship with him, even if he can't fight for the political rights of the Jews, at least he can ensure that the Rothschild family's property in London will not be attacked by the mob.

This kind of hidden long-term welfare that lasts for decades only requires an investment of one or two thousand pounds.

For this kind of transaction, Lionel can only sum it up in one word - cheap.

Lionel smiled and said: "Of course, we only hope to have a small share of the shares in "The Brit". After all, as Benjamin said, the life of this magazine is still in the hands of you founding writers. inner.

The Rothschild family currently has two plans. One is to provide a capital injection of [-] pounds. In addition, the real estate company under my supervision also has an idle space near Fleet Street, which can be used by the magazine to store printing machines.

With this amount of money and the venue, even if "British" continues to lose money, it will be enough to last for three to five years.After paying so much, in exchange, what the Rothschild family needs is 20.00% of five shares, and an eight-year free advertising agreement.

As for the other option, that is, for the sake of my friendship with Benjamin and you, Rothschild will use five hundred pounds to directly obtain advertising sponsorship for five years.Arthur, you should know that even in the most popular literary magazines or news media like The Times, their advertising space is at most this price.

If so, though, you might want to consider selling your current Thames Tunnel and Brunel Road and Bridge shares. "

Having said that, Lionel took out the stock receipt from his arms and pushed it over on the table.

He smiled and said: "As I promised you before, these two stocks have risen very well. In the past two months or so, they have risen by 20.00%. If you plan to sell, I will Now I can buy them from you at a price of 1000 or [-] pounds. With this money, I believe the magazine can operate smoothly for a few years and help you get through the difficult period."

Lionel has calculated all kinds of situations, and the share of equity he asked for is not too much.

Buying a 20.00% stake in a start-up magazine for two thousand pounds, and also helping to provide printing space, is almost the same as saying "I am giving you money".

Although Arthur feels that the valuation of "The Brit" will definitely not be low in the future, it will take at least five to eight years to reach the price given by Lionel today.

You know, the other party didn't open his eyes. Rothschild dared to invest so much money in "The Brit", almost all because of Arthur's favor.

The other party was so sincere, and Arthur naturally had no reason to refuse.

Although the Duke of Wellington did not agree to liberate Judaism, even he could not refuse the Rothschild friendship when facing the British pound, let alone a Scotland Yard superintendent like Arthur?

He stood up, couldn't help sighing with a smile, held Lionel's hand, and said: "Lionel, I have to admit that Rothschild always looks very bold in investment. "

Lionel also smiled and blinked and said: "No, Arthur, it's the opposite. Remember what I told you? What Rothschild lacks most is courage. What we pursue is a steady stream of steady income."

　And at night

　　
　
(End of this chapter)