shadow of britain

Chapter 550: Money Laundering? No, Railway Investment! (6K2)

According to Arthur's experience, if you want to get along with Parisians, drinking with them is definitely a good way. But even when they are not drunk, the lively nature of Parisians is still easy to get along with.

When you are with the talkative Parisians, there is always plenty to talk about.

After all, living in such a sunny and prosperous city, which authentic old Parisian doesn’t have a few fresh topics to talk about?

When facing the upper-class Parisian gentlemen, you can talk to them about art, whether it is the latest developments in music, painting or literature, they can tell you something about it. But the annoying thing is that these people are also very vain, and they always pretend to mention their European trip last year, the private salon of a certain marquis they attended last week, and one or several celebrities they met in the process.

As for the working people who make a living on the streets of Paris, although their lives are hard, the issues of work, wages, prices and housing are the focus of their discussions. Just walk around the streets and chat with them casually, and you can immediately understand the prices of goods in the market. If you meet some enthusiastic people, they will even teach you how to properly deal with the economic pressure brought by the rising rent.

Even the darkest parts of Paris, the criminal underworld, were talkative.

They can tell you how to make money through illegal means, what is the most popular crime this year, and where the asshole-less Parisian police often operate recently.

If you meet a Parisian for the first time, you have no idea what social class he belongs to.

My good brother, then you can talk to him about politics and extramarital affairs!

Whether in the upper-class Saint-Germain district or in the rural suburbs that leave little impression on tourists, the cafés and pubs of Paris are full of discussions about government changes, revolutions, elections and expressions of social injustice.

There were endless comments criticizing the government policies, the king, the republicans, the Bonapartists, and the anti-aristocrats. After they had their fill of criticism, the citizens who had just been at loggerheads over their different political positions would turn around and talk about marriage, difficulties in love, emotional entanglements, and changes in social customs like old friends.

Everyone agreed that the world was changing too fast. The decline of Christian morality had turned Paris into a decadent hell. Men and women all broke their marriage agreements, which was really shameless.

But you must not take these words seriously and jump out to act as a moral guardian without hesitation, because it won't be long before these people who were just lamenting the decline of morals will turn around and start comparing how beautiful their new lovers are.

If you dare to criticize them, you will be laughed at as a conservative old antique. Whenever this happens, they use the word "Bohemian", which is full of derogatory meanings in the French context, as a talisman. They say that they have the same "Bohemian spirit" as those artists, which yearns for freedom and pursues individuality.

However, it is not difficult if you want to win their understanding.

When you have nothing to do, prepare a few dirty jokes about priests, nuns or ladies. Although these things may seem not presentable, they can always help you get out of trouble in social situations.

Arthur had a treasured joke which was told to him by his friend Talleyrand, who made him his idol, when he was leaving England.

According to Talleyrand himself, this joke was not his original idea, but was told to him by Voltaire.

It is said that when Voltaire was still alive, someone invited him to attend a shameful orgy party for men and women.

Everyone thought Voltaire would definitely refuse, but unexpectedly, the famous scholar actually accepted the invitation. However, the next night, the group invited Voltaire to attend again.

Unexpectedly, Voltaire said mysteriously: "Oh, man! If I go to such a party once, I am still a philosopher. But if I go twice, it seems that I am in cahoots with you."

Every time Arthur told this tasteless joke in Paris, he would receive applause from the audience, and from time to time he would discover a few philosophers among the cheering people.

However, as we all know, the situation in Germany is different from that in Paris. Although there are many philosophers in Germany, compared with the philosophers in Paris, the two are obviously not heading in the same direction.

Parisian philosophers attend hen parties, British philosophers like to complain that England is too urbanized, and German philosopher representative Hegel likes to sigh whenever he has nothing to do: "Look! Minerva's owl takes off at dusk!"

In short, making friends with a sober German is not as easy as making friends with a Parisian.

Moreover, even among Germans, the difficulty of communication between northern and southern Germans is very different.

In terms of religious beliefs, northern Germans are Protestants, while southern Germans are Catholics.

In terms of wealth, North Germany was far less prosperous than South Germany. Even many of their aristocrats had been living in poor rural areas for a long time.

And because of Prussia's long-term rule, the guys coming from North Germany were generally traditional monarchists like Bismarck.

As for southern Germany, although the southern Germans retained many Catholic traditions, due to the impact of the Napoleonic Wars, the southern German states were generally impacted by the French Revolution. These southern German residents living in cities generally carried petty-bourgeois liberal ideas. In this regard, a German poet who was rumored to live in the dirty streets of Paris and eat black bread is a typical representative.

Although Heinrich Heine was a Prussian, his hometown of Düsseldorf was located in the Rhineland. As part of the former Rhine Confederation, Düsseldorf was not designated as Prussian territory until the end of the Napoleonic Wars. Therefore, Heine was very different from Bismarck. He was an atypical Prussian, a typical Rhinelander.

If you want to know what the characteristics of the Rhinelanders are, just ask Bismarck.

Bismarck's original words were: "Rhinelanders are born pariahs. I look at Rhinelanders the same way as the English look at Americans. It is the Wild West of Prussia. In the Prussian legal system, if you pass the bar exam and choose to serve in your home country, your probation period will be three years, but if you are willing to go to the Rhineland, this period will be shortened to two years. Now, do you understand what I mean, Professor?"

Fortunately, Arthur did not invite Bismarck to the drinking party tonight.

Because most of the people present today are Rhineland Germans similar to Heine.

Mendelssohn was born in the Free City of Frankfurt. Although Frankfurt can be considered as northern Germany, as a commercial and financial center that attracted the attention of the whole of Germany, most Frankfurt people questioned the Prussian bureaucracy from the bottom of their hearts.

Moreover, they did have the confidence to question their violent neighbors next door, because the liberalism advocated by Frankfurt people led to the emergence of many famous financial families in Europe, such as the Bethmann family, the Stein family, and Arthur's old friend, the Rothschild family.

Even more unfortunate is that the Mendelssohn family is also a prominent family in Frankfurt. Although their family's banking business is not as successful as the Rothschilds, it is still well-known in Germany.

His brother-in-law, Mr. Dirichlet, was born in the small town of Düren in the Kingdom of Bavaria in southern Germany. As a mathematician who first studied under Gauss in Göttingen and then went to the Paris Institute of Technology to study under Fourier and Laplace, there is no need to explain what Mr. Dirichlet's political views were.

After all, if we trace back carefully, Dirichlet should even call Napoleon his senior brother, because both of them had attended Laplace's class.

As for the political prisoner Mr. List, he was expelled from the Duchy of Württemberg in southern Germany because of his excessive liberal ideas, not to mention how the Prussian government would view him.

However, among the four Germans, Krupp might get along best with Bismarck.

But this is not necessarily because Krupp's ideas are so similar to Bismarck's, but simply because this guy is good at saying different things to different people.

In order to get the order from Arthur and save his ancestral steel plant, Krupp almost risked his life today.

The 22-year-old young man transformed himself into the oversized Fudel barrel in the winery, making Arthur, the 'Royal Barrel of Great Britain' selected by the Liverpool priests, feel inferior.

And it wasn't enough to just drink, Krupp also had to stay sober under the impact of alcohol, and liven up the atmosphere at the table by going back and forth. Anyone with a little conscience would think that this guy would definitely be able to do great things in the future.

Perhaps because most Germans are serious and old-fashioned, these guys become more unrestrained than the French when they get drunk.

Even religious issues that people would not dare to discuss openly in daily life, they could speak freely under the influence of alcohol.

Arthur boldly started the conversation.

"Priests? I heard someone mention priests. Oh, priests are the most hypocritical. However, you can occasionally find a few sincere ones. Didn't you see a Paulin tavern on the way here just now? In fact, I have met some Paulin monks before. These people call themselves ascetics and have no material pursuits. But I clearly saw with my own eyes a Paulin monk walking carelessly with a girl on the square.

The monk was young and strong, fat, strong and sturdy, with bright eyes, a peaceful look and a ruddy complexion, not like someone who had been through asceticism at all. The girl he was hugging was pretty, singing a song, looking at the monk lovingly, and pinching his cheeks to show affection from time to time.

When I saw this, I walked up to the fat monk and teased him, saying, "Father, I think you are a good apostle of God. You have an enviable fate. Your face is rosy, which means you are healthy and happy. You have a beautiful girl to accompany you. It seems that you are very satisfied with your career as a Paulin monk." I thought the monk would be furious, but he spat on the ground. He didn't behave like a priest at all.

He curled his lips and said to me seriously: "Hey, sir, I wish I could sink all the Paulin monks to the bottom of the Rhine. I have wanted to burn down the monastery and convert to Islam many times. When I was fifteen, my parents forced me to wear this damn monk's robe so that my bastard, damn brother could get more property. There is only jealousy, strife and madness in the monastery. I preached a few times and worked hard to earn some money, half of which was deducted by the abbot, and the remaining half was used to support women. Whenever I return to the monastery at night, when I think of these things, I really want to bang my head against the wall of my bedroom. You say that my fate is good, but it's only because you don't understand the intrigues involved. '"

Everyone couldn't help laughing when they heard this. Krupp, under the influence of alcohol, asked, "So there are Paulin monks in London too? I thought they were only active in Germany and Eastern Europe."

Arthur blinked at him and said, "Oh, Alfred, you've been fooled. I made up this story. But the monk I mentioned actually has a prototype."

Mendelssohn's interest was piqued: "Who is the prototype?"

"Who else could it be?"

Disraeli's face was red from drinking. He drank the beer in his glass and let out a long sigh of satisfaction. "I guess it was probably Mr. Talleyrand, the French ambassador to England. Arthur likes to make fun of Mr. Talleyrand's deeds. He imitated the walking of a cripple and implied that he betrayed his benefactor as a politician and betrayed God as a bishop. But what is puzzling is that Mr. Talleyrand, who has always been narrow-minded, is actually quite tolerant of him. Napoleon was betrayed twice by Talleyrand, but Talleyrand never said a bad word about him."

Arthur was also a little tipsy, and he revealed the reason in one sentence: "That's because he still owes me money! He lost at least three hundred pounds in gambling with me, but he only paid off a small part of the debt, and...hiccups! His debt has not been paid off yet, and I have brought him a large amount of income. Mr. Talleyrand loves money the most, and he will not mess with his own cornucopia."

When Krupp heard about money, his sleepiness due to drunkenness immediately dissipated a lot, and he asked: "Did you introduce him to a good project?"

Arthur picked up a piece of potato dumpling with a fork, chewed it and pondered: "As for good projects, there are quite a few. But not all of them were introduced by me. Some of them he asked me to do, such as Bona..."

Arthur was halfway through his words when he suddenly realized something was wrong, so he quickly changed the subject: "For example, the Great Western Railway in Britain, which was invested in with Mr. Louis Bonaparte of the Bonaparte family, is a big money-making project. As long as the railway is successfully completed, this investment will definitely make money."

"Great Western Railway?" Lister, who was staring blankly at the side, became excited after hearing this: "So you are also engaged in railway investment? I didn't expect that you are actually in the same industry as me."

"In the same field?" Arthur didn't expect that a casual remark would lead to a new discovery: "Aren't you a political economist? Are you also a railroad engineer part-time?"

When Lister heard Arthur's question, he immediately began to talk incessantly to Arthur about his history of making a fortune and his investment projects.

It turned out that after moving to the United States, Lister worked as a farmer for a period of time to make a living.

But he had no talent for agricultural work, so the job was not successful, so he sold the farm and turned to his old business, opening a German-language newspaper called The Reading Eagle in Reading, Pennsylvania.

As the newspaper was very successful, he took the opportunity to meet many wealthy German-American businessmen and opened a coal mining company through their connections. In order to improve the operating efficiency of the coal mining company, List soon studied railway construction and participated in the establishment of the earliest railway companies in the United States.

With the increase of wealth and social influence, List naturally moved towards politics and met the current US President Andrew Jackson. In order to repay List's support, Jackson immediately granted List American citizenship after he was elected US President in 1830, and appointed him as the US Consul to the Grand Duchy of Baden this year.

As a consul, List naturally obtained diplomatic immunity, so he could return to Germany so openly without worrying that the Duchy of Württemberg would send police to put him in jail.

However, Liszt's return to Europe this time was not entirely for the purpose of showing off his wealth.

The economist who first proposed the necessity of a customs union immediately realized the huge business opportunities hidden in the German states when he saw his idea being gradually realized.

The establishment of the German unified market means that the transportation industry, especially the railway transportation industry, will usher in explosive growth.

As the leaders of the North-South German Customs Union, Bavaria and Prussia were bound to compete in railway construction, because anyone with a discerning eye could see that whoever built railways to other German states first would be more likely to obtain the promise of joining from smaller states.

List not only had experience in railway construction, but was also the originator of the Customs Union, so he believed that he was very likely to be valued in Germany.

Therefore, he asked President Jackson for the position of Consul of the Duchy of Baden. Although he was nominally the consul of the United States, as long as the German states were willing to put aside their past grudges and summon List, he would definitely immediately restore his identity as a glorious German.

However, this cannot be blamed on Liszt for being careless in his work, because as long as one is a human being, he or she will have some vanity.

After all, these days, it is actually quite shameful for Europeans to go to the United States. If you tell others that you are a new immigrant in the United States, it is almost equivalent to admitting that you are a foreign trash who can't make it in Europe.

After all, Liszt was a scholar, and he had once been a university professor and a member of the Württemberg parliament. A person of such status still had to have some dignity.

When Lister talked about railway construction, all you could see was his lips moving up and down and spit flying everywhere.

He described in detail the grand blueprint in his mind. When he was in the United States, he had already proposed a practical plan for connecting the Bavarian railway network with the Hanseatic League port cities.

After arriving in Germany for a field investigation, he published an article in the newspaper entitled "On the Saxon Railway System as the General Basis of the German Railway System: and the Necessity of Building the Leipzig-Dresden Railway."

It is said that this article of his attracted great attention from King Anton I of Saxony, but because of Liszt's previous record as a political criminal, the conservative Anton I had doubts about employing Liszt.

But even if List was not employed, the Saxon government was still seriously considering adopting his suggestion to build a railway from Leipzig to Dresden.

If ordinary people heard what Lister said, they would probably just laugh it off.

But the problem is that Arthur is not an ordinary person. As a young rich man who has made a small fortune thanks to the Italian Revolution, Sir Arthur Hastings is currently in a stage where he has too much money in his pocket.

Moreover, the source of his surplus wealth was very suspicious. Although the British government's anti-corruption efforts were not strong these days, the problem was that he did not share the money with his superiors, and it was taken from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs headed by Viscount Palmerston.

Lord Palmerston was a favourite with the ladies of London, but to the officers of the Foreign Office no man was more feared than this over-energetic, iron-fisted minister.

In order to prevent Viscount Palmerston from discovering the trick, he had to find a way to launder the money.

The railway investment proposed by List was a very good idea, but Arthur did not want to invest the money elsewhere. Instead, he hoped to invest the money in the Kingdom of Hanover.

Arthur felt that if the money was invested in other German states, given his status, he would probably not be able to influence the government decisions of those countries.

Secondly, due to the special relationship between the Kingdom of Hanover and Britain, Hanover has always enjoyed many conveniences that its German brothers have never enjoyed, such as a relaxed tariff policy, convenient exchange of industrial and agricultural products, and so on.

Because of this, many German states, in order to take advantage of this, even allowed the Kingdom of Hanover to act as a middleman and sell their agricultural products, timber and other commodities to Britain through Hanover.

But the Kingdom of Hanover did not take all the advantages.

Because it has a natural defect, that is, there are not many good ports in Hanover. Therefore, many import and export trades of Hanover must be carried out through the two free port cities of Bremen and Hamburg.

If a railway could be built from Hanover to Bremen and Hamburg, the business would definitely not lose money.

Thinking of this, Arthur looked at Lister with a much warmer look. Not only that, Krupp, the manufacturer of counterfeit instruments, also became more pleasing to Arthur's eyes.

Perhaps Krupp's technology was not enough to manufacture scientific instruments, but if they were to make railroad tracks, they should be able to succeed if they tried hard, right?

When Arthur thought of this, he couldn't help but smile the usual gentle smile of an English gentleman.

I don't know if it was due to the effect of the pound or the alcohol, but this knight of William IV's third year even became enthusiastic about helping Liszt's daughter perform.

Arthur smiled and put aside the railway issue, and turned to talk about Miss Lister's debut. He wanted to do her a favor first: "Mr. Lister, we can talk about the railway issue slowly. But the most important thing right now should be your daughter's debut performance, right?"

(End of this chapter)