industrial lord

Chapter 530: Money in the Check

"Two thousand livres!"

"You can buy a dozen tractors now."

"We can buy seven or eight paddle steamers."

In the pub, several student leaders sitting with Guillaume looked dejected. If they could come up with so much money, the school would not dare to take their scholarships.

Renault shook his head and said, "We contacted several businessmen, but the amount was too large and they couldn't do anything."

He told Guillaume about some businessmen he had met in the past few days, and those businessmen were very sympathetic to the students' plight.

However, merchants need working capital to ensure the operation of their business. If they can come up with a dozen or twenty livres for funding, it is not a problem, but if it exceeds thirty, they will be unable to help.

"We have only raised less than 500 livres now." Renault sighed helplessly, "This is the limit that the entire city of Paris can raise. Together with the donations received from various places when soliciting indictments, the total amount is only more than 600 livres, less than one-third."

Another person went on to say, "Many merchants are worried about offending the court and the nobles who run the school, so they dare not help us."

"I also told them that we won the lawsuit against the nobles this time. With this precedent, it will be much easier for them to sue the nobles in the future."

"Many businessmen are interested, but we haven't even started the lawsuit yet. They won't help until they see the outcome."

Renault said helplessly: "Yeah, there's nothing we can do about it. For hundreds of years, there has been no precedent for a commoner to sue a noble and win the case."

The others nodded in unison.

Guillaume was also helpless, but there was still a glimmer of hope.

He took out a small bag from his pocket and said to everyone, "Don't be discouraged. Since it's just a deposit, we can get it back as long as we win the lawsuit."

"Here is a check from the Duke of Lugang. I met him on the road. He funded our lawsuit."

"I think the Duke of Lugang is so rich that it shouldn't be a problem for him to provide a few hundred livres. We can use this to lobby those merchants who had concerns before."

He recalled that when he was in the Principality of Wessen, a senior brother took him to see a farce. In one of the skits, a man wanted to play mahjong, so when he made an appointment with others, he said that he was the only one missing.

Others thought it made sense, especially since they could hint that the Duke of Lukang was backing the case, so there was no need to worry about losing the case.

The students who did not go out during this period were not idle either. They collected a lot of evidence and even got the records of the king's scholarship distribution in the palace. They then compared them with the records of various schools and could immediately find the problem.

With this evidence and the support of the Duke of Lukang, we can lobby other businessmen who have a sense of justice and concerns to provide funding, and then return the money to them after winning the lawsuit.

Guillaume placed the check from Frederick on the table and said to the students around him, "This is the check from the Duke of Lugang. I haven't opened it for so long. Who of you will open it?"

Everyone would think that this was a huge sum of money. Guillaume had not opened the plastic bag containing the check yet, just to open it in front of everyone at this moment.

It is never too cautious when it comes to money matters. Your opponents might spread rumors that you have been greedy for money, causing the team to fall apart.

Someone counted the people around the table according to today's date and happened to count Renault.

Renault opened the plastic bag, carefully took out the check inside, and spread it out on the table.

"Uh...did I see that wrongly?"

"Someone pinch me to see if I'm dreaming."

"Should we ask someone who has been to the Principality of Wessen for business whether the currency is wrong?"

…Several student leaders kept rubbing their eyes, and their conversation soon attracted several other students around them.

"Three thousand florins?" one of the students exclaimed. "That's three thousand five hundred livres!"

Renault asked him carefully: "Are you sure? It's not a silver coin, right?"

"No!" the student said firmly, "The Chamber of Commerce I work for does business with the Principality of Wessen. I have seen such checks many times."

Then he taught everyone how to easily identify the authenticity of a check, and this check was obviously real.

Renault added: "Why don't we take it to show it to the boss of that Chamber of Commerce."

The other students nodded, and Guillaume trembled and said, "Yes, yes, it's better to ask clearly."

He didn't expect that he would have to travel such a long distance with a check for such a huge amount. Fortunately, nothing went wrong, otherwise it would have been a big problem.

A group of students left the bar and didn't find the owner at the Chamber of Commerce, so they followed the instructions of the employees and came to a billiard club.

"Quillen Military Strategists" are not only found in the Duchy of Wessen, but also in the Kingdom of Gaul. A group of people were discussing the war in the Kingdom of Tarragona.

Let’s put the war with our neighboring country aside for now and first study the huge check in front of us.

That evening, Sir Javert hurried to Count Ferret's house.

As soon as Javert sat down, Ferret said, "I know about that. I didn't expect that the Duke of Lugang gave them so much money. Could it be that he just took out so much pocket money?"

The same look of envy appeared on Javert's face as he spoke.

"Maybe." Javert said enviously, "It's as much as I've made in more than 20 years."

Ferret just smiled. Javert's annual salary as a judge's assistant was 150 livres, which was only his official income. His gray income off the stage was no less than this figure. He himself earned eight or nine hundred livres a year on and off the stage.

But compared with Frederick, the gap is really too big.

Ferret sighed, "Everyone says that the Duke of Lukang is stingy. I think he has so much money because of his stinginess."

Javert nodded.

Last year Frederick came to Paris, but he neither gambled nor raced horses, and he only accepted free sex from women, so many people thought he was very stingy.

Ferret said to Javert: "Let them file the indictment when they have enough money."

Javert nodded and waited for the next words.

Ferret said seriously: "They have collected litigation commissions from many people. You should review them strictly to avoid forgeries."

Javel understood that the only option left was to use the delaying tactic as long as possible.

The next day, Guillaume and his companions took the check to the Gaul regional headquarters of the Dawn Chamber of Commerce at No. 48, Secquana River, Paris, to exchange it for gold coins, withdrew two thousand livres, and deposited the remaining money. They decided that at least ten of the thirteen student leaders would come at the same time before they could withdraw the remaining money.

That morning, they delivered the indictment and bail to the Noble Court.

Count Ferret took Sir Javert to accept the indictment and deposit in the presence of some local reporters. Sir Javert personally verified the quantity and authenticity of the gold coins on the spot and finally issued a receipt.

(End of this chapter)