Chapter 171 Chasing the “Big Fish” (please vote for me)

For some reason, when Joseph heard the number "ten million livres", he didn't feel the slightest anger in his heart. Instead, he felt an inexplicable "comfort" feeling coming to his head.

He moved closer to Kalona and asked very expectantly:

“Are you talking about the amount that Necker himself made, or the total amount of funds in question?”

"It was Necker who profited from these transactions, Your Highness. More than half of the financial loans that passed through his hands at that time may have abnormalities."

Joseph suddenly felt that the whole world was lighting up, and there was even the cheerful singing of little angels in his ears.

You know, during the period when Necker was the controller of the treasury, the amount of French bank loans increased by nearly 1 billion livres.

If what Carlona said is true, according to the lowest estimate, it is a full 500 million livres of loans that may be illegal.

Joseph's heart was beating rapidly - as long as these illegal evidences can be grasped, the 500 million livre loan can be re-examined!

Generally speaking, interest payments are suspended during the loan reexamination period! !

There is even the possibility of re-signing the loan agreement! ! !

What's more, loans with extremely serious problems can be directly...

Joseph squeezed his thigh hard to stop himself from thinking any more. The prospect was so beautiful that it was easy to get addicted to it.

He stared at Carlona, ​​his eyes seemed to be burning:

"How confident are you that there is something wrong with the loan?"

Kalona was a little frightened by his stare and subconsciously said:

"According to my many years of corruption... ahem, many years of financial experience, the possibility that there is a problem is more than 90%, but I can't find any evidence..."

"Very good!" Joseph stood up excitedly and patted him hard on the shoulder, "You have made an outstanding contribution this time."

Immediately, Joseph ordered him: "From now on, you will be protected by my guards all day long, and you are not allowed to have contact with any outsiders."

"Ah?" Kalona was shocked, "Are you going to put me under house arrest?"

"Oh, no, this is only temporary. Once the Necker matter is resolved, I will personally greet you in Paris."

Joseph said, picked up the pen and paper on the table next to him, quickly wrote a short message, sealed it with wax, stamped his personal seal, and then turned around and went out.

He handed the letter to the guard captain Kesoder and ordered:

"Please send someone back to Paris as quickly as possible and ask the police department to arrest Necker immediately. That is Jacques Necker, the finance minister who took office. Before I go back, no one is allowed to approach Necker and his family.

"Please give this letter to Archbishop Brian, and he will coordinate it."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

After arranging all this, Joseph felt extremely at ease in his heart. Seeing that it was still early, he stretched out, smiled at Emang and said:

"It's a rare trip to Lorraine. Let's go to Nancy to see it."

…

Northwest of the city of Thule, there is the Diliuri open-pit coal mine only two miles away from the star-shaped bastion built by Marshal Vauban.

Clementine stood on the edge of the huge mine with a sullen face, staring blankly at the coal workers wielding pickaxes below.

Just this morning, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince ordered his personal guards to escort her all the way to visit. Before leaving, he thoughtfully introduced her to the largest coal mine in Thule and wished her a good time.

There was a constant breeze near the mine, which was not covered by trees, and fine cinders were blown up all over the sky.

The little Loli angrily blocked the handkerchief that the maid Rosalia was using to wipe her cheek, and said in frustration:

"Stop wiping, there are cinders everywhere, it's impossible to wipe them clean..."

The maid said carefully: "Miss, how about we go back?"

"No," the little Loli puffed up her cheeks, "What if my cousin asks me what I've read and I can't tell me?"

"Then, can I walk around with you?"

"Yes." Little Loli nodded, and surrounded by the guards, she walked along the edge of the mine, a spiral downward slope made of rammed cinders, towards the bottom of the mine.

Several miners came towards her with baskets full of coal on their backs. When they saw Clementine's luxurious dress and the dignified guards at the front and back, they were so frightened that they hurriedly turned to the side, bowed their heads, and huddled aside to get out of the way.

The little Loli walked past the miner with the support of the maid. Suddenly, she felt her feet loosen.

A miner caught a glimpse of something strange on the ground and exclaimed: "Be careful!" He quickly threw away the coal basket, flew forward and pushed her and the maid away.

Immediately, where Clementine was standing just now, the cinders on the ground cracked and fell downwards.

"Run!" The guard behind Clementine picked her up quickly and strode forward.

A few seconds later, a large piece was missing in the middle of the spiral slope. Clementine and the miners stood on one side of the gap, and the other guards stood on the other side, all staring with fear.

"Wow -" Little Loli suddenly remembered her fear and burst into tears.

Not long after, at the top of the mine, the mine owner hurriedly brought people over and apologized to Clementine in a tearful voice:

"Honorable lady, I'm so sorry! God can testify that this place has not collapsed for more than ten years. I don't know why... Oh, God! Are you injured? This... what should I do..."

"It's not your fault." The little Loli choked and looked at her calf. There was a small wound on his leg, and the bleeding had basically stopped.

She turned to look at the miners not far away. They all had some scratches on their bodies. With their shabby clothes and dark coal stains all over their bodies, they looked very miserable.

Clementine limped over and felt that it was her bad luck that had caused them to be implicated. She took out a large handful of candy with some guilt and gave it to the injured miner:

"Are you okay? I'll treat you to some candy. It won't hurt anymore."

The miners were flattered and stood up in a hurry. They took the candy but lowered their heads and didn't know how to express their gratitude.

After a long time, a brave worker stammered:

"May, may God bless you, kind lady."

Sugar is a very expensive thing these days. These people have never eaten sweets when they grew up, let alone such high-end candies. Someone has already planned in their mind that these candies will be left as Christmas gifts for the children at home, which will definitely leave them with sweet memories that will last a lifetime.

The maid Rosalia followed her lady and gave a few silver coins to each of the injured miners.

The mine owner watched Clementine's leaving figure and breathed a long sigh of relief - he thought he would have to pay a large sum of money, but he didn't expect that she didn't blame him at all.

He turned to look at the silver coins in the hands of the miners, and suddenly shouted with a dark face:

"It's all your fault! I almost offended that distinguished lady. Get me the money quickly!"

…

Paris.

In the Louvre area, a three-story villa is surrounded by a spacious garden, the exterior walls are covered with exquisite stone carvings, and a large number of floor-to-ceiling windows are full of artistic shapes.

The man wearing a blue-gray coat, with a droopy nose and a big chin suppressed his anger, pointed at Erich with his index finger and said:

"You idiot, I only asked you to keep an eye on Kalona, ​​why did you kill those two policemen? And one of them actually ran away!"

"I'm very sorry, Mr. Necker!" Erich glanced at him nervously and lowered his head. "According to Fred, the policeman named Marla took out evidence that there was something wrong with your loan operation and asked for Kalona gives him more evidence.

"You ordered that no news about you should be allowed to spread from Thule. I just... had no choice but to get rid of those two policemen."

In the eyes of the outside world, the Impartial Investigation Office is affiliated with the Police Department, so Marra and others must be the police.

Necker was startled when he heard this and said anxiously: "Did Carlona say anything to those two guys?"

"I'm not sure. Fred was taken away by Kalona later."

Necker frowned, muttered a few words in a low voice, then suddenly glared at his men and shouted:

"Idiot! What you should do now is kill that policeman, instead of coming to Paris and talking nonsense to me!"

"Listen to me," Erich said hurriedly, "The policeman was protected by many people, and it was difficult to attack for a while. Moreover, a few days later, many people came to Kalona..."

Necker became nervous: "Who is he?"

"Fred said those people were very guarded and no one was allowed to get close. Oh, there were hundreds of guards, and they seemed to have the royal fleur-de-lis emblem on their uniforms."

"Royal family?"

Erich nodded and continued: "Fred seemed to have seen a young man, who looked about fourteen or fifteen years old. His identity should be very unusual..."

Necker's pupils suddenly shrank to the size of a needle. There is only one young man of fourteen or fifteen years old in France who can lead hundreds of royal guards - the current Crown Prince!

He paced back and forth in the room anxiously, sorting out the whole thing in his mind.

First, the police came to Kalona and mentioned that there was a problem with his loan. Erich then kills one of the policemen, and the other is immediately placed under tight protection. Then the royal family actually intervened...

Putting it all together, it is very likely that the royal family knew about the affairs between themselves and the bank.

This situation may be serious!

Necker immediately took out a bag of gold coins from the safe and handed it to Erich, saying sternly:

"Go back to Thule, take your people, and find a place to hide!"

Erich weighed the money bag and said in surprise:

"Okay, Mr. Necker. But all my people died that day, so I just hid."

Then, he bowed and saluted, turned around and went out happily.

Are you the only one left? A chill flashed in Necker's eyes, he pulled the bell to summon his butler, and made a cutting motion towards Erich's back with a sullen face.

The butler nodded and left, then returned a few minutes later:

"Mr. Necker, it's been taken care of."

"Very good." Necker ordered again, "Let the wife and children get ready. We may be in trouble and have to go to the Country Manor."

"Understood, Mr. Necker."

After the butler left, Necker called one of his confidants and whispered some instructions.

Before dusk, the confidant returned and said to Necker:

"Mr. Necker, as you expected, a lot of secret police were sent to Thule in the past few days. In addition, I also learned from the Palace of Versailles that the king had previously signed a document pardoning Carlona."

Necker has been the finance minister for many years and is very wealthy, so he has a large number of news channels among the French nobles.

"Secret police? Pardon Kalona?"

Necker was now completely sure that the royal family was going to deal with him. Although Kalona might not cooperate with the royal family, he couldn't take the risk.

After all, this matter of mine is too big...

He made a quick decision, took out the suitcase he had prepared, and then called the housekeeper:

"Leave immediately to the 'Country Manor'."

"Yes, Mr. Necker."

Soon, several inconspicuous carriages drove out of Necker's house. The people Fouche placed here immediately followed him in the car - how could Joseph not let people stare at Necker?

At the same time, in an ordinary house a few hundred meters away from Necker's house, the floor was lifted from the inside. The Necker family and the housekeeper got out of it one after another. It turned out that a tunnel had been dug directly to his villa.

Necker and others got into the carriage parked outside and drove into the night.

Just an hour later, nearly a hundred police officers, led by Besançon personally, surrounded Necker's villa. There are also a large number of secret police and people from the Police Intelligence Department outside to assist in the arrest.

However, they only found more than thirty servants, but the Necker family was nowhere to be seen, including the undercover police intelligence officer who had been ambushing here. Only then were they surprised to find that Necker had disappeared.

…

A ball is being held at the home of Count Isaac, president of the French Banking Guild.

A middle-aged man with a capable appearance quickly walked into the hall, found Earl Isaac, and whispered a few words in his ear.

The latter's expression suddenly changed, he turned around and asked:

"Is the news reliable?"

The middle-aged man nodded: "Every newspaper is already writing the news that "Necker's house is surrounded by a large number of police." However, the information I got from the secret police shows that they have not found Necker."

Isaac immediately found a few people from the dance crowd and went up to the second floor with them.

"You're saying that Necker might be targeted by the police?"

Isaac shook his head:

"If it were just the police, it wouldn't have allowed Necker to escape. It was probably the royal family that took action."

Another skinny old man with red skin frowned and said:

"Why did the royal family move so quickly this time? No news leaked out at all."

"It's not clear yet," Isaac said solemnly, "but I believe everyone knows how 'dangerous' Necker is."

He looked around at the people in the room: "After all, almost all of our families have had transactions with him."

A fat man with thick powder on his face and dark eyes said through gritted teeth:

"Before, I kept telling that guy to go to England, but you still want to get him into the Palace of Versailles to be the Chancellor of Finance! Now it's better, everyone has to be implicated by him!"

"Calm down, Earl of Cape Fear." The skinny old man raised his hand and made a downward gesture, "What's the use of talking about this now? The most important thing at the moment is that the royal family must not find Necker first."

"Marquis Ludo is right." Isaac nodded. "We are more familiar with Necker than the royal family. We will definitely be able to find him faster and then try to send him to England, or..."

He narrowed his eyes slightly and made gestures on his neck with his fingers.

Thanks to: Bo Guan Zai Ji, No Pursuit in the Afterlife, and Murong Qiuyu for their generous rewards for this book! The young author is so grateful, hmm!