Chapter 180 Mara’s self-doubt

Joseph was thinking about how to deal with these people more appropriately, when he heard the Earl of Cape Fear laugh naively:

"Your Highness, in addition to us, there are also Trade Credit Bank and Lavelle Bank who also want to obtain your forgiveness..."

Marquis Ludo glared at him fiercely to stop him from continuing, thinking secretly that he really shouldn't have brought this guy here. If it weren't for the Cape Fear family's huge influence in the banking association, this guy's brains would have bankrupted the family business ten times!

"Oh?" Joseph looked at Cape Fear, "How many banks do you represent this time?"

The latter quickly pointed out the window: "There are seven families, Your Highness. They are waiting outside the Palace of Versailles."

Seven banks? Those involved in the Necker case are all large and influential banks. Joseph glanced at a few people and suddenly realized that this might be an opportunity to open the French "Central Bank" in advance.

Moreover, it is difficult for the Reserve Bank of France to digest so many banks. It is not unacceptable to let them hand over their interests and accept supervision. If we can use this to speed up the process of establishing a "central bank", we can make a lot of money.

Joseph immediately smiled and did not follow the rhythm of the people in front of him at all, but said directly:

"Want to keep your bank?"

Marquis Ludo and others were obviously stunned for a moment, then nodded "shyly":

"If I can be forgiven by you..."

Joseph smiled slightly and said, "Can you represent the four banks outside?"

Marquis Ludo nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Your Highness, they have entrusted me with full authority."

"Okay," Joseph nodded, "I have a few conditions."

Marquis Ludo and others immediately pricked up their ears.

"First, your loan to the government will be exempted by 10%, the loan agreement will be re-signed, and the interest shall not exceed 3%."

The three bank tycoons looked at each other with pain written all over their faces.

The amount of loan relief seems to be only 10%, but each of them has loaned tens of millions of livres to the French government, which amounts to a huge amount of millions.

And in this era, 3% interest is almost interest-free. You know, even if the government sells public bonds to citizens, the interest rate is still between 9% and 12%.

However, Necker's confession is now in the Bastille. If he does not agree to it, the four banks that went bankrupt before will serve as examples.

The three struggled for two seconds, then gritted their teeth and nodded: "I will follow your instructions, Your Highness."

"Well," Joseph continued, "Second, the French Reserve Bank will obtain 30% of the shares of your bank. You have used illegal means to make money from the treasury for more than ten years, and these shares are regarded as fines.

"And I can promise that these shares will not be sold at will without the consent of the bank's board of directors."

Marquis Ludo and others agreed without much hesitation this time.

Originally, they were planning to use the shares as benefits in exchange for the Crown Prince to be open-minded. Although the crown prince wanted a little more than the proportion they prepared, he got a promise not to sell the shares.

In other words, the French Reserve Bank will only pay dividends. Their banks won't lose money if their shares are sold off. Such conditions are completely acceptable.

Joseph was quite satisfied with their attitude and said in a more serious tone: "The third and most important thing is.

“Your banks must support the monetary policy announced by the Reserve Bank of France.

"At the same time, you must use the influence of the Banking Association to get more banks to support the French Reserve Bank."

Marquis Ludo's expression changed and he asked cautiously: "Your Highness, what do you mean by monetary policy?"

Joseph said: "In the future, the Reserve Bank of France will issue unified bank notes across the country like the Bank of England. Your bank must accept this bank note for settlement and exchange."

The so-called bank notes are "certificates that can be used to redeem gold and silver coins" issued by various banks. Anyone holding these coupons can exchange them for coins from the corresponding bank.

If a certain bank is strong and trusted by everyone, then everyone will accept bank notes as payment from each other for the sake of convenience, and rarely actually exchange gold and silver coins.

It became the de facto currency in circulation.

In fact, the pound notes currently in circulation in the UK are strictly bank notes from the Bank of England. It's just that the Bank of England's business was so big that it overpowered all other banks and obtained the authorization of the British government as the "only legal bank note", gradually transforming into the Bank of England.

At present, the French Reserve Bank does not have the overwhelming capital advantage of the Bank of England, so Joseph can only use administrative means to launch the French Reserve Bank's bank bonds.

However, this process will definitely not be so smooth. After all, the French Reserve Bank has limited capital, and most ordinary people will not trust its bank bonds. This is also the biggest obstacle for the Bank of France to become the Bank of France.

Previously, Joseph planned to spend three to five years to gradually cultivate the market's trust in the bank notes of the French Reserve Bank. But if there is a banking association to endorse the French Reserve Bank, and these seven large banks accept the French Reserve Bank, coupons, the process could be shortened to a few months.

At the same time, because the Bank of France and these seven banks have bank notes, that is, banknotes, as circulation media, their circulation efficiency and convenience will overwhelm other banks.

It won't be long before other banks will have to accept bank notes from the French Reserve Bank in order to maintain their competitiveness.

When the vast majority of banks across the country accept the bank notes of the French Reserve Bank, a decree can be issued to make this bank note the only legal banknote in France.

The next step is to use the advantage of the right to issue banknotes to supervise other banks.

Who dares to disobey? Tighten your cash flow tomorrow and see how many days you can survive!

The three Marquis Ludo looked at each other again - accepting bank notes from other banks means that others will hand over the printed paper to the customer, and the customer can take the paper and exchange it for gold and silver coins from their home bank.

Although you can take the bank notes you received from your bank and exchange them for gold and silver coins at the French Reserve Bank, as long as there is a time difference of a few days, you will accumulate hundreds of millions of banknotes in your hands, becoming a de facto banknote reservoir. pool.

Not to mention, it is impossible for banks to settle transactions every few days, and it usually takes a month at the earliest. Then all the banknotes for this month are kept in my own bank.

Mr. Boislandal said bravely:

"Your Highness, if, I mean just in case, the Bank of France's bank notes depreciate, then wouldn't we..."

Joseph expected that they would have such worries and immediately said:

"The cabinet will soon issue a decree to stipulate the exchange rate of bank notes and gold and silver of the French Reserve Bank, and it will remain unchanged. Of course, if you are worried, the French Reserve Bank can also sign an agreement with you to exchange bank notes for a short period of time. If there is a significant depreciation within the period, the Bank of France will compensate you for your losses.”

He has enough confidence to make such a promise. After all, this era is based on the gold and silver standard. Paper currency is anchored in gold and silver, and the value of the currency is very stable unless a major economic crisis occurs.

And if a crisis does occur, leading to a serious devaluation of French banknotes, that won't matter. Just compensate the bank according to the agreement. But by then banknotes had been accepted by everyone, and the compensation to the banks was still banknotes. Anyway, the economy is already in crisis, so just tell me how much compensation you want, and I will run the printing press and work overtime 24 hours a day to print it for you.

In the end, Marquis Ludo and others had no choice but to accept Joseph's conditions - their arms could not hold their thighs, and the most they could do was settle accounts diligently every month. This month's bank statements should be given to the Bank of France.

Joseph stood up, looked at the three people in front of him with a smile, raised his arms and said, "Congratulations to you, oh, and to the four banks waiting outside.

"From now on, you are no longer implicated in the Necker case. You are safe."

He signaled to Briand: "After that, Archbishop Briand will sign an agreement with you on behalf of the Bank of France and the French government."

The three banking tycoons hurriedly bowed and thanked the Crown Prince for his tolerance. Although they were extremely depressed, having lost an unknown amount of money on this trip, they were also relieved. After all, their bank was finally saved.

After Marquis Ludo and others said goodbye and left, Joseph suddenly remembered a problem. Four banks had gone bankrupt and were acquired before, and today seven more banks "surrendered." There are thirteen banks involved in the Necker case. What are the remaining two doing?

At 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Fouche rushed to the Palace of Versailles and answered his questions.

"Your Highness, Perny, his wife and two sons were captured by the Police Intelligence Service on their way to Rouen this morning. You see..."

"Seize the bank immediately."

Joseph sighed softly. These people are so impatient that if they run for half a day late, they can catch a ride with Marquis Ludo.

And if they run away like this now, they can only be dealt with severely. I hope that after taking over the Perny family bank, the French Reserve Bank will not be seriously short of manpower.

Fouche nodded and continued:

"Your Highness, and the two largest shareholders of Denaro Bank happened to return to Switzerland at the time of the incident. They probably heard the news from Paris and did not show up again."

Although its main business is in France, Denaro Bank is a Swiss bank headquartered in Schwyz, Switzerland.

In other words, the bank's profits are likely to have been sent to Switzerland, and even if its assets in France were inspected, there probably wouldn't be much money.

Joseph frowned: "It seems that we have to use diplomacy."

…

Three days later, a grand but not too lively commendation ceremony was held in the Hercules Hall of the Palace of Versailles.

It was said to be grand because Her Majesty the Queen personally presided over it.

In addition to the officials of the Impartial Investigation Office who were commended, the people present were mainly the top brass of the police system, as well as the Crown Prince and the Minister of Justice, Baron Breteuil. There were less than 30 people in total, which was indeed not a lively event.

After a burst of melodious music, Queen Mary, dressed in a gorgeous light purple dress, walked up to the high platform on the west side of the hall, looked at Marat and others with a smile, and said loudly:

"Gentlemen of the Impartial Investigation Department, with your excellent work and heroic and fearless spirit, you have saved huge losses for France, and at the same time, you have allowed the embezzlers who have escaped for several years to face trial!

"Here, on behalf of the royal family, I would like to express my highest respect to you!"

This time, Marat and his assistants discovered Necker's shocking corruption case. After a series of operations by Joseph, they "earned" hundreds of millions of livres for the French finance. At the same time, they greatly promoted the establishment of the French Central Bank. This credit Not too big.

In the previous operation, Evans of the Investigation Department was killed, and Marla was also wounded by a knife, so Joseph decided to commend them.

Some palace officials came carrying wreaths of flowers. Queen Mary personally put one on Marat, who was still on crutches. Police Commissioner Nathanson presented flowers to others.

Then, amidst the applause of the crowd, the Queen announced that due to the outstanding contribution of the Impartial Investigation Service, she decided to upgrade it to the Impartial Investigation Service, which would be directly under the jurisdiction of the cabinet.

At this point, France's "Anti-Corruption Bureau" has finally thrown off the "mask" of the police system and has an official status that has come to the forefront.

The director of the Investigation Bureau is still held by the Crown Prince. Marat became the head of the Operations Division. Desmoulins is the head of the Archives Department. The entire investigation bureau has four divisions under its jurisdiction, among which the largest operations division is planned to be expanded to seven action teams with a total of more than 200 people.

In fact, this is not enough for the huge French bureaucracy, but it is the most advanced institution for administrative inspection in Europe. While other countries still rely on royal power to supervise officials, France has taken the lead in realizing independent department supervision.

This is also the reason why officials are reluctant to attend the commendation ceremony - no one can guarantee that their hands are absolutely clean. Necker was extremely powerful in France at the time and was extremely wealthy. Wasn’t it just a matter of time before he fell? If someone from the Investigation Department takes note of him, it will be all over.

Then, Queen Mary awarded Marat a bonus of 500 livres in public. Other investigators who participated in the Necker case were also rewarded with a month's salary. As for Evans, who sacrificed his life, his pension was as high as 4,000 livres, and the royal family sponsored all his son's schooling expenses.

After the commendation ceremony was over, the Queen invited everyone present to attend a dinner.

Walking out of the Hercules Hall, Baron Breteuil took the lead in congratulating Marat:

"You are really an excellent investigator. You have thoroughly investigated all the cases that have happened over the past many years."

Mara looked at his luxurious dress and couldn't help but frown slightly. Before she could think of how to answer, Besançon came over and said with a smile on his face:

"Her Majesty the Queen appreciates you very much. I think it won't be long before you are given the title of nobility."

Friant and Fouche also came up to praise him.

Mara looked around at the people around him, but his expressions became increasingly difficult to look at.

A title of nobility?

He was a little funny in his heart, am I going to be the same kind as these dirty nobles?

He looked up again at the exquisite and artistic carvings on the roof of the Palace of Versailles.

Why am I here?

What am I doing?

It's ironic that everything I do is praised by nobles!

Have I betrayed the people of France? !

He suddenly stopped and excused himself from attending the banquet because of the pain in his wound. He turned around and walked out of the Palace of Versailles on crutches.