Chapter 182 Industrial Espionage

Now the French Reserve Bank is the major shareholder of Ludo and others' seven banks, and can check their accounts at any time.

And Joseph happened to remember that a few months ago, a middle school girl mentioned to him that several French banks had invested heavily in the British textile industry, so he checked it out and found that these seven banks were indeed here. List.

Marquis Ludo jumped up from his chair when he heard this.

He was so troubled by Necker's case that he actually forgot about investing in the UK!

Even the homeless people in Paris knew that if Britain and France did not deal with it, the French colonies in India and North America would be robbed by the British. Now he is taking French money to vote for Britain, which can almost be regarded as treason if it is serious.

Marquis Ludo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, stared at the toes of his shoes and said in a panic: "Your Highness, this, this is a mistake, I will take back all the British investment immediately.

"Oh, and then put it all into the Industrial Development Fund!"

Joseph flipped through the documents in his hand and motioned for him to sit down: "Well, with a fixed interest rate of 15% per year, plus profit sharing, the income must be more than 20%."

Lu Duo turned pale with fright, and was about to plead again, but heard the crown prince say again: "There is no rush to recoup such a good investment for the time being, but we must make the best use of it."

Lu Duo asked carefully: "What do you mean..."

Joseph motioned him to sit down again: "You don't have to be so nervous.

"You and the Earl of Cape Fear have invested a total of more than 20 million livres in the British automatic loom industry, and they are definitely the major shareholders.

"With such a large investment, it should be very reasonable for shareholders to go to the UK to care about the business situation, right?"

Marquis Ludo gingerly leaned half of his buttocks on the chair, nodded and said: "Yes, it is very reasonable."

"Very good." Joseph smiled, "I need you, as a shareholder, to go to England and bring me some of the latest automatic looms, as well as some technicians who are familiar with the structure of the looms, as well as those who can use these looms. Worker."

Marquis Ludo's mouth opened wide, and it took him a long time to finally squeeze out a sentence: "Are you asking me to become an industrial spy?"

Joseph waved his hand and said: "It's inappropriate for you to say that. France has invested a lot of money in the British, so it has to confirm whether the technology invested is really that advanced, right?

"Oh, I will send someone from the Police Intelligence Department to go with you. You only need to use your identity as a shareholder to find out the situation of the British factory, and they will help you with the specific things."

Lu Duo had been counting money in his bank all his life. He had never done this before. He was hesitating and struggling in his heart when he saw the crown prince's eyes turning cold.

You might be caught working on British looms, and if you get caught you'll be jailed for a few years at most. You might be able to spend money on bail, but if you don't go, you'll have to go to the Bastille now.

Marquis Ludo swallowed and nodded helplessly: "Okay, okay, Your Highness. I will go to England right away and I will definitely get what you want back!"

When he returned home with a heavy heart, the Earl of Cape Fear and others gathered around him and asked the crown prince what business he had with him.

Marquis Ludo was going to do industrial espionage, so he naturally didn't want too many people to know about it, so he had to assume that it was some bank account issue.

The other bank tycoons did not have any doubts. Instead, they presented their plans to deal with Necker and asked him to study them together.

At this time, Marquis Ludo's mind was full of things about British looms, and his mind was not there at all. He just nodded uneasily.

…

Four days later, three inconspicuous carriages drove out of the Bastille, circled around Paris, and finally left the city from the east under darkness.

Behind them, there was always a man dressed as a postman, following on horseback from a distance, leaving road signs from time to time.

The three carriages finally headed northeast, and the Necker family was sitting in them.

He finally decided to go into exile in Lorraine. After all, it was relatively close to Switzerland and his friends in Switzerland might be able to take care of him.

The hot wind outside the car window blew on his face, making him extremely depressed. After so many years of hard work, he finally left Paris in despair like a mouse in the middle of the night.

It's all that bastard Carlona! He gritted his teeth and said viciously in his heart: I swear, I will make you taste more pain than me!

At dusk the next day, the escort convoy arrived in Sommerdiere. Lange, the police intelligence agent who commanded the escort, looked at the time and saw that he could not reach the next town in time, so he ordered his men to rest in the post house of the city hall.

After Necker was settled, Lange started playing cards with his men outside the house.

Not long after, a police intelligence agent entered the room and whispered something in his ear.

Lange nodded, grabbed the wine bottle from his side, and started drinking with several of his men. At the same time, several agents guarding the back of the house began drinking.

After it got completely dark, a dilapidated carriage stopped on the road opposite the Sommerdiere City Hall, and a few men dressed as businessmen got out of the car.

The "postman" from before immediately lowered his head and walked over, whispering: "Good opportunity, those secret police are drinking."

The "businessman" nodded, signaled his accomplices to get out of the car with weapons, and climbed over the wall from the east side of the city hall.

The street lights had been blown out by the "postman" a long time ago, and the three "businessmen" successfully pried open the door and entered the city hall.

These people were all experienced killers. They found Necker's room quietly, and then saw the drunken secret police.

The leader showed joy, lit a torch, quickly bypassed the guard, and winked at his accomplices behind him.

Several people drew their swords, gently opened the door to the inner room, and then swarmed in and stabbed Necker more than ten times on the bed before stopping.

The leading killer used a torch to approach the bed, confirmed it was Necker, and immediately signaled his men to retreat.

They did not expect that this mission of 30,000 livres could be completed so easily. They were thinking about how to enjoy this huge sum of money after returning, and they had already left the city hall gate.

"etc!"

The leader suddenly stopped. His years of experience as a killer allowed him to smell a hint of danger. Before they could react, dozens of torches suddenly lit up around them.

Under the shadow of the fire, all was the black muzzle of the flintlock gun.

…

Marquis Ludo did not expect that his action would go so smoothly.

Only two days after he arrived in the UK, he toured the entire automatic loom industry under the enthusiastic leadership of a textile factory manager.

Then he spent a lot of money to bribe two technicians responsible for repairing the loom.

After making some preparations, Prosper from the Police Intelligence Department led someone to steal an automatic loom overnight. This thing was fixed on the waterwheel. Without the help of professional technicians, it would be impossible to dismantle it intact. It was transported via Britain's inland waterways to the port of Dover, where it was then loaded onto a waiting ship.