Chapter 308 This is an investment! Military spending cannot be saved!
Chapter 308 This is an investment! Military expenses cannot be saved!
Josephine Beauharnais looked at Barras in confusion: "How high?"
Barras held out five fingers.
"Five gold bars? That's okay..." Josephine breathed a sigh of relief, "If you want to be an ordinary clerk in Paris, you have to pay a few gold louis. Frost is naturally worth five gold bars.
…”
Barras shook his head: "No, no, it's not that cheap."
Josephine gasped: "Fifty? That is indeed a very high price..."
Barras: "It's five hundred ounces. I promised to invest five hundred ounces in the steam revolution he talked about, and that's how I got his support."
Josephine's face changed: "Five hundred ounces? I didn't know you had so much gold! I mean, I really didn't think you would come up with so much money!"
"I don't have any," Barras said angrily. "All the money I made over the past year is gone. Frost is still ruthless. When he told me, he really acted like he was working hard to promote the future.
Progressive sages, it seems like there will really be some kind of steam revolution!"
Josephine Beauharnais commented angrily: "This is where he is smarter than you. He is also making money. He has established a high-sounding reason for himself, for France and the steam revolution.
"They are all the same gang, and so is Robespierre. He obviously did things like bandits, but he said he was for the revolution!
"I can finally see clearly that every one of the Jacobins is a hypocrite, not as good as a true speculator like you."
Barras covered Josephine's mouth: "You should pay attention! This is Frost's base camp. If anyone hears this, my five hundred ounces of gold will be wasted!"
After covering his head for a few seconds, Barras let go of Josephine, who sighed: "Louis XVI still had a bunch of ministers and nobles to restrain him, but now that the ministers and nobles are gone, the king-like Frost has no one."
People have checks and balances.”
Barras shook his head: "Stop talking! Okay, let's go."
So Josephine knocked on the front glass of the carriage, and the groom in front of the carriage whipped his whip to urge the horses to start moving forward.
The carriage just left in front of the Palais Royal.
**
After Barras left, Christina entered An Ning's study through the side door.
"I see that Fanny has even prepared the poisoned wine, and is just waiting for your order to have a drink with Barras." Christina said, "You didn't actually do it."
An Ning: "Because Mr. Barras exploded the gold coins."
Christina: "How much?"
"Five hundred ounces of gold."
Christina gasped: "So many? Isn't this almost as much as you confiscated the church's property in Konta?"
"No, no, it's still not comparable to the church's offering, but it's still a lot. As long as these five hundred ounces of gold are deposited in our newly established bank, other people who have gold hidden at home will come to the bank to deposit it.
Gold, we will get a lot of money quickly.
"Then this money can be used to invest in the steam engine industry and machine tool industry. We are already far behind the British in terms of steam engines. The British invented the steam spinning machine in 1785, and now the fabrics produced by the machine are being sold throughout France.
, wiped out all the manual workshops that produce fabrics here.
"We need to quickly build our own steam spinning machine factory to capture at least half of the fabric market."
An Ning was talking about this in high spirits, and suddenly noticed that Christina was looking at him with a smile, and asked: "What's wrong? Is there something on my face?"
"No, but when you talk about this, your expression will be very dazzling. To be honest, I really like you when you talk about this."
Regarding his fiancée's sudden expression of love, An Ning scratched his head in embarrassment: "Yes, really."
"Yes, if you don't believe me, just ask Fanny." Christina smiled.
Fanny opened the door and came in: "Call me?"
"Come on, Fanny, tell me, when Andy talks about the steam revolution with great energy, is this the most charming time for him?"
"Yes." Fanny said decisively.
An Ning: "Thank you."
But Christina changed the subject: "But it's not good for you to accept Ballas's five hundred ounces of gold so straightforwardly. Soon all of Paris will say that Andy Frost is a greedy guy, and your good reputation will be affected."
.”
An Ning: "Whatever, as long as we can develop industry, I don't really care. Rather, if all the ill-gotten gains made by these speculators in the past few years were stuffed into my bank, it would be a big blow to France."
Great thing!"
Christina looked at An Ning, considered it before asking: "I'm not saying that what you said is wrong, but think about it from his perspective. Suppose that one day in the future, Robespierre thinks that he should centralize power and can execute him without trial.
What would you think of France's considered enemies?
"At that time, Robespierre would definitely have decided that this was for the good of France."
An Ning fell silent.
Because he knows that the real Robespierre in history did become like this in the end.
When Robespierre had a secret conversation with Saint-Just in his study for the last time before he was overthrown, he said that he would establish a new mechanism that could send people to the guillotine without trial in order to defend the country.
France.
Once such a mechanism is established, Robespierre can "send all those cunning speculators to the guillotine to purify France."
At that time, An Ning saw this scene while watching a movie. The moment she saw this scene, she had a very complicated feeling towards Robespierre: You can call him bad, he is really devoted to France, but modern people know that once
If things develop like this, what will happen next?
If you don’t believe me, just ask the comrade who smokes a pipe and has a distinctive beard.
An Ning: "So, did I look so paranoid just now?"
"Actually, it's okay. I just think you should worry about the impact. But it's not all a bad impact. When the upright people in Paris scold you in private for being the same as those speculators, the smart people in Paris will think that you are the same as those speculators.
He is a person who can be fawned over.
"They have a large number of people in Paris and have great influence. In this sense, you have helped me." Christina said.
"But I still hope that you maintain the image of the noble guardian of the revolution. This is my small personal expectation."
An Ning thought for a while and replied: "I will publish a news in the newspaper saying that Paul Barras has deposited five hundred ounces of gold in a newly opened bank in order to support the ideals of the steam revolution. He can withdraw it at any time.
"
Christina: "Even if you said so, Barras wouldn't dare to take it out."
An Ning was speechless and replied: "In that case, at the end of this year, we will give him a dividend based on the proportion of his 500 ounces in our total share capital.
"This way, everyone will believe that the five hundred ounces are an investment and not a bribe."
An Ning's heart ached when he said this. The steam engine factory he opened now is losing money, because France really does not need so many steam engines now, but the steam textile factory he opened is profitable and can make up for the deficit of the steam engine factory.
It felt a bit distressing to cut Barras off at this moment.
But in order not to live up to the reputation of bribery, this is necessary.
Christina: "I will also try to explain to everyone that this is an investment, not a bribe."
"Well, please." An Ning paused and put on a smile, "Why don't we talk about the wedding? How are you preparing for the wedding?"
Christina also smiled, her face beaming with happiness: "Everything goes well. If nothing else happens, we should be able to get married in August."