That night, at the invitation of the banker Mr. Beauvin, Edmond Dantes rode a carriage and quietly came to his house.
When he first came to Paris to work hard in his early years, Beauvain had nothing but a small amount of money. However, after nearly twenty years of hard work, he has become the head of the prestigious Poncena Bank.
One of the top managers naturally becomes a rich man.
After getting married, he bought a large house in the 8th District, spread his business there, and used it as a place for socializing, although due to his humble background, the famous nobles had never been there.
Visit here, but because of Beauchamp's generous hospitality, his living room has become famous among the bourgeoisie of Paris.
Normally, this place would be packed with guests and there would be constant banquets every day, but today, in order to entertain Edmund, Bowen closed the door and only entertained the earl.
Bowang is a shrewd, calm and almost cold banker. He is always calculating his wealth and other resources. He also knows in his heart that for now, he has climbed to the highest level that society allows him to climb.
Due to his position, he can enjoy a life far better than ordinary people, but it is almost impossible to move up to the next level because he is not from a noble family and will not have a place in the palace of the Bourbon family.
An ordinary person might be satisfied with this status, such as his boss Ponsena, but for the ambitious Bowen, this is far from enough.
He has tasted all the enjoyment that money brings, but he is not obsessed with any luxurious enjoyment. He does not chase beautiful women, does not collect cultural relics, and does not like to buy real estate and build villas and castles everywhere. He is just accumulating money for the sake of accumulating money.
It is realizing his own life value.
Now, with his boss, he can control tens of millions of capital, enough to cause a storm in the bond market anytime and anywhere, enough to control the trend and bankrupt those companies. He has tasted the power of money, but his power is not enough to control the country.
With his golden veins, he cannot make the national economy and people's livelihood revolve around his financial scepter.
Only by achieving this goal can Bowang be satisfied.
So he is very dissatisfied with the current situation. Since the current social structure does not allow him to go further, why not think of ways to smash this society to pieces and reorganize it?
The French people realized this seemingly "treasonous" delusion 30 years ago, which gave Beauvin endless confidence and inspiration.
Of course, if he wants to break this status quo, it is not enough to rely on his own strength. He needs an opportunity, a person with energy and prestige to break the existing social structure.
Although he was a banker, his profession required him to always pay attention to political trends. He looked around the country and spied on all the forces that had the hope of changing the status quo. In the end, there were only two choices: the Orleans family or the Bonaparte family.
The Orleans family is also a good choice, but the Duke of Orleans already has a large group of supporters. After weighing it, Bowang felt that even if he went to seek refuge, he would not get the attention of the other party for the time being. Moreover, although the Orleans family pretended to be "people-friendly" every day,
", but to be honest, it is still a branch of the royal family. Not only is he a noble, but there is also a large group of nobles around him. If the Orleans family becomes the king, for Beauvin, the social structure will still be the same as before, so it is not interesting enough.
After thinking about it, he felt that the Bonaparte family was most appealing to him not because their ideals and slogans were so touching, but because the Bonaparte family was now the cleanest and most in need of help from others. Therefore, they
He is also most willing to offer prices to buy others.
So as soon as he met the Count of Monte Cristo, he immediately took action, and then immediately took action to express his submission to the Count. He believed that with his talents and status, the Bonaparte family would never remain indifferent.
Therefore, for Bowen, the value of a Count of Monte Cristo far exceeds "all the friends" he has made so far, and he must try his best to make them.
After Edmond Dantès arrived at the Beauvain mansion, Beauvain immediately welcomed him personally and then took him to his living room.
Like all the nouveau riche, Bowang's mansion was splendidly decorated, with dazzling decorations everywhere, and famous paintings hanging on the walls of the living room, full of the aura of wealth.
Although Edmond Dantès did not have a close relationship with Mr. Beauvin, he could tell that apart from money, he had no interest in art or other products of civilization. The reason why he decorated his home like this was just to follow the fashion and be arty.
, in order to reflect the results of one's own efforts and maintain one's status in the upper class society.
There were two people standing in the center of the living room, a lady in a skirt and a little boy of three or four years old, both of whom were very exquisitely dressed.
Obviously, this is Mr. Bowen's family.
"This is my wife," Bowen introduced to Edmund.
"Mrs. Bowen, nice to meet you." Edmund immediately greeted the other party calmly, picked up her hand, and touched the back of her hand lightly.
"Nice to meet you, sir." The lady greeted him calmly, but there was no enthusiasm in her smile.
Edmund knew that the lady Bowen married was the daughter of a run-down nobleman. For Bowen, the lady was a tool for him to show off his social status. He would not discuss any career matters with her, and the lady only fulfilled her husband's duties.
It's just an order. There is absolutely no intimacy between two people.
So he didn't want to reveal too much about his behavior in front of his wife, he just said hello politely.
Bowang obviously didn't want the count and his wife to talk too much, so he immediately pointed to the little boy next to him.
"Maurice, my son."
Edmund looked at it and found that the child looked good and had a good upbringing. However, he looked a little frail and nervous, perhaps because he was afraid of his father.
The union of Bowang and the daughter of a nobleman gave birth to elegant offspring, but the offspring also lost their ambition and courage. This can be regarded as a gain and a loss.
"Maurice, Mr. Earl is the most distinguished guest of our family. You must have the greatest respect for him and treat him as your uncle from now on. Do you understand?" While Edmund was in reverie, Bowen solemnly said
He gave orders to his son.
"I understand, Dad." Maurice understood and immediately saluted Edmund.
Although his movements were a little nervous, he was also very serious. It was obvious that his wife was very strict with his education.
Edmund also nodded cordially to him. "Morris, good evening, you have a very powerful father, you will be proud of him in the future."
Edmond knew that Beauvain introduced his family to him not only to please him, but also to show him his determination that he was willing to risk his life and fortune for the cause of the Bonaparte family.
If you look closely at the things he did before, there is a chance that he can be excused, that is to say, he can distance himself when things go wrong; but now, he has brought the earl to his home, and in front of his family
He was said to be the 'most distinguished guest', which also meant that he had left no escape route for himself.
In a gambling game, this means betting your entire fortune.
If he wins, he will definitely become a popular figure in His Majesty's eyes and have unparalleled political support in the financial community; if he loses, everything he has now will probably be lost.
It's really amazing that a man who has a mansion, a car, a wife and children still has such courage and determination! No wonder he can climb to his current position so quickly. Edmund was secretly stunned.
Edmund admired his decisiveness. In a sense, he saw himself in Bowen again.
The identities and careers of the two people are completely different, but the confrontation with fate and the determination to leave no room for error do have spiritual resonance.
With the help of Morris as a "prop", Bowen and Edmund complimented each other and established a "personal relationship" with each other. However, for the two of them, more important things were yet to come.
After the greetings, Bowang asked his wife and son to retreat, and he took Edmund to the study.
Now there are no other people around, so we can have the most important exchanges.
"Mr. Earl, have you mentioned me to His Majesty?" As soon as he sat down, Bowang asked the question that concerned him most.
"Of course, sir." Edmund immediately relieved him of his worries, "I specifically mentioned you to His Majesty, and highlighted the help you have given me recently. Your Majesty also particularly praised you in his reply to me.
In recognition of your loyalty and enthusiasm, he said he would never forget the help Mr. Bovan gave him."
After a pause, Edmond Dantès stated the conditions offered by His Majesty, "His Majesty said that as long as you continue to help us, he is willing to ennoble you as a noble, and hopes to make you a director of the Bank of France.
Director, assist His Majesty and his assistants in managing the country's financial order."
After hearing these words, Bowang felt overjoyed.
He didn't care about noble titles at all, but considering his social status, he needed to get one for himself, even a baron was enough.
What is really important is the second half of the sentence. The leader of the Bonaparte family is willing to include him in his circle.
And this is everything he dreamed of.
"Everyone says that although His Majesty is not very young, he has a magnanimity and magnanimity that ordinary people cannot match. Now I have seen it." After being excited for a while, Bo Wang sighed with emotion, "For a person
He has given such grace to someone he has never seen before, just by your few words. What a courage! No wonder you can accomplish something that others cannot accomplish in their lifetime at such a young age... God is indeed involved.
The Bonaparte family."
"That's natural." Edmund was also quite proud of the monarch he was loyal to. "Your Majesty dares to trust talented people and is willing to give them everything they want. He never asks about people's origins or past, only looks at them.
ability."
At this point, he changed the topic again, "However, sir, although the conditions offered by His Majesty are tempting, they can only be fulfilled after the things are accomplished. We must do our best now to make this happen. You
Is that right?"
"That's natural!" Bowang nodded heavily. He naturally knew this, but he had to show his gratitude in front of the earl, so as to show how loyal he was. "What orders does your Majesty have for me?
"
"His Majesty knows that you are an important and valuable talent. He does not want you to participate in any major actions, suffer danger, and waste your talents in vain. He only needs you to try your best to create tension in the country."
"Create tension?" Bowang pondered for a moment, and then quickly responded, "Does he want our banks to tighten money?"
As one of the largest banks in the country, Poncena Bank is involved in the capital transactions of a large number of companies, covering almost all walks of life. Bowang, as one of the top executives, knows this well. If Poncena Bank chooses to tighten money, then it is obvious that
Many companies will lose blood quickly and eventually their capital chain will be broken.
Moreover, in this era, because currency belongs to the gold standard and is linked to precious metals, the amount of currency issuance is limited, and the market generally faces the problem of insufficient currency supply (cash shortage).
In order to solve this problem, the economic and industrial circles have developed a complex bill system. Each enterprise can issue promissory notes and bonds, guarantee each other, and circulate them in the form of currency.
As one of the largest and most credit-worthy banks, Banco Poncena's bills naturally circulate in large quantities on the market, becoming the main source of cash flow for many companies.
This means that if Bank Poncena chooses to gradually reduce the scale of bill issuance, tighten money and reduce loans, the market will face a huge impact in a short period of time, and may even cause a wave of bankruptcies.
This is no exaggeration, but something that has happened countless times in history.
With the development of capitalism, Western European countries have gradually entered the era of credit economy. The invisible power of financial bankers has continued to expand. The financial power represented by the exchange and the royal power represented by the palace have almost kept pace with each other. Although in society,
In terms of status, financiers are still at a disadvantage for the time being. The ancient feudal aristocratic worship is still popular in this country. However, financiers actually have enough power to shake the country, and as time goes by, this power will become more and more powerful.
Strong, and finally fought against the royal power.
Bowang is not a historian, he does not know what will happen in the future, but with his own ambition and his instinctive political sense, he unintentionally participated in this trend that changed the face of the world, and happily became one of the first batch
Get trendy.
But now, his power is not enough. He is only a senior executive of Poncena Bank, not the owner of the bank. He does not yet have the financial power he dreams of.
If he wants to mess up the country's financial order and cause a wave of bankruptcy, he does not have any moral burden, but this is not something he can decide on his own. He needs to go through his boss to achieve it.
"I understand what Your Majesty means..." Bowang pondered for a moment, "I will try my best to convince my boss. My boss may not dare to be so radical. He has always been a conservative person."
"So, what's your plan to impress him?" Edmund asked.
"That's not to say there isn't..." Bowang smiled slyly.