This is a banquet hosted by the Holy City Financial Guild. Each guest has a personal net worth of at least three million. Among them, Holy City First Bank, Holy City Quanye Bank and Holy City Guarantee Bank are the top three banks in the empire.
The Darnell family is among the top three shareholders of these three banks. Therefore, the Darnell family is not only wealthy, but also the spokesperson of Holy City Financial Capital.
The Darnell family has lived in Gesar City in Gyeonggi Province for a long time. It was only from the previous generation of dukes that they started to get involved in the financial industry. The family's first pot of gold in finance came from the large war loan of the founding emperor Carlos I. Since then, it has become the first in the empire.
A wealthy family.
Perhaps this family is not as powerful administratively as the Hermann family, nor as powerful as the Frank family in the military, but this family is the country's largest creditor, so even Carlos II had to try to deepen the relationship through marriage.
On the occasion of the meeting of dignitaries, in addition to meeting Carlos II and finalizing his marriage to the royal family, the Duke also met with the financial giants of the Holy City to unify their understanding and adapt to the changes in the current situation.
They neither wanted the country to go bankrupt, nor wanted the country to default on its debts. As long as it was profitable, they were willing to lend the emperor a suicide dagger.
However, on his way back to his family estate on the outskirts of the Holy City, the Duke was attacked by a roadside bomb, and two iron barrels filled with explosives were buried on the road he had to pass.
The powerful energy directly tore his carriage into pieces, and the Duke died on the spot.
This was a horrifying event. There had never been a similar event in the history of the Fifth Reich. It was far more serious than the Holy City Cathedral being burned down ten times.
Colonel Frank immediately asked all his men to go out and put everyone who had come into contact with the Duke that night into prison, involving three hundred people.
This was quite a stir, especially since not many of the people invited to tea by the secret police were ordinary people, either bankers, bank shareholders or senior employees.
When Carlos II learned that Duke Darnell had been assassinated, he was furious and immediately ordered the Guards to march into the city and implement martial law.
In fact, overnight the entire 100-kilometer radius of the Holy City was tightly controlled by 200,000 well-equipped guards.
In comparison, being caught in the Tulip Club was nothing more than a trivial matter. But to Frank's annoyance, two iconic figures, Toby Salaman and Anthony Foxx, escaped - because Duke Darnell
A city-wide manhunt triggered by the murder alerted the two men and they escaped.
However, an unexpected benefit was that Frank placed the charge of murdering the duke on these two men, so that he would be more persuasive when facing the roaring emperor.
Reasonable!
As a result, the secret police arrested nearly 500 people close to the liberals in the afternoon of the next day. These people had been to the Tulip Club in the past three years, including Carmen Gable.
However, the emperor was still not satisfied. He pointed at the list and angrily shouted: "Joseph, there seems to be one person missing from this list!"
Frank's heart skipped a beat and he said, "I'm scared, I don't know who your Majesty is referring to?"
"I heard that the Earl of Rocky Mountain also went to this club yesterday?" Carlos II said.
"It's true!" Frank admitted frankly.
"Then..." Carlos II stood behind the royal table with his hands on the table, "I need a reasonable explanation."
"In fact, the remarks made by Earl Connelly last night were not too outrageous, and this was only his first time there. In view of his past contributions to the country, I have reason to believe that he is a person loyal to His Majesty."
Frank said.
"Explosives! Only new explosives can produce such great power, and only new fuses that match them can make the explosion so smooth!" Carlos said, "I heard that these current items are also related to the Earl of Rocky Mountain.
?”
"Your Majesty, the patent for this new type of explosive does belong to the University of Poitou. The president of this university is the Count of Rocky Mountain. However, the University of Poitou itself does not produce explosives. This explosive is a joint venture between the university and Bess Machinery Company.
Produced by a factory called Poitou Chemical Company. New explosives are now widely used in the military and mining. This production complies with the laws promulgated by the country, and the company also has relevant licenses." Frank said.
"Joseph, you know that Duke Darnell is an important nobleman in the empire. His murder is a great loss to the empire, especially under the current situation." Carlos II said, "A great Duke was murdered in the Holy City.
This is a serious provocation to the order of the empire and a great insult to me. You know, the marriage contract between my daughter and the Duke’s youngest son has just been concluded, and your father is one of the witnesses!”
"Your Majesty, what do you mean?" Frank was a little unsure of what the emperor meant.
"Take the Earl of Rocky Mountain into temporary custody," Carlos II said.
"Your Majesty!" Frank was shocked, "He is the earl you just consecrated!"
"Yes, but he is a good scapegoat. The title of Earl is not low, and he is a southern nobleman who has few connections with the Holy City. This is much more useful than the liberals you arrested. At least we can use it.
It would reduce the anger of the consortium, wouldn't it?
Don't worry, I won't do anything to the new count. I'm just going to wrong him for a while, which I still have a sense of proportion. After the limelight has passed, you can release him based on insufficient evidence." Carlos II said,
"The most important thing at the moment is to stabilize order, appease people, and get through the current difficulties. If the meeting of dignitaries this month cannot reach a result that satisfies me, my army will collapse in April."
Without allowing Frank to argue, Carlos II waved his hand and issued an order to expel the guest.
Frank exited the emperor's study room with an imperceptible sneer on his lips.
In the Holy City, Frank dared to say that no one knew Sean better than himself. In his view, the unfortunate Duke had not made much contribution to the well-being of the country and the people, except that he was very good at making money through power.
However, the more he pays attention to Sean, the more Frank feels the value of this person. This young man is a typical example of self-made wealth and personal struggle.
It is precisely because of this that Frank, knowing that Sean has no military position, included him in the list of officers' honorary corps. In fact, Sean is the only one who is a special case. This is why Frank cannot really introduce Sean for the time being.
The reason for joining this group.
Now the emperor is determined to make Sean a scapegoat, obviously in order to quickly quell the negative impact of the Duke Darnell incident.
Perhaps in the emperor's eyes, southerners were insignificant.