It was nearly late at night, and Charles had just returned to his home after finishing his business for the day. Before he could freshen up his exhaustion, the old servant of the Marquis of Treville, dressed in gray, walked to Charles's room.

"Young master, the master is waiting for you, he wants you to wait for a while." His face was very respectful, and his eyes were only looking at the ground.

"Grandpa is back?" Charles was a little surprised, the old marquis had just gone out once, but he didn't expect to come back today, and then he smiled kindly at the old servant.

This old servant had been with his grandfather since he was still in the war, and he had served him for decades, so Charles had great respect for him. This time the old marquis went out, and he was always by his side.

"It's okay, young master." The old servant still bowed his head and thanked him softly, although there was no smile on his old and stiff face, but there was concern in his words, "Although you are still young, you should also pay more attention to your body, it is not a good thing for you to be busy until now and come back after all." ”

"Haode, I see." Charles nodded, "You go over and tell him I'm back, I'll come later." ”

"Yes." The old servant nodded yes, and then reminded Charles, "However, please go over as soon as possible, the master has been very tired of going out recently, and if you can go to bed early, you should try to go to bed a little early." ”

"Got it, xiexie, your reminder." Faced with the old servant's tireless reminder, Charles didn't think it was verbose, but was a little moved, "You have also worked hard, after informing grandpa." Go to bed early, too. ”

The old servant said no more, but bowed deeply to Charles, and then exited Charles's room.

Follow the other person's instructions. Charles quickly took care of himself, then sat down at his desk and recorded what he had done today, both in cryptography and in code.

After Matilda's second visit, Charles was somewhat shocked to find that his career seemed to have entered a new situation, a new situation that had never been seen before.

Honestly, after listening to what Matilda said. Charles himself was a little emotional. Now that even a big man of the rank of the minister in charge of the seal of the dynasty plans to bet on several sides to protect the wealth of the family, so how long can this dynasty last?

However, emotion is emotion. What needs to be done still has to be done meticulously.

Obviously, such a big thing is not something that Charles can nod his head to deal with, only the person at the top nods, and after negotiating the bid and ask price. Collaboration is the only way to really execute. All the Charles can do is act as a microphone – and obviously. That's what the other side is expecting from him.

Soon after Matilda's departure, he wrote a letter the same day, detailing the details and marking it as urgent. Then he ran to a special place to leave the letter, and it was estimated that after a while the person over there would hear back.

I hope it will be soon, Charles thought to himself.

When he was done, Charles locked the notes in a drawer and made his way to the old marquis's room.

Push the door. He found that the door was not closed, and it was easy to enter. And the old marquis was sitting at the head of the bed waiting for the Charles.

"You're finally here?" As soon as he saw Charles come in, he asked directly, and there seemed to be a little dissatisfaction in his words.

After confirming that there was no one outside, Charles carefully closed the door and looked at his grandfather with a smile.

"I'm sorry grandpa, I have some important things to do today, so I'm delaying my return until now......"

"There's no need to explain to me, it's a good thing that you can concentrate on your career, I'm very happy." The old marquis shook his head.

Charles finally breathed a sigh of relief, but the old marquis's next question made him laugh.

"Charles, how much money do you have now?"

After hearing this question, Charles's eyes widened, and instead of answering directly, he asked rhetorically, "How much do you need?" Where are you going to use it? ”

To be honest, he didn't have a lot of money in his hands, but if he planned to cash in on his connections, Charles thought he would still be able to make a sum of money, and the key was where the marquis planned to spend it and when he planned to use it.

The old marquis frowned slightly, looking a little hesitant, but he still said it.

"I want to make an investment."

"Investment?" Charles was taken aback, and then hurriedly asked, "Where is it?" ”

"In the province of Lorraine, it's an iron mine." The old marquis said slowly, "A friend of mine introduced this project to me, thinking that it can be invested, as long as the project goes well, it will be able to start operating in a few months, and it will be able to return to its capital in a year or two, and then you can enjoy the benefits." ”

Charles couldn't help but frown.

"Are the introducers reliable? Is the project guaranteed? ”

"The introducer is reliable, and there is no problem in this regard." The old marquis replied simply, "And where do you think you've been running away all these days?" I don't even have time to see my granddaughter's famous art exhibition! ”

Charles understood.

"You...... You went to Lorraine? ”

"Yes, to be reassured, I went to the field and found that this project is really good." The old marquis seemed to be a little proud in his eyes, "The scale is very large, and the taste is also good, if you start operating, maybe the income will be higher than you imagined......"

After hearing these words, Charles finally felt a little relieved, he knew that his grandfather was definitely not a person who would mess around.

"Since you've seen it with your own eyes, I'm relieved, then...... How much do you plan to invest? ”

"This project is divided into several parts, not a piecemeal fundraising, and I intend to claim a share of the ......," replied the old marquis at once, "and one is a million francs." ”

"A million!" After hearing this number, Rao was usually calm, but Charles couldn't help but gasp.

If nothing else, it's a huge amount of gold—that's nearly three tons (although there were no metric tons at the time) of gold!

"Do you need so much?" As if afraid that he had misheard, Charles hurriedly asked again. "Are you talking about a million?"

"Seven hundred thousand, to be exact." The Marquis replied with a smile, as if pleased with the results of his efforts, "I am ready to put all my savings into it." All you have to do is make up the next 700,000 francs. Charles, this is a very good opportunity, you should hurry up and do it! If you succeed, I'll leave you and Fran a fortune to enjoy for the rest of your life. ”

"But......" Charles was a little nervous, but didn't know what to say, "but...... But ...... like this"

"What the hell is this. I've already assessed the risk, it's not very big, can a big mine still run there? It's only a matter of time before you recoup your investment. It's a business that won't lose. ”

"The mine won't run, but the people who manage the mine will, and so will the banks that lend money to the mine." Maybe it's because it's too big, and Charles doesn't know where the courage comes from. Rare to directly refute his grandfather. "Shouldn't we consider these unpredictable risks?"

"No, you're thinking too much," interrupted the old Marquis, his face full of victory, "this project was initiated by Baron de Beauwon, and he himself invested money in it, is there a problem?" ”

"Baron de Beauwon?" Charles was taken aback again.

That old fox? Charles instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

However, if you can get the full endorsement of the big banker. I guess there won't be a problem.

Should?

"I think you have to be careful with such a big investment." Ponder over. Charles carefully admonished the Marquis.

The Marquis shook his head.

"It's right to be careful, Charles, but to be too careful is to be cowardly, and sometimes we need to be bold."

"But ......"

"There is nothing to do, people have to face choices and fears in the world, and it is extremely naïve and stupid to want to win everything without giving anything. Your generation is already lucky, and the choices you make and the fears you face are nothing compared to back then! Back then, we dealt with Miss Death every day, and we didn't know how many corpses and blood we had seen! In the Battle of Wagram, I led people to charge under artillery fire and bullets, and I felt death howling in my ears as I charged! Did I ever think about being scared? Of course I was afraid between life and death, but fear will not make you stronger, you can only continue to rush forward, and then I succeeded, my team broke the Austrian artillery positions, cut down countless Austrians, and made great contributions to the emperor's victory in this battle, so after the war I was made a general by the emperor. You see, Charles, my merits and positions are not earned by blood, but by my dedication and courage, and I admire the Emperor, but I do not owe him. Now, we're just making another choice, and the risk is much less than then! ”

Charles was momentarily speechless.

Seeing that his grandson was already "speechless", the marquis finally breathed a sigh of relief.

"Okay Charles, you can tell me how much money you can come up with now."

Seeing that there was no longer any hope of convincing the old marquis, Charles bit his lip and lowered his head, he carefully took stock of the assets he currently had.

"I can use about half a million francs now."

"Then there are still two hundred thousand left," the old marquis nodded, "although this amount is not small, as long as you find a way, you can quickly raise it." ”

"No, it's still half a million short." Charles looked at the Marquis, "I said, your savings are all Fran's, you shouldn't take any risks, I will find a way to raise the rest of the money myself, how much time will it take?" ”

The old marquis looked at Charles in surprise, and for a moment he was speechless, and he sighed quietly.

"Hey, you're a man! Well, preferably within a week. ”

"In a week, that's more than enough." Charles replied directly, in a generous and powerful tone, "I beg you not to tell anyone about this during this time, and not to borrow money from anyone else, I will do everything." ”

The old marquis continued to look at the Charles.

"You've really grown up."

"It has to grow up." Charles nodded.

Then Charles asked the old marquis a few more detailed questions, and the old marquis answered them one by one.

After asking almost the question, seeing that it was almost early in the morning, Charles didn't say anything more, and got up to say goodbye.

Although he knew that the project should be very attractive, and although he had promised his grandfather that he would raise funds as soon as possible, he still felt a little uneasy in his heart.

I'm going to have to check this out. He made up his mind. (To be continued......)

PS: Today, because some things have delayed the code word, so it will be sent now......

Rush to work at night and see if you can save a watch......

(The above does not count the number of words)