"Spain?" Charles was a little surprised at first, but quickly regained his composure. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info: "Where have you expanded your business?" ”

With the wealth and connections of the Rothchild family, it is not surprising that they are expanding their business to Spain.

"We need places to use the money that has been accumulated, and Spain is just one of them." Alphonse de Rothschild was humble on the surface, but the smug pride was overflowing, "There are signs of overinvestment in France, and even the rate of return on railway investment is beginning to slowly decline, and this is also a credit to you, Your Excellency, Chancellor." But...... It's not the same in other countries, where their railroad business is still in its infancy, and there's a lot of room to do that, and our money is just right to fill it. ”

"Sounds like you're already in the chest?" Charles looked at him curiously, then picked up his staff and waved it forward, motioning for him to follow.

They walked along the paths of the gardens of Diana at the Château de Fontainebleau, bathed in the morning with the scent of plants, and felt the cool breeze, and then came to a gazebo in the depths of the garden, where they sat down on marble stools, and listened to the light music of the water flowing in the great fountain beside them.

"Anyway, it's so cool to be king." As soon as he was seated, Alphonse de Rothchild stretched and sighed loudly, "You can freely move through such a court, do whatever you want, and rest as you want." ”

"I don't think the kings are as free as you say, and they are troubled by a lot of things." Charles disagreed with him, "You see, which of our recent kings and emperors is having an easy life? ”

"You're quite right." Alphonse smiled, "It's been a long time since we've seen a king in France who can die peacefully on the throne!" I don't know if the current one can do it? ”

Charles sensed that there was something strange about his smile. It's also very strange.

"The Empire, of course, can last forever, because we represent the aspirations of the entire French people, and the people need glory, and the Empire has glory." He replied in that serious tone.

"Yes, yes, the empire has glory." Alphonse shrugged, obviously not wanting to argue with him about how many years the empire would live, "And we are the ones who pass on this glory." As for you, Your Excellency, do you want nothing but glory? ”

"What do you mean?" Charles asked rhetorically.

"Let's get straight to the point, Your Excellency." Alphonse looked up at Charles, "The Empire is now established, but God knows how long it will last, and you, now as a minister, are in power, but what about later?" How long can this power last? I'm afraid God will know, right? ”

Charles's face became a little ugly, not because the other party spoke badly, but because he didn't understand why this person actually ran to himself and said such ugly words.

"If it weren't for the trust in you and the hope that you would have been able to maintain your hard-earned position, we wouldn't have told you this kind of thing." Seeing Charles' mood, Alphonse hurriedly smiled and said, "But I think that a smart person like you should be able to see through these truths himself, and maybe more thoroughly than us, after all, you can see the essence of the inner workings of the empire more clearly than we do, don't you?" ”

"I don't think it's appropriate for us to discuss this issue." Charles said rather coldly. "Didn't we just say Spain?"

"No, that's exactly what we should be discussing." Alphonse didn't mean to back down, but continued to have the same calm smile on his face as just now, "In fact, the essence of these two questions is the same. You are now a minister and have a lot of power, but you don't know how long your power will last, so why don't you just let it give you a solid position sooner rather than later, and then rely on this position to avoid all possible storms? With your intellect and power, it's probably easy to do that, right? ”

After saying that, he waved his hand lightly towards the palace room looming in the distance, "Don't you want this feeling to last forever?" ”

Charles didn't answer again, just narrowed his eyes slightly.

He said it nicely, it seemed that he was thinking about Charles, but in the final analysis, it was just the meaning of "the right does not need to expire and be invalid", and persuaded Charles to take advantage of the fact that the empire is still thriving, and first replace the power in his hands with resources, lest the empire really have problems and have no chance to change it if he wants to.

Judging from the historical fact that there has been a revolution in France almost every ten or twenty years in the last century, he really has some truth.

"Of course I hope this feeling continues, can anyone not?" He said calmly.

At this time, there is really no point in singing high-pitched again.

"I don't think you'll think otherwise." Alphons' smile deepened when he saw Charles become honest, "The wind and rain of France in this century have proved one point - power is important, but it is not reliable, and it can disappear without a trace at any moment due to a thunderstorm, while the gold bars hidden in the cellar will never turn your back on you, giving you a real touch." Wealth can bring status, and people can resist all the storms, so that you no longer have to worry about losing everything in the storm, and can more or less retain your status. Isn't that the case of the former Lord Duke of Treville? He lost his ministerial position during the revolution, but he still had great influence because he had wealth in his hands. And you, just now, can do the same. ”

"So what exactly do you want me to do?" Charles asked rhetorically.

"It's easy, work with us." Alphonse replied at once, "We have money, we have money, and we have tremendous undertakings everywhere, and in the midst of these undertakings, if you cooperate with us, you will also receive innumerable riches that will strengthen your position and keep you safe from all storms, won't you?" ”

"Spain, for example?" Charles was still unhurried.

"It's not just Spain, it's the same everywhere else." Alphonse smiled, "But everything can start in Spain, anyway, there are opportunities in the future." ”

"So how are you going to get started?" Charles continued, "Is it true that you said that you would soon be able to secure the right to build roads in northern Spain?" ”

"Of course it's true, we don't waste your precious time with boring news." Alphonse nodded, "The Spanish government wants to build more railways in order to build their country, but they don't have the funds, so they want to rely on others to help them build - and we can give them that help, so they will soon hand over the right to build and operate the road to us, let us help them build it." ”

"That sounds like a good thing." Charles replied rather calmly, without expressing any opinion, "So you want me to give you some help in construction?" ”

"That's right, I hope you can help us a little. You see, you see, in our planning, these railways will be connected to the French railway lines in the future, and this requires your consent. Alphonse nodded.

"Of course I agree, it's a good thing for France, because it can have closer economic and trade ties with Spain." Charles nodded, "If you do get the entitlements you want, I'll have the engineers in the ministry help you build it, and that's not a problem." ”

"Thank you, Your Excellency. In addition, we need help not only technically, but also in other ways - we can't build these railways ourselves, so we will build companies to build them, and these companies will need to ......finance the market," Alphonse continued. "But, after all, Spain is a poor country, and they can't raise these funds."

"And without my approval, this kind of bond would not have been issued." Charles pointed out this fact in a tone that was not ostentatious. "So you also need me to make it easier on this point?"

"Yes, we need your help...... If you're willing to help, some of the money we've raised will be used to thank you......" Alphonse's tone suddenly became much lighter. "But that's not the only thing we need your help with."

"What else?" Charles continued.

"I'll tell you straight, it's a bubble, a huge bubble. The Spaniards simply could not afford these railways because they were a poor country and a lot of things were a luxury for them. Alphonse burst out laughing, "These railways will probably not be able to pay for themselves for a long time, and they are just a toy of the Spanish government, so ...... Businesses are likely to run into trouble soon. ”

"You mean, you're going to create a business now that's doomed to lose money?" If it weren't for the solemnity of what the other party said, Charles would have almost suspected that the other party was joking.

"Yes, that's what we intended, Your Excellency." Alphonse nodded, "But that doesn't mean we want to lose money, we raised a lot of money to build these railways, and at that point we'll need to get rid of it...... This also needs your help. ”

"And then the French government will liquidate and buy these companies?" Charles finally understood what the other man meant.

"Yes, Your Excellency, that's what I think." Alphonse nodded, not embarrassed at all, "In effect, the Spanish government got the railroad it wanted, and we got the money, and the French government, or rather, you, got the opportunity to control the Spanish railway - it's all about us, each taking what we need, isn't it?" The empire needs some degree of penetration and control over its neighbors, and since force cannot be used now, is it not appropriate to use economic means? I am convinced that the glory of an empire should come from interference with other countries. ”

"You're saying as if no one is going to be hurt by this." Charles burst out laughing.

"At most, some investors have lost money, but what does it matter?" Alphonse shrugged, "They're doing their country's service. Aren't there many people who claim that they can even save their lives for the sake of the country? Now that they have the opportunity to serve the country, the country should be happy as long as their money does not want their lives! ”

Charles laughed.

These Jews, their words and deeds are really funny.

However, it doesn't matter what they think, it doesn't matter if they are good or bad, what matters is that their proposal is really good for themselves and good for the Imperial government.

"I think your proposal does have some appeal...... However, I have heard that the Spanish court and government are not very stable right now...... Doesn't that matter? Charles suddenly asked a rhetorical question. Don't forget...... They are members of the Bourbon family, and they don't necessarily have a good view of the Empire. ”

As he said, the current political situation in Spain is not stable.

Since the end of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1712, Louis XIV's grandson, the Duke of Anjou, became the king of Spain, and also started the rule of the Bourbon dynasty in Spain.

After the Revolution, Spain became hostile to France because of the fear of the revolutionary virus in France, and fought with France many times. However, after Napoleon became emperor, Spain began to make friends with the empire because of its strength, and became a loyal servant of the empire.

However, Napoleon was not satisfied with this, he wanted to turn the Spanish throne into a family inheritance, so he took advantage of the internal struggle of the Bourbon royal family to forcibly depose the then king Charles IV, and led an army to attack Spain, as a result of several years of war, which consumed a lot of national strength and brought hatred between the two countries.

Now that the empire has been rebuilt again, Spain's historical grievances against the empire may not be easily dissolved.

What's more, since the death of the previous king Ferdinand VII, his daughter Isabella succeeded to the throne, but Ferdinand's younger brother Carlos firmly opposed the heroine's accession to the throne on the grounds of non-compliance with the inheritance law. With the help of his supporters, he launched rebellions in various places, which eventually turned into a civil war, which gradually subsided.

Now the queen has begun to govern herself, but she is extravagant and arrogant and willful, so she is not respected by the people, and because the remnants of the rebels still exist, and even have the support of the army, the political situation in Spain is still turbulent, and new turmoil may break out at any time, which Charles who served in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is naturally very clear.

"The Spanish government will not let its perception of the empire affect its own interests, Your Excellency." Alphonse was sure, "And I think that the more chaotic the neighbouring country is, the better it is for France, Your Excellency." If turmoil does break out, the European powers will not sit idly by, right? At that time, France was given the freedom to act, and did not France do what it did decades ago? ”

In 1823, dissatisfied with the rule of King Ferdinand VII, the country was in turmoil after a revolution broke out in Spain, and the Bourbon dynasty had been restored in France, and in order to help the same king, after obtaining the understanding of the European powers, the French army marched into Spain and suppressed the rebellion. Alphonse was suggesting that if similar revolutionary upheavals did occur in Spain in the future, France could benefit from it by force.

"Makes sense." Charles nodded, "Well, do as you say." ”

Just sitting in the quiet palace garden, between these indifferent words, the two of them lightly decided the fate of I don't know how many people, I have to say that this feeling is indeed very intoxicating.

"Happy cooperation, Your Excellency." Seeing that everything was going well, Alphonse de Rothschild extended his hand to Charles, "It's a pity that there are no good wines here, and I invite you once again to take the time to visit our winery in the south, you will definitely not regret it." ”

"I'll go when I have time." Charles, still smiling reservedly, reached out to shake the other's hand. (To be continued.) )