Every year on Christmas Eve, Western Christian families, whether rich or poor, or the whole family enjoy a delicious Christmas dinner, share family fun, or hold a banquet or dance party in their own mansions and villas or luxury hotels, and invite relatives, friends, partners and colleagues to celebrate all night until the arrival of Christmas.

Christmas Eve 1945 was the first Christmas Eve that Lynn had spent in this era with confusion and longing, and when night was about to fall, he put on the Napoleonic French dragoon officer's gown, and sat in the new Buick sedan of the "Caesars Defense Company" with Dinah, who was dressed in traditional noble lady attire, and walked through the city to the Filippo family's luxury estate on the outskirts of Basel to participate in the costume ball held by the Swiss industrial giants at this time of year.

In terms of industry achievements, the halo of 1945 was that of the Filippo family, who migrated from France in the early years. This illustrious family, which had a close relationship with the Holy See, opened more than 20 enterprises in Switzerland in just over 40 years, and was involved in mining and metallurgy, military manufacturing, railway transportation and the emerging air transport industry, making it one of the wealthiest families in Switzerland in this era. Over the past six years, they have cautiously scaled back their external investments and, like the Swiss political axe, have been as neutral as the Swiss political axe. Despite this, the family's business and business were still inexplicably linked to the warring camps, and before the outbreak of the World War in 1939, the artillery ammunition manufactured by the family was continuously transported to France via the railway line, but they did not help the Gallic Legion win the war, and in the early summer of 1940, most of them became German trophies, and some artillery was still used by the Germans to defend themselves against Allied attacks from the East and West until the end of the war.

In just six months after the end of the European War, the Filippo family rebounded rapidly, and they made an all-round attack on major projects such as machinery manufacturing, transportation and munitions, and won many reconstruction projects and arms orders in the French Republic and the Italian Republic, and of course became the focus of attention in the industry. The romantic and uninhibited character of the French was also reflected in the family, and even before Christmas, word spread that not only industrial, but also bankers and industrialists with a little fame in Switzerland, as well as important officials and foreign envoys of the Swiss political axe, had received gilded invitations from the family to participate in what was said to be the most grand and extravagant Swiss industrial masquerade ball ever held.

There is still a long way to go from the estate of the Filippo family, and the highway is already full of luxury cars, and among the various prominent car signs, there are actually unique carriages that choose to travel, as the so-called green among the thousands of flowers, which looks particularly eye-catching.

As the sky darkens, the grand, chic Victorian building is already in the foreground, and the dazzling lights are like wartime searchlights, which turn the entire estate and the canopy golden yellow.

Looking at this scene, Lynn couldn't help but sigh with emotion: "The real Swiss rich have always been low-key, and the French gang is so ostentatious, it is not far from the prosperity and decline." ”

Dinah was just looking curiously at the luxurious royal palace-like abode when she asked curiously, "How do you know they're going to go downhill?" ”

"Because our Caesars will rise strong to replace their position in many areas."

Lynn's words were half a joke, half a hope. Of course, he can't say how the future belongs to Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Arnott, and other predators who are still unknown or even unborn became the leaders of the second half of the century, and in Switzerland, the rich in decades are mainly concentrated in the retail, investment, and biopharmaceutical industries. Even if the Filippo family exists, the relative weakening of influence will be a fact that will be difficult to change.

Dinah listened to Lynn very carefully, and then asked very seriously: "You said that when your empire rises again, you will choose to retire, are you planning to change around and invest in the business world and become a successful entrepreneur?" ”

Wolfrum served as the driver, and there was no one else in the car, Lynn said with confidence: "There is a little plan in this regard, and when the situation is really stable, we will go to Denmark to open a company!" If you are engaged in shipbuilding, real estate or machinery, you only need to take care of the business for one or two days a week, and the rest will accompany your family and travel the world. ”

As Lynn said this, Dinah kept looking at him with a very engaged look and tilted her head slightly.

"Really?"

"Of course it's true." Lynn calmly replied that a person of his right mind could not indulge in conquest and killing forever, and that he would eventually get tired one day. Rather than spending the last years alone, it is better to enjoy the warmth and happiness of family when you are able-bodied, and perhaps return to your hometown at the right time and in the right way.

Dinah clasped Lynn's arm tightly, "I wish that would come soon!" ”

In Lynn's mind, even if the Nordic economic and industrial circles could really run as smoothly as she had envisioned, if the empire could not return to the European continent within five to ten years, the gap would continue to be widened by the mainstream powers in terms of technology and military power, even less than that of Britain and France, which were in decline, then the rise of the empire and the stability of the current situation would be impossible, and a happy and peaceful life could only be a luxury.

Almost a quarter of an hour later, the cars arrived at Filippo Estate, dozens of cars had been parked on the two large lawns in front of the main building, and it seemed that the organizers did not mind spending some time re-trimming the turf after the ball. As an upstart in the industry, Lynn, an investor from Norway, has attracted some attention for "Caesars Defense", but as one of the four shareholders of the company, his fame and influence are far from being on par with those of the real elite around him, the richest of them who are worth as much as the country, and the most legendary of them can write an inspirational biography of their own experiences, many of whom are able to call the tide in the world of industry and capital, and who smile and act with the acumen and cunning of a businessman.

After getting out of the car, Lynn straightened his clothes, this dragoon officer's uniform was specially made by him for this masquerade ball, although it was very fitting and the color was also very beautiful, but he could not find the feeling of wearing the imperial [***] uniform before. Looking at the dignitaries passing by, he also straightened his waist, slightly tilted his head, and held in the crook of his arms a beautiful wife with a fur dress worth more than two thousand Swiss francs, and a long dress inlaid with crystal gems to show grace and luxury, although it was bulky, but it was a must-have attire for Victorian ladies for formal occasions.

Stepping on the marble steps to the foyer, you can see at a glance the most gorgeous banquet hall, its spatial structure is magnificent, its frescoes are beautiful, its decorative carvings are simple and elegant, it is not a classical palace but it is better than most palaces, it is enough to make the kings and nobles of many small and medium-sized countries unreachable, enough to make the remnants of the empire huddled in the cold of Northern Europe full of envy and jealousy. The only things that can win on this planet in terms of temperament and connotation are the opulence of the British royal family, the historical legacy of Tsarist Russia to the Red Soviets, and the palaces of the Austrian Habsburg royal family full of artistic temperament.

Under the dazzling crystal chandeliers, a pair of male and female guests dressed in gorgeous costumes have danced to the sound of light and familiar music. In such a costume ball, most of the people chose the typical clothing of the Victorian era, that is, the 18th and 19th centuries, the men were either wearing gold buttons, multitude tops and monochromatic leggings, pointed shoes, or wearing the military uniforms of the various countries of that era, the British Guards and French dragoons were obviously more representative than the Austrian, Polish, and Prussian armies, and there were four or five people who clashed with Lynn. No wonder the tailor who came to measure his clothes at the beginning kindly reminded him to change his outfit. The ladies wore beautiful and complicated hairstyles, dazzling long dresses with waists and chests, and shiny jewels on their hair, ears, necks, and wrists, like peacocks competing for beauty. Countless waiters in white wigs dressed like chamberlains of the European court weaved through the crowd with silver pallets, courteously serving drinks and refreshments to their guests.

Wow, what a big show!

Lynn couldn't help but sigh in her heart, being able to participate in such a ball must be the dream of ordinary people. With the passport and certificate provided by the Spanish side, Courtland, who is now one of the two Spanish shareholders of "Caesars Defense", has also received an invitation to attend tonight with his wife, Alfred. Schar will also bring his female companion - although he is introduced as a German intelligence agent, but the look between the two makes Lynn think that their relationship should be more than just a simple superior, but it does not involve management systems and ethics, so he does not ask too much. Andriy and his wife still chose to be absent because their faces were too ostentatious. Dickfield and Burtold. Zenaman stayed with them in their new home because of their status.

It's called a masquerade ball, but not many of the guests actually wear masks, and it seems that the "makeup" here is mainly reflected in the costume. With the help of the courteous waiter, Dinah took off her fur and walked gracefully with Lynn into the hall. After more than two months in Switzerland, Dinah has mastered all kinds of communication etiquette, she always speaks very measuredly, and knows how to grasp the timing of her speech, and can always respond appropriately to the ridicule and flattery of gentlemen, rarely pretentious. Lynn was ashamed of herself in this regard.

Upon entering the hall, Lynn did not take Dinah directly into the dancing area, but moved to a relatively secluded place on the side. More than two hundred guests made the faces in front of him confuse, and Lynn looked at it for a while but did not find a few familiar faces, but Dinah reminded in a low voice: "Well, isn't that Mr. Morten and his wife?" ”

Demiris. Morten is an industrialist whose ancestral home is Basel, and has several factories under his name, Morten Automobile Company was recently acquired by "Kaiser Defense" and used as a factory in the South District, and the North Factory across the street was acquired by another local industrialist, Ellison. The textile mill in Contra covers an area of 22 acres and each has a freight railway spur, which allows trains to enter the factory directly to load and unload materials, and the transportation conditions are very ideal.

Seeing that there were two other couples next to the Mortens, who were a little older, but not yet to the point of retiring to the mountains and forests, Lynn sorted out his emotions a little, smiled and said to Dinah, "Let's go say hello!" ”

The same smile, so graceful and charming on Dinah's face, may remind many people of the princess Sissi when she was 16 years old - what a stunning beauty and temperament it must have if she was to conquer the discerning Austrians!

"Mr. Morten, Mrs. Morten!"

With Lynn's polite greeting, when the three couples who were standing and talking turned their heads, their eyes were drawn to Dinah beside Lynn.

On an occasion like today, wearing a dress made by the best tailor in the whole of Basel with the most expensive fabrics, white and full skin lined with immaculate diamond ornaments, the young and beautiful Dina radiated a more graceful and elegant temperament than most aristocratic female surnames, she did not look like the wife of an officer, but like a princess born into a royal family, so that although Lynn chose the accessories of a French dragoon officer, the two stood together and looked in the mirror and still felt that the aura of the female surname was higher.

Two weeks earlier, as a gift for her 20th birthday, Lynn had given her a diamond necklace worth 15,000 Swiss francs, or nearly a thousand pounds—the most expensive gift he had ever given to Dinah. With all his previous salary and the extra money he earned from the United States, it was still less than half of that amount, but he didn't have to worry about living expenses as he did in college. As a private agreement between him, Andry, and Courtland, to take advantage of the frequent use of funds for projects such as the injection of capital into the Pifield Enterprise, the purchase of technical equipment, the management of various parties, and the establishment of the Caesars Defense Company, Dickfield and Schar helped to secretly and professionally withhold a portion of the funds as special operation funds for various purposes that they deemed necessary but difficult to explain on the table, such as luxury jewelry purchased to disguise themselves as wealthy merchants. This is only three thousandths of the money it has spent compared to less than £10 million it has now spent, but it was nevertheless a substantial amount of purchasing power in 1945.

Compared to the nouveau riche who lacked a true aristocratic upbringing, the Mortens and the other two couples beside them were clearly well-cultivated, and although they were attracted by Dinah's outstanding beauty and temperament, it was only for a brief moment, and they quickly turned their eyes to Lynn and paid their respects to the young, handsome and equally temperamental guest.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is Mr. Knatsky, one of the founders of Kaiser Defense. This is his wife, a little fairy born into a classical aristocratic family. ”

This polite and humorous introduction sets the mood very well, and the two couples next to them laugh and are naturally more impressed than usual.

"This is Mr. and Mrs. Fremont, one of the largest engine manufacturers in France, whose business suffered some during the war and is now regrouping to show its strength." The first couple introduced by Mr. Morten, the man was fatter, had a pronounced double chin without looking down, gray hair, and if he wore a pair of black-framed glasses, he would be very similar to Lynn's impression of "Colonel KFC", and his wife was a middle-aged woman with a peugeot figure, with an elegant smile and a good temperament, and the charm of a different surname transcended the constraints of actual age.

"Mr. and Mrs. Fremont, it's a pleasure to meet you!" Lynn said in fluent English greetings.

"You speak very good English!" Mrs. Fremont smiled and admired, she would never have imagined that Lynn was the representative of the English class at a major high school, and a science student with a sixth-level certificate when she graduated from college.

"Thank you for the compliment!"

Lynn then said to Mr. Fremont, "I hope that we will have the opportunity to cooperate in the future, and I will definitely ask you for more advice." ”

Mr. Fremont, who looked kind because of his fatness, greeted, "Your defense company...... Can it be understood as a military-industrial complex dominated by defense projects? ”

Defense companies were not popular at this time, and in Lynn's concept, it was just engaged in military manufacturing and trade under the guise of defense, and what it was good at and what the market needed, it would invest its energy in that direction, but in front of outsiders, he still humbly replied: "That's basically it!" ”

"Very interesting!" Mr. Fremont commented vaguely.

Mr. Morten then introduced Lynn to another couple: "This is Mr. and Mrs. Bloch. ”

The man was in his early fifties, with a round face and slightly chubby, and the woman looked much younger than him, very thin, and smiled with clear wrinkles, but very relatable.

Just listening to the introduction, Lynn didn't think that this man was a great person, and for Lynn's English greeting, the other party just smiled and greeted him in simple English.

"Monsieur Bloch was a well-known young talent in the French aviation industry at that time, and his original airline had received large orders from the French during the last war, and if the war had ended a few months later, Monsieur Bloch would have been the most successful among us!" Mr. Morten said this to Lynn and Dinah in German, and then to Bloch in French, and he shook his head with a wry smile, and said in a mixture of English and French, and Lynn roughly understood: "That was a long time ago."

"Mr. Knatsky was engaged in the military industry, and probably knew that the MB150 fighters and MB175 bombers that the French [***] team was equipped with before the war, they were the best products of Marcel's airlines, but after the defeat of France in 1940, the Germans tried to force Mr. Bloch to cooperate with them, and our Marcel, of course, did not do it, and ended up in German concentration camps until the end of the war." At this, Monsieur Fremont looked very emotional, and he turned to call a waiter, took champagne from his tray, and proposed: "Let us join together for the indomitable Marcel. Cheers Bloch! ”

"For the indomitable Marcel!"

Although he didn't say anything like defeating the fascists and long live France, Lynn still found it ironic. On second thought, if the Third Reich had pursued a softer occupation policy from the outset, the course and outcome of the war might well have been different.

After clinking glasses, Morten and the two French men resumed their conversation, and the ladies turned to conversing with Dinah, who was not very fluent in English, who spoke simple English and Norwegian in addition to Danish and German, and the language still made Lynn ashamed. In this case, out of etiquette and curiosity, Lynn did not pull Dinah away, but stood with the men trying to understand what they were saying, but unfortunately they didn't know anything about French, and all that entered their ears were some strange and jerky syllables. As a local entrepreneur, Morten was the host of this small conversation, and after chatting for a while, seeing that Lynn did not say a word, he guessed the general idea, so he said to him in German: "We have just been talking about Monsieur Bloch's new factory - this is still a preliminary plan, and the funds, personnel, and technology are all in the stage of raising, but we feel that with Mr. Bloch's experience and talent, we will be able to make this aircraft factory surpass Breguet to become the first in France." ”

Lynn didn't know much about the French aviation industry, but she had heard of Breguet's name. During World War I and World War II, Breguet produced a number of military aircraft for the French team, including fighters, bombers and seaplanes, but it seemed to disappear after the war, and the world-famous Phantom and Rafale were all produced by another French aviation company, Dassault Aircraft Manufacturing.

After some conversation and two dry laughs, Morten turned to Lynn and said, "Mr. Bloch's new factory is tentatively located near Toulouse in the south of France, and Mr. Fremont has decided to invest in some of it, you may also be interested?" ”

Lynn was "not short of money" at this time, and he asked Mr. Morten: "Is the new factory going to develop fighters or bombers?" ”

"Comprehensive." Morten replied casually, and then asked Bloch in French, and after receiving the reply, he said to Lynn: "In the early stage, I will prepare to recover and accumulate technology through transport and trainer aircraft, and I still hope to make achievements in fighter aircraft in the later stage." ”

"Air interception is also included in the general concept of defense, and if possible, I would love to hear Mr. Bloch's specific ideas, but unfortunately ......" Lynn curled her hands, "I don't know French, and I didn't bring a translator with me, what a pity!" ”

Morten did not pack a ticket and said that he could translate the whole process, because on such occasions, everyone does not have a fixed conversation partner, but has a relative mobile surname. He said to Lynn, "It's okay, Mr. Bloch can understand English, although it is difficult to express it, and Mr. Fremont and I can help a little!" ”

"Okay!" Lynn nodded a little reluctantly, he had a very general impression of his unattractive and talkative Bloch, who knew that this guy would change his name to Marcel for some reason in a few months. Dassault, that is, the "Dassault" of Dassault Aircraft Manufacturing Company.

(To be continued)