Just as Scrooge had predicted, Joshua sent Scrooge a letter early the next morning. In this letter, Joshua told Scrooge that the European affair was not the will of the family, but a misunderstanding. To apologize, and to discuss the compensation that should be given, Joshua hopes to visit Scrooge sometime in the near future.

Scrooge replied immediately, writing back to Joshua that he believed the friendship he had built with the Rothschilds over the years was strong. So the occasional small misunderstanding is not a big deal, and there is no need for a specific apology. However, there is a lot of cooperation between the two families now, and they can communicate together often, and they can also enhance the understanding between the two parties and avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, so Scrooge and the MacDonald family are very welcome and looking forward to Joshua's visit. Scrooge told Joshua that he had time in the last few days, and if Joshua was free, then tomorrow at two o'clock in the afternoon, he could take his wife to Swan Castle to have fun, to make contact with each other, and to discuss the future cooperation between the two parties, and to have dinner with Scrooge's family by the way. Of course, Joshua could not have any objection to this construction, so the two sides finalized it.

Joshua had always maintained an almost rigid habit of punctuality, and at about half past one in the afternoon the lookout of Duck Castle noticed that his carriage was approaching, and when his carriage stopped in front of the gates of Duck Castle, it was not too late, it was exactly two o'clock in the afternoon. By this time, Scrooge's henchman Pluto was already waiting at the door of Duckburg, and when he saw Joshua and his wife getting out of the carriage, he immediately greeted him and said to Joshua: "Mr. Rothschild, welcome! Welcome, beautiful lady! Mr. and Mrs. MacDonald were already waiting for them in the garden. Please come with me, both of you. ”

Joshua and his wife followed Pluto through the passage of the city gate, through a cloister decorated with colorful glass, to the small garden behind the duck castle. Under the big oak tree, there was a rattan round table and a few rattan chairs as before. Scrooge and Dorothea were sitting there waiting, and when they saw Joshua and them approaching, they stood up to greet them.

This was Joshua's wife, Helena, for the first time in Duckburg. Helena is much younger than Joshua, and her age is actually about the same as Scrooge's. Scrooge learns from the intel that Helena is actually Joshua's cousin. However, in Europe at that time, it was very common for close relatives to marry or something. And this phenomenon is even stricter in the so-called aristocratic circles, basically the higher the rank of the nobles, the higher the probability of close relatives marrying. It is said that this is to maintain the purity of the so-called bloodline. For it is said that the legitimate right to rule derives from noble blood. So, although most of the king-wheel bloodlines in Europe were originally either Germanic barbarians or Gothic barbarians or Gallic barbarians. But as soon as they trace their ancestors, they are said to be able to trace back to the Egyptian pharaoh who has the purest bloodline, specializing in the marriage of his brother and sister, and his sister and brother.

And many people at that time also believed that only couples with noble bloodlines could give birth to heroes with high IQ and high ability, while those civilians with low IQ could only give birth to a bunch of waste. The Rothschilds were not exempt from vulgarity, and even developed even more severely, with the result that intermarriage within the Rothschild family became a common phenomenon.

For example, the most "noble" of European blood is probably the royal families of various countries, so the royal families of European countries can only intermarry with each other, and as a result, the kings of all Europe are relatives, and if they meet a certain king or queen, they can give birth to a certain king or queen, well, for example, the current Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, she gave birth to a large number of princesses, and these princesses later became queens or something. Then the queen's son gradually became a king, so Queen Victoria's majesty became the grandmother of the entire European royal family during the super long standby. Of course, she also smoothly caused almost all royal families in the whole of Europe to suffer from a hereditary disease - hemophilia. In addition, considering the proportion of various uncontrollable freaks in the royal families of European countries, the marriage of close relatives is really unreliable, in contrast, as early as the Spring and Autumn Period, China, which set the rule of "no marriage with the same surname", is much more scientific.

Joshua first introduced his wife to Scrooge, then the guests and hosts sat down, and the maids came up and poured them tea, and then silently retreated to the side.

"Scrooge, we are indeed very guilty that something like this happened this time." Joshua looked embarrassed and said, "You know, there are a lot of people in the Rothschilds, and when there are a lot of people, there are all kinds of problems. However, it was not the family's intention to do such a thing, it was just that some stupid guys made their own decisions. This guy has been disciplined, and I can assure you that something like this will never happen again. In order to compensate for your losses, I have been instructed to propose to you some of these proposals. ”

"Oh, how can a young man not make a mistake? We are old friends, and this is not the first time that the Rothschilds have cooperated with us, and the friendship between us and your family is an all-weather friendship that has stood the test of time. It won't be affected by such small things. So if you're still dwelling on something like this, that's too polite. Scrooge said with a smile.

Although Scrooge said this, Joshua knew that this was just Scrooge's willingness to reconcile, and the "compensation" that should be made was absolutely indispensable, if there was really nothing practical, just to show the so-called goodwill, then the smiling guy in front of him might not be so easy to speak.

"We thank you for your magnanimity. But since we have caused you losses due to our mistakes, we must compensate you accordingly. "You know, because of our previous misjudgment, in North America, our family's power is still very limited, not to mention helping you, and even relying on your help many times." But in Europe, after hundreds of years of family business, there is still something about it. ”

Joshua paused, looked at Scrooge, and said, "I remember the last time we and Mr. Morgan had a drink together, Mr. Morgan mentioned, how many vineyards do you have in the American South?" Good wines are also produced there. I'm also interested in wine, you know, we have wineries in Europe and a lot of countries, France, Italy, Greece, Germany, but in North America, we don't have any wineries. You know that wines from different regions have their own unique charm, so we are also interested in wineries in North America. If possible, we would like to be able to exchange one of our Bordeaux or Champagne wineries for a North American winery. ”

In addition to the taste, the most important thing about wine is the so-called forced style. It is said that a famous taster of later generations even said: "I never taste blindly, because the cultural history of the winery is also part of the wine." "Among the wines in the world, the highest is the dry red and white of Bordeaux in France, or the champagne of the Champagne region. In contrast, the price of North American wine is quite low, not to mention Bordeaux or Champagne in France, but also compared with Italy, Germany, and Greece, it is 108,000 miles behind.

Apologies and compensation in exchange for wineries is a no-brainer, and Scrooge knew that many of the best wineries in the Bordeaux region of France are in the hands of the Rothschilds, including Château Lafite, the second largest winery in Bordeaux but the most economically valuable. (The noble rot sweet wine of Château Lysalus, which ranks first, is too demanding for climate and other conditions, and the production is too limited, and sometimes it is impossible to make a bottle of wine even after a year's work, and the economic value is naturally not as good as that of Château Lafite)

"I'm also interested in the Bordeaux wineries in France," said Scrooge, "and you can use any winery except Lafite, and as for my winery, I'll leave it to you except my wife's Red Ridge, which was left to her by his father." ”

"Why do you want to exclude Lafite?" Joshua asked with a smile.

"Because that's too expensive, I don't want to take advantage of you too much. It seems that you bought it back earlier this year for a whopping 4.4 million francs. Of course, if you're willing to sell it, I'm interested. Scrooge smiled, "To be honest, none of my four vineyards combined are as good as any of the fourth-class wineries in the Bordeaux region." Considering that our relationship is so good, it is enough for small people to take advantage of it, how can there be a reason for you to suffer such a big loss. ”

"If Mr. Scrooge you are really interested in Lafite, we can also discuss transferring it to you at a suitable price as part of the cooperation between our two families." Joshua replied.

Having cracked the Rothschild code, Scrooge certainly knew what the cooperation Joshua was talking about. Still, he asked as if he didn't know anything, "I don't know what the cooperation you're talking about?" ”

"The first is intelligence cooperation." "We can provide information that we know about the various types of money that flows from Europe to the United States, but in North America we don't have the same ears, but that's where you excel." We would like to receive information from you on the various operations of the U.S. rail system......"