The three of them chatted in the living room for more than an hour, and at about half past ten in the morning, the old housekeeper came to report:

"Your Excellency Bonaparte, the Duke of Choiseul has arrived, and his carriage has stopped at the door."

Lawrence just nodded slightly, indicating that he understood, and was ready to get up and go to change clothes.

"Oh my God, are you serious?! The Duke of Choiseul is at the door! ”

Although Academician Gaita knew that Duke Choisell would be present, after hearing the old butler's words, he couldn't help but grab the butler's hand and asked excitedly.

The thought of being able to have lunch with such a powerful figure suddenly made Academician Gaita feel that his future was bright.

Lawrence gently pressed Academician Gaita's hand down, shook his head with a smile and said:

"Don't get excited, dear Mr. Geita, you, as an advisor to the National Silver Company, will have many opportunities to deal with the Duke of Choiseul, as long as your work satisfies me."

"Oh sure, my work will satisfy you, I promise."

Academician Gaita patted his chest vigorously and said confidently to Lawrence.

...

After about ten minutes, Lawrence changed into a black dress and walked out of the mansion with Lavoisier and Geta.

The Duke of Choiseul's iconic enlarged troika was parked on the street at the door, and the white-gloved stables stood on one side of the carriage like a guard, waiting for Lawrence.

"Here you are, Governor Bonaparte."

The Duke of Choiseul, who was in the carriage, saw Lawrence coming out of the window, opened the door himself, smiled and took Lawrence's arm to lead him into the car, and at the same time glanced at the two people behind him, and asked casually:

"Who are these two...?"

"My friend, a member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, issued an expedition report for the Ajaccio silver mine. Since you have to deal with people from banks and stock exchanges, let's bring them with you. ”

Lawrence shrugged and explained, adding:

"After all, I can't read the dozens of pages of the inspection report."

"Investigation report? You've saved the bankers a problem, or they'll have to send someone to Corsica again. Duke Choiseul nodded.

"Isn't that a time saver, I don't want to wait for someone at the bank to spend months doing some investigation." Lawrence said with a smile.

"Okay, okay, let's go, don't look at it's only ten o'clock now, I guess the people over there have already arrived."

The Duke of Choiseul was naturally unaware of this completely false report, but Lawrence was thoughtful and sent someone to assess the Ajaccio silver mine in advance, so he directly glanced at the stableman and motioned for the two gentlemen to be helped into the carriage as well.

Academician Gaita got into the carriage with the help of the stable, and then sat nervously beside Lawrence, without saying a word.

Although he wanted to show himself in front of the Duke of Choiseul, he also knew that he was just a marginal figure, and it was better not to be ugly.

Lavoisier was not as snobbish as his mentor, but he could not help but be much restrained in the presence of the Duke of Choiseul, and bowed his head in the same silence.

When they had been seated, the Duke of Choiseul beckoned to the stables:

"Let's go, to the Île de la Cité."

...

the Île Cité, a small island of less than two hectares embedded in the middle of the Seine; It is connected to the city on both sides of the Seine by two bridges of Saint-Louis that are just over 50 meters long.

Despite its small size, this is the origin of the whole of Paris, which was already the center of the city long before Paris was called Lü Daien.

Even today, this tiny island is home to three notable buildings – Notre-Dame Cathedral, the Palais de Justice and the oldest hospital in France, the Palais de la Hrépación.

Both Lavoisier and Geta were particularly excited to hear that they could dine at a restaurant on the Île de la Cité, after all, only the top elites would come and go in the Île de la Cité on weekdays.

The carriage crossed the tiny Pont Saint-Louis and drove up to the Île de la Cité, past the gates of Notre-Dame Cathedral, and finally stopped in front of a pure white restaurant on the banks of the Seine.

The décor of the restaurant is very traditional, and it seems that it is not influenced by the lively and airy rococo style of the present, but has a solemnity and tradition of the early Baroque.

Such a style was indeed very popular with traditional hereditary aristocrats like the Duke of Schwartle.

Led by the waiter in the restaurant, several people walked up to the second floor, through a narrow corridor, and turned into the innermost room.

The room is not large, but it is very well furnished, and the walls are surrounded by first-class realistic landscape paintings, which seem to have been made by the same artist; The red curtains in front of the window are pulled back and hooked to the sides, allowing the midday sun and the Seine to shine into the house.

The dining table is a sunken wood round table with seasonal flowers and herbs in the center, and in front of each chair is neatly arranged silver cutlery and sweet and sour hors d'oeuvres.

When Lawrence and his party entered the room, there were already six or seven people present, most of them dressed in uniform dresses, sitting in chairs very solemnly and solemnly.

Only two middle-aged men in wigs and silk robes were smoking cigarettes and standing in front of the window chatting loudly:

"I have to say that project is terrible, I should have used that money to buy short-term Treasury bonds issued at a discount, and I made a lot of money on zero-coupon bonds."

"Yes, I don't know what's wrong with your actuary, but your risk controller is too, and he actually put such a low-interest amount of money to that company."

"What a bunch of rubbish, I'll let them all fuck off anyway, hmph, people who want to drill into the financial industry grab a handful, even if I open ten more banks, I don't have to worry about not finding employees, I dare say that even the beggars of Paris will look at the balance sheet."

"But you don't have a lot to lose, do you? I lost 20,000 livres when I heard that. ”

"Just 20,000 livres? Oh my God, if you lose 20,000 livres a year... I calculate, in 700 years I will be bankrupt! ”

...

As the door was opened, the two who were talking loudly glanced at the door, quickly stopped chatting, and hurriedly put away the cigarette gun in their hands.

The people who were sitting at the table also stood up at once, bowed their heads, and bowed slightly to the Duke of Choiseul at the door, not allowing themselves to make any noise.

"Your Excellency!"

The two men who had just chatted with flattering and enthusiastic smiles on their faces trotted up and bowed together to the Duke of Choiseul.

The Duke of Choiseul smiled and nodded in return, and pointed to the two and said to Lawrence:

"Let me introduce you, the chief of the Paris Stock Exchange, Lord Majic Meli de Arjot..."

Lawrence looked at the man on his right and nodded slightly at him.

"This is Monsieur Jean Montmartre, president of the Commerzle de France and owner of the bank."

Lawrence looked at the man on the left again, he was also the one who had just said that he would be bankrupt in seven hundred years, and Lawrence, who heard this, glanced at him meaningfully and nodded at him.

Mr. Montmartre was not displeased with Lawrence's nod, although he was a leading financier, but after all, he belonged to the third estate, and he was well aware of the status gap with Lawrence.

And Lord Melly, although he was the chief of the stock exchange, was a financial official of no low status, but he still looked very low in front of Lawrence and Duke Choiseul.

The Duke of Schwarcel patted Lawrence on the shoulder again and said with a smile:

"And this one is..."

"Oh! Don't bother with introducing you, we all know this handsome young man. ”

Monsieur Montmartre said in a loud voice:

"Governor Bonaparte, the new tax collector and first chamberlain of the crown prince, I have long admired such an illustrious young man as you."

Lawrence smiled politely, then pointed to Lavoisier and Geita behind him:

"You have an exaggeration, these two are Mr. Lavoisier and Mr. Guetta, Fellows of the Royal Academy of Sciences."

Although Academician Geeta bowed deeply to Monsieur de Montmartre and Lord Merry, and almost knocked over the vase next to him because of the bow, the two financiers apparently had little interest in the poor scholar, and only greeted him very coldly and politely.

Later, Mr. Montmartre pointed to the people who stood where they were, saying that they were his employees, his accountants, actuaries, and financial analysts.

After some introductions and greetings, several people sat down at the round table.

Lawrence stared at Monsieur Montemar for a moment, his surname was very familiar to Lawrence, and if I remember correctly, he should be from the Montemar family, a financial family from France.

The family amassed an untold fortune during the time of Louis XIV and in the early years of Louis XV, rumored to be as much as 100 million livres, and although with the death of Montmar the Elder, his wealth was divided among his children, but the amount each received was still an unimaginable amount.

Judging by the unashamed words of Mr. Montmar, his wealth is at least in the tens of millions of livres.

"What a rich man, if only all the bankers in Paris were so rich."

Lawrence looked at Mr. Montmar with a smile and silently calculated his wealth, and ten million livres were converted into about three tons of gold.

His wealth alone is enough to cover half of France's fiscal deficit in a year, not to mention that it is worth several years of revenue in Corsica.

Mr. Montmar did not notice Lawrence's calculations, and thought that the young man was smiling at him, so he hurriedly looked at Lawrence with a bright smile and asked:

"Yes, Your Excellency Bonaparte, I heard from Your Excellency the Duke that you have a company that wants to be listed on the Paris Stock Exchange?"

Lawrence came back to his senses and nodded in response:

"Yes, that's why we're sitting here."

At the end of the eighteenth century, the financial sector in France was not as free as it was in later years.

Before an enterprise is listed on the stock exchange, it must first find a qualified bank, and the bank will conduct preliminary qualification review and risk control; After approval, the bank will send an application to the stock exchange for formal review and approval.

After the official listing, the bank will also set up a special representative office on the stock exchange to serve investors who invest in the company.

If something goes wrong with the company in the future, the bank will also take responsibility.

The financial officials also set such rules to minimize the risks of the financial industry, but of course this also restricts the expansion and development of financial capital, which is naturally disgusted by the capitalists.

As the capitalists came to power, this rule was gradually abolished; At this time, the Amsterdam Stock Exchange had no such restrictions.

That's why the Duke of Choiseul invited two people today, and only if the bank and the stock exchange approve the application at the same time, the Corsica National Silver Company can be listed and issue shares.

"Comécéle de France welcomes applications from potential companies to apply for listing, hahaha, after all, we can also take a lot of commissions, and this business accounts for 11.45% of the total revenue... Ahem, sorry for digression. ”

Mr. Montemar took out the gold-rimmed glasses from his pocket and put them on the bridge of his nose, and at the same time took a document from the accountant beside him, and said with a smile as he looked at it:

"Since you are a friend of the Duke of Choiseul, I will do my best to help you."

Lord Melly also nodded and said, "The stock exchange will also fully cooperate with you." ”

"Very well, thank you for your help."

Lawrence said with a smile.

Mr. Montemar nodded, took a deep breath, and asked with a serious face:

"So, your company... What about the Corsican National Silver Company? Let's do a brief review here. ”

"Facts? What information? Lawrence asked, tilting his head.

"Uh... It is the operating status of your company, such as the balance sheet, the owner's equity statement, the income statement, these three statements are the most basic, as well as the certificates of your company's important assets and..."

Mr. Montmar glanced at Lawrence and Duke Schwarseul, and cautioned.

Lawrence didn't listen, and directly waved his hand to interrupt:

"None of these things."

Mr. Montmar was stunned for a moment, couldn't help but glance at Lord Merry, and said hesitantly:

"That's... As for the company's account books, there must be this, even those illiterate village girls will keep accounts for their own families. ”

Lawrence plucked his ear with his little finger and said indifferently:

"Perhaps, but those things are in the hands of the Corsican Ministry of Finance, and I neither sorted them out nor brought them with me."

As soon as these words came out, Mr. Montemar's brows were directly twisted, if he didn't know the noble identity of the two people in front of him, he would have thought that this was a bastard who was making fun of himself.

Lord Melly looked at Lawrence in disbelief, although he had done a lot of things to collect benefits and make it convenient for people, but this was the first time he had seen Lawrence.

The Duke of Choiseul on the side didn't say a word, smiling and sipping his coffee.

Monsieur Montmar was obviously a little out of his mind, but he did not dare to offend the Duke of Schwartell, so he quietly patted Lord Merry on the thigh, gave him a look, and then said to Lawrence:

"I'm sorry, Your Excellency, but I'll have to talk to Lord Merry first, and please allow us to miss us for a moment."

Lawrence didn't speak, just smiled and nodded.

After the two had left the room, Lawrence casually asked the Duke of Choiseul:

"The two of them shouldn't lose face to you, right?"

Despite this question, Lawrence did not have a trace of concern on his face, as if he was sure that even then the two would not refuse his request.

"Hmph"

The Duke of Choiseul snorted disdainfully, shook his head and said:

"These capitalists are cowardly like moles, vulnerable to real power, if they don't even understand this truth... Hum. ”

Lawrence went on to say with deep contempt:

"You're right, but that's why the capitalists are completely unscrupulous once they're in power."

The Duke of Choiseul twitched the corners of his mouth, shook his head and said without paying attention:

"That kind of thing can't happen in France for another two hundred years."

Lawrence just smiled and shook his head, and didn't say anything more.