The waiter knocked twice on the door and said a word of interruption before pushing the door in with a silver tray and serving fragrant grilled sea bass, rib steak, creamy vegetable salad and stew to the round table.

Another special waiter solemnly held a bottle of champagne, showed the bottle to the crowd and introduced the origin and taste of the wine, and finally solemnly took out the oak cork and poured a small half glass of champagne full of delicate bubbles for everyone.

"As always, a hearty lunch, your restaurant is as good as ever, I love it."

The Duke of Choiseul smiled and took a sip of his glass, and said with satisfaction.

"This is really our greatest pleasure, please slow down." The two waiters bowed flatteredly, and exited the room in a bowed position.

Lawrence took a deep breath of the tantalizing aroma of beef fat and couldn't help but rub his fingers, while also thankfully that there were no roasted snails for lunch today.

Lavoisier and Monsieur Gueta also picked up their knives and forks excitedly, and although they had a good meal on weekdays, such a meal was not eaten every day.

Of course, if there is anyone who is indifferent to this table full of delicacies, it must be Mr. Montmar and Lord Merry.

The noses of the two financiers already smelled something far more enticing than steak and sea bass.

"Oh... Oh my God, I can't believe it. ”

Although the food had already arrived, Monsieur Montmartre was still immersed in the flamboyant report of the expedition, and Lord Melly, who was beside him, hurriedly approached and pressed on Monsieur Montmartre's shoulder to browse together.

Neither of them knew much about mineralogy, but they could understand some of the most basic descriptions and figures in the report.

"Oh God... It is estimated that there are more than 30 million ounces of reserves... It's amazing. It also says that if it is fully developed, the maximum annual production is expected to be 500,000 ounces, oh my God. ”

Mr. Montemar's eyes widened as he read the report as he could feel his heart beating at an extreme rate.

Lawrence himself hadn't carefully read the above figures, and after hearing such reserves and production from Mr. Montmar's mouth, he couldn't help but quietly glance at Academician Gaita, and whispered:

"You've worked really hard, Mr. Gaita."

You must know that 500,000 ounces of silver weighs about 15 tons, and roughly converted to gold, it also weighs 1.4 tons.

Even if this figure does not deduct costs and development inputs, it is almost half of Mr. Montemar's net worth.

"Hehe... Rest assured, these numbers are staggering, but not outrageous. And I'm talking about the expected maximum production at the time of full development, and when the development is complete, it will be more than ten years later. ”

Academician Gaita scratched his head embarrassedly and quickly explained in a low voice.

Although the Duke of Choiseul was also quite surprised by this number, after looking at Lawrence's calm expression, he could probably guess that it was Lawrence's deliberate behavior, and he was not so sensitive to numbers and finances, so he didn't pay attention to it.

"Ahem."

Lawrence coughed twice to interrupt Mr. Montemar's astonished voice, and said with a smile and spread his hands:

"Mr. Montemar, let's have a meal first, this report will be revealed to investors shortly, and I can send you a copy as soon as I get back."

"Oh yes, thank you for putting so much effort into it, but I want to say that this report is amazing..."

Reluctantly, Mr. Montmar closed the report and handed it to Lawrence, and after some deliberation, said carefully:

"I don't doubt your noble character, but... My instincts tell me that its authenticity seems to need to be tested..."

Lawrence smiled and nodded, not displeased by Mr. Montmar's suspicions.

It is more problematic to say that a big capitalist like him, who was born into a financial family and then climbed to the top of the banker, easily believes this report.

Even if a report was placed in front of him that was completely true and error-free, he would certainly carefully examine it first.

So Lawrence patted Academician Gaita next to him and said with a smile:

"In fact, the author of this report is here, and you can ask him any questions you have."

"It's... All right. ”

Montmartre hesitated for a moment and gave his analyst a look, after all, he was not an expert himself, and he had to rely on the analyst with an education in mineralogy.

The analyst nodded, looked at Academician Gaita, and said with some embarrassment:

"So... Your Excellency, my biggest question is why there are veins of this magnitude on an island of Corsica's size, which is geologically counterintuitive. ”

And Mr. Geita, apparently prepared, saw that he did not say anything about the analyst's question, but instead raised his eyebrows and stared at him, and said unhappily:

"I seem to have heard you say you went to college? What did you learn from your university education, geology is a natural philosophy, can natural philosophy be understood with common sense? If that's the case, let's just leave Sir Newton aside and read Aristotle all! ”

"Uh..."

The financial analyst wiped a cold sweat from his forehead, although in terms of wealth and status, he felt that he was no worse than the scholar in front of him, but in terms of academic status, he was still far inferior to this member of the Royal Academy of Sciences.

"I... I'm just a little weird. ”

The analyst who has fallen into the disadvantage said in a loud voice:

"Because this silver mine really doesn't match what I've seen."

"Hmph, do you know why? That's because you've seen so few veins! ”

Academician Gaita sat up straight, spoke righteously and loudly, and said loudly:

"Let me tell you, on my last expedition to Alsace-Lorraine alone, I saw no less than five veins that were very similar in distribution and variety to the Ajaccio silver mine, so I don't think there is anything counterintuitive about that."

"This..."

The analyst suddenly choked, and he also knew that his knowledge reserve would inevitably be inferior to the other party, after all, he turned around and delved into the financial world after graduating from college and getting a degree.

And after Academician Gaita saw that the other party had nothing to say, he pursued with great vigor and said:

"By the way, you just said that you graduated from the University of Paris? Who is your mentor? I know most of the geologists at the University of Paris. ”

The analyst's eyes widened, and he had to grit his teeth and say:

"It's Mr. Red Fischer..."

"Red Fischer? He's still my colleague, and his signature is on that report. ”

Mr. Geita put on a look of hatred for iron, shook his head at the analyst, and said:

"Hmph, when I see Red tomorrow, I must ask him how he brought out such a low-level student!"

When he heard this, the analyst was completely speechless, and even though his boss was sitting next to him, he was too anxious to know what to say.

Academician Gaita became more and more energetic, as if he wanted to deliberately show himself in front of Duke Choiseul and Lawrence, and opened his mouth to sneer:

"What's the matter, young man, do you still have questions? Why don't you come to the Louvre tomorrow, the Royal Academy of Sciences is there, and we will communicate with your mentor, Mr. Red, and you will not be convinced. ”

Lawrence, who witnessed this conversation, couldn't help but chuckle and shook his head, and secretly sighed:

"It seems that the scholars in the previous life and this life are the same, as long as the status is not enough, any objections from the scholars below can be rejected by that group of academic bulls with one mouth. It is not easy for poor Lavoisier to make a feat under such a person, or... I don't know how many Lavoisier are buried in these hands, and it seems that I will have to join the Royal Academy of Sciences as soon as possible. ”

Academician Gaita said this, but he did not answer the question of why the description in the report was contrary to common sense, and he was only constantly criticizing the analyst's own incompetence.

"It's really a kind of 'if you can't solve the problem, you can solve the person who raised the problem.'"

Lawrence thought unemotionally.

At the dinner table, the analyst had no room for rebuttal, and after a moment of struggle, he turned to Mr. Montmar and said:

"Mr. Montmartre, I still have a positive opinion of this report, after all, my mentor, Mr. Red, has also signed it, and I don't think there will be a problem."

Mr. Montemar, of course, was ignorant of the situation in academia, and he could only see that his analyst was defeated by Mr. Gaita's words, and was finally refuted to the point of being speechless.

So he also trusted the report a little more.

But in a cautious manner, Mr. Montmar was careful to say:

"By the way, Sir Bonaparte, can I send an exploration team to Corsica to conduct a field trip to that silver mine?"

When Lawrence heard this, the smile on his face gradually changed, and he shook his head and said:

"Monsieur Montemar, going to Corsica is not the same as going to Versailles, which is two thousand miles away, and by the time your exploration team returns, I guess more than half a year has passed, and I am in dire need of raising a sum of money for the company. If I take my time, I just go public according to the regular process, why are we still sitting here together? ”

"This..."

Mr. Montmar still said with some reluctance:

"If your company needs money urgently, I can lend you a low-interest loan, no, even an interest-free loan."

Lawrence slowly put his hand to his chin, looked at Monsieur Montmartre with a gloomy face, and said in a deep voice:

"Since it's just a few of us here, I can tell you something, Mr. Montemar."

"What... What's the news? Mr. Montemar asked, frowning.

"You may already know from some rumors that Corsican National Silver Company is operating in the background."

Lawrence stared at Mr. Montmar and said:

"And I can tell you with certainty that this company is indeed run by the Corsican government and the French royal family. I need to use this company to raise money to ease the financial pressure in Corsica. Do you think you can take out an interest-free loan of such an amount? ”

Lawrence's words can only be said to be half-true, he did want to use the company to raise funds for Corsica's finances, but whether the amount of this money was enough to relieve the financial pressure, or whether there was another plan, no one but Lawrence himself knows.

Mr. Montemar apparently believed Lawrence's words and kept the inside information to heart.

However, Lawrence's purpose did not overly shock Mr. Montmartre, after all, the misappropriation of the money from the Corsican national silver to the Corsican treasury, although it was not in accordance with the norms and harmed the investors, was in the final analysis a kind of left-handed to right-handed.

Rather, after confirming that the royal family was behind the National Silver Company, Mr. Montmartre's cautiousness relaxed slightly, after all, a company with an official background should not be able to falsify such reports.

"If that's the case, my capital is really not enough to alleviate your problem."

Monsieur Montemar smiled wryly, and at the same time threw out his head the plan to send people to Corsica for a field trip.

Now, whether or not to help the Corsican National Silver Company go public was no longer a difficult problem for Mr. Montemar, and there was only one thing that made him difficult at the moment:

To be the first investor in Corsican National Silver.

In the world of finance, being well-informed or not can make the difference between a financier's survival and death.

As far as Lawrence knows, in the twentieth century, when many brokerage firms set up representative offices in the cities where the stock exchanges are located, they would deliberately set up their representative offices closer to the stock exchanges, and even did not hesitate to acquire land that was several times more expensive.

Because the information was transmitted over the cable network, closer to the stock exchange meant that the latest bond prices could be obtained a few milliseconds earlier.

And it is these milliseconds that are enough for brokers to capture and squeeze arbitrage space in the financial markets faster than others.

This is why it is often said that there is no arbitrage in the financial market in theory, because all the arbitrage has been carved up in less than a second.

And now, Mr. Montemar has in front of him a top-secret piece of information that is known only to him as an investor.

"The Silver Company... A joint venture between the Corsican government and the French royal family, the credit is undoubtedly guaranteed... There are also such huge fixed assets, plus the operation of the mining company is very stable... Damn, investing in this is simply picking up money! ”

Mr. Montemar pondered silently, and seemed to have seen a mountain of gold and silver piled up in front of him, and he was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth.

"Mr. Montemar, ahem, your saliva is coming out."

Lawrence reminded with a smile, reaching out and pointing at his chin.

After revealing the news of the involvement of the French royal family, Mr. Montmar undoubtedly let go of his doubts about the report, and Lawrence did not have to think about it to know what Mr. Montmarre's thoughts were now after letting go of his doubts.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I got distracted."

Mr. Montemar quickly took out a handkerchief and wiped the corners of his mouth, then cleared his throat and suppressed his excitement and said:

"Ahem, in that case, Your Excellency Bonaparte, I will do my best to help you through the listing process and become your company's correspondent bank. It's just that I have one more request..."

"Request?" Lawrence asked knowingly.

"Isn't your company going public to raise money from investors?"

Mr. Montmar smiled and said:

"I'm also an investor, and I'm not ashamed to say that I'm still the top type of investor. And I'm very optimistic about your company, I wonder if you will accept an immediate investment...? ”

Mr. Montemar was also shrewd, knowing that investing was to be decisive at the lowest point of value, and that when the company went public, its value would be inflated almost instantly, and it would be too late to enter the market.

"Of course I do, but I think I should set a minimum stake amount."

Lawrence said with a smile and a nod.

"The minimum amount? Just say it. Mr. Montemar waved his hand and made a gesture that he was not bad for money.

I saw Lawrence slowly stretch out a finger, look at Mr. Montemar with a smile, and say aloud:

"One million livres, delivered immediately."