"Criticism? What can be wrong with this? ”

Louis XV turned to look at Lord Mopp in bewilderment, frowned, and said:

"What do you think of the fact that this money came from the open, and it was not scraped from my people? Marquis of Mopp? ”

Louis XV, who was disturbed, was obviously a little dissatisfied, and although Justice Mope was also his very important minister, he was still staring at Justice Mope complainingly at the moment, and it seemed that he wanted a satisfactory answer.

"Ahem... Your Majesty"

Lord Mopp's eyes slanted slightly, and he glanced at Lawrence fiercely, and then immediately lowered his posture, bowed slightly, and said:

"It's not a criticism, it's just that there are some minor problems in the process, and it is His Excellency Bonaparte who is serious."

Although only Justice Mapp and Lawrence were present at yesterday's conversation at the Palace of Justice, no third person would know about their conversation.

But Justice Mapp wisely chose to admit his interference in the operation of the Corsican National Silver Company, and did not deny Lawrence's accusations before Louis XV.

For while Lawrence can't prove that he said these things, he can't prove that he didn't say them.

If the two of them got entangled in front of the king because of this kind of thing, it would only upset King Louis.

Combined with Louis XV's admiring attitude towards Lawrence at the moment, if he really upset Louis XV, he would definitely be mindlessly protecting Lawrence's side.

"Haven't you been fooled, Your Excellency... But it doesn't matter, it's just a temptation. ”

Lawrence glanced at Justice Mopp quietly, and secretly sighed that he was indeed a good hand at tricking and scheming to climb to his position.

If it were a person who was not deeply involved in the world, I am afraid that he would directly deny Lawrence's accusations with a fluke mentality, after all, no third person knew about that conversation.

And that would only play for Lawrence.

Seeing that Justice Mopp was not fooled, Lawrence was not disappointed, this was just a small temptation, even if Justice Mopp was not tricked, he could still achieve his goal.

"Process problems?"

Louis XV pinched his slightly upturned beard, and still asked with some dissatisfaction:

"Tell me, what problems you can't solve, and why do you have to make a special trip to Versailles?"

Lord Mopp nodded sheepishly, and told truthfully:

"That's right, Your Majesty. The operation of this company involves the unfinished treaty between me and His Excellency Bonaparte, and it is of course procedurally necessary to suspend the operation of this company until the treaty is completed. ”

Although such a statement would have disappointed Louis XV a bit, it was much better than the royal hat that Lawrence had put on Justice Mup.

Moreover, in front of such superiors, it is necessary to be deliberately honest in order to win their favor.

Sure enough, after hearing this honest report from Justice Mopp, Louis XV's brows relaxed slightly, which seemed to him to be a sign of conscientious duty.

However, Louis XV, who was disturbed, was still slightly stunned, and he turned his head again to look at the sea of silver that Lawrence had offered him, and said slowly:

"Hmm... You have a point... But I can't get Lawrence to get the money back, can I? ”

"Of course not, of course not," Justice Mup's heart tightened, but he smiled on the surface.

Although King Louis certainly didn't care about the hundreds of thousands of livres, he could care about his own face, if these more than 100 boxes of silver coins were carried out before they had been in the Palace of Versailles for half an hour, it would be a shameless thing for the king.

"Besides, Lawrence was in danger for a time to escort these silver coins over, and if I didn't accept them, wouldn't it chill his heart? Does it not chill the hearts of my subjects? ”

Louis XV narrowed his eyes and looked Justice Mup up and down, as if patting him on the shoulder very kindly.

Of course, Lord Mopp did not feel a trace of caring warmth, and he only heard the full undeniability in Louis XV's tone, so he smiled stiffly and nodded repeatedly.

"Damn Lawrence... Play this trick with me..."

It was only then that Lord Mapp was faintly aware that from the moment Lawrence moved the more than 100 boxes of silver coins into the Palace of Versailles, he had lost the right to interfere with the Corsican National Silver Company.

"Oh yes"

Louis XV was still not very satisfied after warning Lord Mopp, so he touched his beard and pondered for a while, and suddenly made a look of remembering something, and deliberately turned his head to look at Lawrence and asked:

"How's the two of you negotiating about that treaty? I'm so looking forward to the day of my coronation that I even want to change the venue to Notre Dame Cathedral. ”

Of course, Lord Mup on the side wanted to prevaricate the issue in an official tone, after all, the negotiations between him and Lawrence had not yet begun, let alone the renegotiation of the work of overthrowing the Duke of Schwartle.

It's just that Louis XV didn't look in his direction at all, and his eyes were all focused on Lawrence, obviously wanting to hear Lawrence's answer.

"Negotiate..."

Seeing this, Lawrence immediately showed embarrassment, shook his head and said:

"I'm sorry Your Majesty, but at the moment I can only say that progress is slow. Perhaps because of His Excellency Mopp's busy schedule, I only met him formally yesterday. As for your coronation... Since Lord Mopp said that he would completely discard the Duke of Choiseul's results and renegotiate, you may have to wait a while. ”

"Start over?"

Hearing this, Louis XV frowned again, and the accusation in his expression was completely undisguised, and he looked at Justice Mope and said:

"I don't think that's necessary, right? Choiseul was also a loyal and able minister, and I am relieved of the results of his work, so there is no need to overthrow them all, right? ”

Although King Louis's words were all questions, Justice Mope did not dare to say a word even if he had ten dares.

"Just according to your will, Your Majesty..."

Justice Mopp felt a chuckle in his heart, and he knew very well what Louis XV's statement meant.

The main part of the treaty, the Duke of Choiseul, had already been completed, and the rest were just cumbersome and inconsequential minutiae.

With these minutiae alone, Justice Mapp and the Duke of Richelieu could no longer involve and threaten Lawrence with treaty matters.

On the contrary, it will even delay the signing of the treaty and be held accountable by His Majesty the King.

Lawrence stood aside, silently watching the proud King Louis and the distracted Lord Mopp, and thought to himself:

"Your Majesty... Is this a fear of the postponement of my coronation, or a counterbalance between the two factions to prevent me from actually falling in favor of the Duke of Richelieu..."

......

With Lawrence and Mopp in the marble courtyard over, the trio returned to the King's Suite's dining room to continue their sumptuous lunch.

Of course, Justice Mopp was naturally not in much of the mood to enjoy the court dishes.

In just a few words, Louis XV completely deprived him and the Duke of Richelieu of the greatest weapon they had used to limit Lawrence.

Although the Duke of Richelieu still retains a lot of means, and he himself has prevented Lawrence from further slandering accusations against him in this confrontation, such a defeat is still difficult for Justice Mope to accept for a while.

He barely said anything until the end of the lunch, and immediately after the lunch, he took his farewell to King Louis and said that he would return to the Palais de Justice in Paris to attend business.

Lawrence, on the other hand, was not in a hurry to return to Paris, he also had to meet an extremely important person, who was also one of Lawrence's major political capital and future political backers, Crown Prince Louis.

The west wing of the Palace of Versailles, the residence of the Crown Prince.

As the newest celebrity in the Palace of Versailles and a close friend and first attendant of the crown prince, the guards hurriedly led Lawrence into the palace after saluting him enviously and respectfully.

"What is His Royal Highness the Crown Prince doing, I didn't see him at lunch, I shouldn't have bothered, right?"

Pacing through the gold-and-silver halls, Lawrence casually asked the guards as he surveyed the palace décor.

"No, no, Your Highness has instructed that you can see him at any time as long as you come. He's in the workshop. The guard replied aloud.

"Workshop?"

Lawrence listened intently for a moment, and sure enough, there was a noisy clanging sound on the upper floor of the dormitory, which seemed to be the sound of hammers and iron pounds.

"Well, it looks like that's the locksmith's locksmith's workshop."

Lawrence also shrugged helplessly, hearing that Louis XVI had a lock-making workshop of more than 200 square meters in the palace during his time as crown prince, and it seemed that this rumor was indeed true.

It can only be said that habits are indeed formed from childhood.

And it was not easy for Louis XVI to persist in the hobby of lock-making for a lifetime.

In this way, the rumor that Louis XVI locked himself and his locks in the same room every night and ignored the alluring Queen Mary was probably not unfounded, after all, Lawrence was in the palace

Coming to the deepest room in the corridor on the second floor of the dormitory, Lawrence symbolically knocked on the door twice, estimating that the people inside couldn't hear clearly anyway, so he pushed the door open.

The size of this workshop is not small, it seems to be made up of several rooms connected together, and at this moment there are about twenty people in it bowing their heads and fiddling with the delicate objects in their hands.

The furnishings inside are not as cluttered as the workshops in the market, and they look very orderly, with the feeling of a Swiss watch workshop that Lawrence remembers of.

An inconspicuous little fat man in the crowd raised his head suddenly, and after seeing the comer, he excitedly wiped the hot sweat from his forehead, stood up, and said loudly:

"Hey! Lawrence, you're here?! ”

If he hadn't known Crown Prince Louis, Lawrence really wouldn't have recognized this little fat man as the future King of France in this group of craftsmen.

Dressed only in a plain shirt and trousers, and wearing a leather apron around his chest like other craftsmen, he was dressed as an ordinary apprentice.

"Approachability is also one of the few virtues of this crown prince."

Lawrence threw these thoughts out of his head with a wry smile, stepped forward and saluted:

"Good afternoon, Your Highness, I'm sorry to bother you."

"Where, you're my closest friend."

Crown Prince Louis said with a smile on his lips, then took off his leather apron and hung it carefully on the clothes pole at the door, and then took Lawrence by the arm to the living room.

"I haven't seen you in a few days, Lawrence, how long are you going to be in Versailles this time?"

Crown Prince Louis rubbed his hands excitedly and said:

"That's right, the design you told me about earlier is called a pinball lock, I've tried it a few times myself, but I've only just found the way, you have to stay and help me see what's wrong."

Looking at Crown Prince Louis's enthusiastic appearance, Lawrence also smiled and said:

"I'll draw you a set of blueprints myself, but... It's a pity that I shouldn't be able to stay in Versailles for long, because there are many things I need to attend to in Paris. In fact, I'm going back to Paris tomorrow morning. ”

"This, alas, what a pity, what a pity."

Crown Prince Louis suddenly sighed a few times like a deflated ball, he had no peers in Versailles who could speak, it was rare for Lawrence and himself to have common interests, but there was not much time for the two to discuss together.

Crown Prince Louis's frustrated look was also expected by Lawrence, and Lawrence immediately made a surprised expression and proposed:

"Wait... Maybe Your Highness you can come with me to Paris? ”

"To Paris?" Crown Prince Louis's eyes lit up at first, then he shook his head and said:

"I also prefer to stay in Paris, which is much more interesting than Versailles, but my grandfather would not agree, he said that the royal family should be in Versailles."

"But I should be able to find a valid reason for you." Lawrence grabbed Crown Prince Louis' hand and said with certainty:

"You may have heard of the Corsican National Silver Company, which has almost half of its shares owned by the royal family, which currently lacks an agent in Paris."

"Agent? This...", said Crown Prince Louis with some hesitation:

"Grandfather may think that the agent of a company for a crown prince like me is detrimental to the majesty of the royal family."

"You don't have to worry, His Majesty is very fond of this company now, and the agent is just a title, His Majesty will definitely give you another official title that does not damage the prestige of the royal family."

Lawrence advises in one breath:

"More importantly, this is a wonderful educational opportunity that His Majesty will not turn down."

"Education?" Crown Prince Louis asked confusedly.

"Yes, there are some things you won't understand in the rest of your life at Versailles. The difference between per capita, land and progressive taxes, the operation of a commercial company, the reading of accounting books, how the porcelain of Canton crossed the ocean to Paris, tariff barriers and the customs union... Everything that has to do with money, and trade, and capital. ”

Lawrence lowered his voice and said:

"You will only understand these things in the market, and when you become a king ... These will also be the cornerstones of your governance of the country. ”

"Become a king..."

Crown Prince Louis licked his lips subconsciously.

In his subconscious, the king was his energetic and experienced grandfather, who seemed to be as carefree as he is now.

It wasn't until Lawrence's words that Crown Prince Louis suddenly realized that his grandfather was already sixty years old, and the moment when he put on the crown might not be far away.

However...

Crown Prince Louis pondered the series of questions that Lawrence had just asked, and none of them were well understood.

Are you going to govern your country and your subjects in such ignorance?

"Shhhhh

Crown Prince Louis couldn't help but take a breath of cool air, and his heart struggled in agony.

Then, Crown Prince Louis looked at Lawrence with great seriousness, nodded heavily, and said:

"You're right, Lawrence, I need this education."

"And I'll do everything I can to help you, Your Highness."

Lawrence looked at Crown Prince Louis sincerely, nodded and said.