Chapter 180 Mara's Self-Doubt

Joseph was just thinking about how to deal with these people, when he heard Count Capefir smile:

"Your Highness, in addition to us, there are also the Trade Credit Bank and the Laville Bank, who also want to get your forgiveness..."

Marquis Ludo glared at him fiercely to stop him from continuing, thinking that he shouldn't have brought this guy here. If it weren't for the huge influence of the Capefir family in the banking association, this guy's brain would have bankrupted the family business ten times!

"Oh?" Joseph looked at Capefir, "How many banks do you represent this time?"

The latter pointed out the window: "There are seven, Your Highness. They are waiting outside the Palace of Versailles."

Seven banks? The banks involved in the Necker case are all influential big banks. Joseph glanced at a few people and suddenly realized that this might be an opportunity to open the French "central bank" in advance.

And now it is difficult for the French Reserve Bank to digest so many banks. It is not unacceptable to let them hand over their interests and accept supervision. If this can speed up the process of establishing a "central bank", it will be a big profit.

Joseph smiled immediately, and did not follow the rhythm of the people in front of him, but said directly:

"Want to keep your bank?"

Marquis Ludo and others were obviously stunned for a moment, and then nodded "shyly":

"If you can be kind..."

Joseph smiled and said: "Can you represent the four banks outside?"

Marquis Ludo nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Your Highness, they have entrusted me with full authority."

"Okay," Joseph nodded, "I have a few conditions."

Marquis Ludo and others immediately pricked up their ears.

"First, you will reduce the loan to the government by 10%, and the loan agreement will be renewed, and the interest rate shall not exceed 3%."

The three bank tycoons looked at each other, and their faces were full of pain.

The amount of loan reduction seems to be only 10%, but each of them has loaned tens of millions of livres to the French government, which is a huge sum of millions.

And 3% interest is almost the same as interest-free in this era. You know, even if the government sells public bonds to citizens, the interest rate is between 9% and 12%.

However, Necker's confession is now in the Bastille. If they don't agree, the four banks that went bankrupt before will be a model.

The three struggled for two seconds, and all nodded with gritted teeth: "As you command, Your Highness."

"Well," Joseph continued, "Second, the French Reserve Bank will obtain 30% of your bank's shares. You have used illegal means to earn money from the treasury for more than ten years, and these shares will be regarded as a fine.

"And I can promise that these shares will not be sold at will without the consent of the bank's board of directors. "

Marquis Ludo and others agreed without much hesitation this time.

Originally, they were going to use shares as benefits in exchange for the prince's leniency. Although the prince wanted a little more than they prepared, they got a promise not to sell shares.

In other words, the French Reserve Bank will only distribute dividends. Their bank will not suffer losses from the sale of shares. Such conditions are completely acceptable.

Joseph was quite satisfied with their attitude, and emphasized: "The third and most important one.

"Your bank must support the monetary policy announced by the French Reserve Bank.

"At the same time, you must use the influence of the banking industry association to get more banks to support the French Reserve Bank."

Marquis Ludo's expression changed, and he asked carefully: "Your Highness, what do you mean by monetary policy?"

Joseph said: "In the future, the French Reserve Bank will issue national unified banknotes like the Bank of England. Your bank must accept this banknote for settlement and exchange. "

The so-called banknotes are "certificates that can be used to redeem gold and silver coins" issued by various banks. Anyone holding these certificates can exchange them for coins from the corresponding bank.

If a bank is strong and trusted by everyone, then for convenience, everyone will accept banknotes to pay each other, and rarely actually exchange them for gold and silver coins.

It has become a de facto circulating paper money.

In fact, the pound sterling banknotes currently circulating in the UK are strictly speaking just banknotes of the Bank of England. It's just that the Bank of England's business is so big that it has overwhelmed all other banks and obtained the authorization of the British government as the "only legal banknote", gradually transforming into the central bank of the United Kingdom.

At present, the Reserve Bank of France does not have the overwhelming capital advantage of the Bank of England, so Joseph can only use administrative means to launch the banknotes of the Reserve Bank of France.

However, this process is bound to be It will not be so smooth, after all, the French Reserve Bank has limited capital, and most ordinary people will not trust its banknotes. This is also the biggest obstacle for the French Reserve Bank to become the French central bank.

Previously, Joseph planned to use three to five years to gradually cultivate the market's trust in the French Reserve Bank's banknotes, but if there is a banking association to endorse the French Reserve Bank, and these seven large banks accept the French Reserve Bank's banknotes, then this process may be shortened to a few months.

At the same time, the French Reserve Bank and these seven banks will crush other banks in circulation efficiency and convenience because they have banknotes, that is, paper money as a medium of circulation.

It won't be long before other banks can only accept the French Reserve Bank's banknotes in order to maintain their own competitiveness.

When the vast majority of banks in the country accept the French Reserve Bank's banknotes, they can issue a decree to make this banknote the only legal paper money in France.

Then we will use the advantage of the right to issue banknotes to supervise other banks.

Who dares not to obey? We will tighten your cash flow tomorrow and see how long you can last!

The three of Marquis Luduo looked at each other again - accepting banknotes from other banks means that others will give the printed paper to customers, and customers can take these papers to exchange gold and silver coins from their own banks.

Although their own banks can also take the received banknotes to the French Reserve Bank to exchange gold and silver coins, as long as there is a few days of time difference, they will accumulate hundreds of millions of banknotes in their hands and become a de facto banknote reservoir.

Not to mention, it is impossible for banks to settle every few days, usually the fastest is one month. Then all the banknotes for this month are pressed in their own banks.

Mr. Boislandal said with a stiff face:

"Your Highness, if, I mean if, the banknotes of the French Reserve Bank depreciate, then we will not..."

Joseph expected that they would have such concerns, and immediately said:

"The cabinet will soon issue a decree to stipulate the exchange rate between the French Reserve Bank banknotes and gold and silver, and keep it unchanged. Of course, if you are not assured, the French Reserve Bank can also sign an agreement with you. When the banknotes depreciate sharply in a short period of time, the French Reserve Bank will compensate you for your losses."

He was confident enough to make such a promise. After all, the gold and silver standard was implemented in this era, and paper money was anchored to gold and silver, and the currency value was very stable unless a major economic crisis occurred.

And if a crisis really happened, causing the French banknotes to depreciate severely, it didn't matter. Just compensate the bank according to the agreement. It's just that the banknotes were accepted by everyone at that time, and the compensation to the bank was still paper money. Anyway, there is an economic crisis, just tell me how much compensation, and I will print it for you 24 hours a day.

In the end, Marquis Ludo and others had no choice but to accept Joseph's conditions - they couldn't change their minds, so at most they had to settle accounts every month, and this month's bank flow would be considered as a gift to the French Reserve Bank.

Joseph stood up, smiled at the three people in front of him, raised his arms and said: "Congratulations to you, oh, and the four banks waiting outside.

"From now on, you will no longer be implicated in the Necker case. You are safe."

He gestured to Briand: "Afterwards, Archbishop Briand will sign an agreement with you on behalf of the French Reserve Bank and the French government. "

The three banking tycoons bowed and thanked the prince for his generosity. Although they were extremely depressed and lost a lot of money, they were relieved at the same time. After all, their bank was finally saved.

After Marquis Ludo and others said goodbye and left, Joseph suddenly remembered a problem. Four banks had gone bankrupt and were acquired before, and seven more "surrendered" today. There were thirteen banks involved in the Necker case. What were the remaining two doing?

At 4 pm, Fouché rushed to the Palace of Versailles and answered his questions.

"Your Highness, Perni, his wife and two sons were captured by the police on their way to Rouen this morning. You see..."

"Seal the bank immediately. "

Joseph sighed lightly. These people are too impatient. If they had run half a day later, they could have caught the "ride" of Marquis Ludo.

And now that they are running like this, they can only be dealt with severely. I hope that after swallowing the Perni Family Bank, the French Reserve Bank will not be seriously short of staff.

Fouche nodded and continued:

"Your Highness, the two largest shareholders of the Denaro Bank happened to return to Switzerland at the time of the incident. They should have heard the news from Paris and never showed up again."

Although the main business of the Denaro Bank is in France, it is a Swiss bank with its headquarters in the canton of Schwyz, Switzerland.

In other words, the bank's profits are likely to have been sent to Switzerland. Even if its assets in France are confiscated, there is probably not much money.

Joseph frowned: "It seems that we have to use diplomatic means. ”

…

Three days later, a grand but not very lively commendation meeting was held in the Hercules Hall of the Palace of Versailles.

It was grand because Her Majesty the Queen personally presided over it.

In addition to the officials of the Impartial Investigation Office who were commended, the main people present were senior officials of the police system, as well as the Crown Prince and the Minister of Justice, Baron Breteuil. There were less than 30 people in total, which was indeed not lively.

After a burst of melodious music, Queen Marie, wearing a gorgeous light purple dress, walked up to the high platform on the west side of the hall, smiled at Marat and others, and said loudly:

"Gentlemen of the Impartial Investigation Office, you have saved France from huge losses with your excellent work and fearless spirit, and at the same time allowed the corrupt officials who had escaped for several years to be brought to justice!

"Here, on behalf of the royal family, I pay my highest respects to you!"

This time, Marat and his assistants found out Necker's shocking corruption case, and after a series of operations by Joseph, they "earned" hundreds of millions of livres for the French treasury, and at the same time greatly promoted the establishment of the French central bank. This contribution is not small.

In the previous operation, Evans of the Investigation Department was killed and Marat was stabbed, so Joseph decided to commend them.

Court officials came with wreaths. Queen Marie personally put one on Marat, who was still leaning on a cane. Police Chief Nathanson gave flowers to others.

Then, amid the applause of the crowd, the Queen announced that due to the outstanding contribution of the Impartial Investigation Department, it was decided to upgrade it to the Impartial Investigation Bureau, which would be directly governed by the cabinet.

At this point, France's "Anti-Corruption Bureau" finally threw off the "mask" of the police system and had an official identity to step forward.

The director of the Investigation Bureau is still the Crown Prince. Marat became the general director of the Operations Department. Desmoulins is the head of the Archives Department. The entire Investigation Bureau has four departments under its jurisdiction, of which the largest Operations Department is planned to expand to 7 action teams, with a total of more than 200 people.

In fact, this is not enough for the huge French bureaucracy, but it is the most advanced institution for official inspection in the whole of Europe. When other countries still rely on royal power to supervise officials, France has taken the lead in realizing independent department supervision.

This is also the reason why officials are reluctant to attend the commendation meeting-no one dares to guarantee that their hands are absolutely clean. Necker was powerful in France at the time and rich enough to rival a country. Isn't it said that he would fall? If he is remembered by the people of the Investigation Bureau, it will be all over.

Then, Queen Marie publicly awarded Marat a bonus of 500 livres. Other people in the Investigation Bureau who participated in the Necker case also received a reward of one month's salary. As for Evans, who sacrificed his life, the pension was as high as 4,000 livres, and the royal family sponsored all the school fees for his son.

After the commendation meeting was over, the queen invited everyone present to attend the dinner.

After leaving the Hercules Hall, Baron Breteuil was the first to congratulate Marat:

"You are really an excellent investigator. You have investigated all the cases that have been going on for so many years."

Marat looked at the luxurious dress on him and couldn't help frowning slightly. Before he could think of how to answer, Besancon came over and said with a smile on his face:

"Her Majesty the Queen has praised you very much. I think it won't be long before you will be awarded a noble title."

Frient and Fouch also came up to flatter.

Marat looked around at the people around him, but his expression became more and more ugly.

Noble title?

He felt a little funny in his heart. Am I going to become the same as these dirty nobles?

He looked up at the exquisite and artistic carvings on the roof of the Palace of Versailles.

Why am I here?

What am I doing?

It's ironic that all I did was praised by the nobles!

Have I betrayed the people of France? !

He suddenly stopped, saying that he couldn't attend the banquet because of the pain in his wound, and turned around with his crutches to walk out of the Palace of Versailles.