Eagle’s Glory

That night, at the invitation of the banker Mr. Beauvain, Edmond Dantes rode a carriage and quietly came to his house.

When he first came to Paris to work hard in his early years, Beauvain had nothing but a small amount of money. However, after nearly twenty years of hard work, he has become the top executive of the prestigious Poncena Bank. As one of the first-level managers, he naturally became a rich man.

After getting married, he bought a large house in the 8th District, spread his business there, and used it as a place for socializing, although because of his humble background, the famous nobles had never been there. Visit here, but because of Beauvin's generous hospitality, his drawing room has become famous among the Parisian bourgeoisie.

Normally, this place would be full of guests and there would be constant banquets every day, but today, in order to entertain Edmund, Bowang closed the door and only entertained the earl.

Bowang is a shrewd, calm and almost cold banker. He is always calculating his wealth and other resources. He also knows in his heart that for now, he has climbed to the highest level that society allows him to climb. Due to his position, he can enjoy a life far better than ordinary people, but it is almost impossible to move up to the next level - because he is not from a noble family, he will not have a place in the palace of the Bourbon family.

If you are an ordinary person, you may be satisfied with this status - for example, his boss Ponsena is already satisfied, but for the ambitious Bowen, this is far from enough.

He has tasted all the enjoyment that money brings, but he is not obsessed with any luxurious enjoyment. He does not chase beautiful women, does not collect cultural relics, and does not like to buy real estate and build villas and castles everywhere. He is just accumulating money for the sake of accumulating money. It is realizing his own life value.

With his boss now, he can control tens of millions of capital, enough to cause a storm in the bond market anytime and anywhere, enough to control the trend and bankrupt those companies. He has tasted the power of money, but his power is not enough to control the country. With his golden veins, he cannot make the national economy and people's livelihood revolve around his financial scepter.

Only by achieving this goal can Bowang be satisfied.

So he is very dissatisfied with the current situation - since the current social structure does not allow him to go further, why not think of ways to smash this society to pieces and reorganize it?

The French people realized this seemingly "treasonous" dream 30 years ago, which gave Bowang endless confidence and inspiration.

Of course, if he wants to break this status quo, it is not enough to rely on his own strength. He needs an opportunity, a person with the energy and prestige to break the existing social structure.

Although he is a banker, his profession requires him to always pay attention to political trends. He looks around the country and spy on all the forces that have the hope of changing the status quo. In the end, there are only two choices-the Orleans family or the Bonaparte family.

The Orleans family is also a good choice, but the Duke of Orleans already has a large group of supporters. After weighing it, Bowang felt that even if he went to seek refuge, he would not get the attention of the other party for the time being. Moreover, although the Orleans family pretended to be "people-friendly" every day, ", but to be honest, it is still a branch of the royal family. Not only is he a noble, but there is also a large group of nobles around him. If the Orleans family becomes the king, the social structure will still be the same as before for Bowen, so it is not interesting enough.

After thinking about it, he felt that the Bonaparte family was the most appealing to him - not because their ideals and slogans were so touching, but because the Bonaparte family was now the cleanest and most in need of help from others. Therefore, they are most willing to offer prices to buy others.

So as soon as he met the Count of Monte Cristo, he immediately took action, and then immediately took action to express his submission to the Count - he believed that with his talents and status, the Bonaparte family would never Indifferent.

Therefore, for Bowen, the value of a Count of Monte Cristo far exceeds "all the friends" he has made so far, and he must try his best to make them.

After Edmond Dantès arrived at Bowin's mansion, Bowin immediately greeted him personally and then took him to his living room.

Like all the nouveau riche, Bowang's mansion was splendidly decorated, with dazzling decorations everywhere, and famous paintings hanging on the walls of the living room, full of the aura of wealth.

Although Edmond Dantès did not have a close relationship with Mr. Beauvin, he could tell that apart from money, he had no interest in art or other products of civilization. The reason why he decorated his home like this was just to follow the fashion and be arty. , in order to reflect the results of one's own efforts and maintain one's status in the upper class society.

There were two people standing in the center of the living room - a lady in a skirt and a little boy of three or four years old, both dressed very delicately.

It was obvious that this was Mr. Bowen's family.

"This is my wife." Bowen introduced to Edmund.

"Mrs. Bowen, nice to see you." Edmund immediately greeted the other party calmly, picked up her hand, and touched it lightly on the back of her hand.

"Nice to meet you, sir." Madam greeted him calmly, but there was no enthusiasm in her smile.

Edmund knew that the lady Bowen married was the daughter of a run-down nobleman. For Bowen, the lady was a tool for him to show off his social status. He would not discuss any career matters with her, and the lady only fulfilled her husband's duties. It's just an order, and the relationship between the two people is definitely not close.

So he didn't want to reveal too much about his behavior in front of his wife, he just said hello politely.

Bowang obviously didn't want the count and his wife to talk too much, so he immediately pointed to the little boy next to him.

"Maurice, my son."

Edmund looked at it and found that the child looked good and his tutor was excellent. However, he looked a little frail and nervous, perhaps because he was afraid of his father.

The union of Bowang and the daughter of a nobleman gave birth to elegant offspring, but the offspring also lost their ambition and courage. This can be regarded as a gain and a loss.

"Maurice, Mr. Earl is the most distinguished guest of our family. You must have the greatest respect for him and treat him as your uncle from now on. Do you understand?" While Edmund was in reverie, Bowen solemnly said He ordered his son.

"I understand, Dad." Maurice understood and immediately saluted Edmund.

Although his movements were a little nervous, he was also very serious. It was obvious that his wife was very strict with his education.

Edmund nodded kindly to him. "Morris, good evening, you have a very powerful father, and you will be proud of him in the future."

Edmond knew that Beauvain introduced his family to him not only to please him, but also to show him his determination that he was willing to risk his life for the cause of the Bonaparte family.

If you look closely at the things he did before, there is a chance that he can be excused, that is to say, he can distance himself when things go wrong; but now, he has brought the earl to his home, and in front of his family He was said to be the 'most distinguished guest', which also meant that he had left no escape route for himself.

In a gambling game, this means betting your entire fortune.

If he wins, he will definitely become a popular figure in His Majesty's eyes and have unparalleled political support in the financial world; if he loses, everything he has now will probably be lost.

It’s really amazing that a man who has a mansion, a car, a wife and children still has such courage and determination! No wonder he climbed to his current position so quickly. Edmund was secretly speechless.

Edmund admired his decisiveness. In a sense, he saw himself in Bowen again.

The identities and careers of the two people are completely different, but the confrontation with fate and the determination to leave no room for error do have spiritual resonance.

With the help of Morris as a "prop", Bowen and Edmund complimented each other and established a "personal relationship" with each other. However, for the two of them, more important things were yet to come.

After the greetings, Bowang asked his wife and son to retreat, and he took Edmund to the study.

Now there are no other people around, so we can have the most important exchanges.

"Mr. Earl, have you mentioned me to His Majesty?" As soon as he sat down, Bowang asked the question that concerned him most.

"Of course, sir." Edmund immediately relieved him of his worries, "I specifically mentioned you to His Majesty, and highlighted the help you have given me recently. Your Majesty also particularly praised it in his reply to me. In recognition of your loyalty and enthusiasm, he said he would never forget the help Mr. Beauvin gave him."

After a pause, Edmond Dantès stated the conditions offered by His Majesty, "His Majesty said that as long as you continue to help us, he is willing to ennoble you as a noble, and hopes to make you a director of the Bank of France. Director, assist His Majesty and his assistants in managing the financial order of the country."

After hearing these words, Bowang felt overjoyed.

He didn't care about noble titles at all - but considering the issue of social status, he needed to get himself one, even a baron was enough.

What is really important is the second half of the sentence. The leader of the Bonaparte family is willing to include him in his circle.

And this is everything he dreamed of.

"Everyone says that although His Majesty is not very young, he is heroic and generous that ordinary people cannot match. Now I have seen it." After being excited for a while, Bowang sighed with emotion, "For a man like him, He has given such grace to someone I have never met before, and what a courage he has with just a few words from you! No wonder he is able to accomplish things that others cannot accomplish in his lifetime at such a young age...God is indeed blessing Gu Bo. The Naba family.”

"That's natural." Edmund was also quite proud of the monarch he was loyal to. "Your Majesty dares to trust talented people and is willing to give them everything they want. He never asks about people's origins or past, only looks at them. ability."

At this point, he changed the topic again, "However, sir, although the conditions offered by His Majesty are tempting, they can only be fulfilled after the things are accomplished. We must do our best now to make this come true. You Is that right?"

"That's natural!" Bowang nodded heavily. He naturally knew this, but he had to show his gratitude in front of the earl, so as to show how loyal he was. "What orders does your Majesty have for me?"

"His Majesty knows that you are an important and valuable talent. He does not want you to participate in any major operations, suffer danger, and waste your talents in vain. He only needs you to try your best to create tension in the country."

"Create tension?" Bowang pondered for a moment, and then quickly responded, "Does he want our banks to tighten money?"

As one of the largest banks in the country, Poncena Bank is involved in the capital transactions of a large number of companies, covering almost all walks of life, and Bowang, as one of the top executives, knows this well. If Bank Poncena chooses to tighten money, it is obvious that many companies will lose blood quickly and eventually their capital chains will be broken.

Moreover, in this era, because currency belongs to the gold standard and is linked to precious metals, the amount of currency issuance is limited, and the market generally faces the problem of insufficient currency supply (cash shortage).

In order to solve this problem, the economic and industrial circles have developed a complex bill system. Each enterprise can issue promissory notes and bonds, guarantee each other, and circulate them in the form of currency.

As one of the largest and most credit-worthy banks, Banco Poncena's bills naturally circulate in large quantities on the market, becoming the main source of cash flow for many companies.

This means that if Poncena Bank chooses to gradually reduce the scale of bill issuance, tighten money and reduce loans, the market will face a huge impact in a short period of time, and may even cause a wave of bankruptcy.

This is no exaggeration, but something that has happened countless times in history.

With the development of capitalism, Western European countries have gradually entered the era of credit economy. The invisible power of financial bankers has continued to expand. The financial power represented by the exchange and the royal power represented by the palace have almost kept pace with each other. Although in society, In terms of status, financiers are still at a disadvantage for the time being. The ancient feudal aristocratic worship is still popular in this country, but financiers actually have the power to shake the country - and as time goes by, this power will become more and more powerful. He became stronger and stronger, and finally rivaled the royal power.

Bowang is not a historian, he does not know what will happen in the future, but with his own ambition and instinctive political sense, he unintentionally participated in this trend that changed the face of the world, and happily became one of the first batch Get trendy.

But now, his power is not enough. He is only a senior executive of Poncena Bank, not the owner of the bank. He does not yet have the financial power he dreams of.

He does not have any moral burden to mess up the country's financial order and cause a wave of bankruptcy, but this is not something he can decide on his own. He needs to go through his boss to achieve it.

"I understand what Your Majesty means..." Bowang pondered for a moment, "I will try my best to convince my boss. My boss may not dare to be so radical. He has always been a conservative person."

"So, what's your plan to impress him?" Edmund asked.

"That's not to say there isn't..." Bowang smiled slyly.