Chapter 976: Prologue
Chapter 957 Prologue
Felt Manor, as the situation in Paris grew tense, so did the atmosphere inside the manor.
In the garden, Maxim Sidorov said with a serious look, “Tom, take your younger siblings to London for a vacation, leave tomorrow, I’ve already arranged the boat.”
Ruthless that is to outsiders, to their own children, Maxim Sidorov is still a loving father. Seeing that France is about to be in turmoil, he has already arranged a retreat for them in advance.
The young man asked suspiciously, “What about you guys, aren’t you leaving together?”
There is never a shortage of smart people in this world, the eerie atmosphere of Paris has revealed a few points of the flavor of a mountain rain, but anyone with a little bit of brains is looking for a way back.
The rich are looking for a way to run abroad, and the middle class with small fortunes are ready to run to the countryside. Except for the few who had to stay, the rest were either poor or confused.
There was no doubt that Maxim Sidorov was one of those who had to stay.
After hesitating for a few moments, Maxim Sidorov said, “No, you guys go ahead. I can’t leave the bank’s affairs, so when it’s all taken care of, my mother mother and I will come back.”
The boss wasn’t a good one, and while sharing the biggest piece of cake, one had to bear the corresponding responsibility.
It was a critical time now, and Maxim Sidorov had to stay and preside over the big picture. There were too many people staring at him, and if he gave up and ran away at this time, he would probably be finished before he even got out of France.
Neither the capitalists, nor the government would let him leave.
The consortium is able to wrestle with the government, relying on the joint. If the boss runs away, the people will also be scattered, divided consortium is the meat on the plate.
If the government wants to make a move against the consortium, the first thing it needs to do is to take out the leader. It’s not about right or wrong, it’s all about political necessity. Who made him the most powerful? Only by taking him, the leader, can we truly deter people.
The most crucial thing was that Maxim Sidorov himself was not willing to run away so gray. Because once he retreated, the industries he had fought for all his life were gone.
It wasn’t that Maxim Sidorov hadn’t thought about transferring assets and spreading the risk, in fact every consortium wanted to diversify their investments and spread the risk.
However, the reality was cruel. Diversification was something that every major consortium was doing, and so far no one had really succeeded.
The reasons for this are naturally manifold, the core reason being that the era of capital globalization has not yet arrived and local protectionism prevails, which cannot be solved by money.
It’s okay to make a small investment, but it’s not okay to take root in the local area. The local snakes can accept the influx of capital, but will not welcome a dragon.
In normal times, they can’t do it, let alone now. Without the support of the state, the difficulty of developing overseas is naturally increasing geometrically.
Tom pursued, “Why is that, we already have a lot of money, there’s simply no need to keep taking risks.”
“Money”, simply looking at paper wealth, Maxim Sidorov was on the verge of becoming the richest man in the world. Of course, this had to be calculated in terms of pre-war value.
If France won, the consortium alliance led by Maxim Sidorov was the biggest victor of the war.
Utilizing this war, they managed to hold nearly one-third of France’s factories, one-half of its mines, and an uncountable amount of land and real estate. It is not an exaggeration to say that the whole of France was working for them.
The consortium’s harvest was large, and Maxim Sidorov, as the leader, naturally ate the fattest meat. His personal fortune directly exceeded one hundred billion francs, something he had never dreamed of.
However, this money existed only in theory. Assets were assets, but there was no way to liquidate them, because the entire France could not find a receiver.
With the Anti-French Alliance about to hit, holding as many assets as you can, you hold as much risk as you can. French capitalists, including Maxime Sidorov, have been frantically selling off their assets in recent times.
Even the most sought-after downtown Parisian homes, now sold at a discount, can not find buyers, the people have no money in their hands.
The over-concentration of wealth has led to the intensification of social conflicts, while leaving tens of billions of francs in the hands of Maxim Sidorov and scrap paper.
There is no way, what can be bought with francs, do not need; want something, francs can not buy.
Careful observation of bank branches in Paris, will develop an interesting thing, foreign currency, gold can be exchanged for francs, francs can not be exchanged for foreign currency.
Whereas before the war 1 pound sterling was exchanged for 25 francs, now 1 pound sterling can be exchanged for 100 francs, and this exchange ratio can continue to be negotiated.
If Maxim Sidorov was given the choice, he would prefer to exchange these hundreds of billions of francs of assets for 100 million pounds in cash, and if that was not possible 10 or 20 million pounds would also be acceptable.
Unfortunately, there was no such ingrate to come over and take the deal. Seems to be a lot of high-quality assets, in fact, after the war can keep how much is an unknown.
For example: Belgium, the Rhineland region mines, land, another example of the Italian region of the factory, real estate, seemingly belongs to Maxim Sidorov, in fact, the future certainly has nothing to do with him.
These losses alone were enough to shrink Maxim Sidorov’s assets by half. The remaining half is equally insecure, and war is the greatest asset killer.
There is no doubt that holding so many assets is certainly not something Maxim Sidorov would want. He was a banker, not an industrialist, and naturally had no interest in factories and mines with low returns.
With the exception of a small number of assets that were bought on his own initiative, the vast majority of these industries were collateral that had been forced to be collected by banks that had overstayed their loans. Including the mines in Belgium and the Rhineland, all of which were mortgaged to them by the French government.
No matter how unreliable these assets are, at least they work better than the franc, which is devaluing every day. Unable to liquidate into foreign exchange or gold, then they can only continue to hold them.
“Alright, Tom. Time is running out, and it is time to go and say goodbye to your mother. As for the other things, in the future you will slowly understand.
If anything should happen to me, you will have to take the responsibility of being the head of the family, taking care of your younger siblings and raising them to adulthood.
This is a list of our overseas assets. I’m giving it to you now. It’s basically stocks and real estate. It’s not too much money, so you have to plan your use wisely.
There’s no way, those idiots lost too quickly and disrupted my entire plan, there’s only so much I can prepare for you now.
As for the consortium’s assets overseas, just pretend you don’t know anything about it. I just hope you guys can be safe, that’s not something you can hold onto.”
Looking at his tender son, Maxim Sidorov very much regretted that he was so playful when he was young that his eldest son was now only fifteen years old.
At such an age, it was simply unrealistic to ask him to play mind games with a bunch of old foxes.
As for the others, it was very unfortunate that, having seen so much of the hoaxes and turtles, Maxim Sidorov couldn’t trust anyone right now.
……
The capitalists are looking for a way out, and the nobles are likewise not idle. Despite the European tradition of not killing nobles, the revolution was an exception.
Based on past experience, every time there is a revolution, Paris kills heads. Regardless of nobility, there is only one life.
If France was not the three royal houses and had only one Bonaparte dynasty, the aristocracy sided with the emperor for their own interests, Napoleon IV had a very good chance of winning this time.
Unfortunately, not only were there three royal families in France now, but the Bonaparte dynasty’s prestige among the nobles was still the lowest among the three royal families.
If there is no this continental war, Napoleon IV sit firmly on the throne, wait for the next generation up Bonaparte dynasty can take off the hat of the thugs, really be accepted by the aristocratic group.
Unfortunately, the reality is not if. In the view of the ancient nobility, the Bonaparte dynasty is the source of disaster, will bring endless trouble to France, simply will not support them.
The weirder the atmosphere in Paris, the more active the nobles who supported Bourbon and Orleans became, and many were ready to follow the example of Napoleon III in using the revolution to seize power.
Versailles, looking at the converging intelligence, Napoleon IV gritted his teeth in anger, but was unable to do anything about it.
The risk of going to war with the consortium is already very high, if you take on the nobility again, the Palace of Versailles will really have to change owners.
In this aristocratic world, the emperor also needs to talk about the rules, as long as people do not raise the flag of rebellion, the emperor has no reason to do something to them.
Put down the document, Napoleon IV said fiercely: “Immediate action, can not let those guys with the wealth of France run away. If anyone resists, all of them will be killed on the spot!”
Being discovered was inevitable, not everyone was as cautious as Maxim Sidorov, not only was he himself in front to attract attention, even arranging for his sons and daughters to run away was light.
And certain bold fellows, while running away also did not forget to sweep up the bank’s vault, attempting to take gold and silver with them.
Think about it is also drunk, with a few tons of gold there is a possibility to run away, those with hundreds of tons of silver guys, is completely looking for death.
Even if they are not discovered by the emperor, such a huge amount of wealth will cause the greed of the customs bureaucrats. Either it would be swallowed up in France or hacked up in Britain.
Then, naturally, there would be no more. With all that commotion, if it was undetectable, Napoleon IV would have been ousted a long time ago.
The scene is unfolding on the Paris docks. A luxurious motorcade was stopped by customs before embarkation.
A middle-aged rich merchant rushed at the staff and growled furiously, “Why don’t you let us board the ship, I have legal procedures, who gave you the right to seize my goods?
Who gave you the right to seize my goods? Get your director here, I want to file a complaint! Do you hear me, if you’re any slower I’ll skin you.”
In these recent years, capital has risen strongly in France, and the social status of the rich has been infinitely elevated. Roaring at the staff is just child’s play, and those who are powerful even dare to go up and slap them directly.
Anyway, they have money, they are not afraid of lawsuits. Even if they win the lawsuit, this kind of civil dispute is just a matter of paying out money. Most of the time, the compensation is not enough for the legal fees.
Against this background, not to mention ordinary people, even ordinary government officials have lost their deterrent power in front of capital.
The young man helplessly explained, “I’m very sorry, sir. According to the latest decree issued by the government: in order to combat the outflow of gold and silver, from now on, it is forbidden for all gold and silver to leave the harbor.
Your formalities were previously approved and have now lost their legal effect, so if you have any doubts, you can complain to the relevant authorities.
However, I advise you not to do anything useless. The official who was responsible for issuing the formalities before has now been suspended for investigation, and it won’t be long before you are approached for questioning.”
The middle-aged man was about to lose his temper when an army appeared at the pier. Under the command of the officer, the soldiers directly took over the convoy.
The middle-aged man had just gone up to the front to theorize, when he was pressed to the ground by the two soldiers who came face to face, not giving him a chance to defend himself at all.
……
(End of chapter)