shadow of britain

Chapter 585 Investing in Unicorns

Backstage at the Leipzig Theater, preparations are underway for the new play "Turandot" which will be performed tonight.

You can find the star-crossed couple Robert Schumann and Miss Clara Wieck backstage at the busy theater, who are worried about their father's opposition; you can also see the leading actor, the superstar of the European opera circle, the principal tenor of the Paris Opera, Adolphe Nouri, who is practicing his voice; you can see Garibaldi busying around without knowing what he is doing; and you can see Dumas busy bragging about his creative ability to German actresses.

However, the busiest person of all was Mendelssohn.

Leipzig is the second most important music city in Greater Germany after Vienna. The earliest large-scale concert hall in Germany was built here in 1743.

Bach, the father of Western music, lived in this city for a full twenty-seven years. He served as the choir conductor and music director of St. Thomas Church in Leipzig for a long time and eventually died in this city.

Bach's famous works "Sacred Music" and "The Passion of the Christ" were both premiered in Leipzig, and the St. Thomas Choir, which he personally cultivated, is still a top music group renowned in Europe today.

As Mendelssohn is recognized as the successor of Bach in the European music world, his performance in Leipzig has extraordinary significance for him.

Therefore, for today's performance, Mendelssohn's requirements are not limited to perfection, but he must continue to make breakthroughs on the basis of perfection.

In order to fulfill the love between Schumann and Miss Wieck, and to pay tribute to Bach, Mendelssohn recently took on the responsibility of chief conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. In this way, he could legitimately invite this century-old orchestra to participate in the premiere of "Turandot".

Seeing this, some people may notice that a few important people are missing backstage at the theater.

Two main creative staff members disappeared from the backstage of the theater. Coincidentally, both of them were British.

Yes, it was Mr. Benjamin Disraeli who adapted the script and Sir Arthur Hastings who wrote Nessun Dorma and Jasmine.

But none of the backstage staff complained about this, because everyone knew that the two of them had more important tasks to do.

Today, it was not only Miss Wick's father who came to the Leipzig Theater to watch the premiere of "Turandot". The audience also included many local dignitaries in Leipzig, and even many princes and noble ladies of the Kingdom of Saxony who drove here from the capital Dresden just to catch a glimpse of the "successor of Bach" Felix Mendelssohn.

And if we talk about who is the number one opera lover in the Kingdom of Saxony, then no matter how the list of candidates is selected, the first one should be King Anton I of Saxony.

Since his youth, Anton I has been a loyal fan of Mozart.

In 1787, when Anton I, who was still a prince at the time, married Princess Maria Theresa of Tuscany, he planned to celebrate with the premiere of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni". In order to express his blessings to the newlyweds, the names of Anton and the princess were even mentioned in the script.

Unfortunately, due to time constraints, the premiere could not be arranged in time. Ultimately, under the direct order of the Grand Princess' uncle, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, the performance was changed to "The Marriage of Figaro".

Unfortunately, the princess's family thought that The Marriage of Figaro was an inappropriate choice for the bride, as it was a play about a certain count wanting to exercise the "right of first night" over the bride. Therefore, the princess left the opera early and did not watch the entire performance.

However, although the bride did not watch the entire play, Anton I watched all four acts with great interest.

Four years later, Anton attended the Prague premiere of Mozart's opera La Clemenza di Tito, which was written to celebrate the coronation of his father-in-law, Leopold II, as King of Bohemia.

Although Anton is no longer young and does not have the energy to attend the premieres of various operas. After becoming king, he is not as free as he was when he was a prince.

However, if the opera's premiere was on land in the Kingdom of Saxony, Anton I would still be willing to leave the comfortable Zwinger Palace and stretch his body.

Not to mention, he had a very legitimate reason to come to Leipzig to attend the premiere of "Turandot" - to conduct royal exchanges with the Duke of Sussex who was visiting Leipzig.

Perhaps some people will find it strange to hear this, as it seems that Anton I's behavior is not at all like that of a standard German autocratic monarch.

That's because this old man is indeed not an absolute monarch.

Influenced by the July Revolution in France in 1830, an uprising broke out in Dresden, the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony, in the same year.

Fortunately, Anton I did not repeat the stupid things that Louis XVI did, but made concessions in time, so no large-scale bloody conflict occurred.

Soon after the uprising broke out, he dismissed two conservative ministers, Count Einsiedl and Lindenau, from their cabinet positions, responded to the people's call and appointed his nephew Frederick August as co-ruling prince. In the following year, he promulgated a constitution, established a bicameral legislature and a responsible government department, and transformed the Kingdom of Saxony into a constitutional monarchy.

Although the constitution of the Kingdom of Saxony seemed extremely conservative to the British, the king still retained a considerable degree of independent sovereignty and had to cooperate only with the ministers and the decisions of the two houses in government affairs.

But, in the eyes of the Saxons, this was enough to satisfy them.

At this moment, in the box with the best view on the second floor of the theater, several old friends were reuniting for a drink.

Arthur sat by the window, holding a glass of amber Bordeaux in his hand. The glass swayed gently between his fingers, and the wine had a slight sheen and a mellow aroma.

Arthur's posture was relaxed yet alert. His eyes lingered between his two friends, and his eyes occasionally swept across the hazy street scene outside the window.

"Lionel, did the family meeting in Frankfurt go well?"

Lionel Rothschild, the Jewish young master who had just arrived in Leipzig from Frankfurt, looked exhausted without any sign of fatigue on his face.

His face was flushed and smiling, not only because he met his old friends Arthur and Disraeli, but also because at the Rothschild family meeting held in Frankfurt not long ago, Lionel replaced his ailing father Nathan and for the first time, as the representative of the London branch, he and several uncles decided on the family's development agenda for the coming year.

Anyone with a discerning eye in the European financial circle could see that this 25-year-old Jewish guy would inevitably inherit the business his father had started in London in the near future and become the second-generation helmsman of the Rothschild London financial empire.

Whether in London, Paris, Vienna, Naples or Frankfurt, every bank director and stockbroker who met Lionel no longer regarded him as a young boy. They politely stopped and took off their hats to salute Lionel, and spit out all kinds of insincere flattery, just hoping to have a name in the heart of this future financial tycoon so that they can cooperate with him in the future.

Of course, even from the perspective of personal cultivation, Lionel is much easier to deal with than his father Nathan.

Although Nathan did not start from scratch, his entrepreneurial environment was the worst among the five brothers. The other four brothers stayed in continental Europe, so the old Rothschild could still give these sons some help through his personal influence.

Although old Rothschild also gave strong support to Nathan who was in London, the Rothschild Bank, which was headquartered in Frankfurt at the time, could not be compared with the local banks that had been struggling in London, the world's financial center, for many years in terms of financial strength, professionalism and connections.

Nathan had little education, let alone college.

He was able to make a fortune in London thanks to his keen insight, efficient action and his determination to succeed or die.

Such life experience also destined Nathan to be a strong-willed person, and his lack of reading made him look vulgar and even a little sensational in many cases.

Such a guy would naturally not be welcome in British society, which values ​​elaborate etiquette and self-restraint.

Lionel's generation was completely different from their fathers. All of his cousins ​​received a full aristocratic education.

As for Lionel, the education he received since childhood was completely British.

Every pore from head to toe reveals the traditional atmosphere of British classical aristocracy. He never gets angry with others, and he never uses his power to bully others like his father did. He is passionate about art and science. He not only donates funds to support museums and libraries, but also actively funds scientific research projects. As a collector, he also collects a large number of artworks and books.

But those who know Lionel well know that he collects art not because he likes it, but to please others. After all, pretentiousness is an infectious disease in the upper class, and who can guarantee that a piece of art he collected will not suddenly become the favorite of some big shot one day?

Lionel clinked glasses with Arthur with a smile: "Thanks to you, Arthur, my trip to Frankfurt went smoothly."

Arthur laughed and said, "Lionel, you are too polite. How can the success of the Rothschild family meeting be attributed to me?"

"Of course it's all thanks to you."

Lionel analyzed it to him seriously: "Do you know how much money Rothschild lost during the July Revolution in France? A full 1000 million Dutch guilders! If converted into pounds, that's almost 78 pounds! If it weren't for my father's quick reaction, he spent pounds to exchange a large amount of gold and silver coins from the Bank of England as soon as he learned about the turmoil in Paris, and immediately sent it to Uncle James in Paris, the Rothschild Paris branch would definitely have gone bankrupt.

Your emergency response to the panic in the City of London and the London riots last year was simply perfect. Without your help, London might have been in trouble like the July Revolution in France. If that had happened, even if our London branch had not gone bankrupt, it would have been in a lot of trouble. Now, you are the academic supervisor of the University of Göttingen. I heard that you are doing a good job there. His Majesty the King and the government of the Kingdom of Hanover have a high opinion of you.

You have no idea how scared Uncle Amschel was when the students started the riot on the day of the Frankfurt Garrison incident. He thought that the Frankfurt branch he was in charge of was doomed. After hearing about the Frankfurt incident, Uncle Salomon rode a fast horse from Vienna to Frankfurt overnight and tried to save the remaining property as much as possible. But fortunately, it turned out to be a false alarm.

Although you feel that you are just doing your duty in comforting the students at the University of Göttingen, for Rothschild, you are a great help to my Göttingen students by keeping them stable."

Lionel was not entirely complimenting Arthur when he said this. At the same time, he was also proud of his forward-looking investment vision.

The old guys in the Rothschild family like to pursue the powerful and invest in those powerful bigwigs.

Lionel is different from those old investors who like to chase high prices in the stock market. He is a thorough value investor who likes to discover start-ups and invest in promising unicorns.

And Arthur was the first to break through among the many unicorns invested by Lionel.

You know, when Lionel met Arthur, he was just an ordinary police inspector. If you just threw a brick at Whitehall Street, you would probably kill someone bigger than the inspector.

And now?

Look at his current title and business card!
Sir Arthur Hastings
He has served successively as Detective Sergeant and Chief Inspector of the Greenwich District of the Royal Metropolitan Police under the Home Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Executive Superintendent of Greenwich and Tower Hamlets, Assistant Commissioner of Police of the London Metropolitan Police Force, Director of the London Police Intelligence Bureau, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department, and Principal of the London Police School.

Former Second Secretary at the Foreign Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Legation in the Kingdom of Hanover.

He is currently the Special National Representative of the Kingdom of Hanover to the University of Göttingen and the Academic Dean of the University of Göttingen!
How much would it cost for my father and uncle to be in good terms with the King, the Grand Duke, the Prime Minister and the Cabinet Ministers?

Each one would cost thousands or tens of thousands of pounds!

And how much did it cost Lionel to befriend Arthur?
He simply gave Arthur a 40% discount on his house near Hyde Park and invested 30% of the shares of "The Limey".

If you include the return on his investment in The Limey, Lionel not only didn't spend any money on Arthur, he actually made money from him.

Among the Rothschild family's personal investments, this is the only one that can generate positive returns on paper.

And, most importantly, his relationship with Arthur was based on mutual respect, not the dignity-less dependency relationship between his father and the Duke of Wellington.

When he thought of this, Lionel's smile became brighter. He even half-jokingly said, "Arthur, if our family didn't strictly adhere to Jewish cultural traditions, I would even want to introduce my sister to you. I don't know why, but you are my lucky star."

Disraeli was not happy to hear this. After all, he also wanted to introduce his sister to Arthur. "Please, Lionel, if your father knew you were joking like this, he would definitely punish you when he got home."

Arthur just smiled softly when he heard Lionel's words. "It's not a lucky star, but you always seem to have this kind of good luck. Every time I encounter good things, I will meet you right after."

"Good news?" Lionel raised his eyebrows. He immediately became interested: "What good news?"

"Of course, it's some good things in the secular sense. I don't think it's a good idea to talk about the spiritual world with gentlemen."

"Okay, stop keeping us in suspense. What is it?"

Lionel was intrigued. He already knew that Arthur was going to discuss business with him. In order to show that he was capable of taking over his father's position, he now needed a successful investment to prove himself. But even so, he had to make sure in advance that the business Arthur wanted to discuss was worth investing in.

Arthur smiled and said, "What else could it be? Do you remember what you said to me at the beginning? The 19th century was the century of railways."

(End of this chapter)