I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 609 Aftermath
Southeast London.

A black carriage stopped outside the King's private castle, Windsor Castle. Little Pitt got out of the car with a stern expression. He looked up at the gray-white castle in front of him and couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Now, he must obtain the support of His Majesty the King, otherwise it will be difficult to overcome this crisis.

Yes, the London gaslighting issue had become a serious political crisis.

At first, Pitt the Younger thought that he had only lost a few hundred thousand pounds, but he soon learned that a large number of companies in London had closed down, thousands of workers had lost their jobs, and violent clashes had taken place in the City Hall.

Until this point, he still didn't realize the seriousness of the matter.

As a result, last Thursday, a run broke out on Manor Investment Bank and Lloyds Bank in London - these two banks had provided huge loans to subcontractors of the gas streetlight project, and there is a high probability that these money will never be recovered.

When the Londoners heard the news, they were worried that the two banks would go bankrupt, just like the large number of companies that had recently gone bankrupt, so they rushed to the banks to withdraw their money.

Manor Investment Bank could no longer hold on after just two days and announced that it would temporarily suspend withdrawals. This caused even greater panic among depositors - it seemed that the bank really had no money! The number of people coming to withdraw money suddenly increased several times.

This is the leverage effect of finance. A bank with a capital of millions of pounds can break its entire capital chain and go bankrupt because of bad debts of less than 100,000 pounds.

Soon, the bank run showed signs of spreading to other banks - all banks that had financial transactions with the gas streetlight project became targets of public suspicion - and Little Pete finally could no longer sit still.

Although the Whigs had not yet taken advantage of this incident, Pitt the Younger was well aware that they were looking for an opportunity to deal him a fatal blow.

In fact, according to the current situation, banks will soon face widespread problems. By then, even if the opposition does nothing, they will have to leave No. 10 Downing Street.

Sir Stuart, dressed in a black suit, came out from the castle. When little Pete saw his handsome face, he felt much more at ease.

"His Majesty is waiting for you." Sir Stewart bowed and gestured to his side, "Please follow me."

After entering the castle gate and walking along the corridor, Sir Stuart took advantage of the fact that the entourage behind him was not paying attention, reached out and held Little Peter's hand, gently squeezed it twice, and whispered: "Don't be nervous, I have mentioned this to His Majesty, and his reaction was relatively calm. He has been paying attention to North American affairs recently, but don't mention Ireland...

"Oh, His Majesty's condition has stabilized recently. You can chat with him for a while."

Little Pete held his hand with his backhand, rubbed it on his forehead, and the feeling of security became even stronger.

He looked up at Sir Stuart, his eyes full of dependence and gratitude, and the latter nodded slightly to him.

Neither of them said anything else, but they both understood each other's meaning tacitly.

Yes, they are a secret couple.

The fact that Pitt the Younger was favored by George III was inseparable from the strong support of Stuart, the king's secretary.

Soon, Stuart pushed open the door of the king's office and said to the inside: "Your Majesty, Mr. Pitt is here."

"Oh, come in." A hoarse voice came from behind the table.

When Little Pitt looked up, he saw George III leaning back in a chair, wearing a "hospital gown" made of thick white linen, with a stubble all over his face, marks from bruises on his face and neck, and looking quite tired, obviously having just undergone treatment.

He hurried forward and bowed, "Your Majesty."

George III waved his hand and gestured to the chair on the left: "Sit down. Are you here for the London gas streetlight issue?" "Yes, Your Majesty."

"So, what are your plans?"

"Some banks are affected now, so it's going to be a bit tricky..." Little Pete then recounted the story of the bank run.

George III sighed: "Therefore, there must be a sum of money to deal with depositors, and the first bankrupt bank must not appear."

As long as the banks can hold on, in a month or two at most, people will regain confidence in the banks and the bank runs will stop.

But if a bank collapses, panic will spread quickly, increasing bank runs, and who knows how many more banks will go bankrupt.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Little Pete nodded, "At least 70 pounds."

"Have you thought of a solution?" The king knew that the prime minister was not asking him for money because he didn't have much money.

Little Pitt hesitated for a moment and said, "Henry Hope, the Dutch banker, has been wanted in Vienna. He is still in London.

"If we hand him over to His Majesty Leopold II, it will greatly promote the relationship between our two countries."

George III stroked his beard and said calmly, "You can do whatever is beneficial to diplomacy. But I remember that he took out a sum of money to implement his plan. Is the remaining property enough for 70 pounds?"

"It's probably not enough. But the Dutch investor who came with him, Van Kiewicz, was also involved in that trade plan. We can treat him as an accomplice."

George III nodded slightly: "Now that we have the funds, how are you going to solve other problems?"

"Last week, we found the body of the owner of the Commercial Credit Bank," said Little Pete. "He committed suicide and left a suicide note saying that he wanted to expand the bank's business through the gas streetlight project, but encountered technical difficulties, which prevented the project from being delivered.

"After he exhausted the funds he raised, he was no longer able to maintain the project and chose to commit suicide."

George III sneered: "Oh, do you believe it?"

"I..." Little Peter thought for a moment, looked at the king and said, "We should choose to believe."

If the British government accepts the statement in the suicide note, then the mastermind behind the whole thing will be arrested first. Although he is dead, the public's emotions will at least have an outlet. This is far better than letting the criminal go unpunished. In that case, someone will still bring up the case more than a decade later.

Secondly, the defrauded funds had been put to use - they were all used by Goldmid on the streetlight project. Although the cost was inexplicably high, the gap no longer needed to be filled.

Seeing the king nod, Little Peter breathed a sigh of relief and continued, "The government will file a lawsuit against London Mayor Herbert and the officials involved in the gas street lamps..."

George III interrupted him and said, "Don't do that. Herbert was just deceived by the liars, just like everyone in the world makes mistakes. Just remove him from office."

Little Pete immediately understood the king's intention.

The fact that the project was given to Lightning Company almost certainly came from a bribery by Herbert. If corruption is discovered later, the public will be even more angry about the gas streetlight project.

(End of this chapter)