I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 879 Gambler
Bruni smiled politely and said:
"Your Excellency, as you know, according to the original agreement, my job does not include liaising for loans."

He was a senior banking executive in Paris with close links in London, but his commissions were far from enough to guarantee loans of tens of millions of francs for the British.

McGovern said without hesitation: "Twenty thousand francs. You will receive a commission of twenty thousand francs when the matter is completed."

For the great victory that was about to happen, he no longer took the huge sum of 20,000 francs seriously.

Bruni immediately bowed slightly: "I can help you make the connection, sir. But the specific loan negotiations will have to be done by you yourself."

The next morning, a wrinkled banker wearing an elaborate wig met the British in the office of the Seine Silk Trading Company in Paris.

Yes, this company is the white glove for Britain to carry out various financial operations in Paris.

"Mr. Lemoine, that's about it." McGovern's confidant Danny Gray gestured to the warehouse, "For the sake of my company, I hope you can provide this money."

Banker Lemoine nodded and said, “Mr. Gray, with all due respect, your company is obviously not worth 400 million francs.

"You need this huge sum of money so urgently, you must provide sufficient collateral."

"A bill of exchange will be sent from London in a week. You can obtain ownership of the bill of exchange in advance through agreement..."

Lemoine shook his head firmly but politely: "I'm sorry, Mr. Gray, the amount is too large. I dare not take even the slightest risk.

"If there is no collateral, we can go through normal financial procedures and after a detailed inspection of your assets and company situation, decide whether to provide a loan."

"No, it's definitely too late..."

Under the normal loan process, if you want to get 400 million, the procedures will take at least two months.

Gray knew his boss didn't want to wait even a day.

Lemoin straightened his clothes and stood up: "I'm sorry, sir..."

"Please wait a moment."

Gray steadied the banker, turned around and went upstairs, where he told McGovern the lender's requirements in an office.

The latter sighed and finally nodded: "Tell him that we can mortgage the gold."

He had previously used the franc banknotes he had obtained from the southern German states to exchange nearly 4 million francs of gold from the French Reserve Bank, which was now kept in the warehouses of the Paris Seine Silk Trading Company and several other white glove companies.

But he did not want to expose his behavior of exchanging gold from the French Reserve Bank. If he was targeted by the French financial police, it would cause trouble for his subsequent short-selling operations.

However, he was also very clear that there were not many people who could come up with millions of francs at once, and he did not have much room for bargaining.

After a while, Gray returned downstairs and said to the banker: "Gold. I can mortgage gold."

Lemoyne smiled and sat down again: "If your collateral is sufficient, I promise to deliver 400 million francs to your company within two days."

Gray added, "But we must sign an agreement. Before the loan repayment period is reached, the gold must be kept in the place I specify. Of course, you can send someone to keep an eye on the collateral."

He was doing his best to ensure that Lemoyne's bank would not leak information about the gold.

“This…” The banker hesitated and nodded, “Okay, I can accept this condition.

"Then we can talk about interest now."

Gray said: "I only need to borrow money for 5 months, and if everything goes well, I can pay it back in 3 months."

Lemoine nodded again: "Okay, 5 months, 18% interest."

"That's too high!" Lemoine smiled confidently, "Believe me, anyone who can provide you with 400 million francs in two days will not offer a lower interest rate."

Gray went upstairs again to consult Lord McGovern, then returned to the office and signed the loan agreement with Le Moyne.

For most of the next day, Gray met with two other lenders and obtained loans of 300 million and 270 million francs from them respectively, using gold as collateral.

The interest rate is also as high as 18%.

But McGovern didn't mind the lower interest rate.

Once he successfully penetrates the gold reserves of the French Reserve Bank, the franc will inevitably depreciate sharply.

At that time, he would be able to exchange the gold in his hands for several times or even dozens of times the franc, and repaying the loan interest would be a piece of cake.

At the same time, you can make a lot of money.

Mr. Wilberforce promised him 5% of the proceeds of the operation.

Become rich overnight and enter the upper class society!

The next day, McGovern's loans arrived one after another, totaling 970 million francs.

He immediately asked Gray to distribute the money and exchange it for gold at the French Reserve Bank.

After the huge amount of money was invested, the effect was immediate.

Three days later, Bruni brought him good news that excited him: "Your Lordship, do you know who appeared at the French Reserve today?
“He is the French king’s younger brother and the butler of the Count of Provence.

"I learned from my friends at the French Reserve Bank that the Count of Provence had submitted an application to the French Reserve Bank to exchange gold worth 500 million francs.

"It is said that the Reserve Bank of France has been affected by this huge application and decided to suspend gold exchange business for the morning tomorrow."

McGovern waved his hand gracefully and ordered, "Get the word out immediately."

"As you wish, sir."

Bruni was about to turn around, but suddenly stopped: "By the way, there is one more thing, sir.

"Journalists from Holland, Prussia, and Saxony have suggested that they need to increase their expenses to come to Paris because of the war. In particular, two newspapers in Saxony hope to receive 3 florins."

McGovern was in a good mood and nodded immediately, saying, "Since this is a banquet to celebrate my great victory, why not let the guests enjoy themselves? Tell them that as long as the news here is transmitted back to the country as quickly as possible, the cost is not a problem."

Yes, in order to deal the greatest blow to France's finances, he invited journalists from European countries to Paris more than half a month ago so that the whole world could be the first to know the news of the "collapse of the French gold standard system."

However, France's finances proved more resilient than he expected.

Until a week later, the French central bank still insisted on exchanging gold for depositors.

McGovern was sure that the bank vaults were absolutely empty, but those damn French people just wouldn't take their last breath.

Fortunately, the £80 specially approved by Mr. Wilberforce arrived.

Like a gambler driven to despair, McGovern exchanged all the money for franc notes without hesitation.

Because the amount was so large and he needed it urgently, he had to pay those unscrupulous French private banks a handling fee of up to 7%.

(End of this chapter)