I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 880 The joys and sorrows of life come too suddenly

Outside the "Cloud Café" two streets away from the headquarters of the French Central Bank, two women wearing coarse cloth long skirts and looking anxious were jogging while holding small cloth bags tightly in their arms.

The woman on the left looked up and saw two long lines outside the bank that were as long as the Seine River. She immediately pulled her neighbor and said with a gasp:
"Oh, Holy Mary! There are so many people... I told Paul a week ago that I wanted to come and exchange gold, but he didn't listen..."

The shorter woman looked even more worried:
"We have to hurry, Mrs. Colamo. I heard from Mr. Dufort that there is not much gold left in the bank..."

"My grandfather always told me how terrible the Mississippi incident was, but I didn't quite believe it. Now we may have to experience the same disaster!"

"I brought three days' worth of food and water. No matter how long I have to wait, I must exchange these banknotes..."

The two ran past the café and happened to hear someone inside shouting:

"The franc is finished! In a week at most, these pieces of paper will only be used to paste on the wall, and our government can't do anything about it!"

Mrs. Colamo turned around and saw a man in a black coat and a felt hat pulled low, standing on a table, waving a cane and giving a speech.

"France is waging an unnecessary war against the armies of more than a dozen countries including England, Portugal and the Netherlands. The terrible military expenditures have devoured all our tax revenues. And the king is fooling us with those scraps of paper!
"Just wait and see. Soon there will be nothing left to buy at Waste Paper. Then we will have to move flour from the Palace of Versailles to fill our stomachs..."

After turning the corner, Mrs. Colamo finally saw the end of the line of people coming to exchange gold.

She rushed over, pushed aside a young man who was also running over, and took the seat.

She looked up at the endless procession and shook her head to her neighbor behind her, "Mrs. Legai, there must be thousands of people..."

The latter pointed to a place not far to the side and said: "Look at those tents. They must have been lined up here for several days."

"God bless me, at least let me exchange half of my paper money for gold."

A middle-aged man in the front line turned around and sighed:

"I heard that even the Count of Provence exchanged millions of his fortune for gold... I'm afraid the situation is not optimistic."

As the three were talking, they saw several carriages rushing past and stopped at the side door of the French Reserve Bank.

That is the "VIP channel" and only business worth more than 5 francs can be handled there, so there is no need to queue.

The door of the carriage opened, and a dozen guards armed with sticks came down and surrounded the carriage.

Then servants carried large suitcases into the bank.

The middle-aged man in front of Mrs. Colamo said angrily:
"Damn rich people. How much money can be put in those boxes? I'm afraid there must be hundreds of thousands of francs..."

In the luxurious building across the street from the French Reserve Bank, Lord McGovern watched his men carry the cash boxes into the bank through the floor-to-ceiling windows and took a sip of the wine in his hand with satisfaction.

"Ten million francs." He waved his fist vigorously, with a smug smile on his face, "This will be my last blow to the French!"

Bruni had reported to him yesterday that the French central bank's gold reserves would not exceed 8 ounces.

In other words, he would soon be able to enjoy the wonderful scene of the French Reserve Bank officials embarrassingly announcing the suspension of gold exchange, and then the thousands of people in front of them fell into panic and chaos.

Nearly 100 journalists from more than a dozen countries were ready to go and interview the French central bank once it was “broken”. The press release about the “collapse of the franc system” was written a few days ago.

McGovern was convinced that this classic financial battle would be something he could boast about for the rest of his life.

Mr. Wilberforce would most likely arrange a high-ranking position for him in the Treasury. At this moment, another seven "jewel V"-shaped carriages stopped in front of the "VIP channel". Two men in luxurious clothes got out of the front carriage and were welcomed in by the bank manager.

McGovern raised his eyebrows. He was sure that those two were not the ones he arranged.

There were enough banknotes to fill seven carriages. It seemed that even if he didn't have the 7 million today, the Bank of France would most likely not be able to hold on.

Just as he finished his second glass of wine, the crowd outside the French Reserve Bank suddenly began to stir, making a noisy "buzzing" sound.

McGovern laughed.

This must mean that the French central bank’s gold reserves have been exhausted!
But he was soon a little surprised. Those who were queuing up to exchange gold did not rush into the bank cursing, but continued to maintain their formation.

“Parisians really love order,” he said with a smile. “Or maybe I should send someone to tell them there aren’t many police around here.”

At this moment, the door was suddenly pushed open with a bang.

McGovern turned around unhappily and saw his French "advisor" Bruni rushing in.

"I know you may be excited, but please maintain proper etiquette at all times..."

"Something's happened!" Bruni interrupted him rudely, his face pale, "Parma just announced that it would buy 1 million francs of banknotes."

He walked to the French window and pointed at the seven carriages outside: "They are all loaded with Ducat gold coins!"

McGovern was stunned for a moment, then he pulled the French consultant away and saw four strong men in the distance carrying a small box into the bank with a thick wooden bar.

Judging from the postures of those people, the box was very heavy.

Only gold can have such a high density...

"Damn, are these Parma bastards crazy?!" He growled, then turned to look at Bruni, "It doesn't matter, it's only 1 million.

"Please help me get in touch with a lender immediately. I can pledge the gold.

"As long as I get another 1 million banknotes, I can eliminate the influence brought by the Palma people! Quick!"

This time Bruni was very efficient. Just after noon, two private capitals met with McGovern's men and provided him with the required loan at an interest rate of 5% for 19 months.

Of course, McGovern had no idea that both the previous banker Lemoine and today's lenders were arranged for him by the French government.

The next day, before McGovern could load the newly acquired 1 million francs onto the carriage, another convoy arrived at the VIP passage of the French Reserve Bank.

Lord McGovern suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

Then he saw people leaving the two long lines outside the bank.

Bruni arrived as promised, but he did not push the door hard like he did yesterday. Instead, he opened the door a crack and slowly came in, saying in a hoarse voice, "Your Excellency, you probably saw those cars. They are Genoese. They brought 155 million Genovinos, and they want to exchange them all for francs."

The Genovino is the official gold coin of Genoa.

155 million Genovinos is equivalent to 1 million francs.

(End of this chapter)