French Empire: But Napoleon IV

Chapter 117 The Difficult Road to Obtaining a Loan (Seeking first subscription, collection, and continued reading)

"Your Highness, these are our terms."

Although Eugène emerged as the ultimate victor in this Parisian civil war, the Rothschilds were not intimidated by the Republic, so why would they fear Eugène, the winner?

The Rothschild family is considered by later generations to be one of the most powerful families in Europe, and indeed it is. Today, the Rothschild family holds a leading position in the banking industry in Britain and France.

As early as the late 19th century, they had become one of the most prominent large families in Europe, excluding those powerful royal families.

Even if Eugène went mad today and killed him, the Rothschild family still has branches in England, Switzerland, and other countries.

In the eyes of Jewish bankers who value money more than life, Alphonse Rothschild would not compromise with Eugène for the sake of his own safety.

"The two hundred million francs that Your Highness wants is no small sum. To be honest, I hope to see Your Highness provide a more concrete plan. My family and I need clearer guarantees."

While Alphonse wasn't afraid of death, he wouldn't seek it out for no reason. So, after smoothing things over, the head of the French Rothschilds began explaining their terms to Eugène.

Regarding the loan amount and payment method, the Rothschild family could meet Eugène's requirement of a total of 200 million francs.

However, they want to pay in three installments. The first installment will be 60 million francs, which will arrive within three days of signing the contract. The second installment will also be 60 million francs, just like the first.

The money will arrive in your account 15 days after the medicine is signed, and the last payment of eight-handed francs will arrive in your account 30 days after the medicine is signed.

To put it simply, Rothschild's investment in Eugène personally, after evaluation, was valued at 6000 million francs.

The memory of Eugène deceiving Fuld and others into taking out loans was still fresh in everyone's mind. Even though everyone understood that Eugène had taken advantage of the Republicans, they couldn't help but feel a sense of shared vulnerability.

With the unrest of the Republican Party within France and the looming threat of Prussia from the outside, the Rothschild family could not possibly come up with 2 million francs all at once.

When Eugène Napoleon falls from power, who will they turn to? All the Napoleon family's overseas assets won't be enough to compensate them for 2 million francs.

Therefore, the first 6000 million francs was essentially obtained by manipulating credit, while the subsequent two payments depended on Eugene's performance.

Fifteen days is enough time for the French and Prussian troops to clash on the front lines. If they collapse at the first sign of trouble, the second loan will definitely be lost. If they hold out, then there will be a second loan.

As for the third one, 30 days is enough time for a major campaign to be carried out.

In short, the situation will either take a sharp turn for the worse or clear up completely, at which point the 8000 million francs will have a clear destination.

Just as Eugène was observing Alphonse Rothschild, Alphonse Rothschild was also observing Eugène, who did not react much to Eugène's observation.

Having subtly confirmed that Eugène's mental fortitude was better than his father's, Alphonse moved on to proposing the next condition.

That brings us to the issue of loan interest rates and repayment methods. The situation remains unclear, but all investments carry risks, and Alphonse is willing to take that risk, but he also hopes to reap a high return in return.

Feeling that he had taken on the risk of losing everything, Alphonse demanded an annual interest rate of 6% from Eugène, with the government paying interest quarterly, and the principal to be repaid starting from the third year.

In total, the debt can be repaid in eight years. This is not because the Rothschild family is generous; they would rather the government pay for it for a longer period so that they can collect more of the high annual interest.

Of course, the interest must be collected, so there is a note at the end of the clause stating that if the government fails to pay the interest on time, Alphonse demands that the Rothschild family have the right to freeze all payment operations of the Bank of France.

A loan of 2 million francs, which is essentially a disguised form of usury, cannot possibly be without collateral.

Alphonse demanded that the tax revenue of the city of Paris over the next five years serve as the first guarantee, followed by government bonds held by the Bank of France as the second guarantee, and real estate under the Bonaparte family's name as the third guarantee.

This was actually mainly to prepare for having a place to collect debts after the empire collapsed.

Eugène laundered the money from the loans made by bankers who had been proven to have supported Republican rebellion.

While the Rothschild family lent money to Eugène, even if the empire were overthrown, the succeeding republic would not have the same audacity as Eugène to default on the banker's loan.

Just to be on the safe side, Alphonse added an extra layer of insurance: the 2 million loan they discussed throughout the meeting was obtained under the guise of defending against external enemies.

Even if the Republic really had the guts to commit suicide and sever ties with the international financial market, it wouldn't be able to repay the debts owed to the Rothschild family.

There's also a third guarantor; relying on the assets under the Bonaparte family's name, the Rothschild family can also recover a significant amount of money.

Eugene wasn't surprised by any of the above terms; they were all fairly common and negotiable. However, the last term was somewhat unexpected.

Alphonse hopes the new government will establish a "special financial court" within a month to prosecute arrested Republican bankers, such as Senucci, Edward Cohen, Joseph de Leonard, Fuld, Milabo, and other major bankers.

They were all tried and their assets, as well as the proceeds from those assets, were confiscated.

Yes, the Rothschild family supported the government's seizure of the assets of their own Jewish compatriots, which briefly surprised Eugène.

However, after realizing what had happened, Eugène sighed at the cold-bloodedness of Jewish bankers, who truly prioritized profit above all else.

Seeing their compatriots captured, the remaining Jewish bankers were like vultures seeing a corpse, eager to immediately divide it up.

Eugène could meet Alphonse's request, or rather, he intended to do so anyway. By seizing the bankers' assets, aside from a portion of the funds that could not be moved and were to be used for basic currency exchange guarantees, the government could profit at least several hundred million francs.

However, confiscating property is a very complicated process, requiring the calculation of their assets and investigation.

This cannot be accomplished in a short time, which is why Eugene still needed to borrow money from others even though he had a mountain of gold.

Aside from the condition that Eugène could agree to after a little hesitation, there were several clauses that Eugène could not agree to, which, through Alphonse's narration, reached Eugène's ears.