Auction

Because of the charitable nature of this auction, it was held at the Palais-Royal. This building was once the property of the Duke of Orleans and was the most important birthplace of the France Revolution. After the Duke of Orleans was beheaded, the palace was nationalized, and later, during Napoleon's First Consulship, it was converted into a theater.

After rounds of hype in the newspapers, the auction finally began.

The first passenger train has a total of 12 passenger carriages. Under normal circumstances, only one of the carriages on a passenger train is a first-class luxury carriage. The remaining eleven carriages include four second-class carriages, five third-class carriages, and two dining cars.

However, it was understood that many wealthy people wanted a seat on this historically significant first passenger train, so the train's carriage configuration was changed. Considering the short journey time, one of the two dining cars was removed, all four second-class carriages were removed, and two third-class carriages were removed, leaving only three. These removed carriages were replaced with luxury carriages. If it weren't for the fact that these three carriages were too close to the locomotive, making it easy for coal smoke to drift in when the windows were open, and also because some elementary and middle school students were to be carried for a show, these three carriages would likely have been removed and replaced with luxury carriages as well.

Logically speaking, with so many carriages and so many tickets, the supply should be sufficient and should meet demand under normal circumstances. However, when the auction began, everyone discovered that the situation was somewhat unexpected. This was because the auction wasn't being conducted ticket by ticket, but rather carriage by carriage.

This isn't really a big deal, and it's even to be expected. There are nine carriages in total, with sixteen seats in each carriage. If they were to photograph each ticket individually, even if the newspapers reported every single ticket buyer's name, who would actually read and remember so many? The advertising effect wouldn't be as prominent. By selling tickets carriage by carriage, there are far fewer buyers, but the amount per transaction is much higher, making the reporting more eye-catching. The advertising effect is thus much better—for both buyers and sellers.

The first carriage to be auctioned was the No. 5 luxury carriage. Once the open bidding began, the competition intensified. Because the No. 5 carriage was so close to the front of the train, there was still a chance of coal smoke drifting in, so its starting price was the lowest among all the luxury carriages. However, the bidding remained fierce, and soon the price reached eight thousand francs.

At that moment, a young man gently raised the sign in his hand. "Ten thousand francs."

"Ten thousand francs? Ten thousand francs is nothing! I..." The president of the wine Federation, Rossel, was about to offer an even higher price, but his assistant gently tugged at his sleeve.

"It's Louis Bonaparte," the assistant whispered.

"What?" Rossel exclaimed in surprise, "You saw it clearly?"

"Yes, it is Louis Bonaparte," the assistant said.

"Ah, then let's not fight him for it," Rossel said. "However, we must get the picture of carriage number six no matter what!"

After Louis raised his paddle for 10,000 francs, no one made a new bid. Even the auctioneer suddenly sped up his bidding.

As is customary in auctions, auctioneers always try to drag out the time as much as possible, giving more people time to make a decision and submit higher bids. Sometimes, they can manage to buy ten minutes between "XX yuan for the first bid" and "XX yuan for the third bid."

But this time, the auctioneer spoke at almost the speed of a weather forecast broadcast on Red Hare Kingdom Central Television, quickly saying "first time, second time, third time," and even while still saying "second time," he had already brought down the gavel.

Next up for auction was carriage number six. This carriage was slightly better than carriage number five, but still not the best. However, the price in this carriage rose rapidly. The starting price of one thousand francs had barely been revealed when many bidders eagerly raised their paddles, and in the blink of an eye, the price had risen to thirty thousand francs, with no sign of slowing down. Louis simply took a sip of his coffee, and when he looked up, he found that the bid had already increased to fifty thousand francs.

"If they knew who was sitting in this carriage, I wonder if they would regret it," Louis couldn't help but think.

Louis knew that these guys, especially Rothschild, who kept bidding, were willing to spend so much money on this carriage because they believed Bonaparte was riding in it. They hoped to use this opportunity to establish a connection with the Bonaparte family. However, he hadn't actually bought the carriage for his own family...

The price continued to rise, quickly reaching 80,000 francs. By this time, most of the bidders had withdrawn, leaving only a few Jews or foreigners still vying for the carriage. In the end, Nathan Rothschild was more willing to spend the money, securing the carriage for 102,000 francs.

Perhaps because so much effort was spent vying for carriage number six, the prices of the later carriages, which were theoretically better, began to drop significantly. By the time they reached the last carriage, Mr. Grandet had managed to buy it for only 20,000 francs.

As soon as the auction ended, apart from Louis who immediately disappeared, the remaining merchants who had successfully bought tickets voluntarily stayed behind to be interviewed by reporters from various newspapers. In the interviews, they all expressed their love for France and their support for charitable causes.

"Mr. Rothschild, as far as I know, you are not France, so why..." a reporter asked Rothschild.

"Ah, sir, you may have made a mistake. Just last month, my application for citizenship was approved by the France immigration authorities. So now, I am a proud France," Nathan Rothschild immediately replied in French with a slight Italy accent. It is said that Nathan Rothschild spent some time perfecting this accent.

"Is that so? Then congratulations!" The reporter quickly asked, "Why did you become a France citizen?"

"That's because France is the most democratic and free country in the world," Rothschild replied. "I am a man who loves freedom; wherever there is freedom, that is my homeland."