The Trap

"Ah, everyone thinks so," Lavoisier replied. "Joseph thinks so too. He told me that the two most profitable businesses in the world today are steel and railways. At least for the time being, they certainly will be. You know, the Britain have invested a lot of money in steel, but it seems that progress is still limited. In this technology, they are far behind us. Even if they can produce something, it can't compare to ours in terms of performance and cost. What's more, we have so much advanced technology that it can't even be written on a single page, hehehe..."

As for railways, the Britain also have the technology because of Mr. Watt. However, because they have to buy rails from us, their construction schedule and costs are all subject to our constraints. They can manage to build some in Britain, but they absolutely cannot compete with us. So, to be honest, all the money I have now has been invested in these two businesses. And these two businesses are indeed constantly bringing me more and more money."

When the topic of making money came up, Lavoisier beamed with joy.

"But the railway isn't being rolled out very quickly these days," Nathan Rothschild said.

"The main hindrance is still steel production," Lavoisier said. "However, the bottleneck in transportation capacity has been broken, and new steel mills have been built. Before long, steel production will see a leap forward, and then the railway construction can proceed even faster. Soon you will see railways everywhere in France."

"I think outside of France, railways should also be a very good investment, such as in Austria and Prussia, or even the New World."

"Probably," Lavoisier said hesitantly. "I'm not very familiar with the situation in those two countries. But Joseph said that the land issue is difficult to resolve when building railways there. You know, the land there belongs to local nobles, unlike in France where nobles are often executed. So building railways there is extremely troublesome."

"However, there are at least a few sections of railway that are well worth building," Nathan Rothschild said. "For example, building a railway from Lubin towards the Oder River would be very worthwhile."

Lubin has a large copper mine, and copper is a very important resource, especially as electrification is developing rapidly, and the demand for copper is constantly increasing.

"I have a lot of business dealings with the guys in Austria. If we can get your support, I think we should be able to solve those troublesome land issues and build that railway."

Lavoisier thought for a moment, then nodded and said, "That is indeed a good deal, but I have no more money to invest."

"Ah, Mr. Lavoisier, money is no problem," said Nathan Rothschild. "Have you forgotten my self-introduction? I own a bank."

"Oh, I haven't forgotten, but I've already borrowed quite a bit from the consortium's banks. A good portion of the money I've made from my investments has gone into the hands of those banks, and frankly, the interest rates they've given me are already very favorable—yes, normally you wouldn't find such low rates all over Paris. But the reason they're willing to lend me money at such low rates is, of course, because they know that my two investments are 100% guaranteed to make money, so although the interest rate is low, there's almost no risk, which is why they're only asking for such a low rate."

However, Mr. Rothschild, as you know, the variables in that Austria deal are much greater than those in the France domestic business, meaning the investment there carries significantly higher risks. Consequently, the loan interest rate will naturally be higher, while the returns are not necessarily higher. In fact, considering the higher interest rates, the returns will likely be even lower. Therefore, although it is a good deal, for the time being, I may not need to invest in it."

Nathan Rothschild paused for a moment, then sighed and said, "You're right, Mr. Lavoisier. However, if you were willing to do me a favor, perhaps, perhaps, we could greatly reduce the risk of this business. Well, of course, I wouldn't ask for your help for nothing... Well, you are Dean Bonaparte's most respected elder, and his wife is your niece. If you could persuade him to invest in this project, well, he wouldn't even need to actually invest any money; I could provide that myself, and Dean Bonaparte would only need to enjoy a share of the profits. All I need is a pretext to put pressure on the Austria government. With that pretext, they will certainly help us resolve the land issue. If you can really help with this, we can also give you a share of the profits free of charge..."

This suggestion immediately intrigued Lavoisier, for it was a business with no upfront investment—even less expensive than other businesses that required no capital. Think about it: when Joseph's brothers went to engage in such ventures, like seeking a generous donation from the Pope, they still needed to lead troops into battle. This business, however, only required a name; it was truly... His heart pounded.

Lavoisier spoke with Rothschild for a while, reaching a general agreement. Then he said to Rothschild, "Mr. Rothschild, you are truly a genius at business. I think Joseph would also be very interested in this deal..."

As the two continued their conversation, the train began to slow down.

"Mr. Lavoisier, Mr. Lavoisier, we've arrived at our stop. Aren't you getting off?" a young man in his twenties called out to Lavoisier.

"Ah, of course I want to get down and take a look. Hmm, wait for me a moment. Don't be in such a hurry. After all, the Peace Palace isn't a train; it doesn't have wheels and it can't run. Hmm, Gauss, don't you think?"

The waiters came up to help the passengers with their luggage, and Rothschild politely bid farewell to Lavoisier and Joseph's students and assistants before returning to his own carriage.

As soon as he got back to his carriage, he couldn't help but excitedly stomp his foot on the floor.

Nathan Rothschild understood that making money in any business without the backing of strong political power was extremely difficult; after all, violence was the guarantee behind all free trade. If you don't have a big stick in your hand, who would want to trade freely with you? Wouldn't outright robbery be much more appealing?

Without violence, there is no exorbitant profit. And in contemporary Europe, is there anything more violent than France, or the Bonaparte Family? By associating with them and having the backing of violence, how far away can exorbitant profits be?

After everyone disembarked, waiters led them to the rest area, since Napoleon had arrived on the second special train. Only after Napoleon arrived and delivered a speech did the trade fair officially begin.

So Lavoisier and Nathan Rothschild got together again and started talking about business; while Gauss, on the other hand, had already skillfully taken out his notebook and started scribbling and drawing on it.

After a while, another train whistle sounded in the distance, and then a train, puffing out smoke, pulled into the station and stopped at the platform.

This was a relatively short train. Apart from the locomotive and the water car, it consisted of only three carriages: the middle one was Napoleon's compartment, while the two side carriages were filled with guards.

Not long ago, the Ministry of Police cracked a conspiracy against the First Consul—a group of Royalist Party who fantasized about restoring their lost paradise attempted to assassinate Napoleon, the invincible great commander of the France people and the golden sun in the hearts of all France people, when Napoleon went to inspect the renovation of the old city. They planted a large amount of explosives along the roadside where Napoleon would travel, intending to assassinate Napoleon first and then rebel and change the regime.

However, the eyes of the people are discerning. Their evil plot had long since attracted the attention of the people of Chaoyang District—no, I mean the people of Saint-Antoine District. After receiving reports from the people, the Ministry of Police attached great importance to the matter, made careful arrangements, and cooperated closely with other departments to arrest most of the counter-revolutionaries in one fell swoop. The few criminals who escaped would certainly not escape the punishment of justice.

According to unreliable sources, Minister of Ministry of Police Mr. Fouché complained to the First Consul that if the Ministry of Truth hadn't come along and tried to steal the credit, alerting the conspirators, none of them would have escaped. Of course, Lucien did not agree with this, instead stating that if they hadn't intervened so urgently, even more would have slipped through the net.

Although the Royalist Party plot was thwarted, these guys certainly wouldn't give up so easily; they would definitely continue to cause trouble. To paraphrase Napoleon's speech at the Council of State: "Trouble, failure, more trouble, more failure... until utter annihilation—this is the basic logic of all feudal remnants, and they will never deviate from this logic!"

Therefore, after this incident, security measures for Napoleon's travels were significantly increased. Although Napoleon was quite resentful of this, even feeling that it separated him from the people, he reportedly complained privately, "I've seen plenty of gunfire; these little tricks of the Royalist Party are nothing! Besides, when I'm with the people, what is there to be unsafe about? I am strongest and safest when I'm with the people!"

Even so, security measures were raised to a higher level. For example, the train that Napoleon was traveling on at this time, although it looked no different from other passenger trains from the outside, was actually much heavier than ordinary carriages because these carriages were almost like armored boxes with thick steel plates on all sides.

Napoleon, escorted by guards, left the carriage. He once again ascended the platform in front of the Free Palace and greeted the merchants from various countries who had come to attend the Second Brazil Trade Fair. He told the merchants that commercial activities facilitated trade, brought about economic development, promoted mutual understanding among peoples of different countries, and enhanced friendship between nations, thereby better guaranteeing peace and development in our time. Therefore, commercial activities themselves are the greatest form of charity.

After delivering a passionate speech, Napoleon declared the Second Paris Trade Fair officially open. As soon as Napoleon finished speaking, more than two thousand pigeons were released, and the crowd erupted in cheers.

Next came various group gymnastics performances and demonstrations of a variety of new technologies.

The theme of this year's Brazil Trade Fair was the Electrical Age, so naturally, all sorts of electrical appliances took center stage. Besides the well-known electric lights, telephones, and telegraphs, Bonaparte General Electric showcased many novel gadgets never seen before, such as a record player and an exceptionally bright arc lamp. Of course, Bonaparte General Electric wasn't the only company on display; many other companies also presented imaginative creations. There was even a small electric car powered by an electric motor driven by lead-acid batteries. Of course, due to limitations in battery technology, this thing couldn't travel very far. However, it still attracted considerable attention during the demonstration.

The inventor of this device claims that it will replace horse-drawn carriages in the near future—at least in cities—because of its huge market potential. He believes it will be very profitable, provided that someone is willing to invest and help him solve some minor technical problems to further improve battery capacity and charging speed.

This is certainly no small matter. Even in later generations, it remains the most critical issue hindering the development of electric vehicles. Joseph knew, of course, that with current technology, solving these two problems was nothing short of wishful thinking.

The problem is that others don't really understand this. So this project might actually attract investment. Then, they could use that investment to set up a company, research the technology, and then declare bankruptcy. Bonaparte General Electric could then buy their research results at a very low price.

In fact, many of the cool things on display today are similar lures. They will indeed be very useful in the future and worth investing money in researching. However, even the richest families don't have surplus grain, and even the Bonaparte family doesn't have the money to promote so many projects at the same time. So, they throw these things out and let those who dream of getting rich invest in their research and development. Then, when the time is right, they let their companies go bankrupt, and a lot of research can be completed at low cost.

Therefore, while encouraging people to engage in the greatest acts of charity, Napoleon also repeatedly reminded everyone, "Business is risky, and investment requires caution."

However, such a reminder is certainly useless. Of course, if such a reminder were useful, Joseph probably wouldn't have allowed Napoleon to pretend to be such a good person.

In fact, besides these minor matters, Joseph and Napoleon have recently been discussing the idea of allowing foreign investment in railway construction in France. This idea was proposed by the banker, Mr. Bovan, and can be described as a brilliant concept.

According to this concept, the Military-Industrial Consortium first hyped up the railway industry, making people believe that building railways was extremely profitable, a case of "where the train whistles, gold pours in." After all, the railways and their major users, especially freight railways, were all companies within the consortium. Since they had cross-shareholdings, they could easily use tricks like lowering user profits to increase the railway system's profits. For the major shareholders, it was simply a matter of moving money from one pocket to another. As for the minority shareholders—who cares?

In this way, the various financial statements of railway companies will look incredibly good. With the opening up of railway investment to foreign capital, by this time, the lines that can quickly make money and the most valuable lines have basically been acquired by consortia. The remaining lines are mostly built to tell stories on the stock market and are not particularly profitable, or even profitable at all if it weren't for the sufficiently strong freight rates.

Then, once these guys have finished building the railways, the consortium can proactively lower freight prices to benefit the public, directly driving those foreign-built railways into bankruptcy. Then, they can acquire all these railways at incredibly low prices. Considering the use of financial means, acquiring these railways might not even require the Military-Industrial Consortium to actually spend any money. They could even have the foreigners build the railways, hand them over, and then owe the Military-Industrial Consortium.

Such a plan, once proposed, naturally received immediate support from the Bonaparte brothers, with Joseph even applauding this ingenious idea. After careful analysis and discussion, everyone agreed that the plan was highly feasible, well worth trying, had a very high chance of success, and would yield enormous profits. This plan even somewhat shook Napoleon's confidence in his ability to conduct business without capital. Moreover, on the surface, the plan fully embodied the spirit of France open free trade, and could even be used as an opportunity to demand that other countries open their markets to France on an equal footing.

Of course, after praising the idea, both Napoleon and Joseph gave Lucien essentially the same order, "Keep an eye on this guy, and make sure he doesn't betray us!"

In fact, this kind of operation has indeed occurred in later history. For example, during the peak of the Lighthouse Country, most of its 400,000 kilometers of railways were built with Europe capital investment through similar methods. And the first billionaire in the history of the Lighthouse Country, railway tycoon Vanderbilt, also made his fortune through similar means.

France has become Lighthouse Country in this era, so how can we not learn from the advanced experiences of another Lighthouse Country in another time and space?

Preparing traps for these guys to fall into is also an important mission of this trade fair.

Since it's difficult to break the chapters into separate sections, I've combined them into one long chapter of 5,000 words.