Nowhere to turn

"Oh?" Joseph looked at Fouche and asked, "Do you know who's looking for Necker?"

"That's not certain yet. 💀☺ 🎃☝ However, our informant at Clasney Bank reports that the bank has recalled all its commercial Spy, presumably for another important mission. Meanwhile, news has come from Paris Bank that they are hiring a large number of private investigators."

"As expected, he's from the banking industry." Joseph nodded slightly. It seemed that Calonne was right. There must be a lot of shady dealings between Necker and the major banks, which was why these people wanted to find him before the government.

He tapped lightly on the armrest of his chair, feeling somewhat puzzled. As a representative of a major bank and a high-ranking member of the Banking Guild, Necker should have immediately sought help from the banking industry when things went wrong, but instead, he chose to hide himself at the first opportunity.

Then there's only one possibility— Necker doesn't trust the people at the Banking Guild.

That's understandable. Necker is Swiss people and doesn't have deep roots in France. Now that things have gone wrong, he can't be sure that the France bankers won't silence him to prevent leaks.

With this in mind, Joseph became even more certain of his idea to mobilize the Secret Police to search house to house, and even to mobilize the army—he had to find Necker before the Banking Guild!

Joseph gave Fouche further instructions, urging him to intensify the search, before heading directly to the Versailles Palace to discuss with Brienne and Robert of the Secret Police the possibility of launching a massive manhunt throughout Paris.

In the carriage, Clementine looked at the Crown Prince, whose expression was serious and whose brows were slightly furrowed, and cautiously asked, "Cousin, is something bothering you? Tell me about it; many things don't feel so bad when you talk about them."

Joseph sighed and casually asked, "Clementine, if you wanted to find a missing person, how would you do it?"

The little girl thought for a moment, then said seriously, "Well, I'll first ask his friends or Servant where he might have gone, and then..."

Joseph was stunned by these words, realizing that he had overlooked something very important—the people in the Banking Guild knew Necker far better than he did!

Even Necker's subordinates might have been recommended to him by a major bank.

With these people close to Necker providing clues, even if he mobilized more people, it would be difficult to guarantee gaining the upper hand...

What should we do?

Clementine talked to herself for a while, but seeing her cousin's brow furrow even deeper, she quickly comforted him, "Is one of your friends missing? Actually, you don't need to worry too much. Perhaps he just has something to do and will come back on his own in a while."

Joseph forced a smile at her, "Thank you for your comfort, but that person won't appear on their own..."

Etc!

He was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly felt like he had grasped something.

Since they can't compete with the Banking Guild in finding people, why not let Necker show up himself?

Just like the ancient siege warfare, when besieging a city, one must surround three sides and leave one side open, so that the enemy will inevitably flee to the unsurrounded side.

If all of Necker's other paths can be blocked, then he will only be able to take the path he himself has left for him to survive!

Joseph carefully refined this idea, and a plan of encircling three sides and leaving one side open gradually emerged in his mind.

He thanked Clementine sincerely, "You are absolutely an expert at finding people, thank you so much!"

The little girl blushed with pride after being praised, took out a Vanilla Peppermint Candy and popped it into her mouth as a reward, then gave one to her cousin.

The Carriage stopped in the Marble Square at the Versailles Palace, and Joseph alighted and went straight to the Office of the Minister of Finance.

The most crucial part of this "surrounding three sides and leaving one open" plan is the "leaving one open," and the difficulty lies in the fact that it requires the Queen's cooperation.

Before long, Minister of the Interior Mono and Minister of Justice Breteuil gathered in Brienne's office, both looking at Joseph with surprise.

"Your Crown Prince, I don't quite understand. Shouldn't we be focusing all our efforts on capturing Necker right now?"

"But why did you withdraw the arrest warrant and even have Her Majesty the Queen grant him a pardon?"

These individuals, as part of Joseph's political inner circle in the Cabinet, had naturally all heard about Calonne's exposé of Necker's corruption.

Joseph looked around at the group and said, "When a person faces certain death, if they see a glimmer of hope for survival, they will choose that path without hesitation. I want to make the Royal House Necker's only way out."

Breteuil immediately said, "Your Highness, Necker's crime of embezzlement is so serious that he should be given a strict trial. It would be inappropriate to pardon him."

Joseph said, "Necker himself is not important; what I want is what he knows!"

"As for a pardon, well, His Majesty the King has pardoned him, but if anyone else wants to punish him, we can't interfere."

Brienne looked at Joseph: "Your Highness, what exactly does Necker know?"

"This could very well involve hundreds of millions of Livre in government debt!"

The room fell silent instantly.

In the afternoon, several Cabinet Minister, accompanied by a large group of prominent Nobility, arrived at the Petit Trianon to persuade Queen Mary to waive the trial of Necker and to promise that he would not be sentenced to death or even imprisoned for a long period of time.

The Queen had previously read Brienne's report on Necker's corruption. Although she didn't understand the behavior of the ministers and Nobility, she couldn't resist being swayed by their words.

After everyone offered advice such as "showing the Royal House's tolerance and benevolence," "demonstrating His Majesty's compassion for his ministers," "recovering the embezzled funds is of utmost importance," and "giving the former ministers a chance to reform," Queen Mary found it all quite reasonable and thus agreed in a daze.

The following morning, Queen Mary publicly announced in front of a large number of Nobility and reporters that Necker would be treated leniently, and showed them the documents signed by the King.

At the same time, several Pamphlets began to circulate wildly in Paris.

The Pamphlets mostly contained the usual Nobility erotic stories, but each one included a note: someone had offered Livre for Jacques Necker's head. Even providing information would earn 100,000.

Then, the Paris underworld offered an even more astonishing price: 180,000 for the dead Necker and 120,000 for the information.

On that day, the front pages of major Paris newspapers were filled with headlines such as "Necker may be involved in corruption; the Royal House decides to exempt him from severe punishment," while the bottom half read, "Unknown forces offer a huge bounty to kill Necker."

Meanwhile, the Secret Police and the Police Intelligence Division received new orders to transfer a large number of Necker to the outskirts of Paris to completely surround the Paris and prevent Necker from escaping.

The following day, the mysterious force raised the bounty on Necker to 200,000.

Meanwhile, various newspapers and Pamphlets obtained the news through different channels and began to seriously analyze who wanted Necker dead.

Of course, under Joseph's deliberate guidance, all the articles unanimously pointed to the Banking Guild.

In an inconspicuous house on the north side of Paris, Necker's butler Aironk, carefully observed the street through the gap in the curtains for a while, and only after confirming that there were no suspicious people did he bring a tray of food into the Bedroom.

He closed the door, then turned the bedside table and dressing table, making a slight "click" sound from behind the wardrobe.

Aironk lifted the floorboards behind the wardrobe, bent down, and stepped into the exposed square entrance.

In the dim candlelight on the second basement floor, Necker, looking haggard, took the tray, first distributing the food to his wife and two children, then skipping lunch for himself and grabbing the newspaper from the tray.

It was the 《Paris News》. He only glanced at the article on the front page before his heart tightened.

Although not explicitly stated in the text, it implies that the 200,000 Livre on his life belongs to a banking giant, and that their credibility is absolutely reliable; even if the person who killed him dies, the bounty will be delivered to his family.

"These Devil- possessed bastards!"

Necker suppressed his voice and slammed the newspaper to the ground.

The 《Paris News》 is the newspaper of the Duke of Orléans, who is one of the tycoons behind the Banking Guild.

Even his newspaper said so, which means he wants to die without leaving any room for negotiation.

These guys, I helped them make so much money, and they abandoned me without hesitation when things went wrong!

Little did he know that the 《Paris News》 had been rejected by the News and Publication Bureau for various reasons, making it impossible to publish.

The 《Paris News》 newspapers currently on the market are all produced by Joseph's Paris Business Daily Newspaper Office and then handed over to newsboys for sale.

As for copyright infringement? Ha! Once the Necker affair is over, let the * 《Paris News》 * Newspaper Office sue them in court. At most, they'll pay ten times their losses. Do you think they can shut down the Crown Prince's Newspaper Office?

Necker picked up the Pamphlets the butler had brought and was shocked to see that the bounty had increased again, reaching a terrifying Livre.

He knew all too well what that number meant.

Not to mention the entire Paris underworld would go crazy for it, even an ordinary citizen would instantly turn into the most cold-blooded murderer upon seeing this amount!

This also means that no one he meets can be trusted anymore. He must never contact those who arranged his escape again; the 300,000 Livre will make them betray him at any time.

It's important to understand that although he had tens of millions in assets, the vast majority of them were deposited in anonymous accounts in various banks, mostly foreign banks. He himself only had 2,000 Ecu Gold Coin —he simply couldn't carry much heavy cash with him.

Therefore, he was completely powerless to bribe those greedy individuals who wanted the bounty.

And even if he could come up with a large sum of money, he wouldn't dare gamble—who knows if those guys would take his money and then turn around and cut off his head for 300,000 Livre.

That's 300,000 after all!

Credit and morality become a joke in the face of this huge sum of money.

Madame Necker looked at the newspaper in her husband's hand and asked in a trembling voice, "Darling, shall we leave again tomorrow?"

Suddenly, Necker grabbed her arm and yelled, "Get out! All you ever think about is running away! Are you trying to get us killed?!"

He pointed towards the basement entrance. "I swear, before I even get on the Carriage, that coachman will stab me twice in the back! It's over, everything's over..."

He slumped onto the bed, his eyes glancing at the open newspaper, which contained a news item he had seen yesterday— the Queen publicly announced that she would spare his life and that he would not even be sentenced to more than five years in prison.

The newspaper also speculated that if Necker handed over the embezzled funds and paid some fines, he would likely be sentenced to exile.

He began to struggle violently within himself. After a long while, he suddenly stood up from the bed, his eyes filled with hatred.

Since those people in the Banking Guild want me dead, then don't blame me for cooperating with the French Royal Family!

That night, the butler Aironk, quietly disappeared into the night...

About an hour later, hundreds of Police Intelligence Division and Secret Police officers surrounded the cabin where Necker was hiding.

Fouche personally led his men inside, only to find that the hidden basement was completely deserted.

Just as he was becoming extremely anxious, several of his men ran in and reported that Necker had been captured.

"Where did you catch him?" Fouche asked, glancing at the empty basement.

"He crawled out of the Sewer System on the street himself."

Little Fouche know that the 300,000 bounty had made Necker distrust even his most trusted butler, fearing he might bring back assassins. So Necker left the house early and hid.

Fouche had finally completed his mission and immediately escorted Necker to the Bastille.

Royal Palace.

The Banking Guild leaders all looked anxiously at the Duke of Orléans.

Their men had already found out some of Necker's whereabouts, but unexpectedly, a huge bounty suddenly appeared in the last two days, disrupting their plans completely.

"I never expected the Royal House to pardon him." The Duke of Orléans frowned. "With the 300,000 bounty on his head, Necker might very well surrender to the Royal House family."

Count Capeville said, "We must let Necker know as soon as possible that we didn't put up the bounty!"

Count Isaac gave him a disdainful look. "If we could find him, would we need to go through all this trouble?"

The Duke of Orléans shook his head. "Publications are controlled now, even my newspaper is being counterfeited, making it difficult to get messages to him."

Just then, the Duke of Orléans ' butler hurried in and whispered a few words in his ear.

"What?! That idiot's been arrested!" The Duke of Orléans stared wide-eyed at the butler. "Is the information reliable?"

"Our informants in the Secret Police say they're being escorted to the Bastille."

The people in the room immediately panicked.

The Duke of Orléans glared at them and shouted, "Calm down! Before, when we couldn't find Necker, we could only let the Royal House spread rumors. Now that he's shown up, perhaps it's a good thing."

He pondered for a moment, then said to the butler, "Go immediately to Lieutenant Colonel Laville and have him find a way to see Necker and tell him..."

Two hours later.

Necker was imprisoned in the Bastille as he had hoped.

Contrary to popular belief, the cell was a suite with a toilet and Dining Hall, very clean and tidy, and even had a sofa and a large, cushioned bed.

Fearing another accident, Fouche personally led more than ten of his men to keep a close watch on the Necker family, even when they went to the toilet.

Just then, a tall officer approached with his guards, exchanged polite greetings with Fouche, and gestured to Necker, saying, "As you know, prisoners here undergo routine checks; I have to go through the motions."