Scapegoat

Two United Kingdom technicians resigned within the next two weeks and sailed to France with Ludo, accompanied by six Textile workers and their families. ✊😺 🐨☺

The loom and the technicians were then sent to the Versailles Palace. There, His Majesty King Louis XVI, the Honorary Life President France the French Engineering and Technology Association, personally disassembled and replicated the Machines.

Joseph originally wanted Murdoch to be in charge of the imitation, but considering that Murdoch was working on the development of High-Pressure Steam Engine and that the Royal Workshop at the Versailles Palace had more precision manufacturing equipment, he finally decided to entrust this important task to his father.

At first, Louis XVI was somewhat reluctant when he learned that the new research and development task was not the new Rifled Gun that had been promised. However, after Joseph introduced him to the huge profits of the United Kingdom Textile and the importance of this Automatic Loom to the Textile, His Majesty the King rolled up his sleeves without hesitation and devoted himself to the industrial development of France.

However, the shortage of R&D talent also made Joseph feel a sense of crisis.

It's illogical that only the King's small team and the highly paid United Kingdom recruits in France possess engineering research and development capabilities, while so many France Mathematics and Physics are unable to contribute.

The root cause is that the country's research and development system is not perfect enough.

On the way back to Paris, Joseph looked out the car window, pondering whether he should truly establish the French Engineering and Technology Association and perhaps even create a "Royal Science and Technology Progress Award" to stimulate engineering research and development.

Marquis Ludo returned home and immediately learned of Necker's assassination.

Before he could even feel happy, he saw the headline in bold on the newspaper handed to him by the butler. "Assassin of Necker has been caught red-handed and is being interrogated."

Marquis Ludo immediately felt dizzy and slumped onto the sofa, gritting his teeth and muttering to himself, "That idiot Boislandar... always bragging about how influential he is in the underworld, and the assassin he hires is such a piece of trash!"

In reality, you can't really blame Boislandar. The assassins he hired were absolutely top-notch, but the Police Intelligence Division had deployed over 80 men to follow Necker at a distance, effectively controlling half of the surrounding Lieue. Unless those assassins could fly, they had no chance of escaping.

Joseph knew that the banking tycoons had suffered heavy losses due to the Necker Case and would surely hate Necker to the core. So he deliberately leaked the latter's whereabouts and had the Police Intelligence Division escorting him cooperate.

The Royal House did indeed pardon Necker, but the Banking Guild wanted to kill him, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

Moreover, the murderer was apprehended at the scene, with the murder weapon and evidence readily available, and the motive was extremely clear, leaving no room for anyone to fabricate a conspiracy theory.

Of course, if Marquis Ludo and his ilk are truly cunning and refuse to act, Joseph isn't in a hurry. After all, Count Capefier is clearly a man of temper rather than brains; if he sends agents to spread rumors and provoke him a few times, Joseph doesn't believe he can hold back.

Marquis Ludo looked at the newspaper in his hand, then suddenly stood up and ordered his butler to prepare the carriage and head to Count Capeville's house.

Two hours later, a group of banking giants gathered, all with worried expressions. In fact, they had learned of the assassin's capture a few days earlier, but since their "strategist," the Marquis Ludo, was not in France, they could only wait idly.

Marquis Ludo surveyed the five men before him and said in a deep voice, "Although Necker has been exiled, he is still the former Minister of Finance, so this matter will be extremely serious!"

"What should we do?"

Marquis Ludo's eyes flashed with a fierce light. "The assassin was hired by Boislandar, so we'll just have to trouble him to take the blame!"

Everyone was surprised, only then noticing that Boislandar was not present today.

After a long pause, the group sighed helplessly and acquiesced to Marquis Ludo's proposal.

Switzerland.

Frauenfeld, on the Murg River.

Count Segur idly fiddled with the cup in front of him, showing no interest whatsoever in the Black Tea inside, the quality of Tea even his Servant wouldn't drink.

"These slow-moving Swiss people..." He took out his watch, glanced at it, and decided to go to the Swiss Federal Parliament again to urge them on.

He had been in this godforsaken place, surrounded by mountains, for a week, and although the Swiss people treated him, the special envoy of a great nation, with utmost respect, they still hadn't given him a satisfactory answer.

Seeing him about to leave, the assistant quickly followed. "Count Excellency, are you still going to the Parliament Hall?"

"Yes," Count Segur pulled his hat up and frowned, "I don't want to stay here another day. There's no decent tea, not even any drinkable Coffee..."

His assistant opened the door for him. "What can we do? Their Federal Parliament can't do anything about it; they can only keep asking the State Parliament. Or, let's go to Schwyz Canton."

Segur rolled his eyes at him. "I represent His Majesty the His Majesty the King of France, how could I possibly negotiate with a mere State Parliament?"

Several Switzerland Servant busied themselves gesturing for the Carriage to arrive and setting up wooden steps for Count Segur, who boarded the carriage complaining. "This poor and pathetic country doesn't even have a capital! Can you imagine? No capital!"

"God, why did I take this chore? That Denaro Bank had better come up with those 7 million Livre, or we're in trouble..."

Yes, his trip to Switzerland was specifically to demand the extradition of the Denaro Bank shareholders who had fled after committing crimes, and to urge the bank to hand over the embezzled funds and fines involved in the case.

As the Carriage traveled along the rugged mountain road, the two Switzerland Servant "hanging" at the back of the carriage had to jump down from time to time to help push the carriage up the steep slope.

When Count Segur arrived at the two-story, greyish-yellow building housing the Swiss Parliament, a square-faced, short, middle-aged man came out to greet him. Upon seeing him, the man quickly raised his hat in a salute. "Oh, Your Excellency Count Segur, I was just about to look for you. There's finally news from the Schwyz Canton."

Segur recognized the man as Fuller, a member of the Swiss Federal Parliament, and asked with some delight, "Have the two fugitives been caught? What about the stolen money?"

Fuller ushered him into the Parliament Hall and chuckled dryly, "The suspect hasn't been caught yet, but the Schwyz State Parliament has seized Denaro Bank. However, the bank only has less than 4 million Livre in its accounts, and more than half of that is in loans. It might take some time to recover it..."

Count Segur's face immediately darkened. He stood up straight and stared at Fuller, saying, "On behalf of His King, I formally inform you that Switzerland must pay all embezzled funds and fines to the France Reserve Bank within three months."

(End of this chapter)