McGovern collapsed into his chair, his eyes unfocused.
Eighteen million—this number was simply too enormous. He did not have that much "ammunition" in hand.
He had borrowed nearly 30 million Francs in total, and with the interest he owed, he had already mortgaged all the gold in his possession.
Yes, although he had submitted an application to exchange more than 57 million Francs' worth of gold, because of the "Remote Transfer Clause," 20 million Francs' worth of gold would only be delivered in batches more than ten days later.
At present, he was completely out of ammunition.
"No! I won't admit defeat!" Lord McGovern suddenly roared as he sprang to his feet. With trembling hands, he took out a sheet of letter paper from the drawer and kept shaking his head. "I'll apply to Mr. Wilberforce for funds! If I can get another 500,000 pounds, the French definitely won't be able to hold out! Yes, 500,000 pounds!"
He quickly finished the letter, stamped it, and sealed it with wax. Then he beckoned to the attendant at the door. "Thomas, take this to the embassy immediately. Have Mr. Harriet send it to London! Hurry!"
As his attendant left with the letter, several carriages rolled past beneath McGovern's window.
Inside one of them, the Finance Minister of Milan kept urging the coachman, "Mr. Bianchi, faster!
"Damn this torrential rain! We should have been the first to arrive in Paris. Instead, the Parma People got ahead of us..."
"Yes, Baron Colombo. The French Reserve Bank is right ahead."
The coachman immediately cracked his whip so fast it left an afterimage. The carriage raced onward, startling cries from pedestrians nearby.
Fortunately, the products from Gem Carriage Works were of excellent quality. Otherwise, with such heavy gold coins loaded aboard, the axles would likely have