Chapter 182 Industrial Espionage

Now the French Reserve Bank is the major shareholder of the seven banks owned by Ludo and others, and can check their accounts at any time.

Joseph happened to remember that a few months ago a middle school girl told him that several French banks had invested heavily in the British textile industry, so he checked it out and found that these seven banks were indeed on the list.

Marquis Ludo jumped up from his chair when he heard this.

He was so overwhelmed by Necker's case that he had forgotten about investing in the UK!

Even the tramps in Paris knew that the British and French were not getting along, and that the French colonies in India and North America were taken away by the British. Now he was investing French money in Britain, which could almost be considered treason.

Marquis Ludo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, stared at the tip of his shoes and said in panic: "Your Highness, this, this is a mistake, I will take back all the British investment immediately.

"Oh, and then put it all into the Industrial Development Fund! "

Joseph flipped through the documents in his hand and motioned him to sit down: "Well, with a fixed interest rate of 15% per year, plus profit sharing, the return must be more than 20%. "

Lyu Duo was so scared that his face turned pale. He was about to plead again, but he heard the prince say again: "Such a good investment is not in a hurry to recover for the time being, but it must be used to the fullest."

Lyu Duo asked carefully: "You mean..."

Joseph motioned him to sit down again: "You don't have to be so nervous.

"You and Count Cape Fear have invested more than 20 million livres in the British automatic loom industry. You are definitely a major shareholder.

"With such a large investment, it should be reasonable for shareholders to go to the UK to care about the business situation, right?"

Marquis Lu Duo trembled and leaned half of his butt on the chair, nodded and said: "Yes, it is very reasonable."

"Very good." Joseph smiled, "I need you to go to the UK as a shareholder to bring me back a few of the latest automatic looms, as well as some technicians who are familiar with the structure of the looms, and workers who can use these looms. "

Marquis Ludo opened his mouth wide, and finally squeezed out a sentence after a long time: "You, are you asking me to be an industrial spy?"

Joseph waved his hand and said: "It's not appropriate for you to say that. France has invested a lot of money in the British, so it must confirm whether the technology invested is really that advanced, right?

"Oh, I will send someone from the police intelligence department to go with you. You just need to use your identity as a shareholder to find out the situation of the British factory, and they will help you with the specific things."

Ludo has been counting money in his bank all his life, and he has never done this. He was hesitating and struggling in his heart, and saw that the prince's eyes became cold.

He might be caught if he worked on the British loom, and at most he would be imprisoned for a few years, and he might be able to pay for bail, but if he didn't go, he would have to go to the Bastille now.

Marquis Ludo swallowed his saliva and nodded helplessly: "Okay, okay, Your Highness. I will go to England now and get what you want back!"

When he returned home with a heavy heart, Count Capefield and others surrounded him and asked what the prince wanted to see him for.

Marquis Ludo was going to be an industrial spy, so he naturally didn't want too many people to know about it, so he had to say that it was some bank account problems.

Other bank tycoons did not doubt it, but took out their plan to deal with Necker and asked him to study it together.

Marquis Ludo's mind was full of British looms at this time, and his mind was not here at all. He just nodded restlessly.

...

Four days later, three inconspicuous carriages drove out of the Bastille, circled around Paris, and finally left the city from the east under the cover of night.

And behind them, there was always a man dressed as a postman, riding a horse from a distance, leaving road signs from time to time.

The three carriages finally went northeast, and it was Necker's family sitting in the car.

He finally decided to go into exile in Lorraine, after all, it was closer to Switzerland, and his friends in Switzerland might be able to take care of him.

The hot wind outside the car window blew on his face, making him extremely depressed. He had worked hard for so many years, and finally left Paris in disgrace in the middle of the night like a mouse.

It was all because of that bastard Kalona! He gritted his teeth and said viciously in his heart: I swear, I must make you taste more pain than me!

The next evening, the escort convoy arrived in Sommerdier. Langge, the agent of the police intelligence department who was in charge of the escort, looked at the time and saw that it was too late to reach the next town, so he ordered his men to rest in the inn of the city hall.

After Necker was settled, Langge played cards with his men outside the house.

Not long after, a police intelligence agent entered the house and whispered a few words in his ear.

Langge was moved, grabbed the bottle from his side, and drank with several men. At the same time, several agents who were responsible for guarding the back of the house also started drinking.

After it was completely dark, a dilapidated carriage stopped on the road opposite the Sommerdier City Hall, and several men dressed as businessmen got off the car.

The "postman" immediately came over with his head down and whispered, "Good opportunity, those secret police are all drinking."

The "businessman" nodded, signaled his accomplices to get out of the car with weapons, and climbed over the wall from the east side of the city hall.

The street lights had long been blown out by the "postman", and the three "businessmen" pried open the door very smoothly and sneaked into the city hall.

These people are experienced killers. They found Necker's room quietly, and then saw the secret police who were drunk and staggering.

The leader showed a look of joy, lit a torch, moved swiftly around the guard, and winked at his accomplices behind him.

Several people drew their swords, gently opened the door of the inner room, and then rushed in, stabbing Necker on the bed more than ten times before stopping.

The leading killer approached the bed with a torch, confirmed that it was Necker, and immediately signaled his men to retreat.

They didn't expect that this mission of up to 30,000 livres would be completed so easily. They were thinking about how to enjoy this huge sum of money after returning, and they had already left the door of the city hall.

"Wait!"

The leader suddenly stopped. His years of experience as a killer made him smell a hint of danger. Before they could react, dozens of torches suddenly lit up around them.

Under the shadow of the fire, there were dark muzzles of flintlock rifles.

...

Marquis Ludo didn't expect his action to be so smooth.

He had only been in the UK for two days, and under the enthusiastic guidance of a textile factory manager, he visited the entire automatic loom industry.

Then he spent a lot of money to bribe two technicians responsible for repairing the loom.

After making some preparations, Prosper of the Police Intelligence Department led his men to steal an automatic loom overnight - this thing was fixed on a waterwheel, and it was impossible to dismantle it intact without the help of professional technicians - and transported it to the port of Dover through the inland waterway of the United Kingdom, and then loaded it onto the ship that had been waiting there.