From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"Wave to them, Your Highness, and remember to smile."

Prince Louis, whose thoughts were in confusion, suddenly heard Lawrence's soft whisper in his ears.

Even amidst the roaring crowds, this whisper stood out, as if it had penetrated into Prince Louis's mind and kept lingering.

Prince Louis, who was stunned on the spot, didn't know why. After hearing Lawrence's voice, he subconsciously raised his right hand and waved it slightly towards the crowd, while at the same time a kind smile appeared on his face.

Such a move did not go through his brain at all, just like a conditioned reflex.

In this tense moment, for just a moment, he obeyed Lawrence's instructions.

This feeling also brought a brief strangeness to Prince Louis.

He was the Crown Prince of France and the future king. He should have been the one to give orders to others, but he subconsciously obeyed Lawrence's words. It seemed that doing what Lawrence said was the best decision.

Whether this feeling comes from trust, dependence, or compliance that should not occur to him at all, Crown Prince Louis himself cannot tell.

But this strange feeling only lasted for less than half a second before Prince Louis threw it out of his head.

"Lawrence is my best friend and my wonderful right-hand man,"

Prince Louis thought so and whispered to Lawrence beside him:

"I'm so sorry, I just got distracted."

Lawrence nodded slightly, put his right hand on the gilt hilt of his sword, squinted at the dark crowd in front of him, and said comfortingly:

"Don't be discouraged, Your Highness. I would be nervous if it were my first public speech in front of so many people."

"I really envy your calm attitude." Prince Louis smiled with a bit of a wry smile and nodded.

While Lawrence was having a conversation with Crown Prince Louis, the crowd in the square stood on tiptoes to get a glimpse of the noble Crown Prince.

However, when people's eyes finally passed through the shoulders and heads of the crowd in the front row, they couldn't help showing even more surprised expressions.

Today, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is not wearing a heavy and cumbersome velvet robe like other members of the royal family, but is wearing a simple and simple black evening gown. He looks no different from the middle-class citizens present.

If it weren't for the short cloak with the royal coat of arms on his shoulders that could also prove his identity as the crown prince, people would have thought that the person standing there was an ordinary young gentleman.

Many people who met members of the royal family for the first time even asked in confusion:

"That's His Royal Highness the Crown Prince? He looks just like an ordinary person."

"I've heard before that members of the royal family wear ten ounces of gold and twenty ounces of silver. It seems like complete nonsense."

"Hey, to be honest, this Crown Prince is completely different from the old-fashioned people I know."

"I feel he will be an enterprising king!"

As for the traditional nobles and elderly gentlemen in the crowd, they looked at each other in disbelief and almost roared:

"Oh God! In today's world, don't even the royal family follow the rules?! How can His Highness the Crown Prince wear civilian clothes!"

"It's the extinction of civilization!"

"Totally unacceptable!"

Of course, these strange roars were only a minority after all, and were quickly drowned out by the waves of cheers from the citizens.

People were pleasantly surprised to see the future king wearing a kind and kind smile, wearing the same clothes as themselves, standing there and waving enthusiastically to them.

Even those who had objected to Crown Prince Louis becoming a wise king could not help but admit at this moment that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was indeed somewhat different from those corrupt royal members.

"Hey! Lawrence, did you hear that? I heard someone saying they liked my look."

Crown Prince Louis was at a loss under the cheers, and then excitedly said to Lawrence:

"Your idea is great. Yesterday I was a little worried that this outfit would attract criticism."

"I think it's your own temperament that won their cheers." Lawrence said with a smile, not in a hurry to take credit for himself.

It was naturally Lawrence who arranged for Prince Louis to appear in front of the citizens in civilian clothes.

In his opinion, just changing clothes can win the cheers of the audience with a people-friendly image. This is a completely profitable choice, although it will offend a small group of old die-hards.

And a more important reason is that this public appearance of Prince Louis was planned by Lawrence.

Therefore, Lawrence naturally needed to maximize the effect of this appearance to prove to the Palace of Versailles his ability to assist the crown prince.

Of course, Lawrence does not expect that Crown Prince Louis will win the long-term love of Paris citizens through this appearance.

As the saying goes, people's hearts are like water, and people's movements are like smoke.

These citizens praise Prince Louis today because he is close to the people, but they may rebel against him tomorrow because of the decline in living standards, just like the attitude of the French people towards Louis XV.

What really determines the direction of public sentiment is Crown Prince Louis’ future governance of the country.

Lawrence basically had no expectations for this.

Listening to the bursts of cheers in his ears, Crown Prince Louis finally let go of his last trace of nervousness and excitedly raised his arms and waved to the crowd in front of him.

"Ahem, Your Highness, it would be better if you don't raise both hands at the same time."

Lawrence glanced at Prince Louis' raised arms and said with a strange expression.

Crown Prince Louis once again enjoyed a moment of rare cheers, which was also an experience he had never had in the Palace of Versailles.

Then he and Lawrence slowly walked toward the Paris Stock Exchange along the passage opened by the royal guards, while communicating closely with citizens on both sides on the road.

Crown Prince Louis walked at the forefront, with a smile from the heart. This was the first time he knew that so many people admired him.

Under Lawrence's instruction, Crown Prince Louis would shake hands with citizens on both sides from time to time and personally bless them.

Such personal greetings made those lucky citizens feel flattered and excited.

Even Lawrence, who followed closely behind Prince Louis, loved the house and the land and was watched with smiles by the citizens.

On the way, there was another citizen standing at the back. In order to shake hands with His Highness the Crown Prince, he pushed forward desperately, but accidentally fell out heavily.

Upon seeing this, Crown Prince Louis turned around directly, pulled him up personally, and greeted him cordially:

"Be careful, friend, don't get hurt."

The citizens who witnessed this scene couldn't help but let out another wave of cheers, and in the cheers, they gave His Royal Highness the title of "The Good Prince".

There is no harm without contrast.

The kind little fat man in front of him was much better than those arrogant, domineering, dissipated princesses and grandsons.

Lawrence followed Crown Prince Louis, watching him proudly accepting the calls of the citizens, and thought silently:

"Perhaps our Crown Prince should not govern the country. It would be more appropriate to be the abbot of a monastery."

After passing through the cordon guarded by layers of royal guards, Lawrence and Prince Louis entered the square.

Crown Prince Louis reluctantly turned around, waved to the citizens who supported him, at least temporarily, and said loudly:

"God bless you, friends!"

After receiving another tsunami of calls in response, Crown Prince Louis walked towards the Paris Stock Exchange building with Lawrence with satisfaction.

"What a mistake."

Lawrence turned to look at the citizens still gathered in the square, shrugged and said:

"I should have written a speech for you in advance. If you give an exciting speech in this kind of situation, people will go crazy for you."

Lawrence did not expect that Crown Prince Louis would receive such a warm welcome from the citizens.

On the one hand, this is due to the people-friendly image Lawrence designed for him. On the other hand, it is probably because the people are extremely disappointed with the current King Louis XV and can't wait to see what the future king will look like.

Of course, Crown Prince Louis's personal charm also has certain factors. His kind and generous character is the most popular among people in the upper ranks.

It is no wonder that during the Revolution, even though the people of Paris hated Louis XVI to the extreme, many farmers in the French countryside still had a good impression of the king.

Such a mass base also enabled the royalists at that time to cause chaos everywhere.

"Oh don't blame yourself, Lawrence, I'm completely satisfied."

Prince Louis put his hand on his chest, felt his still beating heart, and said excitedly:

"To be honest, I didn't expect so many people to cheer for me."

At this time, Lord Melly, chairman of the Paris Stock Exchange, jogged up.

Lord Melly himself had carefully prepared for today's press conference. Not only was the wig on his head brand new, but even the dress on his body exuded a light scent of lavender.

For Lord Mellie, this is undoubtedly the most important moment in his life.

"Your Highness, Monsignor Bonaparte."

Lord Melly bowed deeply and said with some stuttering:

"Reporters from the newspaper and other participants have already arrived and are waiting in the conference room."

"Take us there." Lawrence nodded and ordered.

Under the leadership of Lord Mellie, Lawrence and Prince Louis entered the Stock Exchange Building.

Today is not a trading day, and the royal guards have sealed off the entire building and its surrounding areas, so it looks empty inside with only a few guards on duty.

However, Lawrence knew that as long as everything went well, within two days, the Paris Stock Exchange would be the threshold for countless investors to cross the threshold.

The conference room is in the northwest corner of the second floor of the building. It is a very spacious three-quarter circular room. The layout is very similar to the lecture theater in Lawrence's impression.

Lord Mellie also very carefully sent people to remove all the stock exchange signs outside and outside the conference room and replaced them with the coat of arms of the Bourbon royal family to please His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

Since there is no loudspeaker, architects will add some acoustic structures to such a room when designing so that the speaker's voice can spread throughout the room.

This kind of structure is also very common in opera houses.

When Lawrence and Prince Louis entered the conference room, there was still a buzz of discussion inside. It seemed that the reporters and financiers here were also very concerned about the roaring cheers outside.

As the two people entered, the whispers immediately stopped.

More than a hundred people in the conference room immediately stood up and bowed respectfully to Prince Louis.

Lawrence saw Mr. Montemar in the crowd. Even with his status and financial resources, he was only sitting in the second row of the conference room. It seemed that there were still many financiers richer than him.

Although these more than 100 people together account for most of the press and financial circles in Paris, there is still a huge difference in status between them, who belong to the third estate, and His Royal Highness, the Crown Prince.

"Please take a seat, friends."

Prince Louis said happily.

He then walked to the podium in the center of the room, where the speech Lawrence had written for him was already placed.

Although the frowning financiers saw some clues from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's attire, they still stared at Crown Prince Louis nervously, eagerly anticipating every word he said.

"You must be very curious as to why you are summoned here today."

Crown Prince Louis was very proficient in the speech script and said loudly:

"First of all, I must clarify the rumors circulating in the streets of Paris. I saw in more than one newspaper that the purpose of my coming to Paris was to block the financial market and to curb the development of business. Is it to push thousands of workers to the edge of unemployment? I hereby declare that this is purely a false rumor!”

"What?!"

Hearing this, even in front of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the financiers couldn't help showing dumbfounded expressions.

The prediction made by the entire Paris financial community turned out to be a completely wrong result?

In the end, it was the financiers who sentenced themselves to death, and even triggered the financial panic that has continued to intensify in the past few days.

The reporters quickly put away their surprise and quickly transcribed every word that Prince Louis said. This was a proper front-page report.

"You may ask, if I am not here for the financial markets, why did I come to Paris and why did I summon the chairman of the stock exchange on the first day."

Crown Prince Louis said loudly and passionately:

"Although I can answer you with no comment, I am still happy to tell you that I am not here as the king's grandson. I, the royal financial director officially appointed by His Majesty the King, came to Paris to manage the royal family here. assets."

"Royal assets?"

The financiers frowned and exchanged puzzled looks.

The royal family's assets naturally have dedicated personnel to properly manage and operate them. How could His Majesty the King suddenly send His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who knows nothing about finance, to Paris.

"By the way, among the royal assets in Paris, the one that particularly attracts my attention is..."

Prince Louis paused and continued:

"The royal family has a share of the shares of the National Silver Company of Corsica. Therefore, I will join the board of directors as a representative of the royal family and jointly participate in the operation and management of the National Silver Company."

The loud voice of Prince Louis echoed in the empty conference room.

"this"

The financiers were stunned.

This was the first time in their lives that a member of the royal family, or even a crown prince, the future king, had personally become a director of a company.

Moreover, this company was the Corsican National Silver Company that was close to their hearts.