Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 973 - 881: Settling Scores After Autumn

At the same time, police across Paris arrested more than 30 financial experts responsible for spreading rumors that "France’s gold reserves are insufficient," thus inciting people to rush to exchange gold.

In fact, these individuals employed by McGovern were being monitored by both the police and the Intelligence Bureau within just a few days of their activities.

Previously, in order to create an illusion for the British that the French government was responding inadequately, no arrests were made.

Now that the situation has cleared, the police immediately took action to close the net.

In reality, these "French public intellectuals" were also careless.

They hadn’t considered that in such a major event concerning the financial lifeline of France, the government had not implemented any news control, which clearly indicated confidence.

Of course, it was also because the British were offering too much that it caused them to lose the ability to make rational judgments.

On the other hand, England’s white glove company established in France—the Paris Seine Silk Trading Company—was surrounded by over a hundred police officers.

The company’s manager, Gray, looked at the officers rushing into the office and protested loudly with an indignant expression:

"What are you doing?

"The police are harassing and threatening a legitimately operating company at will.

"If you don’t leave immediately, I assure you that what happens here will be all over Paris by tomorrow!"

A police captain came over and smiled at him:

"Please calm down. We’re just here to maintain order. The ones with real business to attend to are these gentlemen."

He stepped aside as he spoke, and Gray saw a group of people wearing Tax Bureau uniforms enter. He recognized the one leading them as Schommet, the Chief Investigator of the Paris Tax Bureau.

Gray was momentarily stunned but quickly regained his composure: "I said that our company operates legitimately, and you can check our taxes as you please."

This company primarily handled some disreputable matters for the British government, almost without any real business, thus barely paying any taxes.

However, Schommet did not proceed with a normal tax inspection of the company’s accounts. Instead, he fished out a few sheets of paper from his pocket, unfolded them, and held them in front of Gray:

"Is this agreement signed by you?"

When Gray saw the writing on the paper, his pupils suddenly contracted.

It was the agreement text for the four-million-franc loan he had taken from Lemoyne in the company’s name a few days ago.

"This... why is this in your hands?!"

"Hmm, it appears to indeed be signed by you." Schommet put away the agreement, nodded, and said, "Mr. Lemoyne stated that you borrowed four million francs from his bank for business operations."

He glanced at him then pointed to the ground: "Keller, what was this company’s tax payment last year?"

"27 francs and 7 sous, sir."

Schommet stared coldly at Gray: "Your company has transactions involving four million francs, indicating a substantial scale of operation, yet it only paid 27 francs in taxes.

"I must suspect that this company is engaging in serious tax evasion.

"I will now conduct an investigation here. Until the matter is resolved, all company funds and equipment will be frozen. You and other company personnel must remain under the Tax Bureau’s scrutiny at all times."

Gray immediately began sweating profusely and exclaimed: "No, this money is just... borrowed for a friend."

"I hear such excuses almost daily."

Schommet snorted disdainfully and instructed his subordinates: "Seal off this place immediately, not even a single piece of paper should be missed!

"Oh, let the journalists outside come in. They will surely be very interested in a tax evasion case like this."

"Yes, sir!"

On this day, the Paris Tax Bureau all but emptied itself, conducting investigations on five white glove companies set up by the British.

These companies, like the Paris Seine Silk Trading Company, assisted McGovern in loan dealings or took part in exchanging British pounds for francs, resulting in giant sums on their financial statements.

This gave the Tax Bureau a perfect excuse to investigate their taxes.

Furthermore, the evidence was readily available—the individuals who provided them with loans and exchanged British pounds were arranged by the French government, who then handed over the signed agreements to the Tax Bureau.

A large contingent of police also swarmed into the home of McGovern’s French advisor, Bruni, arresting him on charges of espionage and malicious market disruption.

Previously, Bruni, through his position as a banking executive, had continuously leaked data from the Bank of France Reserve to McGovern, which alone was enough to earn him over 80 years in prison.

And the person who reported him was none other than Gray, the manager taken in by the Tax Bureau shortly before.

Along with Bruni, several dozen British financial spies involved in short-selling the franc were also exposed by Gray and others.

However, these spies had keen instincts, and more than ten of them escaped overnight. Nonetheless, for the French Intelligence Bureau, this remained the largest achievement in dismantling a spy network in the past two years.

Outside the headquarters of the Bank of France Reserve.

Sean Ross, deputy editor of the Dresden Daily News, jumped off a carriage, only to see Parisians dispersing like a receding tide, leaving him somewhat bewildered.

In his plan, this place should have been filled with curses, possibly even some violent incidents targeting the bank.

However, apart from the ground covered in litter, everything seemed quite normal.

He hurriedly instructed the accompanying reporter: "Simon, go find someone to get some information."

Several journalists nearby, upon hearing them speaking in German, turned and said:

"You didn’t know? Since noon, Italians have been continuously delivering gold coins to exchange for francs, totaling more than 30 million so far."

He pointed towards the side entrance of the Bank of France Reserve: "Look, they are still bringing in more gold coins."

Another journalist, with features typical of the Lowland region, added: "It seems impossible now for France’s gold reserves to collapse. We might have come here for nothing."

Immediately, someone echoed: "My news article was written in vain too..."

As these foreign journalists were lamenting, they saw the staff of the Bank of France Reserve placing a huge wooden sign at the main entrance.

Ross, with good eyesight, squinted and read out the words on the board: "Since the beginning of this month, the Bank of France Reserve has exchanged 960,000 ounces of gold, never refusing an exchange. The bank’s warehouse currently holds a sufficient gold reserve capable of handling exchange services at any time."

The foreign journalists all appeared shocked.

960,000 ounces of gold is roughly equivalent to 90 million francs.

And this is just from the Reserve’s exchanges. Including other banks, France must have at least exchanged over a hundred million francs worth of gold this time!

Given this massive gold movement, it’s astounding that French finances have displayed no issues.

Furthermore, the banks still have a sufficient reserve of gold.

This clearly demonstrates the strength of France’s economy and financial capabilities!

It’s essential to note that such an enormous scale of gold exchange would likely be hard for even the Bank of England to manage in England.

In actuality, among this billion-franc exchange, only about 50 million was genuinely exchanged for gold.

Among that, more than 30 million was given to Lord McGovern, while the remainder was exchanged by French citizens and speculative capital.