"Oh?" Joseph looked at Fouche and asked, "Do you know who is looking for Necker?"
"This, we can't be sure yet. However, our informant at the Klassen Bank reported that the bank has recalled all of its commercial spies, probably for some other important task. And there is news from the Paris Bank that they are hiring a large number of private detectives," Fouche replied.
"It is indeed the people from the banking industry," Joseph nodded slightly. It seemed that Carolina was right; Necker must have involved in a lot of unsavory dealings with the major banks, and these people wanted to find him before the government did.
He tapped the armrest of his chair thoughtfully, finding it strange that Necker, as a spokesperson for major banks and a senior member of the Banking Guild, should have sought help from the industry immediately after the incident, yet he chose to hide at the first opportunity.
Thus, there was only one possibility—Necker did not trust the people of the Banking Guild.
This was not surprising, as Necker was Swiss and didn't have deep roots in France. Now that an incident had occurred, he couldn't be sure that the French bankers wouldn't silence him to prevent the leak of information.
Thinking this, Joseph became even more convinced of the need to mobilize the Secret Police to search house by house, and he was willing to call in the army if necessary—he had to find Necker before the Banking Guild did!
Joseph further urged Fouche to step up the search, then he hurried off to the Palace of Versailles, planning to discuss with Brian and Robel of the Secret Police about launching a citywide manhunt in Paris.
In the carriage, Clementine, noticing the Crown Prince's serious expression and furrowed brow, asked tentatively, "Cousin, are you troubled by something? Talk to me; things often seem less troubling when you talk about them."
Joseph sighed and asked casually, "Clementine, how would you go about looking for someone who has gone missing?"
The young girl pondered for a moment and earnestly replied, "Well, I would first go and ask his friends or servants where he might have gone, and then..."
At this, Joseph suddenly stopped, realizing that he had overlooked something important—the people from the Banking Guild were far more familiar with Necker than he was!
Even Necker's subordinates could be recommended by some major bank.
With these people close to Necker providing leads, no matter how many people he used, it would be hard to ensure an advantage...
What to do?
Clementine kept talking to herself, but noticed that her cousin's brow was furrowing even more. She quickly reassured him, "Did one of your friends disappear? You don't need to worry so much. Maybe he's just got something to do and he'll come back by himself after a while."
Joseph managed a slight smile at her and said, "Thank you for your consolation, but that person will not appear on his own..."
Wait a minute!
He was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly felt like he had grasped something.
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If he couldn't find Necker faster than the Banking Guild, why not make Necker show himself?
Just as ancient strategists would leave one side of an encirclement open, the enemy would surely flee in that unprotected direction.
If he could block all other ways out for Necker, then Necker would have no choice but to take the path he had left open for him!
Joseph refined this idea, and a strategy for leaving an open route began to take shape in his mind.
He sincerely thanked Clementine, "You're absolutely an expert at finding people; I'm truly grateful for your help!"
The young girl, blushing with pride, popped a piece of vanilla mint candy into her mouth as a reward and then offered a piece to her cousin as well.
The carriage stopped in the marble square of the Palace of Versailles, and Joseph alighted and made a beeline for the Finance Minister's office.
In this "leave one side open" plan, the key was the "open side," and the difficulty lay in requiring Queen Mary's cooperation.
Soon, Minister of the Interior Mono and Justice Minister Breti, among several other Cabinet Ministers, all gathered in Brian's office, looking at Joseph in surprise.
"Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I don't quite understand. Shouldn't we be focusing all our efforts on arresting Necker?"
"But why have you ordered the recall of the arrest warrant and even asked Queen Mary to announce his pardon?"
As Joseph's political allies in the Cabinet, they had naturally heard about the embezzlement charges that Carolina had exposed against Necker.
Joseph looked around at them and said, "When a person faces a situation of certain death, if he sees a chance to live, he will undoubtedly take that route. I want the Royal Family to become Necker's only way out."
Breti immediately said, "Your Highness, with such serious charges of embezzlement against Necker, he should be strictly tried. Pardoning him might not be appropriate."
Joseph replied, "Necker himself is not important. What I want is the information he has!
"As for the pardon, heh, although the King has pardoned him, if someone else wants to punish him, we can't do anything about it."
Brian looked at Joseph, "Your Highness, what exactly does Necker know?"
"It could involve several billion livres of government debt!"
There was a moment of silence in the room.
In the afternoon, several Cabinet Ministers, leading a group of renowned nobles, went to Petit Trianon Palace, to persuade Queen Mary to announce the cancellation of Necker's trial and promise that he would not be sentenced to death, nor would there be lengthy imprisonment.
Queen Mary had previously seen the report about Necker's embezzlement submitted by Brian. Although she was puzzled by the actions of the ministers and nobles, she couldn't resist their importuning due to her soft-heartedness.
After everyone's persuasion with phrases such as "displaying the Royal Family's clemency and benevolence," "showing His Majesty's concern for his ministers," "prioritizing the recovery of embezzled funds," and "giving the former minister a chance to turn over a new leaf," Queen Mary felt that it seemed quite reasonable and thus hazily agreed to it.
Early the next morning, Queen Mary publicly announced in front of a large assembly of nobles and journalists that Necker would be dealt with leniently, and displayed the document signed by the King.
At the same time, several pamphlets began to circulate wildly in Paris.
The bulk of the pamphlets' content were the usual noble erotic stories, but inserted among them was a piece of news: someone was offering 150,000 livres for the head of Jacques Necker. Even just for providing information, one could get 100,000.
Subsequently, the criminal underworld of Paris received an even more astonishing offer: 180,000 for the death of Necker, 120,000 for information.
On that day, the front pages of all the major newspapers in Paris had at the top half "Necker possibly implicated in corruption, the Royal Family decides to spare him from severe punishment," while the bottom half stated, "Unknown forces offer a sky-high bounty for the death of Necker."
The Secret Police and the Police Affairs Department both received new orders to redirect a large number of the forces searching for Necker to the outskirts of Paris, sealing the city tightly to prevent Necker from escaping.
The next day, the mysterious power raised the bounty on Necker to 200,000.
And the newspapers and pamphlets, having obtained information from various channels, began to seriously analyze who wanted Necker dead.
Of course, under Joseph's deliberate guidance, all articles unanimously pointed to the Banking Guild.
...
In an inconspicuous house on the north side of Paris, Necker's butler Elonc carefully observed the street through the gap in the curtains to ensure there were no suspicious individuals before he brought a tray of food to the bedroom.
He closed the door, then sequentially pulled on the bedhead and the dressing table, and a faint "click" sound came from behind the wardrobe.
Elonc lifted the floor behind the wardrobe, bending down to enter the square opening that was revealed.
In the dimly lit second basement, Necker, looking haggard, took the tray and first distributed the food to his wife and two children, skipping lunch himself to grab the newspaper from the tray.
It was the "Paris News." He skimmed through the front page of the article and felt a tightness in his chest.
Although it wasn't explicitly stated, the article insinuated, between the lines, that the banking tycoons were behind the 200,000 livres bounty on his life, and their credit was absolutely reliable; even if the killer died, the bounty would be delivered to his family.
"These bastards possessed by the devil!"
Suppressing his voice, Necker slammed the newspaper to the ground.
"Paris News" was the newspaper of the Duke of Orleans, who was one of the major players behind the Banking Guild.
If even his newspaper was speaking this way, it meant that there was an absolute intention to see him dead, without leaving any room for escape.
These men, for whom he had made so much money, were ready to cast him aside without hesitation at the first sign of trouble!
He was unaware that in the past two days, the "Paris News" had been blocked from getting published by the news bureau for various reasons and could not actually be distributed.
And the "Paris News" that now appeared on the market had been fabricated by Joseph's "Paris Commercial News" publishing house and then sold by newsboys.
As for copyright infringement—ha, let the "Paris News" sue in court after Necker's affair was over, at most they'd compensate you tenfold for the loss; did they really think they could shut down the Crown Prince's newspaper?
Necker then picked up a few pamphlets brought by the butler and was alarmed to see that the bounty had risen again, reaching the terrifying amount of 300,000 livres.
He knew all too well what this number meant.
Not to mention making the entire Parisian underworld go crazy, even an ordinary citizen would turn into the coldest-blooded murderer upon seeing this sum!
It also meant that no one he saw could be trusted anymore. Those who had made arrangements to help him escape could not be contacted again; 300,000 livres could lead them to betray him at any moment.𝒻𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝘯𝘰𝑣ℯ𝑙.𝘤𝑜𝘮
After all, though he claimed to have a fortune of ten million, most of it was anonymously deposited in various banks, a large part of which was in foreign banks. He only had 2,000 gold coins in his possession—it was simply not possible for him to carry much cash with him because of its weight.
Therefore, he was absolutely incapable of bribing those greedy scoundrels seeking the reward.
Moreover, even if he could come up with a large sum of money, he wouldn't dare take the gamble—who knew whether they would take his money and then turn around and decapitate him for 300,000 livres.
After all, it was 300,000!
What were credit and morals but a joke in the face of such a vast fortune.
Madame Necker looked at the newspaper in her husband's hands and asked in a trembling voice, "Dear, are we still leaving tomorrow?"
Necker suddenly grabbed her arm and snapped, "Leave! All you think about is leaving! Do you want to get us killed?!"
He pointed toward the basement entrance, "I swear, before I even get on the carriage, that coachman would stab me twice from behind! It's all over... everything is over..."
He slumped onto the bed, but his eyes inadvertently swept over the newspaper that was spread open, where he saw a piece of news he had read the day before—Queen Mary had publicly declared that his life would be spared and he wouldn't even be sentenced to more than five years of imprisonment.
The newspaper also speculated that as long as Necker returned the embezzled funds and paid some fines, he would most likely be exiled in the end.
A fierce struggle began in his heart, and, after a long while, he suddenly stood up from the bed, his eyes filled with hatred.
If the Banking Guild wants me dead, then they can't blame me for cooperating with the French Royal Family!
That evening, the butler Elonc quietly vanished into the night...
About an hour later, hundreds of Police Affairs Department and Secret Police personnel surrounded the cottage where Necker was hiding.
Fouche led the charge personally, only to find that the secret basement was completely empty.
As he was becoming increasingly anxious, several of his subordinates ran in and reported that Necker had been captured.
"Where did you catch him?" Fouche glanced at the empty basement, asking doubtfully.
"He crawled out from the sewer on the side of the street by himself."
Fouche had no idea that the 300,000 livres reward meant that Necker couldn't even trust his most loyal butler, fearing he might bring an assassin back, so he left the house earlier and went into hiding.
Fouche finally completed his mission and immediately escorted Necker to the Bastille.
...
Royal Palace.
The bigwigs of the Banking Guild were anxiously looking at the Duke of Orleans.
Originally their people had gotten wind of some of Necker's whereabouts, but the sudden emergence of the hefty reward threw all of their plans into disarray.
"I hadn't expected the Royal Family to pardon him," the Duke of Orleans also frowned, "With this 300,000 livres reward, Necker might very well surrender to the Royal Family."
Count Capefield said, "We need to let Necker know as soon as possible that we are not behind the reward!"
The Count of Isaac looked at him contemptuously, "If we could find him, would we need to go to all this trouble?"
The Duke of Orleans shook his head, "Nowadays the publications are controlled, even my newspaper was forged, it's difficult to get the message to him."
At that moment, the Duke of Orleans' butler hustled in, whispering a few words into his ear.
"What? That fool got caught!" the Duke of Orleans exclaimed, looking at the butler, "Is the news reliable?"
"It comes from our people in the Secret Police, he's currently on the way to the Bastille."
Everyone in the room immediately fell into a panic.
The Duke of Orleans stared at them and shouted, "Calm down, everyone! Before, we couldn't find Necker, and only the Royal Family could spread rumors, but now that he has appeared, maybe it's a good thing."
After pondering for a moment, he said to the butler, "Go find Colonel Lavier immediately, and see that he gets to Necker, tell him..."
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Two hours later.
Necker was finally locked up in a Bastille cell, exactly as he had wished.
Contrary to what people imagined, the cell was a suite complete with a toilet and dining area, very clean and tidy, even furnished with a sofa and a padded big bed.
Fearing another mishap, Fouche personally brought along more than a dozen subordinates, who watched Necker and his family at all times, not exempting even the use of the bathroom.
At this moment, a tall officer approached with guards, exchanged pleasantries with Fouche, and gestured toward Necker, "As you know, every prisoner who comes here must undergo a routine check, I have to go through the motions."