The Fox of France

This auction, owing to its charitable nature, was arranged at the Royal Palace. This place once belonged to the Duke of Orleans and stood as a pivotal site during the French Revolution. After the Duke lost his head, this palace became state property. During Napoleon's tenure as the First Consul, it was transformed into a theater.

After rounds of anticipation fueled by the newspapers, the auction finally commenced.

Normally, in a passenger train, there's only one luxury carriage among twelve. The rest consist of four second-class carriages, five third-class ones, and two dining cars.

However, due to the understanding that many affluent individuals desired seats on this historically significant first-class carriage, the composition of this train was altered. Considering the relatively short travel time, two dining cars were removed. All four second-class carriages were taken out, and two of the third-class carriages were also removed, leaving only three. These removed carriages were transformed into luxury ones. There was a concern about these three carriages being too close to the locomotive, allowing coal smoke to waft in when the windows were open. Also, as there were plans to involve some school children in a performance, these three carriages might be replaced with luxury ones.

In theory, with this many carriages and tickets, the supply should have been sufficient, meeting the demand. However, as the auction began, attendees discovered an unexpected turn of events. Instead of selling tickets one by one, they were auctioning off each carriage.

In truth, this wasn’t a big issue and, in fact, was expected. With nine carriages, each with sixteen seats, if auctioned individually, even if the names of every ticket buyer were published in the newspapers, who would bother to read and remember them all? This approach diminished the advertising effect. By selling carriage by carriage, the number of buyers decreased, but the transaction amounts soared, attracting more attention. It was a better advertising strategy—for both buyers and sellers.

The first auction was for the luxurious carriage number five. Once the free bidding began, the atmosphere heated up. Despite being susceptible to coal smoke due to its proximity to the locomotive, its starting price was the lowest among all luxury carriages. Still, bidding continued fiercely, quickly reaching eight thousand francs.

Then, a young man raised his sign, "Ten thousand francs."

"Ten thousand? What's that? I..." President Russell of the Wine Union was about to raise a higher bid when his assistant gently tugged at his sleeve.

"What?" Russell was surprised. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, it's Louis Bonaparte," the assistant confirmed.

"Ah, then let’s not compete with him," Russell said. "However, we must secure carriage number six, no matter what!"

Since Louis raised the bid to ten thousand francs, no one else made a higher offer. Even the auctioneer hastened the process.

Usually, auctioneers delay to allow more people time to decide and bid higher. Sometimes, there could be a ten-minute gap between the "First time at XX francs" and "Third time at XX francs."

But this time, the auctioneer almost raced through the rounds, almost like a weather forecast on national television, swiftly declaring "First, second, third time," and even before finishing saying "Second time," the hammer struck.

Next came carriage number six, slightly better than five but not the best. However, bidding skyrocketed. Starting at a thousand francs, numerous signs shot up, and in no time, the price soared to thirty thousand francs, showing no signs of slowing down. Louis merely sipped his coffee, lifting his head to find the bid had already reached fifty thousand.

"If only they knew who was sitting in this carriage, they might regret it," Louis couldn’t help but think.

Louis knew these bidders, especially someone like Nathan Rothschild, were spending so much because they believed a Bonaparte family member would occupy this carriage. They hoped to establish connections with the Bonaparte family. Yet, Louis wasn’t planning to use this carriage for his own family...

The price continued to climb, quickly reaching eighty thousand. Most bidders had exited, leaving only a few Jewish or foreign individuals vying against each other. Ultimately, Nathan Rothschild, willing to spend more, secured the carriage for a hundred and twenty thousand francs.

Perhaps due to the effort spent on bidding for carriage number six, as they progressed through the later carriages—though theoretically better in terms of environment—the final prices noticeably decreased. By the time they reached the last carriage, Mr. Grandet managed to secure it for a mere twenty thousand francs.

Once the auction concluded, apart from Louis, who promptly disappeared, the successful ticket holders remained, willingly giving interviews to various newspapers. During these interviews, they expressed their love for France and support for charitable causes.

"Mr. Rothschild, as far as I know, you aren't French. Why..." a reporter questioned Nathan Rothschild.

"Ah, dear journalist, you might have missed something. Just last month, my application for French citizenship was approved by the Immigration Office. So now, I am an honored Frenchman," Nathan Rothschild immediately replied in a French laced with some Italian flavor. It was said that Nathan had put in considerable effort to speak with that particular accent.

"Is that so? Then, congratulations to you. But may I ask, why did you choose to obtain French citizenship?" the reporter asked again.

"Of course, because France is the most democratic, the freest country in the world," Rothschild replied. "I am a lover of freedom. Where there is freedom, there is my homeland."

....

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