"Your Majesty, haven’t I told you, when you go out, it’s best to bring so guards! What if you encounter soone discontented?"
Jero Bonaparte, who had returned alone to the Tuileries Palace, had not yet enjoyed the service of his wife before facing her reproach, and crucially, he couldn’t refute her.
After all, Jero Bonaparte was not a franc, destined not to be loved by everyone. In Paris, there were still so extremists who hoped for Jero Bonaparte’s imdiate death.
Going to the City Hall recklessly without any guard was indeed not a wise choice.
"If you really need to summon George Ossman, you could have him called here! Why go in person?" Empress Augusta continued to murmur complaints to Jero Bonaparte.
"I saw it was still raining outside! Calling him over would be a bit inconvenient!" Jero Bonaparte replied with an awkward smile to Augusta.
In fact, he wasn’t concerned about whether Ossman was inconvenienced; it was rely a whim to suddenly raid the Paris City Hall.
"As a subject, he should naturally et all demands of the monarch! Not to ntion rain, even if it hailed or knives fell; they should co!" Compared to Jero Bonaparte, who displayed little of a nobleman’s deanor, Augusta was evidently endowed with the aristocratic trait of arrogance.
This quality allowed Augusta to form a small circle in the Tuileries Palace in less than half a year after she beca the Empress.
The circle of noblewon included mbers from the Orthodox Faction, the Orléans Faction, and a few upstarts of the bourgeoisie.
Even more remarkably, these three factions surprisingly did not fight amongst themselves within the circle.
This made Jero Bonaparte feel once again that he seed to have found a treasure.
"Enough! Don’t say anymore!" Jero Bonaparte gestured with his hand to stop Augusta’s idle words, adjusted his posture on the sofa to make himself more comfortable: "Fortunately! I’ve already gotten what I needed! And, incidentally, sounded a warning bell for that George Ossman fellow!"
"Hmm?" Augusta looked at Jero Bonaparte puzzled; she didn’t quite understand what he ant. Recently, the Emperor had been mysteriously up to sothing.
"It’s like this..." Jero Bonaparte inford Augusta of his plan to build a workers’ community.
Augusta also showed a startled expression, seemingly failing to understand Jero Bonaparte’s purpose.
"The housing prices and rent in Paris will inevitably rise as Paris undergoes redevelopnt, whereas the wages of Paris workers remain a constant value. In Paris, on average, each worker needs to spend 121 francs a year on housing and approximately 935 francs on food expenses, amounting to a total of 1051 francs, while a Paris worker’s wage is around 1300 francs a year. A male worker in Paris cannot support a family of three, while a female worker’s expense is about 635 francs.
After deducting all expenses, they have less than 200 francs of surplus wages each year. This is with Paris housing prices not yet increased!
If Paris rent rises significantly, the required annual expenses will be more, and those who can’t afford housing costs will beco unstable factors!
Therefore, we must prepare in advance! I’ve had George Ossman reserve a substantial amount of land in the outskirts of the Saint Anthony District, where a large-scale workers’ community will be built! This way, I can use these low-cost houses to force down the prices of houses in the center of Paris!"
Jero Bonaparte explained to Augusta and added: "We must try our best to mitigate conflicts between classes while inciting internal conflicts within each class to prevent their unity. Only then can the Empire achieve long-lasting peace and stability."
Augusta looked at her husband with astonishnt, suddenly realizing that she did not quite know her husband.
"How did you obtain those data?" Augusta asked Jero Bonaparte.
"Investigation, and collecting evidence!" Jero Bonaparte responded mildly, "Without data, policy-making would be like castles in the air!"
"Building a workers’ community requires vast funds; how do you plan to solve these issues?" Augusta asked Jero Bonaparte again.
"The Tuileries Palace has no money, but the Bonaparte has!" Jero Bonaparte sneered: "They think I don’t know how much money they’ve secretly siphoned from this country! Now it’s ti for them to make a contribution!"
From the ti Jero Bonaparte completely seized power until now, the Bonaparte interest group affiliated with him has extracted no less than 5 billion francs from France.
The Bonaparte Group could be said to have demonstrated in record ti what is ant by the movers of nature.
If not for Jero Bonaparte’s restrictions, these insatiable gluttons would probably have devoured the very foundation of France.
Now is the ti to have them make their contributions. Building houses here and renting them to workers isn’t necessarily a losing business.
Instead, it’s a steady, long-term business, but the Bonaparte Group has grown accustod to making quick profits, so they naturally look down on this slow-money thod.
"Won’t this cause their backlash?" Empress Augusta hesitated a bit.
"Backlash! What right do these guys have to a backlash?" Jero Bonaparte said contemptuously, "They’re just a bunch of blusterers with no backbone!"
...
On May 18, 1853, Jero Bonaparte gathered all the core mbers of the Bonaparte Group together.
Since Jero Bonaparte gathered everyone suddenly, none of those present understood the purpose of Jero Bonaparte’s actions.
"Here’s the plan! I intend to build a large community outside the Saint Anthony Suburb capable of accommodating one hundred thousand people, and this community will be aid at all Parisians..." Jero Bonaparte directly addressed the Bonaparte Faction mbers present.
As soon as Jero Bonaparte finished speaking, whispers started among the Bonapartes below the stage; they understood that Jero Bonaparte seed to be looking for money from them.
"The community has now been approved by the Paris City Hall! I have so savings myself, but it’s still a bit short! So I’ve gathered everyone here to brainstorm and co up with solutions together! However, rest assured ladies and gentlen, the community’s houses will be rented at market prices!" Jero Bonaparte described the market prospects to the Bonapartes present; he now resembled a shrewd rchant rather than having the deanor an Emperor should have.
Seated below the stage were all his potential investors, yet these "angel" investors seed uninterested in investing in the community that Jero Bonaparte was working on, eager to cash in their rights as soon as possible.
"On this issue, I don’t intend to force you! You only need to do what you can!" Jero Bonaparte wore a hypocritical smile at the corner of his mouth.
At the sa ti, Jero Bonaparte fixed his gaze on his cousin, Pierre Bonaparte.
Seeing Jero Bonaparte’s attention on himself, Pierre Bonaparte recalled the day before when Jero Bonaparte had ordered him to act as a "ringleader."
Initially, Pierre Bonaparte had no intention of agreeing to Jero Bonaparte; his money too was obtained through his own use of power, so why should he foot the bill for the Emperor’s ideas?
Until Jero Bonaparte exposed all the dirty things Pierre had done and threatened that if Pierre didn’t heed his advice, he would be directly sent back to Ro, did Pierre Bonaparte grovel at the Emperor’s feet, expressing that he would comply.
"I’ll buy a share in this venture!" Before Pierre Bonaparte could stand, Prince Monfort declared his support for Jero Bonaparte from within the crowd.
"I’m also willing to invest!" Having drawn a wave of enmity, Prince Monfort left Pierre Bonaparte with no choice but to grit his teeth and stand up to say.
"Excellent!" Jero Bonaparte nodded with satisfaction at the compliant Pierre Bonaparte.
With the demonstration from two heavyweight figures from the House of Bonaparte, Prince Monfort and Pierre Bonaparte, everyone present knew what they should do next.
Money can be earned again!
If you alienate the Emperor, you’d better not think about turning the tables for the rest of your life.
Next ca the ministers and chancellors in prominent positions like Mornay, Percy, and Rue. To them, since the Emperor had already asked them for financing, how could they dare not lend to him.
Emile Pereire, the president of the Paris Industrial Bank, was even more generous, directly injecting 200 million francs into Jero Bonaparte’s dream.
This money was all painstakingly extracted by miners with blood and sweat from the mines in regions like California and lbourne.
Thanks to the "generosity" of the Bonaparte Faction mbers, Jero Bonaparte quickly completed the first round of financing.
On May 20, a Worker’s Credit Bank with a market value of 350 million francs was quietly established in Paris.
The newly established Worker’s Credit Bank imdiately acquired several construction companies and rged them into one company.
Simultaneously, with Jero Bonaparte’s secret support, Georges Ossman defeated the suburb’s city council and took control of the Saint Anthony Suburb. In the future, large tracts of land in the Paris 12th District would be handed over to this company at the low price of more than 100 francs per square ter.
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