"Look over there, the bald old man who is chatting with Frank, do you still have any impressions?" Palatina pointed to a place in the banquet hall and introduced the identity of the other party to Grofa, "He is the head of the court, Baron Steinmeier, a close minister who has followed His Majesty the Emperor for many years, and is also the most trusted person of His Majesty, in recent years, His Majesty's dragon health is not good, he rarely appears in public, and most social activities are attended by this court director, it can be said that he is the spokesperson of His Majesty the Emperor, even Frank wants to enter the palace to meet his father, he has to report to him first, so although this Lord Steward does not seem to have much power on the surface, no one dares to offend him." ”

Palatina turned her eyes to the middle-aged man who had come forward to greet Jacob Fogel with a hug, and said to Corofa: "Beware of that bearded and well-dressed fellow, who is the Count of Müller, who has just climbed to the prime minister's throne not long ago. ”

"This one needs no introduction, he once served as the ambassador to Canaan, which can be regarded as a model for a diplomat to enter the cabinet to govern." Corofa said.

"Count Müller is very good at interpersonal relations, but he is too tactful and lacks the courage to reform the evils of the times, and I am not optimistic about the prospects of his cabinet." Palatina calmly voiced her harsh criticism of the prime minister.

"Why is he so courteous to Old Man Fogel that he doesn't dare to put on the role of Prime Minister at all, does the cabinet want to borrow money from Fogel Bank to tide over the deficit?" Grofa asked.

"It's about the same, it's really about the financial predicament," Palatina whispered after glancing to the left and right to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on their conversation, "Old man Fogel went to the Chancellor of the Exchequer to settle an account, and the conclusion was that it was becoming more and more difficult to contract the business of imperial taxation, and if the tax revenue did not come up, it would have to be discounted, but if the tax was collected by compulsory means, the cost would be too high, and the second would inevitably arouse public anger, and he claimed that he did not want to be a shield for the cabinet anymore, so he planned to give up the tax package business from next year, and let the cabinet invite another master, For so many years, the imperial tax has been packaged and sold, from the capital to the local tax collection departments have all been abolished, has lost the ability to collect taxes on their own, and now the Fogel family does not want to do it, and there is no other agency to take over this incomparably complex business, so the stalemate will be paralyzed in the empire's finances, the Earl of Muller knows very well how serious this problem is, so he chased after the old man Fogel to say all the good things, begging him to share the worries of the country and continue to undertake the tax business. ”

"The Fogel family has been the royal tax collector for nearly 100 years, and it is unlikely that they will abandon this traditional business, and I guess Jacob is just blackmailing the cabinet with this retreat in order to increase the tax commission." Colossa calmly analyzes Jacob Fogel's true thoughts.

"That's what I guessed, so bankers are the most insatiable people in the world!" Palatine glanced at the old man with contempt, and instead looked at the short, red-haired man who was chatting with Fogel.

"I'm afraid you don't recognize him, his name is John Lauer, he is a down-and-out aristocrat from Fei Zhen, it is said that he is a crazy gambler, he was caught cheating at the card table and was beaten and kicked out of the club, and since then his reputation has been discredited, and he was ostracized by Fei Zhen's high society, so he crossed the sea to the holy city to find opportunities for development."

Grofa was surprised: "How could such a rotten man be taken by Frank and make him a financial advisor and a knight of the squire?" ”

Palatina smiled lightly: "To be fair, John Raul is indeed a strange man, he wrote securities analysis articles for a newspaper for a living before he met Frank, and his predictions proved to be more accurate than those senior professors in business schools, and the people who listened to his advice to buy stocks have made a little fortune, so he has a pretty good reputation in the Holy City, and he will not be looked down upon again when he goes to the casino." ”

"Perhaps thanks to his gambler nature, securities trading is actually a form of gambling." Corofa said.

John Lauer was not limited to this, as he published several articles in the newspaper analysing how ancient trades such as bullion shops, loan sharks and pawnshops had developed into modern banking, and he had debunked the trick of banks to earn interest margins by sucking up savings at low interest rates and lending at high interest rates.

"It's all business common sense, and I don't think there's any need to write an article about it." Grophaus said disapprovingly.

"It's common sense for you, but most people don't know the inside story, and John Lauer reveals more than that, he also tells that the bills issued by the banks are actually playing a psychological scam, people trust the banks, and the checks, promissory notes, and drafts issued by the banks are real money, but the numbers on these bills may not really have the same gold and silver reserves, in fact, the banks are likely to resell the depositors' deposits, in this case, if the majority of depositors go to withdraw their deposits, The bank simply couldn't come up with enough cash to pay, so it went out of business. ”

"This is to explain the risk nature of bank bills, which is a bit interesting, what other high opinion does this Mr. John have?" Glova asked with interest.

Palatine frowned slightly, and hesitated: "John Lauer also has an unpublished article, the content is too unbelievable, my friends and I can't understand it, and some people think that John Lauer is mentally abnormal, but it's strange to say that Frank admires his seemingly extremely ridiculous article the most, and thinks that he has a vision beyond the times." ”

"What was written in that article?" Grofa asked curiously.

"After John Lauer criticized the merchant banks for indiscriminately issuing bills and engaging in credit fraud, he inexplicably turned his pen, believing that this phenomenon is an inevitable trend in the development and growth of the banking industry, and since it cannot be stopped, it is better to be led by the Central Bank of the Reich to issue paper money to replace the precious metal coinage that has been circulating for thousands of years, which can greatly save the cost of coinage and completely solve the economic recession caused by the shortage of money."

"The issuance of paper money is not a new idea, did he not think that once the paper money is decoupled from precious metals, there will be a risk of indiscriminate issuance, just like those merchant banks will issue indiscriminate bills, which will damage the country's credit." Corofa questioned.

John Lauer explained this, but I didn't understand it...... It seems to be the use of high-quality stocks as collateral for the issuance of banknotes, and he also said that if properly managed, a proper depreciation of banknotes will not harm industry and commerce, but will promote more activity...... I don't understand what this is! ”

"Huh? Let me think about it......" Grofa touched his chin and muttered for a few seconds, and suddenly his eyes lit up, as if he had thought of something, and he looked up and said to Palatina: "John Raul is indeed a geek, if Frank can control this man, he will be Frank's right-hand man in carrying out reforms, and vice versa...... It's hard to say. ”