Gelson Bleichröder honestly followed the manager into the living room. This is a house full of Prussian style. So what is Prussian style? It is simple and rough without luxury and comfort. In short, it is like this
If the drawing room appeared in high society in Vienna or Paris, it would be laughed at.
But this is Cottbus, the core area of Prussian style, especially since the owner of this living room is the famous Prince Shotgun, so don’t be surprised to see pure originality.
For the Hohenzollern family, which pays more attention to practicality than to showing off wealth, unnecessary luxury is meaningless. Everything is simple and practical, which is also in line with German tradition. Of course, this tradition has great influence on Gelson.
It's quite unexpected because he is a Jew. Although Jews don't like to openly show off their wealth, they don't want to make it so shabby and make people look down upon.
After all, necessary scenes are still necessary for businessmen. Otherwise, potential partners may think that they do not have enough strength, and the business will not be done.
Anyway, Gerson felt that this prince's living room was not as foreign-style as his own, and it was really petty. However, he did not dare to express his contempt openly, because after all, this was the prince's living room, and with him in front of him
The general manager who came to visit William I was now respectful and even a little restless.
But usually this person is a consistent person with no good character for his subordinates. Sometimes he is a bit domineering. Anyway, he has the feeling that his eyes are higher than his head. Not even ordinary Prussian nobles can even think of asking for help from him.
When he looked good, Gerson was very envious of the general manager at that time, because not every Jew can have such a highlight moment.
Gerson hopes that in the future, he can be as dignified as this general manager, and can instruct those nobles who look down on the Jews to be like his grandson, so that he will have no regrets in this life.
It's just that when the general manager met a real top nobleman today, it was still a bit unsatisfactory. Gerson felt that it would be more perfect if the Prince of Prussia could also show respect.
Will William I show respect to the Jews? Yes! But it depends on who it is. At least the general manager of the Berlin branch of the Rothschild family bank in front of him is far from enough. If it is the real Rothschild family
He will show appropriate respect to his direct descendants. After all, they are the real financial giants. Even a prince like him must respect him three points.
"Mr. Benjamin, how are you discussing the financing? When can you give me a definite result?"
Gerson glanced at his general manager without leaving any trace. At this time, he had only moved his buttocks out of the small half of the seat, looking particularly cautious. He lowered his head slightly and replied: "Your Highness, your
The request is a bit too sudden. This amount of money is not a small amount, and I need to report it to His Excellency the Baron for approval... And as you know, the connection with Vienna is very problematic now, and those mobs..."
Benjamin still wanted to explain, but William I was not interested in listening at all. He suddenly stretched out his arm to stop Benjamin from continuing to speak, and asked domineeringly: "I'm not interested in this. You just need to tell me when I can
Just get this money!"
Benjamin took out his handkerchief and wiped the sweat from his forehead, and hesitated for a moment before replying: "Your Highness, the money you want is too urgent. Our bank does not have such great authority, so I can only..."
William I interrupted him impatiently again and asked: "Then how much money can your bank grant me?"
Gerson sat aside and pondered the conversation between the two. It was obvious that William I was planning to borrow a sum of money from the Rothschild family's bank for emergency purposes, but the sum could be very large and far beyond Benjamin's authority.
.
And now William I was in a very urgent need, but he couldn't get in touch with Vienna for a while, so he asked Benjamin to sit on the wax.
For a qualified Jewish businessman, Gelson immediately began to calculate in his mind whether this matter would be profitable, but he really did not have much experience in this area. It was not that he had never done lending, but that he was very
Avoid borrowing money from such top aristocrats. Because there are many opinions about it, and even if their family members have lent out the money, they may not be able to get it back.
So Gerson just turned around in his mind and had no real intention to get involved. After all, although doing business sometimes requires a certain amount of gambling, if the gambling component is too high, it is also seeking death.
At this time Benjamin replied hesitantly: "My authority can only provide you with one hundred thousand Prussian talers..."
Benjamin was interrupted again by William I, but this time the prince was very angry, or he felt insulted: "One hundred thousand Prussian talers, do I need to ask you for this little money? Do you think I am?
People who are short of money! Mr. Benjamin, I have always trusted Baron James Rothschild to choose your bank as a partner, but your performance has really disappointed me. I have to consider terminating the bank.
I’m cooperating with you!”
In fact, the meaning of these words was more threatening than angry. William I may have felt that he could already borrow more funds, instead of a mere 100,000 Prussian talers. This was a bit unacceptable to him, who was arrogant and proud.
But at the same time, he also knew that there were not many banks in Berlin that could provide large sums of funds, and the only ones that could meet his needs were the Rothschild family.
But this family's bank obviously disappointed him so much that it was only willing to lend him 100,000 Prussian talers. What was this little money enough for? How many parliamentarians could it be bought off?
Benjamin was also shocked by William I, because he knew very well the importance of William I. Their bank had been very happy to cooperate with William I in the past, allowing them to get a lot of benefits from the Prussian government, but now and then, if
William I was still able to have an overview of national affairs as before, so let alone borrowing 500,000 Prussian talers, even double that amount would not matter.
The problem is that now that William I has been forced out of office, he only has the fictitious title of governor, and his influence on the Prussian government is not as good as before. If he is loaned a large amount of money at this time, what if he can't pay it back?
?
Neither the Rothschilds nor Benjamin are philanthropists. On the contrary, they are financial executioners who are best at knocking at the bones and sucking out the marrow. They will never engage in loss-making transactions!