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.
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…”
M V L
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.”