The Fox of France

Chapter 426: Persecution

The carriage came to a halt again, and ahead was a commotion, as if they had returned to the year '93. Carnot stuck his head out of the carriage and asked, "What's happening?"

"Sir, there's a crowd gathered in front of a bank, blocking the road," the coachman replied.

Upon hearing this, Carnot couldn't help but shake his head and said, "Ah, Bats, take another route, we need to hurry, I'm already late today. Do you know a route without any banks?"

This morning, Carnot had already taken several detours on his way to work.

At this point, the crisis had spread to the banks, and once it affected the banks, its impact on society became evident. Numerous banks closed due to inability to handle the run on deposits, leading to many small and medium-sized banks declaring bankruptcy.

Generally, smaller banks tended to offer slightly higher interest rates than larger banks to attract depositors, which naturally increased their operating costs. Moreover, in order to make enough money, they had to engage in more aggressive investments or even speculation. Therefore, in this wave, these small banks engaged in aggressive speculation were the first to collapse in droves.

With banks collapsing, the money deposited by depositors naturally vanished into thin air. Many people had worked hard all their lives and, in pursuit of slightly higher interest rates, had deposited their lifelong savings in these small banks. Yet, within a few days, these small banks closed one after another, bankrupt, and as for the owners, it was said that they fled to America with whatever little money they had left.

The coachman turned the carriage around, preparing to take another route, when a voice reached Carnot's ears, "Who are these damn Jews, vampires, it's them, who have swallowed our hard-earned money!"

"Damn Jews! We can't let them get away with this; we should kill all those Jews!" someone shouted.

Upon hearing this voice, Carnot furrowed his brow. Frankly speaking, Carnot didn't have a good impression of Jews either, and he even felt that some Jews truly deserved to be on the guillotine. However, that had to be after a trial in court, not like now, attempting to resort to vigilante justice. Once vigilantism became rampant, the Republic would regress to the old days of '93.

At this moment, the coachman had turned the carriage around, ready to leave. Carnot hurriedly shouted, "Stop!"

The coachman halted the carriage. Carnot opened the carriage door and climbed onto the roof.

"Citizens, please listen to me for a moment!" Carnot shouted loudly at the citizens who were preparing to act.

"Who's that?" someone said.

"It's General Carnot, the Minister of War."

"What Minister of War, wasn't it renamed the Ministry of Peace?"

"Don't argue, let's hear what General Carnot has to say."

Seeing everyone gathering around, Carnot also quieted down and asked loudly, "Do you all believe in the First Consul?"

"We believe!"

"We believe!" People shouted one after another.

"Do you all remember the chaos of '93? Do you want to live through those days again?" Carnot continued to ask loudly.

The crowd fell silent.

"I know many people have suffered unjust losses in this incident, and I also know that some Jews have plundered everyone like vampires. But since everyone trusts the First Consul, why go against him and our agreement by resorting to vigilantism? Why not let the First Consul use the law to fairly judge them?" Carnot asked loudly.

"That's right!" someone said.

"General Carnot makes sense; we should trust the First Consul. He will surely help us seek justice!"

"But those Jews, they might have already taken the money and fled."

"If that's the case, there's nothing we can do; we can only rely on His Majesty."

"Let's go to the Consulate, let's go to the Consulate and plead to His Majesty." Someone else shouted.

So, the crowd changed direction and headed towards the Consulate.

Carnot jumped down from the roof of the carriage and said to the coachman, "Let's head to the Consulate immediately."

When Carnot arrived at the Consulate, there were already many people gathered in the square in front. Napoleon also came out, standing on the steps of the Consulate, delivering a speech to everyone. He assured everyone that the government would do everything possible to help them through this difficult time and hoped that everyone could trust the government and him.

The crowd cheered for Napoleon, and Carnot stood on the side watching. After Napoleon's speech was over and the crowd dispersed, he went to the Consulate to request an audience with Napoleon.

Upon hearing that Carnot had come to see him, Napoleon frowned. Carnot was his former superior, and if this man had any suspicions in the current situation, it wouldn't be good. Nevertheless, he still had someone bring Carnot into his office.

"Your Excellency, First Consul," Carnot said, "I've seen that many banks are facing problems now. Many people have lost their lifelong savings because of this. The situation is very dangerous; what actions do you plan to take?"

"This situation truly caught me by surprise; it's like another tulip bulb craze," Napoleon said. "I have decided to suspend the stock market for three days to prevent excessive panic. At the same time, I have ordered the Ministry of Public Security to intensify the pursuit and crackdown on those who have absconded with funds. Furthermore, we will temporarily reduce taxes in the hope of stimulating the economy. But, Carnot, you know, in terms of the economy, the government's options are very limited."

"What about the Bank of Rome? Aren't they doing anything?" Carnot asked again.

"The Bank of Rome is acquiring some of the more risky banks. But this also puts tremendous pressure on the Bank of Rome. More importantly, Carnot, you know, the problem with banks is not just what you mentioned. Banks are also linked to factories, and factories are linked to more people's livelihoods. That's the big problem. If there are indeed mass closures of businesses, then we..." Napoleon paused here and said, "Then we may have to expand the military."

"Your Excellency, do you intend to wage war?" Carnot was surprised.

"No, Carnot, I don't want to. But sometimes, the situation pushes us, hoping we don't reach that point...those damn Jewish speculators!" Napoleon gritted his teeth.

"We indeed should fiercely crack down on those Jewish speculators!" Carnot also said. Punishing Jewish speculators would surely harm many innocent victims, but that was still better than war.

The next day, an editorial titled "Vigorously Rectify the Financial Order and Ensure Stable Development of the National Economy" was published in The Scientific Truth Gazette. In this editorial, The Scientific Truth Gazette attributed this wave to the malicious speculative behavior of some unscrupulous businessmen. The editorial also pointed out that these malicious speculative behaviors not only harmed the market but also violated the laws of France, and their inevitable fate awaited them was the severe punishment of the law! Beneath this editorial was the emergency state order issued by the government. According to this directive, the stock market in France would be suspended for three days for comprehensive rect

ification.

Following that, The Businessman Gazette also published news exposing the criminal activities of some unscrupulous businessmen—most of whom were Jews. The Businessman Gazette specifically pointed out that the earliest to short the stock market was the famous Jewish banker Rothschild. Of course, The Businessman Gazette also acknowledged that Rothschild had not engaged in any illegal operations and had suffered only minor losses in this wave, without making any ill-gotten gains. But the actions of other Jewish businessmen were truly despicable.

Subsequently, the Council of State proposed an emergency bill authorizing the establishment of a special court to combat economic crimes.

This bill was quickly passed, and the Special Court for Combating Economic Crimes was established. On its first day of operation, the court hung fifteen Jewish businessmen and sent more than sixty Jewish businessmen to the mines.

At this point, the economic crisis, starting from France, had swept across Europe, and blaming Jews for this crisis had become a trend throughout Europe. From St. Petersburg to London, there were bonfires where Jews were lynched everywhere. Terrified, many Jews fled to Turkey or sought refuge in France.

Yes, fleeing to Turkey and France. Compared to countries with Christian beliefs, the Ottoman Turks were much more tolerant of Jews. Apart from not allowing them to build churches higher than mosques and requiring them to pay head taxes, they hardly discriminated against Jews in any other way, and there was practically no persecution like the kind of burning at the stake.

As for France, it was the starting point of the persecution of Jews this time. However, compared to other countries in Europe, France was still considered a civilized country. At least, when persecuting Jews, they still went through the courts. Moreover, frankly speaking, the death sentences handed down by French courts were much less frequent than those fires in other countries. What was left was only hard labor and fines.

Considering that it was almost impossible for Jews who fled from abroad to participate in illegal speculation in France, so once they arrived in France, they even had no possibility of being sentenced to death or hard labor. At most, they were fined for illegal entry. Furthermore, considering that it was very inconvenient to reach Turkey because it required crossing a series of heavily guarded borders, compared to that, crossing the border into France was much simpler. Therefore, although France, which was the first to lead the persecution of Jews, became the number one refuge for Jews in Europe during this wave, many Jews who arrived in France quickly went to North Africa, which was under French control.

Of course, there was an even better refuge, which was the North African region controlled by the French. Staying in France would still be met with rejection from the locals, such as suddenly being spat at or slapped on the street. (Jews were not allowed to fight back; otherwise, the arriving police would unconditionally regard it as Jewish provocation.) In those North African regions jointly controlled by the French and the Turks, there was even less discrimination. So many Jews who arrived in France quickly went to North Africa.