Chapter 20 Butterflies

USA, headquarters of the Bank of New York.

Cosic had every right to be proud. After all, he was the hall manager of the Bank of New York, the second-largest bank in the United States.

Today, as usual, he sat in his office smoking a cigar while browsing through the latest prices of land across America.

Suddenly, a young man stumbled into the room. Before the young man could even speak, Cosic cut him off.

"Just look at you, Jim. We are the second-largest bank in the United States. Acting so flustered will lead our high-end clientele to believe we are unreliable. Remember, no matter what happens, one must maintain elegance."

"Mr. Cosic, there is a gentleman outside demanding the redemption of two million dollars in gold."

"What! Gold!?" Cosic exclaimed.

"Yes, he wants only gold, not paper currency." Young Jim, seeming to anticipate what Cosic would ask, spoke in advance.

"My God, two million in gold, damn it!" Cosic slapped his own face hard to force himself to calm down.

Cosic understood the gravity of the situation. Two million was practically his entire reserve; even for the largest bank in the United States, redeeming two million dollars in gold all at once was more than they could comfortably handle.

"This is likely not a simple redemption, but a run orchestrated by a rival bank. After all, the entire American banking sector knows the fact that the current volume of paper dollars far exceeds the upper limit of what American banks can redeem," Cosic thought to himself.

Entering the VIP parlor, Cosic met the young gentleman. The young man had exquisitely sculpted, sharply defined features; coupled with his bowler hat and tailcoat, Cosic could be certain that the person before him was undoubtedly a British aristocrat.

"Damned Brit," Cosic cursed inwardly, though he quickly replaced it with a smiling face.

"Good day, sir. How may I help you?"

"Hello, my name is Yimin Wayne." The young man tipped his hat and bowed. "I deposited a sum of money with your esteemed bank. Now that I am leaving America, I wish to redeem it into gold to ship back to my homeland."

At this time, the exchange rate of the US dollar was unstable, varying across different times and countries.

Furthermore, the dollar was not a universal currency; the only universal currencies at that time were silver and gold.

"Mr. Wayne, how about this: I can offer you a specially preferential interest rate. If you leave this money deposited in our bank for now, we will mail it to your home in a year's time with both principal and interest included. What do you think?"

Cosic then instructed Jim: "Jim, bring the certificate of deposit, let Mr. Wayne take a look, and record Mr. Wayne's address."

Yimin Wayne raised a hand to signal Jim to stop. As the nephew of Baron Brook, and having come with the explicit purpose of quietly executing a run on this bank, he naturally would not agree to Cosic's suggestion.

"Sir, I require my gold right now."

Cosic realized that the visitor meant business. However, he could neither fulfill the redemption immediately nor lose the prestige of the Bank of New York; after all, if the man were to shout loudly in the main hall, it would very likely spark a panic and completely ruin the reputation of the Bank of New York.

"Let's do this. I understand your feelings. But since this is a relatively large sum, I need to apply to my superiors to allocate a batch of gold for you. How about you stay here for a short while? As for the accommodation expenses, they will be entirely covered by our bank."

Yimin Wayne nodded. After all, discretion was necessary, and the effect of running the bank had already been achieved. He was quite happy to spend a few more days enjoying New York, especially since the cost of living here was remarkably cheap.

The price of meat was only half that of Austria, the price of tobacco was one-third of Austria's, and the price of sugar was absurdly low. Besides, since the Americans were footing the bill, it couldn't be considered embezzlement. Why not enjoy it?

Spain, the Pyrenees, Carlist Army Camp.

"Your Majesty Carlos, allow me to introduce you. This is Mr. John George Woodford. He will serve as the commander-in-chief of your forces to help you through this difficult time. Furthermore, we have prepared sufficient food, weapons, and clothing for you at the northern ports..."

John George Woodford was a former British Army lieutenant general who had marched into Spain alongside the Iron Duke, the Duke of Wellington, to pacify the country as one of the founding meritorious ministers.

Unlike his commercially astute brother, however, John George Woodford did not care for politicians and constantly criticized them for ruining the country. Consequently, many years ago, he was forced into early retirement to live out his days in peace at home.

Baron Pitt introduced the special military advisor, Mr. John George Woodford, to Carlos.

Since Britain still needed the French to help them counterbalance the Russians in the Far East, they did not want relations with the French to become overly strained.

At the same time, Britain could absolutely not allow a monstrous union between France and Spain to be born on the European continent.

However, given that the French had only dispatched a force of ten thousand men, Britain decided to activate this veteran general who had been retired for many years, provide him with some mercenaries, and let him lead Carlos to continue fighting guerrilla warfare in northern Spain.

Viscount Melbourne and Palmerston both agreed that the French had fallen flat in Spain once before, and it would hardly be surprising if they fell again.

John George Woodford and Lieutenant General Pierre were old acquaintances; both had participated in the Napoleonic Wars.

Back when the Duke of Wellington led his army to sweep away the French forces in Spain, the two of them had been adversaries.

Little did they know that decades later, they would become adversaries once more, and upon the very same stage in Spain—a twist of fate that could only be described as marvelous.

John George Woodford was a battle-hardened veteran. He understood that the enemies outside were all biding their time.

Waiting for the moment when the Carlist army's supplies were exhausted and they were forced into a desperate gamble.

Now, however, with British support, those enemies were bound to be disappointed.

John George Woodford understood that, compared to supplies and powerful enemy forces, the greater threat came traitors within the Carlist army.

Therefore, John George Woodford's first order was to relocate the army further north to avoid a decisive engagement, while leaving behind a small detachment to ambush the traitors who leaked intelligence to the Spanish government forces and the French.

The Carlist generals were quite pleased to have an experienced general take command.

After all, this was bound to be far more reliable than Carlos commanding personally.

Although Carlos was extremely displeased at having a Briton command his army, there was little he could do; he knew nothing of warfare and desperately needed British weapons and supplies.

Vienna, General Hospital.

Doctor Thomas tore Franz's "Six-Step Handwashing Method" to shreds and roared, "This is an insult to the medical profession! That idiot emperor's idiotic decree will not take effect here!"

Vienna, Hall of Mirrors.

"My foolish brother, do you have nothing better to do? You actually want to police whether other people wash their hands."

"My poor brother, don't you find it disgusting that those doctors come to examine you right after using the latrine? I even suspect that it was something unclean they left inside your body that turned you into what you are now."

Ferdinand I found this argument thoroughly convincing and immediately signed a "Royal Decree" mandating that doctors must wash their hands before treating patients.