After concluding his conversation with the French businessman Wilson, Cavour, accompanied by Governor Valne, met with the distinguished merchants and bankers in the hall, encouraging them to continue striving for the prosperity of Chambéry, while promising to consider implementing some tax exemption policies in Chambéry.

The foreign enterprises and bankers, upon hearing the possibility of tax exemptions, all expressed their appreciation to Cavour.

The reason these foreign enterprises came to Chambéry was to take advantage of the low labor costs, which was also Chambéry’s only competitive edge.

If Cavour could reduce their taxes, then they would earn more money.

After saying this, Cavour ordered the servants attending the banquet to prepare a glass of red wine for him. After a while, a servant brought the red wine to Cavour.

Cavour raised the glass of red wine in his hand and said loudly to everyone present, "Ladies and gentlemen, please quiet down for a moment!"

Everyone in the hall stopped talking and turned their attention to Cavour.

Then, Cavour continued to address everyone present, "Ladies and gentlemen, I still have official duties to attend to! Please forgive me for not being able to stay too long, and let this glass of wine represent my apology to you all!

For the remaining time, let Valne accompany you to continue the festivities!"

As soon as Cavour finished speaking, he drank the red wine in his glass in one gulp, handed the wine glass to the attendant beside him, and bowed to everyone present.

Everyone in the hall was stunned for a few seconds, and Wilson, the first to react, quickly began applauding, and the others also followed suit, clapping their hands in response.

Applause filled the hall, and Cavour turned and left amidst the applause.

Governor Valne, who had originally stood beside Cavour, smiled apologetically at the crowd after Cavour left and then turned to catch up with him.

Governor Valne caught up with Cavour on the steps outside the room, anxiously saying, "Prime Minister, how can you leave now? This was a welcome ceremony specially prepared for you by the Chambéry business community!"

Cavour stopped and said calmly, "I’ve already met them, and now I need to leave!"

"What about inside once you leave?" Governor Valne asked.

"Didn’t I already say? You will continue!" Cavour responded to Governor Valne.

"This was originally to welcome you! If you leave now, how can it continue?" Governor Valne responded to Cavour with a pained expression.

"What’s preventing it from continuing!" Prime Minister Cavour said, "The purpose of the merchants hosting this banquet is to hope that I’ll implement some policies to reduce their tax burden.

I’ve already told them earlier that I will implement some policies to help them reduce taxes!

Now that their goal has been achieved, whether I stay here or not is no longer so important!

Valne, you only need to complete the second half of the banquet now."

Upon hearing this, Governor Valne suddenly felt that what Prime Minister Cavour said indeed made some sense.

Cavour’s tasks indeed were already completed, so his absence wouldn’t matter much now.

"By the way! I’m curious! How did you find out that I left Turin!" Cavour asked curiously, remembering that his departure from Turin was supposed to be lowkey.

How did Valne know he left Turin!

"His Majesty the King conveyed it to us via telegram!" Governor Valne said to Cavour, "He informed us of your arrival time in the telegram and instructed me to take good care of you!"

"Oh, that’s how it is!" Cavour showed a look of realization, waved his hand, and said to Valne, "I don’t need your care!

Now, your task is to help me take good care of the guests inside!

Be sure to make them have confidence in our Sardinian Kingdom, because only then will they be willing to invest more money in Sardinia!"

"Yes!" Valne replied robustly.

"Oh, and about the expansion of Chambéry just now! Let me tell you, Turin also doesn’t have much money right now, so it’s very likely that we cannot allocate funds to you!

Your Chambéry Provincial Government must resolve the funding gap on its own. If necessary, you can also borrow money from enterprises!" Cavour continued to tell Governor Valne.

The economic crisis in the United States of America, after affecting the Sardinian Kingdom, had turned the already sluggish Sardinian Kingdom’s finances into a complete mess.

Sardinia not only had to repay part of the loans from England and France, but also had to cover the national debt interest at the stock exchange.

Worse, they also had to pay a certain interest on the railway system.

The Minister of Finance in Sardinia had been replaced several times, but none of them could do much about Sardinia’s finances. They could only rely on juggling and issuing national bonds to get by.

"Ah!" Governor Valne, upon hearing that Cavour had no money, opened his mouth but was speechless.

"Who caused the sudden economic crisis recently!" Cavour sighed again after speaking.

Immediately after, Cavour got back on the carriage he came in and left, while Valne returned to the hall to drink with the merchants inside.

Sitting in the carriage, Cavour ordered the coachman to take him to the border between France and the Kingdom of Sardinia. After hearing Cavour’s order, the coachman had no choice but to comply.

The carriage quickly left the urban area of Chambéry and then traveled westward.

After galloping for more than an hour, the carriage slowly began to decelerate until it came to a complete stop.

Then the coachman said to Cavour, "Prime Minister Cavour, we’ve arrived!"

Prime Minister Cavour pushed open the carriage door; it was already dusk, and the setting sun was about to disappear over the horizon, turning the floating clouds a deep red. The carriage cast a long shadow in the sunset’s glow.

Not far from the carriage was a team of soldiers and officers wearing the Kingdom of Sardinia’s uniforms. Behind them was a roadblock built of wood, just wide enough to allow a carriage through.

About 100 meters behind the roadblock stood a group of soldiers in French uniforms, with a similar barrier in front of them.

"Convey my thanks to Governor Valne!" Cavour said casually to the coachman, then walked with a suitcase to the border line of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

"Who are you? Are you leaving the border?" The Sardinian soldiers and officers in charge of inspections hurriedly stopped Cavour and asked.

Cavour smiled and said to them, "I am Cavour, Camillo Cavour!"

The border officers and soldiers, upon hearing Cavour’s response, were incredulous. They couldn’t believe that Prime Minister Cavour would travel to France alone, without an escort.

Out of caution, the leading officer requested that Cavour provide some proof.

Cavour smiled and pinned the Kingdom of Sardinia’s highest Medal of Honor on his clothes. The officer, upon seeing the medal, quickly saluted Cavour and said, "Prime Minister Cavour, please forgive my rudeness!"

"Yes!" Prime Minister Cavour nodded and responded to the officer, "You’ve worked hard! Can I leave now?"

The Sardinian officer quickly stepped aside, allowing Prime Minister Cavour to leave Sardinia.

Cavour, having crossed the Sardinian border, continued walking toward the territory of the French Empire. The French troops in the distance quickly ran over upon seeing this and asked the same questions the Sardinian soldiers had.

"I am Camillo Cavour, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia!" Cavour had to repeat what he had said before.

The French officer also saluted the Sardinian Kingdom’s Prime Minister and then asked Cavour if he needed any assistance.

"Could you find me a carriage? I want to reach Lyon as soon as possible!" Cavour asked the French officer.

"I’m sorry, we don’t have a carriage here, but you can go to a nearby town, where there should be carriages going to Lyon!" the French officer replied to Cavour.

"Thank you!" Cavour expressed gratitude to the French officer and continued walking forward on foot.

After nearly half an hour’s journey, Cavour finally reached the town before dark.

Upon entering the town, Cavour immediately found the most luxurious hotel in town to stay in.

Although this hotel was reputed to be the best in town, the entire hotel wasn’t even as good as an ordinary hotel in Turin.

However, not being particular, Cavour didn’t mind too much.

After settling in for a while, he walked out of the town and asked the hotel owner if there were carriages to Lyon.

The hotel owner told him that he could take the only carriage to Lyon in town around 2 PM the next day, or he could rent one himself.

Considering his time was precious, Cavour decided to rent a carriage the next day to proceed.

After bidding farewell to the hotel owner, Cavour returned to his place and the following day looked for a private carriage in town to travel to Lyon.

He quickly found a private carriage, negotiated the price with the coachman, got in, and the coachman drove the carriage toward Lyon.

After a day and night of journey, they finally reached Lyon the following afternoon.

Upon arriving in Lyon, Cavour didn’t spare a moment to admire the beautiful sights of the Lyon region, and quickly headed to the train station and bought a ticket to Paris.

Since the train’s departure time was the next day, Cavour had no choice but to stay in a hotel in Lyon again, which this time wasn’t a very expensive one.

After resting for the night, Cavour again took his suitcase and boarded the train to Paris.

As the locomotive sounded its piercing whistle, the steam train slowly started up.