"Les Cinq Cents Millions De La Bégum" by Jules Verne is a novel published in 1879. Two men inherit a massive fortune from a wealthy Bégum—a French doctor and a German professor. The Frenchman builds France-Ville, an ideal city based on hygiene and modern urban planning. The German constructs Stahlstadt, a steel fortress dedicated to heavy industry. When Marcel, a young Alsatian, infiltrates the German's city as a spy, he discovers a sinister plot that threatens France-Ville's very existence. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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