Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 612: Chapter 522: Confident and Fearless

“Thank you for your information,” Joseph nodded to the British banker, “You have won me at least half a month of preparation time.”

Godemid immediately revealed a smile, “It’s my honor to be of service to you.”

He was extremely relieved at his original decision. By being a “double agent” in the Tax Farmers Association, he had successfully avoided significant income losses due to France’s tax reform, and he had also established a connection with the Crown Prince, which would undoubtedly provide him with plenty of opportunities in France in the future.

If handled well, he could even truly take control of French finance, just as the Wallenberg family had done in Sweden. By then, Godemid would become one of Europe’s top surnames.

He was about to “take credit” and ask the Crown Prince for some favors when Joseph said, “Oh, you must have heard about the Tax Bureau auditing the Tax Farmers’ accounts, right?”

iends who want a government position. Although the finance department is definitely out of the question, I can let them become diplomats.”

Godemid’s spirits lifted from sadness to joy. Although the diplomatic system was far from finance, it meant he had his own confidants within the bureaucratic system, and it also indicated the Crown Prince’s recognition of his importance.

“I am deeply grateful, great Crown Prince Your Highness.”

Naturally, Joseph would not let this cunning and ambitious tycoon control senior officials, but he could give him the position of the French ambassador to England.

After all, the intelligence work there was now mostly handed over to the intelligence bureau, and with the current relations between France and England, there was little else for the ambassador to do other than talk tough.

And in the not-too-distant future, he might even have to take some blame. The real diplomatic talents needed to be protected.

Joseph encouraged Godemid a bit more and then sent him back.

When Eman returned after seeing off the guest, Joseph immediately ordered him, “Please invite Count Mirabeau, Baron Ba Yi, Viscount Besancon, Mr. Dupont, and Mr. Castella to see me immediately.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Two hours later, a group of political and business heavyweights had already gathered in Joseph’s office. The general manager of the Gemini Trading Company, Mr. Castella, had not yet returned from dealing with matters in Marseille, so his assistant manager Vorant came in his stead.

After Mirabeau and the others were seated, Joseph immediately said solemnly, “France will soon face a disaster, and I need you all to help me address it.”

Everyone immediately stood up again and said in unison with their hands on their chests, “Please instruct us, Your Highness.”

Joseph gestured for them to sit down and continued, “I have received information that those guys from the Tax Farmers Association are preparing to make some big moves to stop the Tax Bureau from auditing their accounts.”

Joseph then recounted the situation reported by Godemid earlier, and Mirabeau immediately said, “Your Highness, since we already know their plans, we can certainly issue a prohibition order in advance to prevent it.”

Paris added, “We could even assign liaison officers to the larger merchant convoys.”

What he referred to as liaison officers were essentially tasked with supervising the convoys, with powers to confiscate goods or freeze transactions, and each was accompanied by several, or even a dozen, armed attendants.

Joseph shook his head, “If they really want to disrupt trade, they could find many ways, such as diverting all funds for other uses. Even with a prohibition order, it’s not illegal for a convoy to run out of money and not be able to buy goods.”

He then smiled again, “Moreover, I actually hope they can carry out their plans successfully.

“The bigger the fuss the Tax Farmers make, the more thorough the tax reform can be.”

The people in the room looked at each other in astonishment upon hearing this.

Baron Ba Yi immediately stepped forward anxiously and tried to dissuade him, “Your Highness, if we let them disrupt commercial trade, it may have a very serious impact on the country.”

That was precisely why the Tax Farmers Association was so confident. They were betting that the French Government would back down.

Once the trade lines halted, factory products would accumulate, and the weaker ones would quickly go bankrupt due to broken financial chains. If the merchant convoys stopped working for two months, they could cause the collapse of France’s finances, and even one s within half a month.”

Mr. Dupont and Ba Yi immediately shook their heads, “Your Highness, forgive my candor, but with such a number of convoys, half a month is completely insufficient to expand to the scale you need.”

“Yes, Your Highness, if we had six months, perhaps we could give it a try.”

Despite its strength, the Gemini Trading Company’s regular convoy operations were not large because its main business was running Mediterranean trade and quietly bringing in some items from the Pacific Ocean.

Combined with the convoys that several people in the room could mobilize, the total size was only about one-tenth of the national convoys.