I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1096 The Sugar War Begins

Joseph pondered for a moment, then gestured to Emmanuel: “Please have Archbishop Briand and Archbishop Talleyrand come to see me immediately. Oh, and Monsieur Lavalette as well.”

Half an hour later.

After Baie briefed several cabinet ministers on the general situation, Joseph looked around at everyone and solemnly said:
"The British are hoarding sugar in large quantities, clearly intending to short sugar prices and even control sugar pricing power from now on."

Brian and the others all looked worried, frowning and exchanging glances.

Sugar is not only a vital financial pillar that brings France tens of millions of francs every year, but also the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of French sugar beet farmers.

If sugar prices plummet, a large number of farmers will go bankrupt. At that point, riots would not be surprising.

Finance Minister Gaudin was the most anxious, because he knew that sugar was the anchor of stability for the franc. In current international trade, most countries accept francs for settlement, largely because the purchase of sugar requires francs—the Paris Futures Exchange only accepts francs.

Once London becomes the center of international sugar trading, other countries besides the members of the Iberian-Apennine Common Market will likely demand that transactions be conducted in gold and silver coins.

That would cause a large amount of francs to flow back to France, thereby rapidly pushing up the inflation level in France.

Joseph paused for a moment, then loudly continued, "I have decided to do everything in my power to counter the British short-selling activities."

Godan was so shocked that his eyelids twitched: "Your Highness, if the British release more than 6 tons of sugar onto the market, it is impossible for us to buy it all."

The UK's short-selling objective is clear: to force the Paris futures exchange to lower prices, otherwise all buyers will be attracted to London.

If France follows suit, London will continue to lower prices until they reach the ideal price in the eyes of the British. Ultimately, the international sugar market will follow London's lead.

France has only one way to break the deadlock: buy up all the low-priced sugar offered by Britain, leaving other buyers with only sugar available on the Paris futures exchange.

At the current price of 3 francs and 7 sous per pound of sugar on the London futures market, consuming 6 tons would require a staggering 4 million francs!

Of course, in order to short sugar to the maximum extent, Britain will definitely continue to drive down the price, but even if it is driven down to below 2 francs, it would still take 250 million francs to buy it all.

France absolutely cannot come up with such a large sum of money.

Moreover, Britain certainly wouldn't accept francs as payment, so the 250 million would have to be in gold or silver coins.

Joseph corrected him: "No, the British only have a little over 4 tons of sugar."

Although Godan didn't know why the Crown Prince could "deduct" from the British inventory, he still shook his head: "That would still require nearly 2 million francs..."

Joseph smiled calmly: "It does require a large sum of money, but others can provide it."

Godan and the others immediately looked at him in surprise.

Joseph continued, "The most important thing for futures and financial markets is confidence."

"As long as we convince everyone that the short selling in the UK will not succeed, a lot of money will be available to help us buy up all the cheap sugar in London."

If the short selling fails, sugar prices will rise back to their current highs. Those who bought cheap British sugar can then resell it and make a fortune – a highly profitable opportunity that no one would refuse.

But the key is how to convince people that short sellers will inevitably lose.

Joseph first looked at Bai: "Our first priority is to target the speculative capital of various countries, including government funds. You need to select someone with government connections and ties to the financial world, and then..."

Then he said to Brian, "You need to personally instruct the three major sugar refineries and large sugar merchants in the country to absolutely prohibit them from following the British in lowering prices. The intelligence agency can help monitor this to prevent private transactions."

“You can promise sugar merchants that the government will compensate them if they suffer losses due to the drop in sugar prices.”

“Yes, Your Highness.” Joseph then turned to Lavallet: “The British domestic market is also very important. You can have those Irishmen help spread the word widely…”

He finally looked at Godan: "How much money can the Ministry of Finance provide right now?"

"Only 14 million francs for a short period of time, Your Highness."

Joseph shook his head: "Too little. Okay, I'll figure something out."

Soon, the senior officials left to carry out their orders, while Joseph headed straight for the Hall of Mirrors.

Tonight there's a ball hosted by the Countess of Provence, and the high-ranking nobles of Versailles will likely be attending.

Half an hour later.

As the melodious music played, three top nobles, including the Countess of Provence, surrounded Joseph on the second-floor stands of the Hall of Mirrors, all looking on in shock.

"To achieve an 80% return in less than six months! That's incredible, Your Highness."

Joseph nodded with great certainty: "80% is just the bottom line, it can even double."

“You are too generous, Your Highness,” Duke Debrissa said with a fawning smile. “However, your asking for only 20% of the profits is far too little.”

The Countess of Provence immediately chimed in, "That's right. Such important information deserves at least 30%."

Joseph nodded reluctantly: "I can't always refuse your kindness."

He then earnestly instructed, "You must remember this: you must never tell anyone else this news."

"Please rest assured, Your Highness, we will sew your mouths shut."

The ball is over.

Duke Debris immediately pulled his father-in-law home, dismissed all the servants, locked the door, and then asked mysteriously, "How much money can you come up with now?"
80 francs?
"Oh, great! A big deal! We'll double our money in no time!"

The Countess of Provence sent her servants to summon her best friend that very night. Upon seeing her, she exclaimed excitedly, "My dear, I remember you just sold the estate. That money can come in handy..."

……

Karlsruhe, the capital of Baden.

A special cocktail party is being held at Prince Maximilian's villa.

The guests came from diverse backgrounds, but all were exceptionally distinguished.

Salomon Rothschild leaned toward the Swedish banker Wallenberg and whispered, "Do you have any inside information about that matter?"

The latter shrugged: "It's all from public sources. And frankly, I don't really trust the French."

Rothschild nodded: "I have heard that the British have stockpiled a lot of sugar."

His voice lowered: "It could very well exceed 100 million dan. The French are likely using us to maintain sugar prices."

Just then, a Frenchman, holding a wine glass, squeezed into the crowd.

Wallenberg immediately bowed to him, saying, "You've finally arrived, Your Excellency Count Carona."

(End of this chapter)