I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1100 The Sugar Wars: The End
Three trading days later, Petty dumped a total of 13 dan of sugar, and the mysterious buyer finally stopped.

In an unassuming little house just over 50 meters from the London Futures Exchange, the traders of financial giants like Rothschild were enjoying afternoon tea.

A middle-aged man wearing an expensive French wig frowned in displeasure: "Mr. Scott, you're being too cautious. I think we could easily take another 40 pounds."

At current prices, £400,000 can buy 55,000 dan of sugar.

The old man opposite calmly stroked his coffee cup and said, "Don't forget the rules, Baron Ledger. You have to listen to me here."

The young man next to him reached out and patted Ledger, who looked displeased: "Mr. Scott is right. Panic buying has recently started in the British market."

"If our acquisition is too large, it could very well prompt the British government to abandon the bid."

His concerns were not unfounded—at that time, Petty was writing a report to the British Prime Minister, hoping to temporarily keep the price of sugar at 1 shilling and 5 pence per pound.

He predicted that the French government would continue to aggressively buy up sugar from the London market—if they continued to suppress sugar prices, it would be equivalent to saving money for the French.

However, Scott and his team had an extremely accurate grasp of the timing of their market manipulation, and on the very day he finished writing his report, trading volume in the London market returned to normal.

It seems the French have run out of funds again.

After much hesitation, Petty finally put the report away.

However, just a week later, the London futures market for sugar was once again completely sold out. After investing 10 dan (a unit of weight), Petty finally began to worry.

“The French have already bought hundreds of millions of francs worth of sugar…” Petit looked at the statistics his subordinate had just submitted, anxiously running his fingers through his hair and muttering through gritted teeth, “Damn it, where did they get so much money?”

Right now, he only has less than 50 dan of sugarcane left.

Yes, the panic buying by the British public had depleted his "ammunition" by nearly 10 dan.

He is now very worried that the French will be able to secure more funds, ultimately forcing him to liquidate his entire investment.

Petty pulled out the report he had written last week, intending to revise it and hand it over to Glenville, when his assistant excitedly pushed open the door and entered.

"How many times have I said it, a knock on the door is from a gentleman..."

The assistant, seemingly ignoring his rebuke, placed a letter in front of him: "Your Excellency, Genoa Union Credit has just downgraded the Paris Futures Exchange's rating, and by a significant margin, to Baa!"

Petty is already familiar with the rating agencies that started appearing last year; Baa ratings are already considered junk.

His eyes lit up immediately; it seemed that this Genoa company had obtained some inside information.

Just then, another routine report from Paris arrived from one of his men.

Petty's gaze swept over the sugar prices on the Paris futures market, and without hesitation, he confidently instructed his assistant: "Continue to release 20,000 dan into the market at a price of 1 shilling and 4 pence."

Sugar prices on the Paris futures market have fallen to 1 franc 8 sous, or 1 shilling 5 pence.

The actions of the rating agencies all point to one conclusion—the French are about to collapse.

Sure enough, the acquisition stalled again, but this time Petty only relaxed for three days before a large sum of money began to "sweep up" the market.

...Northwestern Prussia.

Port Stettin.

Dutch businessman Hecross was chatting and laughing with the daughter of the warehouse manager when his bookkeeper hurried over and handed him a document: "Mr. Hecross, the warehouse says it has no goods available for delivery. This is the 'Notice of Default'."

Heckroston frowned immediately: "Damn it! How is this possible? Prussia has more beets than water in the Baltic Sea this year."

He had inside information and knew that Prussia had used all of this year's sugar production to repay loans to the British government, which was why there was a large amount of sugar on the London futures market that was to be delivered in Stettin or Emden.

With such a large inventory, there's no way he wouldn't be able to complete the delivery—he only bought 1200 dan of sugar.

Hecross stormed into the delivery warehouse manager's office, slammed several thalers on the table, and said with a grim face, "I submitted the delivery declaration last week. Now, load my sugar onto the ship immediately. If you delay my business, I swear, I'll have someone cut off your nose!"

He bought the contract a month and a half ago, and now it's time for settlement. His Russian buyers hate it when people are late.

The warehouse manager, however, said with a bitter face, "Mr. Hecross, you can go and see for yourself in the warehouse; there really isn't a single bag of sugar."

"Yes, they should have arrived two weeks ago. Perhaps you could come back tomorrow."

"Damn it, don't try to fool me."

The Dutch actually inspected all the delivery warehouses, and they were all so empty that rats could starve to death.

The next day, when Hecross returned, he saw seven or eight men waving delivery declaration forms surrounding the manager, shouting, "I know this is a contract from the London Robert Cooper Trading Company, they would never breach it!"

"The beets have been harvested for over two months, where the damn sugar is?"

"For God's sake, if I don't get the sugar to Paderborn soon, I'll have to pay back thousands of thalers!"

However, the supervisor simply issued them a notice of breach of contract in accordance with regulations.

No one told him why Robert Cooper's Company, one of Britain's three largest sugar companies, would default on its debts. It was controlled by the British Royal Family and the East India Company.

Meanwhile, British trade envoy Gordon Boris was having a heated argument with Prince Heinrich: "You can't do this! We've already sold that sugar, and now it's not even in the warehouse!"

The latter awkwardly smiled and said, "You know, we had a problem with the sugar beet collection process. Those incompetent officials caused a lot of sugar beets to remain in the fields. I am really sorry."

The royal business advisor standing nearby said pitifully, "When I went to check last week, some of the beets were already rotting..."

"However, the monitoring and transportation networks are now being improved, and I believe that something like this will not happen next year."

Prince Heinrich added, "I have already discussed this with His Majesty the King, and we will definitely compensate you for your losses next year. As for the loan, I hope we can pay the interest first, and the rest later..."

Four hours later, Prince Heinrich watched the British envoy storm off and let out a long sigh of relief.

The Home Secretary had reported to him earlier in the year that the sugar beets used for breeding had not produced any seeds.

At first, he didn't believe it, until the French came to ask him to fulfill the agreement, and he realized that he had fallen into the French's trap.

(End of this chapter)