I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1190 The Price of Winning Him Over

The other Genoese nobles had also heard about the possible outbreak of war in Europe, and all of them wore solemn expressions.

Baron Icobelli said, "So, those who bought French government bonds were hedging against the risk of war?"

Once Austrian troops enter Italy, the local industry and agriculture will inevitably be damaged, and investments in these areas will face huge losses.

Buying French government bonds is much safer.

Not a single person mentioned, "What if France loses?" Most people in northern Italy had personally experienced Napoleon's army sweeping through the Austrian forces a few years earlier and had no doubt about the French army's fighting capabilities.

Alfieri, standing nearby, began promoting British government bonds again, prompting Baron Todrick to immediately retort coldly, "Haven't you heard? The British government is printing pounds nonstop to buy sugar."

"Their paper money can no longer be exchanged for gold. I bet that in a few years, the pound will be worthless as wallpaper."

Although the others were not familiar with the British currency, they were somewhat convinced by his confident assertion. At least, it was certain that the pound sterling was not currently convertible to gold.

Lord Todrick, recalling the "standard rhetoric," continued: "Why do you think the British government sets interest rates so high? It's because the currency is depreciating too fast, and nobody wants to buy it."

Yes, he has been employed by the French security service for several years and is currently on duty.

Even Alfieri was starting to have second thoughts. Should he sell the £1 worth of British government bonds he had just bought? The French government probably had enough confidence to keep interest rates so low, so perhaps it was worth buying some to see how it went.

A month later, the second batch of French government bonds, totaling 20 million francs, began to be sold in northern Italy.

To everyone's surprise, the interest rate on this batch of government bonds was lower than that of the previous batch!

The three-year interest rate has dropped to 5.5%. The five-year rate has dropped even further, by 0.2%, to only 6.6%.

This is simply too abnormal.

While many Italians were still hesitating, the banks that sold French government bonds announced that they had sold out.

Among the major buyers this time, Princess Therese, who married into Parma, and her husband purchased 280 million francs worth of bonds, while Madame Adèle de la Ville de Modena used Modena's financial reserves, along with her own dowry, to buy nearly 400 million francs worth of government bonds.

At Countess Ranieri's salon, several Genoese nobles gathered to discuss the recently hot topic of French government bonds.

“I heard that the Modena royal family has bought quite a lot.”

"Twenty million francs, sold out in less than half a month. What were these people thinking?"

"Actually, I also bought 20,000 francs..."

“Your decision is correct,” Baron Todrick immediately whispered mysteriously. “Did you notice the text on the back of the French government bonds?”

As the agent spoke, he pulled out a bond with a face value of 5 francs: "Look here. 'The French government will be committed to ensuring all the rights and interests of creditors.'"

"What does this mean?"

“My friends in Paris have confirmed that if northern Italy is invaded, the French government will, in the worst-case scenario, bring the major buyers of the government bonds to France—this is to ensure that creditors can get their returns.”

The others' eyes widened in surprise: "Really?!"

“It shouldn’t be wrong,” Baron Todrick said. “Otherwise, why do you think those important figures are frantically buying up French government bonds?”
"This clause isn't on bonds with a face value of 5 francs or less. In other words, 5 francs guarantees the safety of one person during wartime." Now everything made sense. The nobles began calculating how many family members they needed to evacuate in a crisis.

A few days later, a news article in the Milan Morning Post indirectly confirmed Todrick's statement—French Finance Minister Gaudin mentioned the issue of ensuring the safety of government bond creditors in a public speech.

It wasn't until mid-April that the long-awaited third batch of French government bonds finally appeared on the northern Italian market.

The total amount is 3 million francs, and interest rates have fallen again. The three-year rate has dropped to 5.4%, and the five-year rate to 6.5%.

After the previous hype, the purchasing enthusiasm of the Italian nobility was completely ignited.

The lobby of the Paris Commercial Bank's Genoa branch was already packed with people, and a long queue of nearly a hundred people had formed in front of the door, resembling a bakery having a sale in a downtown area. However, most of these people were millionaires with assets of over ten thousand.

Genoa sold 300 million francs worth of bonds in less than three days.

During this period, total sales in northern Italy reached 1400 million francs. This time, there was no "inflated" figure added by Joseph.

Meanwhile, domestically in France, led by the aristocracy of Versailles, sales of government bonds reached 3700 million francs.

……

Vienna.

In the gardens outside Schönbrunn Palace, State Secretary Kobutzl frowned and said angrily, "Foolish British politicians only know how to use our interests to win over the Russians!"

"They even managed to include Serbia in their scheme. There's no way I could possibly raise such a demand with His Majesty the Emperor!"

His brother, Ludwig von Kobtzl, sighed: "In some ways, Lord Hawkesburg's strategy was indeed more prudent."

"If the Russian Tsar were willing to join the Allied forces, he could provide at least 12 troops, which would ensure that we would not face any challenge from the French army in Italy."

Count Stadion, the Finance Minister, who was walking on the other side, said: "Actually, I am more worried that a Russian-French marriage will make the Russians side with France."

Kobtzl's expression darkened further. He knew very well what it meant when the Russian army launched a surprise attack from the east while Austria was engaged in the decisive battles in Italy and France.

"But we can't bear all the costs. At the very least, we must not abandon Serbia!"

According to the suggestion made by the British Foreign Secretary this morning, Austria needs to tacitly accept Greek independence, allow Russian influence in Bulgaria and Serbia, and open roads in southern Wallachia for Russian passage.

This is tantamount to handing over most of the Balkan Peninsula to Russia.

Vienna has been seeking Serbia's annexation of Bintu in Austria and has invested heavily in cultivating Serbian anti-Ottoman forces in recent decades.

More importantly, once Russia controls Serbia, it will likely extend its reach further west to Bosnia.

These countries, including Greece, are predominantly Orthodox Christians and naturally gravitate towards Russia, the "protector of Orthodox Christianity." Austria would find it difficult to effectively prevent this.

After a moment of silence, Metternich, the assistant to the foreign minister who was walking at the back, suddenly spoke up: "Your Excellency, I believe that allowing Russia to control Serbia is not unacceptable."

“We could even hand over part of Wallachia to the Russians.”

(End of this chapter)