I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1385 European Bank for Settlements
Paris France.

In the corridor of Versailles Palace, Parma Crown Prince Ludovico glanced nervously at the door ahead, then turned to Bai, who was standing beside him, and said, "Later, I'll ask you to explain the advantages of the new trade policy to His Highness the Crown Prince as much as possible."

"I will, Your Highness."

Ludovico followed Emman into the Crown Prince's drawing room, and couldn't help but think of the painting he had received more than a month ago.

At the time, he had just returned to Parma from the World's Fair in Korsruhe and proudly boasted to his father and wife that he had used his wisdom to obtain the complete set of railway patent technology from his brother-in-law for a small sum of money.

However, after he finished explaining what had happened, the king immediately launched into a tirade of abuse against him.

He then realized the enormity of his mistake—the secondary licensing of railway technology could cost France hundreds of millions of francs in patent revenue.

Other countries saved money because of his actions, but most of the French crown prince's anger would fall on him.

Just as the Parma royal family was racking their brains for a way to salvage this hellish situation, a painting was sent from the Palace of Versailles.

The painting depicts a banquet in Karlsruhe, where the French crown prince, with a wine glass in his left hand and a flushed face, is chatting and laughing with the crowd, while his right hand holds a pen, ready to sign the documents in front of him.

The document contains information about the secondary licensing of railway patents.

Ludoviko's face turned green; it was clear that His Highness the Crown Prince was telling him that this matter was not over...

However, Teresa breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the painting and comforted him, saying, "It seems that this was all planned by my brother long ago. You don't need to worry so much."

"Huh? I don't quite understand what you mean."

Therese said, "You see, this painting is very detailed. Even a top painter would need at least half a month to complete it."

“You left Karlsruhe less than ten days ago, and considering the time it took to be transported from Paris, this painting must have been completed before the banquet began that day.”

Ludoviko felt a sense of relief, but then a cold sweat broke out on his back.

He thought he had fooled his brother-in-law at the banquet, but he didn't realize that he had been following his lead the whole time...

However, even though the French crown prince did not reprimand him, the Parma royal family still dared not relax, after all, Ludovico's initial motives were questionable.

Ludovico only saw hope of gaining his brother-in-law's forgiveness when Parma's finance minister proposed a solution.

"Your Highness, Prince Ludovico has arrived."

Ludovico's thoughts were interrupted by Emmanuel's voice, and he hurriedly stepped forward to bow: "Your Highness, Crown Prince..."

Joseph gave him a warm hug: "Ludovico, there were too many people at the wedding, we didn't have time to have a proper chat."

“Yes, yes, it was quite a lively day.” Ludovico tried to keep a smile on his face. “I hope the Crown Princess will like those two ‘little guys’.”

"Oh, she loved it. But the royal chef almost fried it up."

Ludovico brought over 80 francs in gifts to Paris. Among them were two extremely rare manatees, which the Versailles royal chef recognized as the finest ingredients. He argued with zoo officials for over an hour before finally getting through to Joseph, and the matter was resolved.

Well, actually, what Ludovico brought was indeed food. However, it has now become a new exhibit at the zoo. After Joseph pulled Ludovico to sit down, the latter hurriedly began to speak of the real "great gift": "Your Highness, you may have heard that our country began to introduce paper money at the end of last year."

Joseph nodded: "Yes, Palmarilla."

Ludovico continued, "In order to regulate international trade, on the advice of Baron Luciani, my father has issued a decree stipulating that our country will only accept Parma lira and francs in future trade."

Joseph had already heard a briefing from Baie about the situation two days ago, but he still appeared very happy and said, "This is a very wise choice. Please convey to His Majesty Ferdinand that this will greatly boost trade between our two countries."

Parma also pulled out all the stops in order to get away with the "getting the crown prince drunk" incident.

Parma currently ranks third in trade volume in northern Italy. Since most other countries are unwilling to accept its lira banknotes, its foreign trade will be settled entirely in francs.

This will expand the market size of the franc by at least tens of millions.

Moreover, Parma will now be firmly tied to the French trade system.

Ludovico felt relieved; the Crown Prince was indeed quite satisfied with the gift.

Unexpectedly, Joseph suddenly shook his head and said, "But have you considered that doing this will cause many problems?"

Ludoviko was taken aback and asked nervously, "What problem are you referring to?"

“Please try some green tea that was just brought from the East.” Joseph gestured to the teacup and added, “If it’s trade with the countries of northern Italy or southern Germany, then the new trade regulations you mentioned are perfectly feasible.”

"But if they sell goods to the Ottomans, they can't afford francs. Oh, even trading with neighboring Naples presents the same problem."

Ludovico hurriedly replied, "Baron Luciani has already considered this situation, Your Highness."

"Our country will set up three exchanges along the border to 'buy' the currencies of these countries, pay them Palmarira, and then the transactions can take place."

Joseph shook his head again: "Then the Ottomans will not be able to buy your goods with bills of exchange, but will have to carry large quantities of Kurouch or Dukat and exchange them for paper money at the border."

"If I'm not mistaken, Ottoman merchants will definitely be unwilling to trade in Parma in the future."

"Of course, there is another possibility, that is, countries that hold francs, such as Genoa, use francs to buy popular sausages or cheese from you, and then receive silver coins from the Ottomans and resell them to them."

Ludovico frowned. Baron Luciani hadn't mentioned any of this, but it would clearly allow Genoa to pocket a significant portion of the profits that should belong to Parma.

Yes, people in this era were used to trading with gold and silver coins. Now that they were following France's lead and using paper money, it was normal that they couldn't think of issues like settlement and exchange rates.

Ludoviko instinctively asked, "What... what should we do?"

“It’s not unsolvable,” Joseph smiled slightly. “First, we need to determine an exchange rate between the different currencies.”

When using gold and silver coins, currency exchange is as simple as weighing them. However, for paper money, which has no intrinsic value, the exchange rate is an insurmountable hurdle.

"Then, we need to establish a bank that can handle currency exchange between different countries. This way, we can act as a 'middleman' for transactions using different currencies."

(End of this chapter)