I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1402 House of Representatives

The Suez Canal is a vital link between the two largest markets in human history, East and West.

Once the tunnel is completed, Marseille will no longer be just a French seaport, but will immediately become the maritime trade hub of most of Europe!
The choice between short-term risks and long-term benefits ultimately led Joseph to make his decision.

He looked at Gordan and said, "I have decided to place the European Settlement Bank in Marseille."

Marseille?

Baron Brettøy and Godan both looked shocked. "Your Highness, isn't this a bit too far?"

"Your Highness, Marseille's economy and financial scale are insufficient..."

Joseph, however, dropped an even more shocking bombshell: "Not only the settlement bank, but also the Paris Stock Exchange and the futures market will move to Marseille."

"Large banks will also be required to establish branches in Marseille."

"And the railway from Marseille to Lyon will receive priority funding for its construction."

The two ministers exchanged glances and hurriedly advised, "Your Highness, this could have unpredictable consequences for the entire financial sector..."

Joseph nodded: "I understand your concerns, but Paris is already too bloated. It is best to keep it as a political and cultural center from now on."

"Of course, I have only proposed a general plan. As for the specifics of how to separate the financial sector and how to relocate it, the Senate will need to organize all the banks and exchanges involved to make a plan."

He then looked at Baron Brett: "You are in full charge of this matter. I only need to see the final result."

He had been focusing his energy on his mother's health lately, so he decided to use this opportunity to give the Senate a chance to gain experience.

In fact, the French cabinet had already established a sound operating mechanism, and he only needed to control the strategic direction.

Well, Joseph's dream is to have six days off a week.

That afternoon, Joseph, along with his parents and Charles, headed toward the Hall of Asclepius.

During the initial medical examination in the morning, Louis XVI's blood pressure, blood sugar, uric acid, white blood cell count, and other indicators were all within normal range, which relieved Joseph slightly.

It's likely that my father often handcrafted parts in the workshop, which provided him with some training.

To his surprise, the most advanced microscopes of this era can now clearly distinguish different cells in the blood.

After he explained the significance of white blood cell count to Bisha and the others, these "crazy" doctors actually spent more than ten hours counting the number of white blood cells in 0.5 cubic millimeters of blood with the naked eye.

Of course, the results were not precise enough, and Joseph didn't remember how many white blood cells were considered normal.

However, Bisha also collected blood from two other very healthy middle-aged men, counted their white blood cell counts, and compared them with the king's. The results showed that the difference was not significant.

Joseph has been serving as a health consultant for the parents recently.

The focus is on the mother's diet and supervising the couple's physical exercise.

Soon, with Joseph's help, Louis XVI began bench press exercises. His Majesty's arm strength was quite good; he lifted a 65-kilogram barbell five times in a row and still had energy left.

Queen Mary, on the other hand, was in a worse situation. She was sitting on the lat pulldown machine, panting heavily, but could only manage to lift 20 kilograms, and kept asking Countess de Berninaque to lighten the load even further.

Joseph himself wasn't sure how much training was appropriate, so he could only let them judge based on their physical condition. In short, they should do at least 25 minutes of strength training and 20 minutes of aerobic exercise such as running every day.

He and Charles each picked up a pair of dumbbells and began to exercise, but they couldn't help but think that it seemed possible to build some other centers outside of the financial center.

For example, Lyon has a large number of industrial workers and mature factory operation experience, making it fully capable of developing into a light industrial center.

The Namur region of Luxembourg is rich in coal and iron resources, making it the best choice for establishing a steel industry center.

The Paris Basin in north-central France has fertile land and experienced, hardworking farmers, making it a potential location for developing an agricultural center.

The steam engine company in Lorraine had already reached a considerable scale, along with the country's earliest industrial zone and substantial coal reserves, making it suitable as a machining center...

By leveraging the industrial advantages of each region and providing policy support, these areas can become new economic engines.

However, all of this requires a lot of funding and supporting railway construction, which cannot be accomplished overnight.

For now, we should focus on developing the Marseille financial district, and treat the others as medium- to long-term plans.

If this can be achieved in 30 or 40 years, it will lay the foundation for national development for the next few centuries.

Just as Joseph was planning the development strategy, France's first parliamentary elections entered their final stage.

Although the election was rather rushed in terms of time—with only a little over three months to prepare—the French Estates-General has a very long history, with cities like Brittany and Lorraine having long been governed by the Estates-General, so people are not unfamiliar with elections.

After the cabinet completed the formation of the election committee, the entire election process was quickly rolled out across the country.

In the villa of a wealthy woman in the Saint-Germain district of Paris, dozens of business elites are attending a salon.

Brod frowned at Walsh and whispered, "Are you crazy? Giving that journalist 5 francs for nothing!"

The latter waved his hand dismissively: "Although Mr. Nestor doesn't appear in public much, he is actually very prestigious. With my support, he will almost certainly be elected as a member of parliament."

Broad curled his lip: "So what? He's a damn 'free market restrictor.' According to his theory, none of us will get the railroad construction rights in Mons."

“People change,” Walsh smiled. “You have to see, he’s running as a ‘trade advocate’ this time. That means that once he’s in the House, he’ll have to align his policies with those of the other ‘trade advocates’.”

Broad continued to complain: "I think it would have been better to support a 'liberal' candidate, at least they don't ask for much."

“But all they do is shout slogans. The ‘physiocracy’ and ‘radicals’ are more capable of getting things done than them. Believe me, Nestor is the most suitable.”

In just over two months, the candidates in Paris have quickly banded together, forming seven or eight factions ranging from the 'trade faction' and 'physiocracy faction' to the 'tax faction', in order to maximize their supporters and win votes to defeat their opponents.

(End of this chapter)