I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 477 Industrial Breath

Not long after, at the ceremony of Leopold II's coronation as King of Bohemia, the French envoy publicly presented a gift - an exquisite villa model and a bunch of gold-inlaid keys. This represented a luxurious property in the "Etoile Garden" in Paris, worth 5 florins.

Since Leopold II was to inherit more than ten king titles, this gift was the most expensive at a single coronation ceremony.

Austrian nobles and foreign officials who came to congratulate him immediately began to inquire about the news of the "Garden of Stars", and the French envoy's entourage immediately became enthusiastic "promoters".

Soon, with the Habsburg emblem hung on a villa in the "Garden of Stars" and a large number of wealthy Germans coming to inquire about real estate here, the wealthy French could no longer sit still.

Then they encountered the unprecedented thing of lottery for buying a house, which aroused their desire to buy the house even more. A house purchase number was directly hyped up to 5 francs.

More than half a month later, all the properties in "Fanxing Garden" were sold out, and some people even began to inquire about the second phase of the project.

On the other hand, Joseph has launched a development plan for the wasteland between Paris and the Palace of Versailles, which includes the construction of a large number of affordable houses to offset the impact of the "Garden of Stars" on the rising housing prices in Paris and to ensure the housing needs of ordinary Parisians.

……

In a house in the Louvre area of ​​Paris, Antoine, a salesman from the Royal French Insurance Company, was speaking eloquently to the couple in front of him: "Whether you were attacked by gangsters or fell down by a carriage, as long as you are injured, you can get a high amount of compensation from the 'personal accident insurance'. Let me take a look..."

He flipped through the documents in his hand: "Ordinary disability can get 8 francs in compensation. If you die unfortunately, you can get 1 francs. And you only need to pay 5 francs per year for these protections. Oh, the premium for ladies and children is as low as 10 francs."

Mr. and Mrs. Evans looked at each other, both of them were somewhat moved.

They have just decided to buy an education insurance policy. They just had a son this year and are discussing his future studies. This education insurance policy costs 80 francs per year. After 8 years of payment, all tuition fees for their son's regular school and university will be covered by the insurance company, and there will be a 6 franc monthly food allowance [Note 1].

What makes them most satisfied is that if their son does not go to college in the future, the money will be returned in full when he is 20 years old!

Afterwards, the insurance salesman introduced them to "property insurance", "medical insurance", "pension insurance", etc., which are the latest insurance products launched by the Royal French Insurance Company.

Of course, this was all planned by Joseph.

These insurances, which seem very common to people in later generations, were absolutely novel and attractive at the time when there were only "marine insurance" and "fire insurance".

However, the probability of accidents in the 18th century was much higher than that in the 21st century, so the Royal Insurance Company temporarily only marketed to aristocrats and wealthy businessmen - these people were willing to spend money on insurance, but were not as prone to accidents as ordinary people.

Eventually, the Evanses purchased an education insurance policy and also bought personal accident insurance for Mr. Evans.

The salesman Anthony immediately collected the deposit, issued a receipt, arranged a time to sign the contract, and then immediately rushed to the next company.

Insurance sales have been booming recently. He can even sell more than ten a day, and his hands are cramped from the commissions he earns.

There are currently thousands of salesmen like him all over France, who are going out to promote the company's latest insurance products. The Royal Insurance Company's daily revenue flow is close to 40 francs, and its ability to absorb funds is no less than that of a bank!

At the same time, the Royal French Insurance Company also opened branches in the Netherlands, Austria, Sardinia and other places. In addition to the above-mentioned general insurance items, sales staff are also focusing on recommending something called "financial insurance" to customers.

The buyer "only" needs to pay a certain amount of premium to the insurance company every year - the minimum is 300 francs, with no upper limit - and after paying for 15 years, the buyer can receive 3% interest from the insurance company every month until death. And when the buyer is 50 years old or dies, the premium will be fully returned!
People aged 21 already know that this type of insurance is actually a scam, but it is undeniable that if you don’t do the math carefully, just from an intuitive feeling, financial insurance is simply too cost-effective.

Especially for people who are still in feudal society, they like the feeling of stability and security very much, so financial insurance is popular in various countries. This item alone can increase the income of Royal Insurance Company by 2 to 3 million francs every month.

As for the UK, the Royal Insurance Company did not directly open a branch there, but instead reopened an "Atlantic Insurance Company", which had no apparent relationship with the Royal Insurance Company.

If the British dare to carry out a continental balance against France in the future, this insurance company will most likely go bankrupt to show them.

According to Joseph's plan, by the time the tax farmers were abolished and the government took back the right to tax, it should be possible to raise more than 5 million francs through the real estate and insurance industries.

……

Southern suburbs of Paris.

In a luxurious and low-key villa, Goldmid, led by a butler, walked into a spacious conference room.

There were already more than a dozen people in the room, sitting around an oval conference table, chatting in groups of three or four.

When those people heard someone coming, they glanced at Godmid casually, but didn't pay much attention and continued their conversation.

Goldmid didn't take it as an offense. He was just a small banker, and his business was mainly in the UK. It was not easy for him to be invited to this meeting today, so he naturally didn't care about other people's attitudes.

At the butler's signal, he sat down in a chair near the end and immediately noticed the "Livable" logo printed on the conference table in front of him.

He was a little surprised. "Easy to live" is the most popular "artificial synthetic board" furniture in Paris recently, and it is very expensive. Such a large conference table in front of him would probably cost nearly a thousand francs to buy.

Yes, currently, due to the fact that the production of casein glue has not yet been increased, synthetic board furniture is much more expensive than solid wood furniture. However, with the gimmicks of "insect-proof" and "non-deformation", as well as Joseph's personal promotion, synthetic board furniture has also become the current trend of high-end furniture.

Goldmid lowered his head and sniffed the special smell on the table, and couldn't help but sigh inwardly: What a charming smell, this is what they call the "smell of industry"!

If Joseph heard his inner thoughts, he would definitely tell him awkwardly that this was actually the smell of formaldehyde, and inhaling too much of it was bad for the body.

【Note 1】The “common schools” in 18th century Europe were roughly equivalent to today’s middle schools.

(End of this chapter)