I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 523 Feeling confident
"Thank you for your information." Joseph nodded to the British banker, "You have bought me at least half a month of preparation time."

Goldmid immediately smiled: "Ah, it's my honor to serve you."

He was very glad for his decision. By being a "gangster" in the tax farmers' association, he successfully avoided a significant reduction in income due to the French tax reform, and he also established a relationship with the prince, which would surely give him a lot of opportunities in France in the future.

If it is done well, it may even be possible to control the French finances, just like the Wallenberg family did in Sweden. By then, Godmid will also become the top surname in Europe.

He was just about to ask the Crown Prince for some benefits when he heard Joseph say, "Oh, you should have heard that the tax bureau is checking the accounts of the tax farmers, right?"

Goldmid nodded and said, "Yes, Your Highness. All of France has been paying attention to this matter recently."

"Then when you return, return the taxes that were improperly collected as soon as possible and make compensation where necessary," Joseph said, "and I will pretend that these things never happened.

"Oh, if the tax bureau receives a complaint against you, I will ask them to temporarily delay it. You better hurry up."

Goldmid paused when he heard this, and then he remembered that he was also a tax farmer, and the amount of tax he paid was not low. If the account was found on him, it would be no joke, after all, no tax farmer was clean.

He hurriedly stood up and bowed, and said with lingering fear: "Yes, Your Highness, I will definitely deal with it seriously. Thank you for your tolerance..."

Joseph nodded and said in a softer tone, "I know some of your friends want a government position. Although the finance department is definitely not an option, I can have them serve as diplomatic officials."

Goldmid's mood suddenly turned from sadness to joy. Although the diplomatic system was far away from finance, he finally had his own confidants in the bureaucratic system, and this also showed that the crown prince valued him.

"Thank you so much, Your Majesty the Great Crown Prince."

Joseph naturally would not allow this cunning and ambitious tycoon to control senior officials, but he could give him the position of French ambassador to Britain.

After all, the intelligence work there is basically handed over to the Intelligence Bureau. Given the current relationship between Britain and France, the ambassador to the UK usually has nothing to do except say harsh words.

And in the near future, he may have to take some blame. Serious diplomatic talents need to be protected.

Joseph encouraged Goldmid again and sent him back.

When Emand returned from seeing off the guests, Joseph immediately told him, "Please ask Count Mirabeau, Baron Bailly, Viscount Besançon, Mr. Dupont, and Mr. Castellane to come to see me immediately."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Two hours later, a group of political and business leaders had gathered in Joseph's office. However, the general manager of Gemini Trading Company, Castella, had not returned from Marseille to handle some matters, so the company's assistant manager Volante came on his behalf.

Mirabeau and the others sat down, and Joseph immediately said seriously: "France will face a disaster soon, and I need you to deal with it with me."

Several people immediately stood up again, touched their chests and said in unison: "Please give your orders, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

Joseph motioned for them to sit down and continued, "I have received reliable information that the guys in the Tax Farmers Association are planning to make some big moves in an attempt to prevent the tax bureau from checking their accounts."

Joseph then repeated what Godmid had reported before, and Mirabeau immediately said, "Your Highness, since we already know what those people are planning, we can issue a ban in advance to prevent it."

Bai added: “Even larger caravans can be assigned liaison officers.”

The liaison officers he mentioned were actually responsible for supervising the caravans, with the power to seize goods or freeze transactions. Each officer would be accompanied by several or even dozens of armed attendants. Joseph shook his head: "If they really want to block trade, they can find many ways, such as diverting all funds for other purposes. Even if there is a ban, it is not illegal for the caravan to have no money to purchase goods."

He immediately smiled again: “Besides, I also hope that they can implement the plan smoothly.

"The more the tax farmers make trouble, the more thorough the tax reform will be."

Everyone in the room looked at each other in shock when they heard this.

Baiyi immediately stepped forward nervously to dissuade them: "Your Highness, if we allow them to disrupt commercial trade, I'm afraid it will have a very serious impact on the country."

This is why the tax farmers are always so confident. They are betting that the French government will back down.

Once the trade lines stagnate, the products of the factories will be squeezed, and the weaker ones will soon break their capital chain and go bankrupt. The caravans only need to strike for two months to cause the French finances to collapse, and even one month can cause irreversible damage to the country.

Given the current size of France's fiscal deficit, it simply doesn't dare to compete head-on with them.

At the same time, the bankruptcy of factories will cause a large number of workers to lose their jobs. On the other side, the people will not be able to buy goods. It won't take long for the country to fall into turmoil.

Joseph nodded: "You are right. Therefore, we must try to stabilize domestic trade."

Baiyi said worriedly, "Your Highness, according to my estimation, the tax farmers can affect at least one-third of the caravans in the country. With such a large scale, we simply cannot fill the gap in a short period of time."

The figure of one-third may not seem like much, but it means that one-third of the country's goods will be untradeable, which is enough to destroy a country's economy.

Joseph looked at the president of the French Chamber of Commerce and said, "Mr. Dupont, how many caravans are you sure you can mobilize?"

The latter thought for a moment and looked embarrassed: "Your Highness, my own caravan, plus those that have no connection with the Chamber of Commerce and tax farmers, is estimated to be only about twenty."

The tax farmers had a lot of money, so they were very influential in the Chamber of Commerce. Even as the president of the Chamber of Commerce, DuPont could not guarantee that the people in the Chamber of Commerce would listen to him at a critical moment.

Joseph turned to Mirabeau and Bailly and they said they could find some caravans from trusted friends, but not too many.

Joseph nodded again and said loudly: “Then we will form the French Trade Alliance with these caravans and the Twin Trading Companies as the core.

"The Trade Union will take over all transactions with vacancies in caravans within half a month."

Dupont and Baiyi immediately shook their heads: "Your Highness, with all due respect, with this number of caravans, half a month is not enough to expand to the scale you need."

"Yes, Your Highness. If you have half a year, maybe you can try it."

Although the Gemini Trading Company is very powerful, the scale of its permanent caravans is not very large. After all, the company's main business is to trade in the Mediterranean and quietly transport some things from the Pacific Ocean.

Together with the caravans that the few people in the room can mobilize, the total size is only about one-tenth of the national caravans.

(End of this chapter)