I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 555 Hope's Revenge

"In fact, these fish and bacon are quite good." The Duke of Leeds carefully cut the meat on the plate. "When I was in the navy, I ate bacon for two consecutive months. Oh, it was not this kind of top-quality stuff. That stuff had to be soaked in water for two hours and then hammered open before it could be bitten."

He shook his fork and said, "Perhaps you are not used to these things, but you will be fine when you get to Petersburg. The Russian court is full of French cooks."

Grenville laughed and said, "To be honest, although the French are quite disgusting, no one can refuse their cooks."

"Especially the Russians." The Duke of Leeds took a sip of wine and continued, "Their court stipulates that the head chef must be French. Well, the Tsar confidently handed over his stomach to them.

"Oh, I was going to say, I'm afraid your journey this time wasn't an easy one."

"Yes, I am mentally prepared." Grenville nodded, "After all, the Tsar's granddaughter seems to be still in Paris."

He exhaled and smiled again: "But I also have confidence. Speaking of which, your side is also full of challenges."

The Duke of Leeds ate the last piece of bread and wiped his mouth with a napkin: "My old bones can only help you warm up the atmosphere. After all, I still have a few old friends in Vienna.

"But whether the agreement can be signed in the end depends on young people like you."

As he spoke, he remembered something again and said with a complaining tone: “Do you and Mr. Pitt really believe that Dutchman?
"I lost £30 in North Africa and the council guys chased me like mad dogs, but this time he wants us to invest nearly £50 here."

He leaned forward and whispered, "Have you ever thought that maybe he made some kind of deal with the merchants in Vienna?"

"That's possible." Grenville nodded. "But considering the possible returns, the risk is worth taking. Besides, this money also includes a loan of 17 pounds provided by Hope's bank. I heard that the interest rate he offered is very low."

"This poor fellow is blinded by hatred." The Duke of Leeds muttered, and then added, "Another problem is that the merchants in Vienna may not be willing to sell their reputation for such a small amount of money."

"It's a huge sum of money," the Foreign Minister corrected. "Even if it is distributed among 50 businessmen, they can get more than the usual two or three years' income.

"More importantly, you may have overlooked the hostility of Austrian businessmen towards France. They would be very happy to see the French suffer."

"Oh? But if I remember correctly, Austria was the initiator of the Rhine-Seine Treaty."

"This wonderful agreement is the source of hostility." Grenville also finished his lunch and stood up and gestured to the door. "Do you want to go to the deck to get some fresh air?"

"Good advice. It's hard to see such good sunshine in London."

The two walked up the winding stairs to the deck, and Grenville continued: "When the Austrians signed this agreement, they believed that with the low tariffs promised by France, their trade with France would be greatly increased.

“Of course, they did, and their trade with France increased by 35% last year. But at the same time, French exports to Austria almost doubled.

"More importantly, French trade with the other southern German states that joined the agreement increased even more. Baden increased by 120% and Württemberg by 105%.

"These places were originally Austrian markets. Eventually, the Austrians found that they could not make as much money in France as France did from them. Meanwhile, the southern German market became more and more fond of French goods.

"In fact, many businessmen in Vienna have called for withdrawing from the Rhine-Seine Treaty, or re-signing it after excluding France." The Duke of Leeds laughed: "Then where does the 'Seine River' in the treaty come from?"

"Who knows, maybe Switzerland will be involved." Grenville also smiled. "In short, please believe that you will have many supporters in Vienna. The only thing you have to pay attention to is to keep it confidential."

"I have a long-standing friendship with the president of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce. You can rest assured about this." Duke Leeds said, "Finally, do you really think what the Dutch said will happen?"

"I can only say that there is a great possibility." Grenville nodded, "To be honest, Hope really knows France well, and he caught the opportunity very accurately.

“France just had a tax reform, which means their finance minister didn’t get the huge tax package that he had in previous years.

"This makes their finances very vulnerable. The inexperience of the new government tax officials will make their tax situation even worse.

"Oh, I just got the news from Mr. Hartley last week that France's tax collection in January was only 1% of the original target. Oh, poor Mr. Hartley, he actually did a great job, but he was fired because of the re-signing of the Treaty of Eden. It's not fair."

Two senior British officers walked past the sailors who saluted them on the deck and came to the bow of the ship.

"At the same time, Hope also mentioned a most critical issue, which is the French's reliance on their 'Industrial Development Fund'."

Duke Leeds looked at the calm sea in the distance and asked in confusion, "It seems that it is just an institution used by the French government for industrial investment, right?"

“Yes,” Grenville nodded, “but it has a more important duty, that of being a debtor to the French nobility.

“The French used this institution to complete the previous banking restructuring and introduced a large amount of debt into industrial investment.”

The Duke of Leeds finally understood something: "So, if something goes wrong with this fund, the nobles of the Palace of Versailles will go crazy?"

"That's true." Hope mentioned that although the amount of funds in this development fund is huge, most of it has been invested in France's textile, steel, coal and other industries, and the cash on hand is very limited.

“If your actions go smoothly, many French factories will be short of funds, and the development fund, as a major shareholder, will be unable to provide them with financial support. When these factories go bankrupt, it will inevitably lead to huge losses for the fund.

“This will buy us a lot of time in the preparation phase of our strategic plan and will be a fantastic start.”

The Duke of Leeds patted the railing and said, "Well, then I will ask the Austrian merchants to place as many orders as possible."

……

A day later, the Polyphemus docked at the port of Mecklenburg and then traveled to Vienna by carriage.

Grenville continued on the ship, landed in Riga, and was summoned by Catherine II as he wished a few days later.

(End of this chapter)