I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 735 Threat
Lord Grenville also delivered a speech at the naval review on behalf of the King of England.

Then, the sailors of the "Victory" skillfully raised the mainsail and the warship slowly sailed out of the harbor.

There was a sudden roar of salutes in the port, and then melodious trumpets sounded simultaneously from dozens of warships in the naval port.

Lord Grenville bowed slightly to the diplomats from various countries sitting on the front deck and said with a smile:

"The fleet review has officially begun. I wish you all a pleasant afternoon."

Five huge first- and second-class battleships passed by the crowd first.

Behind them were 16 slightly smaller third-level battleships arranged in two rows.

Behind them are the fourth-level battleships with less than 60 guns, which number as many as 21.

On the "Victory", except for the Dutch Foreign Minister who had some naval background in his family, the diplomats from other countries all widened their eyes in shock.

In fact, even the Dutch Navy, which is ranked fourth in Europe, has only a few fourth-level ships as its main force.

As for a naval dwarf like Prussia, it doesn't even have a few cruisers.

After the huge mass of warships had passed in front of the Victory, Admiral Jarvis said:

"Next, please watch the actual combat demonstration of the formation."

A series of flag signals were immediately sent out from the "Victory". The British fleet that received the order outside the port immediately split into two teams. Each team circled in the distance, formed two battle lines, pulled up full sails, and rushed towards each other at high speed.

Fifteen minutes later, the two battle lines began to converge.

The gun ports on the sides of the two second-class ships in the front were all opened, and more than 40 cannons on one side roared like thunder at the same time.

On the "Victory" only half a nautical mile away, diplomats from various countries covered their ears at the same time and stared with wide eyes at the large cloud of black smoke rising in front of them like a dark cloud falling to the ground.

Soon after, more warships began to meet. The two battle lines were parallel to each other, and the cannons on each ship spared no effort to fire at the opposite side. A large number of flames intertwined together, and it was as if the sea was ablaze.

For a time, although diplomats from various countries knew that the cannons were firing blanks, they were still overwhelmed by the terrifying power.

At this moment, they all firmly believed that anything that appeared on the sea would be easily crushed by this invincible fleet.

After an unknown amount of time, the sound of cannon fire on the sea gradually subsided, but the hearts of the people on the "Victory" were still beating wildly.

Lord Grenville stood up first, looked at the expressions of the crowd with satisfaction, and smiled towards the cabin:
"A sumptuous dinner has been prepared in the officers' meeting room. Please come and enjoy it."

Inside the cabin, the band had changed to a soothing and lively tune. Under the flickering candlelight, plates of delicious food were placed on the table.

Before the banquet started, Grenville came to the left of Count Rheinfels, the Austrian Foreign Minister, sat down, and said in German:
"Voratel, my old friend, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"It is an honor to receive your invitation, my friend."

Grenville skipped the greetings and said seriously:
"Obviously, this is a very good opportunity for both of us right now."

"You mean?"

"An opportunity to solve the problems facing our respective countries." The Englishman said, "Let me be frank. Your country's financial situation is not optimistic. The serf reform has been interrupted. At the same time, nobles from all over the country have complaints about His Majesty the Emperor." Count Rheinfels did not comment:
"I want to hear what you mean by 'opportunity'."

"Yes, opportunity." Grenville nodded. "I think you should be very clear about the root cause of Austria's current problems."

"..."

Grenville looked across the sea through the porthole and said, "France. Austria's fiscal revenue has been shrinking. The core reason is that the vast southern German market has been occupied by the French. Even your domestic market is filled with a large number of French goods.

"If I remember correctly, your trade revenue was 17% lower than the year before, which caused a large number of factories to reduce production or even close down."

Count Rheinfels looked unhappy, but he did not respond. In fact, Austria's trade volume had dropped by 27% compared to the previous year!

For the sake of the empire's reputation, His Majesty the Emperor ordered the 17% figure to be announced to the public.

Grenville continued: "And the Southern Netherlands, which was Austria's traditional source of revenue, now provides taxes for the French.

"Oh, I've been there and seen the ironworks there. They pump coal from various coal mines into blast furnaces almost day and night. The iron ingots they produce are twice as much as the rest of Austria combined!
"I remember the French said they shared the benefits there with you. But look, what did Austria get from it? Negligible taxes."

He is just changing the concept.

The original agreement between France and Austria was to jointly own the Wallonia market and both parties could invest there.

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After that, Austria was either busy fighting wars or coronating a new emperor, and never invested a penny there.

The French government alone invested tens of millions of francs in the Southern Netherlands, and private investment was even greater. This is how they bought all the large coal mines in Wallonia, built a large number of ironworks, and constructed wooden tracks to transport products to southern German countries for sale, forming a virtuous cycle.

Of course, this was also because Joseph knew the coal reserves and development value of the Wallonia region based on later information, so he dared to invest heavily.

If the Austrians were told the same information, even if they didn't invest so much, they certainly wouldn't do nothing.

But the reality is that Austria has never cared about Wallonia before.

When they saw that the French were making money and wanted to invest, they found that all valuable industries had been invested in by the French.

In fact, the taxes in Wallonia still belong to Austria, after all, it is still nominally Austrian territory.

Therefore, the tax revenue they received increased significantly with the development of Wallonia. However, compared with the high profits of coal and iron companies, Austria looked down on this little tax.

Count Rheinfels nodded subconsciously:
"That's true. But we have an agreement with France..."

The British Foreign Secretary immediately said:
"Unreasonable agreements must be abolished! This also includes the Rhine-Seine Treaty, which allowed France to invade the southern German market without any worries.

"If there is no damn treaty, those markets will be yours. Any financial problems will be solved."

Count Rheinfels sighed:
"You are right. We have tried to amend this treaty, but..."

"It's just that the French are threatening you with force... Oh, I mean threatening the southern German states."

Grenville's tone was full of temptation:
"And now, we must unite and make sure that the French cannot threaten any country!"

(Because some paragraphs in this chapter were slightly modified, the comments of book friends were swallowed by the system. The author apologizes to everyone! Please understand.)
(End of this chapter)