I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 883: Now that it’s in my hands, you still want to take it back?
Another 20 million francs of gold were exchanged in and out by the "trust" arranged by Lafitte, which did not affect the inventory at all.

The remaining part was exchange applications that were suppressed by long-distance transportation terms, and no gold was actually paid.

So on paper it seemed that the French government had exchanged hundreds of millions of francs of gold, but the actual amount paid did not break the French Reserve Bank's gold reserves.

Then Joseph let the Italians in.

Ross slapped his thigh and said to his reporter, "Simon, just write 'France suffered a gold run, the total scale reached hundreds of millions of francs, and the financial market remained stable'. This news will definitely arouse people's interest!"

The eyes of the foreign journalists nearby lit up when they heard this.

Now that you're here, you have to report some news back.

At this moment, someone from the Paris Futures Exchange posted a notice on the wall.

Ross told Simon to go and have a look.

The latter pushed through the crowd and squeezed in, then quickly returned and said to Ross, "Big news! The French government announced that all transactions involving sugarcane will no longer accept gold as payment."

Before Ross could come to his senses, he saw the last two hundred people who were still queuing outside the French Reserve Bank waiting to exchange gold also dispersed.

From now on, sugar can only be bought with francs, so you really need to keep some banknotes in your hand.

Citizens in the square shouted in dissatisfaction: "Those damn financial experts, no, liars, actually said that the government would not exchange gold."

"The French Reserve Bank has exchanged hundreds of millions of francs of gold. The government is very trustworthy."

"I wonder how there can be a problem with francs? I've been waiting in line for three days for nothing!"

"Who said it wasn't true? If I had known that the bank had such a sufficient amount of gold reserves, I wouldn't have lost these few days' salary..."

After Ross and other foreign journalists collected enough materials, they returned to their residences to prepare press releases.

As they looked at the street scenes of Paris along the way, they were all impressed by the ubiquitous rail transit, gas street lamps, and clean and tidy streets. They were already planning to write a column on "Prosperous and Fashionable Paris".

……

Eastern suburbs of Rouen.

Lord McGovern's eyelids twitched as he calculated the losses of the operation in the carriage.

Yes, he left Paris as soon as he was sure that he could no longer break through France’s gold reserves.

In the account book in front of him, the loan interest alone was as high as more than 400 million francs - this did not include the loans to Württemberg, Upper Hesse and other countries, but only the interest on his loans in France.

There was also the cost of converting the 80 pounds into francs, 170 million francs.

In addition, the expenses for hiring Bruni and others, as well as foreign journalists, totaled 17 francs.

McGovern closed his eyes, looked up and sighed: "I spent £23 and got nothing.

"Mr. Wilberforce will definitely punish me severely when I return..."

23 pounds is 580 million francs, which is enough money to build four top-notch third-level battleships.

The attendant sitting opposite McGovern said, "Master, you are not completely without gain this time."

"Ok?"

"You have caused a serious panic in Paris, and their banking system has been in turmoil for a month. I estimate that this will cost them at least four or five million francs."

McGovern looked at him and nodded slowly: "Yes, at most it's a draw!"

He immediately took up his pen and began to write a report to Wilberforce.

He had just started talking when he heard the servant knocking on the car window: "Master, Martin has something very urgent to see you about." McGovern frowned immediately.

Martin was his confidant who stayed in Paris to handle the funeral affairs. Why did he suddenly follow him?

The car stopped and the confidant got in sweating profusely. He didn't even bother to greet the guests and said anxiously, "Your Excellency, the French tax authorities have seized five of our companies... the companies involved in the loan and the exchange of franc banknotes this time."

McGovern's heart sank: "What's going on?"

"It is said that the French tax authorities discovered that they had a huge amount of capital flow and determined that they were evading taxes." Martin swallowed his saliva and continued, "Now the tax authorities have frozen all assets related to them, including those loans and gold..."

McGovern felt a buzzing in his head and almost fainted.

He brought nearly 4 million francs of funds from the southern German states and borrowed more than 2 million in France. All this money was in the account of the White Glove Company...

The shameless French actually froze all these more than 6 million!

He patted his chest hard, and it took him a long time to breathe a sigh of relief. He was secretly thankful that the 80 pounds in exchange for francs had not been used yet and were currently stored in a secret warehouse, otherwise the loss would have been even greater.

He knew very well that although the French tax authorities said the money was "frozen", the money was probably in danger.

Even if the freeze can be lifted through a lawyer's lawsuit, the French tax authorities can still impose a huge fine.

It would be considered lucky if we could get back two-thirds in the end.

If Joseph knew what he was thinking at this moment, he would definitely say to him with disdain, "You're dreaming."

First of all, it is difficult to explain the source of the money. The court may take a year or two just to review the "evidence of source of funds".

Then there is the progress of the tax bureau's investigation into tax evasion.

This requires checking from the day those companies were established. It would take two or three years to check so many accounts.

Only then can you initiate a lawsuit to lift the freeze, the court will hear the first instance, the tax bureau will appeal again and reject the retrial.

It can easily be delayed for another two or three years.

For at least seven or eight years, the money was used by the French government.

Then the tax bureau finds some excuses and sets the fine amount at 80% of the total amount of funds.

Don't you agree?

Okay, then continue with the lawsuit.

This is still a clean play with you.

If you ignore the impact on financial reputation and directly accuse the shareholders of those companies of "espionage" or something like that, you will even expel them!
Lord McGovern fell seriously ill that night and was unable to get out of bed when he returned to London.

The news of the gold run quickly spread throughout Europe through the foreign journalists invited by McGovern.

Previous impressions such as "France's finances are on the verge of collapse" and "France is facing a huge debt crisis" have been completely overturned.

Countries are beginning to realize that France's fiscal situation is beginning to recover.

What Joseph did not expect was that after this incident, the franc became extremely strong - everyone knew that the franc could really be exchanged for gold at any time, even if it was hundreds of millions of francs in a row.

Many Russian, Austrian, Prussian and even Ottoman merchants were willing to accept franc banknotes as payment when trading with France.

Stuttgart, the capital of Württemberg.

In the palace hall, Talleyrand sat opposite the Crown Prince Lucifer Eugen with a stern face and said in a deep voice:
"Because your country violated the loan agreement, our country suffered huge losses!"

(End of this chapter)