I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 963 Vacation
The football league is a good thing.

It allows the people of the Rhineland to use their spare energy to cheer for their favorite teams, and vent their anger by insulting the opposing teams and fighting with the opposing fans.

And those who secretly incite anti-French sentiment are finding it increasingly difficult to find an audience - people have vented their anger on the court and gone home to fall asleep, so who would listen to you criticizing France?
At the same time, the league can also provide employment opportunities, allowing children from poor families to see another way to succeed.

Well, although there are only more than a hundred players in the Rhineland teams now, they have generated a lot of job opportunities in medical care, brewing, training, football production, stadium construction, etc., which can cover nearly a thousand people.

However, the current income of these players is still relatively low, almost close to the salary of ordinary civil servants, and there is also a little bonus for winning the game.

But even this little salary is enough to be very attractive to ordinary people.

Because most of the players are part-timers and have their own jobs, they only need to train one and a half days a week, which is equivalent to having double income.

And if you win, you will get a huge prize of 3 francs, which means each person can get more than 150 francs on average! The runner-up will also get 1 francs.

With the government's vigorous propaganda and the constant hype of the "star-making movement", football has become popular in the Rhineland in just a few months.

Other regions in France started playing football earlier, so the league brought more attention to the game, and even a semi-professional team, the "Versailles Sabre Team", emerged. All the players were retired aristocrats.

In fact, the nobles of the Palace of Versailles alone formed four teams, but they and the other three teams in Paris were divided into the "Greater Paris Division", and in the end only two teams could qualify to participate in the "finals".

The whole of France is divided into four divisions. This is also a measure taken by Joseph to give civilian teams more opportunities.

At present, the "French Super League" is still losing money - in order to promote football as quickly as possible, Joseph stipulates that league tickets cannot exceed 3 sous.

The French treasury allocates 3 francs to the league every year.

Of course, this investment is definitely worthwhile compared to the various benefits the league brings to the country.

Mirabeau, as the temporary head of the league, talked about the construction of the stadium again: “Your Highness, I think the originally planned stadium that can accommodate 500 people seems unnecessary.

“You know, normally not that many people go to the games.

"In fact, 300 seats would be enough. That way the construction cost can be reduced to less than 1 francs."

In fact, the so-called football field is to select a flat piece of grass, build a circle of rammed earth around it, and then build a wooden frame on it as a seat.

“The attendance is so low?”

Joseph frowned slightly and looked at the document handed over by Mirabeau. He saw that most of the matches that had been held had less than 150 spectators. The one with the most spectators had only 320 people.

This doesn't seem to be in line with the popularity of football.

Mirabeau said: "Your Highness, in fact, only some nobles and merchants can go to watch the game after the morning mass on Sunday. Most citizens have to continue working, and farmers are reluctant to spend too much time going into the city..."

The so-called "Lord's Day" is Sunday.

Joseph sighed to himself.

Football was originally a sport for common people, but in the end, only nobles watched it.

Or, can we take this opportunity to promote a weekend rest model?

In fact, for the entire country, leaving people with fixed rest time so that they have time to consume can stimulate economic development.

Especially after entering the industrial age, consumption is more needed to promote production.

He looked at Mirabeau and said, "If a decree is issued requiring all factories to give workers half a day off before 3 p.m. on Sundays - without deducting wages. "At the same time, limit the time of early mass.

"If the league is scheduled to be played at 500 a.m. on Sunday, more people will go to watch the game. Therefore, the stadium is still built according to the standard of seats."

Mirabeau was startled and said hesitantly, "Your Highness, I think it is not appropriate to reduce the working hours for the game..."

Joseph smiled and said, "If I say that taking half a day off can actually increase the factory's profits, do you believe it?"

"This... To be honest, Your Highness, it's hard for me to imagine."

"Well, let's give it a try."

Mirabeau added: "Your Highness, the factory owners will most likely strongly oppose this."

Joseph couldn't help but nodded.

It was still the early days of the Industrial Revolution, and factory owners were eager to make their workers work 25 hours a day. It was indeed difficult for them to accept the law of weekend holidays.

Well, the previous implementation of the Labor Protection and Safety Law has already caused huge complaints from capitalists, and the resistance this time will definitely be greater.

He thought for a moment and said, "How about this: for those factories that are willing to give their workers half a day off, we can give them a proper tax reduction. You need to send someone to calculate the tax reduction ratio, which will just make up for the factory's losses."

Mirabeau obviously did not agree with the decision of the Dauphin, but he still bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness. However, I still think that no factory may be willing to do this."

Joseph was very confident: "Please believe me, they will all choose to take a holiday soon."

He knew very well that giving workers proper rest could improve work efficiency.

This was the conclusion reached by countless factory owners through practice in later generations, so much so that decades later they took the initiative to push the British government to legislate to stipulate that there should be no work on Sundays.

Once French factory owners discover the benefits of holidays, they will surely accept them.

After Mirabeau reported on the investment in the Rhineland coal mines, the Minister of War, Duke de Broglie, who usually did not speak much, stood up and bowed to Joseph and said:

“Your Highness, regarding the battle in Porto, our progress does not seem to be going smoothly.

"Count Gombos hopes that our country can send more troops."

Joseph was not too surprised by this. France only sent 5 soldiers this time, and they were "slacking off" most of the time. Based on the combat effectiveness of the Spanish army, it would definitely not be able to take down the fortress group in Porto in a short period of time.

But his original intention was to consume Britain in Portugal, so this is fine.

He nodded and said, "Please tell me the details."

The Chief of Staff Berthier stood up and said, "Your Highness, first of all, the British have increased their troops. Currently, there are 1 British troops landing in Portugal, and there are about 8 in the Porto direction.

"After Colonel Junot stabilized our supply lines, the British began burning all the farmland around Porto last week and relocated most of the residents."

Joseph frowned immediately.

In this Iberian Campaign, not only did the British not launch a counterattack, but they also used scorched earth tactics so early?

(End of this chapter)