Turning the Tables

Bordeaux, as France's most important Wine exporter, has wine trading as its very soul. 🐯☹ 🎁♣

The Royal Square, adjacent to the Garonne River, the core waterway of Bordeaux, was once Louis XV's palace. However, the King no longer visits here, so the huge square and the adjacent palace have become a trading place for wine merchants and Wine Cellar owners.

Therefore, people prefer to call this Place de la Bourse.

Here, massive amounts of Wine are traded every day, then shipped to various parts of Europe, and even as far as the Americas.

At this moment, fifty or sixty Nobility or their agents had gathered in the main Meeting Hall of the magnificent palace in front of the Place de la Bourse.

These noble Nobility all shared another identity: Plantation Owner.

They own the vast majority of vineyards in the Bordeaux region and also operate Workshop, controlling nearly 60% of France's Wine industry.

Three days ago, they received an invitation from Governor Count Monsoreau, in which the Governor mentioned that the true convener of this gathering was His Crown Prince.

Out of respect for these two important figures, all the invitees set off early and gathered at the Place de la Bourse.

3 PM.

A melodious tune drifted from outside the main Meeting Hall of the Exchange Palace. The Plantation Owner all turned to look towards the entrance, where they saw Governor Monsoreau respectfully following a young man in a dark blue coat as they entered the Meeting Hall.

Everyone knew that it must be His Crown Prince, so they all stood up and bowed respectfully to the young man.

After the Governor solemnly introduced the Crown Prince and gave a brief opening speech, Joseph, seated at the front of the Meeting Hall, raised his hand to the Plantation Owner and said loudly, "Thank you all for attending this meeting."

He began, as is customary, with a string of platitudes about Bordeaux's "long history and abundant resources," before getting to the point. "The main reason I've gathered everyone here today is to talk about Potato cultivation."

Whispers immediately arose from the audience:

"I knew it! It must be related to those rotten Potato."

They've been urging us to plant this stuff for over two weeks now, but who knows if we'll lose money if we do?

"Yes, growing Grain is risk-free..."

"Let him say what he wants. I certainly won't grow a single Potato, unless he lowers the Land Tax."

"The Austria woman even sent the Crown Prince; it seems she takes this matter very seriously."

"So this is a good opportunity. We must unite and get him to lower the Land Tax..."

"No! It's the Land Tax that needs to be abolished..."

Most of these people spoke in low voices, but a few deliberately raised their voices to a level that the Crown Prince could hear.

Joseph smiled slightly, ignoring him, and continued, "Droughts have been frequent in recent years, resulting in poor harvests for everyone. However, Potato have a very high yield, which will quickly alleviate the food shortage caused by the disasters."

He looked around the audience. "Therefore, I hope that you will heed King Majesty's call and plant more Potato during the Spring Planting season. Oh, the Potato as 'seeds' should arrive in Bordeaux in about ten days."

These Plantation Owner, as landed Nobility, not only own vineyards but also vast Farmland in the Bordeaux region. If they cooperate, Potato can be easily rolled out on a large scale.

Below the stage, a Nobility with an unusual upturned nose tentatively called out, "Your Highness, could you perhaps lower the Land Tax a little?"

Immediately, someone echoed, "Count Ledney is right. Growing Potato might be unprofitable; it would be best to reduce Land Tax to make up for it."

"Please promise to lower the Land Tax first."

"These are two separate matters," Joseph said calmly. "If you have objections to the Land Tax, you can make suggestions to the Minister of Finance and submit them to the High Court for review. Today, I'm only talking about Potato."

The Nobility all showed their displeasure upon hearing this, and the audience fell silent.

Joseph calmly began to explain the various benefits of growing Potato, talking for a good half hour, and finally said, "Okay, I know, switching to an unfamiliar crop is a difficult decision."

"Everyone can go back and think about it first. I'll be here again at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, and I hope to get a positive response from everyone."

After Joseph finished speaking, he was about to get up and leave. Governor Monsoreau hurriedly came to the center of the hall and invited the Manor owners below the stage to join the banquet with a smile, in order to ease the somewhat awkward atmosphere.

Joseph knew very well that he could have used the "Pasteurization Technology" as his trump card from the very beginning, and many Manor would have chosen to cooperate.

However, doing so would make the landed Nobility feel that they had used the threat of "not growing Potato" to blackmail the Royal House in exchange for these benefits.

So on his way to Bordeaux, Joseph had already made plans to turn the tables and make the Plantation Owner realize that cooperating with the Crown Prince was beneficial, while confrontation would only lead to losses.

After a dull banquet, Monsoreau invited Joseph and the Nobility to a ball at his mansion.

Fortunately, the Nobility ladies of Bordeaux were somewhat in awe of the unfamiliar Crown Prince, so Joseph was not "besieged" at the ball. Instead, he was able to savor a good selection of authentic Bordeaux Wine.

Just as he was struggling to get through the ball and stepped out of the Hall, a middle-aged man hurriedly followed him from behind.

Eman immediately became alert and stopped him.

The man hurriedly bowed to Joseph from a distance, placing his hand on his chest. "May God be with you, Your Crown Prince. I am Pierre Victinian Venio, and I work at the Bordeaux High Court. I wonder if I may have the honor of speaking with you for a few minutes?"

Joseph felt the name sounded vaguely familiar. Venio? Then it dawned on him—wasn't that the famous Girondins orator?

By the way, the Girondins are named after the fact that several of their main leaders came from the Gironde Province, one of whom was Venio. Of course, the Gironde Province was only established after the Great Revolution, and currently only the Bordeaux or Aquitaine Region.

Joseph remembered that Venio was one of the Girondins who advocated cooperation with the Royal House Girondins, but he didn't know why he had come to see him.

So he gestured to Eman, "Please let Mr. Venio come over."

Eman nodded and turned to the side.

Venio hurried forward and bowed again, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Joseph smiled and said, "May I ask what brings you here?"

Venio looked around and, seeing no other Nobility, said solemnly, "Your Highness, please forgive my intrusion. In truth, you really shouldn't have come to Bordeaux this time."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Your Highness, those Nobility recently refused to plant Potato, and you came immediately. You may want to resolve this before Spring Planting, but this will make the Nobility think you need their help, thus making them even more determined to bargain with you."

Joseph blinked in surprise. Why did it seem like Venio cared more about growing Potato than he did?

Venio continued, "Your Highness, I have heard news from Paris that a severe drought is very likely this year."

"But the great Nobility don't care about this. They are very rich, and even a poor harvest won't affect them. Some of them are worried that growing Potato will not be as profitable as Grain, but most of them want to take this opportunity to reduce Land Tax!"

"But as you know, in recent years, disasters have occurred frequently, and the farmers of Bordeaux are already destitute and simply cannot withstand another drought."

"I've been to Prussia, where people relied on Potato to combat Famine. Right now, we need Potato too; the farmers of Bordeaux need Potato!"

Joseph was somewhat moved, never expecting that this Lawyer would care so much about the suffering of the underprivileged and be willing to work hard to improve their lives.

He nodded and said, "Yes, I've come precisely to persuade everyone to plant Potato."

Venio appeared very anxious. "Your Highness, the Plantation Owner have formed an alliance. Oh, and I myself run a small vineyard. They've approached me too. They say they won't grow Potato unless the Land Tax is lowered."

"Are you here to persuade me to lower taxes?"

"No, Your Highness, the Land Tax cannot be reduced," Venio said. "The Nobility must fulfill their obligations to the state!"

Joseph looked at him with interest. "Oh? So what do you think we should do?"

Venio's expression darkened. "Right now, the only solution is for the government to provide a subsidy for Potato cultivation. Driven by profit, some people will surely be willing to grow them."

Joseph thought to himself, "You truly possess the Girondins's compromising nature."

He smiled and shook his head, "Mr. Venio, you should know the state of France's Finance; there simply isn't that much money. Besides, there's no need for it. In ten days at most, everyone will be scrambling to plant Potato."

Venio gave an awkward smile, "Your Highness, you must be joking. Unless you lower the Land Tax, they will never..."

Joseph immediately said, "How about we make a bet?"

"Bet?"

"If within ten days, more than half of the Plantation Owner do not volunteer to grow Potato, I will do as you said and allocate a sum of money as Potato subsidy."

Venio asked, "And the opposite?"

"Then you have to do something for me."

Joseph knew that Venio was a good speaker and had good work skills, so hiring him as a "laborer" would save him a lot of trouble.

Venio hesitated for only half a second before extending his hand. "Yes, Your Highness, as you say."

Joseph gave him a high five, then took his leave.

Perhaps it was the effect of the Wine he drank that evening, but Joseph fell asleep immediately upon returning to his bedroom and slept soundly.

When he arrived at the Meeting Hall of the Exchange Palace the next morning, he found that there were seven or eight fewer people present than the day before. Of course, these absent Nobility had all made various excuses to ask Monsoreau for leave.

Joseph didn't seem to care and went straight to the point. "So, who's willing to sign Potato Planting Contract right now?"

Another silence fell over the audience. They were only here today out of respect for the Crown Prince, and yet they were still thinking about the Potato incident?

Venio immediately stood up and said, "Your Highness, I am willing to plant 5 hectares."

He's just a Lawyer with some assets; this is all the Farmland he owns.

Several other Plantation Owner were on good terms with Venio then responded, "Your Highness, I can also sign a contract for 8 hectares."

"I can also plant 6 hectares."

Joseph nodded in satisfaction and looked around the audience again. "Anything else?"

The Plantation Owner glanced at Venio and his group with displeasure, but under the Crown Prince's persistent questioning, they still had to offer some response so as not to offend Crown Prince.

Someone hesitated and whispered, "I'll plant 40 mu."

One qing is 100 fa mu, which means this is less than half a qing.

Other Nobility chimed in, "Then I'll plant 50 mu too."

I cultivate 40 mu (approximately 6.6 acres).

"I have 30 mu..."

Joseph smiled as he watched these people deal with him, then suddenly called out, "Oh, right, I've been thinking about Potato all this time, I completely forgot about something else."

He gestured to Eman, who immediately had documents distributed to the Nobility present.

Joseph continued, "This is my planned ' France Brewing Technology Association,' designed to facilitate the exchange of Brewing Technology. This paper lists some of the new technologies the association currently possesses."

The Manor in the audience were immediately filled with questions. Why did the conversation suddenly turn to winemaking, and what was this Technical Association all about?

However, as they began to peruse the documents in their hands, their eyes widened in disbelief.

Someone couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "A new technology that reduces the failure rate of brewing to a negligible level?! How is that possible?"

Another person said, "There's also this technique that can eliminate the sour taste from the brewed wine, significantly improving its quality!"

"My God, it can even extend the shelf life by more than ten times!"

The Plantation Owner immediately started talking about it, and their voices grew louder and louder.

Venio was equally shocked; he also had Distilling Industry and was quite familiar with brewing.

First of all, there's no such thing as a perfect winemaker; failures are inevitable. Maintaining a failure rate below 10% is what makes a top-tier winemaker. Generally speaking, a 30% failure rate in Wine is acceptable.

Even more incredibly, there is technology that can eliminate the sour taste from wine.

It's important to know that whether or not a wine has a sour taste is a crucial indicator of its quality.

Wines of average quality will have a slight acidity, which affects the taste. Only high-end Wine can be almost completely free of acidity.

In other words, this technology can ensure that all brewed wines reach high-end quality!

The price difference between ordinary quality and high-end quality wine can be more than tenfold!

Immediately, someone stood up excitedly, holding up the documents in their hand and asking Joseph, "Your Crown Prince, are these technologies genuine?"

Joseph smiled and nodded, "Of course it's true. The Patent has already been filed at the Paris Patent Bureau, and it should be Registration soon."

An elderly Plantation Owner said with some suspicion, "Your Highness, please forgive my frankness, but I've been in the winemaking business for decades and have never heard of such a technique. Could this be...?"

Joseph looked at the Nobility who were staring at him expectantly, and immediately stood up and said, "Does anyone have Wine Cellar that's close to here? I can give you a demonstration right now."

Arson Wine Cellar, north of Bordeaux.

Although it is now winter, there are still grapes here that have undergone special fumigation and then dried and stored in cellars, which can be used to make wine.

Before long, the Craftsman placed several buckets of grapes that had already been pulped, along with water for brewing, in front of Joseph.

The latter then asked for a stove for heating and a large bucket of water, and then gestured for the Plantation Owner who were watching to leave first.

After Kexer "escorted" everyone out, Joseph immediately asked Eman to help fill the large pot with water and put it on the stove to boil.

After the water boiled, he mixed the cold water with the boiling water and poured it into a large wooden tub. He then took out the Thermometer he had brought and measured the temperature until it reached exactly 65 degrees Celsius.

He then placed the small bucket containing the grape juice into the large wooden barrel, started timing, and continuously measured the temperature. Once the water temperature dropped, he immediately added hot water to keep the grape juice above 60 degrees Celsius.

I recommend a friend's new book, "The New World Governor’s Compendium of Beast-Eared Girls".

Synopsis: Transmigrated into the body of the son of the Republic's ruler, Joanne is exiled to New World far from the center of power, becoming the Governor of Colony. What choices will Joanne make?

Faced with New World filled with Centaur Girls, Catgirls, Mermaids, Joanne suddenly felt that the power of the Republic wasn't so important anymore.

Now that he's the Governor, can't he just relax and enjoy the Fortune Rivalling Heaven Gu?!

Just launched, generous portions, welcome to try!

(End of this chapter)