After autumn began, the good news delivered to 10 Downing Street became as plentiful as the wheat harvested from the fields.
The matter brought up by Jenkinson, Chairman of the Board of Trade, who had arrived at Pitt the Younger's office earliest that day, was related to wheat.
"Prime Minister, the Ottomans have agreed to sell us 390,000 dan of wheat." Jenkinson's face was full of delight. "The price is only 12% above the Levant market price."
Because Joseph had halted wheat exports from North Africa to the United Kingdom, while Russia's harvest had declined due to the war, grain prices in the British market had remained high for more than a year.
Previously, at France's diplomatic suggestion, the Ottomans had also raised the price of grain sold to the United Kingdom to a very high level.
In truth, they had not needed France's suggestion. The Ottomans were shrewd by nature; when they could sell at a high price, they naturally would not hold back.
Every year, merely to stabilize London's bread prices, the British Treasury had to invest more than a hundred thousand Pound Sterling in subsidies. Even so, the average price of bread in the United Kingdom had still risen by as much as 15% over the past year and a half.
Pitt the Younger rose excitedly from behind his desk. "This will finally make things easier when Earl Temple submits the subsidy request to Parliament.
"It seems the war in Transcaucasia is not entirely disadvantageous to us."
Clearly, the Ottomans' willingness to sell large quantities of grain at a "fair price" was meant to secure funds as quickly as possible and make up for the enormous fiscal deficit caused by the war against Russia.
"Indeed." Jenkinson nodded and continued, "Also, the wheat we ordered from Two Sicilies