France Industrial Development Fund

"Oh? They're quite adept at exploiting the government's weaknesses." A cold glint flashed in Joseph's eyes.

After becoming Assistant Minister of Finance, he gained a clear understanding of France's Finance situation. A large portion of the money borrowed by the government came from wealthy Nobility, accounting for more than 20%. If we also consider the money the Nobility invested in banks and the government bonds they purchased, they should be the largest group paying for the government's debt.

In other words, if the Nobility stopped providing funds to the government, the State Finances would soon be unable to sustain itself. Historically, these individuals had also formed "Tax Resistance League," using tax withholding to blackmail the Royal House, and ultimately succeeded.

No wonder Brienne rushed to Paris to find him in such a hurry; he was genuinely afraid that the Nobility would fight the government to the death.

Brienne said anxiously, "Your Highness, do you think we should postpone the interrogation of Necker and have him pay a fine...?"

Joseph frowned. "What's wrong? Were you intimidated by those Nobility?"

"No, that's not it." Brienne said "no," but his expression was full of tension. "But you know, if they really did that, even if it's only a small fraction of the population, the Finance would..."

Brienne was about to say something more, but Joseph gestured to his Carriage: "How about this, let's go to the Versailles Palace first and talk on the way."

The Carriage slowly started moving. Inside, Joseph asked, "Archbishop Brienne, have there been any bank bankruptcies before, and did they cause such a huge uproar?"

Brienne shook his head as he recalled, "Your Highness, in the past, it was mostly a bank that had problems, and because it didn't involve any legal cases, the bankruptcy process wasn't so quick, giving people time to deal with their investments in the bank."

"Beranger Bank collapsed too quickly this time, and with more than ten other banks expected to go bankrupt, everyone was terrified."

Joseph nodded. "So, the reason the Nobility reacted so strongly is because Beranger Bank neither settled its debts nor announced a plan to offset the debts with its debts, and simply abandoned all its Investor?"

"That's roughly it, Your Highness."

Joseph narrowed his eyes and pondered for a moment before continuing, "So, if someone were to acquire the Beranger Bank now, promising the Nobility that they would acknowledge and repay their investments, they would immediately be satisfied and leave?"

Brienne said with a bitter face, "But no one is willing to acquire it right now, because nobody knows how much fine Beranger Bank will face..."

He paused, as if realizing something, and asked, "You mean, waive the fine?"

Joseph immediately shook his head. If they didn't punish them, wouldn't that be letting these banks involved Wool off tens or even hundreds of millions of Livre from the government for nothing?

The current problems all revolve around how to repay the Nobility ' investments.

He went through all the banking and financial operations of later generations, but couldn't find a ready-made solution. Brienne was even more helpless and could only look at him with a worried expression.

The trees and buildings outside the window flashed past, Joseph felt a surge of anger as he recalled the various obstacles and destruction these Nobility had caused him and the country.

He slammed his fist on the seat and gritted his teeth, saying, "Let's just confiscate all these guys' money!"

He sighed again, knowing that this was just empty talk...

Wait a minute... He suddenly had an idea. Although he couldn't confiscate the Nobility ' money, he could simply withhold payment from them!

If France can wait five or seven years until its Finance problems are alleviated, it will be fully capable of paying these funds.

Therefore, some methods are needed to get the Nobility to "voluntarily" leave their money behind.

When it comes to methods, he immediately thought of "debt-to-equity swaps," but then felt it was inappropriate, as the equity mechanism of this era was still very imperfect, and such a large amount of money was not easy to handle.

Then let's find a workaround, such as "debt-to-fund conversion"...

As the Carriage out of Paris, Joseph looked up at Brienne, a smile spreading across his face, "If no one else will buy it, my France Reserve Bank will."

"Your bank?" Brienne asked in shock. "Your Highness, if you want to acquire the Beranger Bank, you will not only need the acquisition cost, but also a large sum of money to pay for the investments that the Nobility may withdraw."

"And even if you manage to raise the funds to acquire Beranger Bank, there are still more than ten Guild go bankrupt. You can't possibly acquire them all, can you?"

Joseph laughed, "Why not? I really do want to buy them all."

"But where did you get so much money?"

Joseph shook his head. "It doesn't cost much at all."

"These banks typically have assets worth several million to tens of Livre after deducting their debts from their claims. Because of this case, the government can impose a fine on them equal to the value of their assets."

"Then the government will use the fine amount to acquire a stake in the French Reserve Bank, allowing the French Reserve Bank to complete the acquisition at zero cost."

The so-called bank claims are loans that have been made out, most of which are to the government. Debts, on the other hand, are deposits made up of private deposits and investments by Nobility. After offsetting the two, plus the bank's cash, assets, etc., the net assets of the bank are calculated.

Brienne patiently explained, "Your Highness, that's correct on paper. But after you acquire those banks, if any Nobility wants to recoup their investment, you'll need to pay them that amount. However, the banks' assets, namely government loans, cannot be recovered immediately."

Joseph said calmly, "As long as the Nobility don't withdraw their investment, that's fine."

Brienne sighed, "Your Highness, what if they don't cooperate? Especially after this incident, they'll definitely feel that keeping their money in the bank isn't safe enough..."

Joseph smiled and waved his hand, "That's not up to them."

Two hours later, the Carriage stopped in the Marble Courtyard.

As soon as Joseph got out of the car, he heard someone shouting outside the gates of the Versailles Palace: "For the sake of France's financial stability, the trial of Necker must be stopped!"

"Please, Your King, grant me your mercy and forgiveness!"

"If more banks continue to fail, I will never dare to buy government bonds again..."

"Yes, and government loans too! We need to hold onto our money tightly!"

Joseph looked at the agitated Nobility and couldn't help but find it amusing. He turned to Brienne beside him and gestured, "Archbishop Brienne, they're blocking the door. Let's go to the Petit Trianon first."

"Yes, Your Highness."

The two hadn't gone far when they saw a chubby figure with long, wavy hair swaying as he jogged over.

"Count Monod?" Brienne stopped in his tracks.

The Minister of the Interior bowed to Joseph and Brienne, then hesitated before saying, "Your Highness, where are you going? Well, I have something I'd like to suggest to you."

Joseph smiled and said, "We're going to see Her Majesty the Queen. Why don't you come along too? Oh, what can I do for you?"

Mono hurriedly caught up, forcing a smile, "Your Highness, perhaps it would be better to postpone the matter concerning Necker's case for a while."

"Oh? Why?"

"You see, many Nobility will suffer huge losses because of this. You have to stand up for them, don't you? This is definitely a good opportunity to enhance the prestige of the Royal House."

Joseph glanced at him but remained silent.

Mono Lacy for a while, then, realizing he couldn't fool anyone, could only rub his chubby hands together and chuckle dryly:

"Your Highness, actually, I also have some investments in the Clasney Bank."

"Of course, I've already requested the return of this money, but as you know, the bank needs 20 days to raise it. If we could continue with Necker's case after 20 days..."

How much money did you invest?

"This one, it's over 700,000 Livre, isn't it?"

Joseph rubbed his forehead and said coldly, "You know how much influence Necker's matter has. At this moment, will you choose to support me, or choose your 700,000?"

Mono broke out in a cold sweat and said with difficulty, "Of course I support you. You know, I always listen to your orders. But what about the bank..."

"That's good." Joseph gestured towards the Petit Trianon. "Come with me later to persuade Her Majesty the Queen."

"Ah? Persuade His Majesty about what?"

"She spearheaded the establishment of the ' France Industrial Development Fund.'"

One hour later.

Queen Mary looked at the three people before her, and finally turned to Brienne, saying, "Are you sure this ' Industrial Development Fund ' will stop those people outside from bothering me?"

Brienne quickly replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, I assure you."

Joseph added, "It can also significantly reduce the country's debt."

She was completely convinced by the opinions of the two Cabinet Minister whom the Queen relied on, and finally nodded, saying, "Very well, let's do it your way. Anyway, it won't cost the government much money."

She frowned slightly again. "However, what Archbishop Brienne mentioned about 'funds' and 'debts' is a bit complicated. I'm not sure if I'll be able to remember them clearly by tomorrow morning."

Joseph immediately replied, "I can do it for you."

The Queen immediately smiled and patted his head, "My dear, your mind is always so sharp, I'm so jealous. You'll be the one to explain tomorrow."

As the three emerged from the Petit Trianon, Joseph gestured to Brienne, "Archbishop Brienne, please proceed with the announcement to the Nobility as previously stated."

"Yes, Your Highness."

After Brienne left, Joseph looked at Mono again. "To be honest, I didn't expect you to interfere with my plans for a little money."

Mono was startled and quickly said, "Your Highness, please forgive me, I didn't mean to..."

Joseph raised his hand to interrupt him, "Don't worry, your money won't decrease at all, in fact, it will increase. Especially your shares in the French Reserve Bank, the future profits will be enough for you to live a life of wealth and luxury."

He left the bewildered Minister of the Interior behind and strode toward Louis XVI's Workshop.

Compared to Queen Mary, the King was much easier to talk to. Joseph persuaded him to attend the briefing on the "Industrial Development Fund" the next day in just over ten minutes.

In fact, a large portion of those ten minutes was spent helping Louis XVI overcome her fear of facing dozens or even hundreds of people.

North Africa.

Inside a fortified prison east of the city of Mitija in Algiers.

Charles idly piled up the dust on the ground into a small castle, occasionally turning his head to look at the palm-sized air vent behind him.

The sunlight streaming in from there told him that he had been locked up in this awful place for a full eight months.

The crew members who were captured with him have long since been ransomed or turned into corpses.

Only he was unable to return.

It wasn't because nobody paid attention to him; quite the opposite, because he was the first mate of the "Golden Wheat," and after the captain died in the pirate attack that day, he became the highest-paid man on the ship.

To be honest, he didn't like this "high" price at all, because it meant the State Parliament couldn't afford to ransom him.

The sound of dragging footsteps echoed at the end of the dark corridor. Charles quickly lay down on the floor and peered through a crack in the wall at the adjacent cell. There was no one there.

He suddenly became anxious, kicked the cell bars hard, and then lowered his voice to shout, "Ali! Ali, the guards are here, can you hear them?"

Just as the owner of the dragging footsteps emerged from the shadows, the bed in the adjacent cell was pushed open, and a muscular middle-aged man with a thick beard poked his head out.

The man moved extremely quickly, "whoosh," and squeezed out of the hole under the bed board. In just one second, he covered the hole with some debris and then sat back on the bed board.

The guard happened to walk up to Ali's cell door, glanced inside casually, and slipped a dry biscuit and a bowl of yellowish-green soup—the kind he couldn't tell what it was made of—through a small opening under the cell door.

He then shared the same lunch with Charles and lazily walked toward the next cell.

Charles lay on the ground looking at the cell next to him. Seeing the bearded man already devouring dry biscuits, he breathed a sigh of relief, "Hey! Can't you be a little more alert? I thought I'd never be able to talk to you again."

Ali, speaking in strangely accented English, chuckled, "Don't worry, I always know where the guards are. I just wanted to stay a little longer."

"Oh, but speaking of which, you'll have to find other people to chat with from now on."

"Find someone else?" Charles sat up straight in surprise. "What's wrong with you? Are you going to be hanged?"

"Look at what you're saying!" Ali chewed on his biscuit with displeasure, lowering his voice. "In three more days at most, I'll be able to escape."

"Has anyone offered to ransom you?" Charles asked sadly. "But congratulations anyway, although there's no one else here who speaks English to me. I'll miss you."

Ali curled his lip and said, "No one's going to ransom me. But my tunnel is about to be completed."

"A tunnel? Ha!" Charles laughed. "You really think you can escape this godforsaken place by digging a tunnel?"

"This is the most heavily guarded prison in Algiers!"

He crouched down, getting closer to the crack in the wall. "You know what? Even the Tunisia Pasha is imprisoned here. Oh, supposedly in one of the cells upstairs. You think you can escape from here after digging this tunnel for two months? Hah."

Ali muttered dismissively, "Obviously you've never lived in Mitija."

"Yes, I'm an United States, and this is my first time here." Charles shrugged. "I was invited by a hospitable pirate gentleman."

"So you don't know, the Tunisia Pasha escaped more than ten years ago. The guards in this prison are all idiots; it's easy for him to escape."

"What? They ran away?" Charles's eyes widened. "How is that possible?"

"Everyone in Mitija knows about this," Ali said, gesturing upwards. "The one locked up over there is an imposter, used to fool the Guards during inspections."