International Diplomatic Pressure

French merchants were instantly overjoyed, waving franc banknotes as they shoved their foreign competitors aside.

Many English, Dutch, and Italian merchants looked mournfully at the contract board. Cane sugar futures for one month later had already been listed at 2 francs 1 sou, while the price for three months later had reached a staggering 2 francs 3 sous!

Wiegel's eyes were like those of a man stranded in the desert for more than half a month upon finally seeing water.

Yet the Dutch guilders in his hand could not be used to buy that water...

Someone suddenly grabbed his arm and whispered in his ear:

"Why are you still standing here in a daze?"

Wiegel turned around. It was Van Schaik.

"But I don't have..."

The latter whispered into his ear, "Have you forgotten? The French Reserve Bank is right downstairs!"

"?"

"France uses the Gold Standard."

"My pebble-sized brain!" Wiegel was suddenly enlightened. He turned and ran downstairs. "Thank you so much!"

The Gold Standard meant that anyone could exchange franc paper money for gold at the Bank of France at any time. Conversely, gold could also be exchanged for francs at any time!

The French Reserve Bank's counters were still relatively empty, since the vast majority had yet to catch on.

Wiegel immediately exchanged the more than 10,000 Dutch guilders in his possession for francs.

Although the Dutch guilder, as a currency, could not possibly be worth its full nominal value—the officially stipulated 1 guilder was supposed to contain 3.75 grams of gold, but in reality contained less than 3.7 grams—Wiegel could only exchange them as gold rather than according to their currency value.

Fortunately, exchanging physical gold for paper money earned a 2% subsidy, reducing his losses somewhat.

Then, brimming with confidence, Wiegel returned to the Futures