I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 200 Industrial and Financial Development

Then, Emang presented the report sent by Marseille officials.

Joseph opened the report and read only a few lines before he couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

The report said that the King of Spain sent a total of 1.8 million livres of food, and the quality was quite good.

You know, although this drought has a smaller impact on Spain, it still has an impact. Carlos III even squeezed out a large amount of food to give as gifts, which can be said to be a show of sincerity!

Two days later, the special envoy of Carlos III came to Paris. He first went to see Louis XVI and the queen, and then rushed to find Joseph.

After some routine courtesy, the envoy asked Joseph to reject the others, then took out the autographed letter of Carlos III and presented it to him respectfully.

"Dear His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, His Majesty the King asked me to express his sincere gratitude to you on his behalf." The messenger looked a little embarrassed, "You have helped the royal family maintain the purity of their bloodline, and... ah, kept the secret for His Highness Antonio.

"His Majesty the King learned that France suffered a hail disaster not long ago, so he sent some food to show his sympathy."

Joseph nodded secretly, Carlos III was indeed one of the rare wise rulers in Spain, and he was really well-mannered and sophisticated. It is a pity that the old man is already in the wind and cannot hold on for long, otherwise Spain will be able to provide more support to France.

The messenger continued: "As for the Crown Princess, His Majesty the King has sent someone to keep an eye on her. Please don't worry."

It was basically close to what Joseph expected. When Carlos III learned that Luisa was having a "mistress" in front of his son and the French crown prince, he was furious and ordered the crown princess to be prohibited from leaving the palace for even half a step, and sent a female official. Follow her 24 hours a day.

If Spain hadn't been a filial Catholic son, it would be really difficult for her to get a divorce, otherwise the old man would definitely let his son divorce her.

Although the Spanish nobles did not know what happened to Luisa, it was obvious that the king did not want to see her, so they also drew a clear line with her, especially some important high-level officials.

It turned out that because of Carlos III's poor health, many government affairs had been transferred to Antonio. The latter was obsessed with machinery and hunting, and left these things to Louisa.

Nowadays, Spanish officials would rather take the documents to Antonio's workshop and force him to deal with them than to let Luisa handle them.

Of course, with Antonio's "ear-raking" character, the restrictions placed on Luisa will gradually weaken after Carlos III goes to see God, but this incident also severely reduced her political status, and she will be alone in the future. I am afraid that the situation of monopolizing power in Spain will probably never happen.

…

A novel "jewel" carriage sped past Mirabeau, and the dust raised hit his face.

Mirabeau frowned and took the handkerchief handed by the servant, wiping it on his face and body, shaking his head secretly. Nowadays, there are many rail buses in Paris, with five intersecting rails that can lead to all parts of Paris. However, many nobles still choose to travel in carriages because they feel that riding in the same bus with common people loses their status.

In fact, even if these rail buses pull more than 20 people, they are faster than ordinary horse-drawn carriages.

Capital aristocrats like himself - the name proposed by the crown prince is now widely accepted - sneer at similar attitudes.

He complained in his heart: the nobility of nobles comes from their wealth, ability, and hard work, not who they sit in a carriage with. All citizens should be equal. An incompetent or low-character noble is simply not as good as those smart and hard-working civilians. Why do they think they are born superior?

Although many of Rousseau's views were nonsense, he was right about equality. Those guys should really read his book...

Mirabeau thought of this and shook his head again. Let's forget it. Rousseau's ideas are too dangerous, and most nobles are not as discerning as himself. Who knows what adverse effects they will have after reading it.

A crisp bell sounded. Mirabeau put away his thoughts, straightened his collar, and stepped onto the rail bus that looked like a thick cigar.

When the civilians on the bus saw how he was dressed, they all consciously stood up and gave up their seats for him, while keeping a certain distance.

Mirabeau was not polite at all, sat down in the seat he was most satisfied with, and took today's "Paris Business Journal" from the servant.

As soon as the carriage drove out not far, Mirabeau smelled a foul smell from the window.

He frowned and looked out the window, and saw several dark, highly decomposed corpses hanging on the street lamps on the side of the road - that's where the suffocating smell came from.

He knew without asking that those were the Barbary pirates who had been hanged a while ago, and Boislandal who had murdered Necker.

Mirabeau signaled the servant to close the car window, shook his head and murmured in a low voice: "Although he deserves to die, there is still something wrong with linking a former banker with a pirate..."

He immediately immersed himself in reading his newspaper, and the news headline on the front page made his eyelids jump - "The second president of the Banking Association, Marquis Ludo, was assassinated and seriously injured. The murderer was captured on the spot."

He hurriedly read the news content, and it turned out that a man named Ai Longke sneaked into Marquis Ludo's villa in the middle of the night and shot the Marquis in the thigh with a pistol.

Aronke? As a capitalist, Mirabeau naturally had to deal with banks. He knew that this man was Necker's housekeeper, and Necker's death was probably inseparable from the Marquis Ludo.

Mirabeau sighed softly and sighed in his heart: This butler is a loyal servant who values ​​friendship...

Not long after, the carriage stopped outside the University of Paris.

Mirabeau got out of the car with the servants and guards, and saw a large group of school senior officials coming up to him and greeting him diligently.

He is now a dignified minister of industry, an important minister who can speak in front of the king, so the school naturally does not dare to neglect him.

Like stars, Mirabeau gathered in front of the main building of the university with the word "Sorbonne" engraved on it. Colorful ribbons were all around, the band was playing in unison, and on the wooden sign in front of the gate was a line of large gilded characters - French Standards Committee. Measurement Standards Release Conference.

The reporter who was lingering outside the door recognized Mirabeau. Dozens of people cheered and gathered around, asking questions loudly.

Mirabeau was escorted by guards through the group of reporters and followed school officials to the lobby on the first floor, where he saw more old acquaintances.

It can be said that the place is full of stars. As long as the famous scholars from all over France can come, almost all of them are here. There were even a large number of foreign scholars coming to attend the conference.

Led by Mirabeau, all government officials related to the industrial industry also came, plus people from the Paris City Hall, and the huge hall was so crowded that there was no place to insert a pin.

Mirabeau spent more than ten minutes exchanging greetings with everyone, and finally he was able to take a seat in the front row, and then he breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked at his watch and saw that there was still a short time before the meeting started, so he started chatting with the middle-aged man next to him with a thin face, thick black eyebrows and a long nose: "Dear Sylvain, Nancy How's the situation over there?"

The middle-aged man showed a tired smile: "Look, it's really embarrassing for you to ask me to hold such a high position all of a sudden. I have been busy for two months to build one-third of the track from Nancy to the mining area. , already exhausted.

"The good news is that a large-scale coal mine has been discovered to the west of the mine, and the coal seam is also very shallow. The daily coal production is now tens of thousands of pounds, and production is still expanding."

"You have done a very good job." Mirabeau said, "It is relatively remote over there and the funds are not abundant. It is not that easy to lay tracks."

This scholar named Jean Sylvain Bailly is currently the assistant to the French Minister of Industry. At first, Mirabeau was worried that there would be resistance when he recommended him. Unexpectedly, the crown prince seemed to appreciate him very much and immediately agreed.

Of course Joseph remembered that Bai, a Feuillant giant, had good administrative abilities and was a scientist, so he was very suitable to serve as an industrial official.

Bai continued: "I'll try to speed up as much as possible. Maybe you can allocate more British technicians to me. I must admit that they are really fast in laying track.

"When this track is laid, the output of the United Steam Engine Company will be greatly increased. The British technician always complained to me that there was not enough refined iron. And the mines are full of iron ore."

Mirabeau nodded. The drought in France is serious at the moment. Water pumps, also known as steam engines, are an important means of ensuring agricultural output. The Crown Prince has repeatedly warned that production must be increased as soon as possible.

He thought: "Recently, Russian merchant ships have shipped a lot of crude iron. I will try to get some for the steam engine factory."

The quality of Russian iron ore is much better than that of France, but the transportation cost is also high. If we want to solve the iron shortage, we must speed up the exploration of iron ore in France and improve smelting technology.

Mirabeau continued: "When the track construction work in Nancy is completed, you will go to Saint-Etienne."

Bai Yi was a little surprised and said: "You mean, about the new industrial development zone over there?"

"Yes, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has asked me to prepare a plan."

"But, that requires a lot of investment, right?"

Mirabeau smiled slightly: "Do you know about the Bank of France issuing bank notes?"

"Of course I know. Half of the salary I received last month was bank notes." Bai's tone was obviously complaining. There is currently only one French Reserve Bank store in the entire Lorraine province, and it is a bit far away from Nancy. He wasted a lot of money in order to exchange bank notes for silver coins.

He is still from another province. If you are an official in Paris, your salary is all bank notes.

Mirabeau lowered his voice and said: "As far as I know, the cabinet will soon pass the Banking Sector Management Act."

"what is that?"

"Roughly speaking, all banks must be placed under government supervision. For example, banks must accept government capital review. They must accept bank notes from the French Reserve Bank. In addition, they must pay a 10% deposit guarantee."

Bai Yi suddenly looked happy when he heard that bank notes could be exchanged at any bank, and then asked: "What is the 'deposit deposit' you are talking about?"

"It is said to prevent the bank from unexpected bankruptcy and being unable to pay depositors' deposits. Therefore, 10% of the deposits must be handed over to the government for safekeeping. If an accident occurs to the bank, the government can return the money to the depositors. It is said that this 10% is just the beginning. The proportion will be increased later.”

Deposit reserves were a very common means of financial control in later generations, but they first appeared in the mid-19th century. This is also one of the important rights of central banks of various countries.

After these few months, the French Reserve Bank has completed the absorption and rectification of the merged banks. Then the implementation of the "Banking Sector Management Act" and the completion of the central bankization of the French Reserve Bank were immediately put on the agenda.

What Mirabeau didn't know was that the "Banking Management Act" would also stipulate that bank notes issued by the French Reserve Bank would become the only legal banknotes in France, and the currency value would be directly linked to gold and silver. The current payment of salaries to officials in banknotes is to allow everyone to get used to it in advance.

With the central bank in charge and the implementation of the banking law, if a bank wants to collude with officials to profit, or blackmail the French government with loans, it will have to think carefully.

As for which banks will have opinions?

It doesn't exist at all.

Nearly half of the big guys in the Banking Association have something in Joseph's hands. Most of the influential banks in Paris have signed agreements with the Reserve Bank of France to accept banknotes. Coupled with the government's emphasis on financial issues and the current influence of the Reserve Bank of France, banks that refuse to obey are destined to be beaten.

Mirabeau's voice became even lower: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has hinted to me that the deposit reserves collected by the French Reserve Bank will flow to the Industrial Development Fund."

Bai immediately smiled knowingly. The Industrial Development Fund is designed to support French industry. As long as the fund has money, it will naturally invest in development zones.

While the two were talking, Venio in the back row came over, bowed to them, and then asked Mirabeau: "Count Mirabeau, with all due respect, I heard that the cabinet is going to promulgate the "Act to Rectify the Guilds." , I wonder if it’s true?”

He now serves as the Industrial Technology Management Commissioner and is under the Minister of Industry, so Mirabeau did not hide it from him: "There is indeed this bill, and it will be implemented soon.

"According to the Crown Prince's wishes, all existing guilds will be cancelled. The government will organize manpower, assess the technical capabilities of the craftsmen, and issue certificates."

Venio was immediately overjoyed. His job was to promote the transformation of old workshops into factories, but the existing guild system caused great constraints to him. In some places, guilds even gathered to threaten the workshops and prevent them from making management improvements.

Mirabeau continued: "But you also know that the influence of guilds is very great, and the elimination of guilds must be carried out gradually. The first step may be to classify the leaders of existing guilds as government employees, and then abolish the master-apprentice system. As for the guilds being completely unable to affect factory production, it will take at least one or two years or even longer."

At this moment, Lavoisier, Lagrange, Monge, Condorcet and other academic leaders came to the front of the hall.

The president of the University of Paris personally presided over the conference. After making some routine polite remarks, he announced loudly: "The French Metrics Standard will be officially announced today!"