I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 380 Expectation Management

Joseph slapped the table hard and said loudly: "That's right! We must come up with a land redemption plan immediately!"

Brian hurriedly said: "Your Highness, but the plan..."

Joseph ignored him at all and turned to Queen Mary: "Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will definitely be able to come up with a suitable redemption plan within ten days. The situation will calm down within a month at most!"

Queen Mary couldn't help being startled when she heard this. Because of the riot, she hurriedly summoned the cabinet ministers to discuss countermeasures, but the Crown Prince didn't seem to take it seriously at all?

"However, the land redemption plan has been formulated for nearly half a year, and it has not yet satisfied all parties." Queen Mary looked at her son in disbelief, "Are you really sure?"

Joseph thought to himself that there was no such thing originally, but with the South Netherlanders making such a fuss, he was almost certain.

But on the surface, he just said firmly: "Yes, Your Majesty, I suddenly thought of a very suitable plan when I was in Luxembourg."

Queen Mary looked around at the other cabinet ministers and saw that no one raised any objections. Brian, Baron Breteuil and others originally wanted to say something, but after Joseph gave them a look, they immediately bowed their heads and fell silent.

"So, is it decided?" Queen Mary looked at everyone again, "The Crown Prince will be responsible for formulating the land redemption plan, and everyone will cooperate with him as much as possible. The meeting is dismissed."

The originally grand interim cabinet meeting ended within half an hour.

When Joseph came out of the conference hall, Archbishop Briand, Venio and Talleyrand immediately followed him, all looking worried.

The three of them looked at each other, and Brian was the first to speak: "Your Highness, you know that the land redemption plan cannot satisfy everyone at all. Only one-third of the modification request you gave me last week has been completed... …”

Minister of Agriculture Verniorand also took two steps quickly, came forward and whispered: "Your Highness, I think if there are people from the Southern Netherlands involved in this matter, then they are probably waiting for us to announce the plan, and then they will It can take the opportunity to incite dissatisfied people and cause greater trouble. "

Talleyrand immediately responded: "Your Highness, perhaps we should mobilize the army and go to the northwestern provinces. This is the fastest way to quell the chaos."

Joseph glanced at him and shook his head secretly. Deployment of troops would play into Van der Noort's hands. The remaining forces in France are limited. If things get too big, they will have to withdraw overseas troops to maintain order.

As he spoke, he arrived at Joseph's palace. He motioned for a few people to sit down and said with a smile: "Please believe that I do have some redemption plans that can work quickly."

"It will work quickly?" Brian lowered his head and pondered, "You mean to significantly reduce the redemption fee, appease the troubled farmers, and calm the situation?"

"No, on the contrary." Joseph shouted loudly, "Please spread the word in the northwest provinces that the government is planning to limit the redemption year to 50 years."

"What?!"

Joseph ignored the astonished expressions of several people and added: "What needs to be redeemed also includes various rents and taxes on the land for 50 years, and they must be paid in one lump sum."

Brian and others' faces turned dark when they heard this.

Rumors that a redemption fee of 30 years had to be paid triggered a riot, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince suddenly increased it to 50 years!

Are you trying to inspire the peasants to destroy the Palace of Versailles?

Talleyrand was the first to react: "Your Highness, do you want to guarantee the interests of the nobles and let them help calm the situation?

"By the way, I heard that many noble young people have spontaneously gone to Lille and Reims recently, preparing to teach the rioters a lesson. Your Highness's plan will definitely encourage more people to participate!"

Brian shook his head anxiously: "Your Highness, this will make the situation even more chaotic..."

Joseph just looked at the Minister of Agriculture calmly: "I have decided, please just announce it."

"This...is, Your Highness."

When Vergniaud stood up and left, Joseph said to Talleyrand: "Please use your diplomatic skills and spread the news in the Palace of Versailles, saying that the 50-year plan is just Vergniaud's wishful thinking. The cabinet has decided that in order to quell the riots as soon as possible, , limiting the redemption period to 2 years, and there is no need to pay any tax on redemption.”

Talleyrand's eyes suddenly widened: "Your Highness, the nobles will definitely go crazy like this..."

"I just want them to go crazy." Joseph smiled and nodded, "This is called 'expectation management'.

"Only by first significantly lowering everyone's expectations and then giving them a slightly better plan will they be likely to accept it."

Briand and Talleyrand were startled. Indeed, as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said, when both nobles and common people were desperate for the "vicious" redemption plan, the government came up with a compromise plan of 10 to 15 years. Maybe they will all sigh with relief and agree.

Brian then thought of another question and looked at Joseph with a frown: "Your Highness, but before that, I'm afraid there will be huge chaos in the country... I mean, the plan you gave both sides is too harsh and will definitely arouse their anger. fury."

Joseph nodded: "You are right. Therefore, it is time to invite our friends-the Southern Netherlands people to appear."

"ah?"

…

City of Reims.

Saint-Just waved vigorously at the peasants holding flintlock guns behind him, and shouted angrily: "50 years! Those vampires just want to suck us dry!"

"Only by taking power away from them will we have a chance to survive!"

Among the crowd behind him, some liberals immediately shouted, "Let the three-level meeting decide how to redeem!"

"We will never accept a 50-year redemption policy!"

"Get rid of those greedy officials and restart the three-level meeting!"

"Constitution! We need a constitution without the king!"

A few days ago, the riot they instigated was dispersed by the Reims police. I thought it would take some more planning before launching a new round of riots, but I didn't expect that the French government suddenly "helped a lot."

The terrible policy of “redeeming the property within 50 years including rent and taxes” immediately aroused the fury of the farmers. They just made a casual call, and farmers from the surrounding countryside immediately gathered here and followed them to start a riot.

Led by Saint-Just and others, thousands of peasants also chanted slogans such as "The Third Estate" and "Drive Out Corrupt Officials" and surged toward the City Hall with pitchforks, sticks and muskets. .

Just as they rounded Nafor Street and were only three blocks away from the city hall, suddenly more than 200 aristocratic young men in hunting attire lined up in five neat rows and rushed towards them with fierce looks on their faces.

Saint-Just was stunned for a moment, but then he linked arms with the farmers on both sides and shouted: "The king's lackeys are coming! Don't be afraid, everyone, we have much more people than them!"