I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 594 You do the first day of the month, I do the fifteenth

However, given the current situation in France, it is not easy to quickly increase maritime trade.

Joseph finished his lunch absent-mindedly, but still could not think of any particularly effective way.

Among the largest maritime trade nodes in France at present - the United States, Russia and the Ottoman Empire, the former two have long been saturated, and Russia is even a little overloaded.

Only trade with the Ottoman Empire can be expanded, but this will inevitably require long diplomatic negotiations and concessions to the Ottoman Empire.

And even if it can be negotiated, it will at most increase France's maritime trade volume by 20%, which is better than nothing for increasing the number of sailors.

In short, let Talleyrand go to negotiate with Selim III first.

When Joseph and the others left the restaurant and were about to go to see the repair of the "Indomitable", they saw a naval officer running over quickly, first raised his hat to salute him, and then whispered a few words to Rogiever, the commander of the Brest Fleet.

Rogiever frowned and whispered in the same voice: "Let Colonel Meyer send a few ships to search, and then write a report to me."

"Yes, General."

The officer left, and Joseph asked casually: "General Rogiever, what happened?"

"Nothing, Your Highness." Rogiever glared at the officer's back and stammered, "The patrol fleet found a smuggling ship, and the other party suddenly opened fire, killing several of our crew members, and then...ah, ran away."

This matter is quite embarrassing for the navy, after all, they suffered a loss but did not catch anyone.

In fact, the merchant ships of this era are not much worse in performance except that they are not as strong as warships and are equipped with fewer cannons. Therefore, the navy will be slipped away by civilian ships if it is negligent.

Joseph was moved when he heard this. Yes, since legal means are difficult to increase trade volume, isn't there still illegal... ahem, extraordinary means?

If the government comes forward to encourage foreign smuggling, and even provide certain "assistance", driven by huge interests, the volume of maritime trade will inevitably grow rapidly.

Smuggling ships will definitely need a lot of sailors. The problem of insufficient sailors will be solved.

At the same time, the smuggled goods can also bypass the tariffs of the destination and increase the sales of French products.

It's simply killing two birds with one stone!

Of course, you need to carefully choose where to smuggle.

Mainly controlled in Britain's North America, Far East colonies, and Portugal's colonies in South America. Even Britain, Portugal, Northern Europe and other countries can try.

Normal trading partners such as Spain and Russia should be strictly prohibited.

As for Britain and Portugal being angry?

So what?

According to the intelligence currently obtained, Britain is already actively laying out the "Continental Balance" and will declare war on France in a few years.

So what impact will adding smuggling have?

Besides, the British began to issue "privateer licenses" since Elizabeth I, encouraging citizens to go out to sea to rob merchant ships of other countries. Until the early 18th century, Queen Anne of Britain was still issuing privateering licenses and robbed France and Spain of countless things.

Since the British have celebrated the first day of the month, why don't the French celebrate the fifteenth day?

Moreover, France was only selling goods peacefully, and was completely inferior to the British who killed and robbed goods.

Thinking of this, Joseph patted Rogiever's shoulder and smiled, "Thank you very much for your help, General."

The latter was startled, thinking that the prince was mocking him, and hurriedly stood at attention and said loudly, "Your Highness, please rest assured, I promise to catch those smugglers within three days!"

Joseph nodded, thinking that such a large-scale "official" smuggling must be carefully arranged and will involve many departments. I am afraid that he must go back to Versailles and discuss it with Briand first.

He then put the matter aside for the time being and talked to the Minister of the Navy about the plan to build a naval academy.

"Your Highness, the Navy's training camp in Vann is well-equipped, or it can be expanded based on this." Marquis Castelli suggested, "This way, the preparation and construction can be completed in the shortest time, and it is also more cost-effective."

Joseph nodded: "Your proposal is very good. According to the standard of training one thousand officers and professionals every year, how much do you estimate it will cost?"

Marquis Castelli hesitated for a moment and said: "It will cost about 2 million francs."

He glanced at the Crown Prince, fearing that the latter would be frightened by this number, and hurriedly added: "If some streamlining is done, 1.5 million may be enough..."

Joseph secretly breathed a sigh of relief. The Navy is indeed a gold-eating beast. Before, the army academies across the country did not spend so much money together.

He said to the Minister of the Navy: "Just 2 million francs, if you want to build it, build it to a high standard."

He thought that in this way, there would not be much money left for Kalona to "raise funds" in the UK.

The next day.

Joseph was inspecting the Navy training camp in Vann with Marquis Castelli, and Emman brought an officer from the Intelligence Bureau to him.

Joseph took the secret report from the visitor, opened it, glanced at it, and frowned immediately.

It said: Austrian State Minister Count Kaunitz resigned, Baron Turgut took over, and is currently signing the Austrian-Prussian Armistice Agreement. The date is a week ago.

"Why so sudden?"

Joseph remembered that last month the French ambassador to Austria reported to him that Kaunitz overwhelmed the armistice faction and persuaded Leopold II to increase the military strength in Silesia.

The intelligence officer looked at the Minister of the Navy, and seeing that the Crown Prince had no objection, he said: "Your Highness, it seems that Baron Walter, Baron Turgut and others have designed a conspiracy against Count Kaunitz.

"In addition, the intelligence agency believes that there are British figures in it."

Joseph crumpled the secret report with a gloomy face. Britain in this era is indeed full of capable people, and the action is so fast.

He originally thought that Prussia and Austria would have to stalemate until at least the middle of next year before they could start to withdraw their troops.

And once the German region ceased fighting, Britain could begin to integrate Prussia and Austria and direct the spearhead towards France.

Joseph immediately ordered Emman: "Please prepare the carriage, we will return to Paris immediately."

"Yes, Your Highness. "

In the bumpy carriage, Joseph quickly sorted out his thoughts. Prussia and Austria had just experienced a war and were currently in a state of exhaustion. Even if Britain could win them over, they did not have the strength to be tough with France.

He tapped his fingers on the armrest, so now Poland was pushed to the forefront.

Prussia could only "recover blood" quickly by taking a big bite of Poland, and this had always been his plan, and now he finally had time to do it.

Russia also ended the Russo-Swedish War. The next step must be for both sides to join forces to start the "second partition."

This was more than a year earlier than in history.