Chapter 107 Flour Riots

Joseph knew without looking that the following reports were written by well-known scholars at the French Academy of Sciences. Those people did not have the academic ethics of Lamarck. After each person collected seven to eight hundred livres, they compiled a report on the "severe drought" in just half a day.

Brian waited patiently for him to finish flipping through the first two reports, and then said with a worried face: "Your Highness, the following reports have similar conclusions. If this situation really occurs, there will definitely be a big mess... "

Joseph was overjoyed. Originally, these reports were intended to give Brian an edge, and then lead him to the issue of dealing with the famine.

I didn't expect Brian to be so forthcoming and took the initiative to propose it.

In fact, after the last tax bill incident, Brian had developed the habit of consulting the crown prince when encountering major issues.

"Just like what happened in Normandy the year before last, oh, and Burgundy and Reims earlier." Brian said and looked at Joseph, "Actually, I was just about to report the matter to Her Majesty the Queen, so that Prepare in advance..."

Joseph thought he was going to say "disaster relief food" and was about to nod in agreement when he heard Brian say: "Prepare troops in advance to deal with possible riots."

Joseph almost spit out a mouthful of old blood. After talking for a long time, you always plan to suppress it with force?

In fact, Brian was also helpless.

Since more than ten years ago, natural disasters have occurred frequently, and harvest failures have often occurred across France, leading to multiple "flour riots."

From Reims to Burgundy, to Normandy, and even around Paris, hungry people broke into bakeries or the homes of great nobles, snatching away flour and bread, and leaving some money behind at what they thought was a fair price.

There is also a special term for this kind of behavior, called "people's tax."

The most recent flour riot occurred in Normandy the year before last. In order to quell the riots, the French government dispatched more than 20,000 soldiers and arrested more than 500 people, finally suppressing the riots.

But now the French government is extremely poor and cannot provide funds for disaster relief at all. Brian saw the signs of famine, and there was really no other way besides preparing an army to suppress it.

Joseph put those reports aside and said: "Archbishop Brian, in fact, I have read these reports through other channels before. I am here today just to discuss this matter with you."

"Oh? What do you mean, Your Highness?"

"We should try to provide food for the people and avoid riots. You know, whether it is riots or military suppression, it will cause serious damage to the local area."

Brian said with a grimace: "Your Highness, you are right, but given our financial situation..."

Joseph quickly got to the point:

“If we promote potato cultivation across the country, we can offset natural disasters to a great extent.

“If potatoes and wheat are grown on the same land, the yield of the former can be four to six times that of the latter.

"Prussia and Austria have often suffered from natural disasters in recent years, but their famines are much less common than ours. In fact, their agricultural production efficiency is not at all comparable to France."

At this time, Prussia and Austria were still serfdoms, and agricultural productivity was quite low.

"The reason why they were able to survive the crisis was entirely dependent on large-scale planting of potatoes. Without this extremely high-yielding crop, the Prussian-Austrian War ten years ago might not have lasted even two months."

He was talking about the battle for the Bavarian throne. The Prussians and Austrians who participated in the war relied on freshly dug potatoes to eat due to lack of supplies, and insisted on fighting for a year. Therefore, this war is also called the "Potato War".

In fact, the whole of Europe, including those Catholic countries in France and Italy, is very opposed to potatoes. In other places, potatoes have long been a frequent guest on people's tables.

Joseph patted the report on the table: "If we also plant potatoes in large quantities, even if the production is reduced due to disasters, the harvest will be much higher than that of grains. At that time, the government will only need to spend a small amount of money for disaster relief to tide over the crisis. "

Brian still looked embarrassed: "Your Highness, I have actually learned about this kind of crop, and the method you mentioned is indeed worth a try.

"It's just that a large amount of money is still needed to promote potatoes on a large scale. Moreover, farmers are very repulsive to potatoes..."

Joseph knew he was right. Farmers usually buy the seeds to be planted in the next season in advance. If you suddenly ask people to plant potatoes instead, most people are unwilling and cannot afford so much money to buy potatoes for sowing.

He thought for a while and said to Brian: "As for people's resistance to eating potatoes, I will find a way to solve it. Of course, this also requires the church to cooperate with the publicity.

"As for the money to buy potatoes, you allocate part of it from the finance and I will advance the rest.

"You need to send people to purchase potatoes in large quantities from the northeastern provinces and ship them to other provinces. They will be distributed to farmers for free first, and after harvest, you only need to repay two-thirds of the amount.

“If no one really wants to grow them, just keep the potatoes locally and store them as disaster relief food.

Brian made a rough calculation and frowned: "Your Highness, if you want to achieve a sufficient scale of planting, you have to invest at least five million livres, and the government can only spend one million at most."

Joseph nodded: "Okay, within half a month, I will loan the government four million livres through the French Reserve Bank."

Although he didn't have much cash on hand, he could mortgage the paper mill shares to Mirabeau and others for a loan, and then sell some shares of Paris Angels, and it would not be difficult to raise around four million.

And in a few months, Paris Fashion Week will be able to bring in a lot of profits.

The two then discussed the details of potato promotion work, and Brian summoned his men and began to formulate a detailed potato promotion plan.

This thing sounds simple to say, but when it comes to the food production of the entire France, there are so many trivial matters that it cannot be implemented casually.

For example, how many potatoes should be transported to each region? If some places are willing to grow them, or if there are not enough, how to allocate them. After the potatoes from the northeastern provinces are shipped out, how can they buy potatoes from Prussia or Austria to supplement their rations? How can the church follow the team transporting potatoes and persuade farmers to change their prejudices against potatoes?

These require very detailed planning.

Seeing that there was nothing he could do to help, Joseph was about to get up and leave.

Brian sent him outside the Palace of Versailles, still worried and said: "Your Highness, do you really have a way to make those farmers willing to eat potatoes?"

Joseph breathed a sigh of relief and nodded: "Don't worry, as long as we continue to publicize it, if two or three out of ten people accept potatoes, it will play a big role in alleviating the famine."

In fact, he had already ordered Denico to start printing a pamphlet about popular science potatoes yesterday, and he had already planned more publicity methods in his mind and would start to promote them soon.