Chapter 118 The evil-minded old nobles

While the ships carrying potatoes harvested from Metz, Lorraine and other places began to head south, Joseph was looking through a thick stack of reports in the office of the Director of the Paris Industrial Planning Bureau.

An official in his fifties, with many smallpox scars on his face and wearing glasses, stood aside in awe.

He was the Commissioner for Agricultural Finance, part of the Chancellor's Office, and it was he who had just sent these documents.

The content of the document is the number of manor owners and farmers who have just been counted in each province who are willing to grow potatoes, as well as the data on the planting area they proposed.

Because Finance Minister Brian was currently conducting business negotiations with the British in Caen, these documents were sent to Joseph, the second-in-command in finance. In fact, such matters are usually the responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior, but Brian and Joseph had previously agreed that the promotion of potatoes was too important, and it was better not to let the old fritter Mono get too involved.

Before Joseph even saw half of it, his brows gradually wrinkled.

Although during this period, in order to promote potatoes, he launched an intensive publicity campaign across the country and spent 40,000 to 50,000 livres on printing brochures. The church is also relatively cooperative. Churches in various places have begun to send people with new versions of "The Last Supper" to preach to the congregation in their parishes that potatoes are not "the devil under the ground" but "a gift from the Lord."

However, judging from the willingness to plant in various places, the promotion effect is not optimistic.

Except for Lille and Valenciennes in northern France, as well as those provinces close to the Rhine River, which have a relatively high acceptance of potatoes, less than 2% of the total cultivated land in other places is willing to be planted with potatoes...

Joseph continued to flip through the documents at the back and found that the further south he went, the more serious his rejection of potatoes became. When it comes to Foix and Béarn, close to Spain, almost no one wants to grow potatoes.

This was very different from what he had imagined. If only 2% of the area is planted, it will do little to prevent drought and hail.

He suddenly noticed a new question in the document, and hurriedly took a closer look at the types of people who would accept the switch to potato cultivation. He raised his head and asked the agricultural finance commissioner beside him: "Viscount Nazion, why are there so few large estates willing to grow potatoes? "

Most of those who accepted the change of planting potatoes were self-cultivators, and a small number were annual tribute farmers. There are less than 20 manors across the country who have stated that they will use part of their farmland to grow potatoes. The owners of these manors are the Duchess of Villars, Count Monod and others.

Nasien hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward and said: "Your Highness, according to the news I heard, the manor owners are talking about asking for a reduction in land tax before they consider switching to potato cultivation."

Joseph couldn't help but narrowed his eyes when he heard this. The so-called manor owner was a landed noble.

I originally thought that the tax bill matter was over, but I didn't expect that these old nobles still refused to give up and wanted to bargain on the land tax by boycotting government affairs.

The land tax cannot be reduced. Once this gap is opened, not only will the nobles take advantage of it in the future and use various things to blackmail the government into reducing taxes, but it will also seriously weaken the authority of the royal family.

Nasien added: "Your Highness, potatoes can be eaten directly and do not need to be ground into flour, so planting potatoes will also affect the mill's income, so..."

Joseph nodded silently.

According to current French regulations, ordinary tenant farmers must take their grain to the mill for grinding and pay a certain "mill tax." The owners of the mill were also the old nobles. The mill tax was also a good source of income for them.

Given various factors, it is not surprising that they would vigorously boycott potatoes.

Joseph's brows frowned more and more. He didn't expect that his potato plan would encounter so many obstacles before he even took the first step.

These old aristocrats occupy massive amounts of land and tenant farmers. They only know that relying on feudal privileges to exploit tenant farmers is the biggest obstacle to industrialization. At the same time, they are also restricting government policies and interfering with national development. They are simply a huge disaster!

If you want to completely solve various problems in France and develop industry smoothly, you must get rid of the vampire group of the old aristocracy.

Joseph couldn't help but sigh. It was too early to think about this now. The food had to be eaten one bite at a time. The most pressing issue at the moment was how to deal with the famine and keep the country from chaos.

However, relying solely on purchased food is far from being able to solve the problem. Potato cultivation must be truly spread across the country.

But how can we break through the old aristocratic circle...

At the side, Nazion reminded him carefully: "Your Highness, the first batch of potatoes shipped to Bordeaux has already departed. Do you think, with the current planting intention, would it be better to reduce the number of potatoes in the next few batches?"

When Joseph heard the word "Bordeaux", his heart suddenly moved.

When it comes to the most important thing for people in the Bordeaux region, it is undoubtedly winemaking. This is not only the pillar industry of Bordeaux, but also an important export commodity for France as a whole, which can bring huge income every year.

At present, "pasteurization" technology has not been invented yet, and the winemaking industry loses a quarter or more of wine due to lactic acid bacteria contamination every year. Even if the wine is successfully brewed, many still have a light sour taste, which seriously reduces the quality of the wine.

If you come up with a solution to the sourness of the wine industry, all the vineyards in Bordeaux will definitely go crazy for it. At this time, if you put forward some conditions, such as planting some potatoes, I believe they will not refuse.

Spring planting is imminent and there is no room for delay. Thinking of this, Joseph immediately stood up and said to Emang: "Please help me prepare and leave for Bordeaux as quickly as possible."

"Bordeaux?" Eman was startled for a moment, then hurriedly bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness."

Joseph looked at Nazion again: "Write a letter to the northeastern provinces and let them continue to transport potatoes to the south without reducing the amount."

While Emang was preparing to travel, Joseph went to the Palace of Versailles again, found the new Minister of Justice, Baron Breteuil, and entrusted him to recommend Berthier to the Minister of War.

The reason why he asked Breteuil to transfer his hand was to try not to make people aware of Berthier's connection with the royal family, and to prevent the possibility of Berthier being ostracized by the military nobles.

…

Early the next morning, a convoy of seven or eight carriages, escorted by more than 60 Guards cavalry led by Quesaud, set off from Paris and headed towards the south of France.

On the Crown Prince's carriage, Perna was taking notes seriously and asking questions from time to time.

Joseph, who was sitting opposite, was telling her about the working principle of red blood cells - although he had only scratched the surface from popular science videos, at the end of the 18th century, that was the most cutting-edge medical knowledge.

Well, yes, when Dr. Perna learned that the Crown Prince was going to Bordeaux, he immediately said that the cold weather was very bad for lung diseases and that he needed to be checked at any time, so he volunteered to go south with the Crown Prince.

Joseph felt a little sorry that the blood circulation course had affected her, so he casually chatted with her about common sense in this area.

But this is a pain for Dr. Lamarck - when he goes back, his daughter will definitely tell him with a straight face, "A lot of the things you said about blood circulation are wrong!"

Thanks to: Lament-Mo, Song Zhezong Zhao Xu, Chang An Yi, Beiyin Fengdu Emperor Xuanqing of the Underworld, readers 20210209183233628546713, book friends 2021813007451630 and several other big guys for their generous rewards for this book, I am very grateful!