Chapter 120 Changing from Passive to Active

Bordeaux is the most important exporter of French wine, and the wine trade is the soul of the city.

The Place Royale, adjacent to the Garonne River, the core transportation channel of Bordeaux, was once the palace of Louis XV. However, the king no longer visits here, so the huge square and the palace next to it have been turned into wine merchants and cellar owners. their trading place.

So people prefer to call this place Exchange Square.

Here, huge quantities of wine are traded every day and then sent to various parts of Europe and even as far away as the Americas.

At this time, fifty or sixty nobles or their agents gathered in the main conference hall of the magnificent palace in front of the Exchange Square.

These great nobles all have the same identity, that is, they are grape plantation owners.

They own the vast majority of grape plantations in the Bordeaux region, and also operate winemaking workshops, controlling nearly 60% of France's winemaking industry.

Three days ago, they received an invitation from the Governor-General, Count Monslow. In the invitation, the Governor mentioned that the real convener of this gathering was His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

For the sake of these two heavyweights, all the invitees left early and gathered at the Exchange Square.

3pm.

A burst of melodious music came from outside the main conference hall of the Exchange Palace. The planters all turned their heads to look in the direction of the gate, and saw Governor Monslow respectfully following behind a young man wearing a dark blue coat. Entered the conference hall.

Everyone knew that it must be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so they all stood up and bowed their heads respectfully towards the young man.

After the governor solemnly introduced the crown prince and made a brief opening remarks, Joseph, who was sitting in the front of the conference hall, raised his hand to signal to the planters and said loudly: "Thank you for coming to this meeting."

He first followed the usual routine and talked about Bordeaux's "long history and rich products" and other clichés, and then got down to the topic: "The main reason why I want you to come here today is to talk about potato cultivation."

Immediately there were whispers from the audience:

"Let me tell you, it must have something to do with those broken potatoes."

"We were urged to plant this thing more than half a month ago. Who knows if we will lose money if we plant it."

"Yes, there is no risk in growing grains..."

"Let him do whatever he says. I wouldn't plant a potato anyway, unless he can lower the land tax."

"The Austrian bitch even sent the Crown Prince. It seems she takes this matter very seriously."

"So this is a good opportunity. We must unite and let him lower the land tax..."

"No! The only way is to cancel the land tax..."

Most of these people had low voices, but a few deliberately raised their voices to a level that the Crown Prince could hear.

Joseph smiled slightly, ignored it, and continued: "Droughts have occurred frequently over the years, and everyone's harvests have been very bad. The potato yield is very high, which will soon alleviate the food shortage caused by the disaster."

He looked around the audience: "So, I hope you can respond to His Majesty the King's call and plant more potatoes during spring sowing. Oh, the potatoes as 'seeds' should arrive in Bordeaux in about ten days."

As land aristocrats, these grape plantation owners held not only grape plantations but also a large amount of arable land in the Bordeaux region. As long as they cooperate, the potatoes can be easily spread out on a large scale.

In the audience, a nobleman with a weird upturned nose shouted tentatively: "Your Highness, do you think you can reduce the land tax a little?"

Someone immediately responded, "Earl Ludney is right. You may lose money growing potatoes. It would be best to reduce the land tax to make up for it."

"Please promise to lower the land tax first."

"These are two different things." Joseph said calmly, "If you have any objections to land tax, you can make suggestions to the Minister of Finance and submit them to the High Court for review. Today I will only talk about potatoes."

All the nobles showed dissatisfaction upon hearing this. The audience fell into silence.

Joseph calmly introduced the various benefits of growing potatoes for more than half an hour, and finally said: "Okay, I know that changing to unfamiliar crops is a difficult decision.

"Everyone can go back and think about it first. I will still be here at nine o'clock tomorrow morning. I hope to get a positive answer from you."

After Joseph finished speaking, he was about to get up and leave. Governor Monslow hurriedly came to the center of the venue and smiled and invited the manor owners in the audience to attend the banquet to ease the somewhat awkward atmosphere.

Joseph knew very well that he could have used the "pasteurization technology" from the beginning, and there should be many manor owners who would choose to cooperate.

But doing so will make the land aristocrats feel that they used "not growing potatoes" as a bargaining chip to blackmail the royal family in exchange for these benefits.

So on the way to Bordeaux, Joseph had already made a plan to change from passive to active and make the plantation owners realize that cooperation with the crown prince was beneficial, and confrontation would only lead to losses.

After a dull banquet, Monslow invited Joseph and the nobles to a dance held at his mansion.

Fortunately, the aristocratic ladies of Bordeaux were a little in awe of the strange crown prince. Joseph was not "besieged" at the ball, but he had a good taste of pure Bordeaux wine.

Just as he struggled to the end of the dance and just walked out of the dance hall, a middle-aged man hurriedly followed him from behind.

Emang immediately stopped him alertly.

The man hurriedly touched Joseph's chest and saluted from a distance: "May God be with you, Your Royal Highness the Crown Prince. I am Pierre Victinien Vergneau, serving at the High Court of Bordeaux. I don't know if I can Would it be an honor to have a few words with you?”

Joseph only felt that the name was somewhat familiar. Venio? He suddenly remembered, isn't this the famous Girondin orator?

By the way, the name of the Girondins comes from the fact that several of their main leaders came from the Gironde, and Vergnat was one of them. Of course, the Gironde was demarcated after the Grand Order, and now there is only Bordeaux or Aquitaine.

Joseph remembered that Vergniaud was one of the few Girondins who advocated cooperation with the royal family, but he did not know what he wanted to do when he came to him.

So he motioned to Eman: "Please let Mr. Venio come over."

Emang nodded and turned sideways.

Venio took a few steps forward and saluted again, "Thank you, Your Highness."

Joseph smiled and said, "What can I do for you?"

Venio looked around and saw that there were no other nobles, and then said solemnly: "Your Highness, please forgive me for being presumptuous. In fact, you really shouldn't come to Bordeaux this time."

"Oh? Why is that?"

"Your Highness, those great nobles just refused to plant potatoes not long ago, and you came immediately. You may want to resolve this matter before spring planting, but this will make the nobles think that you are asking for something from them, which will make you more determined. Bargain with you."

Joseph blinked in surprise, why did he feel that Venio cared more about growing potatoes than he did?

Venio continued: "Your Highness, I heard the news from Paris that a severe drought is likely to occur this year.

"And those big nobles don't care about this. They are very rich, and no matter how bad the harvest is, it will not affect them. Some of them are worried that the income from growing potatoes is not as good as that of grains, but most of them want to take this opportunity to lower their income. H!

“But you know, with so many disasters happening in recent years, the farmers in Bordeaux are so destitute that they simply can’t afford another drought.

"I've been to Prussia, where people relied on potatoes to fight famine. Now, we also need potatoes. The farmers in Bordeaux need potatoes!"

Joseph was a little moved. He didn't expect that this lawyer was so concerned about the suffering of the people at the bottom and was willing to work to improve their lives.

He nodded and said: "Yes, I am here to persuade you to sow potatoes."

Venio looked very anxious: "Your Highness, the planters have formed an alliance. Oh, I also run a small grape plantation myself. They have also approached me. They said that if the land tax is not reduced, Just never grow potatoes.”

"Are you here to persuade me to lower taxes?"

"No, Your Highness, the land tax cannot be reduced." Venio said, "The nobles must shoulder their obligations to the country!"

Joseph looked at him with interest: "Oh? What do you think we should do?"

Venio's expression was a little gloomy: "Right now, the government can only provide a sum of money as a subsidy for growing potatoes. Driven by profits, there will definitely be people who are willing to grow potatoes."

Joseph said to himself, you really have the compromising temperament of the Girondins.

He smiled and shook his head: "Mr. Venio, you should know something about France's financial situation. There is not so much money at all. Besides, this is not necessary. In ten days at most, everyone will be competing to plant potatoes."

Venio showed an awkward smile: "Your Highness, you are really good at joking. Unless you lower the land tax, they will never..."

Joseph immediately said: "Why don't we make a bet?"

"bet?"

"If within ten days, more than half of the plantation owners do not volunteer to plant potatoes, I will use a sum of money as a potato subsidy as you said."

Venio asked: "What about the other way around?"

"Then you have to do one thing for me."

Joseph knew that Venio was a good speaker and had good ability to do things. If he caught this "strong man", he would save a lot of trouble.

Venio only hesitated for half a second, then stretched out his hand: "Okay, Your Highness, it will be as you say."

Joseph high-fived him and left.

Perhaps it was the effect of the wine he drank at night. As soon as Joseph returned to the bedroom, he fell asleep immediately and fell into a deep sleep.

When he came to the conference hall of the Exchange Palace the next morning, he found that there were seven or eight fewer people present than yesterday. Of course, these absent nobles found various excuses and took leave from Monslow.

Joseph didn't take it seriously and asked directly: "So, who is willing to sign a potato planting contract now?"

There was another moment of silence in the audience. I am here today just to give your crown prince face, but you are still thinking about potatoes?

Venio immediately stood up and said: "Your Highness, I am willing to plant 5 hectares."

He is just a lawyer with some property, and he only has so much farmland under his name.

Then several plantation owners who had good relations with Venio responded: "Your Highness, I can also sign a contract for 8 hectares."

"I can also plant 6 hectares."

Joseph nodded with satisfaction and looked around the audience again: "Is there more?"

The planters glanced at Venio and others with dissatisfaction, but under the Crown Prince's questioning, they still had to show some expression so as not to refute the Crown Prince's face.

Someone whispered hesitantly: "I plant 40 acres."

One hectare is 100 acres, which means it is not even half an acre.

Other nobles also responded: "Then I will also plant 50 acres."

"I plant 40 acres."

"I have 30 acres..."

Joseph smiled and watched these people deal with him, and suddenly said loudly: "Oh, by the way, I have been thinking about potatoes, but I forgot about another thing."

He motioned to Emang. The latter immediately asked people to distribute documents one by one to the nobles present.

Joseph continued: "This is the 'French Brewing Technology Association' I am planning to facilitate the exchange of brewing technologies. What is on this paper are some of the new technologies currently owned by the association."

The manor owners in the audience were suddenly filled with questions. Why did they suddenly switch to winemaking? What kind of technical association was there?

However, when they started to flip through the documents in their hands, their eyes grew wider and wider.

Some people couldn't help but exclaimed: "A new technology that reduces the failure rate of brewing to negligible?! How is this possible?"

Another person said: "There is also this technology that can make the wine without sourness and improve the quality exponentially!"

"Oh my God, the shelf life can be extended more than ten times!"

The planters suddenly started talking, and their voices became louder and louder.

Venio was also shocked. He also has a brewing industry and is very familiar with brewing.

First of all, there is no such thing as wine-making without failure. Those who can keep the failure rate below 10% are the top brewmasters. Generally speaking, 30% of winemaking failures are acceptable.

What’s even more incredible is that there is technology that can make wine without sourness.

You know, whether it has a sour taste is an important criterion for the quality of the wine.

Ordinary quality wine will have a bit of sourness, which affects the taste. Only relatively high-end wines can achieve almost no acidity.

In other words, this technology can make all the wines produced reach high-end quality!

The price difference between ordinary quality and high-end quality wine will be more than ten times!

Immediately, someone stood up excitedly, held up the document in his hand and asked Joseph: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, are these technologies real?"

Joseph smiled and nodded: "Of course it is true. I have applied for a patent at the Paris Patent Office and it should not take long to get it registered."

An elderly plantation owner said with some suspicion: "Your Highness, please forgive me, I have been engaged in winemaking for decades, and I have never heard of similar technology. This cannot be..."

Joseph looked at the nobles who were looking at him eagerly, and immediately stood up and said: "Whose wine cellar is closer to here, I can demonstrate it to you live."

…

Northern suburb of Bordeaux, Yersen cellar.

Although it is already winter, there are still grapes here that have been specially fumigated and then dried and stored in cellars, which can be used to make wine.

Not long after, the craftsmen placed several barrels of pulped grapes and brewing water in front of Joseph.

The latter also asked for heating stoves, large buckets and other utensils, and then motioned to the onlookers of the planters to leave first.

After Kesoud "escorted" everyone out, Joseph immediately asked Emang to help him fill the cauldron with water and put it on the stove to boil.

After the water boiled, he mixed cold water and boiling water and poured it into the large wooden bucket, and took out the thermometer he brought to measure until the water temperature reached exactly 65 degrees.

Then he put the small barrel containing the grape pulp into the large wooden barrel, started timing, and continuously measured the temperature. Once the water temperature drops, add hot water immediately to keep the grape pulp above 60 degrees.

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