Chapter 177 French Industrial Development Fund

"Oh? They are very good at taking advantage of the government's weaknesses. A coldness flashed in Joseph's eyes.

After serving as assistant to the finance minister, he had a clear understanding of France's financial situation. A large part of the money borrowed by the government comes from wealthy nobles, accounting for more than 20%. If you include the money the nobles put into banks and the public bonds they purchased, they should be the largest payer of government debt.

In other words, if the nobles no longer provide funds to the government, the national finances will soon be unable to sustain themselves. In history, these guys also formed the "Tax Resistance Alliance" to blackmail the royal family by not paying taxes, and ultimately succeeded.

No wonder Brian came to Paris to find him in such a hurry. He was really afraid that the nobles would fight to the death with the government.

Brian looked anxious and said: "Your Highness, would you like to postpone the interrogation of Necker first and let him get a fine..."

Joseph frowned: "Why, are you scared by those nobles?"

"No, that's not the case." Brian said "No," but his expression was full of nervousness, "But you know, if they really do that, even if there are only a small number of people, the finances will..."

Brian wanted to say something more, but Joseph gestured to his carriage: "Well, let's go to Versailles first and talk as we walk."

The carriage started slowly. In the carriage, Joseph asked: "Archbishop Brian, there have been bank bankruptcies before. Has there ever been such a big disturbance?"

Brian shook his head as he recalled: "Your Highness, in the past, problems were mostly caused by a bank, and because there were no cases involved, the bankruptcy process was not so fast, and people had time to deal with their investments in the bank.

"And this time Belanger Bank collapsed too quickly. In addition, more than ten banks will go bankrupt in the future. Everyone is frightened."

Joseph nodded: "So, the reason why the nobles reacted so loudly is because Belanger Bank did not settle its claims and did not announce a plan to use its claims to offset its debts, so it left all investors alone?"

"That's roughly it, Your Highness."

Joseph narrowed his eyes and thought for a moment, then continued: "So, if someone takes over the Belanger Bank now, promises the nobles, recognizes and repays their investment, they will be satisfied and disperse immediately?"

Brian said with a grimace: "But no one is willing to acquire it now, because no one knows how many fines Belenger Bank will face..."

He was startled as he said something, as if he had thought of something: "You mean to exempt it from the fine?"

Joseph immediately shook his head. If no punishment was imposed, wouldn't it mean that the banks involved in the case would have robbed the government of tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of livres in vain!

Current issues centered on how to repay the nobles for their investments.

He reviewed all the banking and financial operations methods of later generations, but failed to find a ready-made solution. Brian was helpless and could only look at him with a sad face.

The trees and buildings outside the window flew back. Joseph thought of the various constraints these nobles had placed on him and the various damages they had caused to the country, and he became very angry.

He punched the seat with his fist, gritted his teeth and said, "Just confiscate all the money from these guys!"

He took another breath, knowing that this was just an angry talk...

Wait...he suddenly thought of something. Although he couldn't confiscate the nobles' money, he could not pay them yet!

If we can wait until five or seven years later, France's financial problems will be alleviated, and it will be fully able to pay the money.

Therefore, some means need to be used to make the nobles "voluntarily" keep the money.

When it came to means, he immediately thought of "debt-for-equity swap", but he felt it was inappropriate. The equity mechanism in this era was still very imperfect, and such a large amount was not easy to operate.

Then try some changes, such as "debt swap funds"...

When the carriage drove out of Paris, Joseph looked up at Brian with a smile on his face: "If no one buys it, my Reserve Bank of France will buy it."

"Your bank?" Brian was shocked, "Your Highness, if you want to acquire Belanger Bank, you will not only need the acquisition fee, but you will also have to prepare a large amount of money to pay for the possible recovery of the investment by the nobles.

"And even if you raise the funds to acquire Belanger Bank, there will be more than ten banks that will go bankrupt later. You can't just acquire them all, right?"

Joseph smiled and said: "Why not? I really want to acquire them all."

"But where did you get so much money?"

Joseph shook his head: “It doesn’t require much money at all.

"The claims of these banks minus their debts generally leave assets ranging from several million to tens of millions of livres. And because of this case, the government can impose fines on them equal to the amount of their assets.

"Then the government takes a stake in the Reserve Bank of France with a fine amount, and the Reserve Bank of France can complete the acquisition at zero cost."

The so-called bank's claims are loans lent out, most of which are lent to the government. The debts are deposits deposited by the people and investments by the nobles. After the two are offset, plus the bank's cash, physical goods, etc., it is the bank's net assets.

Brian said patiently: "Your Highness, this is true on the books. But after you acquire those banks, if any noble wants to recover their investment, you will need to pay the money. And the assets of the banks are the government The loan cannot be recovered immediately.”

Joseph said calmly: "As long as the nobles don't take back their investment."

Brian sighed: "Your Highness, what if they don't cooperate with you? Especially after this incident, they will definitely feel that it is not safe enough to continue investing their money in the bank..."

Joseph smiled and waved his hand: "Then it's not up to them."

Two hours later, the carriage stopped in the Marble Courtyard.

As soon as Joseph got out of the car, he heard someone outside the gate of the Palace of Versailles shouting: "For the financial stability of France, the interrogation of Necker must be stopped!"

"Please, His Majesty the King, grant me your mercy and tolerance!"

"If banks continue to go bankrupt, I will never dare to buy government bonds again..."

"Yes, there are government loans! We have to keep our purse strings tight!"

Joseph looked at the excited nobles and couldn't help but feel a little amused. He turned to Brian beside him and signaled: "Archbishop Brian, the door is almost blocked by them. Let's go to the Little Trianon first. .”

"Okay, Your Highness."

The two of them had just walked not far away when they saw a chubby figure with long wavy hair trotting over.

"Count Monod?" Brian stopped.

The Minister of the Interior saluted Joseph and Brian one after another, and then hesitantly said: "Your Highness, where are you going? Well, I have something to suggest to you."

Joseph smiled and said: "Let's go find Her Majesty the Queen. It just so happens that you can come with us. Oh, what can you do?"

Mono hurriedly followed up and said with a smile, "Your Highness, regarding Necker's case, it might be better to wait for a while."

"Oh why?"

"You see, many nobles will suffer huge losses because of this matter. You have to help them make the decision, right? This is definitely a good opportunity to enhance the reputation of the royal family."

Joseph glanced at him and said nothing.

Mono rambled on for a while, knowing that he couldn't be fooled, so he could only rub his fat hands and laugh dryly:

“Your Highness, actually, I also have some investments in Clasonne Bank.

"Of course, I've asked for the money back, but you know, the bank needs 20 days to raise the money. If Necker's case can be continued after 20 days..."

"How much did you invest?"

"This, it's more than 700,000 livres."

Joseph rubbed his forehead and said coldly: "You know the impact of Necker's incident. At this time, will you choose to support me or your 700,000?"

Cold sweat broke out on Mono's forehead, and he said with difficulty: "Of course I support you. You know, I always obey your orders. But the bank..."

"That's good." Joseph gestured towards the Little Trianon, "Come with me to convince Her Majesty the Queen later."

"Ah? What do you want to convince your majesty?"

"She will step forward to establish the 'French Industrial Development Fund'."

After one hour.

Queen Mary looked at the three people in front of her, and finally looked at Brian and said: "Are you sure that this 'Industrial Development Fund' can stop those people outside from bothering me?"

Brian said hurriedly: "Yes, Your Majesty, I promise."

"It will also significantly reduce the country's debt," Joseph added.

She was very convinced by the opinions of the two cabinet ministers who the queen relied on very much. She finally nodded and said: "Okay, let's do what you said. Anyway, it doesn't cost the government anything."

She frowned slightly again: "But the 'funds', 'debts' and the like that Archbishop Brian just mentioned are a bit complicated. I'm not sure if I can remember them clearly before tomorrow morning."

Joseph immediately answered: "I can do it for you."

The queen immediately smiled and touched his head: "My dear, your head is always so easy to use. I am so jealous. Then you will explain it tomorrow."

The three of them came out of the Little Trianon Palace, and Joseph signaled to Brian: "Archbishop Brian, please announce it to the nobles as you said before."

"Okay, Your Highness."

Brian left, and Joseph looked at Mono again: "To be honest, I didn't expect you to interfere with my deployment for a little money."

Mono was shocked and said hurriedly: "Your Highness, please forgive me, I didn't mean to..."

Joseph raised his hand and interrupted him: "Don't worry, your money will not be less at all, and it will become more. Especially your shares in the French Reserve Bank, the future profits will be enough for you to live a prosperous and prosperous life." of."

He left the astonished Minister of the Interior and walked quickly towards Louis XVI's workshop.

Compared to Queen Mary, the King is very easy to talk to. It only took Joseph more than ten minutes to convince him to attend the "Industrial Development Fund" briefing tomorrow.

In fact, more than half of these ten minutes were spent helping Shiliu overcome the fear of facing dozens or hundreds of people.

…

North Africa.

In a fortress-like prison east of Mitijah, Algiers.

Charles was bored and piled the dust on the ground into a small castle, turning his head from time to time to look at the palm-sized ventilation hole behind him.

The sunlight coming in from there told him that he had been locked up in this hellish place for eight months.

The crew members captured with him have already been ransomed one after another, or turned into corpses.

Only he has never been able to go back.

It's not because no one pays attention to him, on the contrary, because he is the first mate of the "Golden Wheat". When the captain died in the pirate attack that day, he was the most valuable person on the ship.

To be honest, he didn't like such a "noble" worth at all, because it prevented the state assembly from coming up with enough money to redeem him.

There were shuffling footsteps at the end of the dark corridor. Charles hurriedly lay on the ground and looked at the adjacent cell through a crack in the wall. There was no one there.

He suddenly became anxious, kicked the fence of the cell hard, and then lowered his voice and shouted: "Ali! Ali, the guard is here, do you hear it?"

Just as the owner of the shuffling footsteps had exposed his legs from the shadows, the bed board of the cell next to him was pushed open, and then a sturdy middle-aged man with a beard poked his head out.

The man moved very quickly, "squeaking" out of the hole under the bed board. It only took a second to cover the hole with debris, and then turned to a posture of leaning on the bed board.

The guard happened to walk in front of Ali's cell door, casually glanced inside, and stuffed a piece of dry biscuit and a bowl of yellow-green soup made of unknown materials through the small opening under the cell door.

Then he gave the same lunch to Charles and lazily walked to the next cell.

Charles lay on the ground and looked at the cell next to him. He saw that Beard was already munching on dry biscuits. He was relieved: "Hey! Can you be more alert? I thought I would never be able to chat with you again."

Ali spoke English with a weird accent and said with a smile: "Don't worry, I know the guard's position at any time. I just wanted to work a little longer."

"Oh, but speaking of which, you will have to find someone else to chat with in the future."

"Looking for someone else?" Charles sat up straight in surprise, "What's wrong with you? Are you going to be hanged?"

"Look what you are talking about?" Ali chewed the cake dissatisfied and lowered his voice, "In three days at most, I can escape."

"Is anyone willing to pay to redeem you?" Charles was a little sad, "But I still want to congratulate you, although except for you, there is no one here who can speak English to me. I will miss you."

Ali curled his lips and said: "No one ransoms me. But my tunnel will be dug."

"Tunnel? Haha," Charles laughed, "Do you really think you can escape from this damn place by digging a tunnel?

"This is the most heavily guarded prison in Algiers!"

He leaned down again and brought himself closer to the crack in the wall: "Did you know? Even the Pasha of Tunisia is imprisoned here. Oh, it is said that he is in a cell upstairs. Do you think it is You dug a tunnel for two months and you want to escape from here? Haha."

Ali muttered disdainfully: "Obviously you have not lived in Mitijah."

"Yeah, I'm an American. It's my first time here." Charles shrugged, "I was invited by the hospitable Mr. Pirate."

"So you don't know that the Tunisian pasha escaped more than ten years ago. The guards of this prison are idiots and it is easy to escape."

"What? Ran away?" Charles' eyes widened, "How is this possible?"

"Everyone in Mitijia knows about this." Ali pointed upward, "The person locked up there is an impostor, used to fool the guards' inspection."