Chapter 19 Assistant to the Chancellor of the Exchequer

When the cabinet ministers heard this, regardless of what they were thinking, they all stood up to congratulate the crown prince, and all kinds of rainbow farts came in an endless stream.

Joseph was returning the salute politely, when the golden door of the hall was pushed open, and the voice of the etiquette officer came, "His Majesty the King and His Majesty the Queen are here."

The ministers in the room were a little surprised by the appearance of the king, who had rarely attended a cabinet meeting in a thousand years. They hurriedly turned to Louis XVI and Queen Mary who were entering the conference hall, and respectfully touched their chests and saluted.

Shiliu was very familiar with the cabinet ministers, and the symptoms of social fear were not so obvious. He smiled and said: "You are always so conscientious. Oh, can anyone tell me, what are you talking about?"

Mono immediately smiled and said: "Your Majesty, I am paying tribute to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince for his brilliant achievements in police reform!"

Sixteen and Queen sat down at the head of the conference table, their faces full of joy, especially Queen Mary, who took the trouble to talk about Joseph's recent feats.

Seeing that the atmosphere was just right, Mono glanced at Joseph meaningfully, coughed twice, stood up and said: "Your Majesty, the Crown Prince has fully demonstrated his extraordinary talents during his tenure in the police station. Your Majesty remembers that you seemed to have said that if His Highness does a good job in the City Hall, he would be given the position of Assistant to the Minister of Finance."

Queen Mary nodded with a smile.

The Minister of Justice Soumial frowned slightly and glanced sideways at the Duke of Orleans. Seeing that he was unmoved, he pretended to lower his head and said to himself: "Your Majesty just said that the Crown Prince is allowed to have access to financial affairs..."

But his voice was just loud enough for the few people around him to barely hear him.

Queen Mary's smile faded, her eyes swept across several others, and finally fell on Finance Minister Brian: "Archbishop Brian, what do you think about this matter?"

When Mono heard this, he cast a "reassuring" look at Joseph, which meant that he had already communicated it to Brian.

The round-faced old man sitting at the second table stood up and saluted the queen, and said without hesitation: "Your Majesty, I believe that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is fully qualified to serve as Assistant to the Minister of Finance."

He is the Archbishop of Toulouse, serves as the Chief Minister of the Cabinet, and is also the Minister of Finance. Even he nodded, so naturally others would have no objections.

A smile appeared on Queen Mary's face again, and she was about to announce the appointment decision when she heard Brian say again: "Your Highness, the financial issue is of great importance at the moment, and Your Highness has relatively little experience in this area, so I request to have the final say on financial policy. The Crown Prince has the right to make decisions. He cannot let me handle financial matters. I hope His Majesty will agree."

Joseph smiled bitterly in his heart, how worried are you that I will ruin the country's finances? Now besides me, who else can save your treasury?

He was just thinking about how to convince the old man when he saw the Duke of Orleans suddenly stood up and said: "Archbishop Briand, there are many things about national finance. In the past, many small things were taken care of by the assistant to the finance minister. If you want to do all these things, Asking about it would be a huge distraction. I think right now you should be focusing on pushing for the new tax bill rather than being distracted by other chores."

There was a sudden silence in the conference hall, and everyone was surprised - during the last cabinet meeting, the Duke of Orleans was at war with the Crown Prince and almost had a quarrel. How could he help him speak for him again?

Queen Mary looked at Brian cautiously and said, "What are the assistants to the Finance Minister currently responsible for?"

"Mainly dealing with loans and repaying the national debt, as well as sorting out some tax bill provisions."

The queen's brows widened. These were all very simple matters. There was a long-term practice of cooperation between the loan and the bank. As for sorting out the bill, she had her own clerk and lawyer to assist her.

Joseph must have been able to do this with ease, and it was a good way for him to become familiar with financial matters.

She immediately stopped hesitating, politely asked Louis XVI a few questions, and announced loudly: "The matters previously handled by the assistant to the finance minister were handled by the crown prince, and other matters must be approved by Archbishop Bourian.

"Officially appointed, the Crown Prince serves as Assistant to the Minister of Finance. Please ask Count Barenden to prepare the appointment documents."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Joseph bowed to accept the order, said a few words, and glanced at the Duke of Orleans from the corner of his eye, wondering what this guy wanted to do?

Although the Duke of Orleans looked normal, he was sneering in his heart.

He knew that with Joseph's recent popularity, he could not stop him from serving as assistant to the finance minister, so he started planning to dig a hole for Joseph a few days ago.

There are 6 million livres of maturing national debt to be repaid next month. He has reached an agreement with Bank Capital to suspend all loans to the government.

He had already thought of the news headlines - the crown prince's mishandling led to a government debt default, which would trigger a fiscal crisis.

Queen Mary encouraged her son and turned to Brian: "Please start today's topic."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The round-faced old man took out the prepared documents, put on his gold-rimmed glasses, and said: "In view of this year's fiscal revenue and expenditure situation, I think the budget expenditure in the next half year must be reduced again."

He looked at Queen Mary, who nodded: "Yes, I have read your report and I agree with this proposal. On behalf of the royal family, I would like to express my opinion that in the future, the royal family will reduce its expenditure by 1 million livres per year to alleviate financial pressure. "

"Thank you for your Majesty's kindness." Brian looked at the middle-aged man with a long face and a big nose on the right side of the conference table, "It is recommended that the Navy reduce the construction of one battleship and two second-class ships, which will save 1.35 million livres for the treasury. "

The Lord of the Navy, the Marquis of Castries, immediately jumped up from his chair and said harshly: "How can this be done?! The British fleet has far exceeded ours! We need to build 4 more battleships in addition to the original plan to make it. To maintain trade lines, not only did you not increase the allocation, but you actually cut off one ship? Oh, and there are two second-class ships!"

Queen Mary told him to calm down and looked at the other ministers: "What are your opinions?"

The vast majority of people agree with the cuts. The budget is only so large. If you don't cut the navy, you will inevitably cut it to one-third of an acre. In comparison, it is better to cut the navy.

The Marquis of Castries was so anxious that he was sweating. Seeing that no one could count on him, his eyes couldn't help but fall on the crown prince.

He heard that the Crown Prince led his guards to fight with gang members in the St. Anthony District not long ago. He should be a young and vigorous hardliner who would support the expansion of armaments!

He immediately said to Joseph: "Your Highness, do you also agree with Archbishop Briand's reduction plan? That will make us even more powerless when facing the British!"

"No!" Joseph said firmly, "It is inappropriate to reduce a battleship!"

"That's right..."

The Marquis of Castries had just said two words, but the second half of Joseph's words directly stunned him, "I think that all the navy's current battleship construction plans should be shelved!"