Chapter 686 Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange
Chapter 687 Paris Agricultural Products Futures Exchange
Joseph picked up the milk, took a sip, put down the document, and silently blessed Kosciuszko in his heart.
This is news nearly half a month ago - Poland is too far from Paris.
In other words, the Polish military god should have arrived in Bryansk at this time, causing a huge shock in Russia.
Joseph still admired Kosciuszko very much and sincerely hoped that he could return to Poland alive.
In fact, if the plan formulated by the General Staff Headquarters could be implemented smoothly, the Polish army would have a high probability of escaping.
Of course, this is just a probability...
Joseph sighed softly and picked up the next document.
This is a report on the mobilization of Austrian and Prussian troops.
Both countries looked coy, obviously trying to cover up their plans to send troops.
Joseph smiled. It seemed that these two families were waiting for Russia to defeat Poland and then pick peaches.
However, this also gave Poland a rare respite.
According to the optimal military strategy of Russia, Prussia and Austria, it should be to attack Poland at the same time, so that Poland will be attacked on three sides.
In that case, Poland will soon find itself in an extremely difficult situation.
Joseph's original estimate of the worst situation was to suggest that Poland directly sign an armistice agreement with Austria and cede the Lesser Poland region to the latter in order to stabilize the rear.
After repelling the Russian army, we will try to get it back.
Fortunately, Puao chose greed.
In this way, Poland can use these few months to recruit more troops - after the war begins, the pace of military expansion will be several times faster than usual.
When Prussia and Austria start taking action, Poland can at least put out some troops to resist.
Moreover, news of the confrontation between Poland and Russia should soon spread to the Western Front, which will hit the Prussian-Austrian confidence in winning the war to a certain extent.
This affects morale greatly.
What Joseph didn't know was that due to Mesmer's outstanding "inspiration", the soldiers of Prussia and Austria, especially the Austrian army, were quite sympathetic to Poland.
If they launched an attack on Poland, morale would at least be halved.
Next comes the news from the Ottoman side.
The first batch of Topizh's new army, a total of 800 people, has completed basic training and returned to Constantiniya. The second batch of 800 people will also "graduate" in two months.
The training efficiency of these Sudanese soldiers in the French army camp in Tunisia was much higher than that in the Ottoman training.
The previous 600 Topizis soldiers had been trained for nearly two years, but the results were not as good as the training of this group of soldiers for just half a year.
Selim III was also extremely satisfied with this batch of new soldiers with full French equipment, and was already discussing the plan to attack Egypt with his ministers.
The French Intelligence Agency judged based on various clues that Osman should take action in 3 to 5 months.
It was just after the second batch of new troops completed their training.
As for the batch of supplies that Joseph was most concerned about, Osman had also shipped them to the Black Sea as agreed.
As for the Ottoman officer named "Muhammad Ali", Styler said that he has not found it yet - this name is really too common in the Ottomans.
Even with the qualification of Albanians, there were a full 12 in the Ottoman army.
Styler is still observing which one is the Ali that the Crown Prince calls "investment worthy"...
However, Joseph was not in a hurry.
Muhammad Ali, the future King of Egypt, would take at least ten years to develop, and Styler had enough time to screen.
Styler mentioned at the end of the report that the current operation of steam paddle steamers was good.
The Eastern Mediterranean Trading Company has purchased 12 steamships and they are operating in good condition - the cost is only 70% of that of traditional galleys, and the time for traveling between the east and west coast of the Mediterranean has been shortened by nearly half!
You know, this is still due to the lack of ports that can supply coal along the way, otherwise the transportation cost can be greatly reduced.
Currently, a coal supply port has been built in southern Greece. Plans are also underway in Italy, Tunisia and other places.
Joseph shook his head.
12 ships is still too few.
It’s just that the Brest Shipyard’s steam paddle steamer production capacity is limited, and most of the ships built have been snatched up by shipowners engaged in inland shipping. The Eastern Mediterranean Trading Company can’t even buy a few ships at a higher price.
In addition, the tonnage of steam ships is still relatively small, so it has not yet had a disruptive impact on the Mediterranean shipping pattern.
It would take at least a hundred steamships before the Eastern Mediterranean Trading Company could begin to dominate Mediterranean shipping.
And that, in turn, requires investment in expanded shipyards…
After breakfast, Joseph took a bus to the financial center of Paris, the former Bastille.
The newly established Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange is located on the third floor of the financial center.
After half a year of planning, the exchange will finally officially open for business today.
It is said that it is agricultural products trading, but in fact the most core trading product is sucrose.
Intelligence on the situation in the Caribbean was sent back to Paris last week.
First, the British Expeditionary Force began to land at Tortuga on the north side of Saint-Domingue - the French government also symbolically welcomed this and wished the British army could quell the abolitionist rebellion - and the war would soon break out.
Judging from the timing of the message delivery, the fight should be in full swing by now.
Regardless of victory or defeat, this year's sugarcane production will be frighteningly low.
October is the season for beet harvest.
The beet refinery in northwestern France will turn these beets into sugar at a rate of 2 million pounds per month.
Together with the nearly 4 million pounds of sugar that Stelle has purchased in Egypt in the past few months, it will be enough to support the Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange's pricing power over sugar!
When Joseph's carriage arrived one street away from the financial center, he heard a burst of noise in the distance.
He looked out of the window and saw that the square of the financial center was already crowded with people, even more lively than the Christmas mass.
Joseph was not able to enter the financial center until Csod led the Prince's guard to clear the road.
After a routine of playing music, cutting ribbons, and speeches, Joseph announced:
"The Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange is officially open!"
There was a burst of cheers in the hall and the square outside.
Before Joseph left, the impatient merchants rushed to the trading window frantically, scaring Csod so much that he even pulled out his pistol. More than 80 guards took great pains to protect His Royal Highness the Crown Prince from leaving the trading hall.
No wonder the merchants were so crazy. The news of the black uprising in the Caribbean had long been reported back to Europe. During this period, the price of sugar had risen by more than 40%, and it was difficult to buy sugar even if you had money.
At this time, the news that "6 million pounds of sugar will be sold at the Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange" spread among merchants in European countries.
