Chapter 118 The Old Nobles Who Still Have Evil Intentions

As the ships loaded with potatoes from Metz, Lorraine and other places began to head south, in the office of the director of the Paris Industrial Planning Bureau, Joseph was flipping through a thick stack of reports.

A fifty-year-old official with many smallpox scars on his face and wearing glasses stood aside.

He was the Commissioner of Agricultural Finance, affiliated with the Office of the Minister of Finance, and these documents were just sent by him.

The content of the documents was the number of manors and farmers willing to grow potatoes in each province, as well as the planting area data they proposed.

Because the Minister of Finance Brian was currently negotiating trade with the British in Caen, these documents were sent to Joseph, the second-in-command of finance. In fact, such matters are usually handled by the Minister of the Interior, but Brian and Joseph had previously agreed that the promotion of potatoes was too important, so it would be better not to let Monod, the old fry, interfere too much.

Joseph's brows gradually twisted before he saw half of it.

Although he had launched intensive public opinion propaganda across the country to promote potatoes during this period, printing brochures cost 40,000 to 50,000 livres. The church was also quite cooperative. Churches in various places have begun to send people with new versions of "The Last Supper" to preach to the parishes in their jurisdiction that potatoes are not "devil under the ground" but "the gift of the Lord".

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

Except for Lille and Valenciennes in northern France, and those provinces near the Rhine River, where the acceptance of potatoes is relatively high, the land willing to plant potatoes in other places is less than 2% of the total cultivated land area...

Joseph continued to read the documents behind and found that the further south he went, the more serious the rejection of potatoes. In Foix and Béarn near Spain, almost no one wanted to plant potatoes.

This was too different from his previous assumptions. If there is only 2% of the planting area, it will hardly play any role in preventing drought and hail.

He suddenly noticed a new problem in the document, and hurriedly looked through the types of people who would accept the change to potato planting. He looked up and asked the agricultural finance commissioner beside him: "Viscount Nasien, why are there so few large estates willing to grow potatoes?"

Most of those who accepted the change to potato planting were self-employed farmers, and a small number were annual tribute farmers. And there were less than 20 estates in the country that said they would take out part of the arable land to plant potatoes. The owners of these estates were Duchess Villars, Count Mono and others.

Nasien hesitated for a moment, then leaned forward and said: "Your Highness, according to the news I heard, those estate owners are talking about reducing land taxes before they will consider changing to potato planting."

Joseph narrowed his eyes when he heard this. The so-called estate owners are land nobles.

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

Land taxes must not be reduced. Once this hole is opened, not only will the nobles be more aggressive in the future and use various things to threaten the government to reduce 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 if potatoes are planted, it will also affect the income of the mill, so..."

Joseph nodded silently.

According to the current laws and regulations of France, ordinary tenants must take grain to the mill to grind flour and pay a certain "mill tax". The owners of the mill are also those old nobles. The mill tax is also a considerable income for them.

Under various factors, it is not surprising that they would strongly resist potatoes.

Joseph's brows were frowned more and more. He did not expect that his potato plan would encounter so many obstacles before taking the first step.

These old nobles occupy a large amount of land and tenants, and only know how to exploit tenants with feudal privileges. They are the biggest obstacle to industrialization. At the same time, they also hinder the government's policies everywhere and interfere with national development. They are simply a huge disaster!

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

Joseph couldn't help but sigh. It was too early to think about these things now. He had to eat one bite at a time. The most urgent problem at the moment was how to deal with famine and keep the country from being in chaos.

The purchased food alone was far from enough to solve the problem. Potato planting must be truly spread all over the country.

But how can we make a breakthrough from the circle of old nobles...

Nasien reminded carefully: "Your Highness, the first batch of potatoes shipped to Bordeaux has already set off. You see, with the current planting intention, should we reduce the number of the next few batches?"

Joseph suddenly felt something when he heard the word "Bordeaux".

If we talk about what people in the Bordeaux region value most, it is undoubtedly winemaking. This is not only the pillar industry of Bordeaux, but also an important export commodity for the whole of France, which can bring huge income every year.

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

If I come up with a solution to the problem of wine turning sour, all the vineyards in Bordeaux will go crazy for it. If I put forward some conditions at this time, such as planting some potatoes, I believe they will not refuse.

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

"Bordeaux?" Emman was stunned for a moment, and hurriedly bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness."

Joseph looked at Nasien again: "Write to the northeastern provinces and ask them to continue to transport potatoes to the south without reducing the quantity."

While Emman was preparing to leave, Joseph went to the Palace of Versailles again and found the newly appointed Minister of Justice Baron Breteuil, and entrusted him to recommend Berthier to the Minister of War.

The reason why he asked Breteuil to pass on the hand was to try not to let people notice the connection between Berthier and the royal family, so as to prevent Berthier from being rejected by the military nobles.

…

The next morning, a convoy of seven or eight carriages, escorted by more than sixty guard cavalry led by Csaud, set off from Paris and headed all the way to the south of France.

In the carriage of the crown prince, Perna was taking notes seriously and asking questions from time to time.

Joseph, who was sitting opposite, was telling her how red blood cells work - although he only learned a little bit from popular science videos, it was the most cutting-edge medical knowledge at the end of the 18th century.

Yes, when Dr. Perna learned that the crown prince was going to Bordeaux, she immediately said that the weather was cold now, which was very bad for lung diseases and needed to be checked at any time, so she volunteered to go south with the crown prince.

Joseph felt a little sorry for affecting her blood circulation course, so he chatted with her about common sense in this area.

But this is hard for Dr. Lamarck - when he returns, his daughter will definitely tell him with a straight face, "A lot of what you said about blood circulation is wrong!"

Thanks: Lament-Silence, Song Zhezong Zhao Xu, Chang'an Yi, Beiyin Fengdu Tianzi Difu Xuanqing Emperor, Reader 20210209183233628546713, Book Friend 2021813007451630, several big guys gave generous rewards to this book, I am very grateful!