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 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!

The current problem centered on how to repay the nobles for their investment.

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 damage they had done to the country, and he became very angry.

He punched the seat with his fist, gritted his teeth and said, "Let's 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 acquisition fees, but 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 take 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 that are equal to the amount of their assets.

"Then the government takes a stake in the French Reserve Bank with the amount of the fine, and then the French Reserve Bank 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, that is, 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 turmoil, they will definitely feel that it is not safe to continue to invest their money in the bank..."

Joseph smiled and waved his hand: "That is not up to them."

Two hours later, the carriage stopped at the marble courtyard.

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

"Please grant your mercy and tolerance, Your Majesty!"

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

"Yes, there are also government loans! We must hold our purses tight!"

Joseph looked at the excited nobles and couldn't help laughing. He turned to Brian beside him and signaled: "Archbishop Brian, the door is about to be blocked by them, let's go to the Petit Trianon first."

"Okay, Your Highness."

As soon as the two walked a short distance, they saw a chubby figure, shaking his long wavy hair, trotting over.

"Count Monod?" Brian stopped.

The Minister of the Interior saluted Joseph and Brian successively, and then hesitated and said: "Your Highness, where are you going? Well, I have something to advise you."

Joseph smiled and said: "Let's go to see Her Majesty the Queen, it's a good opportunity for you to come with us. Oh, what do you want?"

Monod hurriedly followed and said with a smile: "Your Highness, it might be better to wait for a while on the case of Necker."

"Oh? Why?"

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

Joseph glanced at him and said nothing.

Monod talked about this and that for a while, knowing that he couldn't fool people, he could only rub his fat hands and laugh dryly:

"Your Highness, in fact, I also have some investments in the Clasenne Bank.

"Of course, I have asked for the money back, but you know that the bank needs 20 days to raise the money. If we can continue Necker's case in 20 days..."

"How much money did you invest?"

"This, more than 700,000 livres."

Joseph rubbed his forehead and said coldly: "You know how much impact Necker's case has. At this time, do you choose to support me or your 700,000?"

Mono's forehead was sweating coldly, and he said with difficulty: "Of course, I support you. You know, I always listen to your orders. But the bank..."

"That's good." Joseph gestured to the Petit Trianon Palace, "Come with me to persuade Her Majesty the Queen later."

"Ah? What to persuade Her Majesty?"

"She will come forward and set up the 'French Industrial Development Fund'."

One hour later.

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

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

Joseph added: "It can also significantly reduce the country's debt."

The opinions of the two cabinet ministers that the queen relied on very much convinced her, and she finally nodded and said: "Well, let's do it as you said. Anyway, the government doesn't need to spend any money."

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

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

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

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

"Okay, Your Highness."

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

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

Joseph raised his hand to interrupt him: "Don't worry, your money will not be reduced 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 life of wealth and glory. "

He left the stunned interior minister behind and walked quickly towards Louis XVI's workshop.

Compared to Queen Marie, the king was very easy to talk to. Joseph only took more than ten minutes to convince him to attend the briefing of the "Industrial Development Fund" tomorrow.

In fact, more than half of these ten minutes were used to help Louis XVI overcome his fear of facing dozens or hundreds of people.

...

North Africa.

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

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

The sunlight coming in from there let him know that he had been locked up in this hellhole for a full eight months.

The crew members who were captured with him had long been redeemed or turned into corpses.

Only he had never been able to go back.

It was not because no one paid attention to him, on the contrary, because he was 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" status at all, because it made the state assembly unable to come up with enough money to redeem him.

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

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

Just when the owner of the dragging footsteps had revealed his legs from the shadows, the bed board of the cell next to him was pushed open by someone, and then a strong middle-aged man with a beard poked his head out.

The man moved very quickly, and "slid" out of the hole under the bed board, and covered the hole with miscellaneous items in just one second, and turned to sit on the bed board.

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

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

Charles lay on the ground and looked at the cell next to him. Seeing that the bearded man had already eaten the dry biscuit in big mouthfuls, he breathed a sigh of relief: "Hey! Can you be more alert? I thought I could never chat with you again in the future."

Ali spoke English with a strange accent and smiled: "Don't worry, I know the position of the guards at any time. I just wanted to work a little longer just now.

"Oh, but to be honest, you have to find someone else to chat with in the future."

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

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

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

Ali pouted and said, "No one redeemed me. But my tunnel will be dug through soon."

"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 crouched down again, getting 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 you can escape from here with the tunnel you dug for two months? Haha."

Ali muttered disdainfully: "Obviously you have never lived in Mitiga."

"Yeah, I'm an American, and this is my first time here." Charles shrugged, "Invited by the hospitable pirate."

"So you don't know that the Pasha of Tunisia ran away more than ten years ago. The guards of this prison are all idiots, and it's easy for him to escape."

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

"Everyone in Mitiga knows about this." Ali pointed upwards, "The person imprisoned there is a fake, used to fool the guards' inspection."