Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 778 - 686 Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange

Chapter 778: Chapter 686: Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange

Chapter 778: Chapter 686: Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange

Joseph took a sip of milk, put down the document, and silently blessed Kosciuszko in his heart.

This was already news from nearly half a month ago—Poland was simply too far from Paris.

That meant that this Polish military god must have already arrived in Bryansk by now, causing a huge stir in Russia.

Joseph truly admired Kosciuszko and sincerely hoped he could survive and return to Poland.

In fact, if the plan formulated by the General Staff had been successfully implemented, there was a fair chance that the Polish Army could have escaped annihilation.

Of course, it was only a matter of probability…

Joseph sighed lightly and picked up the next document.

It was a report on the troop movements of Austria and Prussia.

Both countries appeared to be scrimping and saving, obviously concealing their intentions to deploy troops.

Joseph chuckled. It seemed that both were waiting for Russia to knock Poland down first before they swooped in to pick the spoils.

However, this also gave Poland a precious opportunity to catch its breath.

According to the optimal military strategy for Russia, Prussia, and Austria, they should act simultaneously, forcing Poland to face enemies on three fronts.

In that case, Poland would quickly find itself in an extremely difficult situation.

Joseph’s initial worst-case scenario suggested that Poland directly sign a ceasefire agreement with Austria and cede the Lesser Poland region to them, seeking stability in the rear.

Then, after repelling the Russian Army, they would find a way to retake it.

Fortunately, Prussia and Austria chose greed.

This allowed Poland to use the next few months to recruit more troops—after the war started, the pace of mobilization would be several times faster than in peacetime.

By the time Prussia and Austria made their move, Poland could at least muster enough strength to resist.

Moreover, the news of Poland’s counter-attack against Russia should soon reach the western front, causing Prussia and Austria to lose some confidence in their victory.

This would significantly affect morale.

What Joseph didn’t know was that due to Mesmer’s excellent “persuasion,” soldiers from Prussia and Austria, particularly the Austrian Army, had considerable sympathy for Poland.

If they launched an attack on Poland, their morale would be at least halved.

Next was information regarding the Ottoman Empire.

The first batch of 800 Topis new recruits had completed basic training and returned to Constantinople. The second batch of 800 would “graduate” in two months.

The Sultan’s soldiers trained in the French Army of Tunis camp far more efficiently than they would in the Ottoman Empire.

The previous 600 Topis soldiers took nearly two years of training and didn’t achieve the results this group did in less than half a year.

Selim III was very satisfied with this batch of new soldiers fully equipped in the French style and was already consulting with his ministers about plans to attack Egypt.

According to various clues, the French Intelligence Bureau estimated that the Ottoman Empire would act in 3 to 5 months.

Right after the second batch of new troops completed their training.

And the batch of supplies that Joseph was most concerned about had already been shipped by the Ottoman Empire to the Black Sea, as per the agreement.

As for the Ottoman officer named Muhammad Ali, Styler reported that he had not been found yet—it was simply too common a name in the Ottoman Empire.

Even with the limitation of being of Albanian descent, there were as many as twelve in the Ottoman Army.

Styler was still observing which “Ali with investment value” the Crown Prince was talking about…

However, Joseph wasn’t in a hurry.

It would take at least a decade for Muhammad Ali, the future King of Egypt, to come into his own, so Styler had plenty of time to make his choice.

Styler did mention at the end of his report that the operation of the steam paddle ships was going well.

The Eastern Mediterranean Trading Company had already purchased 12 steamships, and they were operating efficiently — costing only 70% of traditional sail ships, the travel time between the east and west coasts of the Mediterranean had been nearly halved!

Bear in mind, this was still due to the lack of coal replenishing ports along the route; otherwise, the transportation costs could be significantly reduced.

A coal replenishment port has already been built in the southern part of Greece, and planning is underway in Italy, Tunisia, and other places.

Joseph shook his head.

Twelve ships was still too few.

But the production capacity for steam paddle ships at the Brest Shipyard was limited, and most of the ships that were built were snagged by inland waterway operators; even with a higher bid, the Eastern Mediterranean Trading Company couldn’t acquire too many.

Plus, the tonnage of the steamships was still a little too small, so they hadn’t yet managed to disrupt the shipping structure in the Mediterranean.

Only with a fleet of at least a hundred steamships, could the Eastern Mediterranean Trading Company begin to exert influence over Mediterranean navigation.

And that again would require an expansion of shipyard investment…

After breakfast, Joseph took a carriage to the Paris Financial Center, formerly the Bastille.

The newly established Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange was located on the third floor of the Financial Center.

After nearly half a year of preparation, today, the exchange was finally set to open for business.

While it was an agricultural products exchange, the core commodity for trading was actually sugar cane.

Last week, intelligence regarding the situation in the Caribbean Sea had been sent back to Paris.

First, the British Expeditionary Force had begun landing on the northern side of Santo Domingo — Tortuga — to which the French Government symbolically expressed its welcome, hoping the British Army could quell the abolitionist rebellion — a great battle was soon to erupt.

Based on the time it took for the news to travel, the fighting should be in full swing by now.

Regardless of the outcome, this year’s sugar cane yield would be frightfully low.

And October is precisely the beet harvest season.

The beet sugar refineries in the northwest of France would be converting these beets into cane sugar at the rate of 2 million pounds per month.

Together with the nearly 4 million pounds of sugar that Styler had been purchasing in Egypt over the past few months, it would be enough to establish the Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange’s pricing power over sugar!

As Joseph’s carriage approached the Financial Center, just one street away, he could hear a distant clamor.

Looking out the carriage window, he saw the square in front of the Financial Center was already packed with people, looking even busier than during the Christmas Mass.

It wasn’t until Kesode led the Crown Prince’s personal guard to clear the way that Joseph could enter the Financial Center.

After the routine music playing, ribbon-cutting, and speech-making, Joseph declared, “The Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange is now officially open for trading!”

Instantaneously, a cheer erupted from inside the hall and outside on the square.

Before Joseph could leave the scene, merchants, in their impatience, surged towards the trading windows, frightening Kesode so much that he drew his pistol. It took the efforts of more than 80 guards to protect the Crown Prince as he left the trading hall.

No wonder the merchants were so frantic, the news of a black uprising in the Caribbean had long since reached Europe, and during that time, the price of sugar had already risen by more than 40%, and it was hard to buy sugar even with money.

This chapter is updated by freēwēbnovel.com.

Right at that moment, the news “The Paris Agricultural Futures Exchange will have 6 million pounds of cane sugar for sale” spread among the merchants of Europe.