Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 700: Chapter 609: A New Year, A New Hope

William Pitt Junior had been discussing with George III for nearly two hours, and he finally had a clear picture in his mind.

The King still supported him.

Seeing the familiar figure of Doctor Willis at the door, he quickly said, “Your Majesty, I shall quell the matter of the gas street lamps as soon as possible. It’s just that, Lord Fox…”

He was referring to James Fox, the leader of the opposition Whig Party.

“The focus is on our strategy towards France, which requires a stable Cabinet. I will persuade the Whigs not to cause trouble.”

George III hadn’t finished his sentence when Doctor Willis came over, bowed, and said, “Your Majesty, it’s time for your treatment. There is another session of leech and mustard therapy tonight, which will help you relax your mind.”

George III was suffering from porphyria, which caused his brain to have episodes of erratic behavior, so he had been staying at Windsor Castle for treatment.

The treatments included—restraint, reprimands, flogging, cudgels, bloodletting, poisonous insects, and so on.

Well, the King of England’s physical condition was indeed not bad; he managed to endure these “tortures” and the torment of mental illness, living till the age of 82.

George III’s legs started to tremble slightly, but he gritted his teeth to stabilize his emotions and finally urged William Pitt Junior, “If all else fails, divert people’s attention abroad, Mr. Prime Minister.”

…

In the calm days, time always flies by.

Not long after Christmas, early spring breezes had already started to caress the land of France.

The conference hall in the Palace of Versailles was toasty warm from the fireplace, and the Cabinet Ministers sitting around the conference table were all smiling, occasionally whispering to one another.

Clearly, everyone was quite satisfied with their achievements in the past year, and today’s Cabinet meeting was to discuss the statistical data submitted by the various departments from the previous year.

Joseph had usually discussed each sector individually with each minister, but having presided over Cabinet meetings for the past half year, he decided to present the annual summaries here this year.

On one hand, it allowed the various departments to compare with each other, fostering a sense of competition.

On the other hand, it also strengthened cooperation between the different departments. For example, the Trade Minister would have to formulate this year’s work plan based on the growth rate in the industrial sector.

Queen Mary took her seat at the head of the table. After everyone paid their respects, she smiled at Brian and said, “Archbishop Brienne, please begin.”

Although she had not been handling specific affairs much, she persistently attended to support her son, as she was concerned that the unruly ministers might not take orders from the Crown Prince.

Brian bowed to the Queen and the Crown Prince, started with some routine pleasantries, and then got straight to the point: “…according to the agenda, I shall begin by outlining last year’s financial situation.”

Upon hearing this, the ministers all picked up the “1791 National Finance Report” that was already placed on the table and started browsing through it.

Brian’s smile was ever-present, and he couldn’t suppress it: “Thanks to Jesus’ blessing, and under careful administration by the Queen and Crown Prince, last year’s total national revenue reached 740 million francs. An increase of 110 million francs over the previous year!”

The ministers had already heard rumors of the large increase in financial revenue, but they hadn’t expected it to be so substantial; they were instantly invigorated, nodding and congratulating Brian.

An annual growth rate of 17%! Even in the Industrial Revolution, this was an extremely brilliant achievement.

Brian’s smile grew even broader, not even glancing at the documents—it was clear he had memorized them: “And last year’s total fiscal expenditure was 640 million francs.

“This means, we have achieved a substantial surplus of 98 million francs!”

He was choked up by the time he finished speaking and had to bow his head and take a few deep breaths to compose himself.

It’s no wonder he was so moved—it had been so long, probably since the late reign of Louis XIV, that France had been plagued by the nightmare of deficits, and successive Finance Ministers had been deemed incompetent.

Finally, in this year, a historic turnaround was achieved.

This was certainly a great achievement that the French people would mention even a hundred years later!

Queen Mary immediately stood up, excitedly applauding Brian: “Thank you for your excellent and effective work. You have turned a new chapter for France, filling the nation with hope once again!”

The others also stood up and applauded Brian in praise.

However, Brian turned to look at Joseph, saying earnestly, “All this is due to the Crown Prince’s leading financial and tax reforms. I merely acted according to his directives.”

He was not being modest.

His abilities could be considered average among recent Finance Ministers. Without the Crown Prince’s remarkable initiatives, not to mention a fiscal surplus, he might have faced multiple discharges due to the debt crisis over the past two years.

The ministers unanimously turned their gaze to Joseph, their expressions clearly agreeing.

Joseph simply smiled and said, “France’s fiscal surplus was achieved under your leadership, Archbishop Brienne, and no one can overlook your significant contributions. Congratulations to you, and to France!”

He didn’t skimp on his compliments to Brian, after all, he was an old subordinate, and the latter had been truly loyal to him.

Immediately, everyone joined in shouting “Congratulations to France,” “Congratulations to Archbishop Brienne,” and then showered Joseph with high praise, before finally sitting down again.

Brian continued, “This year our national debt will be reduced to 1.98 billion francs.

“If the debt replacement plan goes smoothly, our fixed interest expenditure can be reduced to 84 million francs this year.”

His “replacement plan” involved issuing low-interest government bonds to raise funds to repurchase previous high-interest loans, a high-low substitution. But this was predicated on the public’s optimism about France’s development, allowing for the lowering of national bond interest rates.

And Brian clearly felt there was no need to worry about the sales of government bonds, as he had already seen the industrial and agricultural reports from the previous year.

The crowd cheered and applauded again. Although France’s total national debt was still extremely high, with this level of interest, they were already approaching a healthy range. If they could maintain this momentum, France could emerge entirely from the shadows of debt in just four or five years!

However, compared to others’ jubilant spirits, Joseph remained quite calm.

He knew well that last year’s significant surplus was a special case, and it would be difficult to replicate moving forward.

One reason was that many Tax Farmers were dealt with at the beginning of the year; their properties were confiscated, which alone brought in tens of millions of francs.

In fact, due to the tax bureau’s inexperience, there was even a decline in tax revenue until the implementation of the value-added tax system improved the situation.