Chương 21: Chapter 21 The enigmatic Crown Prince
"The key point in this battle is Wilhelmina." Joseph had already thought about this issue. "As long as the Patriots delay for a while, and we make good use of Wilhelmina and put some troops on the Franco-Prussian border, Prussia should will withdraw their troops.
"I will submit the specific plan to the Marquis of St. Priest in a formal document."
The queen nodded and said: "Okay, I will decide whether to continue to provide assistance based on the opinions of the Minister of War."
At this moment, Louis XVI, who had always had no sense of existence, suddenly said: "Without treasury funding, I will personally contribute 600,000 livres to assist the Patriot Party."
After speaking, he gave Joseph a positive smile.
Briann breathed a sigh of relief and saluted Louis XVI: "Thank you for your generosity, your Majesty.
"With your Majesty's money, the national treasury can first suspend funding to the Patriot Party. After two months, it will be decided whether to continue assistance based on the situation in the Netherlands."
He turned to Queen Mary: "Your Majesty, do you think this is okay?"
Nodding back: "Okay. Let's move on to the next item."
"Yes, Your Majesty." Brian glanced at the Crown Prince with some anxiety, fearing that he would disrupt the situation again. Fortunately, Joseph didn't say anything more about the subsequent reduction plan, and most of it passed smoothly.
The cabinet meeting then discussed some miscellaneous matters, and it was coming to an end.
Queen Mary signed the last two documents and asked Brian without raising her head: "Archbishop Brian, I heard that the tax bill is not going well."
She is talking about the new tax reform bill that the government has been promoting since the beginning of the year. The main contents include: allowing the aristocratic privileged class to pay land tax like ordinary people; free transportation and trading of grain; abolishing corvee; increasing stamp duty, etc.
The purpose is naturally to increase fiscal revenue and make up for the national treasury deficit. If implemented, it would actually be beneficial to ordinary people.
However, the tax reform bill was unanimously opposed by the great nobles and failed to pass for most of half a year. Because of this, the previous finance minister was fired.
Brian nodded with a grimace: "Your Majesty, the new bill is being held up by the High Court. The news I received is that they are likely to reject the bill."
According to French law, the tax reform bill needs to be registered with the High Court and then signed by the king before it can officially take effect.
The French courts are firmly controlled by the aristocracy, and this bill that touches their interests is stuck in the registration process and cannot be implemented.
Queen Mary's voice was a little tired: "You know our financial situation, the tax bill must be implemented as soon as possible."
"Yes, Your Majesty, I will do my best!"
Joseph was shaking his head secretly. He knew that according to the original historical trajectory, Brian had never been able to get the bill passed. In the end, Louis XVI was ill and rushed to the hospital. At the suggestion of some hard-liner, he deprived the High Court of many powers, expelled the die-hard judges, replaced them with a full-power court controlled by the royal family, and forcibly passed the bill.
However, the great nobles immediately used this incident to incite public opinion and brand Shiliu as a tyrant who ruled exclusively and ignored the law. This triggered a tax resistance movement across France and led to national financial chaos.
The Sixteen Hundreds, who had no voice in public opinion, finally had no choice but to bring back the exiled judges and restore the power of the High Court. Then the High Court terminated the recently implemented tax reform bill.
The worst impact of this incident was that the nobles confirmed that the king could not defeat them, so they became even more arrogant and domineering. With no choice but to activate the three-level meeting, he hoped that the common people would support him and fight against the nobles.
As for the result, the nobles took advantage of the three-level meeting to incite riots, but unexpectedly it coincided with the Great Famine in France in 1788. Then the situation got out of control and the Great Famine broke out...
Joseph looked at Brian and said in his heart that you want the nobles to accept the bill that makes them pay more taxes. Isn't this just seeking the skin of a tiger?
If you want to carry out tax reform, you must first give these nobles a hard blow and let them know the power of the royal power, so that they can pay taxes obediently.
In addition, the power of public opinion must be firmly in one's own hands. These big nobles are best at confusing right and wrong, inciting public opinion, and disrupting the country to profit from it. Only if the French people can hear the voice of the government and know the truth of the matter will they not be taken advantage of by the nobles.
He took a deep breath and took the first step by taking the position of Assistant to the Finance Minister. However, if you want to change the course of history, you will inevitably face many obstacles, but whether it is the stubborn nobles, the church, or the capitalists, I will never be polite to those who dare to take risks!
"That's it, let's break up the meeting."
The queen's voice interrupted Joseph's contemplation. He stood up with all the ministers, saluted the king and queen, and prepared to turn around and leave.
"Joseph, don't leave yet." Queen Mary stopped him.
Joseph had no choice but to come back and sit down.
After all the other ministers had left the conference hall, the queen looked at him with a smile and said: "Joseph, you have done a good job in police reform. The Saint-Antoine district has obviously become the place with the best security in Paris."
She paused and sighed: "It's just that this police reform must be terminated."
"Why is this?"
The Queen said earnestly: "After your reform, the police's salary was too high, and it was all borne by the municipal government. Before, you used your own money to pay the police force, but the city hall could not afford the money. The security of ordinary citizens , we still have to rely on civilian patrols."
Joseph said without hesitation: "Public security is very important. I think that not only cannot it be terminated, but it must be promoted throughout Paris and even the country!
"As for money, you don't have to worry about it. As long as I take over... well, participate in financial management, the treasury will be full soon."
Queen Mary looked at her son and said with interest: "Where are you going to get the money?"
Joseph hesitated and thought that steam engines, blast furnace steelmaking, rubber, mining, cement, and even munitions, any one of them could earn tens of millions of livres.
But I can't tell you this...
He hesitated for a moment and chose a few that the queen could accept: "For example, finance, real estate, luxury goods, in short, I am sure of it."
Queen Mary frowned, feeling a little unreliable. After thinking about it, she said, "Let's do this. I'll give you half a year. If you can solve the police salary problem, you can continue the police reform. Otherwise, you will immediately return to the original status quo."
"Okay. I think it won't take half a year."
Louis XVI looked at the time and said to the mother and son: "It's almost lunch time. No work can delay lunch."
He took the two of them and walked towards the royal dining room together. In the corridor, Joseph remembered something and asked Queen Mary: "Mother, is there anyone suitable for the Paris Police Chief?"
"Police Chief? You have to ask Count Monod."
"Well, he will accept my suggestion."
The queen was startled and quickly figured out the key: "You blackmailed him with Guizot's affairs?"
"Absolutely not," Joseph said very frankly, "I just helped him feel at ease."
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