Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 969 - 877: Victory in Sight

Joseph smiled faintly, "You underestimate the cohesion of the Mediterranean Security Organization."

Fouche immediately showed a look of contemplation.

Joseph continued, "Especially now that the various Italian countries are seeking help from our country, you don’t need to worry about this issue."

In fact, if it weren’t for Joseph having France intentionally hold back in Ferrara, at least half of the Pope State would already be under the control of the Security Organization.

The reason for not rushing the push is to first observe the attitude of the Italian States, and then decide how to distribute benefits.

Moreover, Joseph is well aware that even without the incentive of dividing Pope State’s interests, there is still Napoleon’s tens of thousands of troops stationed in Mantua.

With a nod from the French Government, the countries of Northern Italy wouldn’t dare not to open their purses immediately.

Besides, it’s merely asking them to exchange gold coins for francs, rather than directly giving money to France, which causes even less resistance.

After finishing the financial countermeasure deployment, Joseph remembered something and said to Brian:

"This violation of the loan agreement by Wurttemberg and other countries has given us a good diplomatic leverage, which must be utilized well."

According to the initial loan agreement, the franc provided to the Southern German States by France could only be used for purchasing goods and domestic investment, while Wurttemberg and other countries secretly used it for lending.

This kind of affair can be significant as it involves tens of millions of francs, and France is more than justified to be outraged.

Moreover, unlike military actions, this kind of financial dispute won’t make the other German states feel threatened.

He thought for a moment and continued, "Once the matter of shorting the franc concludes, immediately calculate our country’s loss and notify the countries of Europe."

Losses? Brian was momentarily stunned; according to the Crown Prince’s plan, France shouldn’t suffer any losses...

Recalling the Crown Prince’s earlier mention of "diplomatic leverage," he revealed a knowing smile, bowed slightly and said, "Yes, Your Highness, the violation of the loan agreement by Wurttemberg and other countries is very likely to cause a loss of billions of francs to our country!"

...

In a luxurious building on the west side of the Saint-Antoine District of Paris, Lord McGovern looked at the vast castle-like building outside the floor-to-ceiling window and suddenly felt like an unbeatable god.

That former Bastille, now the Bank of France Reserve, had begun to shake under his heavy blows.

He specifically spent a fortune renting the house opposite the Bank of France Reserve headquarters so he could always savor his "achievements."

These days, every time he saw those Parisians lined up for nearly a mile outside the Bank of France Reserve, anxiously waiting to exchange their francs for gold, he couldn’t help but smile.

Yes, he was the person assigned by the British Deputy Finance Minister Willberforce to execute the plan to destroy the franc.

The plan was proceeding very smoothly.

The immense war evidently put France’s financial situation in a rather unfavorable state. He only used two-thirds of the 40 million francs he brought to exchange for gold and spread some rumors, causing the French people to panic.

Now he hardly needed to make any moves; wealthy French people were handing millions of francs over to the Bank of France Reserve for gold every day.

And the French Government’s response measures were laughable.

Lord McGovern casually picked up today’s "Paris Commercial News," with the headline news prominently stating, "The government’s gold reserves have no issues, please don’t believe the rumors."

"Heh, those gentlemen in the Palace of Versailles simply don’t understand the thoughts of ordinary people." He showed a disdainful smile, "The more you emphasize ’no problem,’ the more people will become suspicious."

The door opened, and McGovern’s assistant Bruni, a Frenchman of Italian descent, walked in briskly, bowing to him:

"My Lord, today’s exchange data has been compiled. Just at the Bank of France Reserve alone, 54 thousand ounces of gold have been taken, and other banks should also have over ten thousand ounces."

Over 60 thousand ounces of gold amounts to roughly 6 million francs.

A look of ecstatic joy appeared in McGovern’s eyes.

At a rate of 6 million francs per day, in just five or six more days, the gold reserves of the Bank of France will be depleted.

"This is nearly 10 thousand ounces more than the previous highest daily exchange amount." He set down the newspaper and looked at Bruni, "What happened?"

"Yes, my lord." Bruni said with some pride, "The Bank of France Reserve, seeking to showcase its ample gold reserves, allowed people to visit the gold vault.

"I noticed that the shape of their gold bars was somewhat peculiar, so I brought a journalist to publicly cut open a few pieces.

"And guess what? Astonishingly, one-third of the gold bars were hollow!

"They must have been hastily cast by the Bank of France Reserve yesterday, which made the exterior somewhat collapsed, hence I noticed it.

"Once the news spread, everyone realized the French Government didn’t have much gold left, and the number of people coming to exchange gold surged.

"I estimate even more people will come tomorrow to squeeze out what’s left."

However, just as McGovern was about to pop the Champagne for celebration, "Paris Commercial News" suddenly published a piece of news—the 400 thousand ounces of gold transported from Marseille, Lorraine, and other places had already arrived in Paris, alleviating the shortage of gold reserves.

The Paris financial market seemed to breathe a sigh of relief due to this news.

Indeed, next day Bruni, looking listless, reported: "My Lord, today the Bank of France Reserve received gold exchange applications totaling 1.6 million francs."

McGovern immediately frowned.

He estimated that the Bank of France Reserve had no more than 20 million francs worth of gold left, yet the number of people going to exchange was rapidly decreasing.

Now it’s about who can hold on to the end!

He promptly pointed to the safe in the corner and told his assistant, "Take the last 6 million of banknotes to exchange for gold, we must keep the trend of squeezing out funds going!"

Yet the situation still didn’t change; after his 6 million were spent, the squeeze continued for two more days before dropping below 1 million francs a day.

Little did he know, of those squeezing out the funds before, over half were arranged by the French Government.

They exchanged banknotes for gold publicly during the day, returned the gold to the Bank of France at night, and repeated the process during the day to create a serious squeeze-out illusion.

After the news of "gold arriving in Paris" spread, they stopped exchanging, trying to "provoke" the hidden British manipulators.

McGovern suddenly felt a sense of urgency.

After operating for more than twenty days, with victory in sight, the French Government held on with its last breath!

Unwillingly, he wrote a letter to Willberforce, requesting an additional 800 thousand British Pounds, determined to shatter France’s gold reserves.

But it takes at least a week for mail to travel from Paris to London and back, during which he must sustain the heat of the squeeze-out.

McGovern looked at Bruni: "You have high prestige in the Paris financial world, I hope you can help me get a loan of 10 million francs in banknotes."