Joseph didn’t even need to look to know that the following reports were written by renowned scholars he had sought out from the French Academy of Sciences. These scholars lacked Lamark’s academic ethics, and after each received seven to eight hundred livres, they managed to craft reports of “severe drought” in just half a day’s work.
Archbishop Brienne patiently waited for him to flip through the first two reports before speaking with a worried face, “Your Highness, the conclusions of the reports that follow are similar. If such a situation were to truly arise, chaos would undoubtedly ensue…”
Joseph felt a surge of joy in his heart, as these reports were initially intended to give Archbishop Brienne a nudge, after which he could smoothly transition to discussing how to deal with the famine.
Unexpectedly, Archbishop Brienne caught on and initiated the discussion himself.
In fact, after the tax legislation issue last time, Archbishop Brienne had developed the habit of consulting the Crown Prince whenever there was a major concern.
“Just like what happened in Normandy the year before last, oh, and earlier in Burgundy and Reims,” Archbishop Brienne said as he looked at Joseph, “Actually, I was just about to report this to Her Majesty the Queen to prepare in advance…”
Joseph thought he was going to say “relief grain” and was ready to nod in agreement, but then he heard Archbishop Brienne say, “Prepare the army in advance to deal with possible riots.”
Joseph almost choked on his breath. After all that, were you planning to suppress it by force?
Archbishop Brienne was also quite helpless.
Starting from over a decade ago, with frequent natural disasters, France often experienced crop failures, leading to multiple “flour riots.”
From Reims to Burgundy, to Normandy, even the surrounding areas of Paris, the famished broke into bakeries or the homes of nobility, stole flour and bread, and left some money behind at what they deemed a fair price.
This act even had a specific term— “people’s tax.”
The most recent flour riot took place in Normandy the year before last. To quell the riot, the French Government deployed over twenty thousand soldiers and arrested more than five hundred people, barely managing to suppress the unrest.
Now, the French Government was so financially strapped that it couldn’t afford the funds for disaster relief. Seeing the signs of famine, Archbishop Brienne had no other choice but to prepare the military for suppression.
Joseph set those reports aside and said, “Archbishop Brienne, I had already seen these reports through other channels before. I came here today specifically to discuss this matter with you.”
“Oh? What do you suggest, Your Highness?”
“We should find a way to provide the people with food, to avoid the outbreak of riots. As you know, whether it’s rioting or military suppression, both cause serious damage at the local level.”
Archbishop Brienne said with a pained expression, “Your Highness, you’re right, but given our financial situation…”
Joseph hurriedly cut to the chase:
“If we promote the cultivation of potatoes nationwide, we could significantly mitigate the impact of natural disasters.
“With the same piece of land, the yield of potatoes can be four to six times larger than that of wheat.
“Prussia and Austria often encounter natural disasters as well in recent years, but they have far fewer famines than we do. In fact, their agricultural efficiency is nowhere near that of France.”
At that time, both Prussia and Austria were still operating under serfdom, with exceedingly low agricultural productivity.
“They were able to get through the crisis solely by depending on the mass cultivation of potatoes. Without this high-yield crop, the Prussian-Austrian war of ten years ago probably wouldn’t have lasted two months.”
What he referred to was the Bavarian War of Succession. Both the Prussian and Austrian sides, lacking supplies, relied on freshly dug potatoes and stubbornly persisted in fighting for a year. Hence, this war was also called the “Potato War.”
In fact, at present in Europe, only the Catholic countries of France and Italy have a strong aversion to potatoes; in other places, potatoes have long been a common item on people’s dining tables.
Joseph patted the report on the table, “If we also engage in mass potato cultivation, even if disasters lead to a reduced yield, the harvest would still be far greater than that of grains. When the time comes, the government would only need to allocate a small sum of money for disaster relief to get through the crisis.”
Brian still looked troubled, “Your Highness, I have actually looked into this crop as well, and indeed, your method is worth a try.
“The only thing is, to promote potatoes on a large scale still requires a substantial sum of money. Moreover, farmers are very resistant to potatoes…”
Joseph knew he was right. Farmers usually buy seeds for the next season in advance, and if you suddenly want them to switch to planting potatoes, most are unwilling and unable to come up with the money to purchase potatoes for sowing.
He thought for a moment, then said to Brian, “I will find a way to resolve the issue of people being reluctant to eat potatoes. Of course, this also needs the Church to cooperate with the promotion.
“As for the money to buy potatoes, you’ll allocate part from finances, and I’ll cover the rest.
“You need to send people to buy large quantities of potatoes from the northeastern provinces and transport them to other provinces. First, distribute them free to farmers for planting; after harvest, they need only to return two-thirds of the amount.
“If really no one wants to plant them, then keep the potatoes locally, stored as disaster relief grain.
Brian roughly calculated and frowned, “Your Highness, to achieve the necessary scale of planting, we need at least five million livres, and the government’s finances could at most provide one million.”
Joseph nodded, “Alright, within half a month, I will arrange a loan of four million livres to the government through the Bank of France Reserve.”
While he didn’t have much cash on hand, he could mortgage the shares of the paper mill to Mirabeau and others for a loan, and sell some shares of the Parisian Angels; raising four hundred or so million wouldn’t be difficult.
And in a few months, Paris Fashion Week would bring in a considerable profit.
The two then discussed the details of the potato promotion work, and Brian convened his subordinates to start formulating a detailed potato promotion plan.
This matter sounded simple, but it involved the entire food production of France, with innumerable tedious tasks; it was not something that could be implemented at will.
For example, how many potatoes should be transported to each region, what to do if some places are willing to plant or there is not enough supply, how to buy potatoes from Prussia or Austria to replenish their food supply after the northeastern provinces transport theirs out, and how the Church would follow the potato delivery teams and convince farmers to change their prejudice against potatoes, etc.
All of these required very detailed planning.
Seeing he couldn’t be of much help anymore, Joseph prepared to stand up to take his leave.
Brian escorted him to the gate of the Palace of Versailles, still worried, “Your Highness, do you really have a way to make those farmers willing to eat potatoes?”
Joseph sighed, nodded, and said, “Please be assured, as long as we continue to promote, if two or three out of ten people accept potatoes, it will have a significant effect on alleviating the famine.”
In fact, he had already instructed Denico to start printing a booklet on popularizing potatoes yesterday, and he had already planned more promotional methods in his mind, which would soon begin to roll out.
