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Bordeaux, as France’s most important export location for grape wine, is the soul of the city with its wine trade.
The Royal Square, which adjoins Bordeaux’s core transportation waterway—the Garonne River, was once the residence of Louis XV, but now the King no longer comes here. Consequently, the vast square and the adjacent palace have become a trading place for wine merchants and cellar owners.
So people prefer to call it Exchange Square.
Here, massive amounts of wine are traded every day, then sent all over Europe and even across to the Americas.
At this moment, in the grand palace’s main conference hall in front of Exchange Square, there were gathered fifty to sixty noblemen or their representatives.
These noblemen all share another identity, that of grape plantation owners.
They own the vast majority of vineyards in the Bordeaux region and also operate winemaking workshops, controlling nearly sixty percent of France’s grape wine production industry.
Three days ago, they received an invitation from Count Montsorro, the Governor. In the invitation, the Governor mentioned that the real convenor of the meeting was His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.
Out of respect for these two prominent figures, all invitees set out early and converged on Exchange Square.
Three o’clock in the afternoon.
A melodious tune came from outside the main conference hall of the Exchange Palace, drawing the plantation owners’ gaze toward the main door. They saw Governor Montsorro respectfully following a young man in a dark blue coat, entering the hall one after another.
Everyone knew it must be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, so they all rose respectfully, bowing their heads in salute to the young man.
After the Governor formally introduced the Crown Prince and delivered a brief opening speech, Joseph, seated in front of the hall, raised his hand to signal to the plantation owners and said loudly, “Thank you all for attending this meeting.”
First following convention, he talked of Bordeaux’s “long history and abundance of products,” then got straight to the point, “The main reason we are here today is to talk about potato cultivation.”
Whispers immediately filled the room:
“I knew it; it has to do with those damn potatoes.”
“They’ve been rushing us to plant this stuff for half a month, who knows if it will lose money.”
“Exactly, planting grains is risk-free…”
“Let them talk. As for me, I won’t plant a single potato unless they reduce the land tax.”
“Even the Austrian lady is sending the Crown Prince; she must really care about this.”
“So, this is a good opportunity. We must stand together and get him to lower the land tax…”
“No! It’s about abolishing the land tax altogether…”
Most of these men spoke in low voices, but a few deliberately spoke loudly enough for the Crown Prince to hear.
Joseph smiled slightly and ignored them, continuing, “In recent years, droughts have often occurred, and everyone’s harvests have been very bad. Potatoes yield a high output and could quickly alleviate the shortage of food caused by disasters.”
He looked around the room and said, “Therefore, I hope you will heed His Majesty the King’s call and plant more potatoes during spring sowing. Oh, the potatoes for ‘seed’ should arrive in Bordeaux in about ten days.”
As land aristocrats, these grape plantation owners also controlled a large amount of arable land in the Bordeaux region. As long as they cooperated, potatoes could be easily cultivated on a large scale.
Below, a nobleman with a peculiar upturned nose tentatively called out, “Your Highness, could you consider reducing the land tax a little?”
Immediately someone responded, “Count Ledney is right; planting potatoes might lose money, it would be best to reduce the land tax as compensation.”
“Please promise to lower the land tax first.”
“That’s a separate issue.” Joseph said indifferently, “If you have opinions on the land tax, you may propose them to the Finance Minister and submit them for review by the High Court. Today, I am only talking about potatoes.”
The noblemen all showed signs of dissatisfaction upon hearing this, and the room fell into silence.
Joseph calmly went on to enumerate the various benefits of planting potatoes, speaking for over half an hour. Finally, he said, “Alright, I understand that switching to a crop you’re unfamiliar with is a difficult decision.
“You may all return and consider it. Tomorrow morning at nine, we will meet here again, and I hope to receive a positive reply from you.”
After Joseph finished speaking, he prepared to leave. Governor Montsorro hurried to the center of the hall, inviting the estate owners to a banquet with a cheerful smile, in an attempt to ease the somewhat awkward atmosphere.
Joseph was well aware that he could have easily presented the “Pasteurization Technique” trump card at the beginning, and likely many estate owners would have chosen to cooperate.
However, doing so would make the land aristocracy feel that they forced the Royal Family into granting these benefits by using “not planting potatoes” as leverage.
Therefore, on his way to Bordeaux, Joseph had already planned to turn passivity into initiative, making the plantation owners realize that cooperating with the Crown Prince is beneficial, and that opposition would only lead to disadvantages.
After a dreary banquet, Montsorro invited Joseph and the nobility to a dance party at his residence.
Fortunately, Bordeaux’s noble young ladies had some awe for the unfamiliar Crown Prince, so Joseph was not “besieged” at the dance party, but instead had the chance to genuinely enjoy some authentic Bordeaux wines.
Just as he managed to get through the party and was stepping out of the dance hall, a middle-aged man hurriedly followed him from behind.
Eman immediately intercepted the man with vigilance.
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