Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Ford was shocked when he heard the news, “Has Brian gone mad? Does he really intend to cause a government shutdown?”

Hope slightly frowned and raised his hand to interrupt him, “Please calm down, Brian is most likely bluffing. We often see such behavior in merchants who really want to buy but pretend to walk away to lower the price.”

“But what if Brian really did get 200 million francs?” Charles said nervously, “What should we do then?”

The assets of these financial magnates could not just lie in accounts, for many of them were managed for other investors under long-term agreements.

That meant they had to pay interest to others at all times. If they could not generate more profit from this money, they would lose a lot significantly.

Fankevich disdainfully said, “The government can’t possibly raise that much money. I bet that within no more than 10 days, Brian will come back to us, begging.”

“But what if the government really abolishes the tax farming system? We must be prepared!”

Hope pondered for a moment, then nodded, “You are right; we need to be prepared in advance. The real issue now is whether the government has indeed raised enough funds to sustain its operations.”

Ford immediately replied, “Such a large sum of money must be kept in a bank. With the association’s connections, it’s not impossible to find out.”

Tax Farmers were currently a very popular investment in France. Therefore, members of the Tax Farmers Association could range from the Royal Family to ordinary landlords. Even scholars like Lavoisier had invested several hundred thousand leva to farm the tobacco tax in certain regions.

Thus, the Tax Farmers Association’s reach could extend into all aspects of French society. After all, when it involved their interests, if necessary, the Tax Farmers were all willing to provide intelligence for the Association, which was where Ford drew his confidence from.

Hope nodded, “Then it’s up to you, make sure to find out quickly how much money Brian has got.”

In the hunting ground, the news had all the financial moguls gathering, discussing the tax negotiation in an uproar, no longer in the mood for hunting, letting the servants run around with the dogs.

…

London City Hall.

Mayor Herbert of London stared gloomily at the standing mine manager of Lightning Coal, upset, “It’s been two whole months now, and besides the coal storage and office building, there’s been no progress on installing the vital equipment!”

He was directly responsible for the London coal gas streetlamp project, which greatly affected his career prospects, so every few days he needed to check on the project’s progress.

Yet, two months had passed, and all that could be seen were large pits dug along Paris streets for laying pipes and those useless buildings in the gas distillery.

Styler looked troubled and finally stammered, “Mr. Mayor, the construction of the dry distillation retorts actually started last month…”

“But I haven’t seen anything.”

“The problem genuinely lies with the technicians,” Styler shrugged, “Our chief technician, Mr. Hannes, ran away with his wife’s sister at the beginning of this month, taking all his possessions…”

“?!”

“I heard he invested in a shipping company and failed, owing several thousand British Pounds. To avoid debts, he fled to the United States, and some say Brazil—I’m not sure of the details.

“Previously, Hannes was responsible for all technical details of the dry distillation retorts. His departure inevitably affected the project’s progress.”

He didn’t wait for Herbert to get angry before he quickly added, “But don’t worry, we still have the technical blueprints. Once the other technicians in the company familiarize themselves with them, construction can begin immediately.”

Herbert took a deep breath and said, “I don’t want to see any further delays in the schedule, otherwise, I’ll have to deduct your company’s penalty fee according to the contract!”

“Yes, yes, Sir. I’ll do my best to get back on schedule.”

Styler said more polite words and then left.

Once he returned to his office, he only had his servant make a cup of tea, then leisurely flipped through the newspaper.

Yes, his task was to delay the project.

It was only the beginning; Captain Deloney had already prepared a large number of excuses for him—starting with the chief technician fleeing due to debt.

Next would be the excavation of a body at the company’s construction site, but the police were already bribed and just surveying the scene repeatedly would take half a month, and Styler himself would become a suspect, interrogated by the police for a month before being proven innocent.

Then, several technicians would bet to swim in the Thames River in winter, ending up missing collectively. The company would organize a large-scale search along the river and busy themselves for a month without surprise.

Later, Hannes’s wife would find out her husband sneaked back home to get the deed, and in a fit of rage, try to burn him alive, but instead set the coal storage on fire…

In short, Lightning Coal would be plagued with various “misfortunes” over the next year, almost constantly making headlines. In such a situation, even if City Hall had major complaints, they would be hard-pressed to express them.

Of course, the penalties for delaying the project were definite, and according to the contract signed with London City Hall, the penalties were extremely high.

But did Styler care about the penalties? Not at all. They could be deducted from the project funds, 260,000 British Pounds would be enough.

He would even claim “cash flow issues” as the reason to request that the penalties not be deducted from the initial payments…

Meanwhile, because Lightning Company had not committed any severe breaches—such as insufficient technical capacity or malicious delay of the project—London City Hall could not cancel the contract without having to pay a penalty of 120,000 British Pounds.

And even if the City Hall considered cutting its losses, the subcontractors below would do everything possible to make them reconsider. They had advanced a lot of funds, and Lightning Company hadn’t settled those yet…

…

Southern Suburb of Paris.

Ford looked solemnly at the Tax Farmers magnates before him, speaking in a low voice, “I’ve had someone check, and the situation might be a bit tricky.”

Someone immediately asked anxiously, “What happened?”

“My friend at the bank personally saw that over the last three months, more than 100 million francs have been steadily transferred into the government’s financial accounts. Moreover, it continues at a rate of 10 million francs a week. At this rate, by early December, it will reach 200 million francs.”

Everyone was shocked, “Where did Brian get the money?”

“Is the information accurate? Could it be…” Discover exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire

Ford shook his head despondently, “Several of my friends at the Bank of France Reserve independently verified it; the accounts are clear. Moreover, many provinces have also received funding.”