Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 1198: Chapter 1103: The Empire’s Little Trouble

In the office of the Chat Han Shipyard located in East London, Director Sir Hope pounded the table and shouted at the procurement officer in front of him: “Give those damn French people gold coins, women, as much as you want, it’s what you’re best at, just get me those damn steam engines!”

The procurement officer lowered his head and quietly said, “We’ve tried all those methods, Director, but they still refuse to sell…”

Hope angrily kicked over the coat rack and yelled at the procurement officer: “Don’t just stand there, go think of another way!”

He had thought that buying a batch of French steam engines to use on steam paddle ships, for delivery of the soon-to-default order, could solve the current crisis—though the French steam engines required quite a bit of adaptation work, most of the ship-buying clients would be willing to wait a bit rather than cancel their orders.

He just didn’t expect the French people to refuse the large order for 70 steam engines, even at a price 35% higher than the market rate.

Hope looked out at the mouth of the Thames River, where numerous steam paddle ships with completed hulls were floating, and felt a sharp pain in his heart.

The cost of shipbuilding is tremendously high; these over 60 ships have consumed nearly seventy percent of the shipyard’s funds, and now not only can they not recover the ship payments, but they also face another huge compensation for breach of contract.

“Those cursed French!” Hope cursed loudly, unable to fathom why the French United Steam Engine Company wouldn’t profit.

Of course, if he knew that the major shareholder behind the United Steam Engine Company and the Brest Shipyard was the same person, perhaps he wouldn’t be so bewildered.

The steam paddle ship orders lost by Chat Han Shipyard would all be transferred to Brest, yielding profits several times higher than selling just the steam engines alone.

Moreover, Chat Han is one of the main shipyards for the British Navy, and Joseph would dearly love to see it shut down for good.

The door was knocked, and Hope’s assistant slipped into the room, first shutting the door behind him, then speaking nervously: “Director, it’s said the board decided to hold a meeting tomorrow morning for a vote of confidence on you.”

For some reason, Hope felt a bit relieved hearing this. If he could throw down this mess of a shipyard and retire immediately, it didn’t seem so bad after all.

He sighed and said to his assistant: “Get ready, we’re going to see the Earl.”

Middleton is the Comptroller of the Navy Board, managing all the shipbuilding funds of the British Navy.

…

Ten Downing Street.

Lord Grenville was about to speak when shouts from the street outside interrupted him.

“Lower sugar prices!”

“Severely punish the corrupt officials manipulating sugar prices!”

“Thoroughly investigate the short selling of sugar price cases…”

“Send those black-hearted corrupt officials to prison…”

Earl Spencer, the Minister of the Interior, turned pale and signaled to his assistant standing at the door, gritting his teeth and whispering: “How did these guys make it to Downing Street? Disperse them immediately!”

“Yes, sir.”

Grenville frowned and said, “Find out immediately who is spreading these damn rumors, and arrest them.”

It’s unknown when, but the British public everywhere had come to believe that the sugar price increase was due to “government high officials short-selling sugar prices for profit, resulting in an opération gone wrong and a market retaliatory price rebound.”

Earl Spencer thought to himself that “in some way it’s not necessarily a rumor,” but he still bowed immediately and said, “Yes, Prime Minister.”

Admittedly, the United Irishmen Association is indeed very adept at creating and spreading rumors.

Not only do they have a large number of people, but they also normally like to curse the British Government the most. Now, with someone having written a script for them to follow, and receiving a 5-shilling stipend every month, it’s as if they’ve been injected with adrenaline; besides eating and sleeping, they never stopped talking.

This method was far more effective than distributing pamphlets.

Soon, the sounds of police whistles and the screams and curses of the protest crowd came from outside the window, which quickly turned into silence.

Earl Spencer cleared his throat lightly and spoke first: “Prime Minister, perhaps we need to consider increasing sugar subsidies. The current sugar price is a bit high; if not resolved, the riots will be difficult to quell.”

Grenville glanced at the subsidy proposal submitted by the trade consultant three days ago: “To suppress the sugar price to 2 shillings and 3 pence per pound, at least an increase of 2 million British Pounds in subsidies is needed.”

He glanced gratefully at William Pitt Junior on the side. If it weren’t for the latter managing to secure 120,000 stockpiles of cane sugar, the subsidy number would have reached as high as 2.5 million.

The room fell silent for a moment, and Finance Minister Petit excitedly shouted: “No, Prime Minister, our finances cannot provide such a large sum! We cannot compromise with those thugs outside, high sugar prices are an obligation every individual should bear!”

Grenville did not blame him for his rudeness, calmly asking instead: “What amount of subsidy do you think is appropriate?”

“1 million British Pounds…” Petit hesitated for a moment and continued, “at most 1.2 million. Even this money must wait for the next two rounds of banknote issuances from the Bank of England to be available.”

Hmm, over the past half year, British finances have developed a dependency on issuing more currency.

From hesitant beginnings to discussing issuance amounts without any psychological pressure, and now the plan is executed steadily according to a semi-annual issuance schedule.

Grenville compared the subsidy plans and shook his head slightly: “A subsidy of 1.2 million corresponds to a sugar price close to 3 shillings per pound, which is still too high.”

Petit immediately said: “For anyone dissatisfied with this price, let the militia and mounted police reason with them.”

Grenville shook his head again, not saying anything, when Prime Minister’s industry consultant Sir Reid stepped forward and said: “Gentlemen, actually we have a small issue to deal with quickly.”

Everyone turned to look at him simultaneously.

Reid placed a report in front of Grenville and continued: “I believe everyone has heard about the Bolton-Watt Steam Engine Company incident.

“In fact, after the investment fund investigation, their accounts involve a large amount of cross-assets, leading to a severe overestimation of their funds…

“Let me speak directly about the result, this company needs to pay 110,000 British Pounds in breach penalties within a month, and their real funds are—negative 30,000 British Pounds.

“Their stock price this morning was 7 British Pounds and 3 shillings per share, which means they are already effectively bankrupt.”

“Damn!” Petit cursed, “We shouldn’t have invested so much in them before. Fine, let them collapse. Someone will take over their premises and workers and continue producing steam engines.”

Reid shook his head: “This company probably cannot fail; their steam engines pertain to a large number of orders at Chat Han Shipyard and the next generation of Royal Naval ships.

“Moreover, I must remind you that dozens of factories are supplying parts for Bolton-Watt or undertaking businesses such as constructing premises for them and transporting products.

“If they collapsed, it might lead to a situation similar to the gas street lantern project back then.