I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 380 Expectation Management
Joseph slammed his hand on the table and shouted, "That's right! We must come up with a land redemption plan immediately!"

Brian hurriedly said: "Your Highness, but the plan..."

Joseph ignored him and turned to Queen Mary and said, "Your Majesty, please rest assured that I will be able to come up with a suitable redemption plan within ten days, and the situation will be settled in a month at most!"

Queen Mary was stunned when she heard this. She had urgently summoned cabinet ministers to discuss countermeasures because of the riots, but the Crown Prince seemed to take it not seriously at all?
"But the land redemption plan has been in the works for nearly half a year, and it has not yet satisfied all parties." Queen Mary looked at her son in disbelief, "Are you really sure?"

Joseph thought that originally there was no chance, but after the commotion of the people of the Southern Netherlands, he now had 80 to 90 percent chance of success.

But on the surface, he just said confidently: "Yes, Your Majesty, I suddenly thought of a very suitable plan when I was in Luxembourg."

Queen Marie looked around at the other cabinet ministers and saw that no one raised any objections - Brian, Baron de Breteuil and others originally wanted to say something, but after Joseph gave them a look, they immediately lowered their heads and kept silent.

"So, is it decided?" Queen Mary looked at everyone again, "The Crown Prince will be responsible for drawing up a land redemption plan, and everyone should cooperate with him as much as possible. The meeting is adjourned."

The originally grand temporary cabinet meeting ended within half an hour.

When Joseph came out of the conference hall, Archbishop Briand, Vergniaud and Talleyrand immediately followed him, all looking worried.

The three of them looked at each other, and Brian was the first to speak: "Your Highness, you know that the land redemption plan cannot satisfy everyone. The revision request you gave me last week has only been completed by one third..."

Minister of Agriculture Veniolan also took two quick steps forward and whispered, "Your Highness, I think that if the Southern Netherlands are involved in this matter, then they are probably waiting for us to announce the plan. Then they can take the opportunity to incite those who are dissatisfied and cause even greater chaos."

Talleyrand immediately responded, "Your Highness, perhaps we should mobilize the army and head to the northwestern provinces. This is the fastest way to quell the chaos."

Joseph glanced at him and shook his head secretly. The deployment of troops would be exactly what Van der Nott wanted. France had limited troops left in the country, and if things got out of hand, they would have to withdraw troops from overseas to maintain order.

As they were talking, they had already arrived at Joseph's bedroom. He motioned for them to sit down and said with a smile, "Please believe me, I do have some ransom plans that can work quickly."

"Quick effect?" Brian bowed his head and pondered. "You mean, significantly reduce the redemption fee, appease the farmers who are making trouble, and calm the situation?"

"No, on the contrary." Joseph said loudly, "Please spread the news in the Northwestern Provinces that the government intends to set the redemption period at 50 years."

"what?!"

Joseph ignored the shocked expressions of the others and added: "The land also needs to be redeemed for 50 years of various rents and taxes, and they must be paid in full at one time."

Brian and the others' faces darkened when they heard this.

The rumor that a 30-year ransom fee was required sparked riots, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince suddenly increased it to 50 years!
Are you trying to provoke the peasants to overthrow the Palace of Versailles?

Talleyrand was the first to react: “Your Highness, do you want to protect the interests of the nobles and ask them to help calm the situation?
"By the way, I heard that recently many young nobles spontaneously went to Lille and Reims, ready to teach those rioters a lesson. Your Highness's plan will surely encourage more people to participate!"

Brian shook his head anxiously: "Your Highness, this will make the situation even more chaotic..."

Joseph just looked at the Minister of Agriculture calmly: "I have decided, please announce it." "This... is, Your Highness."

After Vergniaud got up and left, Joseph said to Talleyrand: "Please use your social skills to spread the news in the Palace of Versailles, saying that the 50-year plan is just Vergniaud's wishful thinking. The cabinet has decided that in order to quell the riots as soon as possible, the redemption period will be limited to 2 years, and no rent and taxes will be redeemed."

Talleyrand's eyes widened immediately: "Your Highness, the nobles will definitely go crazy..."

"I just want them to go crazy." Joseph smiled and nodded, "It's called 'expectation management'.

"Only if we first significantly lower everyone's expectations and then offer them a slightly better plan will they be willing to accept it."

Briand and Talleyrand were stunned for a moment. It was indeed as His Royal Highness the Dauphin said, when both the nobles and the common people were despairing of the "vicious" redemption plan, if the government came up with a compromise plan of 10 to 15 years, both sides might be relieved and agree to it.

Brian then thought of another question and frowned at Joseph: "Your Highness, but before that, the country may be in great chaos... I mean, the plans you gave to both sides are too harsh and will surely arouse their anger."

Joseph nodded. "You are right. So, now is the time to invite our friends, the Southern Netherlands, to come on stage."

"what?"

……

Reims city.

Saint Just waved his hands vigorously at the peasants holding flintlock rifles behind him and shouted angrily: "50 years! Those vampires just want to suck us dry!
"Only by taking power away from them can we have a chance to survive!"

Among the crowd behind him, some liberals immediately shouted, "Let the Estates General decide how to redeem it!"

"We will never accept a 50-year buyout policy!"

"Drive out those greedy officials and restart the Estates General!"

"Constitution! We need a constitution without the king!"

A few days ago, the riots they instigated were dispersed by the Reims police. They thought it would take some time to plan before launching a new round of riots, but they did not expect that the French government suddenly "helped a lot."

The terrible policy of "buying back the land for 50 years including taxes and rents" immediately aroused the fury of the peasants. They just made a random call, and the peasants from the surrounding villages of Reims immediately gathered here and followed them to start a riot.

Led by Saint Just and others, thousands of peasants shouted slogans such as "Three-Level Conference" and "Drive Out Corrupt Officials", and rushed towards the City Hall with pitchforks, sticks and muskets.

Just as they turned around Nafful Street and were only three blocks away from the City Hall, more than 200 young nobles in hunting suits suddenly rushed towards them in five neat rows with murderous eyes.

Saint Just was stunned for a moment, but then he linked arms with the peasants on both sides and shouted: "The king's lackeys are coming! Don't be afraid, we have more people than them!"

(End of this chapter)