I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 568 The Bad Nature of Capitalists

"Viscount Plummer", also known as Mesmer, then made a high-profile appearance in various high-end social occasions in Vienna. In just a few days, he became a celebrity in the Vienna business circle. With his superb "skills", this was not a difficult task, at least much easier than when he fooled the nobles of the entire Palace of Versailles.

Many Viennese merchants came to do business with this upstart who was "rich", "generous" and "friendly". Mesmer's residence was crowded with people, and even Baroness Waldner took the initiative to become his mistress.

But Viscount Plummer seemed to only recognize French goods, and he would talk about how popular French goods were in European countries whenever he met someone. At the same time, he was disdainful of small business, and he would not even listen to a transaction that did not involve more than 100,000 florins.

Since Austria's "fine method" is not uncommon, no one was surprised.

Soon, his new Viennese friends enthusiastically helped him introduce French goods to sources such as Baron Gratz's Manharz Trading Company, Erwin Renner's caravan, and Stoke Bolasnia's caravan.

A week later.

In the mansion of Viscount Plummer, Kalona flipped through the recently collected information with a smile on his face: "All those who can take out 10 florins of French goods have only started placing orders in the past two months. In addition to them, the Mok Bruno caravan, which used to have the closest business dealings with France, only had less than 4 florins of goods.

"This shows that French goods do not have such amazing sales or exciting sales prospects in Austria. Otherwise, the Mokbruno caravan would not remain indifferent."

Mesmer, who was wearing eight dazzling gem rings on his hands and the most popular Parisian fashion of the season, immediately raised his eyebrows in approval, nodded and said loudly: "I am impressed by your wisdom. You can always see the key to the problem at a glance, Lord Viscount, and I..."

Then he saw Kalona staring at him coldly, and he immediately shrank his neck. He had recently gotten used to playing the role of a wealthy businessman, and at this moment he was still speaking in the manner of Viscount Plummer.

He laughed dryly and became much more humble: "And I noticed one thing from the conversations of the Viennese nobles, that is, these guys who have recently ordered a large amount of goods from France are more or less related to a man named Klestil.

"Graz is his steward's brother-in-law, Renner has worked in his caravan for more than ten years, and Bolasnia is his agent for business in Serbia."

Through this period of contact, Karona was quite shocked by the ability of the liar in front of him - the latter just boasted to the nobles every day, and those people told him many secrets themselves.

You know, the intelligence agency had been investigating for a long time but couldn't find any connection between these people.

"This is indeed very suspicious." Kalona said, looking at the intelligence officer beside him, "Captain Desharet, it seems that you should investigate the relationship between the other people who placed orders and this Klestil."

"I will, Viscount Kalona."

Mesmer continued, “Also, these guys all rejected my trade requests, even if someone I knew introduced them to me.

"Oh, I even asked Baron Waldner to negotiate with Erwin Renner on my behalf. The latter said that he could sell some goods to him, but he had to pay the full amount in advance and refused to provide his bank account."

Kalona sneered, "It's just a crude trick to deceive novices."

Mesmer nodded. “That’s very strange. They’re advertising in the newspapers, but they’re not in the least bit eager to sell their products.

“I’ve inquired, and it’s not just us, no one else has reached a deal with these guys yet.

Soon, Captain Descharette stood up and said in a deep voice: "I think we can submit a report to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

Mesmer immediately recalled Baroness Waldner's various romantic ways in bed, and smacked his lips with some regret. ...

Notre Dame de Paris.

Joseph, who was sitting in the front row, made a prayer gesture with his hands, but he didn't listen to Archbishop Beaumont who was preaching the Holy Word on the stage. Instead, he turned his head and whispered to Mirabeau behind him, "The problem with wine is not that big, after all, it can be stored for a long time. And the Iron and Steel Technology Association should be able to play a role, right?"

Today is Pentecost, and he was "forced" by Queen Mary to attend the large-scale mass, so he had to temporarily change his office location here.

Mirabeau said helplessly: “You know, the competition in the ironworks is also very fierce.

"All factory owners are worried that if they slow down production, others will take away their market share, so even if they may face punishment from the Steel Technology Association, they still go their own way."

Joseph frowned immediately.

Mirabeau had just reported to him that, except for some factories that were fully controlled by the Industrial Development Fund, other factory owners simply ignored his request to slow down the production of orders.

Even if the development fund does not provide financial support, they would rather mortgage their factories to obtain bank loans and desperately compete for orders from Germany or Italy.

This is the nature of capitalists—the pursuit of profits at all costs, even if the devil is waiting for them.

Joseph sighed and asked, "How many orders have been completed so far?"

Mirabeau had obviously done some research and immediately said, "Most factories have completed about a quarter of their work, and some of the more efficient ones have already completed nearly a third."

Joseph has begun to consider whether to use administrative or tax measures to force a cooling down of the production end.

According to Mirabeau's previous statistics, the amount of orders from abroad in the past two and a half months alone has reached 3 to 4 million francs, which has exceeded the limit that the Industrial Development Fund can bear.

Once there are problems with these orders, the development fund and a large number of factories will be directly destroyed.

However, once administrative or tax measures are used, it will also seriously disrupt France's market order and at the very least drive investors away from industrial production.

At this moment, Fouché came over, handed a report to Joseph, and whispered, "Your Highness, it was just sent from Vienna."

Then, under the murderous gaze of Archbishop Beaumont, he hurriedly returned to his seat.

Joseph smiled apologetically at Beaumont, gently unfolded the intelligence, and saw Captain Decharette's report on their actions in Vienna, as well as Kalona's conclusion - there was a high probability that there was a problem with the order, and the buyer would most likely not pay the balance.

"Sure enough."

Joseph handed the report to Mirabeau with a gloomy face. Mirabeau quickly glanced through it and suddenly became serious. "Your Highness, please forgive me for being blunt, but even if I show this report to the factory owners, I'm afraid they will not agree to stop production."

(End of this chapter)