I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 569: Fighting Fraud with Fraud
Joseph clenched his fist and said:

"These stupid guys!"

Archbishop Beaumont's face was filled with embarrassment - His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had just whispered to him, but now he was almost shouting. This was in the cathedral...

He had no choice but to raise his voice as high as possible to try to cover up His Highness's "blasphemous" behavior.

Mirabeau was even more sad:
“Your Highness, there is no concrete evidence in this report, and the belief that there is a problem with the order is just Viscount Kalona’s speculation.

"It would be hard to convince the factory owners with just these. After all, they are all waiting to make a fortune from this...

“Moreover, at present, the transaction procedures and orders are very formal. I mean, it is difficult for us to confirm which orders are problematic and which are normal.

"If factories are forced to reduce production, it will probably affect a large number of normal orders."

Joseph was stunned when he heard this. He really overlooked this problem.

No one can identify all fake orders, so if forceful measures are used to stop them, even if only one out of ten orders is real, it will severely damage the credit of French factories and interrupt the rapid growth of French industry.

If left unchecked, the consequences will be disastrous.

This is a complete conspiracy.

No matter who came up with this plan, Joseph had to admit that the guy was indeed smart and vicious enough.

So, how can we avoid the harm of fake orders without harming real orders?

Mirabeau, who was sitting in the back row, heard Archbishop Beaumont reciting the prayer in a hoarse voice. He crossed himself and murmured:
"Almighty God, please help France get through this crisis."

He immediately shook his head and sighed: "Right now, unless those scammers cancel their orders themselves, there is nothing we can do..."

Joseph was racking his brains for a solution, but when he heard Mirabeau's complaint, he couldn't help but be moved.

Yes, all we have to do is let the person who placed the fake order cancel the order himself.

But how to get them to back off on their own?

Their company, qualifications, procedures, and even the deposit are all real, but only the final payment must be fake. Otherwise, it would not be a fake order.

Therefore, you must hold on to the final payment.

It was the time to distribute Holy Communion, and the place suddenly became quiet. Joseph's brain was working rapidly in this silence, and soon, a smile suddenly appeared on the corner of his mouth.

Since the other party is trying to pull such a big scam, don't blame me for cheating them back!

He took the sacrament and wine from the hands of the deacon, crossed himself hastily, said a prayer, turned and motioned Mirabeau to come closer, and whispered in his ear:
"Please have someone immediately screen all foreign orders worth more than 5 francs, and then ask the factory owners to do this, and then do this..."

Mirabeau's eyes widened immediately: "Your Highness, this... should be feasible, but what if the factory owner is worried about his reputation and is unwilling to cooperate?"

"It doesn't matter. As long as one in ten factories is willing to do this, the others will immediately understand after seeing it."

Mirabeau immediately bowed and said, "Yes, sir, I will do it immediately after the mass."

Joseph thought for a moment and asked again, "By the way, you mentioned before that most of the deposits for those orders have been received?"

"Yes, Your Highness. If this is a scam, they are obviously trying to lure in the factory owners."

Joseph nodded: "But the goods we have produced have far exceeded the amount of the deposit, so we have to make up for it as much as possible."

"What do you mean?" Joseph waved directly to Fouché, who was sitting further back. Seeing that Archbishop Beaumont didn't notice him, the latter quickly slipped over.

"Your Highness, what are your orders?"

"That liar, Mace what is that..."

"It's Mesmer, your highness."

"Oh, yes. I remember Viscount Kalona's report saying that he is now a well-known businessman in Vienna?"

"That's right, Your Highness."

"Okay, tell him to do this in Austria... and find a few factory owners who are willing to cooperate and go to Vienna..."

"Yes, Your Highness," the intelligence chief nodded and quickly wrote it down in his notebook.

Joseph continued, "Also, we need to investigate that guy named Chrystil. He may be the key to all the problems!"

……

More than ten days later.

Vienna.

In the general manager's office of Manharz Trading Company, Baron Gratz looked at the letter sent by the trade director in surprise and said in disbelief:
"How is this possible? Have you confirmed it?"

"Yes, Baron." The trade director nodded. "This was personally delivered by the assistant manager of Gregor Brothers Steel Company. I met him when I signed the order contract."

"But, this..." Graz frowned as he looked at the notice. "They produced more than 72 florins of goods in less than three months?!"

72 florins is 180 million francs, which can be piled into a small mountain if used to buy iron products.

And just this morning, Gregor Brothers Steel Company told him that all the orders placed by Manharts Trading Company had been completed.

Gratz was suddenly a little flustered. According to Klestil's previous instructions, he had to stay in Vienna until October, and he could only withdraw when the production funds invested in the French factory could no longer be withdrawn.

But it is only mid-May and Grigor Brothers Steel Company is about to deliver the order. What should I do?
He had already prepared a way to flee to the United States, but if he left Vienna at this time, all the fake orders would be exposed.

He set up 6 shell companies in total, and commissioned other caravans to place orders for 11 goods from France, with an order value of 350 million florins, or more than 870 million francs.

If I go to the United States at this time, the orders that follow may be interrupted, and Mr. Chrystil's mission cannot be completed, and my commission will be greatly reduced...

No! If I run now, I won't even complete one-third of the mission. Not to mention the commission, Chrystil will probably come after me.

But if he didn't run away, how could he deal with Gregor Brothers Steel Company? Where would he get the money to pay the balance?

Graz was scratching his head anxiously when he heard the trade director say:

"Baron, according to the order agreement, we must pay half of it, which is 36 florins, before the end of the month, and the other half before July..."

"I get it, get out of here!" Graz roared.

In order to stimulate the French factories to invest as much money as possible in expanding production, he even included a clause in the order agreement that "early delivery of goods will receive a reward of 3% of the order amount."

(End of this chapter)