The Crown Prince of France - Chapter 107

Chapter 107: The Flour Riots

Joseph didn't need to look at the reports to know that they were all written by renowned scholars he had hired at the French Academy of Sciences. Unlike Lamarck, these scholars had no academic integrity. Each one, after receiving seven or eight hundred livres, spent just a few hours compiling reports about a "severe drought."

Bishop Brienne waited patiently for Joseph to finish reading the first two reports before he spoke with a worried expression: "Your Highness, the following reports reach similar conclusions. If this situation really does occur, it will definitely cause serious trouble..."

Joseph felt a surge of joy in his heart. After all, the purpose of these reports was to prompt Brienne, allowing Joseph to smoothly bring up the issue of how to address the impending famine.

He hadn't expected Brienne to be so insightful, raising the matter himself.

In fact, ever since the issue with the tax legislation, Brienne had developed the habit of consulting the Crown Prince whenever a major problem arose.

"As we saw in Normandy two years ago, and even earlier in Burgundy and Reims," Brienne continued, glancing at Joseph, "I was actually just about to report this to Her Majesty the Queen, to prepare in advance..."

Joseph thought he was about to mention "disaster relief grain," and was about to nod in agreement when Brienne added, "to prepare the army to deal with the potential uprisings."

Joseph nearly spat out his drink. After all that, you intend to suppress the people with military force?

In truth, Brienne felt just as helpless.

Since over a decade ago, natural disasters had been frequent, and poor harvests were common across France, leading to several "flour riots."

From Reims to Burgundy, Normandy, and even the areas around Paris, starving people stormed bakeries or the homes of the nobility, stealing flour and bread, leaving behind money at what they deemed a reasonable price.

This act even had a special term—"the people's tax."

The most recent flour riot occurred two years ago in Normandy. The French government had deployed over 20,000 soldiers to suppress the riots, arresting more than 500 people before they managed to quell the uprising.

Now, with the French government nearly bankrupt, there was no way to raise funds for disaster relief. Seeing the signs of a potential famine, Brienne had no other choice but to prepare the army for suppression.

Joseph placed the reports aside and said, "Bishop Brienne, I had already seen these reports through other channels before. I came here today to discuss the matter with you."

"Oh? What do you mean, Your Highness?"

"We should try to provide food for the people to avoid uprisings. As you know, whether it's a rebellion or military suppression, it will cause severe destruction to the local areas."

Brienne frowned and said, "Your Highness, you are right, but given our financial situation..."

Joseph quickly interrupted, getting to the point:

"If we promote the nationwide planting of potatoes, it will greatly mitigate the impact of natural disasters.

"If the same land is used for potatoes instead of wheat, the yield can be four to six times higher.

"Prussia and Austria have frequently faced natural disasters in recent years, but they experience famine much less often. The truth is, their agricultural efficiency is far lower than that of France."

At this point, both Prussia and Austria still had a feudal system, meaning their agricultural productivity was quite low.

"The reason they were able to get through the crisis was entirely due to large-scale potato cultivation. Without such a high-yield crop, the War of Austrian Succession ten years ago wouldn't have lasted even two months."

He was referring to the Bavarian War of Succession. The Prussians and Austrians, lacking supplies, relied on freshly dug potatoes to sustain themselves and managed to fight for over a year. As a result, the war became known as the "Potato War."

In fact, only Catholic countries like France and Italy in Europe strongly rejected potatoes; in other places, potatoes had long become a staple food.

Joseph tapped the reports on the table. "If we also plant a large amount of potatoes, even if the harvest is affected by a disaster, the yield will still be far higher than that of grains. In that case, the government would only need to allocate a small amount of money for disaster relief to weather the crisis."

Brienne still appeared troubled. "Your Highness, I have also looked into this crop, and what you propose is indeed worth trying.

"But to promote potatoes on a large scale, we would still need a significant amount of funds. Moreover, the farmers are very resistant to planting potatoes..."

Joseph knew he was right. Farmers usually purchased the seeds for the next season in advance. Telling them to switch to potatoes at this point was not only unwelcome but would require a large sum of money to buy enough potato seeds for planting.

He thought for a moment and said to Brienne, "As for the people's resistance to eating potatoes, I will find a way to resolve that. Of course, we will need the Church to assist in promoting the idea.

"As for the funds to purchase potatoes, you can allocate part of it from the treasury, and I will cover the rest myself.

"You need to send people to the northeastern provinces to buy a large quantity of potatoes and distribute them to the other provinces. We will provide the potatoes to the farmers free of charge for planting, and after the harvest, they will only need to repay two-thirds of the amount.

"If some people still refuse to plant, the potatoes will remain in the local areas as disaster relief supplies."

Brienne roughly calculated the figures and frowned. "Your Highness, to achieve a sufficient scale of planting, at least five million livres will be required, but the government can only spare one million."

Joseph nodded. "Alright, in half a month, I will arrange a loan of four million livres for the government through the French Reserve Bank."

Though he didn't have much cash on hand, he could pledge shares in the paper mill to Mirabeau and others for a loan, and sell some shares in the Paris Angel Company. Raising around four million livres wouldn't be difficult.

And in a few months, the Paris Fashion Week would bring in significant profits.

The two continued discussing the details of promoting potatoes, and Brienne then summoned his subordinates to begin working on a detailed potato promotion plan.

Although the idea sounded simple, it involved the entire French food production system, and there were many small details that required careful planning—it was not something that could be implemented haphazardly.

For instance, how many potatoes needed to be transported to each region, how to manage the supplies if certain areas were willing to plant or lacked enough, and how to supplement supplies by purchasing from Prussia or Austria after sending potatoes from the northeastern provinces. Furthermore, the Church had to follow the potato convoys to persuade farmers to change their prejudices against potatoes.

All of this required meticulous planning.

Joseph, seeing that there was nothing more he could contribute, prepared to take his leave.

Brienne escorted him to the gates of the Palace of Versailles, still concerned. "Your Highness, do you really have a way to make the farmers willing to eat potatoes?"

Joseph sighed and nodded. "Rest assured, as long as we continue to promote it, if two or three out of every ten people accept potatoes, it will make a significant impact in alleviating the famine."

In fact, he had already ordered Denico to start printing pamphlets to educate the public about potatoes, and he had planned several other promotional methods that would soon be set into motion.

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