NOVEL NEXT Chapter 26 The Terrible Debt
The next day.
On his first day as assistant to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Joseph went early to the South Palace of Versailles, where the Chancellor's office was on the first floor.
As he walked in a hurry, he couldn't help but think of how he rushed to clock in every morning when working on projects in his previous life.
However, he also used this as an excuse to avoid the tedious breakfast part of the ceremony and simply ate some bread, grilled fish fillet and vegetable soup, which saved a lot of time.
When Eman helped him push open the door of the Chancellor of Finance's office, he immediately saw Brian pounding the table with an angry expression and yelling angrily in a low voice:
"These selfish wretches, they talk about equality and justice, but in fact they only have gold coins in their eyes! Don't they know that this will strangle the entire country's finances?"
Joseph stepped forward to help the brass pen holder that had been knocked down on the table, and asked:
"Archbishop Brian, who are you angry with?"
The secretary on the side quickly whispered:
"Your Highness, yesterday afternoon the High Court formally refused to register the tax bill."
Brian sighed and said bitterly: "Those greedy nobles are going to destroy France just for a little land tax. Don't they know that when that day comes, they will also go to hell!"
As a relatively upright priest, this was already the most vicious curse he could utter.
He turned to Joseph and said apologetically:
"Your Highness, I'm sorry for letting you hear these rude words."
Joseph waved his hand:
"It's okay, Archbishop, I understand how you feel."
Then, he picked up the thick pile of bills that had been returned by the High Court on the table and saw the signature "Not Registered" on it:
"Archbishop Brian, what are you going to do next?"
Brian closed his eyes, pinched his eyebrows lightly, and said dejectedly:
"We can only make some compromises, then seek support from the church, and try our best to convince those selfish and greedy guys."
Joseph shook his head secretly. The other identity of those high priests was nobles. It was simply a dream to expect them to follow the teachings and save the world.
Seeing that he remained silent, Brian sighed again:
"Actually, I also know that this may be of no use. May God bless France."
Joseph frowned slightly, he had to intervene in the tax bill.
This incident seemed to be just the nobles' unwillingness to pay more taxes, but in fact it was a test of the royal power by the nobles.
Historically, Louis XVI used both hard and soft tactics to get the bill, but the nobles relied on the courts and public opinion to defeat him. Since then, the nobles have confirmed that Shiliu is weak and can be bullied, and they have become more unscrupulous in fighting for power from the royal family, and the country has become increasingly chaotic.
So Joseph must cut off this trend.
Use the shortest time to implement the bill, suppress the arrogance of the aristocracy, and let them know that the royal power will always be the father of the aristocracy!
This thing seems difficult to do, but it is not difficult at all.
What the nobles relied on was nothing more than the right to register in the High Court, and to guide public opinion and incite the people to fight against the royal family.
Regarding the former, French courts are notoriously corrupt. No one in the court system is clean. As long as they catch their dirty deeds, there are many levers that can be used.
As for the latter, using the Internet public opinion bombardment of the 21st century and the various tricks of the new media to pay for the so-called public opinion methods of these nobles is basically adults beating primary school students.
Joseph thought for a moment and looked at Brian, as if comforting a helpless old man:
"Archbishop, actually things are not necessarily as bad as you think. Maybe in three or two months, the bill will be passed."
"I hope it is as His Highness said." Brian nodded and walked heavily to his office on the west side. "I will see if there are any concessions in the tax provisions..."
Joseph also returned to the office on the east side and asked his assistant to get internal financial information and look through it carefully.
The more he learned about France's financial situation, the more frightened he became, and it became difficult for the previous finance ministers. He wondered how they managed to prevent the country's finances from collapsing.
France has a total debt of 2 billion livres, most of which is national debt. Sixty percent are held by French nationals and 40% are held by foreigners.
The interest on these government bonds is between 8% and 12%, which means that 200 million livres will be paid every year in interest alone!
The country's annual fiscal revenue is only 500 million, 40% of which has to be used to pay interest, and there is no need to even think about repaying the principal.
Historically, it was not until after the Great Edict that the National Convention confiscated all the property of the church, and with the addition of the war dividends won by the emperor through his campaigns in the north and south, this huge hole was barely closed.
In addition to national debt, there is also a more terrifying debt, which is short-term bank debt.
This is a short-term loan borrowed from a bank in the name of the country when the finances encounter liquidity problems. It is usually repaid after selling the national debt, but the interest rate is as high as 15%-25%!
Although this kind of short-term debt is less than 200 million livres, the monthly interest paid to the bank exceeds 1.8 million.
And it is said to be short-term debt, but based on France's current financial situation, it is basically necessary to borrow new debt as soon as the old debt is repaid, which is basically the same as long-term debt.
When Joseph was worried about the debt problem, his assistant knocked on the door and saluted him: "Your Highness, the people from Laborde Bank said that due to temporary business changes, the loan negotiations need to be postponed. The specific date has not been determined yet."
Joseph nodded without paying much attention: "Thank you, I understand."
Only then did he remember that one of his main responsibilities as the assistant to the finance minister was to discuss short-term loan matters with banks. To put it bluntly, it was the operation of borrowing new debt to repay old debt.
He picked up the list of important items that his assistant had already prepared, and sure enough he saw that it included loan negotiations with Laborde Bank at 2 p.m.
This money was mainly used to repay a 6 million 1-year treasury bond due in one month.
According to the original plan, the money would be loaned to two banks respectively and repaid with government bond proceeds two months later. The previous interest rates were 18% and 19%.
"It's really profitable to open a bank in this era." He couldn't help but sigh. In the 21st century, this interest rate would be a proper loan shark.
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