Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Estate Owner Marie's eyes lit up upon hearing the news.

Recently, he had been troubled by the inability to sell his wine—Champagne was flooded with wineries, and the production was extremely high; the local market simply couldn't absorb so much wine, and most of the produced wine had to be sold in the Germany region.

Unexpectedly, today a merchant caravan came to his door to solve his problem.

Moreover, the trading terms they offered were even more generous than previous caravans. Previously, caravans returning from Germany always had to return quite a bit of spoiled wine. Some caravans even deducted a 5% "sour wine discount" directly before payment.

But this Mr. Bona told him that now all these could be compensated through what is called "property insurance," and he wouldn't have to pay a penny!

Just this alone could save him nearly a thousand francs in losses each year.

Marie asked curiously, "Mr. Bona, how did you manage to sign such a favorable insurance agreement?"

"This is a trade secret," Bona first shook his head, then with a troubled expression whispered, "But we are already friends, so I can reveal some to you.

"Our caravan belongs to the French Trade Alliance. The Alliance has signed a 'general contract' with the Royal Insurance Company, involving an insured amount up to nearly a million francs. So whether the caravan encounters robberies or goods are accidentally damaged, we can get insurance compensation.

"Oh, ordinary caravans absolutely can't get such favorable conditions."

Marie instantly showed an understanding look, then smiled like a cunning fox, "If that's the case, we can completely join forces to get some benefits from the insurance company. For example, we could return some good wine as if it was defective, collect the insurance money, then resell it..."

"That's not possible!" Bona shook his head decisively, "There are insurance company dispatchers in our caravan; they keep an eye on the goods at all times."

A joke—the Trade Alliance and the insurance company were backed by the same person—Crown Prince; how could they allow themselves to be undercut, letting a small wine merchant take advantage?

Regretfully, Marie pursed his lips and then nodded, "So let's go with what you said, 310 francs per barrel."

He motioned towards the oak barrels stacked behind him, emitting a rich aroma of wine, "There are a total of 121 barrels. Only..."

He hesitated a bit, "I hope you can pay 20,000 francs in one go. Oh, please understand, we have never worked with your caravan before, so..."

Usually, caravans only paid 30% of the money when purchasing goods, at most 40%, the rest being paid after the goods were sold. But Marie was asking for more than 50% upfront.

Of course, "never having cooperated" was just his excuse. After all, the Trade Minister and the Champagne Governor had both issued documents, vouching for the credibility of the Trade Alliance; there basically wasn't a situation that would make him uneasy.

It was just that recently a large amount of wine had backed up, causing his funds to run low, which made him want to ask for more money.

However, he didn't hold much hope; if Bona refused, then that was that. After all, there were no other channels to sell the wine at the moment.

Unexpectedly, Bona hesitated only slightly before nodding and saying, "To demonstrate our sincerity for our first cooperation, I can pay you that much. Of course, the down payment for subsequent transactions will still need to return to the normal level of 30%."

"Yes, yes, still 30% in the future. You truly are a generous gentleman," Marie was overjoyed, afraid Bona would change his mind, and hurried him into the office to immediately sign the agreement.

Bona also revealed a relaxed smile. This was already the third deal he had secured today.

His boss had tasked him to "restore Champagne's trade at the fastest speed," and the financial aspect was abundantly sufficient, giving him an advantage in negotiations.

In fact, for the Trade Alliance, these transactions were very cost-effective.

For example, the high-end wines from Marie's estate, normally sold for at least 330 francs per barrel, but due to recent disruptions in business routes, the estate owners had to lower their prices to sell. The Trade Alliance swooping in at this time, in turn, made a substantial profit.

One week later. Find your next adventure on My Virtual Library Empire

Members of the French Trade Alliance, the Picard-Brown caravan from Champagne, led by Bona and others, majestically headed towards Strasbourg.

From there, they would enter Baden and begin a month-long sales journey in the Germany region.

Meanwhile, in a villa east of Champagne City, François Revne stood by the window, watching the caravan's departure, his face so dark it could drip water.

He was the owner of Champagne's largest "Credit and Quality Caravan," previously holding nearly forty percent of Champagne's goods trade.

This time, he had paused all caravan activities at the request of the major shareholder Viscount Ford, who had compensated him with as much as 10,000 francs for this matter.

Initially, he thought he had made a great deal—without his caravan, Champagne's estates or workshops couldn't find another channel to sell so much merchandise. So he only needed to wait two or three months, and those deals would still be his.

Even then, to sell the goods sooner, they would have to significantly lower prices, and signs of this had already begun to appear recently.

However, the suddenly emerged Picard-Brown caravan, like a monster, swallowed nearly all of Champagne's stockpile, setting off for Germany today.

He couldn't figure out how this small caravan, with assets not exceeding 30,000 francs, managed to assemble so much money. Taking over nearly half of Champagne's goods would need at least 400,000 francs!

Just then, Revne's son burst in, frowning as he said, "Father, I've found out.

"Picard has joined an organization called the 'French Trade Alliance' and thus obtained substantial investment."

Revne's eyes widened in shock. "400,000 francs! That much?"

"It seems, yes."

Revne collapsed into a chair, utterly disheartened. If that was the case, then currently, the largest caravan in Champagne was Picard-Brown.

And because of his sudden interruption of trade, he certainly had spoiled his reputation among all estates and workshops. It could be foreseen that in future competitions, he would definitely be at a severe disadvantage.

"Ford," he hissed fiercely, "you really screwed me over!"

He had earned Ford's 10,000 francs of benefits, but was likely to lose more than 50,000 in profits this year.

His son, lost in thought for a while, finally looked at him and said, "Father, do you think, the person behind that 'French Trade Alliance' could be Ford?"

Revne froze at once.

His son's words were entirely plausible.

Ford, with wealth rivaling nations, could easily come up with such a large investment.

So, this guy intended to trap him and then take control of Champagne's trade routes!