Chapter 610 New Year, New Hope
After talking with George III for nearly two hours, little Pete finally felt confident.
The king still supported him.
He saw the familiar figure of Dr. Willis appearing at the door and said hurriedly:
"Your Majesty, I will calm down the gas street lamp situation as soon as possible. However, Lord Fox... ”
He was talking about James Fox, leader of the opposition Whig party.
"Our focus is on the strategy against France, and this requires a stable cabinet. On the Whig side, I will advise them not to cause trouble."
George III did not finish his words, Dr. Willis had already walked over, leaned forward and said:
"Your Majesty, it's time for you to undergo treatment. There will also be a leech and mustard rehabilitation therapy tonight, which will make your spirit more relaxed."
George III suffers from porphyria, which causes brain problems from time to time, so he has been living in Windsor Castle for treatment recently.
Treatment items include binding, scolding, whipping, sticks, bloodletting, poisonous insects, etc.
Well, the King of England's physical fitness is indeed good, and he endured these "tortures" and mental illness to live to the age of 82.
George III's legs could not help but tremble slightly, but he still gritted his teeth to steady his emotions, and finally told Little Pete:
"If it doesn't work, draw people's attention abroad. , Mr. Prime Minister”
……
In calm days, time always flies by.
Not long after Christmas, the early spring breeze began to caress the land of France.
The conference hall of the Palace of Versailles was warmed by the fireplace, and the cabinet ministers sitting around the conference table were all smiling and chatting in low voices from time to time.
Obviously, in the past year, everyone was quite satisfied with their results. The topic of today's cabinet meeting is the submission of last year's statistics by various departments.
In the past, Joseph discussed the areas they were responsible for individually with each minister, but he has been presiding over cabinet meetings for more than half a year. This year, he simply put the annual summary here.
On the one hand, various departments can compare with each other to increase everyone's sense of competition.
On the other hand, it can also strengthen cooperation between different departments. For example, the Minister of Trade will formulate this year's work plan based on the growth rate of industry.
Queen Mary sat down at the head. After everyone saluted, she looked at Brian with a smile and said:
"Archbishop Brian, please start."
Although she no longer cares about specific affairs, because He was always worried that these unruly ministers would dissatisfy the crown prince, so he insisted on coming to "take charge" of his son.
Brian bowed to the queen and the crown prince, first said some routine remarks, and then went straight to the topic:
"...According to the arrangement of the topic, let me first explain last year's financial situation. "
After hearing this, all the ministers picked up the "1791 National Financial Report" that had been placed on the table and looked through it.
The corners of Brian’s mouth kept rising, and he could not hold it back:
“With the blessing of God, under the careful management of Her Majesty the Queen and Her Royal Highness the Crown Prince, the total fiscal revenue of the country last year was Reaching 740 million francs, an increase of 110 million francs from last year! ”
In fact, the ministers had heard in advance about the huge increase in fiscal revenue, but they did not expect it to increase so much. They were all very excited immediately and nodded their congratulations to Brian.
This is an annual growth rate of up to 17%! Even in the era of the Industrial Revolution, it was an extremely brilliant achievement.
The smile on Brian's face became even thicker. He didn't even look at the document. He had obviously memorized it long ago:
"The total fiscal expenditure last year was 640 million. francs.
“In other words, we achieved a high surplus of 98 million francs! "After he finished speaking, he felt a little choked. He lowered his head and took a few deep breaths to adjust his emotions.
No wonder he was so excited. I can’t remember how long it took. Probably since the late Louis XIV, France’s finances have been plagued by the nightmare of deficit, and all previous finance ministers have been accused of incompetence.
Finally, in this year, a historic turnaround was achieved.
This is definitely a great achievement that will still be mentioned by the French more than a hundred years later!
Queen Mary immediately stood up excitedly and applauded Brian:
"Thank you for your outstanding and productive work! You have opened a new chapter for France and made the country full of hope again!"
Others also stood up and applauded Brian.
Brian looked at Joseph and said seriously:
"All this stems from the major financial and tax reforms led by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. I only acted according to His Highness's instructions. That’s all.”
This is definitely not modesty.
His ability can only be regarded as average among recent finance ministers. If His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had not made many strange moves, let alone fiscal surpluses, he might have stepped down due to debt crises countless times in the past two years.
The ministers all looked at Joseph in unison, their eyes clearly saying - indeed.
Joseph smiled and said: "The French finance will always have a surplus in your hands, Archbishop Brian, and no one will ignore your huge contribution. Congratulations to you, and congratulations to France!"< br>
He did not hesitate to praise Brian. After all, he was an old subordinate, and the latter was considered loyal to him.
Everyone immediately shouted "Congratulations to France" and "Congratulations to Archbishop Briand", and then praised Joseph highly. It took a long time before they sat down again.
Brian continued: "This year our country's total debt will be reduced to 1.98 billion francs.
"If the debt replacement plan is implemented smoothly, this year's fixed interest expenses can be reduced to 84 million francs. franc. ”
The “replacement plan” he mentioned is to raise funds through the sale of low-interest government bonds, which can be used to repurchase the previous high-interest loans and replace them with high ones. But there is a prerequisite, which is the public’s support for the development of France. Only by being optimistic can the interest rates on government bonds be lowered.
But Brian obviously feels that there is no need to worry about the sales of government bonds, because he has already seen last year's industrial and agricultural reports.
Everyone once again. Cheers and applause. Although France's total debt is still extremely high, in terms of interest rates, it is close to a healthy range. If the momentum is maintained, France will be able to completely get out of the shadow of debt in at least four to five years! br>
However, compared to the joy of others, Joseph seemed calmer.
He knows very well that last year's high fiscal surplus is just a special situation and will be difficult to repeat in the future.
First, at the beginning of the year, a large number of tax collectors were dealt with and their properties were confiscated, which amounted to tens of millions of francs.
In fact, due to the lack of proficiency of the tax bureau, there was even a decline in tax revenue. It was not until the implementation of the value-added tax system that the situation improved.
The second is the vigorous rise of "special trade", which has contributed tens of millions of francs to the finance in just about 4 months.
(End of this chapter)