The Fox of France

Although Napoleon took some measures, the economic situation in Europe continued to deteriorate. Once banks encountered problems, no industry could escape unscathed. Various factories also began to experience problems with their financial chains breaking. Thus, the air quality in Paris suddenly improved, and the sky turned blue. Because in Paris, most factories either operated below capacity or simply closed down, some even went bankrupt.

The bankruptcy of a large number of factories immediately led to a mass of workers becoming unemployed. Frankly speaking, the living conditions of French workers were considered good throughout Europe. But even so, most workers could not have much savings, especially those who were unskilled laborers. Once they lost their jobs, they immediately faced the problem of not having enough food to eat. Some factories couldn't even afford to pay severance to their workers, so they had to let them take unsold shoes and jump into the streets to sell them at a discount.

As for skilled workers, their incomes were naturally higher, so they often had some decent savings. Some even calculated how much pension they could get with these savings. However, in an economic crisis, banks also had major problems, and a large number of banks collapsed. As a result, some of the so-called "middle class" almost overnight became destitute. When the economic tide receded, these seemingly prosperous "middle class" were almost all left swimming naked.

The mass unemployment immediately worsened the public security situation in Paris, with thefts and robberies becoming rampant.

The government immediately took action, announcing the issuance of a batch of special national bonds and calling on patriotic businessmen to buy them enthusiastically. Rothschild immediately announced the purchase of at least three million francs worth of special national bonds. The Roman Bank even bought forty million francs worth of special national bonds in one go.

After the Roman Bank bought these bonds, Napoleon took this money and bought a large amount of grain from the Retired Soldiers' Association, and formulated an emergency grain distribution plan based on household registration. In the city of Paris, people with registered legal identities could receive a small amount of grain for free every day. Of course, this amount of grain could not possibly feed a family. At most, it could only prevent them from starving to death quickly. But such benevolent governance was rare in French history. So the entire French people became even more closely united around the government led by Napoleon.

"So, if you want to win over people's hearts, you can't just let the common people live a good life. People's hearts will never be satisfied; they always want more. On the contrary, if you let them occasionally fall into difficulties, and then only need to offer them very little, you can make them grateful. Well, how do they say it? 'Better to give timely help than add flowers to brocade?' So, Napoleon, you must remember, if it doesn't snow, we have to artificially make it snow from time to time..." Joseph said to Napoleon as Napoleon boasted that his approval rating had risen to nearly one hundred percent.

"You're right, Joseph. But are you sure we're not overdoing it? After all, the losses to the industry are too great," Napoleon asked.

"Economic crises are inevitable. They are not subject to human will," Joseph said, "Do you remember the political economy I talked to you about?"

"This information must be kept confidential. We can't let others see it, understand?"

"Of course, such terrifying information must be kept secret. Compared to it, Machiavelli seems as innocent as a silly girl," Napoleon replied.

What Joseph taught Napoleon was not complicated at all; it simply analyzed how overproduction was inevitable under market economy conditions.

"The total price of all goods in society equals the total wages paid for the production of these goods plus the total profits obtained by enterprises or business owners. As long as total wages and total profits are not entirely spent on consumption, total demand must be less than total supply, and some goods will inevitably remain unsold. And once goods cannot be sold, producers will lower wages. Lower wages lead to further demand contraction, and then accumulation leads to today's situation. Joseph, your explanation is excellent. But now, our losses are also substantial," Napoleon said.

"Wealth is relative. While we may have suffered greatly, some countries may have suffered even more. As long as their losses are greater than ours, it's our victory. It's like playing chess; do you expect to win without sacrificing any pawns?" Joseph laughed, "Moreover, we've previously discussed principles for dealing with economic crises. Do you remember?"

"It's nothing more than seizing new markets to increase demand. Or eliminating some supply, preferably someone else's supply, so that they give up the market to us. Well, the second method, the most direct means, is war. But Joseph, you don't seem to be too keen on war," Napoleon said.

"I just hope to be more certain before engaging in war. I don't want to get caught up in a security war. Nowadays, the situation of the British is worse than ours. This crisis was started by us, and the harvested wheat has gone into our granaries. Hehe, much of that wheat is even British. With this wheat, we can still sustain ourselves through welfare measures. But for the British, from whom we've taken away all that wheat, can they afford to sustain themselves with welfare?" Joseph said.

"It's not impossible," Napoleon said, "But if they really intend to play this game, we can hold out longer than they can. Moreover, we can make them spend money elsewhere. We'll recruit some unemployed people into the army at this time, expand the size of the army, and then use these troops to carry out some public works. It's a kind of relief through work. On the other hand, if we suddenly expand the army, we'll definitely frighten the British, and then they'll be even more broke, won't they?"

Napoleon had the confidence to do so. On the one hand, he had harvested a lot of British wheat in the market. Many foreign capitals invested in French railways during the railway frenzy, including a significant amount from British capital. Now, this wheat was all in Napoleon's granary. But there was something else that gave Napoleon more confidence, and that was the gold from North America.

In the original history, in 1847, a very serious economic crisis occurred, which almost shook the entire capitalist world. It brought a series of political consequences: the French rebuilt the republic; the Prussians forced the king to establish a parliament through rebellion; and in Austria, the revolutionary people shouted, and Metternich fled in a panic dressed as a woman. Of course, these were just appetizers; more importantly, in 1848, a brand-new political party issued its manifesto—the "Manifesto of the Communist Party"! And openly called for burying the entire capitalist system with revolutionary means.

The revolutionary situation was excellent, the revolutionary forces... but the 1848 revolution suddenly disappeared, not even as a result of reactionary repression, but because in 1848, gold mines were discovered in San Francisco.

These gold mines were located in remote areas where nobody cared. They were shallowly buried and easy to mine, so even paupers could go panning for gold. This was the historical gold rush. At that time, if a merchant

ship stopped at a port in North America, the next morning, the captain would find that his ship couldn't sail because all the sailors had resigned to go gold panning.

According to some Confucian masters, gold is useless, "it can't feed the hungry or clothe the cold." But in a market economy, it's not like that. Because gold is naturally money, and what is money? Money is demand! If this gold falls into the hands of the wealthy, it is used at most to build a pool of gold coins. But most of the gold prospectors are poor people. Gold in their hands is real purchasing power. So, because of these open-air gold mines, the economic crisis was alleviated, even eliminated, and then the revolution naturally came to an end.

Nowadays, these gold mines were under French control, secretly mined under the surveillance of the French gold troops. The French government had a large amount of undisclosed gold reserves. However, this gold still belonged to the state. Throughout this time, it was just right to use this gold to carry out large-scale infrastructure construction, and incidentally turn the owners of this gold from theoretically all the French people into a military-industrial complex, into sacred and inviolable private property. With this batch of gold, Napoleon could unhesitatingly tell other countries, especially the British: "When it comes to providing welfare, the one who definitely won't hold out first is you!"

Of course, it was not yet time to use that gold; at least, it was necessary to wait until the British couldn't hold out anymore, to set up tariff barriers, and then retaliate with tariff barriers. Otherwise, if you distribute welfare recklessly without tariff barriers, you might end up making clothes for others.

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