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Chapter 877: Victory in Sight

Joseph smiled calmly. "I'm afraid you underestimate the cohesion of the Mediterranean Security Organization."

Fouché's expression immediately shifted into deep thought.

Joseph continued, "Especially now, when the various Italian states are all seeking favors from our country. You don't need to worry about this issue at all."

In reality, if Joseph hadn't intentionally ordered the French troops in Ferrara to hold back, at least half of the Papal States would already be under the Security Organization's control by now.

The reason he wasn't in a hurry to advance was that he first wanted to observe the attitudes of the Italian states before deciding how to distribute the spoils.

Furthermore, Joseph knew very well that even without the incentive of carving up the Papal States, Napoleon's army of tens of thousands was still stationed in Mantua as a deterrent.

If the French government so much as dropped a hint, the North Italian states wouldn't dare not to open their purses immediately.

Besides, they were only being asked to exchange their gold coins for Francs, not to hand money over to France for nothing. This significantly lowered any resistance.

Once the deployment for the financial counterattack was complete, Joseph remembered something else and turned to Archbishop Brienne.

According to the original loan agreement, the Francs provided by France to the South German states could only be used for purchasing goods and domestic investment. However, Württemberg and others had secretly used them for lending.

This matter could be treated as minor or major, but since it involved over ten million Francs, it wouldn't be an overreaction for France to show significant outrage.

Moreover, unlike military actions, this kind of financial dispute wouldn't make the other German states feel threatened.

He thought for a moment and added, "Once this short-selling of the Franc is over, immediately calculate the amount of our country's losses and announce it to all European nations."

Losses? Brienne was momentarily stunned. According to the Crown Prince's plan, France shouldn't suffer any actual losses...

Then he remembered the Prince mentioning a "diplomatic lever" and let out a knowing smile, bowing slightly. "Yes, Your Highness, I understand. The breach of contract by Württemberg and the others is very likely to cause our country a loss of over a hundred million Francs!"

...

Inside a luxurious building on the west side of the Saint-Antoine district in Paris, Lord McGovern looked out the floor-to-ceiling window at the massive fortress-like structure across the street. He suddenly felt like an invincible god.

That former Bastille, now the headquarters of the Bank of France, was starting to teeter under his heavy blows. What was this if not divine power?

He had specifically spent a large sum to rent the house directly opposite the Bank of France's headquarters so he could admire his "achievements" at any time.

Over the past few days, whenever he saw the citizens of Paris lined up for a full mile outside the bank, waiting desperately to exchange their Francs for gold, he couldn't help but curl his lips into a smirk.

Indeed, he was the man appointed by Wilberforce, the British Second Lord of the Treasury, to execute the plan to destroy the Franc.

The plan was proceeding exceptionally smoothly.

A war of unprecedented scale had clearly left France's finances in a precarious state. He had only taken two-thirds of the 40 million Francs he brought to exchange for gold and spread a few rumors, and the Parisians had already fallen into a panic.

Now he hardly needed to do anything himself. Wealthy Frenchmen were taking millions of Francs to the Bank of France every day to exchange them for gold.

Meanwhile, the French government's countermeasures were laughable.

Lord McGovern casually picked up today's Paris Business Journal. The front-page headline read: "The Government's Gold Reserves Are Perfectly Fine; Citizens Are Advised Not to Believe Rumors."

"Heh, those lords in Versailles don't understand the mindset of the common people at all," he said with a look of disdain. "The more they emphasize that there's 'no problem' in such matters, the more suspicious people become."

The door opened, and McGovern's assistant, Bruni—a Frenchman of Italian descent—walked in quickly and bowed to him.

"My Lord, today's exchange data has been compiled. At the Bank of France alone, 54,000 ounces of gold were withdrawn. The other banks likely saw another 10,000 ounces or so."

Over 64,000 ounces of gold was worth roughly six million Francs.

Wild joy flared in McGovern's eyes.

At a rate of six million Francs a day, the Bank of France's gold reserves would be exhausted in five or six days at most.

"This is nearly 10,000 ounces more than the previous record daily withdrawal," he said, putting down the newspaper and looking at Bruni. "Did something happen?"

"Yes, my Lord," Bruni said with some pride. "In an attempt to show the citizens they had plenty of gold, the Bank of France allowed people to enter the vault for a tour."

'I noticed the shapes of their gold bars were a bit odd, so I brought some reporters and had a few split open in public.'

"And guess what? It turns out a third of the gold bars were hollow!"

"They were probably cast in a rush by the bank yesterday, so the exteriors were slightly sunken, which is how I spotted it."

"Once the news spread, everyone realized the French government doesn't have much gold left. The number of people coming to exchange spiked immediately."

"I estimate there will be even more people joining the run tomorrow."

However, just as McGovern was preparing to open a bottle of champagne to celebrate, the Paris Business Journal suddenly published a new report: 400,000 ounces of gold—over 11 metric tons—transported by the Bank of France from Marseille, Lorraine, and other places had arrived in Paris. The shortage of gold reserves had been eased.

The Paris financial market seemed to breathe a sigh of relief at this news.

Sure enough, the next day, Bruni reported to him listlessly, "My Lord, the gold exchange applications received by the Bank of France today dropped to 1.6 million Francs."

McGovern immediately frowned.

By his estimates, the Bank of France should have less than twenty million Francs' worth of gold left, yet the number of people going to the bank was rapidly decreasing.

Now it was a contest of who could grit their teeth and hold out until the end!

He immediately pointed to the safe in the corner of the room and told his assistant, "Take the last six million in paper notes and exchange them for gold. We must maintain the momentum of this bank run!"

But the situation still didn't improve. After his six million was thrown in, the run continued for two more days before dropping again to less than a million Francs per day.

How could he have known that more than half of the people in the bank run were plants arranged by the French government?

They would exchange paper for gold in public during the day, return the gold to the Bank of France at night, and start all over again the next morning to create the illusion of a severe crisis.

Once the news of "gold arriving in Paris" broke, they stopped their exchanges to "tease" the British shadow pulling the strings.

McGovern was now consumed with anxiety.

He had been operating for over twenty days, and just when victory was in sight, the French government was hanging on by its last breath!

Unwilling to give up, he wrote a letter to Wilberforce, requesting an additional 800,000 Pounds Sterling, certain that it would finally crush France's gold reserves.

But since sending a letter from Paris to London and getting a reply would take at least a week, he had to maintain the heat of the bank run during that interval.

McGovern looked at Bruni. "You have a high reputation in the Paris financial circles. I hope you can help me secure a loan of ten million Francs in paper currency."