Joseph clenched his fists in frustration and said, "These foolish people!"
Archbishop Beaumont's face was full of unease—just moments ago, the Crown Prince had been whispering, but now he was almost shouting. This was happening in the Holy Hall...
He had to raise his voice desperately in an attempt to cover up the Crown Prince's act of "sacrilege."
Mirabeau was further worried, "Your Highness, the report doesn't provide concrete evidence that there is a problem with the orders, it's merely Viscount Carolina's speculation.
"Based on this alone, it's unlikely to convince the factory owners. After all, they are all waiting to make a big profit through this...
"Moreover, as it stands, the transaction procedures and the orders are very regular. It's difficult to determine which orders are problematic and which are legitimate.
"If we forced factories to reduce production, it would also impact a large number of normal orders."
Upon hearing this, Joseph was taken aback, he had indeed overlooked this issue.
It was impossible to discern all the fraudulent orders, so if forceful measures were indeed used to halt them, even if only one in ten orders was genuine, it would severely damage the credibility of French factories and disrupt the rapidly rising momentum of French industry.
Ignoring the situation, however, would lead to catastrophic consequences.
This was indeed a blatant plot.
No matter who had devised this strategy, Joseph had to admit, that person was truly intelligent and malevolent.
So, how could they avoid the harm of fake orders and not damage genuine ones?
In the back row, as Archbishop Beaumont read the prayers in a hoarse voice, Mirabeau crossed himself and muttered, "Almighty Jesus, please help France through this crisis."
He then shook his head and sighed, "For now, unless those fraudsters cancel the orders themselves, there's really nothing we can do..."
Joseph was thinking hard about strategies, but upon hearing Mirabeau's complaint, an idea suddenly struck him.
Right, just make the people who placed the fake orders cancel them themselves.
But how to make them back off?
Their companies, qualifications, procedures, and even their deposits were real, only the final payment would definitely be false. Otherwise, it wouldn't be a fraudulent order.
So, they had to bite hard on the final payment.
Just then, it was time to give Holy Communion, and the area quieted down. Joseph's mind raced in this silence, and shortly, a sly smile formed at the corner of his mouth.
Since the other side wanted to pull off such a big scam, they shouldn't blame him for scamming them back!
He grabbed the Holy Communion and Holy Wine from the Assistant Priest, hurriedly made the sign of the cross, murmured a prayer, turned around, and beckoned Mirabeau to come closer, whispering in his ear, "Immediately have someone filter all foreign orders over 50,000 francs, then tell the factory owners to do this, and do that…"
Mirabeau's eyes widened, "Your Highness, this... although it should work, what if the factory owners are worried about their reputation and refuse to cooperate?"
"It's okay, as long as one-tenth of the factories are willing to do this, others will understand immediately after seeing it."
Mirabeau promptly bowed, "Yes, Your Highness, I will execute this immediately after the mass."
Joseph paused and asked, "By the way, you mentioned earlier that most of the deposits for those orders have already been received?"
"Yes, Your Highness. If this is a fraud, they evidently want to lure the factory owners with this."
Joseph nodded, "But the products we've made have far exceeded the amount of the deposits, so we need to recover as much as possible."
Joseph gestured to Fouche, who was sitting further back. Seeing Archbishop Beaumont wasn't paying attention to him, Fouche quickly slipped over.
"Your Highness, what are your orders?"
"That swindler, Mesmer something or the other..."
"It's Mesmer, Your Highness."
"Oh, right. I remember Viscount Carolina's report stated that he is already a well-known businessman in Vienna?"
"That's correct, Your Highness."
"Good, instruct him to proceed in Austria... and find a few factory owners willing to cooperate for a trip to Vienna..."
"Yes, Your Highness." The head of intelligence nodded, quickly jotting down in his notebook.
Joseph continued, "Also, put special effort into investigating that Kadlec fellow, he might be the key to all these issues!"
In Vienna, inside the office of the general manager of Manhacz Trading Company, Baron Graz looked at the letter brought by the trade manager in disbelief and said, "How is this possible? Have you confirmed it?"
"Yes, Baron." The trade manager nodded, "This was personally delivered by the assistant manager of the Gregoire Brothers Steel Company, I saw him when we signed the order contract."
"But, this..." Graz frowned as he looked at the notification letter, "They produced goods worth over 720,000 florins in less than three months?!"
720,000 florins amounted to 1.8 million francs, which could pile up into a small mountain if used to buy iron products.
And just this morning, the Gregoire Brothers Steel Company had informed him that all the orders placed by Manhacz Trading Company had been completed.
Graz was suddenly a bit panicked. According to Kadlec's instructions, he was to pretend in Vienna until October, waiting until the French factories' invested production funds were irrevocably committed before pulling out.
But it was only mid-May now, and the Gregoire Brothers Steel Company was ready to deliver the orders; what should he do?
He had long prepared an escape route to the United States, but if he left Vienna now, all the fake orders might be exposed—
He had set up 6 shell companies, along with other merchant groups, placing 11 orders to France totaling 3.5 million florins, over 8.7 million francs.
If he ran off to the United States now, the subsequent orders might be interrupted, and Mr. Kadlec's mission would be unfulfilled, and his own commission severely reduced...
No, if he fled now, not even a third of the task would be completed, never mind the commission, Kadlec would likely hold him accountable.
But how could he deal with the Gregoire Brothers Steel Company without the funds to pay the final installment?
As Graz anxiously scratched his head, he heard the trade manager say, "Baron, according to the purchase agreement, we must pay half by the end of the month, that is 360,000 florins, and the other half by July..."
"I know, get out!" Graz bellowed.
He had originally included a clause in the purchase agreement to stimulate French factories to invest as much as possible to expand production, even adding a provision for a 3% reward for early delivery of goods.