Bailly expressed his astonishment, "Your Highness, the necessities for marriage have been the same for over a century. What 'new' things could possibly be 'manufactured'?"
Joseph smiled faintly, "As long as the packaging and propaganda are sufficient, marriage could require everything in the world.
"By the way, which merchandise do we have the most overstock of this time?"
"Ah," Bailly counted on his fingers, "Textiles, iron products, furniture, alcoholic beverages, paper products, and also carriages."
Hearing this, Joseph frowned; that damned Hope had almost calculated all of France's presentable products into the stockpile.
He thought for a moment and said, "Among these, textiles, iron products, and furniture are the least suitable for long-term storage. Let's start with these.
"For instance, we can strongly promote that nowadays, marriage requires 'the three great essentials' to ensure a happy married life."
"The three great essentials?"
"Yes, they are: a set of French fashion, a set of synthetic board furniture, and a set of iron French cookware. We must start from a female perspective, making them believe that it's shameful to marry without 'the three great essentials'."
Joseph began to echo the methods of unscrupulous merchants of later generations, "We should promote through several channels.
"First is the spread of rumors among the public. Spread the rumors that 'this is the latest wedding trend among French people,' 'French women won't enter the church without the three great essentials.' Whether it's through trade caravans or diplomats, everyone heading toward Germany or Italy must tell at least ten people these things.
"Second is the promotion in newspapers. Hire some famous journalists to write articles about 'the latest scientific research.' For instance, 'Ordinary iron pots contain harmful substances affecting offspring; only high-quality iron from Nancy or Luxembourg can ensure health.'
"Then there's the promotion in plays. Oh, 'The Marriage of Figaro' would be perfectly suitable; I'll discuss copyright and adaptation issues with Mr. Bomasha. We'll have many more performances in places like Vienna, Florence, and Brussels."
Bailly listened with his eyes wide open. He could already imagine, after such means of promotion, just how obsessed the girls would be with the so-called three great essentials before getting married.
Joseph added, "Hmm, and add a slogan, 'French girls all know, for a once-in-a-lifetime marriage, you must treat yourself better.'"
Suddenly, Bailly revealed a smile, bowed and said, "Your Highness, I believe we might not even need to transport these goods to the Southern Netherlands and Tuscany.
"With your methods, French newlyweds will purchase them until they're sold out."
"What are you talking about?" Joseph immediately looked at him seriously and shook his head, "We must never promote these 'three great essentials' domestically!
"Not only must we prohibit their promotion inside the country, but to counteract the influence of the news spreading back from abroad, we must also run contrary propaganda at home, such as 'Love is everything in marriage,' 'Do not let material things defile the purity of marriage.'"
"Because that would severely damage our country's population growth rate."
Joseph sighed and said, "The price of these three great essentials is not cheap; ordinary families can hardly afford them. Even if they grit their teeth and buy them, they would need to save up money for a long time, inevitably delaying the time of marriage.
"In addition, considering the significant expenses their offspring would face when getting married, couples might decide to have fewer children.
"We absolutely cannot fall into the trap of a population decline for the sake of selling a bit more merchandise right now!"
He remembered how Napoleon's Civil Code's family and inheritance articles directly halved France's newborn birth rate.
This led to France's former advantage in troop numbers being greatly diminished decades later during the Franco-Prussian War, becoming one of the main reasons for France's defeat.
Population will always be one of the core competencies of a nation!
Bailly's face showed a strange expression, thinking, so for the sake of selling goods, the birth rate of other countries doesn't matter, does it?
But he still flattered, "Your Highness truly devotes tireless effort for France; may Jesus bless you."
While they talked, the carriage slowly came to a halt.
Eman opened the carriage door, and Joseph immediately saw an endless green in front of him—all neatly planted sugar beets.
He sighed inwardly; France truly was the most suitable place in the world for sugar beet cultivation. This breeding laboratory had been prepared for just over a month, and the sugar beets had already grown so vigorously.
Achard and several agricultural experts from the breeding laboratory, learning of the Crown Prince's arrival, hurried over to greet him.
Then, among the crowd, Joseph saw a familiar figure he hadn't seen in days—Dr. Lamarck.
After exchanging greetings, he asked Lamarck curiously, "What are you doing here?"
Lamarck would report the progress of penicillin development to him every six months. Although the concentration of penicillin obtained was continuously improving, it was still a considerable distance from being medically usable.
Could it be that he had too much work pressure and came here to relax by looking at the green plants?
Lamarck quickly said, "Your Highness, I heard that you've recently invented a theory that can quickly breed better varieties, so I came here to learn from Mr. Achard."
"Ah? You're interested in breeding too?"
Lamarck replied with a wistful look, "Your Highness, one of the critical aspects of developing first-generation antibiotics is the cultivation of high-yield strains. There's a lot in common between culturing strains and breeding. If your theory of genetic factors had been created two years earlier, I would have made much faster progress."
Joseph was stunned. Right, he had indeed overlooked that knowledge of genetics could also help in cultivating Penicillium. He was at a significant loss...
He shifted the subject, a bit embarrassed, and looking at the green expanse before him, he spoke to Achard, "How's the progress here?"
"Jesus blesses us, everything is going well, Your Highness," Achard said excitedly, "I have conducted hundreds of hybridization experiments with my assistants over this period of time, and with my previous work in Bavaria, I believe that by next summer we can obtain the new variety with higher sugar content.
"Oh, and the sugar beet seeds. Over ten hectares of 'high sugar beets' have been planted, and they'll be mature by September, providing enough seeds for farmers willing to grow sugar beets."
He referred to the "high sugar beets" as the 8% sugar content variety he had previously bred. Through Venio's relentless promotion over the past few months, many farmers in central and northern France indicated their willingness to grow them.
However, only a small sugar refinery was built this year, and most of the harvested sugar beets could only be eaten as vegetables. It wouldn't be until next fall that the sugar production scale could reach a monthly output of 5,000 tons.
[Note 1] Napoleon's Civil Code stipulated that illegitimate and legitimate children had equal inheritance rights, and even children born out of wedlock could inherit part of the property. Many French families, to avoid their already limited land from being divided into smaller portions, decided to have only one child.