Make France Great Again-Chapter 757 - 748 France-Rui Customs Union

"Iron ore, huh!" Jerome Bonaparte smacked his lips and responded to Duke of Sina, "That condition sounds pretty good!"

"Your Majesty, does this mean you agree!" Duke of Sina asked excitedly.

"Agree?" Jerome Bonaparte turned with a surprised expression and responded to Duke of Sina, "Duke of Sina, you’ve misunderstood! What I just said was that the condition sounds pretty good, not that I’m agreeing to it!

If you just want to pay the price of iron ore in exchange for the French Empire to provide you with security, I advise you to kill that idea early!"

Jerome Bonaparte’s firm response dashed the joys of Duke of Sina, plunging his heart into an abyss.

He knew that to fully capture Finland, they had to rely on the backing of the French Empire’s army, otherwise, even if Finland was taken, the Kingdom of Sweden would still live in constant fear of the Russian Empire.

"Your Majesty, what do you want?" Duke of Sina asked Jerome Bonaparte through gritted teeth.

"Duke of Sina, it’s not about what you want, but rather what you have!" Jerome Bonaparte calmly replied, "The high-quality iron ore owned by your Kingdom of Sweden is indeed important to us in France, but not to the extent that we will ensure your safety against the Russian Empire!

Don’t forget, the Kingdom of Britain also has iron ore! We can completely import from the Kingdom of Britain!"

The French Empire is currently accelerating industrialization under Jerome Bonaparte’s guidance, with several cargo ships loaded with iron ore and coal sailing from London to Paris.

Therefore, while he personally hopes for a large amount of Swedish iron ore, it’s not enough to put all of France at stake for iron ore.

Unless Sina is willing to engage in deeper cooperation with him, such as a customs union.

"Your Majesty, it seems we, the Kingdom of Sweden, have nothing else valuable besides iron ore!" Duke of Sina replied to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Duke of Sina, I am tired! You may leave!" Jerome Bonaparte coldly responded to Duke of Sina.

With that, Jerome Bonaparte made a gesture for him to leave.

Duke of Sina had no choice but to nod and leave Jerome Bonaparte’s office.

After a while, Jerome Bonaparte summoned Mokar again and ordered him to invite Minister of Foreign Affairs Valerovsky over.

Mokar departed with the order, and after about half an hour, Valerovsky appeared in Jerome Bonaparte’s study.

"Your Majesty, what are your instructions?" Valerovsky asked Jerome Bonaparte.

"Here’s the situation!" Jerome Bonaparte replied to Valerovsky, "Duke of Sina just came to see me, seeking our help! I told him it would require some cost, but who knew this blockhead didn’t understand a thing! I really wonder, do people living in Sweden for long get blown stupid by the cold winds..."

Valerovsky quietly listened to Jerome Bonaparte’s complaints about Duke of Sina and quickly extracted the key information from Jerome Bonaparte’s comments.

"Your Majesty, do you want to sign a customs union with the Kingdom of Sweden?" Valerovsky asked Jerome Bonaparte.

"Yes!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded to Valerovsky, "Sweden’s iron ore and coal are exactly what we lack, so I want to sign a customs union agreement with them to meet the domestic market needs!"

Valerovsky immediately understood that the reason Jerome Bonaparte was willing to sign a customs union with Sweden was simply that he eyed the Swedish market.

After all, besides having iron ore and coal, the Kingdom of Sweden had nothing else that France needed.

Whereas the high-value products of the French Empire were essential for Swedish nobles and the middle class.

Once the Kingdom of Sweden signed a customs union with France, the trade barriers set for high-value products (commonly known as the luxury industry) would cease to exist.

The French Empire’s products could easily invade the territory of the Kingdom of Sweden, completely crushing Sweden’s domestic luxury industry.

After all, historically when England and France implemented free trade agreements, almost all "fronts" collapsed, with only the luxury industry continually exporting to Britain.

The luxury industry of the Kingdom of Sweden is far behind the Kingdom of Britain, let alone comparable to England and France!

Once the customs union is formed, the Kingdom of Sweden will find that the money given to them for iron ore and coal quickly returns to their hands.

This world has always been such that resource-rich countries cannot compete against high-value-added countries.

"I understand, Your Majesty!" Valerovsky nodded to Jerome Bonaparte.

"Well then, I’ll leave the negotiations with Duke of Sina to you!" Jerome Bonaparte said to Valerovsky.

Valerovsky got up and left Jerome Bonaparte’s study.

...

A week later, the Duke of Sina appeared once again before Jerome Bonaparte. At this moment, both his mental state and demeanor were significantly worse than when Jerome Bonaparte last saw him.

Clearly, this week had not been easy for him!

"Duke of Sina, what has happened to you?" Jerome Bonaparte asked the Duke of Sina, feigning concern.

"Your Majesty, it’s nothing!" The Duke of Sisana replied with a forced smile and then said to Jerome Bonaparte, "Your Majesty, the conditions that Valerovsky conveyed to me, we can completely agree with them!"

"Then when shall we sign the treaty?" Jerome Bonaparte inquired of the Duke of Sina.

"After the conference ends!" The Duke of Sina responded to Jerome Bonaparte, "And my father hopes that the French Empire can sign a secret agreement with the Kingdom of Sweden!"

"A secret agreement?" Jerome Bonaparte questioned the Duke of Sina in confusion.

"Yes!" The Duke of Sina nodded and said to Jerome Bonaparte, "I can assure you that this agreement only applies to the Russian Empire, and as long as the Russian Empire does not make any moves to invade the Kingdom of Sweden, this agreement will not be exposed!"

"Alright! I agree!" Jerome Bonaparte nodded in agreement with the Duke of Sina.

Subsequently, the Duke of Sisana offered his blessings to Jerome Bonaparte: "Your Majesty, I hope that the French Empire and the Kingdom of Sweden can unite and assist each other on their future paths!"

"I hope so too!" Jerome Bonaparte echoed the sentiment.

...

In the subsequent period, Jerome Bonaparte received replies from the Kingdom of Belgium, the Sardinian Kingdom, the Pope State, and Switzerland, all expressing their willingness to join the European Currency Union established by Jerome Bonaparte.

However, the Austrian Empire remained skeptical towards the so-called European Currency Union and thus chose not to join immediately.

On the contrary, the Kingdom of Britain’s Prime Minister, Palmerston, showed some interest in the European Currency Union established by Jerome Bonaparte. To understand the nature of the currency union, Palmerston dispatched Ambassador Kaotz to inquire about it with Jerome Bonaparte.

Jerome Bonaparte frankly explained the purpose of establishing the currency union to Ambassador Kaotz and similarly invited the Kingdom of Britain to join the currency union.

After learning that the nature of the currency union was merely France’s strategy to expand its own market (on the surface), Ambassador Kaotz clearly lost interest in the currency union.

After all, Britain was not like France; its overseas trade was far more lucrative than France’s.

Therefore, Britain did not need to strengthen economic exchanges with European countries like France did.

This naturally reduced many unnecessary troubles for it, while at the same time, it lost the possibility of uniting Europe.

Post-World War II Britain was because excessively drifted from the European Continent, leading to its steadily declining presence and economic status in Europe.

Of course, although Britain had no interest in forming a unified currency in Europe, it was interested in disrupting the unity of the European currency.

Under Palmerston’s instructions, the Hanover Kingdom subtly communicated to Northern Germany not to join the European Currency Union.

This made the Kingdom of Prussia, which originally had little interest in the currency union established by Jerome Bonaparte, even more alienated.

Nonetheless, this also counted as good news for Jerome Bonaparte, who had no original intention of allowing the Kingdom of Prussia to join the currency union.

...

Time flew swiftly, and soon it was late March.

With less than a month until the Paris Conference, Jerome Bonaparte, looking at the calendar hanging on the wall, decided to put aside all unimportant work and dedicate all his efforts to organizing this conference.

This was the first large-scale state conference held in Paris since 1815.

Even in the 1815 conference, France had only participated as the loser.

However, this conference was being hosted by France in the unquestionable identity of a victor, and its significance greatly surpassed that of the 1815 conference.

Therefore, Jerome Bonaparte had to go all out.

Thus, Jerome Bonaparte convened Minister of State Fuld and Minister of Finance Mane separately, asking them about the budget for hosting such a conference.

Fuld and Mane informed Jerome Bonaparte that this was the first time for the Second Empire, so it should be as grand as possible. They suggested a budget of 10 million francs.

Jerome Bonaparte agreed with Fuld’s suggestion, but he did not intend for the Treasury to bear this expense.

Fuld and Mane immediately understood Jerome Bonaparte’s intention.