"Iron ore, huh!" Jero Bonaparte smacked his lips and responded to Duke of Sina, "That condition sounds pretty good!"
"Your Majesty, does this an you agree!" Duke of Sina asked excitedly.
"Agree?" Jero 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!"
Jero 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 Jero Bonaparte through gritted teeth.
"Duke of Sina, it’s not about what you want, but rather what you have!" Jero 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 Jero 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 Jero Bonaparte.
"Duke of Sina, I am tired! You may leave!" Jero Bonaparte coldly responded to Duke of Sina.
With that, Jero Bonaparte made a gesture for him to leave.
Duke of Sina had no choice but to nod and leave Jero Bonaparte’s office.
After a while, Jero 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 Jero Bonaparte’s study.
"Your Majesty, what are your instructions?" Valerovsky asked Jero Bonaparte.
"Here’s the situation!" Jero Bonaparte replied to Valerovsky, "Duke of Sina just ca to see , seeking our help! I told him it would require so 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 Jero Bonaparte’s complaints about Duke of Sina and quickly extracted the key information from Jero Bonaparte’s comnts.
"Your Majesty, do you want to sign a customs union with the Kingdom of Sweden?" Valerovsky asked Jero Bonaparte.
"Yes!" Jero Bonaparte nodded to Valerovsky, "Sweden’s iron ore and coal are exactly what we lack, so I want to sign a customs union agreent with them to et the dostic market needs!"
Valerovsky imdiately understood that the reason Jero 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 dostic luxury industry.
After all, historically when England and France implented free trade agreents, 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 ford, 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 Jero Bonaparte.
"Well then, I’ll leave the negotiations with Duke of Sina to you!" Jero Bonaparte said to Valerovsky.
Valerovsky got up and left Jero Bonaparte’s study.
...
A week later, the Duke of Sina appeared once again before Jero Bonaparte. At this mont, both his ntal state and deanor were significantly worse than when Jero Bonaparte last saw him.
Clearly, this week had not been easy for him!
"Duke of Sina, what has happened to you?" Jero 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 Jero Bonaparte, "Your Majesty, the conditions that Valerovsky conveyed to , we can completely agree with them!"
"Then when shall we sign the treaty?" Jero Bonaparte inquired of the Duke of Sina.
"After the conference ends!" The Duke of Sina responded to Jero Bonaparte, "And my father hopes that the French Empire can sign a secret agreent with the Kingdom of Sweden!"
"A secret agreent?" Jero Bonaparte questioned the Duke of Sina in confusion.
"Yes!" The Duke of Sina nodded and said to Jero Bonaparte, "I can assure you that this agreent 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 agreent will not be exposed!"
"Alright! I agree!" Jero Bonaparte nodded in agreent with the Duke of Sina.
Subsequently, the Duke of Sisana offered his blessings to Jero 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!" Jero Bonaparte echoed the sentint.
...
In the subsequent period, Jero 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 Jero Bonaparte.
However, the Austrian Empire remained skeptical towards the so-called European Currency Union and thus chose not to join imdiately.
On the contrary, the Kingdom of Britain’s Pri Minister, Palrston, showed so interest in the European Currency Union established by Jero Bonaparte. To understand the nature of the currency union, Palrston dispatched Ambassador Kaotz to inquire about it with Jero Bonaparte.
Jero 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 rely 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 sa ti, 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 Palrston’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 Jero Bonaparte, even more alienated.
Nonetheless, this also counted as good news for Jero Bonaparte, who had no original intention of allowing the Kingdom of Prussia to join the currency union.
...
Ti flew swiftly, and soon it was late March.
With less than a month until the Paris Conference, Jero 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, Jero Bonaparte had to go all out.
Thus, Jero 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 inford Jero Bonaparte that this was the first ti for the Second Empire, so it should be as grand as possible. They suggested a budget of 10 million francs.
Jero Bonaparte agreed with Fuld’s suggestion, but he did not intend for the Treasury to bear this expense.
Fuld and Mane imdiately understood Jero Bonaparte’s intention.
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