I am the Crown Prince of France Chapter 267: The Busy Minister of Agriculture

"Also, make sure to utilize the Church's influence," Joseph instructed. "In many cases, the Church can be far more efficient than our bureaucratic system, and the farrs are more likely to trust what the priests say."

Vennieux nodded in agreent. "That's true, Your Highness. The Church has already been a great help in promoting the new composting thods."

Joseph smiled. "We can't let them take their tithes for nothing."

During the recent efforts to weaken feudal privileges, Joseph had deliberately avoided targeting the Church to minimize resistance. After all, the current chief minister was a forr Archbishop of Toulouse, and even though the foreign minister, Talleyrand, was more of a "worldly monk," he was still a bishop in na.

Since the French Church was heavily dependent on royal authority and cooperated well with the Crown, Joseph figured that gradual reforms would be easier with the Church than with the nobility.

However, Vennieux was shocked by Joseph's remark. In those days, joking about the Church was no small matter, so he quickly turned his head, pretending he hadn't heard anything.

Joseph continued discussing his agricultural plans. "There are now large areas of land that were once noble hunting grounds that will gradually be converted into farmland."

A key part of the recently passed "Abolition of Noble Privileges Act" was the removal of hunting rights, which would return much of the land seized by nobles as hunting grounds to the farrs for cultivation. This would significantly increase the amount of arable land—though it would only truly beco farmland once a plan for farrs to redeem the land was established.

"You'll need to make so plans to encourage farrs to plant vegetables, especially in parishes close to cities. For example, you can offer so financial subsidies at the start, and the governnt can help organize transportation to bring the vegetables to city markets, reducing the farrs' costs."

In France at the ti, due to high transportation costs, farrs could hardly make any profit if they had to transport their goods more than four kiloters.

Joseph added, "So we still need to build more railroads. If we have wooden tracks, then the vegetables from rural areas can be transported dozens of kiloters away."

Vennieux hesitated. "Your Highness, from what I've learned, the cities already have enough vegetables like onions and carrots…"

Onions? Carrots? Joseph couldn't help but put a hand to his forehead. For soone from a nation of food lovers, the Minister of Agriculture's statent seed downright blasphemous.

But he understood that, for most French people at the ti, these were their daily staples. In fact, if they could enjoy so vegetable soup alongside their black bread, that was considered pretty good living.

"You can't limit yourself to just those," Joseph advised, helping Vennieux expand his thinking. "Start with chili peppers—just a small amount can significantly improve the taste of food.

"Then there's tomatoes. Yes, tomatoes are a bit tricky to grow and don't keep well, but you can promote making them into tomato sauce—it's easy to do, just needs so glass jars. We can discuss this in more detail later.

"Apart from these, you should also encourage planting asparagus and artichokes in less fertile soils. These plants are easy to grow and yield high returns."

The vegetables Joseph ntioned had already been introduced to France and were grown at Versailles, but their cultivation among the general population was still quite limited.

Vennieux carefully noted down the Prince's instructions, but he still didn't quite understand. "Your Highness, why should we spend so much effort on vegetables? I an, grains and potatoes are the most important, aren't they?"

"Comrcial value," Joseph replied with a smile. "With just a small amount of land, you can greatly improve the quality of life for both farrs and city dwellers. Why wouldn't we do it?"

Joseph knew that, even after abolishing noble privileges, the common people were only just surviving; they were far from satisfied with their lot in life. With the old noble class and the military both uneasy, this was a dangerous situation.

So, improving the quality of life for the common people was also a crucial task at the mont.

In fact, if the monarchy could secure overwhelming support from the lower classes, it wouldn't have to fear anyone. Of course, given the current level of productivity, it was unrealistic to satisfy 96% of the population. But improving their quality of life as much as possible was within reach.

For example, making their als more varied.

This could be achieved with so cheap vegetables and a few cooking techniques.

As for cooking, French chefs were quite skilled. Joseph could also introduce so culinary traditions from his holand, ensuring that even a simple cabbage could be transford into a delicious dish.

After a long day's work, if people could have sothing more than just black bread—like so stir-fried vegetables or a hearty soup—they would undoubtedly feel grateful to their king.

Joseph told Vennieux, "You should also work with the Church to produce a simple cooking manual. Have the priests or nuns organize weekly cooking lessons for the won in the parishes.

"Oh, and make sure to include this slogan—'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach.'"

As Joseph was speaking, the carriage suddenly stopped.

Aignan peeked out the window, then turned to Joseph and bowed. "Your Highness, the wooden track ends here. We'll have to switch to a regular carriage."

Joseph nodded. Currently, the wooden track only extended to the western part of Reims. Building these tracks was still quite expensive, so they only radiated out a few dozen kiloters from Paris to the surrounding cities.

As he stepped out of the carriage, Joseph noticed the three horses hitched to the cart and suddenly rembered sothing. He turned to Vennieux. "By the way, do you know about soybeans?"

Vennieux, being rather knowledgeable, nodded imdiately. "Yes, Your Highness. You an those beans from the Far East? So botanists are very interested in them. Oh, and in Georgia, so Arican farrs are growing them to feed cattle."

Joseph was relieved to hear that soybeans had already been introduced to France. He had been worried he'd have to go to Asia to get seeds.

"I need you to promote this crop in France, especially in the northern provinces."

"Yes, Your Highness. Are we going to use it to feed cattle as well?"

Joseph gestured for him to board the carriage. "They can be used to feed cattle or to make soy sauce… oh, that's a type of seasoning. But in tis of war, soybeans are the best feed for warhorses—they're compact, easy to carry, and just a little bit can significantly boost a horse's stamina."

Compared to the oats currently used as a "nutritional supplent" for warhorses in Europe, soybeans had unbeatable advantages. You only needed a third of the amount of oats to achieve the sa effect.

This would greatly improve logistics—horse feed was the largest component of supply lines.

And since soybeans were easy to carry, a cavalryman could just keep a few handfuls in his pouch, enough to sustain his horse for several days without needing to return to camp for resupply.

(End of Chapter)

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