Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 1115: Chapter 1021: The Banker

However, Sluisken still felt somewhat puzzled.

Previously, the Boers had given the Kosa people some guns and small items to reduce conflicts with them, but these indigenous people seemed unimpressed.

After settling down briefly— the Kosa people even helped them build some thatched huts in the mountains— Sluisken talked about this matter with Malvik.

The latter did not hide anything and smiled: “Because our doctors cured some seriously ill indigenous people, including the mother of the clan leader of the Engika tribe.”

Hmm, this old lady had a persistent high fever at the time and barely pulled through after taking the “Prince’s Blessing” for two days.

What Malvik didn’t mention was that the Security Bureau also sent the Engika and Kaleka tribes 600 flintlock guns each, which the Boers would never dare to give— since their arrival at the Cape of Good Hope, they had been seizing land from the indigenous people. How could they seize it if the locals were armed?

With just this batch of arms, they could exchange for a piece of land from the Kosa people large enough for two to three thousand people to settle.

In the following days, the Boers began to learn to graze like the indigenous people and build camps.

They brought a lot of food from the town, plus supplies smuggled in by French ships, which were enough to last until the potato harvest.

…

Amsterdam.

De Witt, Senior Advisor at the French Ministry of Finance, frowned as he looked at the data collected by his subordinates from stockbrokers.

He was in charge of this financing operation, but after a long night of operations, there was no sign of a large-scale sell-off of British stocks in the Amsterdam market.

This made it impossible for his short-selling operation to begin.

He casually picked up the day’s Business Investor’s Report and immediately saw the prominent headline on the front page—”Our money must not be used to fund enemies invading our territory.”

He skimmed through it and it seemed to be written by Mr. Scheller, a very provocative article that made even him, a Frenchman, want to confront the British attacking the Cape of Good Hope.

He remembered a few days ago the front pages were something like “We must choose between making money and our country,” and “Every cent invested in a British company will turn into bullets shot at us.”

However, despite such propaganda, the Dutch seemed very angry, but it did not sway investment trends.

After discussing with his assistant, De Witt could only report the situation here to Paris via the Sharp Signal Tower in Brussels.

At the Palace of Versailles, Joseph frowned slightly as he looked at the report from the Netherlands.

This was supposed to be a period of accelerated national awakening in Europe, and normally, stirring up nationalism usually had significant effects, especially with a “talented public intellectual” like Scheller at the helm. Theoretically, it shouldn’t be like this.

Why was it that the Dutch seemed to have no patriotic enthusiasm?

Wait! He suddenly focused, realizing he might have overlooked an important issue.

The direction of the Dutch stock market was mainly controlled by financial capitalists.

Did these people have any sense of national or ethnic sentiment?

Even if the British now occupied Amsterdam, as long as British companies were profitable, these people would still hold those stocks without hesitation.

This was a major oversight…

Could the Dutch stock market really not be leveraged?

Joseph mused while flipping through De Witt’s report, his eyes scanning over the stock prices of various companies—De Witt had sent all the data from listed companies on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange, as if the government didn’t mind spending on “telegrams” and sent them freely.

When Joseph saw the line for the “Dutch East India Company,” he couldn’t help but show a surprised expression.

A month ago, the stock price was 300 guilders per trading unit, but now it was 304 guilders per trading unit.

The so-called “trading unit” is a Dutch stock market standard, at 3000 guilders. Transactions are typically conducted in whole “trading units,” somewhat similar to today’s stock market “one lot.”

In other words, the stock price of the Dutch East India Company didn’t seem affected by such a major incident as the British invasion of South Africa.

It’s important to note that the Cape of Good Hope is a significant asset of the Dutch East India Company, not only highly profitable but also drought-resistant. The Boers were there managing everything while the company just collected profits.

Normally, such a major negative event would cause the stock price to plummet.

Joseph quickly concluded that someone must be manipulating the Dutch East India Company’s stock price upwards.

Who could be doing it?

The Dutch government? Major shareholders?

What would their motive be?

Joseph’s eyes suddenly lit up. This was most likely the work of the Dutch government, because the East India Company was the “national stock” of the Dutch.

Almost any Dutch person with a little spare money would buy some shares of the East India Company.

It’s almost a national habit, given that the Dutch people’s fathers and grandfathers indeed made big money from the East India Company.

This had led to a situation where any slight movement in the East India Company’s stock price would cause significant fluctuations in the Dutch economy as a whole.

If it drops a bit more, who knows how many people would go bankrupt and jump off buildings.

Following this line of thought, Joseph continued.

Therefore, to leverage the Amsterdam stock market, the East India Company is the best pivot.

And coincidentally, the Cape of Good Hope is an important asset of the East India Company.

Start from here!

Even if the Dutch government pretends not to notice, millions of Dutch investors won’t just sit by.

He quickly wrote an order and had it sent to De Witt immediately.

…

Soon, the papers in Amsterdam no longer featured articles stirring nationalistic emotions, replaced instead by detailed accounts of the British invasion of the Cape of Good Hope.

Of course, news from the Cape of Good Hope would take at least over a month to get here, but that didn’t stop Scheller from using his writing to “broadcast” the war situation.

“The British fleet has blockaded Falls Bay…”

“Thousands of British marine soldiers have surrounded the Cape…”

“The harbor has ceased operations due to the war, forcing many merchant ships to detour and resupply in Natal…”

“The Cape’s garrison can’t hold on and will soon surrender to the British Army…”

“After losing the Cape, the Dutch East India Company’s revenue will be severely impacted, resulting in significant losses…”

——————

The Kosa people are one of the major indigenous ethnic groups in South Africa, experiencing intense conflicts and land disputes with European colonizers at the end of the 18th century.

By the end of the 18th century, the Kosa primarily inhabited the area between the Great Fish River and the Kei River, known as Transkei and Ciskei, in the eastern part of the Cape Colony.

Tribal branches included the Gcaleka, Engika, and Endelamb tribes, all part of the southern Nguni branch of the Bantu Language Family.

From the late 18th to the 19th century, the Kosa engaged in the prolonged “Kaffir War” with Dutch and British colonizers due to land disputes.

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