Although most people at this time had not yet recognized the capabilities of the French Revolutionary Government, believing that the Revolutionary Government would be destroyed by the powerful Anti-French Alliance Forces within a year at most, Charles, standing in America, clearly knew that Europe would not be able to calm down for decades, and the best time for the American Government to rise in America and replace several old empires had officially arrived.
Whether for his personal interests or for the interests of his country, Charles decided to take immediate action to seize the greatest benefits from this opportunity.
Quietly, the military academy in Pittsburgh began to recruit more students, and secret personnel with various peculiar missions also began to covertly infiltrate the Colonies of various countries in America. However, Charles' most public and boisterous action was to double the production scale of the Philadelphia textile factory and the Pittsburgh Armory, which in turn led to the large-scale expansion of other upstream and downstream factories, because a huge market was emerging in Europe.
Everyone saw that as the war began in Europe, various military supplies would sell well, and a good opportunity for Americans to get rich had arrived.
In the coming days, the American Government would not need to participate in the war; it could make a fortune simply by continuously selling weapons, ammunition, and military supplies to the warring nations. As for whether to use the European war to contend for the traditional colonial markets of the warring nations, that would depend on whether the American Government's production capacity could handle it.
Although the American Government's recognition of the French Revolutionary Government drew dissatisfaction from European monarchies, led by Britain, and the U.S. State Department faced considerable pressure in the short term, Charles was not worried about this. Once the monarchies realized that suppressing the French Revolution would not be resolved in a month or two, they would certainly re-evaluate the various resources the American Government could provide. At the very least, their leader, Britain, after losing America, its largest Colony, was in great need of military supplies from the American Government.
The giant wheel of time turned quickly. The year 1784 quickly came to its last few days, with European countries fighting fiercely and the American Government taking advantage to make a fortune from the war.
Philadelphia, the capital of the New American Government, once again welcomed the British Ambassador, Spanish Ambassador, and other Ambassadors who had angrily departed a few months prior.
Just as they were very helpless when they left, returning to Philadelphia also made them feel helpless. The difference was that the previous time they left helplessly because they could not persuade the American Government to abandon its recognition of the French Revolutionary Government; this time, they came helplessly to seek help because their own country's army could not defeat the French Revolutionary Government.
The situation on the European battlefield did not surprise Charles.
In the beginning, the hastily armed French Revolutionary army was no match for the elite troops of the various monarchies. After several consecutive defeats, the intervention forces of various countries successfully entered France. In fact, two intervention forces, from Spain and Prussia, simultaneously invaded France.
For a time, France was in distress! The French Revolutionary Government was in distress! However, the intervention forces of various countries were not very righteous troops. After entering France, they began to seize various benefits as much as possible, and their advance slowed down. At this time, the French people had already accepted the propaganda of the Revolutionary Government, believing that these intervention forces were, in fact, invading armies. In such circumstances, the inherently proud French people displayed their rare Gallic rooster spirit, taking up arms to resist the invading armies of various countries.
By the time the Anti-French Alliance Forces discovered that the scattered French army had reassembled, it was already very difficult to defeat them easily again.
The troops of the European monarchies still adhered to the elite route, with distinct noble conscription characteristics. On the frontal battlefield, they did not fear any enemy, but in the capture of strategic strongholds, their combat power was not much stronger than that of French musketeers who came from hunting backgrounds. The incited soldiers of the Revolutionary Government most often adopted strategies of holding strongholds and ambushing the Alliance's supplies.
Under these circumstances, the war quickly began to drag on, and the Anti-French Alliance Forces found it difficult to advance an inch in France.
By the second half of 1784, revolutionary sympathizers from the American Government and other places also contributed personnel and money to support the French Revolution. At the same time, with the previous major battles, a large number of young French talents emerged during the crisis, beginning to showcase their abilities. The strength of the French Revolutionary Government was once again restored and enhanced. Facing only the first batch of Anti-French Alliance Forces, they had already begun to gain the initiative.
By the end of 1784, the war in France officially entered a stalemate.
At this point, anyone with some foresight realized that it was no longer possible for the Anti-French Alliance Forces to defeat the French Revolutionary Government in the short term. In fact, to even hold onto the Anti-French Alliance Forces within France, they would have to continuously provide strong logistical support, because the French people, even the nobles, were unwilling to provide logistical supplies to the Anti-French Alliance Forces.
Historically, the French nobility eventually sided with the Anti-French Alliance, primarily because they were forced to by the Revolutionary Government's reign of terror. Initially, many French nobles, while opposing the Revolutionary Government, also opposed Louis XVI, and their relationship with the Anti-French Alliance was not that good either.
In the castle in Philadelphia, Charles smiled as he listened to James' report on the year's performance of the factories under his name.
"...In summary, the biggest increase in revenue came from the textile factory in Philadelphia. Sales of cotton cloth to Europe more than doubled, and with a large quantity of military-grade cotton yarn, the factory's total sales revenue this year is expected to exceed 150,000 US dollars. Although the Pittsburgh Armory also received a large number of orders, the quantity cannot compare to cotton cloth. The total revenue from various firearms and ammunition is approximately 50,000 US dollars. The shipyard received orders for several warships, but aside from the few warships for the American Navy, those for Europe are still under construction, and profits have not yet been realized. As for the revenue from other factories in Pittsburgh, my father will report to you as usual. This is the data I compiled; please review it, sir."
James carefully handed a stack of ledgers to Charles, asking him to review them.
"Hmm. That's fine. I'll read them slowly later." Charles accepted the ledgers with satisfaction and placed them aside.
This was the first time the American Government had directly secured various orders in a major European war after its independence. During the colonial period, even when Europe was engaged in major wars, various military and civilian supplies were procured through major British colonial companies. Ordinary American merchants could not directly receive orders from Europe. And orders placed through colonial companies, apart from being larger in quantity, were even priced lower than those sold locally in the American Government, making the profits truly too small.
After gaining independence, the American Government officially began to directly export large quantities of high-profit strategic materials to Europe. Only then did it discover the immense wealth within. No one had ever thought before that a single cotton yarn factory could generate annual production revenue almost equivalent to the fiscal revenue of the original Thirteen Colonies. Now that people recognized the value within, no one cared whether it was glorious isolation anymore; everyone was thinking about how to sell more goods to both warring parties to earn more gold coins and fill their pockets.
This was a good opportunity to get rich, and if missed, it would be gone. Under the current circumstances, Charles was certainly not the only one benefiting from the European Anti-French war, and he was very interested in the profits of others.
"Now is a good time to sell a large quantity of goods to Europe, and our profits are well within expectations. How are the profits of others? We have many industrial capitalists within the Republican Party, and they have always stood with us," Charles asked James with a smile.
"Due to lack of preparation, the major Republican Party exporters to Europe did not earn much at the beginning. Moreover, the industrial products produced by northern factory owners are inferior to ours. Except for a few in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, others' profits this year should not be very high. However..."
James paused:
"However, the large plantation owners in the South sold large quantities of cattle, sheep, tobacco, gunpowder, fodder, and so on to Europe, and it is said that their profits were quite good. We do not have these types of products, so we cannot accurately estimate their profits."
Charles immediately frowned.
Currently, the American Government's customs duties were still levied by his people, so he was very familiar with the export situation across America. He naturally knew that what James said was correct. However, hearing that northern capitalists had limited profits in this European war, while southern plantation owners had earned a lot, certainly made him a little worried.
He saw very clearly that the country's economic form could not be singular, so he had no intention of stifling the southern plantation economy. However, the hostility of those plantation owners towards industrial capitalists was something he could not change. The previous suppressions had already sown hatred between the two sides. Fortunately, the advantage was on the side of the northern capitalists, where Charles was, so there was no need to worry about damaged interests. If those plantation owners used this opportunity to regain strength, it would be hard to say whether they would retaliate against the northern capitalists, and it would also be a great challenge to his subsequent plan to make the plantation economy subordinate to the industrial economy.
Historically, during the American Civil war, the strength of the southern plantation owners was actually far greater than that of the North. One of their biggest opportunities for increased strength was during the European Anti-French war, when they sold a large quantity of supplies to Europe. Various primary raw materials were continuously sent to Europe, processed into industrial products by European factory owners, and then sent to the battlefield. This was unlike the current situation, where American factories produced and sold directly to various warring parties. At that time, the fragile northern industrial economy of the American Government, due to its technological gap with Europe, did not earn much profit. It was during that period that the influence of the southern slave plantation economy began to firmly establish itself.
Charles did not want history to repeat itself, and the current situation had to be changed.
James understood Charles' concerns very well and immediately asked tentatively:
"Should we take some measures to restrict the exports of the plantation owners?"
"No, large-scale exports by those plantation owners to Europe are also a good thing for the American Government, so I naturally cannot try to stop them. But if those northern factory owners cannot benefit from it, we will inevitably lose much of the power we rely on. So, James, you go and invite some representative factory owners later, and use our orders to subcontract some work to them, so that they can also benefit. We can forgo that small production profit and only earn agency fees. This will also make it easier for us to negotiate larger European orders," Charles said, snapping his fingers, quickly coming up with an idea.
"Understood, sir, I will arrange it right away."
"Additionally, although we cannot restrict the exports of the plantation owners, we can strengthen our acquisition of their products. We can acquire their cattle and sheep, have northern factory owners process them into canned goods and sell them to Europe; acquire their tobacco and process it into cigarettes to sell to Europe; acquire their..." As the two were talking, there was a "tap tap" knock on the door.
"Come in!" Charles said loudly.
old Tom entered through the door. He gave Charles a shallow bow and said in a low voice:
"Sir, the British Ambassador and the Spanish Ambassador have come to visit together."
"Oh! They finally came." Charles smiled.
He lowered his head and thought for a moment, then instructed Tom:
"Please ask them to wait in the living room; I'll be right there."
Although these two Ambassadors only represented two countries, Charles believed that their visit this time was likely on behalf of the Anti-French Alliance. As for the reason for their visit to him, it was nothing more than matters concerning the supply of materials to Europe.
Currently, Charles was utilizing the opportunity of the European Anti-French war to sell a large quantity of materials, and this was not limited to the Anti-French Alliance. In fact, apart from a few American merchants with clear stances, most people were currently supplying materials to both warring parties, namely the French Revolutionary Government and the Anti-French Alliance.
However, there was a slight difference. Out of consideration for shared revolutionary sentiment, many merchants leaned more towards supplying materials to the French Revolutionary Government. Many better and more advanced items often fell into the hands of the Revolutionary army soldiers first. The Anti-French Alliance, on the other hand, suffered much more.
The most obvious example of this favoritism was the Pittsburgh Armory under Charles' name. Many advanced weapon and equipment, which even the American army had not yet equipped, Charles had already experimentally sold to the French Revolutionary Government, and even sent experts to provide on-site guidance and maintenance. And the power of the advanced weapons produced by Charles, who had mastered advanced knowledge, was entirely imaginable.
Charles' favoritism naturally hurt the Anti-French Alliance greatly.
Under these circumstances, if the Anti-French Alliance had not come to find Charles, it would have been strange.