Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Football leagues are truly a wonderful thing.

They allow the people of the Rheineland region to channel their excess energy into cheering for their supported teams, venting their anger by cursing rival teams, and fighting with the opposing fans.

Meanwhile, those secretly inciting anti-French sentiment are finding it increasingly difficult to find an audience—people have already vented their frustrations in the stadium, and go straight to bed when they get home, who would listen to your criticism of France?

At the same time, the league can also provide job opportunities, showing children from poor families another path to success.

Yes, although the total number of players in Rhineland teams is currently just over a hundred, they have generated a plethora of jobs in medical care, brewing, training, soccer manufacturing, and field construction, which can cover nearly a thousand people.

However, the income of these players is currently quite low, about close to that of ordinary civil servants, with a little bonus if they win a game.

But even this modest salary is enough to attract the attention of ordinary people.

Because most players are part-time, they each have their main jobs, and only need to train one and a half days a week. This essentially means having dual income.

Moreover, if they win the championship, there is a huge bonus of 3,000 francs, averaging more than 150 francs per person! The runner-up also receives 1,000 francs.

With the government's vigorous promotion and the "star-making movement" continuously creating buzz, football has become popular in the Rheineland region within just a few months.

In other regions of France, where football started earlier, the league's popularity is even higher, and there even emerged a semi-professional team—"Palace of Versailles Sword Team." All players are full-time nobles.

In fact, the nobles of the Palace of Versailles alone formed four teams, but they are grouped with the other three teams in Paris in the "Great Paris District," and in the end, only two teams can qualify for the "finals."

The entire France is divided into four districts. This is a measure Joseph implemented to leave more opportunities for civilian teams.

Currently, the "French Super League" is still losing money—Joseph stipulated that ticket prices cannot exceed 3 sous in order to quickly promote soccer.

The French treasury allocates 30,000 francs annually to the league.

Of course, compared to the various benefits the league brings to the country, this investment is absolutely worthwhile.

Mirabeau, as the temporary head of the league, spoke again about the construction of stadiums: "Your Highness, I think the originally planned stadiums with a capacity of 500 seem unnecessary.

"You know, not that many people usually go to watch the matches.

"Actually, 300 seats would be enough. In that case, the construction cost can be reduced to within 1,000 francs."

In fact, the so-called stadium is just a piece of flat grassland, with a circle of rammed earth piled up around it and a wooden frame built on top for seating.

"Attendance is this low?"

Joseph slightly frowned, looked at the file Mirabeau handed over, and saw that in most of the already played matches, there were less than 150 spectators. The one with the highest attendance had only 320 people.

This seems inconsistent with football's popularity.

Mirabeau said, "Your Highness, in reality, only some nobles and businessmen can watch matches after the 'day of rest' early mass. Most citizens still have to work, while peasants are unwilling to spend so much time going into town..."

The so-called "day of rest" is Sunday.

Joseph secretly sighed.

The football movement that was originally prepared for civilians ended up being watched only by nobles.

Or perhaps, this could be an opportunity to promote the weekend rest model?

For the entire country, having a fixed time for rest, allowing people to have time to spend, can actually stimulate economic development more.

Especially after entering an industrial era, the need for consumption to stimulate production becomes more pronounced.

He looked at Mirabeau and said: "If we issue a decree requiring all factories to give workers half a day off by three o'clock in the afternoon on 'day of rest'—without deducting wages.

"At the same time, limit the time for early mass.

"Then schedule the league matches to be uniformly arranged at ten o'clock on the 'day of rest' morning, and there should be more people going to watch the games."

Mirabeau was taken aback and hesitated: "Your Highness, I think reducing working hours just for football matches doesn't seem very appropriate..."

Joseph smiled and said, "What if I said giving half a day off could instead increase the factory's profits, would you believe it?"

"This...to be honest, Your Highness, it's hard for me to imagine."

"Well, let's try it."

Mirabeau continued, "Your Highness, but most factory owners will probably strongly oppose."

Joseph could not help but nod.

At present, it's still the early industrial revolution, and factory owners are eager to have workers work 25 hours a day. It is indeed difficult to get them to accept the laws for weekend rest breaks.

Well, the previously promoted "Labor Protection and Safety Law" already had capitalists complaining loudly, so the resistance this time will certainly be greater.

He thought for a moment, and instructed: "Well, for those factories willing to give workers a half-day off, we can appropriately reduce taxes. You need to send people to calculate the rate of tax reduction, just enough to make up for the factories' losses."

Mirabeau obviously disagreed with the Crown Prince's decision, but still bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness. However, I still feel that there may not be any factories willing to do so."

Joseph, however, was very confident: "No, they will soon all choose to give rest."

He understood very well that allowing workers proper rest could improve work efficiency.

This is a conclusion drawn through practice by countless future factory owners, to the point where they actively pushed the British Government to legislate that Sundays are no-working days.

Once French factory owners discover the benefits of giving rest, they will surely accept it gladly.

After Mirabeau reported on the investment situation of the Rheineland coal mine, the usually quiet Minister of War, Duke of Broglie, stood up, bowed to Joseph, and said:

"Your Highness, regarding the war in Porto, our progress doesn't seem to be very smooth at the moment.

"Count Gombos hopes our country can send more troops."

Joseph was not too surprised by this. France only sent 5,000 soldiers this time, and most of the time they were 'skating,' relying solely on the Spanish army's combat effectiveness; they couldn't take Porto's fortress group in a short time.

However, he planned to consume the British in Portugal, so this was fine.

He nodded and said, "Please explain the specifics."

On the side, Chief of Staff Bertier then stood up and said: "Your Highness, firstly, England has once again reinforced troops. Currently, a total of 10,000 British troops have landed in Portugal, with about 8,000 heading towards Porto.

"After Colonel Juno stabilized our supply lines, the British began last week to burn all the farmland near Porto and moved most of the inhabitants."

Joseph immediately frowned.

In this Iberian campaign, not only have the British not launched a counterattack, but they have already employed scorched-earth tactics so early?