Holy Roman Empire

As France’s largest hemp textile center, Lyon, long famed as the "Continental Silk Centre," has now developed into a metropolis second only to Paris.

At this moment, this dazzling jewel has lost its luster. Affected by the dumping from the Anglo-Austrian two countries, the French industrial and commercial sectors are facing their cruellest challenge.

The vast majority of businesses have already announced layoffs and production cuts, and the ranks of job seekers on the streets are growing day by day, with very few new job openings.

Almost every recruitment drive leads to a disturbance. Even for hiring just three to five people, dozens would apply.

It could be said that this is the easiest time to recruit for French businesses, as they can freely select excellent employees.

The companies able to recruit against the market trend are the most powerful. For ordinary businesses, what’s a crisis is a rare opportunity for these corporate giants.

The Lyon Moore Textile Group Company is one of the most shining examples, owning over one hundred and seventy large and small factories, with a total workforce exceeding 130,000 people.

Their industrial chain covers both upstream and downstream of the textile industry, including cotton mills, hemp spinning mills, wool spinning mills, silk factories, printing and dyeing mills, garment factories... and even their own raw material plantations.

Besides a complete industrial chain, Moore Textile Group also possesses the most advanced textile technology of the day, with over two hundred various patents.

Such a colossus, even while impacted, has the strongest risk resistance.

While other enterprises are suffering heavy losses, Moore Textile Group still manages to turn a profit. Although this profit is minimal, it’s still a significant distinction.

In the eyes of the outside world, this glorious large corporation is also not having it easy these days.

Profitable businesses can still lack cash; with the stock market crash and foreign capital impacting the financial market, the trend of cash hoarding is escalating.

To cope with the crisis, domestic banks have tightened their lending, making it extremely difficult for businesses to secure financing.

Inside Moore Textile Group’s office building

President Moore-Saldas looked at the latest financial report and sighed deeply, "When will the bank’s loan come through?"

Moore Textile Group is also supported by a syndicate, but this Lyon-based consortium with its roots in industry does not operate in the same sphere as the financiers from Paris.

This regional syndicate is the unexpected product of Napoleon III’s industrial support policy. If nothing goes wrong, with French government support, this industry-based group would slowly evolve into a world-class consortium over time.

Secretary Hank replied, "Mr. Moore, there has been a change in the situation. A competitor took action, and recently, Bank of Ang faced a severe run on its funds.

The bank is raising funds for its protection. We have communicated through the consortium connections, and the bank said that as soon as it overcomes the cash-hoarding crisis, it will disburse the loan in the shortest time."

Hearing this news, Moore-Saldas’s headache worsened. Domestic banks were tightening their lending, and without a very close relationship, it was practically impossible to get a loan.

Within the same consortium, both Moore Textile Group and Lyon Bank are pillars of the syndicate, with shareholders behind the scenes holding cross-stakes, having long formed a communal interest group.

Previously, Moore Textile Group could always receive the maximum loan benefits from the bank without any obstruction.

The current refusal indicated that the bank was indeed facing a crisis, unable to spare resources for their ally.

Since the competitor of Lyon Bank had taken action, they surely wouldn’t have done so aimlessly, meaning in the short term, the bank was unreliable.

The stock disaster was still raging. Raising capital from the stock market was simply unrealistic, and since bank loans wouldn’t be available shortly, the only funding channel left for the business was issuing bonds.

After contemplating for a while, Moore-Saldas decisively abandoned this impractical fantasy; with the current economic situation, issuing bonds would be an exercise in futility.

"Notify everyone to halt all construction of new factories and cancel the Africa plantation project. Have each department take a close inventory and suspend anything that is not an emergency project," he said.

In recent years, the expansion of Moore Textile Group has been very rapid. The company’s profits were invested in expansion, and it also took on substantial debts.

Now, with the economy in poor shape and problems with the cash flow, Moore-Saldas put an end to the group’s expansion plans to save on expenses.

Secretary Hank reminded, "Mr. Moore, these plans were passed by the board, and they have been announced to the public. Canceling them now might cause..."

Moore-Saldas waved his hand, "We are in an extraordinary period; I will explain the situation to the directors.

Notify them that I will convene a board meeting in three days.

Also, arrange a meeting with the mayor for me; we now need the government’s help."

As a major corporation employing over a hundred thousand people and substantially affecting the local economy, if Moore Textile Group fell, the Lyon region’s economy wouldn’t escape a collapse.

Before Moore-Saldas’s self-rescue actions began, Keith Anderson, the head of the Ministry of Commerce, rushed in.

"President, there’s trouble. We’ve just received news that many of the Group’s international orders have been rejected by the buyers.

It’s likely a targeted sabotage, and the Ministry of Commerce has already sent people to negotiate with them, but the prospects are bleak. Now the goods are still on the ships, unable to be unloaded.

The Ministry of Commerce has notified all parts to halt the orders bound overseas until further verification is completed before deciding what to do next.

But it’s still one step too late; seven more ships have already set sail."

This was the worst news Moore-Saldas had ever heard, bar none.

Occasional order breaches had occurred within the Moore Group before, but as they always received a deposit, they could still make a profit by selling at a lower price to others. The losses were minimal and manageable for the group.

This simultaneous breach of several orders, however, was a completely different issue - it was clearly a targeted move.

In ordinary times, the large scope of Moore Textile Group meant that minor disturbances meant little.

But now was different. In the midst of the fiercest market competition, finding a new buyer was extremely difficult.

If things went wrong, the goods would be stuck in their hands. Already lacking cash flow, Moore Textile Group could be in danger if a large batch of goods piled up.

Moore-Saldas forced himself to calm down, "How much is the value of these breached orders? If all these goods end up on our hands, how much money will we lose?"

Keith Anderson responded with a somber face, "The value of the breached orders amounts to 120 million francs. If we can’t find buyers for these goods, our books could show a loss of up to 105 million francs.

Calculating just the cost, our direct economic loss would also exceed 75 million francs.

And this is just the beginning. We can’t be sure whether the following orders will be fulfilled properly.

If all the international orders are breached, the final loss could reach 100 million francs."

The complexion of Moore-Saldas darkened instantly. Not to mention during such a crisis, even during normal times, a loss of 100 million francs would be a heavy blow for Moore Textile Group.

Reflecting on the group’s globalization process, Moore-Saldas finally noticed something was amiss. The past one or two years had been too smooth.

Initially, he thought it was the boon from the Prusso-Russian war, but only now did he realize that it was probably a trap set by their competitors.

The defaulting parties were the group’s major clients, with whom they had not just one-time dealings, except that the previous order quantities had been very small.

This year, the quantities had suddenly increased. Moore-Saldas did suspect a problem, but the allure of the orders was too tempting to resist.

They were familiar with the clients’ backgrounds and knew they were influential in their own localities.

While the quantities were rather large, the clients paid their deposits promptly. Coupled with the favorable economic situation at the beginning of the year, they signed the contracts without detecting any issues.

Moore-Saldas spoke slowly, "Let’s find buyers for this batch of goods as soon as possible!

The group’s capital chain is already very tight. With the domestic financial crisis erupting, we must raise more cash to be prepared for any eventuality.

Don’t aim for profit now. As long as we can sell them, even at half the price, we will accept it."

This was a case of treating a dead horse as if it were alive. Moore Textile Group was renowned in France but was still decidedly a newcomer internationally.

Even though they had grown fast and snatched a significant market from the British with the influence of France, their foundation was not solid enough.

This breach of contract crisis was the truest testament to that. If the foundation had been solid, with multiple distributors in one region, they wouldn’t be in such a passive situation.

Since the enemy had made their move, they would naturally anticipate their efforts to find new buyers. Selling off this batch of goods quickly would be easier if they could ship it back to their home country.

Of course, that was merely wishful thinking. Not to mention the additional transportation costs, importing goods only to bring them back would be embarrassing, but then again, capitalists are known for their thick skins.

The key issue was that the French market was also suffering from market dumping by British textile products.

The goods of Moore Textile Group could only maintain minimal profits. If they were to release more products into the market, they would start to incur losses.

If they could mitigate the unsold goods with a slight loss, the capitalists would have done it by now.

These days, who doesn’t have warehouses full of unsold goods—without them, one would hardly dare call themselves an entrepreneur.

The trouble is when the sales prices of goods go down yet the volumes don’t rise, it’s like adding frost to snow, and it is really life-threatening.

This is no joke, but harsh reality. All industrial goods are deeply discounted, and the Moore Group’s products are also slashing prices to promote sales, yet the overall sales volume has hardly increased.

...

It wasn’t just Moore Textile Group that was impacted, France’s heavy industry, compared to light industry, was a scene of utter devastation.

Since entering the second half of the year, international coal market export prices had seen five consecutive rises, with a total increase of 26.4%, especially the price of coking coal which had risen by a third.

The sharp increase in raw material prices had left the French steel industry struggling to make ends meet.

Before they could catch their breath, they faced a steep plunge in steel prices.

The United Kingdom and Austria acted in concert, with international market prices for pig iron and raw steel falling by 15.4% and 18.6% respectively. The influx of cheap steel directly plunged the French heavy industry into an era of negative interest rates. Nôv(el)B\\jnn

The dilemma now facing the French heavy industry was this: production equaled loss, and the more they produced, the more they lost; not producing also led to losses, with the difference being just how much was lost.

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