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Chapter 123: All Talents Under Heaven Gather Here

Joseph's carriage had just pulled up in front of the Industrial Planning Bureau's office building when a disheveled figure suddenly sprang from the street corner, hurrying towards him.

"Stay back!" Two guards immediately stepped forward and intercepted the man.

Seeing the deep lines on the man's face, Joseph couldn't help but smile. 'Isn't that "Piranha"—oh, no, Mr. Marat? You've finally arrived.'

He quickly leaned out of the carriage window and motioned to Clauzel, "Please invite Mr. Marat over."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Before long, in the reception room of the Industrial Planning Bureau, Marat sat opposite Joseph, his eyes blazing with anger. "Your Royal Highness, you used me with such dishonorable means! I will make this public!"

After bringing down Chief Justice Vezinier, Marat had been genuinely happy for a time, feeling that he had done a great service for the citizens of Paris.

However, two weeks prior, he had accidentally seen a portrait of the Crown Prince and found the face familiar. Suddenly, it clicked—wasn't this Mr. Xavier, the young owner of the Paris Business Journal?

He immediately pieced the events together and realized that the Crown Prince had sought him out to eliminate a political rival.

So he rushed to Versailles in a fury, only to be told that the Crown Prince was currently working in Paris. He then stormed into the Industrial Planning Bureau, where he learned the Crown Prince had gone to Bordeaux...

He had waited at the bureau for several days, and today he finally "caught" Joseph, immediately coming to demand an explanation.

Joseph knew he would come and had been expecting him.

Joseph rested his right hand on the armrest of the sofa, a relaxed smile on his face. "How can you say that, Mr. Marat? That wasn't exploitation; it was a realization of your ideals."

"A realization? Hmph, a flimsy excuse."

Joseph said calmly, "Tell me, haven't you always sought social justice and wished to help the oppressed?"

"Of course."

"Exactly. You and I together brought the most corrupt Head of the High Court in Paris to justice, righting wrongs for countless people who suffered from unjust cases. It even significantly curbed corruption throughout the entire judicial system. Isn't that what you wished to see?"

"That..." Marat paused, taken aback. It seemed that way. If not for the Crown Prince's guidance, the High Court might still be taking bribes, manipulating the law, and persecuting ordinary citizens.

Joseph didn't give him a chance to ponder further, quickly adding, "Mr. Marat, please believe me, when it comes to punishing corruption, reducing injustice, and ensuring the French people live better lives, our positions are very much aligned."

'Only by improving the lives of the people can the monarchy be stable,' he thought to himself.

Marat looked at Joseph in astonishment. These words sounded like the principles of a Liberal like himself, yet they were coming from the Crown Prince himself.

"Are you serious?"

"Time will prove everything." Joseph looked earnestly at Marat. "If in a few years, the lives of the French people have not improved, it won't be too late to condemn me then."

Marat's mouth opened, then he frowned. "Regardless, Your Highness, you shouldn't have deceived me. You even gave me a false name!"

"You've misunderstood me." Joseph replied with an innocent expression. "Xavier is indeed my middle name—Louis Joseph Xavier François."

"But..."

"I didn't tell you I was the Crown Prince, it's true, but you wouldn't tell everyone, 'I am a journalist,' would you? It's just a bit of personal professional privacy."

After this conversation, Marat's initial anger had subtly dissipated. Feeling there was nothing left to say, he prepared to get up and take his leave.

Joseph naturally wouldn't let him leave just like that.

He had been planning an anti-corruption bureau for some time. Official corruption was a grave danger to France.

People found it difficult to resist the temptation of various benefits based solely on their conscience.

Leaving aside the old-style officials, even the recently reformed police system, without proper oversight, would inevitably revert to its former state.

While Administrative Reform was the fundamental solution, establishing an oversight body was also very necessary, at least to make officials exercise restraint.

Joseph had not pushed forward the establishment of an anti-corruption bureau largely because he couldn't find suitable individuals to investigate corruption.

Using existing officials would simply mean letting them supervise themselves, inevitably leading to collusion and cover-ups. And training personnel from scratch would be too time-consuming.

Thus, he thought of Marat, Desmoulins, and others—they had sharp instincts and extensive experience in investigation and evidence collection. Most importantly, they were likely the least likely group in France to collude with officials.

Furthermore, forming an anti-corruption bureau with these Jacobins offered two additional benefits.

Firstly, these people couldn't stay idle. If you didn't give them things to do, they would find their own, potentially sparking the Great Revolution at certain critical moments. So it was better to integrate them into the royal system and keep them busy.

Secondly, with the experience of dealing with Vezinier, Joseph realized that Marat and his cohorts, if used effectively, would be 'piranhas' capable of tearing apart political rivals. They should prove useful in his process of rectifying official administration and weakening the Old Nobility.

Joseph gestured for Marat to stay, then said solemnly, "Mr. Marat, do you want this country to be more just and equal? Do you want to help more ordinary citizens?"

Marat sat back down on the sofa, nodding slowly. "That is my lifelong ideal, Your Highness."

"Now there's an opportunity for you to better achieve your ideals. I intend to establish a..."

Joseph had intended to say "anti-corruption bureau" but suddenly felt that concepts like "fairness" and "justice" would be more to Marat's liking. So he corrected himself: "Establish an 'Office of Fair Investigation' within the Police Bureau, specifically to investigate issues such as corruption and dereliction of duty among officials and police, in order to uphold the legitimate rights and interests of the public. This department will temporarily be affiliated with the Ministry of Police, but it will not be subject to the jurisdiction of the police system and will report directly to me.

"I very much hope you will become a member of the Investigation Office."

Marat was startled for a moment, then suddenly stood up again, saying coldly, "You want me to be the monarchy's enforcer?"

'He's truly a Jacobin, so disdainful of the monarchy,' Joseph thought.

He smiled and shook his head. "That's a rather biased way to put it.

"You won't be investigating farmers or artisans, but high-ranking officials and wealthy, influential nobles!

"Even if you are an enforcer, you will be the people's enforcer, not the monarchy's."

"The people's enforcer?" Marat repeated the words softly, his eyes gradually blazing with fervor.

Joseph immediately struck while the iron was hot. "I can even assign prosecutors to the Office of Fair Investigation. Once you uncover problems with officials, you can directly prosecute them!"

Joseph wasn't worried that Marat would go 'biting' his political allies. Although in this era, virtually no official was entirely free of corruption, Marat would only be an investigator for the Office of Fair Investigation, at most reaching the rank of captain. Above him would be Joseph himself and other management, which would ensure the direction of the crackdown would be controllable.

Marat clasped his hands, deep in thought for a long while, then finally looked up and said, "Your Highness, I find I can find no reason to refuse. I agree to join the Office of Fair Investigation. However, let it be understood that if I believe this institution does not align with what you've said, I will withdraw at any time."

"That is your right," Joseph nodded. "I believe we won't disappoint each other.

"Oh, by the way, regarding the prosecutor for the Office of Fair Investigation, what do you think of the young lawyer who defended the victims in the Vezinier case last time?"

Marat recalled. "You mean the lawyer named Danton?"

"Precisely."

"He is an upright and courageous man," Marat nodded. "However, he is not a prosecutor for the High Court, Your Highness."

Joseph smiled. "He soon will be. And your friend, Mr. Desmoulins, if he could also join the Office of Fair Investigation, it would surely strike fear into even more corrupt officials."

"Yes, Your Highness, I agree. I will try to convince him."

From a window on the second floor of the Industrial Planning Bureau, Joseph watched Marat's retreating back and remarked, "Just one more Robespierre, and I could assemble a Jacobin team. Sending them to fight corruption—I suppose that's putting their talents to good use."

...

England.

On the south bank of the Rea River in Birmingham, from a two-story, light gray villa, came a man's voice, tinged with displeasure: "Mr. Dupont, I believe I've made myself quite clear. I have no interest in your proposal."

"Mr. Watt, perhaps you could name your terms."

The villa door opened, and Dupont emerged first, stepping aside to say, "Whatever your demands, I can consider them."

A man in his fifties, with a prominent nose, a broad face, and piercing eyes, followed him out the door. He gestured towards a nearby carriage. "Thank you for your invitation. However, I value my friends more; they are all here in Birmingham, and there's the Lunar Society. France has none of these. I believe you should get into your carriage now."

Dupont wore a look of anxious helplessness. To facilitate his mission, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had specifically instructed Archbishop Brienne to set the final signing location for the Anglo-French trade negotiations in Birmingham. Yet, he had visited Watt three times in recent days and simply couldn't sway the stubborn old fellow.

Today, England and France had officially completed the signing of the new Eden Treaty. At the latest, tomorrow he would have to return to France. How could he not be anxious?

Dupont nodded, then suddenly turned, pulling out his trump card. "Mr. Watt, actually, I am here to invite you on behalf of someone..."

Just then, a genial-looking middle-aged man in a black short jacket, with slightly downturned eyes, walked along the small path on the east side of the villa.

When he heard Dupont's next words, he stopped dead in his tracks and ducked behind a pillar on the veranda.

"He is a distinguished member of the royal family, and I swear, his identity is certainly beyond your imagination," Dupont said, staring at Watt. "He truly admires your talent and wishes to help you achieve even more brilliant technological feats, so..."

Watt smiled and shook his head. "You see, I lack nothing—money, a villa, a company, a family. I truly have no intention of leaving Birmingham."

Dupont gave up on persuading him in defeat and returned to his carriage. Though he didn't know why His Royal Highness the Crown Prince valued this British craftsman so highly, the mission to bring him back to France had utterly failed.

The middle-aged man, who had been hiding behind the pillar, emerged, gazing thoughtfully in the direction Dupont had taken. Then he knocked on Watt's door and handed him some company documents.

While Watt went upstairs to sign, the middle-aged man stopped Watt's maid, Mrs. Adwin, and quietly asked, "Mrs. Adwin, do you know what the gentleman who visited earlier—you know, the one with the rather large nose—what he said to Mr. Watt?"

"I don't recall," Mrs. Adwin replied, turning to leave.

The middle-aged man quickly took out his wallet, pulled out a pound sterling note, and slipped it to her. "I'm just a bit curious about him. Please try to remember."

"Oh, alright," the maid said, looking at the pound sterling, and stopped. "He was French, and he wanted to invite Mr. Watt to set up a factory in France. Oh, and he said France was planning some kind of industrial zone, and they'd invest a lot of money to build steam engine factories, but Mr. Watt didn't agree."

"Steam engine factories?" the middle-aged man pressed. "Did he say how much money they'd invest?"

"I think he said one million livres."

The maid departed, and the middle-aged man clenched his fists in excitement. One million livres in investment, and a project backed by the French monarchy!

This was simply a God-given opportunity!

After receiving the signed documents from Watt, he didn't return to his company. Instead, following the direction Dupont had taken, he inquired along the way and eventually found the hotel where Dupont was staying.

...

Joseph looked at the newly delivered "patent certificate for the salicin preparation method" in his hand and nodded in satisfaction.

The French Patent Office, from its organizational structure to its operational model, had entirely copied England's, thus enabling its rapid establishment. To quickly recruit enough patent examiners, Joseph had even brought in Mr. Lagrange, tasking him with inviting a large number of experts.

This was how the very first patent certificate in all of France came into being in his hands.

Of course, Joseph had also made many adjustments to the English model.

One must remember that at this time in England, applying for a patent would take at least a year for approval, and the fees were a staggering dozens or even hundreds of pounds sterling!

Joseph, however, demanded that the approval process be completed within three to eight months, and the fees were not to exceed 10 livres. The government treasury would specifically subsidize the Patent Office's expenses.

As news of the Patent Office's operation spread, the Paris Patent Office received around ten applications daily during this period. Many people from the provinces were also on their way to apply for patents—currently, only Paris had a Patent Office, as it was just starting, and expanding too quickly could lead to problems.

Eman's voice came from outside: "Your Highness, Mr. Dupont has arrived. He seems to have brought a Briton with him."

'A Briton? Could it be Watt!' Joseph's heart leaped with joy.

He immediately stood up. "Quickly, show them into the reception room."

Before long, Dupont and the genial-looking middle-aged man entered the reception room, bowing with hands crossed over their chests. "Long time no see, Your Royal Highness. May God bless Your Royal Highness."

"It's an honor to meet you, Your Royal Highness."

Dupont gestured awkwardly to the man beside him, introducing him to Joseph. "Your Highness, this is Mr. William Murdoch. He is an excellent steam engine technician, er, so he says..."