Chapter 181: Convincing the Jacobins
The next day.
Paris, second floor of the Industrial Planning Bureau.
"So, you left abruptly last night just because you wanted to resign?" Joseph looked at the three men before him, a smile spreading across his face. "Knowing that your injury isn't serious, I'm relieved."
"Thank you for your concern, Your Royal Highness," Marat said, bowing slightly while leaning on his cane. "And even more so for your trust. However, we have still decided to leave the investigation bureau."
Joseph paused, then inquired, "Could you tell me why?"
Danton interjected, "We refuse to associate with those corrupt nobles!"
Desmoulins added, "W-we also don't want to... to work for the Royal Family anymore."
Joseph found himself in an awkward situation, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Others resigned because they couldn't get promoted or a raise, but these individuals were quitting right after being promoted.
Well, that's very Jacobin of them...
Marat declared firmly, "We want to be eternally loyal to the people of France!"
Joseph thought to himself, 'This time, I'd better thoroughly handle these radicals, otherwise, having them resign every so often will become a nuisance.'
Moreover, they were the opinion leaders of the entire Liberal faction. If he could win them over, it would significantly reduce the radical Liberals' hostility toward the Royal Family.
He recalled the "sophistry" he had seen on various forums in his past life, thinking, 'These arguments should be sufficient to deal with 18th-century theories...'
"Loyalty to the people." He nodded slowly. "That is to say, to make the people live better lives?"
Marat pondered for a moment; logically, it seemed correct. "That is indeed the case, Your Royal Highness."
"So, you intend to resign for this goal?"
"Yes..."
"Have you ever considered, after you leave, who will supervise corrupt officials like Necker? Another group of corrupt officials? Do you think that would make the people of France live better?"
Marat and the others were momentarily stunned.
Joseph immediately struck at the "core" of their ideology. "I believe your animosity towards the Royal Family is unfounded."
"No!" Danton, the youngest and most audacious, immediately retorted loudly. "It is precisely because the Royal Family indulges in pleasure, disregards the suffering of the people, and blindly protects the interests of the nobility that the people are oppressed!"
"Is that so?" Joseph calmly countered. "Will the people necessarily be better off without the Royal Family?"
Marat and the others, deeply influenced by Rousseau, quoted his words almost without hesitation: "Natural rights, all men are born free, and no one can restrict the freedom of others, not even the King..."
Joseph interrupted him. "Tell me, Monsieur Marat, if man is born free, can the rules set by previous generations bind later generations?"
Marat was about to say "no" but suddenly froze. 'That's not right,' he thought. 'If not, then wouldn't someone who never participated in establishing social rules be able to do whatever they pleased?'
And if 'yes,' wouldn't later generations then be unfree?
Joseph smiled. "You see, the idea that man is born free is inherently flawed. Every one of us, including the King, is, in fact, not free."
Danton chimed in:
"Rousseau said that we need to establish a reasonable social contract, and then everyone must abide by it!"
Joseph immediately countered, "What do you mean by a 'reasonable contract'?"
No great thinker had been able to answer this question even by the 19th century. No, even by the 21st century, people were still only trying. Marat and his companions, with only Rousseau's most superficial theoretical foundations, were bound to be confused.
"It's..."
Desmoulins hastily said, "I-it's the assembly. The p-people will d-delegate power to the assembly, and the assembly will establish the rules!"
"An assembly?" Joseph said with a faint smile. "Once an assembly gains power, will it necessarily act in the best interests of the people?"
"W-what is there to doubt?"
"No, they will only think of themselves." Joseph shook his head. "Look at America; what kind of land purchase policies has their assembly enacted? Each time, you must buy 60 acres; anything less isn't sold. The poor? I'm sorry, they cannot buy land.
Or look at our neighbor, Switzerland. The rules of their cantonal assemblies only serve warlords and wealthy merchants, making it easier for them to control cities and extract the last penny from people's pockets.
I dare say, if such things happened in France, people would have long since gathered outside the Palace of Versailles to protest. The King would be cursed a thousand times over, and eventually, these policies would be revised."
"No, these are just isolated incidents..."
"Is that so? Take the American assembly, for instance. After their representatives enact harsh policies, they go home to enjoy their wealth two years later, leaving the problems to the next assembly. Of course, the next representatives will be the same. They have no scruples because the assembly is merely their tool. Only the King truly cares about this nation, because he has no 'next term'."
Marat and the others all shook their heads hesitantly. "No, there must be something wrong with what you're saying!"
Joseph said, "Human social culture has always been an oppressive structure; this is a fundamental and universally existing reality. The King is merely a symbol and archetype of this phenomenon, and the assembly is the same; any high-level authority is the same.
The past we have inherited may be narrow-minded and outdated, requiring constant refinement and improvement. However, everything from the past has also brought immense benefits; every word we speak, every idea we conceive, is a gift from our predecessors. The very foundation supporting our lives—such as technology, wealth, opportunities, and so on—was also brought by them. Therefore, simply viewing social structure as pure oppression is unreasonable. It's not enough to simply deny everything from the past just because we encounter problems.
There is no enmity between the Royal Family and the people. They can join hands and move forward together for the common goal of France.
Indeed, France has many problems—for instance, the unreasonable privileges of the nobility, and the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy. We must solve these issues, but these problems were not caused by the King.
Do you believe that without a king, everything will improve? No, it will only get worse. Nobles and the rich will simply assume different identities and continue their indulgence and exploitation.
You previously worked for the Royal Family, did you not? Yet look, the people of Paris are cheering for you. Isn't this more helpful to them than you saying 'I will be loyal to the people' ten thousand times?"
Joseph paused, then finally added, "To be frank, I have consistently been implementing His Majesty the King's reform measures.
For instance, the Notary Investigation Bureau is one part of it. As you've all witnessed, there have also been Police Reforms, tax reforms, financial reforms, and so on, during this period. There will be even more measures in the future, until all of France's various problems have vanished.
→
Are you unwilling to join me in completing this great process?"
Silence hung in the room for a long time. Marat suddenly withdrew the resignation letter from the table, took half a step back, and bowed. With a complicated expression, he said, "Your Royal Highness, I hope to see a better and more rational France."
...
As May began, the weather grew increasingly hot and dry, feeling just like July or August in previous years.
The last rainfall had been three months prior. Large expanses of bushes had been scorched yellow by the scorching sun, and widespread cracks appeared in the ground, like parched mouths gazing skyward, waiting for dew to fall once more.
However, in the vineyards of the Laracheze parish, located east of Bordeaux, a vibrant green scene thrived.
Though the sky was similarly ablaze with the scorching sun, small trickles of water flowed through the furrows beneath the grapevines.
Just three hundred paces (about 450 meters) west of the vineyard, a bronze-colored steam engine emitted a rhythmic chugging sound, continuously pumping water from a tributary of the Garonne River into the irrigation ditches.
The water then flowed along the dug channels, irrigating the entire three and a half qing (about 23 hectares) of vineyard, saving the grapes from the ravages of drought.
That highly instrumental water pump was a mass-produced 15-horsepower steam engine manufactured by the French United Steam Engine Company.
Similarly, near the farmland south of the parish, another steam engine of the same model was working relentlessly to ensure the village's crops would survive this dry summer.
A thatched shed had been erected beside the steam engine, where two bare-chested farmers sat, squinting their eyes as they enjoyed the shade.
Before long, a middle-aged man in a grey coat approached with a group of carpenters. From a distance, he shouted, "André, Aurore, are you slacking off again?!"
The two farmers hurriedly donned their shirts and jumped to their feet. "No, no, Monsieur Dietrich, we've been watching it all along..."
Dietrich glanced at the nearby steam engine and declared loudly, "Do you know how expensive this thing is? A full 13,000 Livres! Without it, all the crops in our entire parish would dry up under the sun.
If it gets damaged due to lack of water or coal, I swear, I will hang you both from the parish bell tower!"
"Please, don't be angry, we promise we won't doze off again." André said, picking up a shovel and filling it with crushed coal. Aurore immediately cooperated, pulling open the steam engine's boiler lid to let him add the coal.
"You see, it's all good now." Aurore glanced at the boiler's water level again, smiling apologetically at the parish Governor.
Dietrich shot them a fierce glare, musing that he should assign another overseer.
Just over a month ago, as he looked at the parched farmlands in the village, he had almost fallen into despair.
Although the villagers drove horse-drawn carts back and forth to transport water for irrigation, that little bit of water was completely ineffective. If it didn't rain again within five days, all the potatoes planted in the village would die, followed by the wheat...
It was at this critical moment that the water pump they had ordered arrived. It had been purchased with a loan from the recently established agricultural bank of the parish.
Several technicians who had rushed from Nancy installed the water pump in two days, then added coal and lit it.
Subsequently, water from the Garonne River was continuously pumped up, far more than 100 horses could transport, saving all the crops in the village within a few days.
Parish Governor Dietrich wiped sweat from his brow and called André and Aurore to help the carpenters unload the timber from the carriage.
André looked at the planks, which were taller than a man, and asked with a grin, "Monsieur Dietrich, seeing how hard we're working, are you building us a wooden hut for resting?"
Dietrich kicked him hard on the backside and snapped angrily, "You lazy good-for-nothing, all you think about is resting!
This is for building a protective shed for the water pump."
"A protective shed? To protect against what?"
"I don't know," Dietrich replied casually, instructing the carpenters to dismantle the thatched shed over the steam engine. "It was ordered by the Governor. All steam engines, waterwheels, windmills, and the like must be covered with sturdy wooden sheds."
He shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand, gazing out at the vast wheat fields. "God willing, we'll make it through this year's dry season successfully."
...
Southeast of Paris, a scowling man emerged from the Academy of Notables. He waved dismissively at the slender, dark-skinned young man behind him and said gruffly, "Take Viscount Donic back. When he sobers up, tell him I'll invite him to play again once this deal is done."
"Understood, Monsieur Imanol. Thank you for your hospitality."
Once the young man turned and departed, the drunkenness in Imanol's eyes instantly vanished. He quickly walked to his carriage on the other side of the academy and said in a low voice to the coachman, "Quickly, to the Marquis's residence."
The carriage sped off. Imanol's heart was already filled with immense excitement. Just moments ago, he had heard news from the inebriated Viscount Donic that could make him immensely rich—news about the person his boss hated to the bone.
However, he didn't notice a carriage following him from a distance until he entered Marquis de Ludo's villa, at which point it turned and departed. Inside the carriage sat none other than Viscount Donic, who had been heavily drunk just half an hour ago. He had another identity: captain of the Fourth Action Squad of the Police Intelligence Bureau.
Marquis de Ludo locked the study door, then turned to Imanol and asked in a low voice, "Is the information accurate?!"
The latter nodded repeatedly. "Viscount Donic's brother-in-law is an officer at the Bastille. He only revealed it because he was drunk."
A chill immediately flashed in Marquis de Ludo's eyes. He repeated, "Leaving Paris at ten o'clock four nights from now, correct?"
"Yes, Marquis."
"Excellent, you've done very well!"
Once Imanol had left, Marquis de Ludo immediately instructed his butler to invite several magnates from the Banking Guild to his home.
Still in his study, Marquis de Ludo gritted his teeth and told the group, "Necker will secretly leave Paris four days from now. He might be escorted by the Secret Police, but this could be our only chance to deal with him!"
Comte de Kaunitz's eyes immediately glinted with ferocity, and he clenched his fist. "No matter the cost, I want him dead!"
As the group discussed how to proceed, Ludo's butler suddenly rapped on the door from outside. "My lord, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince has sent someone, saying he requires your presence at the Industrial Planning Bureau."
Ludo's heart tightened. 'Had the knowledge of Necker's whereabouts been leaked?'
He could only brace himself and leave. Before long, he met His Royal Highness the Crown Prince on the second floor of the Industrial Planning Bureau.
Joseph waited for him to bow, then smiled and motioned for him to sit. He then produced a document and asked, "I see from your bank accounts that you previously invested 2 million Livres in the British automatic loom industry?"
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