Chapter 25: The First Pot of Gold
Chapter 25: The First Pot of Gold
Unlike his meeting with the Minister of Navy, Joseph received Marquis Saint-Priest in his study, dismissing all servants and having the guards outside the door retreat ten meters.
After Joseph finished detailing his plan, the Minister of War exclaimed, "How do you know she's in Nijmegen?!"
Joseph thought, 'Of course, I saw it in a documentary,' but could only pretend to be mysterious. "Ah, it's a secret, but the information is absolutely reliable."
Saint-Priest's brows furrowed. After a long moment, he finally nodded with difficulty. "This, while feasible, also carries significant risks. You know, even the most skilled spy can fail. A single misstep could ignite a war."
Joseph smiled faintly. "Rest assured, even if the matter is exposed, as long as Wilhelmina is unharmed, Prussia will announce it publicly according to our narrative. Their economic situation is dire, and they are absolutely unwilling to engage in war with France."
The Minister of War pondered for another moment, then rose. "This matter is too critical. I must report it to Her Majesty the Queen before a final decision can be made."
"Of course," Joseph said, escorting him to the door, then added, "Marquis Saint-Priest, don't you think you owe me a considerable thank you for this matter?"
The Minister of War paused, momentarily stunned. The Crown Prince had helped secure the budget from the Netherlands and devised the action plan; he had been so focused on implementation that he'd forgotten to thank the Crown Prince.
Joseph chuckled. "Then how about a gift for me?"
"Please, Your Highness, name your price."
"Hmm, assign me twenty of your top-tier spies."
Saint-Priest nearly burst into tears. He thought, 'Your Highness, you're so young, yet you're more ruthless than a bandit! Twenty spies, and top-tier ones at that! Do you think I pick my spies off the streets?'
With a pained expression, he said, "Your Highness, the entire army doesn't have twenty top-tier spies, let alone more."
"Eighteen."
"Two at most."
"Fifteen."
"Three. That's truly all I have!"
"Twelve. Not a single one less!"
The two of them went back and forth, one asking an exorbitant price, the other bargaining hard. In the end, Joseph wrangled three top-tier spies and eight regular spies from the Minister of War. Though the number wasn't large, these would be the first bricks in building his "French Central Intelligence Agency."
It was destined to be a busy day. No sooner had Saint-Priest left than two individuals recommended by Queen Mary arrived for an audience.
Joseph engaged in thorough discussions with both men, gaining a general understanding of their personalities and capabilities. Taking their own preferences into account, he ultimately decided to appoint Besançon as the Commissioner of Police for Paris, as it was a position requiring strong administrative skills.
Friant was also a capable individual, and Joseph naturally wouldn't waste such talent. He appointed him as the Dean of Academic Affairs for the nascent Paris Police Academy — Joseph himself would, of course, serve as its headmaster.
Friant had extensive experience training new recruits, which would be highly beneficial for training police officers.
"Therefore, your most important task after taking office will be to extend the Police Reform across all of Paris," Joseph told Besançon. "All regulations and reorganization plans have already been compiled into a dossier; you just need to follow them.
"Oh, the Saint-Antoine district has been relatively calm lately, so you can transfer some personnel from there to assist with assessments in other districts. If that's still not enough, I can assign the Guard to help you."
Clauzel, standing nearby, felt a twitch in his eyelid. He had a growing feeling that ever since the Crown Prince initiated the Police Reform, the Guard had increasingly become mere errand boys...
Besançon diligently took notes, then mused, "Your Highness, I had some prior understanding of the Police Reform. If we were to reorganize the entire Paris police force, just the salaries alone would likely require 50,000 livres per month. Add to that the costs for uniforms, equipment, and so on, and the City Hall certainly wouldn't be able to provide such funds."
The Paris City Hall's allocation for police expenses was only 8,000 livres per month.
Joseph said, "You don't need to worry about the money. I will allocate 50,000 livres to you shortly, and it will be disbursed monthly thereafter."
"Understood, Your Highness!"
Joseph then turned to Friant. "Your workload will be substantial. Your primary task is to find a site for the police academy. It can be a bit remote, prioritizing affordable land prices.
"Another issue is the teaching staff. Currently, the only available personnel are the experienced police officers from the Saint-Antoine district, but that's far from enough."
Friant immediately replied, "Your Highness, I know quite a few retired veterans, even officers, who would be perfectly capable of conducting drills and combat training."
"Excellent," Joseph said, nodding with satisfaction. The military's training standards were, after all, far higher than those of the police. "Contact them as soon as possible. Their salaries will be based on the standard for municipal officials, with an additional thirty percent."
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Furthermore, we need to recruit instructors for finance, trade, journalism, and law. The police academy will offer courses in these subjects."
Friant asked, puzzled, "Why would a school training police officers teach these subjects?"
Besançon, with his more nimble mind, immediately said, "I believe His Highness means that one can only catch criminals by understanding their methods. I recall when I first began tracking down smugglers, I didn't even know how to calculate tariffs or which goods were easily concealed for transport. For months, I achieved nothing. It was only after I thoroughly studied smuggling techniques that I finally apprehended the first group of smugglers, more than half a year later."
"Precisely," Joseph affirmed, nodding approvingly. "Police officers must be more professional than criminals to effectively deter and combat crime."
Friant had never heard such progressive ideas before. He was profoundly shaken, nodding incessantly and rapidly jotting notes in his notebook.
Joseph then cautioned them about numerous details and allocated 20,000 livres in startup funds to Friant before seeing them off.
Upon returning to his private chambers, his personal accountant immediately presented two expenditure slips for Joseph's signature.
Joseph looked at the total expenditure of 70,000 livres and couldn't help but sigh. His private assets amounted to over 200,000 livres in total. He had previously paid 20,000 livres for police salaries and given Lamarck 10,000 livres to purchase essential supplies for the pharmaceutical factory. Now, he was left with just over 100,000 livres.
Money was truly flowing like water. He had to quickly increase his income, otherwise, he would soon deplete his resources by simply living off his savings.
He immediately recalled his plan to produce cosmetics using Salicin. He had never expected that making a few antipyretics on a whim would now turn into his quickest path to making money.
He dismissed the accountant and said to Eman, "Could you please help me order some items?"
His attendant immediately produced paper and a pen, ready to record. "Please give your orders."
"Fifty kilograms of glycerin, one kilogram of rose essential oil, five hundred 7-ounce glass bottles, and an equal number of small wooden boxes, just large enough to fit the glass bottles. The boxes should be hot-stamped with..."
As someone who struggled with names, Joseph paused for a few seconds. He suddenly recalled the "SK-II Facial Treatment Essence" his roommate in his previous life had bought for his girlfriend as a birthday gift and thought, 'That name sounds quite catchy.' So he said, "Hot-stamp 'Angel Water'."
"All these items must be of the highest quality; don't worry too much about the price."
"Yes, Your Highness, I'll see to it immediately."
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