Mala put down his pen and looked up at Demulan, “Camille, you know as well as I do that the rumors about those shameless officers only omit their misdeeds, and hardly ever wrongfully accuse anyone.
“Besides, what I’ve written are only ‘maybe’ and ‘signs indicate,’ and the officers won’t be convicted on this basis. The gendarmes will definitely conduct a detailed investigation. Wouldn’t it be great if they actually found hard evidence?”
He continued to write the denunciation letter, “What I regret the most is that the Justice Investigation Department doesn’t have the capacity to go after those bastards in the army.”
Indeed, once Joseph had learned that the gendarmerie would be responsible for reviewing the French Guard, he immediately began the next step of his response.
He first had Fouché hand over some dirt on French Guard officers to Mala, a large part of which were heard from an officer named Tiru during the previous investigation into the shelling of a farmhouse.
In tune with Mala’s character, he naturally couldn’t tolerate these vile officers and soon began his investigation. And through his reporter contacts, he uncovered even more sordid stories about the officers—also “thanks” to the widespread corruption and violence in the old army, which made it so easy to find a wealth of material with just a bit of digging.
After that, Joseph had someone “casually” inform Mala that the Justice Minister and the gendarmerie were conducting a large-scale investigation into the officers and that perhaps they could use some leads.
Mala generously shared everything he knew about the officers with the Justice Minister.
At the French Guard barracks, the gendarmerie department had to reopen investigations into officers who had already been cleared.
With the Justice Minister and the Queen’s Guard’s second squad leader watching over them, they couldn’t very well acquit anyone openly, so, in less than three days, some of the reported content actually revealed some leads.
The gendarmes had no choice but to invest more manpower and effort, and undertook an even larger-scale investigation…
In this manner, nearly half a month later, the review of the first batch of nine officers had still not been completed.
And there were more than two hundred mid-to-high ranking officers in the entire French Guard, with even more junior officers.
All these men were now confined to the barracks, anxiously awaiting the impending review, but the more anxious they became, the slower the review process seemed to go.
The feeling of having a sword hanging over one’s head, yet never falling, was the most agonizing.
Moreover, these officers previously had at least eight hours of free time every day, which they could spend enjoying themselves in Paris, but now they were stuck sitting in the barracks, missing out on parties and women, and even the food was just the coarse meals provided by the barracks. To them, this was hardly different from being in prison.
Soon, rumors began to spread through the barracks that the Queen, furious about the attack on the Crown Prince, was taking out her anger on the French Guard and was planning to exile all the officers.
Of course, this was also a rumor spread by Joseph’s men.
The officers, already in a constant state of fear, had long lost the ability to calmly discern truth from falsehood. Hardly anyone questioned these rumors, which became more and more exaggerated as they spread.
As a result, the officers began to use all their wits and desperately reached out to their contacts for help. Almost half of the Military Nobility Group was stirred.
The Duke of Orleans also heard about the situation in the French Guard barracks and once again sought out Minister of War Saint Priest, promising to increase the “activity funds” if he could ensure the protection of those officers—after all, they were his support in the army.
This time, though, Marquis Saint Priest dared not accept this “windfall,” because he simply had no idea how to handle the situation.
In recent days, quite a few influential military nobles had approached him or written personal letters, urging him to conclude the review of the French Guard as soon as possible.
If it were an ordinary case that few people knew about, he could have handled it quietly, but the situation with the French Guard required daily reports to the queen. Moreover, journalists somehow obtained letters denouncing the officers, and now all the major newspapers were reporting on the investigations of those officers.
With so many eyes watching, even if he wanted to influence the outcome, he couldn’t find an opening to do so… Continue reading at m|v-l’e m,p| y- r
That night, in the villa of an officer in the Southern Suburbs of Paris, Saint Priest was contemplating strategies with several senior members of the Gendarmerie when an aide-de-camp of General Astou from the Gendarmerie burst in, panic-stricken, and whispered a few words in his ear.
Astou’s face was a picture of shock, “Really?!”
The aide-de-camp had a pained expression, handing over a newspaper: “General, it’s already been published. It’s said that the Justice Minister has also received evidence.”
Saint Priest and the others hastily took a look: “General Astou, what’s happened?”
Astou said with a dark face, “Have you heard about the incident last month in the Southern Suburbs of Paris? A farmhouse was shelled, killing two people?”
The others nodded in response.
Astou pointed to the newspaper and said, “There are reports saying it was done by the French Guard, and they later pinned the blame on the Paris Police Academy. It seems Breti has already received evidence.”
Early the next morning, outside the French Guard’s camp, there were already hundreds of protesters gathered, demanding severe punishment for the murderers of the Axel couple.
It was only because the barracks were relatively far from the city center that the number of protesters was not even higher.
The previous shelling incident had caused a major stir, but Joseph had cleverly managed the crisis through public relations. However, this time the boomerang hit the French Guard, and they had no means to respond.
Breti, acting on the clues received, had the Gendarmerie find the cannon that had really shelled the Axel House and arrested all the gunners responsible for operating it.
After interrogation, the gunners, already under extreme stress, quickly confessed and named their officer, eventually implicating Theodore, the Major of the French Guard’s second artillery battalion.
The news spread, and all of Paris was shaken. People took to the streets, angrily demanding the execution of Theodore and the other murderers.
At the same time, many also gathered outside the Paris Police Academy to apologize for having wronged it previously.
The act of the Paris Police Headquarters, despite being falsely accused, in helping to repair the Axel family’s home and providing thousands of livres in aid, became widely praised. Their reputation soared.
For a time, the Paris Police almost became the epitome of “caring for the poor” in people’s mouths. Even on patrol, they carried their heads higher than usual.
That day, the number of young people who came to enroll at the Police Academy directly exceeded five hundred. The Dean of Academic Affairs, Frient, had to temporarily close the enrollment entrance.
…
Palace of Versailles.
Bertier looked cautiously toward the direction of the Crown Prince’s chambers, nervously preening and readjusting his appearance, feeling quite uneasy.
Although he had not yet assumed his post, he was still a commander in the French Guard, and he did not know whether the Crown Prince would vent his anger on him for this lapse in the Guard’s protection.