At present, the bigwigs of the Assembly of Notables are all so anxious that their eyes are bloodshot, desperately urging the military to quell the local uprisings as quickly as possible, with no time to care about any “privilege abolition proposal.”
Without these great nobles taking the lead, other nobles who want to preserve their privileges can hardly make a fuss against the abolitionist faction, which includes a large number of noblemen in robes.
In recent times, even the streets of Paris have seen citizen gatherings supporting the abolition of privileges. Of course, this was also arranged by Joseph.
Queen Mary glanced at the document in her hand and furrowed her brow with a sigh, “The unrest has been getting worse and worse, Earl Dimonzo and others have even been killed by mobs, I simply have no mood to discuss these proposals right now.”
“Your Majesty, quelling the unrest and these proposals are not contradictory,” Talleyrand said, bowing respectfully, “Moreover, the content of these proposals can pacify the poorest people and will be very helpful in stopping the unrest.”
His expression was filled with reverence, “Your Majesty, abolishing noble privileges could greatly reduce the burdens of the peasants, improving their lives. This will make tens of millions of peasants in France grateful for Your kind-heartedness and they will always remember Your beneficence.”
His words slightly moved Queen Mary.
Before, someone had maliciously tarnished her reputation, spreading rumors that she was “extravagantly wasteful,” “if they have no bread, then let them eat cake,” which plummeted her prestige into an abyss.
Now that the proposal had the support of the majority of the nobility, if she could be the one to sign it, it would certainly greatly enhance her image among the people. Discover stories at empire
And indeed, it would be helpful in quelling the unrest.
She then nodded, “Very well, we shall discuss this matter thoroughly at tomorrow’s Cabinet meeting.”
…
On the second basement level of the Police Affairs Department detention rooms.
Dressed in a red hunting outfit, Joseph pushed a cup of red tea with three heaped teaspoons of sugar towards Mono, sighing lightly, “The Maletude Brothers have admitted that it was the Duke of Orleans who instructed them to frame your son.”
Mono’s pupils shrank instantly, almost knocking over the steaming cup of tea.
He had been caught in Brittany. Actually, if he hadn’t been so reluctant to part with his money, wishing to sneakily draw a large check from the Bank of England during the unrest, he would not have been caught by the Police Affairs Department.
Nowadays, in major banks, there are always supervisors dispatched by the Bank of France Reserve who confirm the legality of large transactions. When Mono, who was at the top of the watch list, applied for a check of several hundred thousand livres, he was taken away by the Police Affairs Department the very next day.
“I… Your Highness…” the former Minister of the Interior could only utter two words after a long pause.
Joseph raised his hand to stop him, speaking indifferently, “Your biggest mistake was trusting the Duke of Orleans.”
“Your Highness…”
Joseph nodded, “You stood by me when I needed help the most, only to later stand on the opposite side for the sake of some benefits.
“However, I am someone who remembers old favors, and have never forgotten your kindness.
“You must have noticed that there has been no news in the papers about you maliciously manipulating the reserves, causing food shortages. I had them suppress the news.”
Hope sparked in Mono’s eyes, and he said with a choke in his voice, “Your Highness, it’s all my fault! Your great kindness, I truly…”
Joseph interrupted him again, “But you did indeed kill that innocent coppersmith and his family in the Marais District, and brought a great disaster to the entire nation.
“Now I give you one last chance. Either, you’ll be sentenced to exile in Nice or Dauphine…”
Mono turned deathly pale, his eyes bulging as he shook his head repeatedly, “No, please don’t do this…”
He was the mastermind behind the food disaster. If he were to be exiled to the most affected areas in the south, should the news leak, the furious citizens would kill him on sight.
Joseph continued, “Or, as someone who has been misled, you could testify that the Duke of Orleans is the true instigator of all this trouble. Then you could be exiled to Nancy. However, solid evidence is required.”
“No…” Mono’s face was almost as pale as a corpse’s. Accusing the most powerful duke beneath the Royal Family was practically the same as signing his own death warrant.
Joseph smiled, “Don’t worry, we’ll discuss this matter after the Duke of Orleans has left this world.”
Mono suddenly jumped out of his chair in shock and gasped, “No, no… Are you saying, that he, he’s dead?”
This was also the reason Joseph had kept him around.
As long as the Duke of Orleans was alive, with his immense influence in France and wealth to rival a nation’s, even conclusive evidence would at most result in a heavy fine and reprimand for him; banishment would be out of the question.
But if he were dead, then being saddled with crimes like creating a famine and inciting riots, there would be no one who dared, nor willing, to stand up for him.
The Marquis de Saint-Veran didn’t know much about the insider details of the food crisis, whereas Mono knew it inside and out.
The former Minister of the Interior, looking at the silent smiling young man before him, shuddered involuntarily and after a long while lowered his head and muttered, “Yes, yes, Your Highness. I have his letters, I’ll listen to you. Accuse, yes, accuse him…”
At the Cabinet meeting the following day, with unanimous approval from all the ministers, Queen Mary signed the decree “Abolishment of Noble Privileges.”
With this, the feudal lord privileges that severely hindered the industrial and capital development of France officially became history, heralding a dawn for the French industrial revolution.
At the same time, the Baron Breti, Minister of Justice, dropped a bombshell that shocked all of France—the long “missing” Minister of the Interior Mono surrendered to the High Court and disclosed that the Duke of Orleans was the mastermind behind the food crisis in the south!
Suddenly, the “Abolishment of Noble Privileges” decree was of no concern to anyone; from the Palace of Versailles to the streets of Paris, everyone was buzzing with the scandal.
However, just as Joseph had anticipated, by the afternoon a large number of nobles had gathered at the Petit Trianon Palace, pleading with Queen Mary on behalf of the Duke of Orleans.
It wasn’t until three days later that news arrived from Amor, reporting that the Duke of Orleans had been killed by an irate mob using a stolen cannon.
The Palace of Versailles was rocked once again.
But this time, the people only demanded a fierce suppression of the riots and severe punishment for the murderers, and no one mentioned pardoning the Duke of Orleans any longer.
Joseph, standing by the window watching the indignant nobles demanding the military to quell the unrest, simply smiled and shook his head.
Forty-eight of the nobles on his poker deck had already suffered the wrath of the angry populace.
The remaining four either had strong defenses on their estates with too few local residents to take them down, or there had been errors by agents from the Police Affairs Department, forcing plans to be interrupted.
According to the plan set beforehand, the southern provinces should already be in the aftermath stage by now. If everything went as expected, the rioting populace would soon return home, and order would be restored in each province.
The Paris Police Headquarters had already dispatched a large number of officers half a month ago to the rioting provinces to “guide” the work of local police.
This was only the first step in post-conflict management.