Petit Trianon Palace.
Queen Mary sighed with a distressed look,
“This is simply a disaster. Even the Duke of Orleans, a person of such esteemed status, has been killed by those mobs…”
Joseph pushed the strawberry cake towards her,
“In fact, he committed treason.”
The queen gestured to the musicians sitting by the door,
“Mozart’s new piece, ‘Sonata in A minor’, thank you.”
She looked at the cake and shook her head,
“But he should have been judged by the rightful authority, not to suffer an untimely death.”
Joseph thought to himself, if you were the Chief Examiner, he would probably still be plaguing France for another 20 years…
The sad melody coming from the piano made him frown. He gestured with his eyes to Clementine, who was heartlessly twirling her cake.
The little girl quickly wiped the cake crumbs from her mouth and took the queen’s arm,
“Dear aunt, don’t be too sad, God will surely punish those cruel rioters… And, would you like some pudding? With a double portion of sugar, pudding always makes all troubles disappear.”
Joseph held his forehead, his gaze repeatedly flicking towards the piano.
Clementine then realized what was happening and muttered something softly to the musicians.
The piano stopped for a moment, then shifted to Handel’s cheerful ‘Water Music’.
The background music finally suited the occasion. Joseph turned to Queen Mary and said,
“Mother, this illustrates exactly why using the military for public order control is inappropriate.
“Look, the mobilization of the military is inherently slow; they are usually stationed in barracks and take a long time to arrive when something happens in the city.
“Moreover, their overwhelming firepower is of no use in maintaining public order and could even cause innocent casualties.
“This time, even with citizen protests occurring in Paris, no chaos ensued precisely because of the police reform. The patrolling policemen quickly brought the situation under control.”
Queen Mary looked at her son, “So, you believe that police reform should be carried out elsewhere?”
“Yes, I am quite certain that spreading the new police system will quickly quell riots.”
The financial requirements for nationwide police reform were enormous. Tens of millions of livres needed to be invested in the first year alone, so the queen had always been cautious. However, the recent riots caused her to waver.
“But it will require a lot of money…”
Joseph smiled,
“I’ve discussed this with Archbishop Brienne, and the financial pressures are not significant. For instance, we can utilize banking investments, loans, or issue special bonds…”
Of course, this was just a pretext to bluff his mother. In reality, his eyes were set on the tens of millions of livres owned by the Duke of Orleans.
He knew that many nobles, including the queen, believed that the Duke of Chartres should inherit this wealth.
However, with himself holding sway over the High Court, and with the Duke of Orleans charged with treason, if he couldn’t confiscate the duke’s assets, he might as well bash his head against a block of tofu.
With that vast sum of money, not only would police reform be possible, but also funding for local tariff reforms.
Come to think of it, this could be considered the only contribution the Duke of Orleans ever made to France in his lifetime.
Queen Mary hesitated for a long time, but finally nodded,
“Then let’s do as you say and carry out police reforms nationwide.”
She also knew that police reform was her son’s initiative. If it could indeed help control the riots, it would greatly enhance the Crown Prince’s prestige.
Joseph’s heart leaped with joy. He immediately scooped up a spoonful of strawberry pudding with double the sugar and fed it to his mother. Then he took out the royal decree he had prepared earlier, had her sign it, and dashed out of the Petit Trianon Palace like a shot.
“Cousin…”
Clementine had intended to say goodbye to Joseph, but when she turned around, he was already out of sight. She pouted in disappointment and reluctantly turned to Queen Mary:
“Dear aunt, you know, my uncle, His Majesty, is not in good health. My father wishes for me to return to Vienna with him to visit the Emperor, so in the next few days, I will be leaving Paris.”
The uncle she referred to was the current Archduke of Austria, Emperor Joseph II.
Queen Mary’s face changed slightly. Emperor Joseph II had no offspring, which indicated that he was recalling his brother, Clementine’s father Leopold II, to succeed the throne.
Although she knew her brother had long been ill, she hadn’t realized it was so serious. She quickly asked:
“How is your uncle doing?”
“Father mentioned that the Emperor only deals with half an hour of state affairs each day…”
Queen Mary looked down somberly. Recently there had been too many distressing events, making her feel as though she had aged several years all at once.
Soon, the sonata in A minor filled the room again.
…
Joseph had obtained the decree for national police reform and felt a great sense of relief.
Although he was confident he could persuade his mother, and had even preemptively released the personnel responsible for implementing the reforms, without an official decree, many things would not proceed smoothly.
Enjoy more content from empire
He was well aware that public unrest was a ferocious beast.
He had unleashed this beast to devour the rotten flesh of France, but if he couldn’t make it disappear immediately, it would continue to consume the life of France.
Thus, the “Little Revolution” he had initiated against the feudal privileged class was only just past the halfway mark.
It was only because he now essentially controlled the domestic departments of domestic affairs, public opinion, justice, finance, and the military that he dared to risk this drastic measure. But even so, a slight misstep could lead to a massive crisis.
Before long, he was on his way to Paris in a carriage, to personally urge the High Court to register the decree for police reform.
Looking out the window at the Palace of Versailles, he suddenly shook his head with a wry smile. Since his arrival in this world, he had been desperately trying to avoid a grand revolution, only to end up creating a minor one with his own hands.
…
In the south of France.
Nice.
In front of the doors of Police Headquarters, an officer who had just arrived from Paris looked at the hundred or so sloppily standing members of the civil patrol team, recalled the way the Crown Prince had addressed him, and tried to imitate him:
“Gentlemen, good morning! I’m not one for idle talk, so only three things…
“First, from now on, Nice’s civil patrols will be incorporated into the Police Department and become official police officers!
“Second…”
He found himself drifting back to the Saint Antoine District, to the morning that changed his life.
He suddenly raised his voice:
“Believe me, this will be the opportunity that changes your destiny!”
That was not something the Crown Prince had said back then.
Given only one day to train in the use of riot forks, these new police officers donned their crisp uniforms and followed two officers onto the streets of Nice.
Of course, the old police force also followed closely behind them.
The officers from Paris had said that if they performed well enough, they would not have to join the “Daily Affairs Squad.”
(Since there will be a double monthly ticket event at the end of this month, you, the magnate, can save up your monthly tickets and then double them for this book at the end of the month! The author hereby thanks you in advance!)