Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Chapter 25: The First Pot of Gold

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Unlike when he met with the Navy Minister, Joseph received Marquis Saint Priest in his own study and sent all the servants away, with the guards standing back ten meters from the door.

After Joseph had explained his plan in detail, the Minister of War exclaimed in surprise, “How did you know she was in Nijmegen?!”

Joseph thought to himself that of course, he had seen it in a documentary, but could only maintain an air of mystery as he said, “Ah, that is a secret, but the information is absolutely reliable.”

Marquis Saint Priest furrowed his brow, finally nodding with difficulty after a long moment, “This, although feasible, also carries great risk. You know, even the best spy can make mistakes. If we are careless, it could trigger a war.”

Joseph smiled and said, “Rest assured, even if the matter leaks, as long as Wilhelmina is safe, Prussia will announce it to the public as we say. Because their economic situation is also very poor, they definitely do not wish to go to war with France.”

The Minister of War pondered for a long while, then stood up and said, “This matter is too significant, I still need to report to Queen Mary before making a final decision.”

“Of course,” Joseph said as he escorted him to the door, suddenly adding, “Marquis Saint Priest, shouldn’t you thank me properly for this matter?”

The Minister of War was taken aback, the Crown Prince had helped negotiate the budget from the Netherlands and had devised the action plan, and he had been busy implementing it, so he had forgotten to thank the Crown Prince.

He nodded continuously, somewhat ashamed, “I really should thank Your Highness.”

Joseph smiled and said, “Then give me a gift.”

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“Your Highness need only ask.”

“Well, give me twenty of your top spies.”

Saint Priest almost cried, thinking to himself that the Crown Prince was so young, yet so ruthless, more so than a bandit. Twenty spies, and the top ones at that! Did His Highness think his spies were picked up from the roadside?

He said with a pained expression, “Your Highness, the army doesn’t have twenty top spies in total.”

“Eighteen.”

“At most two.”

“Fifteen.”

“Three, that’s really all there is!”

“Twelve, no less!”

The two haggled back and forth, one starting high and the other bargaining down, until finally Joseph managed to get three top spies and eight ordinary spies from the Minister of War. Although it was not a large number, it was the cornerstone for building the “French Intelligence Agency.”

Today was destined to be a busy day, as soon as Saint Priest left, the two individuals recommended by Queen Mary came to visit, one after the other.

Joseph had an in-depth conversation with the two and gained a general understanding of their character and abilities. Combining this with their own wishes, he ultimately decided to appoint Besancon as Director of Paris Police Services, as it was a role requiring management skills.

Frient was equally talented, and Joseph naturally would not waste such an asset, so he appointed him as the Dean of Academics for the Paris Police Academy, which was being organized — naturally, the position of Principal would be personally filled by Joseph.

Frient had a wealth of experience in training new recruits, which would be very helpful in training policemen.

“So, the most important task for you upon taking office will be to extend the police reforms throughout Paris,” Joseph said to Besancon. “I’ve already had someone compile all the regulations and restructuring plans into a booklet, you just follow them in implementation.

“Oh, and the security pressure has been relatively low in the Saint Antoine District lately, so you can pull some personnel from there to assess the other districts. If that’s not enough, I can allocate guards to help you.”

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Kesode twitched at the mention, feeling that since the Crown Prince began the reform of the police services, the guard was increasingly being treated like errand runners…

Nethanson took serious notes, musing, “Your Highness, I have some understanding of the police reforms. If we are to reorganize the entire Paris police force, just the salaries would probably cost about 50,000 livres a month. Adding in uniforms, equipment, and other costs, the City Hall will definitely not be able to afford it.”

The budget for police services from the Paris City Hall was only 8,000 livres a month.

Joseph said, “You don’t need to worry about money. I will allocate 50,000 livres for you later, and it will be delivered monthly from now on.”

“Yes, Your Highness!”

Joseph then looked to Frient, “Your workload will be quite heavy; the first priority is selecting a location for the police academy. It can be somewhat remote, the cheaper the land the better.

“Another issue is teaching staff. The only available personnel right now are the experienced officers from the Saint Antoine District, but they are far from sufficient.”

Frient immediately responded, “Your Highness, I know quite a few retired veterans and even officers who could be capable of conducting drilling and combat training.”

“Very good,” Joseph nodded with pleasure, as military training standards were far higher than those of the police, “Contact them as soon as possible; their pay will follow the standard of municipal officials, plus an additional 30%.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Furthermore, we need to hire trainers from finance, trade, journalism, and law fields; these courses will be offered at the police academy.”

Frient asked in confusion, “Why should a school for training police officers teach these subjects?”

Nethanson, whose mind was more agile, immediately said, “I think His Highness means that only by understanding the criminal methods of the criminals can they be caught. I remember when I first started chasing smugglers, I didn’t even know how to calculate tariffs, or which goods were easy to conceal and transport, and for months, I caught no one. It was only after I seriously studied smuggling methods that I finally caught the first group of smugglers after more than half a year.”

“Exactly,” Joseph nodded in approval, “Police need to be more professional than the criminals in order to effectively deter and combat crime.”

Frient, who had never heard such advanced concepts before, was greatly shocked and kept nodding his head, quickly taking notes in his notebook.

Joseph instructed them on many more details, allocated 20,000 livres as startup funds to Frient, and saw the two men off.

Upon returning to his private chambers, his exclusive accountant immediately presented him with two expenditure slips for Joseph’s signature.

Joseph sighed as he looked at the total expenditure of 70,000 livres, realizing that his personal assets amounted to a little over 200,000 livres. Previously, he had paid the police a salary of 20,000 livres and had given Lamark 10,000 livres to purchase essential items for a pharmaceutical factory, leaving him with just over 100,000 livres in hand.

Indeed, money was being spent like water. He must focus on increasing his income; otherwise, it wouldn’t be long before he’d have nothing left.

He immediately recalled the plan to produce cosmetics using salicin, to think that what began as a simple fever relief concoction had now become the project that could earn money the fastest.

After dismissing the accountant, he turned to Eman, “Please help me order some items.”

The attendant immediately took out paper and pen to record the order, “As you command.”

“50 kilograms of glycerine, 1 kilogram of rose essential oil, 500 seven-ounce glass bottles, an equal number of small wooden boxes, sized just right to fit the bottles. On the box, emboss…”

Struggling to come up with a name, Joseph paused for a few seconds before he suddenly remembered a birthday gift a roommate from a previous life bought for his girlfriend called “SK2 Miracle Water,” thinking the name was catchy, he continued, “Emboss ‘Angel Water’.”

“All of 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.”