Chapter 117 Terrible Administrative Efficiency

In the police academy training ground, a police officer ran quickly and reported the situation outside to Joseph and others.

"Baron Besonval?" Joseph couldn't help but frown slightly when he heard the name.

Isn't this the commander of the French Guard?

When the Paris people attacked the Bastille, this man not only did not stop it, but instead transferred all the troops to the Mars Campus in the suburbs.

If he just wanted to wait and see, he actually sent a team of artillery to help bombard the Bastille. Moreover, his troops often carry out supplies at the Royal Palace, and they can basically be confirmed to be the Orleans faction. Louis XVI used such people to guard Paris. It would be damned if he could control the situation.

Joseph must replace this kind of person, but he currently wants to try his best to stabilize the military aristocracy, so he has not taken action yet.

But this time people came to visit him, so there was no need to give him a good look.

…

After a while, Friant came out from the training ground and saluted with his hat:

"You are General Besonval, right? Nice to meet you.

"My name is Friant, the dean of the Paris Police Academy. How can I help you?"

Besonval sat upright on the horse, nodded briefly, and pointed at the training ground with his riding crop: "Why is there the sound of cannons here?"

"Cannon sound?" Friant said with a smile in accordance with the requirements of the police academy's "Confidentiality Plan", "Ah, we are holding a ceremony to complete the assessment, and we need to fire cannons to celebrate."

Besonval was stunned for a moment and said angrily: "I'm asking you why there are cannons in the training ground of the police academy!"

"Your Majesty General, there is no law prohibiting the police academy from possessing cannons, right?"

Bessonval was stunned again. It seemed that there really wasn't one - there wasn't even such a thing as a police academy before. Where did the relevant laws come from?

He frowned and said, "Why do you want to buy cannons?"

Friant said confidently: "Of course it is used to maintain public order in the city."

"You want to use cannons to maintain law and order?!"

Frient nodded: "General Besonval, do you remember the barricades piled up by the mob at the street corners during the 'Flour Riots' a few years ago? At that time, even the quelling troops could not cross those barriers.

"We believe that if something like this happened in Paris, artillery would have to be relied upon to restore order."

"If a riot really breaks out, it's impossible to rely on the police to solve it." Besonval looked at him sideways and sneered, "Speaking of which, even though the mob besieged the High Court for so long last month, no police officers dared to go there. Repressive.”

Friant looked shocked and said: "Your Majesty General, those protesters are demanding severe punishment for Vezinier, who has committed many evil acts. Do you think they should be suppressed?"

"you……"

Bessonval was furious. The current trend of public opinion has equated Vezinier with crime. Anyone who dares to stand even slightly wrong on this matter is waiting to be sprayed to death by the citizens of Paris.

He glared at Friant fiercely, raised his hands proudly and said, "Please get out of the way. An important person will be visiting soon. I must ensure the safety of this area. Now, I want to go in and check."

Friant did not move at all, and said with a smile: "I'm afraid this won't work, General, unless you have an order from His Majesty the King or the Police Department."

Besonval had never taken the police seriously before, so he turned around and winked at the accompanying guards.

Several guards immediately stepped forward and were about to take Friant away, but they heard footsteps coming from the direction of the training ground, and then more than thirty police officers lined up and trotted out.

The police officer leading the team issued a series of commands. The more than thirty people quickly spread out, lined up in two horizontal lines, and aimed their guns at Besonval.

The latter's face suddenly stiffened. He thought that the police chief had to remain respectful when seeing him, but he didn't expect that a mere police academy official would dare to point a gun at him.

"You! You will regret your actions today!" Besonval snorted coldly, pulled the reins of the horse, and left in despair.

Joseph didn't pay much attention to this little episode. After all, the police academy was nominally owned by the city hall, and Bessonval didn't dare to do anything to it.

…

Northeastern France, Lorraine department.

Governor-General Marquis Latour read the document in his hand, frowned and asked the assistant beside him: "Charlie, isn't this the order I sent to Maurice the day before yesterday?"

"Oh, sir, this is here." The assistant pointed out a row of small characters to him. "Viscount Renifer thinks that this place may conflict with the recruitment decree from the year before last, so I want to confirm it with you."

Latour frowned again: "Is there a conflict?"

"Ah, I think there shouldn't be..."

Latour nodded, picked up the pen to sign the document, and was about to hand it over to his assistant when an official quickly walked into the office, bowed and said, "My lord, the document has just been sent from the Palace of Versailles."

"content?"

"It seems that you are asked to send someone immediately to count the potatoes and cooperate with them for shipment."

Latour took the document and glanced at it, and said in surprise: "Where did the potatoes come from? Morris just sent me the document for purchasing potatoes."

The official said: "Sir, it seems that Viscount Varlan sent someone to buy it. Oh, his people came at noon and are waiting outside now."

Latour ordered Varlan's men to come in and inquire about the situation. Only then did he learn that Varlan had been entrusted by others to purchase potatoes from various places five days ago. Now he has collected more than a million pounds, all of which are backlogged at the dock. Waiting for inventory and shipment.

Latour hurriedly asked people to draft the document, check it, sign it, and send it to the corresponding governor's agent.

Then, he drafted another document to report to the Palace of Versailles that the previous work was terminated due to changes in orders and the help of businessmen.

Varlan's men got the master's instructions and sent money to rush the clerk who delivered the documents, and followed them all the way to the governor's agent...

According to the standard administrative procedures in France at this time, the main responsibility of the Governor-General is to transfer and issue documents, and deliver the instructions from the Palace of Versailles to the Governor-General's agents in various places.

The Governor's agent has to confirm the document and send it back for re-signing if there is any problem. If there is no problem, the local official responsible for the matter will be identified, who will apply for funds and find someone to implement it.

Of course, if the officials below feel that there is something wrong with the document, they will send it back for confirmation...

According to the administrative efficiency of Lorraine Province, we are only halfway through the first step, and it is estimated that it will take another four or five days to start the acquisition work. The businessman friends Mirabeau found had already collected more than a million pounds of potatoes, and more were on their way to be transported by land.

As for the transport convoys and ships, they were all found by some friends of Mirabeau, otherwise the Governor would have to slowly mobilize the vehicles and ships.

However, just to dispatch officials to count the potatoes, the whole process took three days - a step that the merchants absolutely could not do for them. Without official signatures to confirm, they would not be able to get the money to buy potatoes.

Another day has passed when millions of pounds of potatoes have been counted and shipped.

At this time, there are only more than 20 days left before the usual spring sowing in France. It is almost certain that the southernmost provinces will definitely not be able to catch up with potato planting.

The first batch of ships loaded with potatoes sailed along the Orne River to Bordeaux, a distance away.

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