Chapter 143 Letter from Catherine II

Joseph looked in the direction of Talleyrand again and said to Louis XVI: "Father, if he comes to bother you again, just let him come to me. I have a way to convince him."

When Louis XVI heard that he could get rid of the persistent priest, he naturally agreed happily: "Thank you very much, Joseph."

As he spoke, he remembered the honor and praise that the flash cap gun had brought him today, and couldn't help but look at his son with unfulfilled interest: "Joseph, if you have any ideas for new weapons, please tell me immediately."

Joseph smiled and nodded, saying in his heart that you will definitely not be able to relax. Any more day you are free will be a huge loss to France's armament modernization.

"Recently, you first taught the craftsmen how to make flash cap guns. I do have an idea about a rifled gun, but it's not mature enough yet. I will tell you after I think about it for a while."

Of course, the principle and structure of the rifled gun are ready-made, but Joseph was afraid that his father's focus on it would affect the construction progress of the arsenal, so he had no choice but not to tell him yet.

"Rifled gun?" Louis XVI was a little confused, "Didn't someone make this a long time ago?"

Joseph smiled and waved his hands, deliberately lowering his voice and said: "It is very difficult to load the current rifled gun. The bullet has to be hammered into the barrel, and it may even get stuck in the middle of the barrel. My rifled gun is designed to be loaded very easily." It's almost like a musket."

Louis XVI's eyes suddenly lit up: "God, what kind of brain did you give my Joseph?!"

He grabbed his son's arm tightly and said excitedly: "Then you have to hold on tighter! By then we will be able to build a gun that will shock the whole of Europe!"

"Okay, dear father."

After chatting for a while about the glorious moment at the training ground today, Joseph said goodbye to the proud king and went straight to the Chancellor's Office.

Brian hurriedly came out and smiled warmly: "Your Royal Highness, it's great to see that your injury has healed! Thank you God for your blessing!"

He was indeed very concerned about Joseph's injury. He used to visit him almost every day, just for fear that something might happen to the crown prince.

Joseph hurriedly made a sign of the cross on his chest: "Thank you God. Thank you also, Archbishop Brian."

The two sat down, and Joseph remembered the meeting with the Minister of Household Registration yesterday, and asked: "Archbishop Briand, it is said that Count Nicoet's trip to the UK did not go so smoothly this time?"

Brian sighed and nodded: "Yes, he is indeed not very good at that kind of situation. He is slow to respond to various diplomatic methods and often says the wrong things... Oh, he even got the genealogy of the King of England wrong in public."

He paused, looked at Joseph and said: "Moreover, we gave Virzhin such a big humiliation, but he came to report to me about going to Russia as if he didn't feel anything. Not to mention resigning."

Joseph also frowned a little when he heard this. He had previously agreed with Brian to kick Foreign Minister Verzhin to Russia and miss the Anglo-French trade negotiations, thinking that he would resign in anger. But I didn't expect that his determination was so strong.

In fact, Virzhin wanted to resign before he even arrived in Russia, but the Duke of Orleans repeatedly asked him to stay in office. He had no choice but to keep a shy face and continue to hang out in the cabinet.

Because he is Orleans' only political ally in the cabinet currently. Losing him is absolutely unacceptable to Orleans.

Brian was a little confused: "Your Highness, if Virgen doesn't leave, Count Nicoet's side..."

Joseph knew that according to the original agreement when deposing Brian, Nicoet was to be made Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He shook his head slightly: "Count Nicoet is not suitable for diplomacy either.

"Well, I'll find a way to compensate him."

"What are you going to do?"

"Count Nicoet is still better at household registration. Let him start planning the ID card system."

"ID card?"

Joseph smiled and said: "It is to issue a card to every French citizen. There is a unique number on it to distinguish each person's identity."

"Why are you sending this..." Brian was able to sit on the position of chief minister after all. He thought of the key point just halfway through the sentence, "You can collect a poll tax based on this."

"There are many other benefits," Joseph said, "For example, it can be used to screen spies and wanted criminals. It can prevent fake claims for relief. It can facilitate identification, prevent fraud, etc."

Of course, Joseph wanted to promote ID cards mainly for the convenience of taxation and trade. In the future, he could also use this to enhance national identity in the colonies.

Brian nodded: "Count Nicoet has always wanted to do something eye-catching. And this matter will involve everyone in the country. He should be satisfied."

Joseph added: “You can even add the signature of the Minister of Family Registration on the ID card to confirm the validity of the document.”

"That would be perfect."

Joseph thought of Vilzhin again and couldn't help but frowned: "We have to continue to ignore Vilzhin, and the foreign minister must be replaced by one of our people."

Brian immediately nodded gratefully: "Thank you, Your Highness."

From his point of view, Virzhin offended himself because of the recall case, and that's why the crown prince would not tolerate him so much.

In fact, Joseph was more concerned with integrating the political territory and minimizing the power of the Duke of Orleans, paving the way for the rectification of the old aristocracy in the future.

Speaking of Virzhin, Brian remembered his report a few days ago and hurriedly said to Joseph: "Your Highness, Virzhin did bring back some news from his mission to Russia."

He stood up and took out a few pieces of paper from the drawer and handed them to Joseph: "The Empress of Russia is very concerned about our concerns about the Russian-Turkish war. She repeatedly told Vilzhin that it was Ottoman who initiated the war and attempted to invade Russian territories Crimea and Georgia, and Attack the Russian fleet. They fought back as a last resort.

"Oh, this is a copy of a letter from Empress Catherine to His Majesty the King."

Joseph didn't care who was right or wrong between Russia and Turkey. The point is that the situation there can be exploited by France.

He looked at Catherine's letter and saw that the queen spoke very politely about the friendship between Russia and France, and then encouraged France to support her and declare war on the Ottomans. It is even said that this can be regarded as a new Crusade led by France.

Brian added: "According to Vilzhin, the Russian Empress also hinted to him the possibility of a Russian-French marriage."

Joseph smiled. Marriage with Russia would not bring any substantial benefits to France for the time being.

However, when he saw the sentence "support Russia's war against the Ottomans", he couldn't help but narrowed his eyes - speaking of it, Algiers, Tunisia, Egypt, etc. from west to east in North Africa, although in essence they are all An independent country, but still nominally an Ottoman province.

If France allied with Russia to resist Turkey, wouldn't there be a reason to intervene in North Africa as part of the attack on the Ottomans?