Chapter 256 The scapegoat

Chapter 257 The scapegoat

Yes, farmers' lives will get better.

That was Joseph's purpose.

Whether it's a small riot or a major riot, it's all caused by people being dissatisfied with life.

Let the quality of life of ordinary people be improved. They don't care whether you are the king or the National Assembly. It is too late to support you. Whoever dares to disturb the country will be the first to disagree.

Sure enough, after the farmers repeatedly confirmed to the priest that this was indeed a decree issued by the king, they immediately began to shout "Long live the king" and scattered back home to report the great news to their families.

In the afternoon, the archon of the parish gathered everyone in the village in front of the chapel and announced that the "Star of France" would be held.

Immediately, more than ten people signed up on the spot.

Three days later.

The chaos in the southern provinces has been initially brought under control.

Especially after the newspaper published that a washerwoman in the Moulins area won the "Star of France" competition and won a prize of 3,000 livres. The Duchess of Villars also hired her as her personal musician. All the attention has been turned to this competition.

Well, in order to increase the popularity of France Star, Mullan conducted auditions in advance and quickly completed the competition in less than a week. Duchess Villar also responded to the Crown Prince's request and came forward to cooperate.

For a time, France was full of people practicing dancing or singing on the streets. No one didn't want to be as lucky as the washerman.

Subsequently, auditions were launched in various places. In order to take care of the workers at work, the competition will last until 9 pm every day so that they can compete after get off work.

City halls or squares everywhere are brightly lit. Just organizing this competition costs a city nearly ten thousand livres. The winner's prize is another expense.

But it's all worth it.

Even if people do not participate in the competition themselves, they will still pay attention to the participation of relatives and friends. People gather in front of the city hall every day to enjoy the songs and dances, cheer for the winners, or listen to the touching stories of the contestants. They don't return home until dark, still unfulfilled.

The riot seemed to have happened a long time ago.

With the funds for police reform in place - this money was borrowed from bank loans in the early stage, which was already very efficient based on the efficiency of banks at this time - the new police officers received their first month's pay. Salary, obviously more motivation.

The riots more than ten days ago have also been re-investigated. It was not directed at those who went to the homes of the nobles to "protest", but at those who fished in troubled waters and robbed ordinary people.

…

Palace of Versailles.

In the corridor of the South Hall, seven or eight nobles with worried expressions were discussing in low voices, "...Then the Duke was brutally killed by those untouchables. His body was found in the mud outside the manor..."

The others all shook their heads sadly, "I heard that they even took away his clothes and didn't even leave him with the last bit of dignity."

"These shameless, damned guys!"

"My God, is France going to fall into chaos?"

"I have been awakened by nightmares every day recently, in which the mob tied me to a fire and roasted me... God, I want to sell off all the assets in my hometown, otherwise the rioters will one day snatch them away..."

"I also have this plan. Maybe it would be safer to take some money and go abroad."

"Shh..."

A nobleman caught a glimpse of the crown prince approaching and hurriedly signaled to several people around him.

They immediately retreated to the edge of the corridor and bowed to signal to the Crown Prince.

Joseph vaguely heard their discussion. He had already nodded and walked over. After thinking about it, he turned back and smiled at a few people: "Gentlemen, the riot has passed. Believe me, this is just a drought and drought that only occurs once in a century." Just the chaos caused by the cold.

"New police teams have begun to be trained in the provinces. They are as good as the Paris police and will do an excellent job in maintaining local security. This kind of riots will never happen again.

"Oh, also, those criminals who incited riots and killed nobles have also been arrested. There will be a public trial soon."

Several nobles looked at each other, all showing excitement, "Your Highness, is this true?"

"Of course it is true. I believe everyone will see the relevant news in the newspapers soon. If you are interested, you can go to Paris to watch the trial of the rioters."

Joseph knew that to completely end the riots, it was not only necessary to disperse the troubled people, but also to restore order in people's hearts.

Except for those big nobles who are causing harm to the country, in fact, the vast majority of the nobles have to be fought for. Even the old nobles, as long as they accept reforms and integrate into the development of the country, they can even be the backbone of France.

After all, they still control most of France's wealth, and there are many knowledgeable and capable people among them. France cannot do without them.

Even as a force that restrains the capital aristocracy, the royal family cannot do without them.

The most important thing for a monarch to rule is to find a balance between the forces of all parties.

Therefore, after dealing with the guys in the meeting of dignitaries, it is necessary to appease the other nobles who are law-abiding, so as not to plunge the country into turmoil.

And if the rioters are not severely punished, how can the nobles feel at ease?

Therefore, not only must they be severely punished, but there must also be no shortage of rioters who want to kill chickens to scare monkeys!

Of course, Joseph would never catch ordinary people who participated in the riots. The scapegoat has been prepared for a long time.

Those were the gang members who were used by the Duke of Orleans to incite riots.

They were later "taken over" by the Police Intelligence Service and reused, and are now on their way to Paris.

These guys were still waiting to be paid, so the Police Intelligence Unit arrested them all easily. It can be regarded as a nationwide public security rectification operation.

A week later.

A queue of two thousand people, composed of police students from the Paris Police Academy and soldiers from Berthier's Legion, marched neatly into downtown Paris.

Behind them were more than 100 gang members escorted from southern provinces. In fact, nearly 400 gang members were arrested. Just to avoid chaos, the others were directly imprisoned at the Paris Police Station.

At the front of the team were dozens of soldiers wearing yellow ribbons and medals of different levels on their chests.

Behind them are drummers and flag bearers. Two tall flag bearers held a banner that read "Successfully quelled the Southern Riots" and led the soldiers proudly through the center of the street.

Almost all the citizens of Paris crowded on both sides of the road, shouting slogans such as "Long live the King" and "Praise to the Warriors".

The triumphal procession passed half of the city and finally headed to the Palace of Versailles.