Chapter 378: Crisis is not just a crisis

Chapter 379 Crisis is not just “danger”

Joseph gestured to Fouche: "You can go with me in my carriage."

As the director of national intelligence, Fouche is not yet a cabinet minister, but this matter will inevitably require the intelligence system to speak at the cabinet meeting.

In fact, Fouche reported to Joseph a few days ago that there were unusual activities by liberals in northwest France.

However, as soon as Joseph's order for the Intelligence Bureau to investigate and handle the matter arrived in the northwestern provinces, within two days farmers' protests and riots broke out.

On the speeding carriage, Joseph listened to the latest information brought by Fouche and couldn't help but frown slightly: "You mean, it is the 'Tennis Club' organization that is instigating this time, and there is support from foreign forces behind them?"

He knew that this so-called tennis club was an organization of French radical liberals. It's just that a large number of the backbones of the Jacobins and Girondins in history were obtained by Joseph. In addition, there was no factor of starving to death in the great famine, so the liberals have been silent in recent years.

But this time they suddenly made such a big move, Joseph also guessed that there might be foreign intervention.

Fouche nodded and said: "They have sufficient funds. The rioters in Lille and Reims also have a large number of flintlock guns. According to our investigation, these should be provided by the Parliament of the Southern Netherlands."

The Southern Netherlands sent more than 200 people to France to incite trouble. It is inevitable that some of them are good and bad, and more than a dozen of them have been caught by the Intelligence Bureau. After interrogation by the Intelligence Bureau, more than half of them confessed.

Joseph's face darkened instantly. Vandernott was so courageous. He was really not afraid that he would let the Guards directly destroy his parliament?

Fortunately, Lille and Reims have basically completed police reform this time. The police resisted the bullets of the rioters and dispersed the rioting crowd in just one day. Otherwise, there is no telling how much trouble there would be.

If this matter happened in those eastern provinces that have not yet implemented police reform, I am afraid that the army would have to be mobilized and many people would die before it could be resolved.

But even with the new police force, we must not take it lightly. Once a riot occurs, it will cause huge damage to the city even if the situation subsides later.

Moreover, farmers in more than a dozen cities were protesting. Although no violence occurred, the impact on order was also very serious.

Fouche saw the expression on the crown prince's face, sat up straight and said: "Your Highness, please give me another chance. I promise to arrest all the Southern Netherlanders with evil intentions within a month!"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, Your Highness." Fouche said hurriedly, "The intelligence agency has launched operations in the northwestern provinces and has collected a large amount of intelligence. It is even possible to arrest all the people in the 'tennis club'."

Joseph briefly asked about his deployment and confirmed that it was not exaggerated. He breathed a sigh of relief. Just as he was about to nod, he suddenly felt something in his heart.

If the Intelligence Bureau can quickly catch the people who instigated the trouble, then the riots will be nothing to worry about. In this case, the "opportunity" in this crisis can be taken advantage of.

He tapped his fingers on the armrest of the seat and carefully sorted out the current situation in his mind. Soon, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth: "Vandernot, speaking of which, I have to thank you this time."

Fuchet looked over in surprise: "Your Highness, what did you say?"

"Don't touch those people yet." Joseph raised his hand and ordered, "But we must monitor them closely so that we can arrest them at any time."

Although Fu Xie was surprised, he immediately nodded and said: "Yes, Your Highness."

Joseph continued: "In addition, you must find out as soon as possible the channels through which the funds and materials of the Southern Netherlands people enter France, obtain absolutely sufficient evidence, and keep a close eye on all the people involved."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

The carriage stopped in front of the gate of the Palace of Versailles, and Joseph quickly came to the cabinet meeting hall. The guards at the door immediately bowed and opened the two golden doors for him.

All the cabinet ministers were in place, and when Queen Mary saw the crown prince arriving, for some reason, her heart, which had been flustered just now, suddenly felt more at ease.

She hurriedly waved to her son and asked him to sit next to her.

When Joseph sat down, Archbishop Brian immediately stood up, coughed slightly and said: "You may have heard about the recent peasant riots in Lille, Reims and other northwestern provinces."

He bowed slightly to Queen Mary: "Her Majesty the Queen hopes that we will come up with countermeasures to calm the situation as soon as possible."

As soon as he finished speaking, most of the cabinet ministers looked at His Royal Highness the Crown Prince.

It wasn't that they all expected Joseph to make up his mind, but they subconsciously felt that the crown prince might have a way.

Queen Mary looked at the scene in front of her with some confusion, and suddenly remembered what her son had said to her before: "You all need the Crown Prince to give you some advice, right?"

"Cough——" The ministers then noticed that their behavior was very inappropriate. They coughed suddenly and looked away in embarrassment.

However, Joseph stood up directly and said to his mother: "Your Majesty, the reason why this riot developed so fast is mainly because there were instigators from the South Netherlands behind it."

He immediately summoned Fouche into the hall and introduced the information held by the Intelligence Bureau to everyone.

After Fouche finished speaking, Joseph looked at the crowd and said: "The top priority right now is to get the protesters to leave the city and return home as soon as possible."

Archbishop Brian frowned and said, "Your Highness, the root cause of the farmers' dissatisfaction now is that someone spread a rumor that the government wants them to pay 30 years of land income and major rent and taxes before they can redeem the land.

"Unless we can immediately issue a redemption plan, they will definitely continue to make trouble."

People are like this. When there is no hope at all, they will not feel anything if they are oppressed numbly for a lifetime. But once there is hope, people will want more.

This is not greed, but they finally realized that they can be a person. A real person, not a feudal livestock that looks like a person.

In fact, the reason why Joseph wanted to break the feudal rent and tax system was to increase the population of France by more than 20 million.

That's right, before, only tens of thousands of nobles in France were real French, and the lower-class people were unwilling to do anything for this country.

Only by letting them get the land and get rid of the feudal shackles, They will realize that they are also French and willing to contribute to the country.

Historically, why could France easily pull out 600,000 troops after the Revolution and maintain logistical supply? It was because 30 million French people at that time were eager to serve the country and were proud of being French.

In addition, land privatization is also an inevitable requirement for the industrial revolution.

The whole country is owned by feudal lords, and tenants pay rent on the lords' land. Where is the labor force to support industrial development?

No matter how many factories you build, you can't produce even a screw if you can't recruit workers.