Lucien's New Job

In the contract signed with Stephen Girard, the clause that Joseph valued most was that Girard would prepay the full cost of the first five large clipper boats. Considering that clipper boats are much more expensive to build than ordinary vessels, this was definitely a large sum of money.

With this money, the plan to expand the shipyard could be implemented. Of course, this meant that Joseph would have more to do and be much busier.

Lucien and Louis were very pleased with this, as it meant that Joseph would be less likely to check their homework. However, Lucien didn't last long, as Joseph soon found Lucien something to do.

"Lucien, you've been doing well lately," Joseph said. "You were a great help with that business deal with the United States. It seems you've really grown a lot."

"Of course..." Lucien immediately became smug. "Actually, I think I've improved so much compared to before..."

"Well, you know, Napoleon and I are both very busy these days, and we need someone to share our workload. This person must be both reliable and capable. Naturally, you're our brother, so you're the most reliable person. As for your abilities, Napoleon and I both think you're quite capable. Therefore, we really hope you can help us shoulder the family's responsibilities. However, you know, you didn't handle things well last time, so Napoleon and I both had some doubts about your reliability. But recently, you've performed well. And after what happened last time, I reflected on myself. In that matter, Napoleon and I both made a mistake; we suddenly entrusted you with important tasks without giving you sufficient training..."

Lucien was initially pleased, but when he heard the phrase "without giving you more training," his expression immediately changed, and he interrupted Joseph very sincerely, "Ah, Joseph, I don't think what happened last time has anything to do with this. The mistake last time wasn't because of insufficient training, yes, it definitely wasn't because of insufficient training... The problem arose mainly from my own subjective negligence and lack of vigilance..."

"It's excellent that you can be so sincere in your self-criticism and look for the reasons within yourself. However, no genius grows without training. Take Napoleon, for example; without his military academy training, he wouldn't have possessed his current command abilities. Therefore, necessary training remains essential. Hmm, these days, I have many businesses and a lot of work at the research institute, and I simply can't handle it all by myself. Hmm, Lucien, from now on, you'll work with me as my confidential secretary for a while. This will allow you to hone your abilities and also give you a comprehensive understanding of how our family operates."

Hearing this, Lucien breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Joseph, when I first heard you mention more training, I thought you were planning... well, I think this arrangement is very good, and I'd be happy to do it."

Lucien initially thought that being Joseph's confidential secretary would be a good job, at least better than doing math problems. However, he soon discovered that this confidential secretary was really...

"Lucien, come and lend a hand... Look, the most crucial steps are all done, now all that's left is the calculation. Take over and tell me the data."

"Lucien, come here... I think there's something wrong with this data. Gather all the relevant information, recalculate it, and see where the problem lies..."

"Lucien, these are all the matters for the latter part of the month. You need to combine them and determine the optimal order of execution..."

"Lucien ..."

To be fair, Joseph wasn't lying to Lucien. This job genuinely gave Lucien a deeper understanding of how the entire family operated and significantly improved Lucien abilities, especially his calculation skills. But... wasn't this still just solving math problems?

Even so, Lucien was still largely satisfied with Joseph's arrangement, because in this position, he could access many things he had never had access to before and know many secrets he could never have known before. This gave him a real sense of satisfaction from being valued.

With a reliable confidential secretary like Lucien, Joseph finally had some free time, so he could practice his French writing skills again—by writing letters to Fanny.

Besides the letters to Fanny, Joseph would have Joseph read all his other letters, especially those between him and his Lucien in Paris. They would analyze the situation in Paris together and discuss the appropriate countermeasures. Participating in these activities was incredibly interesting; the only problem was that after each analysis...

"Alright, Lucien, we've finished analyzing our response. Now, draft a reply in my name..."

Then Joseph went to rest, Lucien went to write a letter...

Generally, the things mentioned in these letters were mostly within Joseph's expectations, so responding to them wasn't difficult. However, a recent letter from Fouché gave Joseph a bit of a problem.

"Fouché said the government is preparing for a new round of elections to elect a new parliament, since there are too many vacancies in the old National Assembly," Joseph said.

"That's natural. The original members of parliament were either killed by Robespierre or had Jacobin backgrounds. Of course, they had to be replaced," Lucien said. "However, aren't they afraid of electing a bunch of Royalist Party at this time?"

Since killing Robespierre, the Thermidorians had been dedicated to destroying the Jacobin. However, in terms of their foundation of rule, theirs was even weaker than that of Robespierre, whom they had overthrown. The Sans-culottes clearly wouldn't support them; in fact, organized by the remnants of the Jacobin, the Sans-culottes had already launched two unsuccessful uprisings in an attempt to overthrow them. And when in opposition to the Sans-culottes, the petty bourgeoisie weren't necessarily going to support them either. They could only rely on big capital.

The large capitalists, who had been suppressed by various price controls and levies during the Jacobin era, naturally supported a government opposed to the Jacobin. However, despite their proclaimed status, the France capitalists were not actually that large; they lacked significant power. Otherwise, the Jacobin would never have come to power. In fact, a major reason for the Jacobin' rise to power and their subsequent left-leaning stance was that these weak and ineffective "large capitalists" were simply unable to suppress feudal forces. Moreover, during the Jacobin's era, they were weakened to a degree not much less than the Royalist Party.

The result was that although they defeated the Jacobin, they no longer had the power to suppress the Royalist Party. Thus, the Royalist Party, who had been suppressed and forced to hide underground during the Jacobin period, suddenly emerged. Compared to the Thermidorians, they were naturally more favored by those who opposed the Jacobin.

"That depends on what the Thermidorians plan to do," Joseph said. "If you were Thermidorians, what would you do?"

Lucien paced back and forth in the room, circling twice before saying, "Alas, this is truly difficult! An election is absolutely necessary, but the Poisonous Ones lack the ability to do so. Only through elections can we barely maintain the appearance of a legitimate government. However, we cannot allow the Royalist Party come to power. After all, the Royalist Party also know how to sing 'Ça Ira,' only with slightly altered lyrics. ('Ça Ira' was a popular song during the French Revolution, with lyrics most characteristic of the revolution: 'It will be alright, it will be alright, Ça Ira, the nobles are all hung on lampposts.' This upbeat song was also loved by the Royalist Party, but when they sang it, they changed 'nobles' to words like 'rebels,' 'Jacobin,' and 'mob. 'Hugo also mentioned this in 'Les Misérables,' lamenting, 'Songs are like guillotines; they only chop off heads, and who they chop off is none of their concern.')"

The Royalist Party suffered greatly during the revolution, and their hearts were filled with hatred. If they were to return, they would likely do exactly as they sang in their songs, hanging up all the rebels. And the Thermidorians, in the eyes of the Royalist Party, were also rebels who should be hung up.

"Then how can we prevent the Royalist Party from coming to power?" Joseph asked again.

"Declare the election flawed and illegitimate, then hold a re-election. In that time gap, find out the problems with those Royalist Party candidates, resolve them, and then hold another election," Lucien said.

"If there were another election, would the Royalist Party still be elected?"

"Then let's do it again. If all else fails, we can just change the election rules, like they came up with 'Active Citizen' and 'Passive Citizen' back then. At the same time, we can use the Royalist Party guillotine to scare the people and see if we can frighten them into submission."

Do you think it's possible?

"The chances are slim," Lucien shook his head. "What haven't the people of Paris seen? Do you think you can scare them into siding with the Thermidorians Paris this thing? Hah..."

"Lucien, your analysis is good. So, how do you think this matter will ultimately develop?"

"Of course, it was the Royalist Party who directly overturned the table with violence. Hmm, I think this will be an opportunity, an opportunity to establish our era," Lucien said.

"Go on!" Joseph said.

"Everyone knows the Thermidorian Government has no future. Including the 'bigwigs' within Thermidorian Government. The reason they're so corrupt now is probably because they don't even believe in themselves. So they're rushing to scavenge as much as possible before the ship sinks, even if it means sabotaging it. Therefore, once the Royalist Party really overturn the table violently, the Thermidor probably won't be able to control them. That will be our opportunity."

Joseph was not familiar with history, but from the movie, he vaguely remembered that Napoleon had risen to the political stage by performing well in suppressing the Royalist Party rebellion.

However, in the movie, Napoleon was just a young officer whose talents were not recognized at that time. But now, Napoleon is already one of the most important generals in France. Therefore, compared to that time, Napoleon and the Bonaparte Family should have had higher ambitions and should not be satisfied with just stepping onto the political stage.

"Our chance? You mean the restoration of the Republic?" Joseph said. "Yes, the Thermidor are fools, but even so, they should be able to hold out for a while. We need to hurry and get two things done. First, we need to prepare for the invasion of Italy and secure a truly loyal base. Second, we need to develop some forces in Paris, ready to respond to any eventuality. This can be entrusted to Fouché. He is quite capable of this kind of thing. He also has a good relationship with Barras. Have him keep a close eye on Barras, and if anything goes wrong, have him bring Barras back if possible."

"Well, Joseph, Fouché reliable?" Lucien asked.

"Fouché is unreliable," Joseph answered bluntly, "But in this matter, his interests align with ours. Fouché is very clear about where his own interests lie. So, as long as the overall situation doesn't change drastically, Fouché is more reliable than most people."

"Okay, I'll write him a letter." Lucien was already aware of the situation.

"That's fine. However, we can't rely entirely on Fouché in these matters. While he's reliable now, that doesn't mean he'll be in the future. We need a force capable of replacing him, capable of carrying out missions underground. Lucien, what are your thoughts on this?"

"Me?" Lucien immediately understood; this was an important test for him. If he performed well, he might be able to advance further in the future.

"Joseph, let me think about it some more. I'll give you an answer tomorrow, okay?" Lucien thought for a moment. Actually, many ideas had already popped into his head. If it were before, he definitely wouldn't care whether the method was reliable or not, and would just say it first. But he suddenly remembered that Joseph and Napoleon's biggest complaints about him were that they thought he was frivolous and unreliable. Therefore, he had to be more composed. It was best to think things through before speaking.

"Very well, then let's discuss this again at this time tomorrow." Joseph nodded. "Alright, let's move on to the next item. Hmm, here are today's income and expenses. Could you help me review them..."

That night, the light in Lucien's room remained on...

The Lunar New Year is almost here! Wishing everyone a Happy New Year, all the best, and good health! Regarding updates, starting today until the third day of the Lunar New Year, I will update one chapter of 4000 words daily. (I'm busy with visiting relatives and friends, preparing for the New Year; it's busier than a regular job these days, I really can't manage.)