First Bucket of Gold

At Jinghua Book Pavilion,

Unlike when he had met the Minister of the Navy, Joseph received the Marquis of Saint-Priest in his own study. He dismissed all the servants and had the guards outside retreat ten meters.

After Joseph finished laying out his plan in detail, the Minister of War was instantly startled. "How did you know she was in Nijmegen?!"

Of course, I saw it in a documentary, Joseph thought, but he could only put on an air of mystery. "Ah, that is a secret, but the intelligence is absolutely reliable."

Saint-Priest frowned deeply. Only after a long while did he finally nod with difficulty. "This... may work, but the risks are also great. You know, even the finest spy can fail. One misstep could trigger a war."

Joseph smiled. "Rest assured. Even if the matter is exposed, as long as Wilhelmina is unharmed, Prussia will still make the announcement we want. Their economy is also in a terrible state, and they absolutely do not wish to go to war with France."

The Minister of War pondered for quite some time before rising. "This matter is far too important. I must report it to Her Majesty the Queen before a final decision can be made."

"Of course." Joseph saw him to the door, then suddenly said, "Marquis of Saint-Priest, shouldn't you thank me properly for this?"

The Minister of War froze slightly. It was the Crown Prince who had helped secure the budget from the Netherlands and drawn up the operational plan. He had been so occupied with carrying it out that he had actually forgotten to thank the Crown Prince.

Somewhat ashamed, he nodded repeatedly. "I truly should thank Your Highness properly."

Joseph smiled. "Then give me a gift."

"Please, Your Highness, name it."

"Hmm. Assign twenty of your best spies to me."

Saint-Priest nearly burst into tears. Your Highness, you are so young—how are you more ruthless than a bandit? Twenty spies, and they have to be the best! Do you think spies grow by the roadside for me to pick up?

He said bitterly, "Your Highness, the entire army does not even have twenty top-tier spies."

"Eighteen."

"At most two."

"Fifteen."

"Three. There truly are no more!"

"Twelve. Not one fewer!"

The two haggled wildly, one naming sky-high prices while the other bargained from the ground up. In the end, Joseph squeezed three top-tier spies and eight ordinary spies out of the Minister of War. The number was not large, but they would be the first brick in the great edifice of the French Central Intelligence Agency.

Today was destined to be a busy day. Saint-Priest had barely left when the two people recommended by Queen Mary arrived one after the other to seek an audience.

After speaking with them at length, Joseph gained a general understanding of their temperaments and abilities. Taking their own wishes into account, he ultimately decided to appoint Besançon as Paris Police Commissioner. After all, it was a position that required managerial ability.

Friant was likewise a fine talent, and Joseph naturally would not waste him. He appointed him Dean of Academic Affairs at the Paris Police Academy, which was still being established—the principal, naturally, would be Joseph himself.

Friant had extensive experience training recruits, which would be of great help in training police officers.

"Therefore, your most important task after taking office will be to extend Police Reform throughout all of Paris," Joseph said to Besançon. "I have already had all the rules, regulations, and reorganization plans compiled into volumes. You need only follow them."

"Oh, the Saint-Antoine District has faced relatively little pressure on public security recently. You may draw some manpower from there to assess the other districts. If that still is not enough, I can assign Guards to assist you."

Kexer, standing to one side, twitched an eyelid. Ever since the Crown Prince began Police Reform, the Guards had increasingly begun to resemble general errand-runners...

Nessanson carefully wrote it down, then considered the matter. "Your Highness, I have some prior understanding of Police Reform. If we reorganize Paris's entire police force, salaries alone will probably require sixty thousand livres per month. Adding uniforms, equipment, and other expenses, City Hall definitely cannot afford such a sum."

Paris City Hall's police funding amounted to only eight thousand livres per month.

"You need not worry about the money," Joseph said. "I will allocate sixty thousand livres to you shortly, and from now on it will be issued monthly."

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Joseph then looked at Friant. "Your workload will be heavier. Your first task is to select a site for the Police Academy. Somewhere remote is fine; the main consideration is cheap land."

"The other matter is instructors. At present, the only ones available are the experienced police officers from the Saint-Antoine District, but that is still far from enough."

Friant immediately said, "Your Highness, I know quite a few retired veterans, even officers. They should be capable of conducting drill and combat training."

"Very good." Joseph nodded with delight. "The military's training standards are far higher than those of the police. Contact them as soon as possible. Pay them according to the standards for City Hall officials, with an additional thirty percent."

"Yes, Your Highness."

"In addition, recruit teachers in finance, trade, journalism, and law. The Police Academy will offer these courses."

Friant asked in confusion, "Why should a school that trains police officers teach such subjects?"

Nessanson was quicker-witted. He immediately said, "I think Your Highness means that only by understanding criminals' methods can one catch them. When I first began pursuing smugglers, I did not even know how tariffs were calculated or what goods were easy to conceal for transport. For several months, I achieved nothing. Only after seriously studying how smuggling worked did I finally catch my first batch of smugglers more than half a year later."

"Exactly right." Joseph nodded approvingly. "Police officers must be more professional than criminals in order to effectively deter and combat crime."

Friant had never heard such advanced ideas before. He was profoundly shaken, nodding without pause as he hurriedly recorded everything in his notebook.

Joseph gave them many more instructions, allocated twenty thousand livres in start-up funds to Friant, and sent the two men away.

Upon returning to his chambers, his personal accountant immediately brought two expense slips for Joseph to sign.

Looking at the total expenditure of seventy thousand livres, Joseph could not help but let out a breath. His private assets had totaled more than two hundred thousand livres. He had previously spent twenty thousand on police salaries and given Lamarck ten thousand to purchase necessities for the Pharmaceutical Factory. Now, he had only a little over one hundred thousand livres left.

Money truly flowed away like water. He had to increase his income as quickly as possible, or before long he would be living off his savings until the mountain was empty.

He immediately thought of his plan to make Cosmetics with Salicin. Who would have thought that the fever medicine he had casually made before would now become the project that could earn money the fastest?

He dismissed the accountant and said to Eman, "Please help me order a batch of things."

The attendant immediately took out pen and paper to record it. "Please give your instructions."

"Fifty kilograms of Glycerin, one kilogram of Rose Essential Oil, five hundred seven-ounce Glass bottles, and the same number of small wooden boxes, just large enough to hold the Glass bottles. Emboss the boxes with..."

As someone who struggled with naming things, Joseph paused for several seconds. Then he suddenly remembered the SK-II Miracle Water his former roommate had bought as a birthday gift for his girlfriend in his past life. He thought the name rolled off the tongue rather nicely, so he said, "Emboss them with Angel Water."

"All of these items must be of the finest quality. Do not worry too much about the price."

"Yes, Your Highness. I will see to it at once."