Striking Hard

Early the next morning.

Marat straightened his clothes, and at Eman's prompting, pushed open the door and entered. He bowed to the Crown Prince, who was seated at the table, and said succinctly, "Your Highness, I have arrived."

Joseph smiled and stood up, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Marat."

"Is there anything you need from me?"

Joseph, accustomed to this attitude towards the Royal House, gestured for him to sit on the sofa and nodded, saying, "There are indeed some things that need your attention."

He sat opposite Marat and handed him a list. "These officials may be involved in corruption; please investigate them."

The list includes the more than 40 officials who previously expressed their opposition to abolishing the Tax Farmer System.

The bureaucracy is supposed to be a tool for the Royal House to manage the country, but some people dare to openly contradict the Royal House. Joseph has decided that this time he will take strong action to help these guys find their place.

When it comes to dealing with bureaucrats, the Fair Investigation Bureau is undoubtedly the most effective weapon.

Marat's gaze swept across the list, then turned to Joseph and asked, "Your Highness, is there any evidence of their embezzlement?"

No at the moment.

"So someone reported them?"

"No."

Marat put down the list, frowned, and said solemnly, "Your Highness, then please forgive me for refusing your request. The Fair Investigation Department is meant to oversee the conduct of officials and protect the rights of the people, not to be a tool for you to achieve your political goals!"

Joseph was immediately speechless. Marat and his colleagues were indeed dedicated and fearless of the powerful, and their work was very efficient, but they were just too stubborn, not even giving face to others. However, this was a necessary quality for the anti-corruption department.

He was quite certain that it would be strange if these officials on the list hadn't been bribed to simultaneously oppose the abolition of Tax Farmers. However, he could only helplessly say, "Mr. Marat, I'm just asking you to start the investigation. If they are innocent, then naturally we won't do anything to them."

He thought to himself, "With all the France bureaucrats these days, if they were all convicted of corruption without investigation or trial, there probably wouldn't be many wrongful convictions."

Marat frowned again, looking against his will, and said with his head bowed, "Very well, Your Highness, I will send someone to investigate. Is there anything else?"

"That's it, that's all."

Marat then picked up the list, patted Joseph's chest in a gesture of respect, took a few steps back, turned and left, muttering under his breath, "What a waste of the Investigation Bureau's energy..."

Not long after Marat left, Brienne rushed over again, handing Joseph a stack of letters and anxiously saying, "Your Highness, these are remonstrances that were just delivered yesterday. They are all from officials in various regions expressing their opposition to the tax reform."

Joseph glanced at the letters in his hand—at least 20 in total—and immediately frowned.

Brienne was well aware of the Crown Prince's determination to abolish the Tax Farmers, and said with a solemn expression, "Your Highness, there should be more remonstrances on their way to the Versailles Palace."

"Given the current strong opposition, tax reform is probably not advisable to proceed too quickly..."

Joseph knew he was right. Officials across the country were opposing tax reform, and if he pushed forward against so much opposition, it would inevitably provoke a backlash from the entire bureaucracy.

He couldn't help but take a deep breath, never expecting that the Tax Farmers ' group had such great power, capable of mobilizing so many officials to serve them.

However, the more this is the case, the more we must eradicate this force completely!

The most urgent task now is to curb the momentum of bureaucrats opposing tax reform. Otherwise, the more officials join the opposition, the more difficult the situation will become.

Originally, once Marat had dealt with the first group of officials who jumped out to oppose him, most of the others, seeing the situation was not going well, would probably not dare to accept money from the Tax Farmers' group to speak on their behalf.

However, there will be a time lag. Once the officials' remonstrances reach Versailles Palace, it means they can no longer turn back and must grit their teeth and oppose it to the end.

Of course, as a last resort, he could directly dismiss a large number of officials and forcibly abolish the Tax Farmer System, but that would also bring about huge political turmoil. At that time, it would likely lead to a situation where the Royal House versus the entire bureaucracy, which is definitely not what he wants.

Joseph's gaze swept over the letter in his hand, and suddenly an idea struck him.

These officials' participation in opposing tax reform was marked by these remonstrances.

In other words, without these remonstrances, they would remain Neutral Faction. Once they sensed the tide turning against them, they could immediately switch sides back to the Royal House.

He immediately said to Eman, "Please summon Viscount Arouet, the Postal Service General, and Mr. Fouche to see me. Oh, and the head of the Intelligence Bureau's ' Black Room ' department..."

The "Black Room" is the department in an intelligence system responsible for monitoring emails.

Eman quickly bowed and said, "It is Monsieur Jean Randale, Your Highness."

"Yes, please let him come along too."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Two hours later, the Postal Service General and two Intelligence Bureau officials rushed to the Versailles Palace.

After the three men had paid their respects, Joseph immediately instructed Viscount Arouet, the Postal Service general, "I need you to cause some 'accident' in the Postal Service system immediately, the kind that can partially collapse the Postal Service system."

"You don't need to worry about being punished for this. I will transfer you to another department afterward, and to a higher position than you are now."

Arouet was personally promoted from the bottom by him, and his loyalty is absolutely reliable.

Arouet's eyes widened in surprise, but he still replied, "Yes, Your Highness. However..."

Before he could ask further questions, the Crown Prince said to Fouche, "Have the ' Black Room ' open and inspect all the letters recently sent by officials to the Versailles Palace. Any letters concerning tax reform should be 'detained' or returned to the sender by the Post Office."

Fouche and Jean Randale a glance, then quickly bowed and said, "Yes, Your Highness."

That evening, a minor fire broke out in the Paris Post Office building.

The fire was quickly brought under control, destroying only two offices and Warehouse on the third floor. There were no casualties, although some letters were reduced to ashes in the fire.

As the news was published, the two key officials of the Post Office began attacking each other over the matter, both adopting an attitude of unwillingness to take responsibility, and took the case all the way to Chief Minister Brienne.

Subsequently, Postal Service General Arouet fell seriously ill and took leave, causing officials throughout the Postal Service system to split into two factions, each supporting one of their superiors.

For a time, the Postal Service system was in complete disarray, with no one paying attention to routine mail delivery, resulting in a backlog of letters or their return to the sender.

However, if someone inside the Postal Service system observes carefully, they will find that ordinary mail can still be delivered normally, while official letters are the most affected.