Marat's Fighting Prowess

Western Suburbs of Paris.

In an office at the Public Notary Investigation Bureau headquarters, Joseph looked at Desmoulins in front of him, then glanced at the work report he had just received, and casually said:

Is Mr. Marat not here?

"Yes... yes... Your Highness," said Desmoulins, the second-in-command of the Investigation Bureau, "He... he went to Poitou the day before yesterday."

Joseph, recalling that the Governor of Poitou, the Earl of Norfolk, was one of the two Governor who opposed the abolition of the Tax Farmer System, immediately nodded slightly.

"Is he going to investigate the Earl of Norfolk?"

"No... no," Desmoulins shook his head. "It's... it's the water conservancy construction department... embezzling... repair funds."

Joseph frowned, then flipped through the Investigation Bureau's report in his hand and asked:

"Has Mr. Marat recently assigned a large number of new investigative tasks?"

"Yes... yes... Your Highness."

Desmoulins helped him turn to the last few pages, and sure enough, there were quite a few investigation plans.

But when Joseph glanced at them, his brow furrowed even deeper—most of these investigations only assigned one investigator, and each had a timeframe of five to eight days. What could they possibly find out with so few people and so little time?

Damn it! Joseph finally realized—that old bastard Marat was just putting on an act; he hadn't bothered to investigate properly at all.

Joseph was somewhat annoyed. If it weren't for the fact that the Intelligence Bureau was far less efficient than the Public Notary Investigation Bureau in investigating corruption, and that intelligence officers investigating officials would provoke criticism from bureaucrats, he would have really wanted to hand the matter over to Fouche.

He was about to reprimand Desmoulins when he suddenly remembered that doing so might backfire on the Jacobin, so he sighed, got up, and left.

"It seems we need to increase the intensity for Mr. Marat."

Joseph boarded the Carriage, thought for a moment, and said to Eman, "To the Intelligence Bureau."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Bourges, in the South France.

Sehilian, a second-class investigator with the Public Notary Investigation Bureau, idly flipped through the municipal revenue and expenditure accounts and couldn't help but yawn.

Just as Mr. Marat said, the Municipal Commissioner, Baron Bastion, and the municipal finance officer, Mr. Kemu, were both innocent; the investigation was nothing more than a pathetic political maneuver.

The accounts were perfectly clean. Sehilian had checked the two men's bank accounts over the past few days and visited some officials they knew, but there were no problems.

"That's all for now." He closed the ledger, stood up, and said, "Two more days until we're back in Paris. This trip has practically felt like a vacation."

He left the City Hall and was about to call for Carriage when suddenly a burly man with his hat pulled low slammed into him from around the left corner.

"Hey, you walk so gracefully!"

Sehilian protested loudly at the man, but the latter seemed not to hear him and lowered his head to disappear into the crowd of pedestrians.

When Sehilian returned to the hotel and was about to take out his key to open the door, his fingertips touched a piece of paper in his pocket.

He remembered never carrying anything like this in his pocket, so he quickly took it out to check. There were only two sentences on it: Go back to Paris, there's nothing here for you. You can still leave now, but if you continue, you'll surely meet with disaster!

Sehilian's face flushed red. He was an investigator personally selected by Marat, and his personality and values were those of a typical Jacobin. He gritted his teeth and growled:

"Shameless bastards, do you think you can scare me like this?! For the sake of the people, I will expose your despicable deeds to the world!"

He tore the note to shreds, went inside, and wrote a letter to the Investigation Bureau, stating that he felt there were serious problems in Bourges and that the investigation needed to be extended, requesting his superiors' approval.

He then went out again, thought for a moment, and, following the technique Mr. Marat had taught him, went straight to the residence of the most prestigious journalist in Bourges.

The man who bumped into him outside the City Hall smiled as he saw him leave, and that evening he wrote to his superior in the Intelligence Bureau to report that the "Ignition" plan was progressing smoothly.

At the same time, investigators across France who were tasked with investigating the more than 40 officials also encountered a variety of situations.

Some were threatened at knifepoint by bandits, forced to stop their investigations. Others were robbed, all their collected investigative materials stolen. Still others watched helplessly as the documents they wanted to access were burned.

Soon, these investigators, who were just as stubborn as Marat, were enraged!

They had previously assumed these officials were innocent, merely victims of political infighting, but now it seemed they were all corrupt. Before they had even properly investigated, the officials were already feeling guilty.

If the truth isn't thoroughly investigated, how can you expect to deliver justice to the French People?

Of course, these threats and such were all arranged by Fouche on the orders of the Crown Prince. They were not good at investigating corruption, but they were experts at carrying out these kinds of things.

Meanwhile, Marat, who was conducting an investigation in Poitou, received a large number of investigation requests within a few days. When he saw what had happened to his subordinates, he was equally furious.

He immediately wrote to Desmoulins, instructing him to suspend some less important tasks and send more people to assist the threatened investigators, determined to thoroughly investigate the officials involved!

The entire Public Notary Investigation Bureau immediately entered a state of "frenzy".

More than two weeks later.

Versailles Palace.

Marat stood before the Crown Prince with a guilty expression, filled with remorse, and said:

"Your Highness, I misunderstood you before, please accept my sincere apology. As you predicted, those officials did indeed have problems."

"I have never blamed you. Your work has proven to be as outstanding as ever." Joseph smiled as he opened the report Marat had sent. In less than 20 days, this "Piranha -like" fighter had uncovered solid evidence of crimes committed by 16 officials!

The main issue was corruption, but it also included abuse of power for personal gain, collusion between officials and businessmen, smuggling, and even a murder case!

Joseph suddenly had a feeling that he should let Marat manage the Intelligence Bureau. His efficiency in finding clues would definitely put Fouche's men to shame.

However, he immediately dismissed the idea. The Intelligence Bureau needed to do a lot of "dirty work," and given Marat's personality, there was no way to expect him to do it. Only someone like Fouche would carry out any order without hesitation.

Joseph brandished the 16 reports and said to Marat in a deep voice:

"Please handle these parasites and vampires impartially."

The Public Notary Investigation Bureau has the power to make direct arrests, and can detain people without evidence for even longer periods than the Police. Once the evidence is established, they only need to submit an application to Joseph, and if approved, they can directly initiate prosecution.

"Yes, Your Highness!"

Joseph nodded in satisfaction, then looked at the Investigation Report of the remaining 30-odd officials for whom no conclusive evidence had yet been obtained, and couldn't help but frown slightly.