Bring Out the Big Guns-Audit the Last Ten Years of Accounts

The troops outside Asco are only the strongest of the National Guard. According to the Intelligence Bureau reports, at least four other Guard are operating throughout Corsica.

Although they only had a few hundred soldiers, with the weakest unit having less than a hundred, they were also easier to hide and difficult to wipe out completely.

Napoleon pondered, if he could use this battle to make the Corsica hate the National Guard even more, then the remaining small groups of troops wouldn't even need to be dealt with by the Corsica people themselves.

He looked at the map again—a very detailed map drawn by the National Guard, which was now being used against them—and quickly devised a new battle plan.

"Order Captain Benito to lead three companies to bypass the enemy and set up a defensive line at the Mount Roau Pass."

He then pointed to the slope north of Asco: "Set up the cannons here, and bombard them with all your might whenever the enemy gets close."

The other Infantry moved to the enemy's eastern flank.

"Send the quartermaster to Calvi Port to prepare sufficient supplies; we may be fighting here for a long time."

"Yes, Major."

The following day, with the Infantry battalion that Napoleon brought from Marseille as the core, two thousand French Army quickly moved to their pre-arranged positions. If viewed from the sky at this time, it would be clear that the National Guard was surrounded on the north, east, and south sides, with only a gap remaining in the direction of Asco.

Cesari waited for three days without seeing any attack from the other side, and realized that this French Army was even weaker than the previous ones, so he decided to take the initiative.

At dawn, nearly 800 National Guard soldiers launched an attack on the French Army to the north— the French Army there were the fewest and should be the weakest.

However, what awaited them was a fierce, thunderous artillery barrage. Of the battalion that Napoleon brought to Corsica, only the Artillery was truly elite— the Artillery Company he had commanded when he served in the Royal Guard Legion.

The terrifying density of firepower and the accuracy of the shots completely stunned the soldiers in the Cesari.

Then, the French Army Rangers, who had been waiting nearby, charged into the chaotic ranks of the Guard Forces. Immediately afterward, the two Artillery Company also rushed up and fired two volleys of Grapeshot at the Guard' faces.

In less than half an hour, Cesari's main force was scattered and retreated in agony.

At the same time, the main force of the French Army Infantry the east side also began to advance.

Because Napoleon had serious doubts about the fighting capabilities of this Corsica garrison, he only made a big show of it and had no real intention of actually engaging in battle.

However, Cesari had been terrified by the cannon fire and had completely lost the Courage to fight. He immediately ordered his entire army to march into Asco, preparing to defend the city to the death.

Once the National Guard had entered the city, Napoleon immediately ordered a halt to the pursuit and then deployed troops to block the two routes into the city.

For the next two weeks, the French Army simply maintained a defensive posture and showed no intention of attacking.

However, Cesari found himself in a predicament—

Asco has fewer than 10,000 residents. This is considered a fairly large town in Corsica; the capital, Ajaccio, has only about 60,000 to 70,000 people.

His army still had more than 1,200 men, and had long since run out of supplies, so they could only obtain food and Wine from the city.

With so many soldiers, the city's food supply was quickly depleted.

The starving Guard soldiers, armed with guns, were not willing to starve. So, they used every means to "dig out" the last bit of food stored up by the citizens of Asco.

The city was immediately filled with cries of despair, and violence erupted everywhere as people fought over food. The citizens' attitude towards the Guard quickly shifted from sympathy to hatred.

Finally, a month after Napoleon besieged Asco, the city's Chamber of Commerce organized the citizens to secretly set fire to the ammunition Warehouse the Guard stored their Ammunition.

The following day, having received the news, Napoleon led his army into the city. The citizens cooperated greatly with the French Army in clearing out the "grain-stealing scum," and the battle lasted only half a day before it ended.

Cesari's soldiers were almost completely wiped out, with at least a hundred of them killed by the fierce Corsica citizens.

Napoleon, who brought a large amount of grain to Asco, became Great Britain to the citizens, and the Municipal Commissioner held a grand welcoming ceremony for him in the square.

News of people starving to death in Asco due to the Guard's looting of food quickly spread throughout Corsica, making the National Guard a public enemy.

Less than two weeks later, two more National Guard were wiped out by Napoleon. For the first time in nearly a century, almost all separatist armed forces on the island disappeared.

The second floor of the Tuileries Palace.

Robespierre looked at the Crown Prince with some surprise. "You mean, to audit the accounts of Tax Farmers nationwide?"

"That's right," Joseph nodded, "And it's a retrospective audit of tax records from the previous 10 years."

Since those Tax Farmers chose not to cooperate, he had no choice but to drastically reduce their demands.

He was quite certain that these guys' tax records were definitely not clean, and once it was discovered, they could be fined heavily. At that point, it wouldn't be something that could be solved by simply buying some Government Bonds.

Robespierre was not very familiar with auditing, and the Tax Bureau chief Fuerke, standing nearby, immediately widened his eyes, looking puzzled:

"Your Highness, even if we obtain the Tax Farmers ' accounting documents, there are tens of millions of tax records that year. Finding problems in them is probably more difficult than finding a diamond at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean..."

"Moreover, even accounts from three years ago are unlikely to have problems, let alone those from ten years ago..."

Joseph smiled and said, "You need to think about it differently."

If there are problems with the tax accounts, who knows best?

"It's those taxpayers."

"They will remember clearly if they were overcharged by even one ounce of tax, even if it happened 10 years ago."

"So all we need to do is issue a public notice, asking people to file a ' Taxation review' complaint with the local Tax Bureau. Then you can have someone find the corresponding accounts based on what they say and verify them, and the problem will be discovered very quickly."

"Oh, by the way, I'll have major newspapers cooperate by listing the tax regulations from previous years in detail for the public to check."

Fuerke and Robespierre exchanged a glance, both quite impressed. The Crown Prince's method was simply brilliant; it would surely uncover a great deal of accounting irregularities.

But then his face fell. "Your Highness, even if it's just a simple verification, with the current manpower of the Tax Bureau, it would probably take at least half a year to complete the investigation..."

Joseph nodded. "I can have Archbishop Brienne transfer some of the Finance Department staff to you."

"Alternatively, we can invite Accounting Guild and university students to help. If we pay them a salary, they shouldn't refuse."