The Udine garrison's "rogue action" incident had not actually caused much of a stir within France.
Mainly because the matter involved collusion between the intelligence services and military officers, its impact was extremely negative. Joseph therefore had the General Staff Headquarters present the official account to the public as follows: General Bonaparte had instructed Desaix to sell the military supplies from Mantua Fortress to the Austrians. Austria had likewise severely punished a large number of officers over the matter. Leo had recently exiled many of the officers involved to the barren mountains of Transylvania, and the reports from both sides happened to line up perfectly. As for the Intelligence Bureau, that was treated as an entirely separate case: more than a hundred agents from the Intelligence Bureau's Central Europe Operations Division had collectively embezzled funds totaling as much as 150,000 Francs. That sum could be verified beyond doubt. Marat had even been sent directly with the Fair Investigation Department to intervene. The accounts really were short by 150,000, and no one could explain where it had gone.
Marat had specifically come to beg Joseph's forgiveness over the matter, bitterly condemning his own dereliction of duty for failing to detect even the slightest sign of such a massive corruption case. Once the "rogue action" incident had been handled separately, it became no more than two somewhat larger ordinary news stories.
Yet what Joseph had not expected was that, even before the Military Tribunal had reached its verdict, someone had already come to plead for Napoleon and the others.
In the Crown Prince's reception room, Dimoubin bent at the waist and said in a sorrowful tone:
"Your Highness, General Bonaparte's defiance of military orders and his unauthorized deployment of troops were indeed extremely serious acts. He must be severely punished."
As a