Chapter Summaries

Joseph used a staged ambush on the Montcalm Legion to make Marquis of Saint-Viran appear to have rebelled, then led reporters to witness the aftermath. The Royal Guard Legion attacked the manor, and Davout's company fought its way into the central district.

• Joseph accused Marquis of Saint-Viran of allowing the unrest to continue, then announced that the Montcalm Legion had attacked General Berthier.
• Joseph gave reporters Telescopes to watch the apparent attack before leaving with the Guard and having the Telescopes collected.
• Cannons and advancing infantry and cavalry ambushed Major Bruen's forces, and Major Bruen fled with a small group of guards.
• Joseph showed reporters the dead Montcalm Legion soldiers as purported Berthier Legion casualties and blamed Marquis of Saint-Viran for treason.
• The Royal Guard Legion attacked Earl of Serulier's Manor, and Davout's company fought through a breach into the central district.

Crown Prince Joseph’s forces attacked Marquis of Saint-Viran’s estate, and Joseph framed the assault as a rebellion by the Montcalm Legion. With his troops defeated, the Marquis agreed to surrender and implicate Duke of Orléans.

• Marquis of Saint-Viran saw Berthier Legion and Paris Police Academy forces attacking his estate and realized the royal family had sent them.
• Joseph told the Marquis that the military high command would accept the rebellion narrative and offered exile in exchange for cooperation.
• The Marquis argued that the attack could provoke civil war, but Joseph said the quick defeat would deter other generals from opposing the royal family.
• After forty minutes of fighting and the fall of the western line, Marquis of Saint-Viran ordered his army to cease resistance.
• Marquis of Saint-Viran swore loyalty to the King and accused Duke of Orléans of masterminding the conspiracy.

Joseph used the Marquis of Saint-Viran’s confession to expose the military nobles’ conspiracy and marched the Royal Guard Legion toward Auvergne to bring the army under royal control. The Marquis of Luckner welcomed him there, and Joseph said he had come to pacify the unrest.

• Joseph had the Marquis of Saint-Viran name the nobles involved in pressuring the royal family and reveal the Duke of Orléans’s plans in Auvergne.
• Joseph ordered the Royal Guard Legion to rest, then march toward Auvergne so he could confront the Marquis of Luckner and placate the military.
• Joseph left the Moulins Legion to guard and reorganize the defeated Montcalm Legion while the Royal Guard advanced northwest with supplies from the Earl of Serulier’s warehouse.
• The Marquis of Luckner greeted Joseph outside Auvergne with gifts and praised his victory over the Montcalm Legion’s rebellion.
• Joseph told the Marquis of Luckner that he had come to pacify the unrest in Auvergne.

Joseph forced Marquis of Luckner to accept royal military reforms while allowing him to remain commander of the Auvergne Legion. As the Royal Guard Legion continued west, Joseph encountered several generals from the list three days later.

• Joseph confronted Marquis of Luckner over the Auvergne unrest and his collusion with officers, then ordered him to apologize to the King.
• Joseph required the Auvergne Legion to let commoners become officers, abolish promotion fees, accept General Staff Headquarters command, and submit to an audit and centralized control of pay and equipment.
• Marquis of Luckner accepted the reforms and denied that his granddaughter was engaged to the Duke of Chartres, saying she would enter a convent.
• Joseph declined Marquis of Luckner's banquet and continued toward other western and southern garrisons, planning to use the marquis's case as a template.
• Three days after leaving Auvergne, Joseph encountered several generals from the list.

Joseph secured the submission of military nobles in the western and southern provinces, returned to Versailles, and set secret preparations in motion for a broader campaign across France. At Versailles, officers publicly apologized to Louis XVI and Queen Mary, while Mirabeau began urging young nobles to examine the causes of the southern unrest.

• Military nobles came to Joseph in Lyon to admit their mistakes and received the same punishment as Marquis of Luckner, giving Joseph control over more than ten major armies.
• Joseph left the Royal Guard Legion in Lyon, returned to Versailles, and issued secret orders to the Police Intelligence Division, Mirabeau, and others.
• At Versailles, General Mornet apologized to Louis XVI and Queen Mary, while dozens of other officers waited to profess their loyalty.
• Queen Mary and Louis XVI discussed Joseph’s battlefield role, and Louis proudly told her that he had helped Joseph make the guns used against the rebels.
• Mirabeau told several young nobles that they needed to reflect on what had driven people into hunger and despair.

Enlightenment-minded nobles gathered in Versailles and petitioned Queen Mary to abolish privileges that burdened farmers. Joseph’s allies then presented a sweeping reform proposal, which Mary postponed, leaving Versailles in an uproar.

• Mirabeau and Venio persuaded young nobles that lordly practices and land neglect had worsened France’s grain shortages.
• A young nobleman led hundreds from the Marble Courtyard toward the Petit Trianon to petition Queen Mary against noble privileges.
• Brienne presented Viscount Chantal’s proposal to abolish hunting, judicial, labor, and other lordly privileges.
• Brienne, Mirabeau, Talleyrand, and Joseph supported the proposal, while Queen Mary postponed a decision.
• Joseph regarded the proposal as a way to draw out the Old Nobles, and the document stirred an uproar across Versailles Palace.

Roll led the Old Nobles in a confrontation against reformists at Versailles, but Joseph’s allies among the Nobles of the Robe turned the crowd against them. Queen Mary promised to approve the abolition of noble privileges, while Duke of Dourfo urged the great nobles to use their influence inside the palace to counter the reformers.

• Roll gathered Old Nobles and challenged the reformist nobles in the Marble Courtyard, where arguments escalated into a brawl that spread across Versailles Palace Square.
• Joseph told Eman that Mirabeau’s main force had not yet arrived, then watched as the Nobles of the Robe joined the reformists and overwhelmed the Old Nobles.
• Roll withdrew after being struck by a clod of earth, and the victorious reformists went to Petit Trianon to support Viscount Chantal’s proposal.
• Queen Mary promised the crowd that she would approve the abolition of noble privileges and turn it into law.
• Duke of Dourfo rejected the idea of matching the reformers’ numbers and told the great nobles to use their influence in Versailles Palace and counsel the Queen directly.

Joseph prepared a campaign to weaken the Old Nobles and promote industrial development, while Mirabeau agreed to carry it out. When Mirabeau reported that Duke of Mouchy had won Count of Artois to the opposition, Joseph proposed drawing another royal opponent into the dispute.

• Mirabeau told Joseph that forty-one influential nobles had opposed abolishing noble privileges, and Joseph recognized many as members of the Assembly of Notables.
• Joseph confirmed that Mirabeau had prepared personnel, funds, and pamphlets for an operation in the western and southern provinces, then ordered it to begin with support from the Police Intelligence Division.
• Joseph explained that France needed to weaken the Old Nobles quickly to industrialize, and Mirabeau pledged to help him.
• Joseph told Mirabeau that the Grain Yield Decree and the abolition of local tariffs and tolls would follow gradually through what he called the Salami Slicing tactic.
• Mirabeau reported that Duke of Mouchy had persuaded Count of Artois to oppose the proposal, and Joseph suggested getting Madame Adélaïde to speak to Queen Mary as well.

Joseph arranged for unrest in Nice to turn public anger against the great nobles named on a pamphlet, and the chapter ended with a crowd surrounding Duke of Dourfo's estate. The estate's butler came out to negotiate as the guards faced the enraged citizens.

• Queen Mary angrily complained about Madame Adelaide's visit and her interference in state affairs.
• A speaker arranged by Mirabeau accused nobles listed on a pamphlet of stealing the Grain Reserve and profiting from the resulting bread shortage.
• Citizens in Nice believed the accusations and joined calls for revenge against the nobles.
• Scarface led the growing crowd toward Duke of Dourfo's estate while Police Intelligence Division agents and Secret Police operatives helped the unrest spread.
• At three in the afternoon, more than a thousand people surrounded Duke of Dourfo's estate, and the butler came out to negotiate with Scarface.

The riots over stolen reserve grain spread across western and southern France as crowds ransacked nobles’ estates and killed several aristocrats. Meanwhile, Fouche arrived in Armor and learned that Duke of Orléans was still at the estate.

• Scarface and a Police Intelligence Division agent led a mob into Duke of Dourfo's estate, where they found planted evidence and seized grain they believed had been stolen from the reserve.
• The crowd looted and destroyed Duke of Dourfo's villa while the Nice troops refused to intervene.
• The next day, Scarface directed an even larger crowd toward Duke of Dourfo's villa in Villefort Town.
• Riots spread across western and southern France, destroying noble estates and killing Count of Dumont, Duke of Noailles, and other nobles.
• Fouche arrived in Armor and asked whether Duke of Orléans was still at the estate; a Police Intelligence Division official confirmed he was.

Fouche arranged a plan to exploit the anger in Brittany against Count of Thiol, but the townspeople’s protest turned into an armed assault on the estate. The rioters brought a ship’s cannon to bear on the villa, where the Duke of Orléans and the nobles were trapped.

• Fouche learned that the Police Intelligence Division lacked enough men to confront the Duke of Orléans’s guards and decided to recruit experienced sailors or retired soldiers.
• More than thirteen hundred townspeople gathered at Count of Thiol’s estate and were blocked by over sixty armed guards.
• Women brought a Six-Pound Cannon from the dock, and townspeople with artillery experience fired it at the guards and estate gate.
• After further cannon fire damaged the villa, the Duke of Orléans’s guards fled inside and the crowd pursued them.
• The Duke of Orléans tried to identify himself to the rioters, but the Guard Captain pulled him away from the window.
• The rioters moved the cannon within two hundred paces of the villa and fired a cannonball toward its second floor.

Fouche entered Count of Thiol's villa amid a riot and found the mortally wounded Duke of Orléans, whom he had been ordered by the Crown Prince to execute. At Versailles Palace, Mirabeau argued that the nobles had accepted reform as the Old Nobles' power collapsed.

• Citizens bombarded Count of Thiol's villa, then surged inside as its guards faltered and a fire spread through the building.
• Fouche entered the villa with five subordinates and slipped through a cannon-damaged wall while smoke distracted the guards.
• Fouche found the Duke of Orléans badly wounded, told him the Crown Prince had ordered his death, and placed a paper crown on his head.
• The Duke of Orléans died before Fouche could use his dagger, and Police Intelligence Division agents left the villa disguised as rioters.
• At Versailles Palace, Mirabeau told Queen Mary that the nobles opposing reform had been persuaded, while the Old Nobles' losses weakened their political influence.

Queen Mary signed the decree abolishing noble privileges as Mono implicated the Duke of Orléans in the grain crisis. After the Duke was killed by rioters, Joseph turned to restoring order in the provinces.

• Talleyrand persuaded Queen Mary to discuss abolishing noble privileges as riots worsened.
• Joseph told Mono that the Tedu Brothers had admitted the Duke of Orléans ordered them to frame his son, then offered Mono a reduced exile if he testified against the Duke.
• Queen Mary and the Cabinet approved the decree abolishing noble privileges.
• Baron de Breteuil announced that Mono had surrendered to the High Court and accused the Duke of Orléans of masterminding the grain crisis.
• Three days later, rioters in Amor killed the Duke of Orléans with a stolen cannon, and nobles demanded that the unrest be suppressed.
• Joseph watched the nobles’ reaction and prepared for the planned aftermath as officials moved into the riot-stricken provinces.

Joseph persuaded Queen Mary to approve nationwide Police Reform and secured a decree, planning to fund it with the Duke of Orléans's confiscated wealth. As the reform began in Nice, Clementine prepared to leave Paris for Vienna after learning that Joseph II was gravely ill.

• Joseph argued that police, rather than the army, should maintain public order, and Queen Mary agreed to nationwide Police Reform.
• Joseph obtained Queen Mary's signature on the decree and left to have the High Court register it.
• Clementine told Queen Mary she would soon return to Vienna with her father because Joseph II was ill.
• A police officer from Paris incorporated Nice's civilian Patrol into the Police Department and promised the recruits a chance to change their fate.
• The newly appointed Nice Police received uniforms and began patrolling the streets alongside the old police force.

Notices about the Star of France contest, discounted bread, and a royal decree helped divert crowds in Nice and Provence from rioting. The farmers learned that the King had abolished several privileges held by lords.

• An outstanding Church School student read the Star of France contest announcement aloud, and many people left to register themselves or relatives.
• A middle-aged speaker urged the Nice crowd to end its violence while pamphlets and news of discounted bread drew most people away from the square.
• Police officers watched the remaining crowd until it dispersed, then headed north with their superior from Paris.
• A priest told farmers in Provence that the King had signed a decree abolishing lords’ rights to compel labor, designate hunting grounds, and unilaterally alter tenancy contracts.

Joseph calmed unrest in the southern provinces by improving farmers’ prospects and promoting the Star of France competition, while reassuring nobles that order would be restored. A week later, a triumphant procession carrying arrested gang members arrived in Paris and continued toward Versailles Palace.

• After confirming the King had issued the decree, farmers praised him, and the parish Stadtholder announced the Star of France competition, which quickly attracted contestants.
• Reports of a laundress winning 3,000 Livres and being hired by the Villar Duchess drew public attention to the competition as auditions spread across France and the riots subsided.
• Police Officers received their first pay, and investigators shifted their attention from ordinary protesters to thieves and robbers who had exploited the unrest.
• Joseph reassured nobles that the riots were over and that criminals who had incited violence and murdered nobles would be publicly tried.
• The Police Intelligence Division sent arrested gang members from the southern provinces to Paris, where Police Academy Students and soldiers escorted them in a procession toward Versailles Palace.

Joseph used the nobles’ anger over the riots to advance his reforms, splitting the Ministry of the Interior and proposing new ministers. At a public trial, Joseph encountered the young lawyer Robespierre defending the rioters from calls for their execution.

• Joseph arranged to present Mirabeau’s Grain Yield Proposal at the next Cabinet Meeting and proposed dividing the Ministry of the Interior into agriculture, Police, and commerce.
• Joseph told Venio he would nominate him as acting Minister of Agriculture and asked Bayei to serve as Minister of Commerce.
• The High Court swiftly tried the captured rioters, who identified spies sent by Duke of Orléans as the people who had directed them.
• Judges sentenced the rioters to hang for crimes including murder, kidnapping, and robbery, drawing cheers from nobles and citizens.
• Nobles attacked Robespierre for arguing that the rioters should not be executed, and Joseph recognized the lawyer from Arras.

Desmoulins rescued Robespierre from trouble with the police, and Joseph invited them into his carriage to talk. After arguing with Robespierre about the death penalty, Joseph learned that Robespierre had come to Paris to represent the Duke of Chartres in an inheritance case.

• A policeman confronted Robespierre for giving an unpermitted public speech, but Desmoulins persuaded him to let Robespierre go.
• A tall Blond Man told Desmoulins and Robespierre that the Crown Prince wanted to speak with them, and they joined Joseph in his carriage.
• Joseph asked why Robespierre had been fighting with the nobles, and Robespierre said he had been advocating abolition of the death penalty.
• Joseph argued that executing murderers was humane and defended his Police Reform as a way to reduce wrongful convictions, leaving Robespierre unable to respond.
• Robespierre told Joseph that the Duke of Chartres had invited him to argue an inheritance case, and Desmoulins confirmed it was the same case.

Joseph revealed evidence of the Duke of Orléans’s crimes to Robespierre, then introduced a new General Staff Headquarters and established two Royal Guard Legions. The General Staff was set to take over military planning, with Berthier serving as its deputy chief.

• Joseph asked Robespierre whether the Duke of Chartres should inherit the Duke of Orléans’s estate, and Robespierre defended the claim.
• Robespierre examined evidence at the High Court and learned that the Duke of Orléans had conspired with the British, undermined the government, and orchestrated murders that led to food riots.
• Joseph urged Robespierre to join the Public Notary Investigation Bureau, while Robespierre revealed that the estate was worth about 60 million livres, excluding land and villas.
• Joseph went to the Paris Police Academy and told its officers that the General Staff Headquarters would direct military planning and deployment.
• Berthier presented the General Staff’s duties, and Joseph named him temporary Second Chief of Staff.
• Joseph announced that the Berthier Legion would become the 1st Royal Guard Legion and the Police Academy Students the 2nd Royal Guard Legion.

Joseph made the Berthier Legion a Royal Legion, then considered how to overcome hereditary officers’ resistance to joining it. Meanwhile, Marquess Wellesley arrived in Meknes to persuade Morocco’s Sultan to support a plan involving Algiers.

• Joseph announced the Berthier Legion’s royal designation, and its officers pledged their loyalty to him.
• Berthier told Joseph that hereditary officers had formed an alliance to boycott the Royal Guard Legion, and Joseph rejected raising their pay.
• Marquess Wellesley and Baron Green discussed Morocco’s military strength and Britain’s plan to matchmake Algiers and Morocco.
• Marquess Wellesley and Baron Green arrived at the palace in Meknes, where a court official told them the Sultan was waiting.