Chapter Summaries

Archduke Karl defeated Mustafa’s Ottoman forces and hurried to defend Silesia, while Austria’s emperor secured support from more than thirty German states for Denmark’s International Maritime Convention. In Klagenfurt, Second Lieutenant Meister prepared a conspiracy ahead of the expected Prussian attack, and in Paris Brienne reported on France’s administrative reforms.

• Archduke Karl recognized that Marie Antoinette’s message and the M1722 ammunition were intended to help Austria, then attacked Mustafa with Ottoman ammunition and cannon.
• Archduke Karl routed Mustafa’s forces on the Bulgarian Great Plain, returned to Bucharest, and marched his main force toward Silesia to prepare defenses against Prussia.
• The Holy Roman Emperor ordered the German states to join Denmark’s International Maritime Convention, and ambassadors from more than thirty states arrived in Copenhagen to sign the International Maritime Law.
• Second Lieutenant Meister confirmed plans with the Lieutenant, arranged payment to have Lehmler removed, and instructed a group of gang members to prepare for the Prussian attack.
• Brienne told Joseph that France’s Cabinet officials would be selected by the end of the next month and that the officials’ standards were still being drafted.

Joseph discussed standardizing Cabinet procedures, organizing civil-service entrance examinations, and the need for education reform. The report on the Rhineland’s expanding industries and football league left the government focused on regional development.

• Joseph told Brienne to bring Jean Sonnet to Paris to help with Cabinet standardization.
• Brienne warned that holding civil-service entrance examinations across France would be difficult, so Joseph ordered applicants from remote areas to travel to major cities with a small travel subsidy.
• Joseph rejected church oversight of the examinations and noted plans to establish a Ministry of Education while considering the church’s control of schools and resources.
• Mirabeau reported progress at the Rhineland’s quarries, salt mine, and potash mine, which employed thousands of workers.
• Mirabeau reported that five Rhineland football clubs had 102 players and played one league round every twenty days.

Joseph considered using football to encourage a half-day Sunday rest for factory workers, offering tax reductions to overcome factory owners’ resistance. He then learned that English forces had reinforced Portugal and begun a scorched-earth campaign around Porto, leaving the Iberian Campaign’s next steps uncertain.

• Mirabeau reported low football match attendance and proposed reducing stadium capacity, prompting Joseph to keep the 500-seat plans and schedule matches for Sunday mornings.
• Joseph proposed requiring factories to give workers a paid half-day off on Sundays and offering tax reductions to factories that complied.
• Duke of Broglie reported that Count Campos wanted France to send more troops because the fighting at Porto was going poorly.
• Berthier reported that 10,000 English soldiers had landed in Portugal, with about 8,000 near Porto, and that they had started burning farmland and relocating residents.

Joseph revised the campaign plan in Portugal to preserve Talavera's troops and continue the advance toward Coimbra. As Joseph left to welcome the returning Army of Italy, Robert brought him intelligence about a major Intelligence Bureau operation in Klagenfurt.

• Joseph ordered Talavera to advance toward Coimbra and Junot's corps to provide cover while feigning a retreat toward Almeida Fortress.
• Joseph instructed the General Staff Headquarters to prepare a detailed battle plan and arrange supplies from Rodrigo to Coimbra.
• Robert met Joseph at Versailles Palace and reported unusual findings from the France Security Bureau's overseas intelligence work.
• Robert told Joseph that the Intelligence Bureau had sent at least seventy personnel to Klagenfurt and allocated 150,000 Francs to its spies there.

Joseph learned of suspected collusion between the Udine garrison and the Intelligence Bureau to sell military supplies and prepare a major attack, and ordered a covert investigation and reinforcements. At a victory celebration in Paris, Louis XVI unexpectedly handed Joseph the speech, and Joseph announced that a monument to France’s fallen soldiers would be named the Triumphal Arch.

• Robert presented Joseph with reports linking irregularities at Klagenfurt and Udine to suspected illegal arms sales and an Intelligence Bureau operation.
• Joseph ordered Robert to investigate without alerting colonel Desaix or Captain Dubois and to send men to Udine with support from Mantua.
• Louis XVI froze before the crowd at the victory celebration and told Joseph to deliver the address in his place.
• Joseph praised France’s soldiers and announced that their memorial would be called the Triumphal Arch.

Joseph announced the construction of a monumental Triumphal Arch during the army’s victory ceremony, then welcomed Perna back from Italy. The next morning, Perna shared her plan to open affordable hospitals for the poor, and Joseph warned that it was almost certain to fail.

• Joseph announced that the Triumphal Arch would span the Champs-Élysées and rise fifty meters, stirring the crowd to celebrate France’s victory.
• The military procession finished, and Perna returned to Joseph’s carriage and embraced him after arriving back from Italy.
• Joseph and Perna spent the evening and following morning together at Versailles, where Camellia passed Perna a bill of exchange for her work helping wounded soldiers.
• Perna told Joseph she planned to build four low-cost hospitals in poor districts of Paris and eventually fund free treatment for the poor.
• Joseph told Perna that her plan was almost destined to fail.

Joseph explained why Perna’s proposed Simple Hospitals could not provide affordable medical care across France, citing the costs, lack of doctors, and risks of low-paid staff. After Camellia suggested treatment without hospitals or doctors, Joseph proposed training village residents as “Quasi-Doctors,” leaving the story with a potential model for rural care.

• Joseph warned Perna that patients might hoard low-priced medicine and underpaid doctors might prioritize wealthier patients or exploit hospital resources.
• Joseph explained that Simple Hospitals would be too costly to build nationwide and that France lacked enough doctors, especially for rural areas.
• Joseph described how poor medical access contributed to deaths and said universal care could save lives, but France could not yet afford hospitals in every village.
• Camellia wondered whether people could receive treatment without hospitals or doctors, prompting Joseph to recall the Barefoot Doctors system.
• Joseph proposed selecting literate, quick-witted villagers for basic medical training and calling them “Quasi-Doctors,” with each treating patients part-time from a room in their home.

Joseph established plans for a village assistant-doctor system and ordered the recruitment of an Austrian writer for a mission in Portugal. In Vienna, Baron Scheller and his wife prepared to follow their exiled son Lucas to Hust, then appeared to see him at their door.

• Joseph proposed government-funded village assistant doctors, a Medical and Health Bureau, and countryside training led by medical students.
• Joseph tasked Perna with organizing the program and compiling an illustrated, easy-to-understand Assistant Doctor's Handbook.
• Joseph read Rabo Tobias von Scheller's flattering article and ordered Denico to recruit him for work in Portugal.
• Joseph learned that Rabo Tobias von Scheller's son Lucas had been sentenced to twenty-five years of hard labor in Hust and sent for Talleyrand to address the case.
• Baron Scheller and Madam Scheller prepared to follow Lucas to Hust, and Baron Scheller opened the door to what he thought was an apparition of Lucas.

Lucas Scheller was released without charge through French diplomatic intervention, and his family left Vienna for Paris. Joseph let a planned attack on Klagenfurt proceed so he could use it to address larger problems, then tasked the Security Bureau with spreading propaganda in Portugal to undermine its alliance with Britain.

• Austrian Gendarmes brought Lucas Scheller home and gave Baron Scheller documents confirming his release without charge; Lagardère introduced himself as a French diplomatic representative.
• Baron Scheller and his family left Vienna for Paris after he accepted a well-paid position with the Paris Business Daily.
• Count Robert reported that Colonel Desaix and Second Lieutenant Meister planned to provoke a clash at Klagenfurt Fortress and frame it as an Austrian attack.
• Joseph refused to arrest Desaix and Meister, deciding to let the incident unfold and giving Count Robert instructions for managing it.
• Joseph gave Count Robert manuscripts blaming Britain for Portugal’s plight and claiming that Portugal could secure peace by ending its alliance with Britain.

Joseph arranged measures to contain a possible mutiny near Klagenfurt while Scheller's articles attacked the King of Portugal. Meanwhile, French princesses brought new political and economic influence to Northern Italy through their marriages.

• Robert praised Scheller's four articles criticizing the King of Portugal and promised Joseph he would spread them across Portugal.
• Joseph told Lefebvre about the situation at Klagenfurt and ordered him to take troops from Ravenna; he sent Count Eman and thirty Personal Guards to accompany him.
• Joseph ordered Lefebvre not to tell anyone about Napoleon's presence near Venice during the sensitive operation.
• Princess Therese arrived in Parma and was welcomed by Duke Ferdinando I, the Queen, Prince Ludovico, and the nobles, who admired her French fashions and spoke French with her.
• Madame Adelaide directed Modena's government to buy Stone Fertilizer for farmers on credit, cooperate with a French agricultural company, and establish a wood-carving trading company.

Venice elected the pro-French Federalist Party, joined France-led organizations, and agreed to lease Port of Split to France. At Klagenfurt Fortress, Lefebvre met Marshal Leo with a request, while Desaix’s camp came under an Austrian attack as a secret operation began.

• Adelaide used Joseph’s governing methods to put Modena’s affairs in order and establish the Modena Wood Carving Trading Company.
• Baroni announced that the Federalist Party had won Venice’s election and would form the government.
• Venice’s new government applied to join the Mediterranean Security Organization and the Iberia-Apennine Common Market, pursued returning Verona to Milan, and approved France’s lease of Port of Split.
• Schulmeister brought Lefebvre to meet Marshal Leo at Klagenfurt Fortress, where Lefebvre asked Leo for help.
• Desaix waited at the French camp in Udine for a secret operation to begin, then learned that two Austrian companies were attacking the camp.

Desaix staged an Austrian attack to justify invading Austrian territory and besieging Klagenfurt Fortress, but Lefebvre and the 3rd Infantry Division exposed and stopped him. Lefebvre had Desaix sent to Paris and forged a letter claiming the fortress had fallen, which he sent to Napoleon.

• Desaix ordered the Corsican Legion to pursue a supposed Austrian force, then claimed the Austrians had attacked his troops and led the legion across the border toward Klagenfurt Fortress.
• The Corsican Legion bombarded Klagenfurt Fortress, but its defenders did not return fire; when Lefebvre's messenger ordered Desaix to stop, Desaix tried to withdraw.
• The 3rd Infantry Division and Leo's Austrian soldiers surrounded the Corsican Legion, and Lefebvre confronted Desaix about his claim that the Austrians had attacked.
• Desaix's aide admitted there had been no casualties, so Lefebvre accused Desaix of lying and ordered him sent to Paris with his belongings confiscated as evidence.
• Lefebvre persuaded Desaix's aide to write a letter claiming Klagenfurt Fortress had been captured, sealed it with Desaix's seal, and ordered Desaix's Orderly Officer to deliver it to Napoleon.

Napoleon was lured to Klagenfurt and arrested by Lefebvre under an order from the Crown Prince after trying to override his orders and seize command. Lefebvre and Leo agreed to cover up the border affair as an anti-smuggling exercise, while Nicolas Covisat awaited the Crown Prince’s review of the Assistant Doctor’s Handbook.

• Napoleon ordered Desaix to attack Graz and sent Mantua Fortress’s ammunition to Oudinot before riding to Klagenfurt.
• Lefebvre arrested Napoleon for violating orders, abusing his authority, concealing intelligence, and deliberately murdering soldiers.
• When Napoleon ordered his Guard to seize Lefebvre, Count Eman presented the Crown Prince’s signed order, and the Crown Prince’s Personal Guard disarmed Napoleon’s men.
• Leo escorted Lefebvre to the Austrian border and reported that Lehmler and more than one hundred and twenty implicated Austrian soldiers had been dealt with.
• Leo and Lefebvre agreed to describe the confrontation as an anti-smuggling exercise, while Nicolas Covisat waited as the Crown Prince read the Assistant Doctor’s Handbook.

Joseph reviewed the first edition of the Assistant Doctor's Handbook and found many remedies unsupported by evidence. He ordered Covisat and Perna to investigate cowpox inoculation against smallpox, then questioned why doctors still used skin cuts instead of syringes.

• Covisat and Perna presented Joseph with the Assistant Doctor's Handbook, which they had compiled with Parisian doctors and pharmacists.
• Joseph challenged the handbook's smallpox remedy of horse dung and rat tails, and Covisat claimed it had saved three patients despite many others dying.
• Joseph asked whether the remedy had undergone a double-blind experiment, then learned Covisat and Perna had never heard of cowpox inoculation.
• Joseph instructed Covisat to organize experiments inoculating people with pus from cows with cowpox, and Perna agreed to help.
• Joseph rejected the use of knives for inoculation and asked about syringes, but Covisat did not know what they were.

Joseph planned to expand France’s medical industry by creating a medical equipment company and testing medicines systematically. The chapter ended with Covisat worrying that Joseph’s cautious standards would leave little to include in the Assistant Doctor’s Handbook.

• Perna admitted she had neglected the Mask Factory while organizing battlefield hospitals, and Joseph decided to find a new manager for it.
• Perna explained Syringes to Covisat, and Joseph proposed cheaper materials and turning the Mask Factory into the Paris Medical Equipment Company.
• Joseph described Stethoscopes to Covisat and Perna, who recognized their value and urged that they be produced quickly.
• Joseph ordered the Medical and Health Bureau to form a Preparatory Committee and establish a Drug Standards Laboratory for Double-blind Experiments.
• Joseph told Covisat to keep the Assistant Doctor’s Handbook conservative until medicines had been tested, and Covisat feared little would remain to write.

Joseph outlined disease-prevention measures, proposed a university medical hospital, and ordered changes to France’s intelligence agencies after officers were arrested for acting against his policy. He left the handling of the accused to the Military Tribunal, which he directed to sentence them according to the gravest charges supported by evidence.

• Joseph told Covisat that assistant doctors should focus on prevention, including clean water, sanitation, safer wound care, and future cowpox inoculation, and proposed a Disease Prevention Committee.
• Joseph endorsed Perna’s hospital idea in the form of a university medical hospital, funded by the Military Medical University and the government and staffed partly by medical students.
• Robert reported thirty-eight arrests, including General Bonaparte, colonel Desaix, and Second Lieutenant Meister, and said Fouche had asked to see Joseph.
• Joseph refused to meet Fouche and ordered him sent to the Military Tribunal, while appointing Randale and Lavalette as deputy directors to reorganize the intelligence and security services.
• Joseph ordered an Internal Affairs Review Office to oversee the intelligence agencies and told the Military Tribunal to follow the evidence and apply the gravest charges to the accused.

Joseph considered how to control French officers eager to keep attacking Austria and began planning a French-style political commissar system as part of the Second Military Reform. He left Napoleon’s fate unresolved and prepared to explain the peace strategy at the next military parade, before the story moved to Louis XVI’s fortieth birthday celebrations.

• Dimoubin pleaded for Napoleon, arguing that his misconduct should be punished through service on the battlefield rather than prison.
• Joseph learned from Dimoubin that many officers in the Army of Italy and the Rhine Army wanted to continue attacking Austria, and he recognized the danger of an army beyond political control.
• Joseph decided to include a French-style political commissar system in the Second Military Reform to educate soldiers and convey the General Staff’s strategy.
• Joseph used a falcon-hunting analogy to explain his preference for a more obedient army, then told Dimoubin that he would explain the peace with Austria at the upcoming military parade.
• After Dimoubin left, Joseph began drafting a plan for political commissars, while Louis XVI’s fortieth birthday arrived on August 23, 1794, amid Parisian celebrations.

Paris celebrated Louis XVI’s birthday with processions, performances, and crowds, while Louis admired Joseph’s gift of Leonardo da Vinci’s mechanical-man designs. Joseph described a six-shot Revolver and a powerful Steam Forging Machine, leaving Louis astonished by the forging machine’s speed and adjustable force.

• Paris’s birthday festivities drew crowds to Versailles, where nobles, visitors, and food stalls joined the celebrations.
• Louis XVI admired Leonardo da Vinci’s mechanical-man designs, which Joseph had given him as a birthday gift.
• Louis asked Joseph about the new gun, and Joseph explained how his Revolver could fire six rounds in quick succession.
• Joseph proposed making a Steam Forging Machine, but Louis initially preferred to discuss the Revolver.
• Joseph said the machine could strike over thirty times per minute and adjust its force from 100 kilograms to 10 tons, astonishing Louis.

Joseph persuaded Louis XVI to prioritize a Steam Forging Machine and proposed creating the Engineering Design Institute of France to develop it and other projects. Louis XVI agreed to lead the machine’s project team and chose a site near the Royal Armory, leaving Joseph to find a president for the institute.

• Joseph explained how a Steam Forging Machine could provide precise, powerful forging without depending on river conditions, and Louis XVI decided to develop one before the Revolver.
• Louis XVI examined Joseph’s schematic drawings and estimated the machine could take seven or eight years to build.
• Joseph proposed establishing the Engineering Design Institute of France, with specialized departments and project teams for inventions such as the Steam Forging Machine and Revolver.
• Louis XVI declined to manage the institute but agreed to lead the Steam Forging Machine Project Team.
• Louis XVI proposed locating the institute near the Royal Armory and building workshops there.

Joseph planned the Engineering Design Institute and a Steam Forging Machine with Louis XVI before the story moved to Copenhagen, where delegates established the International Maritime Convention Organization and began debating its maritime laws. The chapter ended with member states divided over how far territorial waters should extend.

• Joseph persuaded Louis XVI to place the Engineering Design Institute and Royal Armory farther west and proposed a wooden railway to connect them to Versailles Palace.
• Joseph and Louis XVI settled on preliminary specifications for a seven-ton Steam Forging Machine, and Joseph instructed Mirabeau to prepare the Engineering Design Institute.
• At the first plenary session in Copenhagen, Frederick announced the International Maritime Convention Organization’s establishment, and Talleyrand delivered its opening address.
• The delegates agreed to establish the organization’s headquarters in Copenhagen, along with an International Maritime Tribunal and a seven-seat Council.
• The member states unanimously approved freedom of navigation, fishing, and salvage on the high seas, then argued over whether territorial waters should extend ten, three, or one nautical mile from shore.