Chapter Summaries

Joseph secured support for sharing patent licenses among Common Market countries, and their officials agreed on how to divide the patent purchases. At the ball, Count Elerach envied the railway benefits of membership before Doriane recognized Nestor Norbert and introduced him to Elerach.

• Joseph’s patent-sharing arrangement strengthened France’s influence while helping Common Market countries afford railway technology.
• Baron Binder persuaded officials to divide patent purchases according to their countries’ finances and warned that countries buying no patents might be excluded from future exchanges.
• The officials settled on approximate shares of the patent purchases before the ball ended.
• Count Elerach lamented that Switzerland could not join a Common Market and gain affordable railway technology.
• Nestor Norbert recognized Doriane, who introduced him to Count Elerach.

Count Elerach pursued a French government post and a recognized title through Viscount Norbert, who offered to help in exchange for money. Elerach returned to Bern and proposed that the canton join France to resolve its railway crisis, claiming Norbert could arrange French support.

• Norbert met Count Elerach and Doriane at the exhibition and offered to help Elerach secure a position in the French Trade Department and recognition of his title for a fee.
• Elerach explained Bern’s troubled railway project, and Norbert suggested that French transport support might be possible for a large sum.
• After confirming Norbert’s identity and government position, Elerach left Karlsruhe and returned to Bern.
• Elerach proposed that Bern leave the Confederation and become a French province so France would fund its railways and settle the investors’ protests.
• Councilor Frey questioned why France would accept Bern, and Elerach cited Norbert’s connections to the French Crown Prince.

Count Elerach and Baron Frey bribed French officials to secure support for Bern joining France, while Viscount Norbert secretly canceled the transfers and reclaimed most of the money. Norbert ended the chapter with 340,000 francs recovered, though two banks had withheld refunds pending verification.

• Count Elerach persuaded Bern's councilmen to fund a 400,000-franc bribe rather than provide six million francs in revenue, and they sent him, Baron Frey, and Count Luciva to Paris.
• Viscount Norbert brought Elerach and Frey to Bayei, who said the Crown Prince did not object to Bern joining France but left the Ministry of Finance negotiations to them.
• Elerach and Frey carried cash to Paris, where Norbert arranged a series of bank transfers totaling 400,000 francs to French officials and associates.
• After the Swiss men left, Norbert secretly canceled the transfers and reclaimed cash from the banks, recovering 180,000 francs by nightfall.
• Norbert continued reclaiming the money the next day and had gathered 340,000 francs, while two banks delayed refunds to verify the bills of exchange.

Bern’s leaders moved to join France, prompting Geneva and several western Swiss cantons to consider following, while Protestant and German-speaking cantons grew alarmed. In Paris, Count Elerach and the other Bern councilors discovered that the French officials they remembered meeting denied knowing them, leaving them to suspect they had been deceived.

• Councilor Ruediger told Count Haupt that France’s officials had accepted Bern’s money, and Haupt called the councilors together to pass legislation before Paris announced its decision.
• Eighty-six percent of Bern’s councilors supported joining France, and the parliament promulgated the decree five days later before preparing to withdraw from the Confederation.
• Geneva began planning to join France, while Fribourg, Lucerne, Solothurn, and other western cantons considered doing the same; Zurich, Basel, Schwyz, and other cantons panicked.
• After receiving no news from Viscount Norbert, Count Elerach and the other Bern councilors went to Versailles Palace, where they learned Norbert was supposedly away and were expelled by the Court Guard.
• Count Elerach met Minister of Trade Bayei, who denied having met him; Councilor Frey pointed out that Bayei looked different from the man they remembered, and Elerach accused him of being an impostor.
• As the Court Guard escorted them from Versailles Palace, Count Elerach and Frey wondered how they could have seen Viscount Norbert and Earl Mirabeau working with the Minister of Trade.

Count Luciva and Count Elerach discovered that Viscount Norbert had canceled their 400,000-franc bills of exchange, leaving them ruined. Meanwhile, Archbishop Beaumont faced growing support for church reform and learned that the clergy’s assessment was only three days away, while he feared the Crown Prince might expel the Holy See’s representatives from France.

• Count Luciva and Count Elerach returned to Versailles after discovering that Viscount Norbert’s confirmations had canceled their bills, and Baron Frey and Elerach despaired over the lost money.
• Archbishop Beaumont read Father Gregoire’s reform article and ordered Father Cornier to transfer Gregoire to Louisiana, then called a meeting of other archbishops.
• Archbishop Beaumont saw a clergyman rallying support for reform at a Steam Tram station and boarded without dispersing the crowd.
• Talleyrand and Sieyès helped build support for reform, while Beaumont read Talleyrand’s public endorsement and worried that government officials would back the changes.
• Archbishop Tours told Beaumont that the clergy would undergo assessment in three days, and Beaumont warned that Archbishop Brienne might soon meet the Crown Prince and help drive the Holy See’s people out of France.

Church leaders tried to blunt the effects of clergy assessments and church reform, while Joseph used bribery and political pressure to force the church toward change. The chapter ended with two servants attempting to sneak into Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey, where one knocked out a cleric despite being told only to lure him away.

• Archbishop Beaumont and other church leaders planned to bribe the Vatican Committee, distribute bread to the poor, and ensure ordinary clergy received their full salaries.
• At the World Exposition in Baden, Joseph told Archbishop Brienne that France would honor its railway patent agreements and explained that appearing less forceful could ease other countries’ fears.
• Joseph learned that church leaders were bribing the Vatican Committee, which was secretly under his influence, and told Brienne to deliver a diplomatic note condemning the Roman Curia.
• At Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey, a young servant tried to enter the rear hall with books, but a second servant knocked out the cleric guarding the door.

Soleil searched Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey for evidence against Vice Abbot Ruiye while Robespierre sent Tax Bureau teams to inspect abbey tithe records across France. The chapter ended with Soleil discovering hidden notebooks as guards closed in.

• Soleil and Courage tried to move an unconscious cleric, but ran off when two Maids spotted them.
• Soleil sent Courage to distract the Maids and ask Promise for support, then slipped into the rear hall to search Ruiye’s office.
• Robespierre ordered Maillar and the Support Team to force their way into Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey and inspect its tithe records.
• Robespierre had coordinated simultaneous searches of abbeys in more than twenty cities after suspecting the church’s tithe figures were too low.
• Soleil failed to find evidence in Ruiye’s office and hid inside a bookcase as guards approached.
• Soleil found a hidden compartment containing notebooks filled with place names and numbers.

Soleil uncovered a clue for the Tax Bureau before returning to Versailles Palace, where she learned that three Swiss men had been swindled out of a fortune. As the men prepared to leave, a noblewoman offered to help them find the fraudster.

• Soleil slipped out of the Cultivators' building and whispered to a Tax Bureau staff member that a cabinet might conceal a compartment.
• Soleil took the discovered books to the Brotherhood's base, then returned to Versailles Palace.
• Soleil learned that Count Elerach, Count Luciva, and their companion had paid a swindler 40,000 Francs after he promised to have Bern incorporated into France.
• Soleil tried to comfort Count Luciva and offered to help, but froze when she learned how much money they had lost.
• As the three Swiss men prepared to board their carriage, a tall noblewoman offered to help them find the swindler.

Soleil tried to help three Bern Councilors who had been swindled, then offered to bring them to the Crown Prince. Back in Versailles, Joseph postponed a meeting with church leaders and learned that Robespierre’s men had raided monasteries in more than twenty cities.

• Soleil asked the Bern Councilors about the swindler but could not identify him or offer political contacts.
• Count Elerach said Bern would pay more if necessary to join France and asked Soleil to arrange a meeting with the Crown Prince.
• Soleil pointed out that she herself could take the Councilors to meet the Crown Prince.
• Alexandra urged Joseph to try on his wedding clothes for the planned ceremonies at Versailles and Notre-Dame de Paris.
• Eman told Joseph that Archbishop Beaumont, Archbishop Aceri, and five other Archbishops wanted to see him, and Joseph scheduled the meeting for the next morning.
• Randale told Joseph that Robespierre’s men had stormed monasteries in more than twenty cities.

Joseph responded to Robespierre’s unauthorized seizure of monastery accounts by turning the Church’s vast expenditures into leverage for reform. He also learned that Bern wanted to join France and arranged to meet its representatives, recognizing Switzerland’s strategic and industrial value.

• Randale told Joseph that Robespierre had seized monastery ledgers and clashed with guards, and Joseph ordered the records returned while the Tax Bureau applied to audit the Church’s finances.
• Joseph realized the ledgers’ hundreds of millions of Francs in accounts could fuel public anger over Church spending, and he ordered a report and summoned priests Grenier and Sieyès to prepare for reform talks.
• Soleil told Joseph that members of the Bern Parliament wanted to leave the Swiss Confederation and join France but had been turned away by Minister Bayei.
• Joseph scheduled a meeting with the Bern representatives and summoned Bayei, who defended rejecting them because Switzerland was poor and difficult to govern.
• Joseph concluded that Switzerland’s French-speaking population, skilled crafts, and strategic mountain passes made its accession valuable to France.

Joseph arranged to meet Bern’s parliamentarians and ordered an investigation into their fraud case, while also confronting church leaders over the Curial Review Committee and the Tax Bureau’s monastery raids. He appeared to side with the church, but his decision to publish the seized account books alarmed Archbishop Beaumont.

• Joseph invited Minister Bayei to attend his meeting with three Bern parliamentarians and ordered Viscount Besançon to investigate the fraudsters who had cheated them out of 400,000 francs.
• Joseph told Archbishop Beaumont and six archbishops that he had protested to the Pope and would expel the Curial Review Committee from Avignon.
• Beaumont asked Joseph to punish the Tax Bureau for searching monasteries and seizing account books, hoping to weaken the bureau and protect the church’s control of the tithe.
• Joseph condemned Robespierre, dismissed the Tax Bureau officials involved, and ordered Robespierre tried by the High Court.
• Joseph ordered the seized account books displayed publicly for a month, and Beaumont objected that they contained confidential financial information.

Joseph used the Reformist Faction’s petition for church reform to force the Archbishops toward a public debate, then arranged for Alexandra to help him leave before they could object. The Archbishops tried to negotiate with the reformers, and three days later they were still preparing for the debate when Archbishop Brienne asked to see Beaumont.

• Grenier presented Joseph with more than 6,500 signatures supporting church reform and said the total would exceed twenty thousand.
• Grenier and the Archbishops argued over church wealth and tradition until Joseph proposed a public debate at Notre Dame Square.
• Alexandra arrived and gave Joseph an excuse to leave, and he set the debate for the day after his wedding.
• The Archbishop of Chartres offered the reformers Archbishop positions to cancel the debate, but Grenier demanded church reform and the reformers ultimately demanded twenty positions.
• Three days later, the Archbishops discussed how to handle the debate at Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey when a priest announced that Archbishop Brienne wished to see Beaumont.

Archbishop Brienne proposed that the church surrender the Tithe, recover and conceal its account books, and sell its land while investing the proceeds in Crown Prince Joseph’s ventures to defuse the Reformist Faction’s demands. The archbishops accepted his plan, and Brienne left believing he had completed another task for Joseph.

• Archbishop Brienne joined Archbishop Beaumont and six other influential French archbishops at Saint-Germain-des-Prés Abbey to address the church’s account books and the proposed public debate with Grenier’s group.
• Brienne urged the church to relinquish the Tithe, pardon Robespierre, retrieve the account books, and give summary tax records to the Tax Bureau while keeping the unused Tithe balance.
• Brienne proposed that the church surrender its land for tenant farmers to redeem and invest the proceeds in the Industrial Development Fund or railway stocks, and the archbishops approved his plan.
• Archbishop Beaumont promised Brienne a Bill of Exchange for 300,000 Francs as Brienne departed the abbey.
• Brienne privately reflected that he had completed another task for Joseph, who had wanted to prevent a public debate from damaging the church and destabilizing French society.

Archbishop Beaumont and his allies decided to move against the Reformist Faction before losing more influence in the Church. Meanwhile, Swiss envoys met Joseph, who learned how they had been defrauded before they appealed for Avenches to join France by invoking its Roman past.

• Archbishop Beaumont and the Archbishop of Chartres agreed to seek an audience with Joseph and ordered the other archbishops to announce their decision to their dioceses.
• Count Elerach, Frez, and another councilor from the Canton of Bern visited Versailles Palace with gifts and presented themselves to Joseph.
• Viscount Besançon explained how the criminals had staged the fraud against the Swiss envoys, and said Joseph had arranged a plan to arrest them.
• Count Elerach asked Joseph to let Avenches return to the embrace of great Rome, citing its Roman history in Upper Germania Province.
• Joseph learned that the Swiss appeal concerned the Canton of Bern and reacted to Count Elerach's comparison with Africa Province returning to the empire.

Joseph accepted Bern’s request to join France under the banner of Roman heritage and planned to name it Upper Germania Province. He rejected Bern’s railway proposal for now, redirecting its funds toward city development and promising to restore its Roman ruins.

• Joseph considered how his descendants could claim the legacies of both the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, but decided not to invoke that claim yet.
• Count Elach explained that Bern had voted to leave the Swiss Confederation and offered two million Francs to cover its tax shortfall; Joseph agreed to accept Bern into France.
• Joseph instructed Bern to submit and publicize a Unification Petition, and said it would become Upper Germania Province once the King signed it.
• Count Elach and Baron Frey asked for railway plans, but Joseph said Bern should prioritize roads, factories, irrigation, schools, and hospitals, using its rail equipment for city steam trams instead.
• Joseph proposed converting Bern’s railway fund into a City Construction Fund with a 4.6% minimum return, then promised money to restore its Roman baths and theaters.

Count Elerach secured local self-government for Bern as Switzerland prepared to join France, while Joseph planned to turn Roman ruins into tourist attractions. In Paris, Chaumont, Potier, and Rochefoucauld reunited and hurried to the Crown Prince’s wedding.

• Joseph assured Count Elerach that Bern’s Parliament could retain its elections and decide taxes and laws, with the Governor holding veto power.
• Count Elerach and the other Swiss delegates celebrated their political survival and sent Bern news of the agreement.
• The next day, Bern’s State Parliament sent a special envoy to Paris with a Unification Petition.
• On March 29, 1800, Chaumont and Potier waited for Rochefoucauld in a cafe near Notre-Dame before the Crown Prince’s wedding.
• Rochefoucauld arrived late, discussed his railway-cart business, and asked Potier about his career.
• As the wedding ceremony began, Chaumont and Potier said they could use their connections to get into the crowded square.

In Saint Petersburg, Kishchenko and fellow officers sought evidence tied to Emperor Paul and discussed replacing Alexander with a reform-minded prince. In Notre-Dame Square, the Crown Prince and the Russian Princess appeared together before a solemn crowd as their marriage ceremony began.

• Rochefoucauld and Potier discussed reselling their Queue Party spots before the story shifted to a tavern outside Saint Petersburg.
• Kishchenko met Chaddov and several abandoned officers, then examined documents and a note claiming Alexander had shot Paul Petrovich.
• Kishchenko asked to see the original note and proposed cooperation, while Chaddov said he needed to consult That Gentleman.
• Rochefoucauld, Potier, and Chaumont reached the red carpet in Notre-Dame Square and discussed the Russian Princess's popularity and the prospect of peace with Russia.
• The Crown Prince and the Russian Princess walked together in the procession as the crowd fell silent and bowed.
• Kishchenko told the middle-aged man in the woods that they wanted Russia reformed and hoped to make an enlightened prince Tsar, citing growing discontent among young officers after defeats along the Dnieper River.

Kishchenko learned that Paul's Curse was a Security Bureau fabrication and proposed a revolt, but Chaddov urged him to unite with unrest among the Dnieper settlers and Cossacks instead. In Paris, Joseph and Alexandra were married before a cheering crowd.

• Kishchenko met Chaddov and recruited him to join a plan to seize Peter and Paul Fortress and the Winter Palace.
• Chaddov warned that a small uprising in Saint Petersburg would be swiftly crushed by Alexander's forces.
• Chaddov urged Kishchenko to unite with the Dnieper settlers and resentful Cossacks, who had broader support and needed experienced officers.
• In Notre-Dame Square, Joseph married Alexandra before Beaumont, three other Cardinal Archbishops, and a cheering crowd.

At their wedding in Notre Dame Square, Joseph and Alexandra received gifts from the people, and Joseph announced that the Tithe would be reduced to 5%. The wedding ball filled the square into the night, while nobles later gathered outside the couple’s bedchamber for a court wedding-night custom.

• Rochefoucauld bought tulips and pansies as wedding gifts for Joseph and Alexandra.
• Queen Mary blessed Joseph and Alexandra and urged them to produce an heir.
• Joseph thanked the crowd for its gifts and announced that the Tithe rate would drop from 7% to 5%.
• The people celebrated the tax reduction as the ball began in Notre Dame Square.
• Joseph returned to Versailles Palace with his family after sunset as fireworks lit the square and the festivities continued.
• Nobles gathered outside Joseph and Alexandra’s bedchamber for the customary wedding-night teasing.

Joseph and Alexandra began their wedding night after he ended the nobles’ traditional inspection, but their privacy was interrupted by aristocrats spying outside the bedroom. Joseph asked Alexandra to lend him her pistol.

• Joseph’s friends celebrated around him while noblewomen prepared Alexandra for the wedding night.
• Joseph and Alexandra entered the marriage bed, and Queen Mary ended the nobles’ inspection custom by distributing candies.
• Joseph’s guards turned away nobles who tried to spy through the keyhole or disguised themselves as maids.
• Joseph and Alexandra embraced privately, but he noticed nobles hanging outside the window and spotted others in a nearby tree.
• Joseph asked Alexandra whether she had brought the pistol he had given her, and she agreed to lend it to him.