Chapter Summaries

Joseph drove away the nobles spying outside his bedroom, then shared an intimate night with Alexandra as the celebrations continued across Paris. At the festivities, Soleil was overcome with sadness over Joseph’s wedding and angrily rejected the prospect of meeting a relative who planned to arrange her marriage.

• Alexandra gave Joseph her Revolver, and he fired it out the window to frighten away the nobles spying on them.
• After confirming that the onlookers had left, Joseph and Alexandra embraced and spent the night together.
• Rochefoucauld and Potier toasted Joseph and discussed business opportunities involving a Steam Forging Machine and Flying Carts.
• Soleil, overwhelmed by sadness at the celebration, cried while thinking of Joseph and his wedding.
• Viscount Frez found Soleil and reminded her that Uncle Hilvera was arriving to arrange a marriage for her.
• Soleil angrily declared that she did not want to see Uncle Hilvera.

Soleil realized she had fallen in love with the Crown Prince, while Fulger and his fraud ring cautiously investigated the royal pardon that seemed to excuse their crimes. Joseph learned that the Police had caught “250,” the target of Plan 250.

• Soleil left the wedding celebration with Viscount Frez, then jumped from their carriage after remembering the Crown Prince awarding her a medal.
• Soleil confessed to Courage and the Brotherhood’s young nobles that she had fallen in love with the Crown Prince.
• Fulger and his companions read the King’s pardon for their fraud and debated whether it was genuine before sending Tangi to Versailles Palace to investigate.
• Joseph told Alexandra they would not stay up late together again, then Eman reported that Viscount Besançon had announced the capture of “250.”

Fulger and his companions tried to claim a hereditary title for luring the Bern Councilors to France, but Joseph’s plan exposed them as impostors and sent them to prison. Joseph learned that most of their stolen money had been recovered and ordered steam irrigation machines for Bern Village.

• Fulger and his companions went to Versailles Palace to claim credit, and Fulger was chosen to receive the title.
• Security Bureau agents posed as rival claimants, delaying the ceremony and keeping Fulger’s group at the residence.
• Count Elerach and the other Swiss witnesses denied knowing Fulger and his companions, who were arrested after Fulger attacked Elerach.
• Count Elerach identified all the claimants as impostors, and the Police Department sent Fulger’s group to First Prison.
• Eman told Joseph that the prisoners had confessed to hiding 340,000 Francs, with 337,000 Francs recovered, and Joseph ordered steam irrigation machines for Bern Village.

Joseph negotiated with Archbishop Beaumont and other church leaders to reform church finances and integrate clergy into the new government. The church leaders accepted his terms in exchange for Senate seats, while Father Grenier was transferred to Zweibrücken.

• Joseph proposed a Church Asset Management Committee whose members would be elected by the clergy and whose approval would be required for church spending.
• Beaumont and the other archbishops agreed to the committee and the dissolution of the Pious French Clergy.
• Joseph offered the church ten of the Senate's eighty seats and named Beaumont, the Archbishop of Chartres, and the Archbishop of Tours as its first senators.
• Joseph persuaded the archbishops to let the Treasury Department issue clergy salaries, and they pledged their loyalty before leaving.
• Alexandra called Joseph to dinner, and three days later Father Grenier received an order transferring him to Zweibrücken.

Joseph arranged to receive delegations from Geneva, Solothurn, and Lucerne as their cantons moved to join France. Their petitions stirred protests in Basel and other Swiss cantons, where Austrian officials debated how to prevent France from gaining further influence.

• Alexandra showed Joseph the renovations at the Grand Trianon and invited him to rest there, but Eman reported that Swiss delegations and Ludovico wanted audiences.
• Joseph postponed Ludovico and scheduled a joint audience for the representatives of Geneva, Solothurn, and Lucerne.
• Joseph hosted the Swiss delegation, and two days later the three cantons submitted petitions to unite with France.
• Baron Bjorn Ritter urged Austrian diplomat Stoll to arm and fund Basel's council to suppress protests calling for the canton to join France.
• Stoll agreed to submit Ritter's proposal to Count Kobzl as protests spread through Zurich, Schwyz, Uri, and other cantons.

Ludovico met with Joseph in Paris to present Parma’s plan to accept only Parma Lira and francs in trade, hoping to secure France’s forgiveness. Joseph pointed out that the policy would obstruct trade with countries lacking francs and proposed an international bank to exchange currencies.

• Ludovico recalled how a painting of the Karlsruhe banquet had shown that Joseph had anticipated the railway patent sub-licensing agreement, leaving Parma worried about how to make amends.
• Joseph warmly welcomed Ludovico and heard that Parma would accept only Parma Lira and francs in future trade.
• Joseph explained that Ottoman and Neapolitan merchants would struggle to trade under the policy and might rely on intermediaries from Genoa.
• Joseph proposed setting exchange rates between currencies and establishing a bank to handle currency exchanges for international trade.

Joseph explained to Ludovico how a European Settlement Bank could make international trade payments faster and establish the Franc as a common settlement currency. Parma’s financial leaders reviewed his proposal and reacted enthusiastically, while banks dependent on Bill of Exchange discounting stayed silent.

• Joseph described the delays, risks, and fees involved in settling international trade with Bills of Exchange.
• Joseph explained how paper-money exchange rates fluctuated and why a settlement bank would need to coordinate currency exchanges.
• Joseph decided to use Parma’s adoption of the Franc for settlement to build and test the European Settlement Bank system.
• Ludovico struggled to absorb Joseph’s financial explanations and regretted not bringing Baron Luciani.
• Baron Luciani shared Joseph’s business plan with Parma’s King and convened leading financiers and bank executives to discuss it.
• Palmieri and the President of the Parma Chamber of Commerce praised the plan’s potential, while managers reliant on bill discounting remained silent.

Palmieri explained how the European Settlement Bank would secure and speed up international trade settlements using inspectors, encrypted telegraph messages, insurance, and multilateral netting. The Parma bankers and officials saw how the system could reduce fraud, delays, and cash shortages, leaving them optimistic about the growth of trade.

• Palmieri explained that the European Settlement Bank would verify banks and settlement applications before authorizing cross-border payments.
• Baron Palumbo questioned how the bank could prevent fraud, and Palmieri described inspectors monitoring participating banks and confirming their funds.
• Palmieri said settlement applications would travel through Shap Signal Towers and be protected by encryption and insurance.
• A Noceto City Bank manager raised concerns about shortages of Francs, and the President of the Parma Chamber of Commerce explained how multilateral netting would reduce the amount of cash banks had to settle.
• The President of the Parma Chamber of Commerce predicted that the system would make trade flourish.

Palmieri and Bodoni worked to bring Northern Italian states into the European Settlement Bank, overcoming resistance in Parma after Fornovo’s murder. At a Cabinet Meeting, Gaudin reported France’s fiscal revenue, spending, deficit, and debt, while Joseph remained confident that the debt was manageable.

• Fornovo rallied opposition to Parma joining the European Settlement Bank, and the meeting ended without an agreement.
• Bodoni persuaded Palmieri to promote the settlement system and buy Francs, while Milan Parliament later voted to apply for membership.
• After Parma’s resistance threatened the Francs held by Milan Savings Bank, Bodoni arranged for Fornovo to be killed, and Ferdinando I signed Parma’s membership agreement three days later.
• At the May 3 Cabinet Meeting, Gaudin reported France’s 1.23 billion Francs in revenue, 1.44 billion Francs in spending, a 210 million Franc deficit, and 2.38 billion Francs in government debt.
• Joseph accepted the report and remained unconcerned, believing France’s economic growth and railway spending made the debt manageable.

Joseph reviewed France’s growing industrial revenues and railway expansion as officials reported on the nation’s finances, infrastructure, trade, and population. The chapter ended with France’s railway network poised for further growth and its orphanages struggling with parents who falsely claimed their children were orphans.

• Joseph saw that industrial income had risen to 30% of France’s fiscal revenue, while agricultural income had fallen to 36%.
• Gaudin reported that the United Kingdom’s revenue had grown only slightly, while its spending had left it with a large deficit.
• Tressaguet announced that France had 860 kilometers of operating railway lines and more than 900 kilometers of planned routes.
• Tressaguet described railway construction in German and Italian states, where French technology and standards were spreading along lines connected to France.
• Officials reported rising trade and population, crediting medical reforms and mandatory cowpox inoculation with reducing deaths.
• Officials reported that overcrowded orphanages were asking police to identify children whose parents had falsely sent them away.

Joseph announced that King Louis XVI had authorized the Senate and House of Representatives and promulgated France’s Civil Code, establishing a new political order. He named the first Senate officials and sequence members, then prepared to present the Pronged Code.

• Minister Roland outlined the completed portions of France’s Child Protection Law, including bans on child abandonment, trafficking, and dangerous exploitation.
• Joseph announced the establishment of the Senate and House of Representatives and the promulgation of the Civil Code, while Charles realized the announcement was not about his marriage.
• Archbishop Brienne read Louis XVI’s edict describing the powers of the two chambers under the new system.
• Joseph explained how the Senate Sequence would include Old Nobles and exceptional commoners, while Senate seats would not be hereditary.
• Joseph named Brienne as the first Imperial Chancellor and announced the first twenty-five positions in the Senate Sequence.
• Joseph received a stack of manuscripts titled Pronged Code from Deputy Minister of Justice Cambacérès.

Joseph’s Louis Code unified France’s civil, criminal, and commercial laws, and France formally promulgated it alongside the establishment of the Two Chambers. The announcement of the first House of Representatives election sparked public celebration, while lawyers and political aspirants hurried to prepare for the changes.

• Joseph presented the completed Louis Code at a Cabinet Meeting, and Cambacérès outlined the fields it covered.
• Three days later, Joseph announced the promulgation of the Louis Code and the establishment of the Two Chambers in Tuileries Palace Square, with Louis XVI and Queen Mary present.
• Joseph announced that the first nationwide House of Representatives election would begin on July 5, prompting cheers from the crowd.
• Parisians bought 160,000 abridged copies of the Louis Code and celebrated with speeches and dancing in the streets.
• Lawyers began studying the full code for an August judicial examination, while political hopefuls campaigned for the House of Representatives’ 380 seats.

At the first French Senate meeting, Joseph honored the retiring Brienne and Mirabeau and appointed new government officials. As Joseph headed to the Royal Hunting Ground, Lavalette reported likely Austrian intervention against pro-French protests in Switzerland, but Joseph chose not to intervene yet.

• Joseph accepted Brienne's retirement, awarded him a Medal of Distinguished Service, and granted him the status of Prince Archbishop.
• Joseph honored Mirabeau as he retired for health reasons and awarded him a Medal of Distinguished Service.
• Joseph appointed Baron de Breteuil Imperial Chancellor, Baron Cambacérès Minister of Justice, and Mr. Jean-Antoine Shap Minister of Industry.
• Joseph set out with Alexandra for the Royal Hunting Ground, but Director of Security Bureau Lavalette joined them with news about Switzerland.
• Lavalette reported that Austria had likely helped suppress pro-French protests in Basel, Zurich, and elsewhere, and Joseph decided not to assist the protesters for now.

Joseph directed efforts to stir anti-Austrian sentiment in northern Switzerland and prepared for France to take the lead in capturing Gibraltar as Portugal’s resistance weakened. He then joined Queen Mary and Alexandra at the Royal Hunting Ground, where he accidentally suggested a name for Careme’s new pastry.

• Joseph ordered Lavalette to exaggerate Austrian aid to northern Switzerland and have France refuse union requests from the other cantons.
• Lavalette reported that the Albuquerque and Perez families were withdrawing from Porto, and Joseph ordered reinforcements and battle plans for Gibraltar with the Junot Corps leading.
• Lavalette confirmed that French arms and supplies for Mysore had departed Malta for Antakya.
• Joseph arrived at the Royal Hunting Ground and told Queen Mary that the Senate would handle government affairs, leaving him more time for hunting.
• Queen Mary offered Joseph a new mille-feuille, and he disguised his near-slip of “Napoleon” as the name “Polite Lion.”

Joseph proposed joining the hunt on foot with a trained party rather than waiting for the wild boars to be driven toward them. After Alexandra changed into hunting clothes, she rode beside him as he led the group out, while Queen Mary kept Louis XVI behind.

• Joseph and Queen Mary joined Louis XVI and the nobles as they waited for a herd of wild boars to approach.
• Queen Mary tried to match Charles with Princess Maria or Eliana, but Joseph interrupted by proposing a real encirclement hunt.
• Joseph persuaded Queen Mary that his party could safely pursue the boars, and Alexandra asked to join him.
• Joseph told Alexandra to change into hunting clothes, and she returned wearing a red hunting outfit.
• Joseph selected more than thirty Royal Guards soldiers and led the party away as Queen Mary stopped Louis XVI from joining the hunt.

Joseph led Alexandra, Charles, and the nobles on a wild-boar hunt, directing the riders to surround the herd. He shot the charging lead boar, Alexandra and the guards killed others, and court painters arrived to record the hunt.

• Eliana defended the Crown Princess Consort’s trousers and astride riding by pointing out that women had been allowed to study at the Medical Academy and Art Academy.
• Joseph ordered Antoine, Count of Artois, and the other riders to form an encirclement around the wild boars.
• Count of Maine reached the interception point, sending the boars charging toward Joseph’s group.
• Joseph shot the lead boar as it charged, while Alexandra’s first shot failed because her percussion cap would not ignite.
• Alexandra killed another boar, Charles wounded one, and a Royal Guards soldier finished it off.
• The guards carried a 150-kilogram boar to Joseph as two court painters set up their easels.

Joseph hunted seven wild boars with his family and arranged for Charles to become Governor of Ravenna after Charles asked to serve in Essens. As the group returned to the rest area, Queen Mary collapsed unconscious in Joseph’s arms.

• Joseph waited for the painters to finish, then rode off while servants cleaned up the seven boars.
• Charles asked Joseph to let him serve as Governor of Essens, hoping to live closer to Louise.
• Joseph instead assigned Charles to become Governor of Ravenna and ordered him to leave the following month.
• Louis XVI praised the hunt, and Queen Mary said she was tired after spending hours in the hunting grounds without water.
• Queen Mary suddenly collapsed, and Joseph caught her as she lost consciousness.

At the Royal Hunting Ground, Queen Mary collapsed, and Joseph suspected that her thirst and weakness were caused by Diabetes rather than the illnesses considered by the imperial physicians. He tested her urine with ants, whose strong preference for it suggested a dangerously high sugar concentration.

• Queen Mary regained consciousness after Doctor Potti treated her, and she said she felt weak and thirsty.
• Joseph stopped Potti from injecting Glucose, suspecting that Queen Mary's collapse was related to Diabetes, and learned from Countess de Berninac that she had been unusually thirsty, urinating often, and growing weaker for over half a year.
• Potti and Bichat discussed Polyuria, and Bichat tasted Queen Mary's urine but could not confidently detect sweetness.
• Joseph explained how high blood sugar and dehydration could cause dizziness, then ordered Eman to gather ants.
• Joseph compared Queen Mary's urine with Glucose water, and nearly all the ants gathered at the urine, suggesting its sugar concentration exceeded the strongest sample.

After Queen Mary fainted, Joseph realized that France lacked tests for major health risks such as diabetes and hypertension. He convened leading medical experts at Versailles Palace to develop new diagnostic methods and left them beginning work on blood sugar, blood lipids, and blood pressure.

• Joseph asked Bichat and the other Imperial Physicians to examine the King and Queen, but learned they could not test for hypertension, blood lipids, or blood sugar.
• Joseph summoned French doctors, pharmacists, and biologists to Versailles Palace for a medical meeting the next day.
• Joseph explained blood sugar and the limitations of the ant test, and Louis Nicolas Vauquelin proposed using glucose's reducing properties to measure it.
• Joseph assigned Vauquelin a laboratory to develop his test and directed Claude Louis Berthollet to investigate separating blood lipids with a centrifuge.
• Dr. Du Mangran proposed oxalic acid to prevent blood from clotting during testing, and Joseph asked him to assist Berthollet before moving on to blood pressure.

Joseph explained blood pressure and proposed developing a sphygmomanometer, then helped Queen Mary manage her diabetes with low-sugar desserts and exercise. The chapter ended with the Queen’s healthy desserts becoming popular at Versailles Palace.

• Joseph described how blood pressure could be measured and asked for help developing a sphygmomanometer.
• Doctor Bichat suggested that Court Magician Joel Prevost compare patients’ artery pressure by touch, and Joseph approved the method as a temporary measure.
• Joseph brought Queen Mary desserts made with fruit sugars and nut flours, and she happily ate a small portion.
• Joseph had Queen Mary and Louis XVI run and exercise to help burn off the desserts and manage their health.
• Three days later, Queen Mary’s healthy desserts had become popular at Versailles Palace.