The Crown Prince of France - Chapter 137

Chapter 137: The Crown Prince's Guard Regiment

The more than two thousand officers and soldiers on the Mars Camp were feeling a bit light-headed.

A few days ago, they had thought of themselves as the most unfortunate people in the world, inexplicably caught up in the Crown Prince's assassination attempt, subsequently undergoing investigation, and even fearing they would be exiled.

But now, they felt like the luckiest people in the world, having mysteriously joined a new legion and were now being reviewed by the Crown Prince. The Crown Prince had also announced a large number of new regulations, giving them a hopeful future.

Had they not been standing in formation right now, they would have kicked the person next to them, just to check if this was all just a dream.

After quite a while, Joseph signaled for the soldiers to quiet down, then continued to announce several regulations concerning military achievements, pensions, retirement allowances, and even benefits for soldiers' families.

Having experienced this before, the soldiers, though still extremely excited, held themselves back, maintaining discipline.

After finishing the military reforms related to their personal interests, Joseph took two small booklets from Berthier, lifted them, and waved them around. "Other military regulations or systems will be handed out to each of you by your regimental commander later, so I won’t repeat them here."

He put the booklets away, surveyed all the soldiers on the field, and loudly declared, "Regardless of where you came from before or what unit you belong to now, from now on, within the Legion, you can all call yourselves the—Crown Prince's Guard Regiment!"

"Of course, you must prove with your actions that you are worthy of this title."

"Future training will be even more stringent, and your requirements will be higher, but all of this will bring you more glory. If anyone feels they cannot accept it, you can apply to leave and return to the French Guard… oh, what was it called again?"

Berthier hurriedly whispered from the side, "It’s the Mariette Regiment, Your Highness."

Joseph nodded, "You can always return to the Mariette Regiment."

All the officers and soldiers present automatically ignored this option.

Who in their right mind would leave this clear path to promotion, leave behind the military salary that wouldn't be cut by officers, and forgo the high pension payments, just to return to the decaying Mariette Regiment?

"The Crown Prince's Guard Regiment" sounded so impressive. Perhaps they would directly be upgraded to the Royal Guard.

If anyone couldn’t choose this, they must be fools.

It’s just more training, stricter demands—what’s the big deal? Before they were soldiers, who hadn’t suffered? Whether as peasants or craftsmen, wasn’t it harder than this?

Little did they know, they were about to find out how wrong they were.

Finally, Joseph gestured to the two officers next to him. "They are your pay officers. From now on, every month, they will bring the pay directly to you. If you feel any issues with your pay, you can even write to me directly to complain."

"Now, the pay officers will conduct the first distribution."

Thus, during the happy pay distribution process, the first review of the Crown Prince's Guard Regiment came to an end.

The soldiers counted the silver coins in their hands, their faces glowing with joy.

The lowest rank's pay had been raised from 13 livres to 15 livres, while the sergeant’s pay had gone up from 17 livres to 20 livres.

While this salary didn’t seem high, the soldiers' food, lodging, and uniforms were all covered, so this money could easily be sent home to support a family of four or five.

After leaving Mars Camp, Joseph immediately headed to the Paris Police Academy.

A little more than half a mile out, he saw a military camp under construction. This was to be the new camp for his Guard Regiment.

From the very beginning, he had no intention of having the regiment return to the town of Moret-Trois-Vents. Half a month ago, he had already bought a piece of land here to start building the camp. As for the issue of being far from the garrison, he had asked Berthier to apply for a "long-term field training" from the Minister of War, and made sure to inform the Paris Regiment stationed here. No one would raise any objections.

At the Paris Police Academy's drill field, Principal Joseph gave a mobilization speech to the cadets in preparation for the "joint exercise" a few days later.

After the speech, he went to the office of the Superintendent to inquire about the current enrollment situation.

"Currently, the academy has over 1,300 students?" Joseph looked surprised as he turned to Froyent.

The latter nodded respectfully. "Your Highness, because of the Police Bureau's assistance to the Axel couple, the number of applicants has surged recently. If not for the lack of space, we would have exceeded 1,500 by now."

Joseph remained silent. Originally, he had planned to instruct the academy to increase enrollment, but it seemed there was no need for that now.

He then ordered Froyent, "From now on, cadets can choose to become 'combat police' after graduation or join the military. The military’s regulations and benefits will be sent to you by Lieutenant Colonel Berthier."

"As for those who pass the elite class assessment, they can be directly appointed as officers."

"Understood, Your Highness."

Froyent had heard the Crown Prince mention the formation of a combat police force before.

In essence, it was a unit wearing police uniforms and armed with infantry weapons, even equipped with some cavalry. The public reason for its formation was to combat vicious criminal gangs, such as the infamous Blood Knife Gang, who dared to attack the royal family.

Two days later, the Crown Prince’s Guard Regiment welcomed over 500 cadets from the Paris Police Academy at Mars Camp.

The two sides were about to engage in a joint exercise, which was essentially a military skill competition.

When the police academy cadets entered the field, the officers and soldiers of the Guard Regiment were stunned—immaculate uniforms, neat formations, and a mighty aura. Were these really cadets who hadn’t graduated yet?!

What shocked them even more was that the police academy cadets were all equipped with the latest model of the Charleville 1776 flintlock musket!

Even the French Guard had only begun replacing their old weapons with this model three years ago. As of now, a third of them were still using the outdated 1763 model from the Seven Years’ War.

And at the back of the police academy cadet formation, there were over 30 cavalry... or rather, they should be called mounted police officers.

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