The Crown Prince of France - Chapter 132

Chapter 132: A Thorough Investigation of the French Guard

Marat stopped writing, raising his head to look at Démoulin. “Camille, you know that rumors about those shameless officers only ever leak their crimes and almost never an innocent one.”

“Moreover, I’ve only written ‘perhaps’ and ‘there are signs,’ so the officers will not be convicted because of it. The gendarmes will definitely conduct a thorough investigation. And if real evidence comes to light, wouldn’t that be a good thing?”

He resumed writing the letter of accusation: “What saddens me most is that the Justice Department doesn’t have the capacity to investigate those scoundrels in the military.”

Indeed, once Joseph learned that the gendarmes would be in charge of the inspection of the French Guard, he immediately began planning his next steps.

First, he had Fouché hand over some compromising material he had gathered on officers in the French Guard to Marat, much of it coming from the officer named Tiru, who had been mentioned during the investigation of the shelling of the farmhouse.

Given Marat’s nature, he could not tolerate such vile officers and immediately launched an investigation. Using his journalistic channels, he uncovered even more dirt on the officers—thanks in large part to the widespread corruption and violence in the old army, which made it easy to uncover such cases with minimal effort.

Joseph then made sure it was “casually” mentioned to Marat that the Minister of Justice and the gendarmes were conducting a large-scale investigation into the officers, and they might need some leads.

Marat wasted no time in passing on everything he knew about the officers to the Minister of Justice.

At the French Guard’s barracks, the gendarmerie had no choice but to reopen the cases of officers they had already cleared.

With the Minister of Justice and the Queen's Guard’s second commander watching, they could not openly be seen to favor anyone, so within three days, some of the accusations actually began to bear fruit.

The gendarmes had no choice but to pour more manpower and resources into a much larger investigation...

Thus, nearly half a month later, the investigation into the first batch of nine officers had still not been completed.

There were more than two hundred senior and mid-ranking officers in the French Guard, and another seven or eight hundred junior officers.

For now, these officers were confined to the barracks, anxiously awaiting the inevitable investigation, but the more nervous they became, the slower the inspection process seemed to move.

The feeling of having a sword hanging over their heads, yet never falling, was the most excruciating.

Moreover, these officers, who had previously enjoyed at least eight hours of free time each day, able to visit Paris and enjoy themselves, were now stuck in the barracks. They had nothing to look forward to—no balls, no women, and only the coarse food served in the barracks. To them, it was little different from being imprisoned.

Soon, rumors began to spread in the barracks, claiming that the Queen, enraged by the Crown Prince’s assassination attempt, was directing her anger toward the French Guard, intending to exile all the officers.

Of course, this message had also been spread by Joseph.

The officers, already on edge, had lost the ability to think critically. Almost no one questioned the rumors, and they only grew more exaggerated with each retelling.

As a result, the officers began scrambling to contact their connections, seeking any possible solution. Nearly half of the military aristocracy was stirred into action.

The Duke of Orléans also heard about the situation at the French Guard barracks and had to go back to the Minister of War, Saint-Priest, promising to increase the “activity fund” if he would ensure that the officers were protected—after all, these were the people he relied on in the army.

However, this time, Marquis Saint-Priest was unwilling to accept the “windfall,” because he had no idea how to handle the situation.

In recent days, many influential military aristocrats had either visited him or written personal letters, urging him to resolve the French Guard’s inspection as quickly as possible.

If it had been an ordinary case with few people aware, he might have handled it quietly, but the situation at the French Guard had to be reported daily to the Queen, and reporters had somehow obtained the letters accusing the officers. Now, newspapers were filled with reports about the investigation.

With so many eyes on the case, even if he wanted to intervene, there was no opportunity to do so...

That night, at a military officer's villa in the southern suburbs of Paris, Saint-Priest was with several senior officials from the gendarmerie, trying to come up with a strategy when a flustered aide to General Astou of the gendarmerie knocked and whispered something in his ear.

Astou’s face immediately showed shock. “Really?!”

The aide handed him a newspaper. “General, it’s already been published in the papers. It’s said that the Minister of Justice has received evidence.”

Saint-Priest and the others quickly looked over. “General Astou, what’s going on?”

Astou, with a grim expression, said, “Do you remember the incident last month when a farmhouse in the southern suburbs of Paris was shelled, and two people were killed?”

Everyone nodded.

Astou pointed to the newspaper. “There’s news saying that it was someone from the French Guard who did it and then framed the Paris Police Academy. It seems that the Breteuil has already received evidence.”

The next morning, outside the French Guard’s barracks, over a hundred protesters gathered, demanding justice for the murder of the Axel couple.

The reason the protests weren’t larger was that the barracks were situated far from the city center; otherwise, many more would have turned out.

The shelling incident had caused a huge uproar, but Joseph had skillfully managed the crisis with public relations, defusing it. Now, the blowback was hitting the French Guard, and they had no means of defense.

Based on the clues received, Breteuil ordered the gendarmes to retrieve the cannon that had been used to shell the Axel family and arrest all the gunners involved.

Under interrogation, the already tense gunners quickly confessed and implicated their officers. Ultimately, the investigation led to the Second Battalion Commander of the French Guard’s artillery regiment, Théodore.

The news spread quickly, and the entire city of Paris was shaken. People poured into the streets, angrily calling for the execution of Théodore and the other perpetrators.

At the same time, many people gathered outside the Paris Police Academy, apologizing for having wrongly accused them earlier.

The Paris Police Bureau, which had been unjustly blamed but had helped repair the Axel family’s house and provided thousands of livres in aid, was widely praised, and their reputation soared.

In no time, the Paris police became a model of “concern for the poor” in the public’s eyes. Even during patrols, their heads were held higher than before.

That day, more than five hundred young men arrived to enlist in the police academy, forcing the Academy’s headmaster, Friant, to temporarily close the enrollment.

...

Versailles Palace.

Berthier cautiously glanced toward the Crown Prince's chambers, nervously adjusting his attire as he felt an unease in his heart.

Although he had not yet officially taken up his post, he was already the commander of the French Guard, and he wasn’t sure whether the Crown Prince would be angry with him for the failure of the Guard’s security during the attack.

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