The Crown Prince of France - Chapter 114

Chapter 114: Political Foundation

The participants of the salon were mainly the emerging capitalist nobility, with a few enlightened members of the old aristocracy and business owners.

Madame Ebel enthusiastically instructed her servants to greet the guests, yet her eyes remained fixed on Mirabeau, who was passionately giving a speech.

Though it was called a salon, it was essentially a lecture by Mirabeau—his speech was based on the industrial development ideas Joseph had shared with him the day before. He had spent the entire afternoon organizing the material and memorizing it overnight just to present it to everyone today.

No one contested his right to speak; whenever he paused for a moment, someone would immediately urge him to continue.

Mirabeau, with his customary steady and charismatic speaking style, presented the vast future of French industry, as envisioned by Joseph, to the audience.

Around him, some listeners were visibly moved, clenching their fists in excitement.

Others nodded thoughtfully, occasionally glancing at one another.

Most, however, were fixed on him, their eyes gleaming with eager anticipation.

By the time the sun began to set and Mirabeau’s voice had grown hoarse, the crowd finally allowed him to stop. They began to break into small groups to discuss the ideas he had presented:

“There will be many opportunities in Nancy; I must open a workshop there.”

“Do you think the Prince’s proposed tax cuts will actually be implemented?”

“As long as the King signs the bill, we must do everything we can to push it through the high court!”

“If what the Prince said comes true, France will surely enter a new glorious chapter!”

“I heard the Eden Treaty is going to be amended—this really is a good investment opportunity.”

Having drunk several glasses of wine, Mirabeau’s throat finally began to recover, and he casually mentioned the Prince’s plan to promote potato cultivation but that funds were insufficient.

Immediately, a middle-aged nobleman stood up, saying, “Count Mirabeau, I can lend the Prince 100,000 livres, interest-free. Please convey this to His Highness.”

Others quickly followed suit:

“I’m in a relatively comfortable position lately; I can lend 200,000 livres.”

“I’m planning to invest in Nancy, so I can only lend 100,000 livres.”

“I also…”

Though these people were wealthy, sums of 10,000 or 20,000 livres were still significant for them.

After hearing Mirabeau’s speech, however, they had come to view the Prince as the hope of France’s industrial future, even the future of policy reform, and naturally, they were eager to support him. Furthermore, Mirabeau had assured them that the Prince had secured the loan using Paris Angel Trading Company as collateral, making it a low-risk investment.

Before long, the group of wealthy capitalist nobles, including Mirabeau, had pooled together 1.8 million livres. Several individuals also expressed they had additional resources available to help purchase or transport potatoes.

After this small interlude, the discussion turned back to the topics of industrial development zones and supply chains, continuing well into the night before the guests reluctantly began to depart.

Unbeknownst to Joseph, this salon marked the beginning of the formation of his future political foundation.

...

Paris Police Academy.

On the east side of the dusty training field, two men stood on a spectator platform over a meter high. One wore the blue uniform of the Paris police, while the other was in a white military uniform. Both, however, were wearing the insignia of a major.

The man in the white uniform, likely in his thirties, had a high nose and pale blue eyes, which always seemed to carry a hint of melancholy.

He watched with some confusion as a group of cadets ran sprints on the dusty field and asked the officer beside him, “François, what is the point of them running back and forth like this?”

The officer, who had been transferred directly from the Dutch campaign by Joseph after his accomplishments, was Dubois.

Dubois smiled and explained, “Alexandre, this is a shuttle run, a standard part of the academy’s training. It’s meant to improve the officers’… cough, their physical strength and reaction times.”

Alexandre frowned, “Is this useful? Shouldn’t they be practicing formations more?”

“Formation drills are just the basics. Shuttle runs improve the speed with which the officers can charge and change direction,” Dubois explained, pointing to the other end of the field. “Oh, look over there. That exercise is called pull-ups. Every cadet must do dozens of them every day to build arm strength. You know, soldiers often need to hold their rifles for hours on end in battle, so this training helps maintain steady aim.”

“And there’s that…”

Before he could finish, a group of cadets marched into the field, shouting their drills in unison, and a cloud of dust was kicked up.

Dubois immediately beamed with pride and gestured toward the group, “Ah, you see? That group of cadets just finished the most ‘grueling’ training exercise—the one-mile armed cross-country run.”

Alexandre exclaimed, “You mean, they ran a mile?!”

Dubois nodded. “That’s right. And they had to finish it in 15 minutes.”

Alexandre’s eyes widened in shock.

A mile is 4 kilometers! Even the most elite soldiers couldn’t run that distance in 15 minutes!

But Dubois wasn’t done “impressing” him yet. “Each cadet only carried 18 pounds of weight.”

He made a dissatisfied face. “The Prince’s requirement is at least 25 pounds, but these guys… sigh, they’re not quite there yet. More training is needed.”

Alexandre tried to keep his composure. “You mean, this training was ordered by His Highness the Prince?”

“Exactly, I mentioned it in the letter to you. His Highness has come up with many novel military theories, and this training is just one of them. Honestly, at first, I didn’t understand why he wanted it this way.”

Dubois smiled proudly. “But soon enough, I understood. The officers trained according to His Highness’s methods have shown remarkable improvements, whether in formations or stability.”

In this era, soldiers placed great importance on formation drills but often neglected physical training.

In reality, however, only with strong physical conditioning could they execute formations and transitions with greater ease. As military theory developed into the modern era, no army dared neglect physical fitness.

Joseph had naturally instilled the correct philosophy into his own team.

Alexandre looked at the officers in blue uniforms on the field, lifting wooden rifles and practicing their formations, and wondered aloud, “François, aren’t these supposed to be police officers? Why are they practicing this? Will they need to use infantry formations to deal with gangs in Paris?”

A strange smile appeared on Dubois’ face. “Well, actually, the worst-performing cadets are the ones assigned to be police officers.”

“Oh? And what about the others?”

Dubois quickly changed the subject, becoming evasive. There was a rule at the academy that the elite cadets, who trained according to officer standards, were not to have their training discussed with anyone.

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