Fox of France

When Joseph arrived in Paris, the first thing he did was to find Carnot.

After entering the building of the Ministry of War, Joseph walked directly to Kano's office along the familiar road. The door of the office was ajar, and Joseph knocked on the door lightly twice.

"Come in, the door is open." Kano's tired voice came from inside.

Joseph pushed open the door and walked inside, shouting:

"Lazar, I'm back, am I surprised... Ah, Lazar, your complexion is not right... Are you sick?"

"It's nothing? Just make those stupid monkeys angry...ah, why did you come back suddenly?" Kano asked with two panda eyes.

"I heard that Robespierre was finished. I thought that Paris might be a little turbulent, and I was worried that there might be some problems in the institute, so I ran back without waiting for the order. Well, Lazar, you will help me later Issue another order so that I don't come back without permission." Joseph pulled a chair and sat down in front of Kano.

"Joseph..." Kano's expression was rather strange, "you don't know... ah... I'm sorry for you, I failed to keep the research institute... The research institute was closed down by those bastards! I I really want to pull Robespierre out of the grave now, so that he can chop off the heads of those guys!"

"The institute is gone?" The news really exceeded Joseph's expectations. He had expected that without Robespierre's suppression, some people would jump out to play the lower limit of the ghost show, and would mess with the research institute. But he didn't expect that these guys' lower limit is so low and their movements are so fast, they didn't try to tease them first, but directly...

"What's going on?" Joseph asked hastily. Now he must understand the situation immediately and hurry up to recover the loss.

"It's not those bastards, scum!" Kano couldn't hold back his anger when he thought of these messy things. He threw the quill in his hand on the ground angrily, "Scum! Those who hinder us Scum! They should all be dragged out to be fed to the guillotine! During this period of time, they are better at stealing than thieves! When they saw that our research institute is so good, they all ran to steal it, ran to snatch it..."

"Lazar, don't get excited, don't get excited,... Lazar, things have happened, and now we have to try our best to recover the damage. Be calm, come on, Lazar, drink this glass of water and then talk... Joseph quickly got up and poured a glass of water for Kano, and handed it over, "Lazar, it's time to drink water."

Kano took the water and drank it all in one gulp. He calmed down for a while, and then told Joseph about the matter in detail. Finally, he lowered his head and ended his narration with this sentence in shame: "Joseph, I'm sorry for you, I failed to keep our ..."

"Lazar, cheer up." Joseph said, "We still have a chance to make up for the loss. Those scumbags are scumbags! You can't get an idea if you destroy it! What is the most precious thing in the institute? Talents! Those talents , They actually used them to give back to the society! We have to bring them back quickly... Well, Lazar, you know, I made some money, I counted, I now add up to about ten Wanliver, you know where it came from. You may have less here, you spend a lot of money, and then, uh, then Napoleon... Damn, I also apologize to you, I didn't manage this guy. This guy is in the south , involved in smuggling, (Joseph’s smuggling ship was given priority to Napoleon) and got more than 300,000 livres. We partnered to bring those people back and rebuild a research institute and military factory belonging to us in the south. At the moment, that's pretty much the way to minimize losses."

Kano thought for a while and said: "This is the only way to do it now! Joseph, you are amazing! In such a short period of time, you can calm down and come up with a solution immediately. In fact, you are more suitable than me to take a look at the overall situation. Back then If you were in my position..."

"Come on, Lazar." Joseph shook his head, "It's not that you don't know me, you can't stand things, and you expect me to be able to?"

"Okay, let's not talk about that. Let's deal with the immediate problem first." Kano said, "Napoleon's smuggling must be carried out quickly. What is he smuggling now?"

"Caustic and saltpeter, of course," said Joseph.

"The scale of his smuggling needs to be expanded and expanded, because our plan will definitely cost a lot of money in the initial stage. We need more money. Well, don't limit yourself to legal smuggling, just smuggle whatever money comes to you." What, including weapons, of course we only sell to real Americans. Anyway, we don’t smuggle, those scumbags will do it!”

"In addition to Americans, we can actually sell to Indians." Joseph added on the side.

"Okay, get ready to move!" Kano said, "Well, over there at the Naval Research Institute, let Napoleon control it quickly, so that those guys don't stretch out their hands. There are valuable things there!"

"I told him before I came here," Joseph said.

"Okay, then let's not waste time, I suggest, we can divide the labor like this. First of all, is your money ready?" Kano asked.

"About 300,000 livres are ready," Joseph replied.

"Very good, if you trust me. You give me 120,000 livres, and I have 80,000 livres here. I will go to La Paz immediately and try to buy the 'Naval Research Institute' immediately." Nuo said, "As for the personnel, I have a roster of all the personnel here, but now these people are scattered. It will take time to find them one by one. As for you... It's a pity, Joseph, if you can change It’s good to have two. I can send one of you back to Toulon, the Stability Institute, and the other you are here to help me with some things.” Kano said with a frown.

Joseph knew why Kano was frowning, because things in Paris involved running around and going through the back door. Kano is really a bit embarrassed to do this kind of thing, so it would be great if Joseph could do something like this instead of him in Paris. But he was also worried about whether there would be any losses in Toulon without Joseph in town.

"Many things in Paris don't actually require us to come forward in person." Joseph said, "Lazar, there is someone who can serve as our white glove."

"Who?" Kano asked.

"Joseph Fouche. I heard what you said just now. This guy is not in a good situation now. I think he should be willing to help us." Joseph replied.

"I know you don't have a good impression of this person." Seeing Kano frowned, Joseph knew that he had a bad opinion of Fouche, and said, "But Fouche is still very capable, Including finding people, going through the back door, let him do it, well, Lazar, I don’t underestimate your talent, but different people are suitable for different things, I think Fouché can do these things, the efficiency much taller than you."

Kano nodded, although he was a little proud and stubborn, but he was not the kind of person who would close his eyes and deny the reality of the world: "You are right, Joseph, these things, Fouche is indeed more suitable than me. However, I was still a little worried. Did you know that Fouche came to me shortly after the fall of Robespierre - I was still in the "Salvation Committee" at the time. At that time, he pointed out astutely The danger I might face, hoped to join forces with me. But I turned him down, do you know why?"

Without waiting for Joseph to answer, Kano continued: "Because I'm a little afraid of him. This guy performed too well in the process of bringing down Robespierre. He is too good at those tricks. Robespierre Al said he is a poisonous snake, which is not bad at all. If he is allowed to gain a firm position in the high-level, I am worried that if he is not done well, he will be more terrifying than Robespierre. I think La Paz and the others deliberately Suppressing him may not have such an idea. It's just that I didn't expect that Fouché was not needed at all, and La Paz and the others would directly make them scarier than Robespierre..."

Hearing this, Joseph couldn't help thinking of an ancient comment on Mrs. Wang when he watched "Dream of Red Mansions" in his previous life: "One cannot be talented, and if one has talent and relies on one's own talent, one will kill many people; You can't be without talent, and if you use your talent indiscriminately without talent, you will kill more people." Looking at it now, this statement is really reasonable.

"Because he is dangerous, it is best to keep him under our noses. Lazar, do you know where to find him?" Joseph said.

"Well, that also makes sense." Kano nodded, "I know where he lives. After get off work, shall we go find him together?"

"Okay." Joseph nodded.

When it was time to get off work, Kano and Joseph boarded a carriage together, and led more than a dozen cavalrymen to the St. Antoine district.

The Saint-Antoine district is the largest poor district in Paris, with narrow streets and chaos. Especially these days, due to the soaring prices, the life of the people at the bottom has become more and more difficult, so the law and order in these places has naturally become more and more chaotic. A stable person like Joseph really dare not come here without bringing some people along.

The carriage stopped outside a crooked alleyway in which Fouché's residence was located, but the carriage could no longer get in.

Joseph and Kano got out of the car, and Joseph reached under his jacket and grabbed the handle of the musket hidden there. The cavalry also got off their horses, surrounded Joseph and Kano, and walked into the lane.

After walking for a while along the sewage-flowing alleyway, I came to a crooked, dilapidated house. A soldier leading the way said, "This is it."

Joseph nodded, glanced at Kano, then stepped forward and knocked on the door.