I Am the Crown Prince in France

"Not yet." Prosper looked embarrassed. "You know, we haven't had much contact with the military before. Yesterday, my people just got on the line with the officers of the French Guard..."

Fouche said with a cold face: "I will give you another five days. If nothing valuable can be found, the position of the operations captain can be changed."

"Yes, sir! I will do my best." Prosper had no choice but to accept the order with a grimace.

Fouche saw the look on his face and knew that this mission was extremely difficult - the army had its own intelligence system, and even the secret police did not dare to extend its tentacles to the military, let alone the one that had only been established for a few months. The police station.

"Remember, any contact will leave traces!" He encouraged his men again, "As long as you pay attention to all the details, I believe you will be able to find what you are looking for."

…

In the office of the commander of the French Guard.

"You mean," Bessonval stared directly at his men, trying to suppress his anger, "that you were responsible for the shelling of the farmhouse in the southern suburbs?"

The major officer in front of him nodded with pride: "Yes, General. Don't worry, they did it very cleanly. That night I sent someone to tell the peasant family that it was the cannon at the police training ground that hit them. , and then notified all the newspapers in Paris..."

"Theodore, you idiot!" Bessonval finally broke out, slamming the table hard and shouting, "Who let you make your own decisions?!"

Yesterday, he heard about the incident at the farm in the southern suburbs. At that time, he really thought it was a training error at the police academy. He was overjoyed and contacted several influential nobles to put pressure on the Minister of the Interior.

I didn't expect that it was actually done by my own subordinates.

"There are only a few armies near Paris." Besonval gritted his teeth, "Others will soon suspect us!

"Listen! For a while, you and your people are not allowed to leave the military camp, nor are they allowed to have contact with outsiders.

"Oh, God, what a fool you have done!"

"Yes, yes..." Theodore shrank his neck in fear and retreated tremblingly.

Besonval rubbed his swollen and sore palms and shook his head irritably.

Although what Theodore did was rough, it was already dark at the time, so no one should have seen that it was the French Guards who did it. As long as he hides in the military camp, nothing will go wrong.

He glanced at the newspaper at hand. The huge headline read "Suspected shells at the police academy training ground hit the farmhouse, killing two people", but he showed a sneer.

As long as the matter is not leaked, maybe we can really take this opportunity to clean up the police station.

…

At the entrance of the White Narcissus Technique, two drunken middle-aged men put their arms around each other's shoulders and walked towards the carriage on the roadside.

"Valentin, my good friend," said the small-eyed man wearing a French Guards uniform shirt and a long black coat with a smile on his face, patting the other person, "Let's go hunting another day, in winter. The rabbit is so fat..."

The tall man with a square face waved his hand: "What's the point of hunting? You can only use a short shotgun."

His tongue seemed a little awkward: "Cannon! Only cannon is a man's true love! Tiru, ​​do you know that if it weren't for my legs, maybe my military rank wouldn't be lower than yours?"

Tiru nodded repeatedly: "Yes, your ancestors and fathers have all made military exploits. You have an excellent inheritance, and you will definitely become an excellent officer."

Valentine limped out a few steps, looked back at the technical court behind him, and sighed: "It's a pity that I can only waste my life in a place like this. I really envy you for being able to wear a military uniform. Command the cannon and crush all enemies on the battlefield!

"And I, although I come from a military family, have never even touched a real cannon."

Tiru smiled and said: "Cannon? What's the point of that? It's cold and hard..."

"No, you are so blessed that you don't know how blessed you are. In my opinion, Cannon is cuter than those girls from White Narcissus."

Tirou suddenly felt something in his heart. The wealthy Viscount Valentin Menard had hit it off with him in the tavern a few days ago. In the past week or so, I have treated him to drinks and visits to the technical courts almost every day, and I have spent a lot of money. He was feeling a little sorry.

I didn't expect Viscount Menard to like cannons so much, so maybe I can take this opportunity to return a favor to him.

Tiru immediately got into the carriage and lowered his voice under the influence of alcohol: "You have invited me to play with the white narcissus so many times, so I will invite you to play with the cannon."

Menard immediately said in surprise: "Really? Where are the cannons?"

"Of course it's in the military camp, hehe."

"But, I'm not a soldier, how can I enter the military camp?"

Tiru patted his chest: "Don't worry, I'll take you there. You can use the cannon as you wish. If you have a chance, I can let you fire a few cannons."

"Oh, God! I don't know how to thank you, dear Tiru!"

"We are friends, why are we talking about this?"

At dusk, Menard changed into the uniform of the French Guard, limped behind Tiru, ​​and entered the French Guard's barracks.

After the sentry at the camp gate caught a glimpse of Tilu's military rank, he didn't ask any questions.

Outside the cannon warehouse of the French Guard, Tirou muttered a few words to the guarding officer, and then signaled to Menard that he could go in.

"Oh, God! They are really cannons!" Menard immediately looked very interested when he saw those cannons. He almost touched the cannons one by one, as if he had met his beloved girl.

Seeing his obsessed look, Tiru couldn't help but smile and shake his head. Then he sat down alone in the corner, took out the wine bottle, and drank.

Menard saw that no one was watching nearby, the drunkenness on his face disappeared instantly, and he quickly took out a wooden ball slightly larger than his fist from his pocket - this was a strict replica of the cannonball that hit the farmhouse by the craftsman. , everything from the size to the dents on it is perfect.

Menard placed the wooden balls one by one on the muzzles of the six four-pound cannons here and gestured. The muzzles of three of them basically matched the size of the cannonballs.

He took out a long piece of paper from his pocket, with two parallel lines, some vertical marks and irregular circles drawn on it.

He took the note and compared it with the wheels of the three guns, and quickly eliminated one of them based on the wheel width - the note on the note was the wheel mark taken from the shelling site on the north side of the police academy training ground. . The two parallel lines represent the width of the wheel, and the vertical bar above is the joint where the wheel is riveted. Irregular circles are signs of wear or bumps on the wheels.

Menard carefully compared the remaining two cannons, suddenly smiled and whispered to himself: "Sure enough, any contact will leave traces. This trace is the one left by you!"

The cannon in front of him, from the width of the wheels, to the location of the rivets, to the small nicks on the wheels, all matched the wheel marks at the scene!

Menard quickly took out his pen and copied down the serial number on the tail of the cannon.

…

Joseph flipped through the newspapers in front of him and nodded slightly.

The front page of "Paris Business Times" is "The Axel family feels deeply warmed by the care from the police department." Below is a print of Besancon holding Axel's little son and feeding him.

Axel was the farmer whose house was hit by a shell that day. At that time, he took his two children to the fields to work on spring plowing, and he survived.

The French Courier followed up and reported on the current living conditions of the Axel family. The title was "Little Benoit smiled for the first time, the house has been completely restored by the police station." The accompanying picture is a print of the Axel family's house.

The "Voice of the City" conducted a more in-depth investigation. The front page headline was "The murderer may be someone else. Experts say the range of the four-pounder gun is limited." The content analyzed the extremely small possibility of firing a cannon from the police academy training ground to hit a farmhouse 1,800 steps away, and showed the artillery firing site discovered by Dubois.

With the weapon of public opinion in hand, Joseph's crisis public relations this time was very successful - now the direction of public opinion in Paris has changed to "the police department's touching care for farmers", or "police department officials have no airs at all and treat ordinary people People are very close.”

Even those who insist that it was the police academy training ground that accidentally attacked the farmhouse mostly hold the view that "the police department has the courage to take responsibility and make up for its mistakes."

Newspapers have reported that the Axel family received 4,000 livres in aid. This is definitely a huge sum of money for a farmer. Some surrounding farmers even complained in envy as to why their own homes were not hit by cannons.

Axel also told reporters many times that he believed the rumors and it was definitely not the shelling from the police academy that hit his home. And even if it was really an accidental artillery fire at the police academy training ground, my family has already forgiven the police academy, and the Paris police officers are like angels.

As for those who protested outside the police academy training ground, all of them dispersed a week ago.

After this "incident of the police chief personally visiting farmers who suffered shelling," more young people signed up for the police academy than before.

Joseph was reading an article about this matter in "News and Pictures" when Eman lightly knocked on the door and said: "Your Highness, Mr. Fouche is here."

"Oh? Invite him in."

Fouche entered the office, first touched his chest and saluted, and then immediately said: "Your Highness, it is basically confirmed that it was the French Guards who did it."

As he spoke, he placed a report in front of Joseph and continued: "These are the details of the cannon that the people from the Police Intelligence Department compared. The seven gunners in charge of the cannon have also investigated, and six of them were involved in the incident. They all left the French Guard station in the afternoon and returned at the same time that night, and it is certain that they did not go to Paris during this time."

The Police Intelligence Department has deployed a large number of informants in Paris, so he is fully confident in coming to this conclusion.

Although the current French old-style army management is relatively lax, and each soldier has nearly 8 hours of free time every day, but so many people leave the military camp at the same time without going to Paris, there must be something wrong here.

Joseph looked at the report and asked, "Is there any very tangible evidence?"

Fouche shook his head: "Your Highness, we are currently using speculation to identify the murderer, but it is not enough to charge them."

When Fouche saw the crown prince frowning, he immediately took two steps forward. His expression was cold, but his eyes were gleaming with excitement: "Your Highness, do you think we should arrest those people? I have many ways to make them admit it."

Joseph glanced at him: "Where are those people now?"

"In the camp of the French Guards."

"No. Take soldiers from the military camp. If you fail, the consequences will be very serious."

Joseph looked at the report in his hand again, remembering the incident where Bessonval wanted to enter the police academy training ground for inspection a while ago and was forced to retreat by the police with guns. He couldn't help but sneer: It seems that this is what he came for.

I really didn’t expect that in order to fight against the police academy, Bessonval would be able to kill people at will. If Axel had not been lucky enough to be at home at that time, all six members of the family might have been killed.

If Besonval knew what Joseph was thinking, he would definitely scream injustice. He was a man with brains. He originally planned to use the power of the military aristocratic group to clean up the Paris Police Department, but he was not prepared to have a reckless man like Theodore under his command.

Joseph threw the report on the table and took a deep breath: OK, you are playing tricks on me, right? Then I won't be polite!

I tried my best to avoid mobilizing military power in the past because the political foundation was unstable and I didn't want to alert the military aristocratic group. And now you are the one who has taken the initiative to provoke me, so if I slap you backhand, the military nobles will certainly not be able to say anything.

In this case, I will accept this great gift from the French Guard!

Joseph lowered his head and thought for a moment, and suddenly thought that Bessonval had used the excuse that an important person was visiting and needed to search the training ground.

The important person coming to Paris recently should be the Princess of the Two Sicilies.

He looked at Fouche and asked, "Do you know who is responsible for escorting foreign royal families when they visit Paris?"

"Your Highness, generally the troops stationed in various places will escort you along the way. After arriving near Paris, the French Guard will be in charge. When entering Paris, the French Guard and the Forbidden Army will escort you until you reach the Palace of Versailles."

Joseph nodded slightly, this was a good opportunity, and then he quickly sketched a plan in his mind.

"Count Eman, please prepare the carriage. I am going to the Palace of Versailles."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Soon, the Crown Prince's motorcade drove out from the Industrial Planning Bureau.

In the carriage, Joseph explained the next arrangements to Fouche. As he was talking, he heard a newspaper boy on the roadside shouting: "Read the newspaper! 2 sous a copy. The 'Blood Knife' gangster is in Paris around Paris, and there are already Seven or eight people were killed!”

Joseph hurriedly ordered the car to stop, and was about to ask someone to buy a newspaper. Fouche reported first: "Your Highness, that is a gang that blocks the road and robs. They don't even dare to enter the city of Paris. They only commit crimes in the countryside. They just kill people. There are quite a few, so it’s getting attention.”

"A gang that blocked the road and robbed you?" Joseph couldn't help but smile. "If you add this gang, it will be even more perfect!"

When the motorcade stopped at Versailles, Joseph immediately rushed to the Petit Trianon.

Queen Mary had not seen her son for more than half a month, and she immediately held him in her arms happily: "My dear Joseph, I thought you had forgotten me."

Joseph chatted with her for a few words and suddenly said: "Mother, I want to go to the outskirts of Paris to greet Princess Maria Amalia in person."

Thanks to: Tianwu, Honey Mountain, Jiang Kuoyun Low - Broken Wild Goose Calls the West Wind, Paladin1996, Heart Like Floating Leaves, Sugar and Grease Don't Come Near several big guys for their generous rewards for this book! The young author is so grateful, hmm!