Fox of France

Joseph sent Fanny back home, and the old Viscount also asked why you came back so early. Then Joseph told them that he would leave Paris tomorrow and return to Toulon temporarily.

"Ah? Mr. Bonaparte, why did you go to a rural place like Toulon?" The old Viscount was taken aback, "Paris is not like it used to be."

Joseph knew that regional discrimination was common throughout the entire world and throughout history.

Just like in the eyes of the people in the imperial capital of the Eastern Great Eater of later generations, all the other places are "underneath", but in the eyes of all the people in the magic capital, all the other places are the countryside. In the eyes of most Parisians, apart from Paris, any other place in France, whether it is Lyon or Marseille, is both the bottom and the countryside. Not only the common people there are country bumpkins, even the nobles are no exception. A viscount living in Paris is definitely more noble than a count living in other provinces. Some would rather die poor in Paris than go to "the provincial countryside."

"Work needs. After all, I am still a soldier." Joseph replied.

"Ah, there is really no way to do this." The old Viscount sighed, "I don't know when it will be peaceful... Then, do you plan to go back to Paris often?"

"Yes, I will come to Paris often." Joseph glanced at Fanny.

"That's good, young people always want to go outside and charge. It's good to remember to come back often, unlike that bastard Amon who only knows how to write letters but never comes back."

After saying a few more words like this, Joseph bid farewell and left. Fanny sent Joseph to the door, and when Joseph saw no one around, he hugged Fanny and kissed her on the cheek.

"What are you doing? Dad saw it..." Fanny blushed and struggled feebly, her voice was as low as a mosquito's.

"Your voice is too low for your father to hear..." Joseph said, holding Fanny tighter. Fanny struggled lightly but couldn't get away, and couldn't struggle hard. She wanted to say something, but he blocked her mouth with his lips, so she had to let him take advantage of it first.

After a while, the two people separated.

"It's all your fault, papa will see," said Fanny.

Joseph just laughed.

"You have to write to me often, don't forget me..."

"Ok……"

"Also, you have to come back often..."

"it is good."

"By the way, you said you wanted to give me some documents?"

"Tomorrow morning, I'll send it over, and bring anyone... a person to meet you." Joseph said, "He is a very well-connected person. You can ask him for help if you have anything difficult to deal with."

Fanny was keenly aware of Joseph's hesitation when he mentioned this person, and asked: "Who is that person, is it your friend?"

"Friend? No, he and I are not friends, but partners. That guy's surname is Fouché, and he is a very powerful, even dangerous guy. Of course, you don't have to worry, his danger is aimed at politics and has nothing to do with you." It doesn't matter."

"But, isn't he dangerous to you? How can you say that it has nothing to do with me?"

"Ah, at least for now, he is in the same camp as us, and his danger is not aimed at me." Joseph reached out and touched Fanny's small face and said, "Well, what I gave you is not Take care of important things slowly, don’t rush, anyway, in a short period of time, at least for a few years, we shouldn’t need these things.”

"Ok……"

Joseph kissed Fanny again, and got into the carriage.

Fanny only closed the door after watching the carriage disappear at the corner of the street. Just after closing the door, he walked back to the front hall when he heard the old Viscount's voice from the small living room: "Is that Fanny? Come here..."

Early the next morning, Fouché came to Joseph's residence as agreed. Joseph handed Fouche a small bag. Fouche took it, and it was heavy inside.

"Authentic 'Bonaparte melons', a total of twenty pieces." Joseph said, "Do you want to count them?"

"No need," said Fouché.

"Well, I will go to Fanny's place with you, so that you can get to know each other. When I am not in Paris, I will entrust you to take care of many things." Joseph said.

The two got into the carriage and arrived at the place soon. Both Joseph and Fouche got out of the carriage. Joseph stepped forward to knock on the door, and the door was opened almost immediately. Immediately afterwards Fanny appeared in front of Joseph.

Because there are outsiders present, both of them must be very polite. Joseph introduced another Joseph to Fanny, then handed a handbag to Fanny, and said to her: "This thing is not urgent, you can take your time, don't get tired."

After the two of them spoke a few more words, Joseph took his leave and left. However, he did not leave Paris directly, but first went to the Ministry of War.

In the Ministry of War, Kano was worrying about his military salary. France has recruited almost one million troops so far, and military pay has naturally become a big expense. When Robespierre was still there, no matter what means he used, Robespierre finally guaranteed the supply of the army. But now, the newly established government administration can hardly even guarantee this. Although in terms of numbers, they have allocated several times more money to the army than before, but...damn it...they all allocated it as coupons.

As the saying goes, it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice. At this time, Kano can only take the method of tearing down the east wall and repairing the west wall. Those armies that are not fighting need to be patient first, and those armies that are fighting in less important directions also need to be patient first, giving priority to the army that is fighting in the north.

Even so, the issue of military supplies was a headache for Kano.

Without the military representative, the quality of those military supplies could not be controlled at all, and all kinds of cutting corners caused the army to complain. For example, the bayonets produced by some arsenals, in order to reduce costs, not only completely omitted the heat treatment process, but also the materials used were a big problem. You can bend some bayonets with your hands—of course, after bending them, you can straighten them with your feet, which is considered easy to maintain. There are also some that can't be bent, but during the training, they just stabbed a few straw figures and broke several. However, this is also beneficial, and there is no need to maintain it directly.

There are also muskets that exploded due to cutting corners, and "little melons" that did not know when to explode because of fuze problems. Well, apart from the "little melon" that exploded in seconds that General Joubert encountered, there are also Some were thrown from the French to the Austrians, and then they kept smoking on the ground, but they didn't explode until the French army rushed over with bayonets.

Fortunately, French businessmen still have business ethics. They not only sell these inferior gadgets to the French, but also sell them to people from other countries without discrimination. It is said that in Prussia, three "little melons" were placed there without anyone pulling them, and they exploded. One guy killed and injured more than ten people, which made the Prussian soldiers protest and refused to use the little melons made in France. .

However, considering that the technical secrets of things like "Little Melon" may not be kept, after all, there are too many decent people who know it now. In case that decent person takes money from other people and does something unseemly, it may not be long before only the French family uses fake and shoddy products. You say this is so worrying!

So when he saw Joseph, Kano said: "Joseph, why are you still in Paris? Hurry up and go back to Toulon, and build me a reliable arsenal first, at least, get a batch of reliable 'little melons' first." What the hell! You have to act fast, otherwise, at some point, the north will not be able to hold on!"

"Is it so serious?" Joseph asked, "Our number is much larger than them."

"That's just on the books." Kano said, "Now we are short of money, and the number of troops we can use is even smaller than others!"

"Also, go back and tell Napoleon that starting next month, the military pay of his troops will be reduced." Kano said again.

"Damn it, how much is it reduced?" Joseph asked quickly.

"It's been reduced to one-third of what it is now," Kano said.

"Are you raising an army? Lazar, with such a small amount of military pay, it is not enough to raise birds! With such a small amount of money, let alone training, it is not enough to just eat! Other troops can be more difficult, but we can't hurt ourselves Isn't your foundation?" Joseph hurriedly argued.

"Other armies, as long as they are not on the battlefield, have been reduced to a quarter of their original size, or even lower." Kano said, "There is really no money."

"Lazar, if this happens, it will destroy the morale of the army. And high morale is also one of the most important advantages of our army. If even this is gone, France alone will not be able to fight against almost the entire army. European." Joseph frowned.

"Yes, yes, you're right. But I'm not God, and I can't say 'If you want money, you'll have money'. It's already my expense to let Napoleon have a third there. It worked out as hard as I could."

After hearing this, Joseph sighed and said, "Lazar, if this is the case, then we can only figure out our own way. You know, the army is a violent institution, and they have guns in their hands. They are no different from ordinary people, they They won’t starve honestly, if they don’t do it well, the army will become gangsters.”

"This is absolutely intolerable," Kano said.

"Lazar, how about we attack Italy from the south?" Joseph said suddenly, "Even if the army is going crazy, let them go crazy on other people's territory."

"You want to turn our army into Genghis Khan's nomads?" Kano asked.

"No, no, no, we won't become nomads. When we go to Italy, we are going to hunt down local tyrants and divide the land."