Chapter 126 I Accept This Great Gift From the French Guard!

"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 definitely 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 their 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," Besonval stared directly at his men, trying to suppress his anger, "that you were the one 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 farmer 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." Bessonval 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 Theodore's actions were rough, it was already dark at the time, and no one should have seen that it was the French Guards who did it. As long as he hides in the military camp, nothing should 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," the small-eyed man wearing a French Guards uniform shirt and a long black coat smiled, patting the other person and said, "Let's go hunting some other time. It's 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 invited him to drink and visit the technical courts almost every day, and 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 the chance, I can let you try firing 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, 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 obsession, Tilu couldn't help but smile and shake his head, then sat down alone in the corner, took out the bottle of wine and started drinking.

When 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 copy of the cannonball that hit the farmhouse by the craftsman, from the size to the dents on it, everything was exactly the same.

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

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

He took the paper and compared it with the wheels of the three cannons, and quickly ruled out one of them by the wheel width - the paper was exactly the wheel mark from the shelling site on the north side of the police academy training ground. The two parallel lines represent the wheel width, and the vertical bar above is the joint at the riveted part of the wheel. The irregular circles are the marks of wear or bumps on the wheels.

Menard carefully compared the remaining two guns, and suddenly smiled, whispering to himself: "It is true that any contact will leave marks. This mark is left by you!"

The width of the wheel, the riveted position, and the small gap on the wheel of the gun in front of him are completely consistent with the wheel marks at the scene!

Menard hurriedly took out a pen and wrote down the number at the tail of the cannon.

...

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

The front page of "Paris Business Daily" is "The Care from the Police Bureau, Axel's Family Feels Deeply Warm", and below is a print of Besancon holding Axel's little son and feeding him.

Axel was the farmer whose house was hit by the shell that day. At that time, he took his two children to the fields to do spring plowing, which is why he survived.

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

The La Vox du Cité conducted a more in-depth investigation, with the front-page headline "The murderer may be someone else, experts say the four-pound cannon has a limited range". The content analyzed that it was extremely unlikely to fire from the police academy training ground to hit a farmhouse 1,800 steps away, and showed the location of the cannon firing found by Dubois.

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

Even those who insist that the farmhouse was accidentally hit by the police academy training ground mostly hold the view that "the police department dares to take responsibility and is brave enough to make up for the mistake."

The newspaper has reported that the Axel family received 4,000 livres in aid. This is definitely a huge sum of money for a farmer. Some farmers around even complained with envy, wondering why it wasn't their own homes that were hit by artillery.

Axel also told reporters many times that he believed the rumors at the beginning, and it was definitely not the artillery from the police academy that hit his home. And even if it was an accidental artillery attack at the police academy training ground, his family had already forgiven the police academy, and the Paris police were like angels.

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

After this "incident of the chief of police personally visiting farmers who were hit by artillery", there are even more young people who come to the police academy to register than before.

Joseph was reading an article about this incident in News and Pictorial. Emmanuel knocked on the door and said, "Your Highness, Mr. Fouché is here."

"Oh? Please let him in."

Fouché entered the office, saluted with his chest, and then immediately said, "Your Highness, it is basically certain that it was done by the French Guard."

He put a report in front of Joseph and continued, "This is the details of the cannon compared by the police. The seven gunners in charge of this cannon have also been investigated. Six of them left the French Guard station in the afternoon on the day of the incident and returned at the same time that night. And it is certain that they did not go to Paris during this period."

The police have deployed a large number of spies in Paris, so he is fully confident to make 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, so many people left the barracks at the same time, but did not go to the city of Paris, so there must be something wrong.

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

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

Fouche saw the crown prince frowning, and immediately took two steps forward, his expression cold, but his eyes flickered with excitement: "Your Highness, do you want to arrest those people? I have many ways to make them confess."

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

"In the camp of the French Guard."

"No. If you kidnap soldiers from the barracks, if you fail, the consequences will be very serious."

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

I didn't expect that in order to fight with the police academy, Bessonval could casually kill people. If Axel hadn't been lucky enough to be away from home at that time, all six members of the family might have been killed.

If Bessonval knew what Joseph was thinking, he would definitely cry out that he was wronged. He was a smart man. He originally planned to use the power of the military aristocracy to clean up the Paris Police Department, but he didn't expect that he had a reckless man like Theodore.

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

I used to try to avoid using military forces because my political foundation was unstable and I didn't want to arouse the vigilance of the military aristocracy. Now you have taken the initiative to provoke me, so I will slap you in the face, and the military aristocrats will definitely 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 remembered that Bessonval used the excuse that an important person was visiting and needed to search the training ground.

And the important person who will come to Paris recently should be the Princess of the Two Sicilies.

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

"Your Highness, usually the garrisons in various places take over and escort along the way. When they arrive near Paris, the French Guard is responsible. When they enter the city of Paris, the French Guard and the Imperial Guards escort them together until they reach the Palace of Versailles."

Joseph nodded slightly. This is a good opportunity. Then he quickly sketched out a plan in his mind.

"Count Emman, please prepare the carriage. I want to go to the Palace of Versailles."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Soon, the prince's motorcade drove out of the Industrial Planning Bureau.

In the carriage, Joseph explained the next arrangement to Fouché. As he was talking, he heard a newsboy on the side of the road shouting: "Read the newspaper! 2 sous a copy. The 'Blood Knife' gang is roaming around Paris, and seven or eight people have been killed!"

Joseph hurriedly ordered the car to stop and was about to ask someone to buy a newspaper, but Fouché rushed to report: "Your Highness, that is a gang of highway robbers. They don't even dare to enter Paris and only commit crimes in the countryside. It's just that they killed more people, so they attracted attention."

"A highway robbery gang?" Joseph couldn't help but smile, "Add this gang, it will be more perfect!"

When the convoy stopped at the Palace of Versailles, Joseph immediately rushed to the Petit Trianon Palace.

Queen Marie hadn't seen her son for more than half a month, and immediately hugged him happily: "My dear Joseph, I thought you had forgotten me."

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

Thanks: Tianwu, Honey Mountain, Jiang Kuo Yun Di-Duan Yan Jiao Xifeng, Paladin1996, Xin Ru Piao Ye, Sugar and Fat Please Don't Get Close to several big guys for their generous rewards for this book! The little author is very grateful, mua mua!