Chapter 143 Letter From Catherine II

Joseph looked in the direction of Talleyrand again and said to Louis XVI: "Father, if he comes to bother you again, just let him come to me. I have a way to convince him."

Louis XVI naturally agreed happily when he heard that he could get rid of the priest who kept pestering him: "Thank you very much, Joseph."

As he said this, he remembered the glory and praise that the percussion cap gun brought him today, and he couldn't help looking at his son with lingering thoughts: "Joseph, if you have any ideas for new weapons, tell me immediately."

Joseph smiled and nodded, thinking that he would definitely not let you idle. Every day you are idle is a huge loss for the modernization of French weapons.

"Recently, you should teach those craftsmen how to make percussion cap guns. I have an idea about rifled guns, but it is not mature enough for the time being. I will tell you when I think about it."

The principle and structure of rifled guns are of course ready-made, but Joseph is afraid that his father will focus on it, which will affect the construction progress of the arsenal, so he can only not tell him for the time being.

"Rifled gun?" Louis XVI was a little confused, "Hasn't someone invented it a long time ago?"

Joseph smiled and waved his hand, deliberately lowering his voice and said: "It is very difficult to load rifled guns now. The bullets have to be hammered into the barrel with a hammer, and they may even get stuck in the middle of the barrel. My rifled gun design can be loaded very easily, almost close to a smoothbore gun."

Louis XVI's eyes suddenly lit up: "God, what kind of brain did you give my Joseph?!"

He grabbed his son's arm tightly and said excitedly: "Then you have to hurry up! Then we can make another gun that will shock the whole of Europe!"

"Okay, dear father."

After chatting about the glorious moments of today's training ground, Joseph said goodbye to the king with a proud face and went straight to the office of the Minister of Finance.

Brian hurriedly came out and smiled enthusiastically: "Your Highness, it's great to see that your injury has healed! Thank God for your protection!"

He was indeed very concerned about Joseph's injury. He visited him almost every day before, fearing that something might happen to the prince.

Joseph hurriedly made a cross on his chest: "Thank God. Thank you, Archbishop Brian."

The two sat down, and Joseph remembered the situation when he met the Minister of Household Registration yesterday, so he asked: "Archbishop Brian, it is said that Count Nicoe's trip to the UK this time was not so smooth?"

Brian sighed and nodded: "Yes, he is indeed not very good at that kind of occasion, slow to respond to various diplomatic means, and often said the wrong thing... Oh, he even got the British king's genealogy wrong in public."

He paused, looked at Joseph and said: "Moreover, we gave Vierge such a big humiliation, but he seemed to report to me about the situation in Russia as if he didn't feel anything. Not to mention resigning."

Joseph frowned a little when he heard this. He had previously agreed with Brian to kick Foreign Minister Vierge to Russia and miss the Anglo-French trade negotiations, thinking that he would resign in anger. But he didn't expect him to be so strong.

In fact, Vierge wanted to resign before he arrived in Russia, but the Duke of Orleans repeatedly asked him to stay. He had no choice but to continue to mix in the cabinet with a shameless face.

Because he is the only political ally of Orleans in the cabinet. Orleans cannot accept losing him.

Brian said with some embarrassment: "Your Highness, if Vergin does not leave, Count Nicolet..."

Joseph knew that according to the agreement when Brian was dismissed, Nicolet was to be the Minister of Foreign Affairs.

He shook his head slightly: "Count Nicolet is not suitable for diplomacy either."

"Let me find a way to compensate him."

"What do you plan to do?"

"Count Nicolet is still better at household registration. You can let him start planning the ID card system."

"ID card?"

Joseph smiled and said: "It is to give a card to every French citizen. There is a unique number on it to distinguish each person's identity."

"Why do you want to issue this..." Brian was able to sit in the position of chief minister after all. He thought of the key point just after saying half a sentence, "You can collect head tax based on this."

"There are many benefits." Joseph said, "For example, it can be used to screen spies and wanted criminals. Prevent false relief. Facilitate identity identification, prevent fraud, etc. "

Of course, Joseph wants to promote ID cards mainly for the convenience of taxation and trade. In the future, in the colonies, this can also be used to enhance national identity.

Brian nodded: "Count Nicoe has always wanted to do something eye-catching. And this will involve everyone in the country. He should be satisfied."

Joseph added: "You can even add the signature of the Minister of Household Registration to the ID card to confirm the validity of the document."

"That would be perfect."

Joseph thought of Villepin again and frowned: "We have to continue to sideline Villepin, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs must be replaced by our people."

Brian immediately nodded gratefully: "Thank you, Your Highness."

From his point of view, Villepin offended himself because of the dismissal case, so the prince would not tolerate him so much.

In fact, Joseph was more concerned about integrating the political map and minimizing the power of the Duke of Orleans to pave the way for the future rectification of the old nobles.

Speaking of Villepin, Brian remembered his report a few days ago and hurriedly said to Joseph: "Your Highness, Villepin did bring back some news from his mission to Russia this time."

He stood up and took out a few sheets of paper from the drawer and handed them to Joseph: "The Russian Empress is very concerned about our concern about the Russo-Turkish War. She repeatedly told Vilzhin that it was the Ottoman Empire that took the initiative to provoke the war, attempted to occupy the Russian territories of Crimea and Georgia, and attacked the Russian fleet. They had to fight back.

"Oh, this is a copy of the letter from Empress Catherine to His Majesty the King."

Joseph didn't care who was right or wrong between Russia and Turkey. The point was that the situation over there could be used by France.

He looked at Catherine's letter and saw that the Empress spoke very politely about the friendship between Russia and France, and then encouraged France to support her and declare war on the Ottoman Empire. She even said that this could be regarded as a new Crusade led by France.

Brian added on the side: "According to Vilzhin, the Russian Empress also hinted to him the possibility of a Russian-French marriage. "

Joseph smiled. Marrying Russia did not bring any substantial benefits to France for the time being.

However, when he saw the sentence "Support Russia in the war against the Ottomans", he couldn't help but narrow his eyes - to be honest, Algiers, Tunisia, Egypt, etc. from west to east in North Africa are actually independent countries, but in name they are still provinces of the Ottomans.

If France allies with Russia to fight against Turkey, then as part of the fight against the Ottomans, wouldn't it have a reason to intervene in North Africa?