Monnot, looking anxious, leaned in close to Joseph and whispered, "Ah, dear Prince, you are my best friend! Please, you must not tell anyone about this..."
Normally, having a lover wasn't a big deal in these tis. In fact, so "open-minded" noble couples even introduced lovers to each other. But Count Monnot had a particular fondness for thrill-seeking—he always pursued the most challenging affairs.
Take, for example, the wife of Count ssayer. She was the love of her husband's life, and a certain oblivious nobleman once tried to court her, only to have his arm broken by ssayer.
Or consider the wife of the Marquis de Saint-Priest, who had just hurried out. The Marquis was incredibly controlling, forbidding any man from getting close to her. Her first lover was sent to the Caribbean as a laborer under trumped-up charges by Saint-Priest.
Yet both of these won had fallen for the audacious charms of Monnot.
Of course, Monnot feared the wrath of their husbands. Though his position ant he wasn't too worried about any underhanded tactics from them, he did fear being challenged to a duel—his 170-pound fra wouldn't stand a chance in a sword fight.
So, this was a tricky situation.
Joseph had heard stories about the Minister of War dealing with his wife's lovers, and seeing Monnot's worried expression, he realized that he'd stumbled upon a golden opportunity.
He nodded sincerely, "Don't worry, one of my best qualities is keeping secrets."
"Thank you so much..."
Before Monnot could finish, Joseph glanced over at Clentine, who was still searching for the cat in the adjacent room. Lowering his voice, he added, "But you know, my little cousin, she loves to chat."
The Interior Minister froze, realizing the gravity of the situation. He wanted to beg Clentine to keep quiet, but how could he approach a little girl about such a matter? Besides, there was no guarantee she would listen to him.
Instead, he looked at Joseph with pleading eyes. "Prince, please help once more! You're her older brother—she'll listen to you."
At that mont, Clentine's soft voice called out, "Cousin, Mr. Whiskers isn't here! Let's check the next room."
Joseph patted Monnot on the shoulder, saying seriously, "I'll give it a try, but I can't guarantee anything. Wait for my news."
With that, he turned and left, leaving Monnot to watch him go with a mix of hope and dread.
The search for the cat continued for over an hour, disturbing nearly half the nobles in Versailles. Finally, Joseph and the others found Mr. Whiskers in Princess Thérèse's sitting room. At that mont, the cat was proudly perched on top of the Princess's Chartreux cat, ready to perform a rather bold act.
But Clentine happily scooped up her beloved Mr. Whiskers, ignoring his angry and desperate struggles. She thanked everyone profusely, apologized to Thérèse, and left—only to be scratched by Mr. Whiskers for the first ti in her life.
The next morning, at 10 AM, Joseph reluctantly got out of bed, yawning.
He had been up until 3 AM the previous night, dealing with his energetic little cousin's antics. But the night wasn't a total loss—he had started thinking about what he could "extract" from Monnot.
As he was mulling this over, Émond hurried over and bowed, "You're awake, Your Highness. Count Mirabeau has been waiting for so ti."
"Alright, I'll be right there." Joseph quickly dressed, washed up, and headed to the drawing room.
"Delighted to see you, esteed Prince!" Mirabeau greeted him with a bright smile, bowing deeply. "I've brought you so good news."
"Oh? What news?" Joseph smiled and gestured for him to sit.
Once seated, Mirabeau eagerly reported, "First, our paper mill has completed its trial run and has officially started production.
"The first batch of paper, totaling twenty thousand pounds, was produced three days ago. The quality was excellent, and it sold out imdiately! We're already booked with pre-orders for the next five months. Starting next month, we expect monthly profits to reach 100,000 livres!"
"That's excellent news," Joseph replied with a smile. He hadn't been too involved with the paper mill, leaving it to Mirabeau and others to manage, but it seed to be progressing smoothly.
However, he wasn't too surprised by the strong sales—selling high-quality paper at two-thirds of the usual price was bound to attract buyers. As production capacity increased, profits would likely continue to grow.
Mirabeau, rubbing his hands together, continued, "I only did what was expected of ; the real credit goes to your new technology. Oh, and by the way, the paper mill in Lyon is already under construction and should be operational in three or four months."
He went on excitedly about the progress of the factory and the recruitnt of skilled workers before moving on to the next piece of good news.
"Your Highness, the core area of the industrial developnt zone in Nancy has been mostly completed. There are already about seventeen or eighteen workshops there, and the area is bustling with activity. You really should see it. Oh, and your 'French United Steam Engine Company' has the largest factory in the entire developnt zone."
The core area of the industrial developnt zone was basically just a plot of land near a water source that had been leveled, with the roads widened and a wall built around it. Facilities like banks, schools, and hospitals would be added gradually, so the workshops could start operations without delay.
"The Nancy Estates also approved the developnt zone's tax reduction plan," Mirabeau added, still excited. "Of course, they would agree—this developnt zone will soon bring prosperity to Nancy."
Joseph knew the Estates Mirabeau was referring to were quite different from the Estates-General during the Revolution. At this ti, local Estates were just administrative advisory bodies that required the King's permission to convene. Their decisions could also be overridden by the governnt .
Still, when it ca to taxes, having the Estates involved could significantly improve implentation efficiency.
Mirabeau turned to Joseph, testing the waters. "Your Highness, as you know, industrial developnt heavily depends on the market. But the various tariffs between French regions severely fragnt our market. Perhaps we could start pushing for the abolition of these tariffs to create a unified dostic market?"
Joseph nodded. "You're absolutely right. However, removing regional tariffs faces many obstacles, especially since our finances are too strained to offer support... I'll think of a way."
Currently, there were tariffs between regions in France. Products from one province had to pay a tariff to enter another. This wasn't a big issue in the agricultural era, but in the industrial age, where product sales and capital turnover were crucial, it had beco a significant barrier.
In England, the early abolition of internal tariffs helped create a unified market, giving them a considerable advantage in industrial competition.
Although abolishing regional tariffs would benefit the country, it was a difficult task.
One of the fundantal problems was that many provinces relied heavily on tariffs for their revenue. If these were suddenly abolished, the financial shortfall would have to be covered by the national governnt—otherwise, provincial governnts would struggle to function.
But with France's current financial situation, it was already a miracle they hadn't gone bankrupt, let alone having the funds to subsidize the provinces.
This was one reason why Joseph was so eager to expand France's overseas colonies—he planned to use the colonial markets to make up for the shortfall in the dostic market and gradually resolve the regional tariff issue with the profits.
Mirabeau understood the complexity of the tariff issue. He had only brought it up to remind the Prince.
He then delivered the final piece of good news—shipnts of potatoes purchased from Austria and the Southern Netherlands had begun arriving in Alsace and Lorraine, replenishing the grain that had been sent out from those provinces.
With that, Joseph's potato promotion plan had co to a successful conclusion. Although this year's planting area was limited, it had opened the door for potato cultivation in France. In the coming years, as people saw the high yields from potatoes, more and more would be willing to plant them.
However, this would eventually lead to the problem of soil depletion—potatoes were a crop that heavily depleted the soil's nutrients. This would be the next challenge in Joseph's agricultural reform plans.
As Mirabeau left, Joseph watched him go, suddenly realizing what he could "extract" from Monnot.
Right now, people like Mirabeau were crucial to advancing France's industrialization. If Joseph could secure him a suitable governnt position, it would greatly increase his effectiveness and speed up industrialization.
Additionally, it would allow Joseph to harness the power of the rising bourgeoisie, strengthening his political base.
Looking at history, it was clear that the bourgeoisie, represented by the capital nobility, would eventually beco the core of political power, while the old nobility would be swept away by the tide of industrialization. It was ti for Joseph to start laying the groundwork for this transition.
But he also knew that getting soone like Mirabeau, who represented the interests of the capital nobility, into a governnt dominated by the land-owning nobility would be no easy task.
It would require careful planning.
That evening, at a gambling party hosted by Queen Marie, Joseph pulled Monnot aside to a corner of the hall. Glancing over at Clentine, who was placing bets at the dice table, he whispered, "I promised her a whole bunch of things, and she finally agreed. You can rest easy—she swore she wouldn't ntion last night's... incident to anyone."
In truth, when Joseph had asked Clentine if she had seen anyone leave Monnot's room the previous night, the little girl had said she was only focused on finding the cat and hadn't noticed anyone. As for her maid, since she had never been to Versailles before, she didn't recognize the Marquise de Saint-Priest.
Monnot quickly hushed the Prince, looking around to make sure no one was paying attention. Then, he sincerely bowed in thanks, "You've saved my life—I don't even know how to thank you properly."
Joseph sighed dramatically, "You see, I've been busy working on plans to develop our industries, and now I've promised to spend half a month playing with her. I'm afraid I won't get anything done."
Monnot offered a sympathetic smile. "That sounds very taxing indeed."
"If only the Industrial Planning Office had more staff, I could free up so ti to entertain my cousin," Joseph said, feigning distress. "But you know, the Planning Office is just a small departnt, with limited personnel."
Monnot seed to catch on and asked, "And how could we increase the staff?"
"Unless the Planning Office is upgraded, the number of officials will remain the sa," Joseph replied casually.
Monnot realized what Joseph was getting at—the Prince was hinting at a reward for keeping quiet.
"What level do you think the Planning Office should be upgraded to?"
Joseph said offhandedly, "If it could beco the Ministry of Industry, then I could even beco the Minister of Industry..."
Monnot sighed inwardly. With last night's incident still hanging over his head, he had no choice but to comply with the Prince's demand. Besides, industrial matters weren't very lucrative, and since he had already handed most of it over to the Prince, fully separating it from the Interior Ministry wouldn't be a big deal.
He thought for a mont and then said, "Your Highness, I fully support your suggestion. But creating a new Ministry of Industry is a big decision—it's not sothing I can approve on my own."
Joseph smiled. "All you need to do is propose the motion at the Cabinet eting—I'll take care of the rest."
"As you wish, esteed Prince."
With the deal made, Joseph cheerfully led Monnot to the card table. But just as they were about to start, Clentine's frustrated voice rang out from the dice table, "Twelve losses in a row! Are you cheating?!"
The servant shaking the dice hurriedly bowed his head and stamred, "N-no, I swear we're not cheating. Please don't be angry..."
Clentine quickly softened, hooking her arm around the servant's and giving him a sweet smile as she handed him a piece of candy. "Don't worry, I was just joking. Here, have a candy—it's really sweet!"
Joseph watched with amusent as the servant's face lit up, and he continued the ga with renewed enthusiasm.
Clentine confidently bet two livres on "big."
The dice were uncovered: 1, 3, 1—small.
Frustrated but undeterred, Clentine bet one livre on "small."
The dice were uncovered: 5, 5, 6—big.
"I can't believe I can't win!" Clentine's face flushed with determination as she placed another bet.
Watching from the side, Joseph had a sudden thought. Since her luck was so bad, perhaps she could serve as a perfect "reverse indicator"!
He imdiately stepped up, saw Clentine bet on "small," and placed five silver coins on "big."
The dice were uncovered: 4, 6, 5—big.
It worked! Joseph looked at his little cousin in surprise as he pocketed ten livres.
Clentine, seeing her cousin win so easily, beca even more determined and bet two livres on "small."
Joseph, however, confidently placed his ten livres on "big."
The dice were uncovered: 6, 4, 3—big.
Joseph's eyes lit up. I didn't realize you were a little treasure!
He thought for a mont, then leaned in to advise her, "You're still young—rember, it's just for fun. Don't bet too much."
"Thanks for the advice, Cousin, but I'm going to win!" Clentine said, rolling up her sleeves and moving to the next table.
Joseph shook his head with a smile and followed her. Whenever she bet on "big," he bet on "small." At the baccarat table, if she bet on the "banker," he bet on the "player." At the roulette table, if she bet on "odd," he bet on "even."
By the end of the night, Joseph had used his "anti-Clentine strategy" to win more than he lost. By the ti Clentine finally gave up and stopped playing, he had won over a hundred gold écus and a pile of silver coins.
At Queen Marie's card table, a frustrated Clentine clung to her aunt's hand, pouting, "Aunt, can you take to Paris tomorrow? I've been losing all night, and I need sothing to cheer up."
The Queen, unable to resist her niece's pleading, called over her son and instructed, "Joseph, don't do anything else tomorrow—just take Clentine to have a good ti in Paris."
"Yes, Mother," Joseph replied, nodding. He thought to himself that it was only fair to give the little girl her "wages" after tonight's work.
Clentine was delighted. She imdiately clung to his arm, pouting and saying, "Cousin, I heard there's a new 'Eden Amusent Park' in the Tuileries Gardens with lots of fun new things. Will you take there?"
Joseph hesitated for a mont before carefully asking, "Um, do you have a fear of heights?"
Note 1: At this ti in France, local Estates varied greatly depending on the region. In a few areas like Brittany and Burgundy, the Estates had so authority and could influence local governance policies, though still under royal control. In most other regions, the Estates were little more than a formality.
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