The leading tax officer took a few steps forward, his face expressionless.
"You are Jacques Hétoile de Pocque of Touraine, correct?"
Touraine was Pocque's hotown. He nodded imdiately.
"Yes, I am Pocque."
The tax officer produced a copper badge and displayed it to him.
"I am Pierre Gaspard Chautte, an inspector with the Reims Tax Office. You are currently suspected of illegal taxation, assault, fraud..."
He glanced at his notes.
"Ah, the list is quite long. We'll get into the details later. Oh, and your identification number is 1037083123, correct?"
Thanks to relentless efforts by the Minister of Records, France had almost entirely implented a national identification system, barring a few remote regions.
Pocque's expression darkened. "Yes, that's correct."
"Good, then there's no mistake." Chautte gestured to the officers behind him.
"Arrest him imdiately."
"Yes, sir!"
"What are you doing?" Pocque took a step back, trying to intimidate them.
"I'm friends with Baron Lecorny, the municipal commissioner! You'd better be careful!"
"Municipal commissioner?" Chautte sneered. He turned and barked to his subordinates, "Move quickly!"
"Hey! Do you even know who I work for?" Pocque's tone turned desperate as he revealed his trump card.
"I work for Viscount Borollay!"
"Oh?" Chautte raised an eyebrow, pulling out his notebook.
"Go on, tell in detail how you work for Borollay."
Pocque froze, realizing his bluff had backfired. Changing tactics, he forced a smile and lowered his voice, giving Chautte a knowing look.
"Let's not be so serious, sir. If you'd be willing to step outside for, say, an hour, I can offer you 2,000... no, 3,000 francs."
Chautte's face twisted with rage. Unlike the corrupt officials Pocque usually dealt with, this inspector was a "pure-blood" Jacobin loyalist, devoted to justice, liberty, and the creation of a virtuous nation. To him, Pocque's bribe was a direct insult to his ideals.
"You dare bribe an officer of the law?" Chautte roared.
"This adds another charge to your cris!"
At that mont, Pocque's butler arrived with seven or eight burly n ard with weapons.
Seeing his master in trouble, the butler imdiately positioned his n between Pocque and the tax officials, forming a barrier.
More of Pocque's enforcers arrived—a gang of nearly 20 tax collectors. These n, mostly forr thugs, were accustod to bullying delinquent taxpayers and had grown brazenly arrogant.
One of them turned to Pocque.
"Boss, what should we do?"
"Get rid of them," Pocque growled.
He could tell the tax office was serious this ti, so he planned to drive them away and then seek refuge with Viscount Borollay.
The tax officers tried to push past the enforcers, but one was shoved back, nearly losing his balance.
As more enforcers arrived, they surrounded Chautte and his team.
Suddenly, a deafening gunshot rang out, causing Pocque's n to flinch.
Chautte lowered his pistol, blowing away the smoke from the barrel.
"Anyone who assaults tax officers can be executed on the spot!" he declared coldly.
The officers ford a defensive circle, pointing their flintlocks at the aggressors.
Pocque, seeing the situation escalate, ran back toward the courtyard, shouting,
"Don't be afraid! I'll bail out anyone who gets caught!"
Chautte drew his second pistol and aid it at the chest of the most defiant enforcer.
"Stand down!"
When the man didn't move, Chautte pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Another gunshot echoed, and the enforcer collapsed, his chest a mangled, bloody ss.
The remaining enforcers, recalling rumors of tax officers killing attackers in broad daylight, began to connect those tales to the ard and unflinching n before them.
So hesitantly reached for their own pistols. They outnumbered the officers, and if it ca to a firefight, they could likely win.
Chautte noticed their hesitation and shouted, "Fire!"
The six officers, though visibly nervous, obeyed the order. Their flintlocks erupted in unison, unleashing flas and lead. At such close range—only five or six paces—six more enforcers were blasted off their feet, blood spraying everywhere.
"Fix bayonets!" Chautte commanded, drawing his sword.
The remaining enforcers, staring at the lifeless bodies of their comrades, felt their legs turn to jelly. Any thoughts of resistance evaporated as they turned to flee.
"Freeze!" Chautte bellowed. "Anyone who runs will be shot!"
Terrified, the once-arrogant tax collectors froze in place, so even raising their hands in surrender.
Chautte and another officer entered Pocque's villa. Minutes later, they erged, holding Pocque and his butler at gunpoint.
Seeing the corpses sprawled across his courtyard, Pocque's legs gave out, and he collapsed to his knees, his pants soiled with urine.
Elsewhere in France
In Saintienne, tax farr Lecornu, though bound, shouted defiantly:
"You dare arrest ?
"Just wait! Within three days, soone will co to release . When I'm back, I'll make you all pay!"
A tax officer, recalling the atrocities listed in Lecornu's records, smashed the man's face with a rifle butt, silencing him instantly.
anwhile, in Lyon, a full-scale battle erupted.
Tax farr Auban's n exchanged gunfire with tax officers before engaging in hand-to-hand combat. After losing four officers, the tax bureau, with help from enraged townspeople, finally subdued or killed the violent gang.
France's Response
Across the nation, tax offices adopted a unified approach: no compromise, relentless determination, and zero tolerance.
Over the next three days, tax officers mobilized en masse, arresting nearly a thousand tax farrs and their henchn.
And the complaints from citizens continued to flood tax offices, with long lines of petitioners suggesting many more arrests were to co.
At the Tuileries Palace
Joseph reviewed the list Robespierre had presented. His expression finally eased as he signed his approval.
Handing the list back, he said,
"You've done well. Begin the trials. Oh, and those who attacked tax officers—group their cases for efficiency."
Though furious, Joseph refrained from fully emulating the Jacobin approach from history. France still enjoyed relative stability, and he saw no need to disrupt that with rash actions.
Instead, trials would follow proper procedures. Most cases were straightforward—tax records and docunts provided clear evidence of wrongdoing.
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