Chapter 117 Terrible Administrative Efficiency

In the police academy training ground, a police officer ran quickly and reported the situation outside to Joseph and others.

"Baron Besonval?" Joseph couldn't help but frown slightly when he heard the name.

Isn't this the commander of the French Guard?

When the Paris people attacked the Bastille, this man not only did not stop it, but instead moved all the troops to the Mars Campus in the suburbs.

If he just waited and watched, he actually sent a team of artillery to help bombard the Bastille. Moreover, his troops often carry out supplies at the Royal Palace, and they can basically be confirmed to be the Orleans faction. Louis XVI used such people to guard Paris. It would be damned if he could control the situation.

Joseph must replace this kind of person, but he currently wants to try his best to stabilize the military aristocracy, so he has not taken action yet.

But this time people came to visit him, so there was no need to give him a good look.

…

After a while, Friant came out from the training ground and saluted with his hat:

"You are General Besonval, right? Nice to meet you.

"My name is Friant, the dean of the Paris Police Academy. How can I help you?"

Besonval sat upright on the horse, nodded slightly, and pointed at the training ground with his riding crop: "Why is there the sound of cannons here?"

"Cannon sound?" Friant said with a smile in accordance with the requirements of the police academy's "Confidentiality Plan", "Ah, we are holding a ceremony to complete the assessment, and we need to fire cannons to celebrate."

Besonval was stunned for a moment and said angrily: "I'm asking you why there are cannons in the training ground of the police academy!"

"Your Majesty General, there is no law prohibiting the police academy from possessing cannons, right?"

Bessonval was stunned again. It seemed that there really wasn't one - there wasn't even such a thing as a police academy before. Where did the relevant laws come from?

He frowned and said, "Why do you want to buy cannons?"

Friant said confidently: "Of course it is used to maintain public order in the city."

"You want to use cannons to maintain law and order?!"

Frient nodded: "General Besonval, do you remember the barricades built by the mob at the street entrance during the 'Flour Riots' a few years ago? Even the quelling troops could not cross those barriers at that time.

"We believe that if something like this happened in Paris, artillery would have to be relied upon to restore order."

"If a riot really breaks out, it's impossible to rely on the police to solve it." Bessonval looked at him sideways and sneered, "Speaking of which, even though the mob besieged the High Court for so long last month, no police officers dared to go there. repressive.”

Friant looked shocked and said: "Your Majesty General, those protestors are demanding severe punishment for Vezinier, who has committed many evil deeds. Do you think they should be suppressed?"

"you……"

Bessonval was furious. The current trend of public opinion has equated Vezinier with crime. Anyone who dares to stand even a little wrong on this matter is waiting to be sprayed to death by the citizens of Paris.

He glared at Friant fiercely, raised his hands proudly and said, "Please get out of the way. An important person will be visiting soon. I must ensure the safety of this area. Now, I want to go in and check."

Friant did not move at all, and said with a smile: "I'm afraid this won't work, General, unless you have an order from His Majesty the King or the Police Department."

Besonval had never taken the police seriously before, so he turned around and winked at the accompanying guards.

Several guards immediately stepped forward and were about to take Friant away, but they heard footsteps coming from the direction of the training ground, and then more than thirty police officers lined up and trotted out.

The police officer leading the team issued a series of commands. The more than thirty people quickly spread out, lined up in two horizontal lines, and aimed their guns at Besonval.

The latter's face suddenly stiffened. He thought that the police chief had to remain respectful when seeing him, but he didn't expect that a mere police academy official would dare to point a gun at him.

"You! You will regret your actions today!" Besonval snorted coldly, pulled the reins of the horse, and left in despair.

Joseph didn't pay much attention to this little episode. After all, the police academy was nominally owned by the city hall, and Bessonval didn't dare to do anything to it.

…

Northeastern France, Lorraine department.

The Governor-General, Marquis Latour, read the document in his hand, frowned and asked the assistant beside him: "Charlie, isn't this the order I sent to Maurice the day before yesterday?"

"Oh, sir, this is here." The assistant pointed out a row of small characters to him. "Viscount Renifer thinks that this place may conflict with the recruitment decree from the year before last, so I want to confirm it with you."

Latour frowned again: "Is there a conflict?"

"Ah, I think there shouldn't be..."

Latour nodded, picked up the pen to sign the document, and was about to hand it over to his assistant when an official quickly walked into the office, bowed and said, "My lord, the document has just been sent from the Palace of Versailles."

"content?"

"It seems that you are asked to send someone immediately to count the potatoes and cooperate with them for shipment."

Latour took the document and glanced at it, and said in surprise: "Where did the potatoes come from? Morris just sent me the documents for purchasing potatoes."

The official said: "Sir, it seems that Viscount Varlan sent someone to buy it. Oh, his people came at noon and are waiting outside now."

Latour ordered Varland's men to come in and inquire about the situation. Only then did he learn that Varland had been entrusted by others to purchase potatoes from various places five days ago. Now he has collected more than a million pounds, all of which are backlogged at the dock. Waiting for inventory and shipment.

Latour hurriedly asked people to draft the document, check it, sign it, and send it to the corresponding governor-general agent.

Then, he drafted another document to report to the Palace of Versailles that the previous work was terminated due to the change of orders and the help of merchants.

Varlan's men received the master's order to use money to urge the clerk who delivered the documents, and followed him to the governor's agent...

According to the standard administrative process in France at that time, the main responsibility of the governor was to transfer and issue documents, and hand over the instructions of the Palace of Versailles to the governor's agents in various places.

The governor's agent had to confirm the documents. If there were any problems, he had to send them back for re-signing. If there were no problems, he would confirm the local official in charge of the matter, who would apply for funds and find someone to implement it.

Of course, if the officials below felt that there was something wrong with the documents, they would send them back for confirmation...

According to the administrative efficiency of Lorraine Province, it has only reached half of the first step, and it is estimated that it will take another four or five days to start the purchase work. At this time, the merchant friends that Mirabeau found had already collected more than one million pounds of potatoes, and more were on the way to land transportation.

As for the transport fleet and ships, they were all found by some of Mirabeau's friends, otherwise the Governor would have to slowly mobilize the vehicles and ships.

However, it took three full days to dispatch officials to count the number of potatoes - this step is absolutely impossible for merchants to do. And without the signature and confirmation of officials, they cannot get the money for buying potatoes.

Another day passed when millions of pounds of potatoes were counted and loaded.

At this time, there were only more than 20 days left before the usual spring planting in France. It is almost certain that the southernmost province will not be able to catch up with the planting of potatoes.

The first batch of ships filled with potatoes sailed along the Orne River to Bordeaux, which is far away.

I have completed the novel "Madam, Please Stop", a gender-swap fantasy novel, and there is an audio version. You are welcome to read it.

Synopsis of "Madam, Please Stop":

A surgeon traveled through time and came to a different world where women are strong and men are weak, and there are more women than men, and became Xu Yang, the young master of the Xu family.

Women with strong spiritual power can move mountains and fill the sea, pick stars and cover the sun, and conquer the world with strength.

I, Xu Yang, rely on gigolos... ahem, rely on soft power to conquer the world!