I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 491 High Mass

Queen Mary pondered and said, "The Crown Prince is very capable and has been blessed by God. I think he should be given a broader stage."

Brian secretly glanced at the queen's expression and felt that she must be serious, so he carefully said: "I can understand your majesty's painstaking efforts to train His Royal Highness the Crown Prince more.

"Perhaps, you can let His Highness try to preside over a few cabinet meetings first, and you can provide guidance from the side. This way, nothing should go wrong."

Queen Mary finally made up her mind after hearing this: "Since you think so, the next cabinet meeting will be chaired by the Crown Prince."

After she finished speaking, she suddenly felt her whole body relax, just like the moment of relaxation and comfort when she returned to the bedroom after an all-night dance and threw off her tight corset and stiff leather shoes.

Brian was also relieved and bowed again: "As you wish, Your Majesty."

After he left, the golden door of the conference hall slammed shut. Queen Mary stretched her arms and stretched, and images of cakes, jewelry and beautiful dresses flashed through her mind.

"Please ask Cecilien to make me a mint cocoa cake." She smiled and stood up, instructing the maid Deberninac, and then whispered to herself, "Joseph will definitely take care of everything."

……

1790 6 Month 3 Day.

The temple hall of Notre Dame de Paris was packed with people, and even outside the church there were thousands of citizens gathered, gazing devoutly at the huge statue of Jesus that was vaguely visible in the church.

At the front of the hall, a deacon in a white robe, with his back to the crowd, bent over and raised the open Bible above his head. In front of him, Archbishop Beaumont was reciting scriptures with a sacred and solemn expression.

Yes, a large Mass for the Solemnity of Corpus Christi is being celebrated here.

Joseph sat at the front of all the people attending the mass, but his attention was not at all on the archbishop who was mumbling in Latin - he was probably the French prince with the worst Latin in the past hundred years. He still couldn't read Latin works, let alone listen in real time.

He turned his head slightly and whispered to Fouché, who was sitting at the back, "Have you checked it?"

"Yes, Your Highness." The head of the Intelligence Bureau leaned forward and also lowered his voice to a very low level: "The news was leaked by Viscount Charles Berni through the bailiffs guarding him. He himself and the six people who spread the news later have confessed."

Joseph narrowed his eyes slightly.

Berni was obviously unwilling to be exiled, so he deliberately leaked the information about the officials he had asked him to expose, hoping to incite the officials' anger and force the High Court and the royal family to make concessions.

Fortunately, he organized police parades in various places, and the church also helped to build momentum, so officials did not believe his "rumors". If this happened a year ago, the bureaucracy would probably have caused unrest throughout the country.

Joseph was furious and ordered Fouché: "All officials involved in this corruption case must be strictly investigated.

"As for Berni, let's change his exile location to New Zealand. Oh, and his friend who is a prison guard should also go with him."

Originally, he had reached an agreement with Berni and others, who would expose corrupt officials in court in exchange for exile to Lille, a relatively prosperous place, and retain a small portion of their property. But since this guy wanted to make trouble, he might as well go to a small island in the Pacific to herd sheep. "Yes, Your Highness."

Fouché bowed and responded, then said carefully, "Your Highness, I think Berni's message has spread among the officials. Although they dare not say anything on the surface, they must be dissatisfied in their hearts."

There was a flash of excitement in his eyes: "Perhaps, we should arrest all those who spread this rumor to put an end to it..."

Joseph rolled his eyes at him, thinking, you just want to find an opportunity to improve your performance? He shook his head and said,
"You will only escalate the situation. I have already made arrangements for the follow-up matters, so you don't need to worry."

After this incident, he has initially reached a plan for the reform of the civil service system. Since the bureaucracy has accepted the reality, he should stabilize it. "Giving a slap and then a candy" is always the best management model.

According to Joseph's plan, he would later announce the admission of some civilians into the Administrative University, while at the same time significantly reducing official taxes and increasing officials' salaries.

Yes, he wants to increase the income of officials, because currently, the legal income of French civil servants is very low.

This is because successive French kings have always treated the bureaucratic system as a business.

Since it is a business, you have to make money.

Therefore, they asked for exorbitant prices when selling official positions. Any position with a little power would cost tens of thousands of francs, and the minimum price for a city-level official position was 3 francs.

As for the salaries of officials, they are kept very low. The salary of an ordinary civil servant starts at 50 francs, and the salary of a deputy mayor is only a little over 90 francs. In addition, they have to pay an "official tax" every year!
This bizarre tax was stipulated by the Paulet Decree issued during the reign of Henry IV - all purchased official positions had to pay a tax of one-seventieth of the sale price each year in order to continue to perform their duties, otherwise they would be suspended immediately.

For example, the ordinary civil servant mentioned above, after deducting the official tax from his salary, actually earned less than 40 francs, while the deputy mayor's actual income was 60 francs.

Relying on this model, since Louis XVI ascended the throne, the sale of official positions and the collection of official position taxes have brought in more than 40 million livres of revenue for the treasury every year.

This has led to the fact that the vast majority of French civil servants cannot make a living on their salaries alone, so they have to find ways to make a living on their own - at the very least, they take bribes, and at the worst, they embezzle and accept bribes. This has become the norm in the French officialdom.

If you want officials to remain honest, you must at least pay them a salary that allows them to live a decent life.

The first half of Joseph's administrative reform was to break the aristocracy's monopoly on the bureaucracy and select capable people to take office. The second half was to improve the treatment of officials and, by the way, to put an end to the practice of selling official positions as soon as possible.

Of course, given France's current financial situation, the sale of positions cannot be completely banned for the time being. However, according to his plan, the number of positions sold must be reduced by at least half by next year.

In front of the temple hall, Archbishop Beaumont finally ended the lengthy chanting ceremony, and the priest began to direct the clergy to distribute Holy Communion to the believers present.

Archbishop Beaumont glanced at the crown prince who was "chatting" with the intelligence chief, and did not take it as an offense. He coughed lightly and took advantage of the gap to speak loudly in French: "The Lord said, 'The love of money is the root of all evil. Some people, eager for money, have strayed from the truth and pierced themselves with many sorrows.'

"Look, those greedy officials, although they have been punished in the world, will eventually be judged by the Lord..."

(End of this chapter)