I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 519: Open up, check my accounts for ten years

The troops outside Asco were only the strongest of the National Guard. According to the intelligence report, there were at least four more National Guards operating throughout Corsica.

Although they only have a few hundred soldiers, and the weakest unit has less than a hundred people, they are easier to hide and difficult to wipe out completely.

Napoleon lowered his head and thought that if he could use this battle to make the Corsicans hate the National Guard even more, then the remaining small troops would not even have to do it themselves, and the Corsican people would be able to deal with them.

He looked at the map again - it was a very detailed map drawn by the National Guard, but now it was being used against them - and quickly made a new battle plan.

"Send the order, have Captain Benito lead three companies to bypass the enemy and set up a defense line at the pass of Mount Luo."

He pointed to the slope on the north side of Askko City and said, “Place the cannons here, and bombard them with all their might as soon as the enemy approaches.

“The rest of the infantry went to the east flank of the enemy.

"Send the quartermaster to Port Calvi to prepare sufficient supplies. We may fight here for a long time."

"Yes, Major."

The next day, with the infantry battalion brought by Napoleon from Marseille as the core, 2,000 French troops quickly went to the preset positions. If you look down from the sky at this time, you can find that the National Guard has been surrounded on the north, east and south sides, with only a gap left in the direction of Asco.

Céchari waited for three days but saw no attack from the other side. He suddenly felt that this French army was weaker than the previous ones, so he decided to take the initiative.

In the early morning, nearly 800 National Guard soldiers launched a charge towards the French troops in the north - the French troops there were the smallest in number and should be the weakest.

However, what awaited them was a fierce artillery bombardment like thunder. Napoleon brought a battalion from Corsica. Among the troops, only the artillery was truly elite - the artillery company he commanded when he served in the Guards Corps.

The terrifying firepower density and shooting accuracy directly stunned the soldiers of Seshari.

Then, the French Rangers who had been waiting nearby rushed into the chaotic ranks of the Self-Defense Army. Then, the two artillery companies also rushed up and fired two rounds of grapeshot at the faces of the Self-Defense Army.

In less than half an hour, Seshari's main force was dispersed and retreated wailingly.

At the same time, the main force of the French infantry on the east side also began to press forward.

Because Napoleon was very skeptical about the fighting capability of the Corsican garrison, he just made a big show of it but actually had no intention of really engaging in battle.

But Cesar had been so frightened by the artillery fire that he had completely lost the courage to fight. He immediately ordered the entire army to march into the city of Asco and prepare to defend it to the death.

After all the National Guards entered the city, Napoleon immediately ordered to stop the pursuit and then mobilized troops to block the two entrances to the city.

For more than half a month, the French army just defended the city tightly and had no intention of attacking.

However, Seshari was in trouble.

Asco has less than 1 residents, which is considered a large town in Corsica. You know, the capital Ajaccio has only to people.

His army still had more than 1 people, and had long since exhausted its supplies, so they could only obtain food, wine and other supplies from the city.

With so many soldiers, the food in the city was soon exhausted.

How could the hungry self-defense soldiers be willing to starve when they had guns in their hands? So, they used all kinds of methods to "dig out" the last bit of food stored by the citizens of Asko.

The city was suddenly filled with grief. Violence over food was common. The citizens' attitude towards the Self-Defense Army quickly changed from sympathy to hatred. Finally, a month after Napoleon besieged Ascot, the city's Chamber of Commerce organized the citizens to quietly set fire to the warehouse where the Self-Defense Army stored its ammunition.

The next day, Napoleon, who had received the news, led his army into the city, and the citizens cooperated with the French army to eliminate the "food-grabbing bastards". The battle lasted only half a day before it ended.

Almost all of Cesari's soldiers were wiped out, with at least a hundred of them killed by the fierce Corsican citizens.

Napoleon, who brought a lot of food to Asco, became a hero to the citizens. The municipal commissioner even held a grand welcome ceremony for him in the square.

The news that people in Asco had starved to death because of the self-guards' food robbery soon spread throughout Corsica. The National Guards had now become a complete public enemy.

Less than two weeks later, two more National Guards were wiped out by Napoleon. For the first time in nearly a hundred years, the separatist armed forces on the island were almost completely wiped out.

……

Second floor of the Tuileries Palace.

Robespierre looked at the Dauphin in surprise: "You mean to check the accounts of tax farmers across the country?"

"Yes," Joseph nodded, "and we are checking the tax accounts for the past 10 years."

Since those tax farmers chose not to cooperate, he could only give them a big tax.

He was sure that these guys' tax accounts were not clean. If they could be found out, they could be fined heavily. By then, it would not be a matter of buying some government bonds.

Robespierre was not familiar with auditing. The tax bureau chief Fulcot, who was standing beside him, immediately widened his eyes and said in embarrassment:
"Your Highness, even if we get the tax farmer's accounting documents, there are tens of millions of tax records that year. It would be harder to find the problem than to find a diamond at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean...

"What's more, it's already difficult to figure out whether there are problems with the accounts from three years ago, let alone those from ten years ago..."

Joseph smiled and said, “You need to change your mindset.

“If there is something wrong with the tax accounts, who knows best?

“It’s the taxpayers.

“If they were overcharged a sou in taxes, even if it was 1 years ago, they would remember it clearly.

"So we just need to issue a notice and ask people to go to the local tax bureaus to file a 'tax review'. Then you can ask people to find the corresponding accounts based on what they say and check them, and you will soon find the problem.

"Oh, by the way, I will ask all the major newspapers to cooperate and list the tax regulations of previous years in detail for the public to check."

Fulcot and Robespierre looked at each other and were quite impressed. Their Royal Highness the Dauphin's idea was simply brilliant. It would definitely find a lot of accounting problems.

But he immediately showed a bitter look on his face: "Your Highness, even if it's just a check, with the current manpower of the tax bureau, it will probably take more than half a year to complete the check..."

Joseph nodded and said, "I can ask Archbishop Brian to transfer the staff from the finance department to you.

"In addition, we can invite accounting associations and students from various universities to help. If we offer them some salary, they probably won't refuse."

(End of this chapter)