I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 562 Preparing for War
As for the source of troops, that was the thing Joseph was least worried about.

He had spent a lot of energy and overcome huge resistance to carry out land reform, and now is the time to reap the dividends.

A large number of French farmers who had obtained land—even though they had not yet paid the redemption fee, everyone knew that the land was definitely theirs—now had unprecedented support for the French royal family and government. In addition, a large number of tax farmers, whom they hated, had just been killed, which made them even more excited.

Joseph believed that if he issued a conscription notice at the beginning of the month, he would be able to recruit more than 100,000 soldiers by the end of the month.

Of course, the generous treatment and great reputation of the Guards Corps also attract young people to join the army.

Today, even the lowest-level private in the Guards Corps earns 27 francs a month. After serving for one or two years, as long as he trains diligently, he can be promoted to corporal, and his salary will immediately increase to 35 francs.

This is already comparable to that of government employees. You have to know that the military provides food, clothing and accommodation, so the actual income is much higher than that of government employees.

Such a generous salary is enough to impress any young person from an ordinary family.

Coupled with the majestic appearance of the Guards when they returned triumphantly from the Southern Netherlands, and the unremitting propaganda of the Ministry of Military Affairs, being a soldier is no longer the "low-class" profession it used to be. [Note 1] Of course, this refers specifically to the soldiers of the Guards, and the old-style army is still despised.

Even the young girls in Paris considered it a fashion to marry young men from the Guards.

Therefore, the Paris Police Academy is extremely popular every time it comes to the enrollment season. After the expansion, the Paris Police Academy recruits more than 5 soldiers of various majors and hundreds of officers every year, but even so, the elimination rate of applicants is as high as 70%!

Joseph thought about it and wrote down on a piece of paper the plan to "continue to expand the scale of the Paris Police Academy."

But it was not easy. Previously, the Paris Police Academy had already merged with many military academies, and now there were not many military academies left to expand. Especially in the vicinity of Paris, there were no other military academies except the Royal Military Academy.

It seems that it is necessary to set up branches in other regions.

Joseph thought of this and suddenly felt that the name of the Paris Police Academy should be changed. At first, it was used as a cover-up in order to keep a low profile, but now it seems inaccurate and lacks momentum.

At the same time, the Paris Police School has too many things mixed in. It not only includes police schools, military schools, and military equipment colleges, but also has to train tax talents.

This seems too complicated and bloated, so I would like to take this opportunity to sort out the functions of the police academy.

So he continued writing:
The Paris Police Academy was split into the Royal French Police University, the French University of Economics and Taxation, the Royal French Military University, the Royal University of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering, the Paris Army Academy, the Paris Military Technical School, the Lyon Military Technical School, the Toulouse Military Technical School...

After careful consideration and organization, he first decided to separate out police, taxation and other majors and establish separate schools.

Then there is the military field. A university specializing in the development of mechanical and chemical equipment will be established. Dad will definitely be the president of this university, and the school can even be located near the Palace of Versailles. The Royal Ordnance Factory will be directly allocated to this university as an affiliated factory.

In addition, there is a university that trains senior military officers. The program lasts three to four years. After graduation, students start as lieutenants and take the route of command and staff.

A non-commissioned officer academy, with a duration of two to three years, trains specialized arms and junior officers, such as cavalry, artillery, and map surveying soldiers.

After that, there were three schools for training ordinary soldiers. The schooling period was up to one year, and graduates with excellent grades could be awarded the rank of non-commissioned officers. In fact, the training of ordinary soldiers was carried out directly in the barracks in later generations. However, the population quality at that time was relatively high, and at least they had received primary education, so direct training was enough.

At the end of the 18th century, if you wanted to get high-quality soldiers, you had to start professional training from scratch.

The previous Paris Police Academy actually took this approach. And it turns out that this model is much more effective than directly entering the military camp, and it can also minimize the risk of new recruits being infected by veterans in the military.

The military schools in Lyon and Toulouse can quickly grow in size by integrating local military academies and absorbing local troops, thus ensuring the goal of expanding 5 new troops in two years.

"Ugh……"

When Joseph wrote this, he couldn't help but sigh again.

It may seem cool to have so many military academies, but each of them must be supported by francs. It is estimated that at least several million dollars will be invested.

It seems that we have to "knock" money from the church again. After all, these military academies are also part of the education system...

After roughly completing the planning for the military academy and military expansion, Joseph had his manuscript sent to the General Staff for discussion and improvement, while he himself began to think about what needed to be prepared in diplomacy.

Historically, although Emperor Napoleon was very powerful in military affairs, due to his extremely poor diplomatic skills, he successfully pushed almost all European countries to the opposite side of himself, including Spain, which had always been on good terms with France.

Of course, this is also an excellent example of Britain's ability to stir up trouble.

But Joseph knew very well that no matter how powerful France was, it was unrealistic to deal with Britain alone with its many subordinates.

Even if they were lucky enough to win, France would suffer a severe blow and would take decades to recover. It might even be like Britain after World War II, where it would never recover.

The most fatal thing is that Britain firmly controls the ocean and can cut off France’s trade routes at any time, making France’s ability to wage a protracted war even worse.

Therefore, France must also pull together its own allies. Letting its own "little brothers" consume Britain's "little brothers" is the correct strategy.

During this period, the profits must be shared with the younger brothers, but as long as the war can be won, this is acceptable. The emperor wanted to eat alone, but in the end he had to spit out everything he ate.

In terms of diplomacy, the first thing Joseph thought of was France's natural ally, Spain, also a Bourbon.

Thanks to the good relationship he had cultivated with Carlos IV and the secret agreement he had concluded against Gibraltar and Portugal, it is believed that if a national war breaks out, Spain will definitely stand firmly on the side of France.

[Note 1] In the old French army before the Great Revolution, soldiers were treated very badly and lived in difficult conditions. Officers could beat and scold them at will, or even torture them. Therefore, unless they really couldn't make it, basically no one was willing to join the army.

Of course, the conditions for officers are still good. They are from completely different worlds from ordinary soldiers.

(End of this chapter)