I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1130 Revitalization Plan
Joseph took the warm teacup from Camellia, gestured for the security chief to sit down, and frowned slightly, saying, "How did the situation become so chaotic so quickly?"

“It’s the ‘Young Italy’ organization, Your Highness,” Lavalette said. “They must have received substantial funding and suddenly started inciting riots everywhere.”

Joseph had previously heard about this from the Security Bureau and knew it was an Italian nationalist organization. However, due to suppression from the governments of the northern Italian states, they had only been carrying out small, clandestine activities. This time, however, they had suddenly become bolder.

Lavalette continued, "There are indications that most of their funding comes from within Naples. However, I also suspect the involvement of northern Italian states."

Joseph smelled the aroma of the tea, pondered for a moment, and instructed, "You can focus your investigation on Sardinia."

The security chief was somewhat surprised, feeling that His Highness the Crown Prince was just guessing on a whim, but he immediately replied, "Yes, Your Highness. I will have the Turin branch do its best to gather clues."

Joseph was certainly not guessing randomly.

Historically, the Sardinian royal family was the biggest driving force behind the Italian unification movement. The later Kingdom of Italy was essentially an upgraded version of Sardinia.

Given the current size of the states in northern Italy, only Sardinia and Venice seem to have the desire to promote unification—for small countries to unify would be tantamount to dismantling themselves and handing themselves over to larger countries.

Venice has always been in a "fragmented" state; it's already a feat that it has managed to stay together without splitting up, and it simply doesn't have the ability to unify.

Therefore, it is most likely Sardinia.

Joseph had always thought that the wave of Italian nationalism would not erupt for at least another decade or so, but he never expected it to happen so much earlier than it has in history.

Upon reflection, he realized that the unification of the market in northern Italy had brought about closer economic and cultural ties between the countries, thus providing fertile ground for the rapid spread of nationalism.

However, this situation did not cause Joseph too much trouble; in fact, to some extent, he was even slightly relieved.

The real problem would have been if Italian nationalism had been spreading silently and covertly. Now that the leading forces have emerged, they have a clear target to target.

Yes, for France, a “backyard” of small countries is far more advantageous than a unified great power.

Moreover, a unified Italy would soon begin vying with France for control of the Mediterranean and North Africa. For the next century and a half, Bismarck and Mustache repeatedly used Italy to strategically contain France.

Therefore, Joseph wanted to keep Italy in its current state for as long as possible.

Lavalette continued, "Your Highness, there are signs that security in Milan and Genoa is spiraling out of control. Do you think it would be necessary to send troops to assist them in maintaining stability?"

Joseph, well aware of the dangers of "counterinsurgency," immediately raised his hand to interrupt him, and then gestured to Emmanuel: "Please have Count Mirabeau and Archbishop Talleyrand come to see me immediately."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Before long, the two ministers knocked on the door and entered.

Joseph first had Lavalette explain the situation in northern Italy to them, and then instructed: "The situation is not quite what we expected, so I have decided to implement the plan ahead of schedule."

"In addition, we need to increase operations against the 'Young Italy' organization. This will be overseen by Colonel Lavalette."

Mirabeau hesitated, "Your Highness, but our preparations will take another three or four months to complete. There are almost no factories ready to operate right now." Talleyrand added, "Milan, Lucca, and Florence have also yet to pass decrees on guild and trade reforms..."

More than two months after Mirabeau raised the issue of low purchasing power in the northern Italian market, Joseph convened a summit of Common Market member states and formulated a series of plans to promote economic development in the countries.

This was originally scheduled to begin formal implementation six months later, but Joseph now intends to use it to deal with the chaos in northern Italy.

If the local people can see hope, the vast majority will stop participating in the riots, and the overall situation will improve immediately.

As for the few who insist on causing trouble, security agents, in cooperation with military and police forces from various countries, can quickly deal with them. As long as the propaganda efforts are well-coordinated, arresting them will generally not provoke protests from the Italian public.

Joseph nodded and said, "Just treat the preparatory work as part of increasing the income of the Italians."

"For example, the factory under construction could easily hire locals to move timber and dig earth and rocks. They could hire twice as many people as needed."

"If the training school is not built, classes will be held in the square."

“Even the supplying workshops can sign contracts in advance and pay a partial deposit to allow them to start trial production. However, this part must be supervised by skilled craftsmen to avoid producing defective products and creating waste.”

Mirabo hurriedly said, "Your Highness, this would greatly increase expenses."

Joseph waved his hand: "Anyway, it's the governments of each country that will bear the cost, so just increase the loan amount for them. Tell them that this expenditure is far less than the losses caused by the riots."

He then looked at Talleyrand: "Please go to Milan, Lucca and Florence in person and demand that their governments sign the corresponding reform decrees within three days, otherwise I will suspect that they are condoning rioters."

“Oh, you can bring people from the tax office and the Ministry of Commerce to help them revise the law.”

Guild and tax reforms were already agreed upon at the last summit. The reason these two countries are dragging their feet is likely due to internal vested interest groups holding them back.

Given France's influence in northern Italy, if it uses diplomatic means to exert pressure, these people certainly won't dare to grumble anymore.

Joseph finally turned to Lavallet: "For now, let's not touch the Young Italy organization. Our main focus should be on public relations. Let Baron Scheller cooperate with you. He's very good at that."

"Once the protests in various places have subsided, arrest those in this organization who have committed assaults or incited riots, but be sure to have solid evidence."

Arresting these nationalist leaders is very troublesome and might actually boost their prestige.

“Yes, Your Highness.” The Director of Security bowed and repeated, “We must find the evidence first.”

The next afternoon.

As a series of instructions from the Palace of Versailles were transmitted from the Sap signal tower to various parts of northern Italy, a large number of French and Italian officials, as well as French security intelligence personnel, immediately sprang into action.

The first to react were the Florentine royal family—Queen Caterina, upon seeing the "telegram" from Paris, disregarded the objections of several ministers and immediately forced the signing of the decrees on guild and tax reform.

(End of this chapter)