I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1220 Fanaticism
A black "Jewel VI" carriage crawled along the crowded streets of Paris.

French Transport Minister Tressac, sitting in the car, listened to the music and cheers coming from outside the window and shook his head helplessly.

Currently, Paris is like a grand festival celebration, with almost everyone on the streets, either singing and dancing or surrounding street speakers, cheering from time to time.

Tresaggues remembered the last time there was such a lively scene was when France defeated the anti-French coalition.

What he didn't know was that even the stingiest factory owners gave their workers a day off so they could have a good celebration.

The carriage had to stop because of a procession passing by. He heard someone by the window say, "I feel like I've become a real person, a person with dignity!"

"I heard that the manager can no longer arbitrarily deduct our wages from our pay."

"Yes, I heard from Mr. Strong that we can sue him in this situation."

"What if it's a nobleman who beats someone? My brother had his head broken by a nobleman last month."

"You could try the local court. However, I remember reading in the newspaper that 'the law does not apply retroactively'..."

"what does that mean?"

"that is……"

It took quite a while before the car started again.

Teresague's assistant suddenly asked, "My lord, I heard that His Highness the Crown Prince is going to form a council?"

The news was released by Joseph, and such a high-impact event naturally needs to be publicized in advance.

The Minister of Transport nodded: "Indeed. His Highness means that two houses should be established."

"The House of Representatives is responsible for drafting laws, reviewing budgets, and determining tax rates. Members are elected by all people over the age of 20 who have graduated from general education or have an annual income of more than 1 francs."

"The Senate is responsible for legislative review, financial management, diplomacy and military affairs, as well as important political matters, and its members are appointed by His Majesty the King."

Upon hearing this, the assistant's face lit up with excitement: "Excellent! Now those useless people who occupy positions without doing any work will be eliminated. Your Highness is truly a representative of enlightened rule!"

Well, in this era, "enlightened despotism" was a huge compliment for a monarch.

More than two hours later, Teresague's car finally drove into the Palace of Versailles.

In the Crown Prince's reception room, Joseph unfolded the railway line planning map previously submitted by the Ministry of Transport and said to Theresa Geyser: "Currently, all lines except Nancy need to be suspended."

"For privately invested railways, all those that have not yet started construction will be postponed. No new lines will be approved."

The Paris-Reims railway began operation a month ago, and its incredible transport capacity and speed shocked everyone.

Many people travel long distances to Paris, take the train to Reims, do nothing, and then return, just to experience this "speeding" sensation. Even a ticket price as high as 10 francs cannot dampen their enthusiasm.

This was followed by a rapid surge in railway investment; in just over a month, tens of millions of francs were invested in railway construction. Dijon, Bordeaux, Lyon, and other cities applied for seven lines, and numerous new railway companies were raising funds from various sources.

Although Joseph needed this enthusiasm for investing in railways, the most pressing issue for France at the moment was war.

The construction of railways is extremely resource-intensive. If manpower and funds are consumed by railways, it will greatly limit the scale of military operations that France can deploy.

Theresa Gué nodded hastily, noting, "Yes, Your Highness." Joseph continued, "Furthermore, we need to expedite the construction of the Nancy Line. If additional investment is made, when do you think it could be operational at the earliest?"

Nancy is close to the northeastern border of France. Once the railway is completed here, the ability to transport troops and logistical supplies from Paris will be increased many times over, which will be extremely important for launching a counterattack against Prussia and Austria in the future.

The Minister of Transport pondered, "It could be completed as early as the end of January next year, Your Highness. The cost will probably increase by about 3 million francs."

"Okay, then let's replan according to this timeline. I'll have the Ministry of Finance allocate the funds to you."

Joseph then traced his finger from Nancy to Strasbourg: "How long would it take to extend the railway line to Strasbourg?"

Nancy to Strasbourg is only 110 kilometers, but this last short stretch allows French railways to reach the middle and upper reaches of the Rhine.

“This… I need to do detailed calculations, Your Highness,” Theresa said. “But I estimate that, if the funding is sufficient, it should be completed around May next year.”

Joseph said, “You will get the funding you need. Please start planning immediately. Oh, and the production of the locomotive must also keep up.”

"Yes, Your Highness."

Two days later...

Joseph had just finished discussing expanding production capacity with Garman, the head of the Royal Armory, when Baron Gottsheim, the head of the General Staff's Recruiting Office, hurried over, saluted Joseph, and said:

"Your Highness, we've run into some trouble with recruiting new soldiers..."

Joseph frowned immediately.

Taking advantage of the nationwide "frenzy" brought about by the Declaration of the Rights of Man, he had Denicault conduct intensive propaganda on "defending France," detailing the Allied forces' overwhelming numerical superiority over France and calling on the French people to actively join the army and defeat the anti-French coalition.

He told Berthier the number of 15 new recruits, but his actual expectation was 20.

After all, historically, Napoleon was able to easily mobilize an army of 65—and that was after France had experienced 88 years of famine and the devastation of the Great Depression.

Now, France has been developing rapidly, and theoretically mobilizing 47 soldiers should not be a problem - the previous direct corps had 20, the local army had 7, plus the newly recruited 20.

But the recruitment office said they encountered some trouble.

Joseph looked at Baron Gottsheim and said:
"What happened? How big is the gap?"

"A gap?" The latter paused for a moment, then quickly waved his hand and said, "No, Your Highness, there is no gap. It's just that there are too many people applying, and the General Staff's training grounds and manpower are severely insufficient."

Joseph felt relieved and asked, "How many people have been conscripted so far?"

“In the Paris region alone, 36,000 people have already enlisted,” Baron Gottsheim said urgently. “The conscription office can’t even keep up with the list. There are crowds outside both conscription registration points, and some people have been trampled. Many more people from nearby provinces are on their way to Paris.”

Joseph was also startled.

It's important to know that Paris currently has a population of only 850,000, and the number of men of marriageable age is only about 30,000 to 40,000.

In other words, almost all the young men in Paris came!
Baron Gottesheim continued:
"Could you open the Army Sergeant Academy and the Military Technical School to temporarily house the applicants?"

　Because there's a double monthly pass event at the end of September, it'll be more cost-effective to use your monthly passes at the end of the month!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)