I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 1369 Turning waste into treasure
Joseph gestured for Rhonda to come inside, then frowned and asked, "What has he been doing?"

"The tax authorities seized all the monasteries' tithe ledgers, as well as other income and expenditure records. They also clashed with the monastery guards..."

Joseph couldn't help but rub his forehead and shake his head.

According to his original plan, by taking advantage of the immense pressure brought to the Church by the Papacy's assessment and the Reformation, they would have no choice but to accept the abandonment of tithes.

Then, the government would take over the payment of salaries to ordinary clergy members, as well as the repair and maintenance of churches and religious artifacts, ultimately covering all church expenditures.

Without expenditures, it would be unreasonable for the church to continue to possess huge assets.

Based on this, with Father Grenier and other reformers taking the lead, the nationalization of church assets was gradually promoted, and the reform of the church could be largely completed in three to five years at most.

But Robespierre's sudden move disrupted his gradual, insidious approach.

Joseph was almost certain that Robespierre would have little use in the ledgers he found—it would be strange if the old foxes of the church hadn’t balanced their books by now.

He looked at Rhondalie and said:
Are there any problems with those ledgers?

The latter shook his head:
"Nothing unusual has been found yet, Your Highness. However, Mr. Robespierre is personally leading a team to verify the accounts, as you know, there are a great many."

In fact, you can tell from Rhondalie's report that if a real problem had been found, Robespierre would be standing here.

Joseph's brow furrowed even deeper. Robespierre's act of forcibly entering dozens of monasteries without a search warrant or even a solid pretext was undoubtedly a very serious matter.

Putting aside this era of widespread superstition, monasteries are God's territory.

The mere act of government violent agencies arbitrarily breaking in and seizing financial documents would frighten the nobility and bourgeoisie, causing them to choose to side with the church.

What should have been a natural progression of church reform was instead disrupted by him.

Joseph sighed; this was quite in line with Robespierre's style.

I can suppress this incident, but he will definitely be punished, at the very least he should be dismissed.

The church might even use this opportunity to play the victim and bargain over reforms.

Or, could they use concessions on tithes to save Robespierre?

He shook his head in frustration and instructed Rhondal:
"Have Robespierre return those ledgers to the monastery immediately, and then submit an application to verify the tax situation."

The latter glanced at his expression and said cautiously:

"Your Highness, perhaps we should wait a few more days. The tax authorities will find something out. After all, it involves hundreds of millions of francs; it will take considerable time..."

“They certainly won’t give him a chance.” Joseph paused mid-sentence, “Wait, you just said hundreds of millions of francs?”

"Ah? Yes, Your Highness."

Joseph narrowed his eyes slightly.

Who says that if the books are balanced, they are useless?
The sum of hundreds of millions of francs is a powerful "weapon" in itself!
Historically, Louis XVI never embezzled money; in fact, he often used his own money to subsidize the national treasury. However, when Necker made public the royal family's financial data, it still sparked huge public outrage.

Simply because the royal family's expenses are too high.

When everyone else is worried about not being able to eat black bread, they see the king spending millions of francs every year, with a single banquet costing tens of thousands of francs. No one can remain calm about that.

Even if many of these are due to political or diplomatic needs, nobody will listen to your explanation.

And right now, aren't the church's accounts in the same situation?
Joseph quickly organized his thoughts and first instructed Rhondalie:
"Have the tax bureau submit a report before nightfall today, mainly containing..."

"Yes, Your Highness." After the intelligence chief left, Joseph turned to Emmanuel beside him and said:
"Please immediately inform Father Grenier and Father Sièclez to come for an audience tomorrow morning, arranged to follow immediately after Archbishop Beaumont and his entourage. Also, have them make these preparations..."

After finishing the business, it was almost noon.

Joseph remembered that he had promised Alexandra he would go to try on a dress—which she had excused herself when she met the head of the intelligence agency—and hurried toward the Petit Trianon.

As soon as he stepped out the door, he saw a tall figure standing in the corridor, looking somewhat conflicted.

“Miss Fritz?” He looked at Sorel and smiled politely. “Is there anything I can help you with?”

The latter hurriedly and nervously approached, curtsying in greeting:

"Your Highness, could you perhaps spare a little time to summon these three unfortunate Swiss men?"

"Poor Swiss?"

"Oh, they're members of the Bernese Cantonal Parliament, and Bern wants to secede from the Swiss Confederation and join France. Turns out they encountered, well, maybe a bunch of con artists..."

After Sorel recounted the events, Joseph frowned.

Why didn't anyone tell me about this?

He then looked at the girl and said:
“You have done well. Please tell Count Elah that I will be waiting for them here the day after tomorrow morning.”

"Thirry, please remind Count Emmanuel to record the schedule."

"Yes, Your Highness."

A look of delight flashed in Sorel's large eyes, and she gave a perfect curtsy:
"Thank you so much, Your Highness!"

After watching the girl leave, Joseph turned to his attendant and gestured, "Have Mr. Bai come to see me immediately."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Half an hour later, the Minister of Trade explained to the Crown Prince, somewhat aggrieved:

"Your Highness, that godforsaken place is nothing but mountains and poverty, with hardly any decent roads."

"Our country faces no obstacles in traveling through Switzerland or recruiting mercenaries there. To rule there would only waste a lot of tax revenue."

"So I drove away those idiots... cough, I mean the Bernese."

Joseph looked at his serious expression and couldn't help but feel a little helpless.

People in this era still held a pragmatic view of territory, unaware of how difficult it would be to change borders in twenty or thirty years, once national consciousness had generally awakened in Europe.

Western Switzerland has a large French-speaking population, and they are generally pro-French. Now that they've come to join France, how can anyone refuse them?
Despite Switzerland's poverty, it possesses a traditional craft of precision manufacturing, such as watchmaking. With proper investment of capital and technology, it can quickly develop a thriving industry based on precision manufacturing.

In addition, Switzerland's geographical location is also very important.

The army departed from Lyon, Bresse and other places, and could soon reach southwestern Austria via Switzerland.

By simply sending a small number of soldiers to build a defensive line in the mountains of Switzerland, eastern France would become an impregnable fortress, and no army could threaten it even in the tank era.

　Many thanks to the generous donations from Qin Shi Ying Zheng, Heaven to the Left, Inter Milan 520, and Yuuki! The author is deeply grateful and wishes you all a Happy New Year, a prosperous life, and lots of good fortune! Mwah!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)