It is difficult to govern the country! It is more difficult to govern a big country! Today, Eugène Bonaparte really understood the meaning of this sentence.
In the past, he had only been exposed to an ideal France, and his teacher had only told him about the ideal state in textbooks. But after he actually came into contact with government affairs, he discovered that it was completely different.
Needless to say, the prince found that he could not even issue his own decree, let alone execute it!
If you want to complete the production task of 200,000 rifles in three months, it is easy to say. As long as you can mobilize the enthusiasm of domestic workers, coordinate various production materials, and work overtime, it will be enough.
Then the weapons just issued to the colonies were brought back. Now sea transportation is also very convenient, and merchant ships from the African colonies can reach the French mainland in half a month.
But for such a simple thing, the entire French administrative system is unable to do it!
The prince is still very wise. He knows that if he wants to mobilize the enthusiasm of workers, he must improve welfare, so he plans to use subsidies to increase workers' income in disguise.
He ordered all front-line workers in the arsenal and the upstream and downstream enterprises of the arsenal to receive a kilogram of bread subsidy every day. This bread was distributed to the workers in the form of money.
After the news was conveyed to the factory, all the workers cheered. One worker could get thirty kilograms more bread every month, and it was also converted into cash. This solved all the food and clothing problems for their family.
One kilogram of bread is enough for a family! This money can even buy some milk, sausages, bacon, etc. In such a miserable life, this kilogram of bread is no less than a warm winter sun shining on people's hearts.
Countless workers even swore to God that they would work overtime to complete the prince's tasks. Isn't that just work? Isn’t it just about producing rifles? You have to finish the work even if you don't sleep!
Workers showed unprecedented productivity, and all factory owners were dumbfounded. They had never seen workers so diligent, and production efficiency doubled.
Just when the workers and business owners were all happy, an accident happened. The bread subsidy that was agreed to be distributed every day started to fall into arrears after only three days.
At first it was two days in arrears, then three days in arrears, and finally it was not paid for five consecutive days!
Now the workers are quitting. We work so hard, why can’t we even get some bread? Workers stopped what they were doing to protest against the factory owners.
But the factory owners also had a headache. They sent people to the government's financial department to queue up every day, but every time they were rejected.
"Tell me! What are you doing? What do you do every day?" The roaring prince threw all the documents on the table at the senior officials of the Ministry of Finance. The young prince's face turned blue with anger.
"At nine o'clock in the morning, the business owner went to collect the money, but no one was found... Then he waited until 11:30 for employees to come to work, and then he had to eat lunch and refused to handle business?"
"The business owner went to queue again at two o'clock in the afternoon, but he didn't see anyone until 3:30, and it took him an hour to fill out a form? In the end, he didn't fill in the subsidy form for his company until after get off work?"
"Damn it! It took me a whole day just to fill out a form, and it was still the same when I received the money. I couldn't even find a staff member the whole day!"
"One day dragged on to two days, and two days to three days. On the third day, the employee who issued the subsidy finally went to work, but he said there was a problem with the forms and that they had to be filled out again!"
"Asshole! Is this just prevarication? If we go through this process again, when will we receive the funds?"
"To tell you the truth! I received your Majesty's military order! What you have completed is the military's mission. If anyone causes trouble here, I will send him to a military court!"
The prince looked at the disgraced senior officials in front of him coldly. For fifteen minutes, no one of these senior officials spoke!
"Okay, okay... Are you deliberately trying to confront me? It seems that you have too many opinions on me. Am I not qualified to rule this empire?" At this point, the prince's face turned cold.
"Do you think that because I am young, I don't dare to kill anyone! Someone is coming..."
The door was opened with a bang, and a group of tough soldiers rushed in. The prince turned his head and didn't bother to pay attention to these people. He waved his hand, "Send them all to the military court and let the military interrogators take action. I don't believe they will remain mute forever." !”
"I am not a tyrant. I will not kill people out of anger, but I will act in accordance with the law! As long as you break the law that requires death, I will not feel sorry for that bullet!"
"Do it! Tie them up!" The wolf-like soldiers of the Royal Guards rushed forward and tied up these high-ranking officials of the empire. These people never thought that the prince was actually here, and their faces turned pale with fear.
"Your Highness, don't arrest me. I have my own reasons. I was wronged!"
"Your Highness, you can't do this. Our family has supported His Majesty the Emperor for generations. We have been loyal subordinates of the Bonaparte family since the First Empire. You can't treat us like this..."
"Then tell the truth quickly!" the guard captain shouted, "Don't mistake His Highness the Prince's kindness for weakness!"
Now, these senior officials are ready to go all out. The leader gritted his teeth and stamped his feet: "Your Highness! To tell you the truth, the Ministry of Finance has already allocated a month's bread subsidy. In fact, it is not that there is no money..."
"But...but all the money was taken away by others!"
"Someone took the money to lend us money. He broke it down to us for a month... In just this month, he was able to earn at least 3 million gold francs in interest through this bread subsidy!"
"The people working underneath have no choice! Their money has been dismantled and taken away, so they can only drag it on..."
"Asshole!" Eugène Bonaparte yelled, "You are doing harm to the country! This is a crime! Who is it? Who is so bold!"
The tied official also knew that he couldn't hide it today. He yelled, "Your Highness! Ask the queen about this! Your uncle and cousin broke up the money and took it away. What can we do?"
"I..." The prince suddenly deflated like a balloon. He never expected that his own relatives would intervene in this matter.
Now that one thing has been explained, the officials of the Ministry of Finance have no scruples. "Your Highness, do you know why the Marseille Military Port has not paid back its IOU in 1864? Do you really think that the matter is as simple as it seems?"
"Let me tell you! Someone colluded with those merchant ship owners to forge false shipping documents with the purpose of defrauding the empire of shipping costs!"
"The logistics director of the Port of Marseille in 1864 is certainly to blame! He made enough money and ran away, and who of the people behind him was willing to wipe his ass? That's why there is such an old IOU!"
"The water here is extremely deep! Your Highness, you must not act recklessly!"
"Since you want to show off today, my subordinates won't hide anything from you... Do you really think that the data in the material warehouses across the country are true?"
"I advise you to take a real inventory! Many supplies are only on the books, but they are empty in the warehouse!"
"You can see with your eyes that the workers have lost a piece of bread, but how can the terminal disease of this empire be solved by a piece of bread!"
