Descending On France 1780
Chapter 343 - 336 Little Break Time

Chapter 343: 336 Little Break Time

After sending Robespierre away, the year had moved to December of 1793.

Anning discovered a downside to becoming the First Governor.

He had to make appearances at the new Cabinet and deal with daily administrative tasks.

Previously, Anning only needed to concern himself with military matters, which were efficiently organized by Bertier. As General, he could simply oversee.

Anning could then focus more energy on adopting new equipment, establishing new factories, and realizing his plan to become the French version of Greenspan.

But now, he didn’t have a versatile assistant like Bertier to handle daily administration, so he had to do it himself.

The new Cabinet’s office was set up in the former Supreme Court.

During the Bourbon Dynasty, although the Supreme Court was called a court, it actually acted as a check on royal power; it was in effect the central institution of noble power.

The Supreme Court’s confrontation with royal authority was essentially the collective noble’s confrontation with the monarchy.

Therefore, setting up the newly established Cabinet here also represented a sort of legacy.

Although the daily administrative work was extremely tedious for Anning, it was through these tasks that he finally realized how much chaos had been created by previously leaving the administration to the National Assembly.

Outside of Paris, the general state was one of autonomous governance, with local National Assemblies handling matters at their discretion.

The influence Paris had over the localities mainly depended on the ability of the appointed Special Commissioners and whether there were National Guard troops stationed there.

With a National Guard—specifically, one reorganized by the Ministry of War and loyal to Anning— the local governments would take decrees from Paris seriously.

In places without the Self-Defense Army, it came down to the Special Commissioner’s capabilities.

If there was neither a Self-Defense Army nor a Special Commissioner, the local National Assembly would effectively be in a state of self-governance, neither needing to pay taxes to, nor heed the decrees of, the National Assembly.

Fortunately, France as a nation already had an awakened sense of national consciousness, with local National Assemblies still considering themselves French, continuing to use the tricolor flag, and culturally following Paris.

Otherwise, France would have disintegrated long ago.

After reviewing reports in the Cabinet for several days, Anning felt that an urgent task was to establish a complete administrative structure in the localities and regain control.

There was a straightforward solution, which was to disperse parts of his currently loyal troops across different regions.

For every town with a population over 5,000, regardless of whether they had a von Linden or not, the first step was to send a contingent of over a hundred soldiers, followed by a Special Commissioner. With this loyal force of over a hundred soldiers backing them, the Special Commissioners should be able to quickly suppress the local strongmen.

Comparatively speaking, the problems with the towns were minor; the countryside in France was essentially in a state of neglect.

During the Kingdom Era, as the regional nobles crowded into the big cities, the rural order based on the noble system had disintegrated, and the de facto organizers in the villages were the local priests.

Then, after the Great Revolution, the Priest Law pushed many priests to the opposing side of the National Assembly.

As a result, the National Assembly completely lost control over the countryside.

This is the fundamental reason why areas like Vendée experienced widespread rebellions.

Now that the rebellions have been mostly suppressed by the troops under Anning’s command, but if control over the countryside is not restored, the British could send another Marquis or someone to reignite conflict in places like Vendée.

Anning decided to implement the policy he had enforced in Conte and the Southern regions throughout all of France.

Massive land reform to reestablish the rural order.

Then the problem arose.

In the South, after Anning proposed the idea, it was Lazar Kano who put it into practice. Now Lazar Kano was busy organizing troops and managing logistics, and he simply had no time to attend to these matters.

Anning is now alone.

He’s about to head out to war soon, and must leave this matter to someone he trusts to handle.

No other choice, Anning selected a chemist named Chaputal from the memory of ministers of internal affairs during the Napoleon Empire era, to specifically take charge of re-establishing control over the rural areas.

After being non-stop in the cabinet for half a month, Anning fully remembered the feeling of exhaustion he experienced before time-travelling to 996, feeling a strong urge to drop everything and walk away.

That afternoon, the moment he returned to the Royal Palace, he collapsed onto a lounge chair on the terrace.

Vanni: "Do you want me to give you a shoulder rub?"

"That would be a huge help." Anning replied.

The little maid then came over and began to knead Anning’s shoulders with strong and forceful motions.

Weirdly, despite the painful mauling, once used to it, there was an inexplicable sense of relief.

As Vanni was massaging, she said, "Lately, Your Excellency seems to be very worn out."

Anning nodded: "You noticed? Correct, now I need a second uncle to treat this internal energy consumption of mine."

"What?"

"Just my nonsense, don’t mind it. You wouldn’t know the extent of France’s woes unless you deal with them."

"Did I hear that you appointed a chemist to handle the rural reforms?"

"Indeed, it’s certainly better than appointing someone like Paul Balas for the job. If we let him manage, you would see by next year all the lands in the French countryside would become his Balas’s private property."

Vanni: "I’ve heard that Paul Balas has been quite resentful about not getting a ministerial position in the Cabinet."

Anning laughed: "Of course, he genuinely invested five hundred ounces of gold, while FouchE and Talleyrand, without any investment, both have made it onto the cabinet list, and he hasn’t gotten anything.

"However, other than grumbling, he probably dares not do anything too outrageous. Keep an eye on him for me, and on his mistress, too."

Vanni: "Madame is already working on this."

—I meant for you to watch them.

Just then, a servant came to report: "Your Excellency, Miss Bonaparte has arrived."

Vanni: "Your pistachio has come."

Anning waved his hand, then said to the servant: "Let her come up to the terrace."

"I’m already here." Pauline Bonaparte jumped out from behind the servant, "The view from the Royal Palace’s terrace is so lovely, with a garden and the bustling marketplace of the square outside."

Anning: "Shouldn’t you be heading back to Briena?"

"I’ve already learned everything Briena could teach me, let me accompany you on your campaign!"

Anning: "No, you still have two years. After you graduate in 1795, I promise I’ll let you join me in the campaign."

Pauline frowned and pouted, sitting down on Anning’s lap: "I always feel that by 1795, you would have finished all the wars."

Anning smiled bitterly: "I would like nothing more than to completely end the war by 1795, but those who oppose us may not agree."

"Then you just defeat them all, make them afraid to covet France ever again!" Pauline said enthusiastically.

Anning laughed heartily and gently stroked Pauline’s hair.

At this moment, the slanting winter sun’s warmth was tender and soft, covering everything in the beautiful aura of an impending early spring.