Life of Being a Crown Prince in France-Chapter 652 561 Preparing for Battle

As for the source of soldiers, that was the least of Joseph's worries.

He had previously expended a great deal of energy and overcome immense resistance to carry out land reforms. Now, it was time to reap the benefits.

A large number of French farmers who had received land—although they had not yet paid off the redemption fees, everyone knew for certain that the land would be theirs—now supported the French Royal Family and the government with unprecedented enthusiasm. Moreover, the recent punishment of the detested Tax Farmers they utterly loathed had made them cheer jubilantly.

Joseph believed that after issuing conscription notices at the beginning of the month, he could recruit over a hundred thousand soldiers by the end of the month.

Of course, the generous remuneration and the famous reputation of the Guard Corps also attracted young people to join the army.

Nowadays, even the lowest-ranked private in the Guard Corps earned 27 francs a month, and after serving for a year or two, as long as one trained diligently, they could be promoted to corporal with an immediate salary increase to 35 francs.

This was already on par with government employees. Keep in mind that within the army, food, clothing, and accommodation were all provided, so the actual income was considerably higher than that of government employees.

Such generous salaries were enough to persuade any young person from an average family.

Added to this, the impressive return of the Guard Corps from the Southern Netherlands and the relentless propaganda of the Military Affairs Department had turned military service into a respectable career, far from the "dregs of the earth" it was considered before[Note 1]. Of course, this specifically referred to soldiers in the Guard Corps, as the old-style military was still scorned.

Even the young ladies in Paris considered it fashionable to marry a young man from the Guard Corps.

Therefore, during the enrollment period, the Paris Police Academy experienced an astonishing degree of popularity. After expansion, the Paris Police Academy had to recruit over five thousand soldiers in various specializations and hundreds of officer cadets each year. But even so, the elimination rate during registration soared to 70%!

Joseph pondered and wrote down "continue to expand the scale of the Paris Police Academy" into his plan.

However, this was easier said than done, as the Paris Police Academy had already merged with many military academies, and now there were few academies left for potential expansion. Especially around Paris, besides the Royal Officer School, there were no other military schools.

It seemed necessary to establish branch schools in other regions.

Thinking this, Joseph suddenly felt that the name of the Paris Police Academy also needed to be changed. It was originally named as such to lay low, but now the name seemed inaccurate and also lacked grandeur.

At the same time, the Paris Police Academy had integrated too many elements, not only encompassing police and military academies but also military equipment colleges, and even training for tax personnel.

This seemed too cluttered and bloated, and it would be a good opportunity to sort out the functions of the police academy as well.

So he continued writing:

Split the Paris Police Academy into—France Royal Police University, France Economic and Tax University, France Royal Military University, Royal Mechanical and Chemical University, Paris Army Officer Academy, Paris Military Technology School, Lyon Military Technology School, Toulouse Military Technology...

After weighing and organizing, he first separated the police and tax specialties into distinct schools.

Then came the military field. He established a Mechanical and Chemical University specializing in the development of equipment – this was definitely where his father would serve as the principal, the location could even be near the Palace of Versailles. The Royal Armory would be directly allocated to this university as an affiliated factory.

Apart from that, there would be a university dedicated to training senior officers, with a three to four-year program. Graduates would start at the rank of junior officers and follow a command and staff career path.

There would also be an officer academy with a two to three-year program, training specialized troops and junior officers, such as cavalry, artillery, and map surveying soldiers, among others.

Then there would be three schools for training regular soldiers, with a program of up to one year. Graduates with outstanding performance could be appointed as non-commissioned officers.

In fact, the training of regular soldiers in later generations would take place directly in military camps because the civilian population would have higher educational qualifications—having received at least elementary education—making direct training feasible.

But at the end of the 18th century, to obtain high-quality soldiers, it was necessary to start from scratch with professional training.

The previous Paris Police Academy essentially followed this approach. And indeed, evidence suggests that this model was far more effective than direct military camp training while also avoiding the risk of new recruits being tainted by the bad habits of old soldiers in the army.

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The military schools set up in Lyon and Toulouse could quickly scale up by integrating the local military schools and attracting local recruits, thereby ensuring the goal of expanding the army by 50,000 new soldiers within two years.

"Alas..."

Having written this far, Joseph let out another long sigh.

Setting up so many military schools may be exciting, but each one would require a mountain of francs to establish. He estimated that at least several million would need to be invested.

It seemed another "knock" on the Church was warranted; after all, these military schools were also part of the education system...

After roughly completing the military schools and army expansion planning, Joseph sent his manuscript to the General Staff for discussion and refinement. Without a moment's pause, he started to contemplate the matters that need to be prepared for on the diplomatic front.

Historically, though Napoleon was imposing in the military field, due to his utterly disastrous diplomatic abilities, he successfully managed to push nearly all the countries of the European Continent to the opposite side, including Spain, which had always had good relations with France.

Of course, this was also a result of England's excellent stirring performance.

Joseph was very aware that even if France's strength was unmatched, it was unrealistic to singly confront an England that had a host of vassals.

Even if he were exceedingly fortunate to win a war, France would still be severely hurt, incapable of recovery for decades, or even, like post-World War II Britain, never fully recovering.

The most crucial issue was that Britain firmly controlled the seas, able to cut off France's trade routes at any time, further weakening France's ability to wage a protracted war.

Consequently, France also had to form its own alliance of allies. Having one's "younger brothers" wear away at Britain's "younger brothers" was the right strategy.

During this process, benefits had to be allocated to the allies, but as long as victory in war could be achieved, this was acceptable. Napoleon wished to monopolize, but in the end, he still had to spew out everything he had consumed.

And in terms of diplomacy, the first ally Joseph thought of was France's natural ally, Spain from the House of Bourbon.

Thanks to the good relations he previously cultivated with Charles IV and the secret pact against Gibraltar and Portugal, he believed that if a national war occurred, Spain would certainly stand firmly on France's side.

[Note 1]Before France's Grand Reforms, soldiers in France's old army were poorly treated, living under harsh conditions, and officers could arbitrarily strike, scold, or even torture them. Therefore, unless one was truly destitute, almost no one was willing to enlist.

Of course, the conditions for officers were decent, as they were essentially of a different world than the common soldiers.