Of the contracts signed with Stephen Girard, the one that Joseph actually valued the most was actually Girard's prepayment of the entire cost of the first five large clippers. Considering that clippers are much more expensive than ordinary boats, this is definitely a lot of money.

With this money, the plan to expand the shipyard can be implemented. This, of course, meant that Joseph had more things on hand and was busier.

Both Lucien and Louis were very happy about this. Because that meant that Joseph was less likely to come and check their homework. However, Lucien did not get complacent for long, as Joseph soon found Lucien something to do.

"Lucien, you've been doing well lately." Joseph said, "You helped me a lot in that business with the Americans. It looks like you've grown a lot. ”

"Of course......" Lucien suddenly became proud, "Actually, I think I have improved a lot compared to before......"

"Well, you know, Napoleon and I are very busy these days, and we need someone to share our work. The person must be both reliable and capable. Originally, you are our brother, and you are naturally the most reliable person, and as for ability, Napoleon and I also think that your ability is still good. So we really hope that you can help us carry the burden of the family. But you know, you didn't do it well enough last time, so Napoleon and I both had some doubts about your reliability. Lately, though, you've been doing well. And after what happened last time, I reflected on myself a little more, and in that matter, in fact, Napoleon and I made mistakes, and we made you suddenly take on important matters without training you more......"

Lucien was happy at first, but when he heard the words "without training you more", he immediately changed his face and interrupted Joseph very sincerely: "Ah, Joseph, I think what happened last time has nothing to do with this. The mistake last time was not because of too little training, yes, it was not because of too little training...... This kind of problem is mainly due to my subjective paralysis and lack of vigilance......"

"It's great that you're able to be so honest in your self-criticism and find reasons in yourself. However, no genius can grow without exercise. Just like Napoleon, if he had not gone through the study in the officer school, he would not have the command talent he has now. Therefore, the necessary exercise is still essential. Well, nowadays, I have a lot of business, and there are a lot of things going on at the institute, so I can't be busy alone. Well, Lucien, you will follow me from now on and be my confidential secretary for a period of time, which will hone your abilities and give you an overall understanding of the overall operation of our family. ”

Hearing this, Lucien breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Joseph, I heard you talk about more training at the beginning, and I thought you were going to ...... Well, I think it's a good arrangement, and I'm willing to do it. ”

Lucien thought that it would be a good thing to be a confidential secretary for Joseph, at least better than a math training problem, but he soon discovered that this confidential secretary was really ......

"Lucien, come and help...... You see, the most critical process here is all done, and now all that's left is the calculations. You take over and tell me the data. ”

"Lucien, come here...... I think there's something wrong with this data. You put together the relevant information. Check it out and see what the problem is......"

"Lucien, this is all sorts of things in the second half of the month, you can combine them and make an optimal order of execution......"

"Lucien ......"

To say, Joseph really didn't lie to Lucien, this job really made Lucien have a better understanding of the operation of the entire family, and also played an obvious role in Lucien's ability, especially the improvement of computing power. It's just that...... Isn't this still doing math problems?

But even so, Lucien was still basically satisfied with Joseph's arrangement, because in this position, he had access to many things that he had never been able to access before, and knew many secrets that he could not have known before. It made him feel a real sense of satisfaction in being valued.

With a reliable confidential secretary like Lucien, Joseph finally had some free time, and he had time to hone his writing skills in French—to write letters to Fanny.

In addition to the letters he wrote to Fanny, Joseph's other letters, especially those he exchanged with those in Paris, Joseph would have Lucien read with him. And with him analyze the situation on the side of Paris, and what they should do. It's so much fun to be involved in something like this, and the only problem is, after each analysis:

"Alright, Lucien, our response has been analyzed. Now in my name, draw up a reply......"

Then Joseph went to rest, and Lucien went to write......

Generally speaking, most of the things mentioned in these letters were expected by Joseph, so it was not difficult to react. But a recent letter from Fouché made Joseph a little embarrassed.

Fouché said the government is preparing for a new round of elections to elect a new parliament, after all, there were too many vacancies in the National Assembly in the past. Joseph said.

"That's natural, the original parliamentarians, who were either cut down by Robespierre, or have a certain Jacobin background. Replace them, of course. Lucien said, "However, if the election is held at this time, aren't they afraid of electing a large number of royal parties?" ”

The Thermidorian had been working on the destruction of the Jacobins since they took out Robespierre. But in terms of the foundation of their rule, their foundation of rule is even weaker than that of Robespierre, whom they overthrown. The sans-culottes were clearly not going to support them, and even the sans-culottes, organized by the remnants of the Jacobins, had already staged two unsuccessful uprisings in an attempt to overthrow them. And when they are in opposition to the sans-culottes, the petty bourgeoisie may not be able to support them. They can only rely on big capital.

The big capital, which had been suppressed by all sorts of price limits and expropriations during the Jacobin period, certainly supported a government that was opposed to the Jacobins. However, although the big capital in France has the word "big" in front of its name, it is actually not very big, and they do not have a particularly strong force, otherwise, Jacobin would not have been able to come to power at all. In fact, an important reason why the Jacobins were able to come to power and become so left-leaning was that these weak and powerless "big capital" could not suppress the feudal power at all. Moreover, in the time of the Jacobins, they were not much less weakened than the royal party.

As a result, although they defeated the Jacobins, they did not have the strength to suppress the royal party anymore. So during the Jacobin period, the royal party, who was so crushed that he couldn't even dare to breathe, suddenly popped up. Naturally, they were favored by those who opposed the Jacobins to the Thermidorians.

"Then it's up to the Thermidorians to plan." Joseph said, "What are you going to do if you were a Thermidorian?" ”

Lucien paced around the room, walked around twice, and then said, "Alas, it's not easy! Elections must be elected, and poisonous vegetables don't have this ability. It is only through elections that a legitimate government can be maintained. However, it is not possible to let the royal party come to power. After all, the people of the royal party can also sing "Everything Will Be Fine", but the lyrics have been changed a little. ("Everything Will Be Fine" was one of the popular songs of the Revolution, and the most revolutionary lyrics of this are: "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay, everything is going to be okay, the nobles are hanging on the poles of the streetlights.") The upbeat song was also loved by the royal party, but when they sang it, they changed the words "nobles" in the lyrics to words such as "rebellion", "Jacobin", and "mob". Hugo also mentioned this incident in "Les Miserables", and lamented: "The song is like a guillotine, just cut off the head, as for who is chopped, it has nothing to do with the guillotine." ”）”

The royal party suffered a lot in the revolution, their hearts were full of hatred, and if they returned, they were afraid that they would really hang up all those rebellions as they sang in the song. And the Thermidorian people, in the eyes of the royal party, belong to the rebellion that should be hung up.

"Then how can we make the royal party unable to come to power?" Joseph asked again.

"Declare the election flawed and illegal, and then re-elect. In this time gap, find out the problems of those candidates of the royal party, solve them, and then elect again. Lucien said.

"If you choose again, what if it's still the king?"

"Then do it again. It's a big deal to simply change the election rules, just like they did back then. At the same time, use the guillotine of the royal party to scare the common people and see if you can scare them over. ”

"Do you think you can?"

"It's not a good chance." Lucien shook his head and said, "What haven't the people of Paris seen before?" Can this thing scare the people of Paris into siding with the Thermidorians? Hehe......"

"Lucien, your analysis is good, so how do you think this matter will develop in the end?"

"Of course, it was the Wang Dang who directly flipped the table with violence. Well, I think it's going to be an opportunity, an opportunity to build our times. Lucien said.

"Go on!" Joseph said.

"Everyone knows that the Thermidorian government has no future. Including those 'bigwigs' in the Thermidorian government. A big reason why they are so corrupt today is probably because they themselves are not optimistic about themselves. So I was anxious to get myself something more life-saving before the ship sank, even at the cost of destroying the ship. Therefore, once the royal party really violently upsets the table, most of the people who rely on the Thermidorian party will not be able to suppress it. At that time, it was our chance. ”

Joseph was not familiar with history, but from the film, he also vaguely remembered that Napoleon was able to enter the political arena only after his outstanding performance in suppressing the rebellion of the royal party.

However, in the movie, Napoleon was just a young officer with no talents, but now Napoleon is already one of the most important generals in France. Therefore, compared to that time, it seems that Napoleon and the Bonaparte family should have higher aspirations, and should not be satisfied with just being on the political stage.

"Our chances? You mean reinventing the republic? "Well, the Thermidorian people are stupid, but even so, they should be able to hold out for a while." We must seize the time and do two things well. First, we must be ready to fight in Italy and gain a foundation that is truly loyal to us. Second, we need to develop some forces in Paris and be ready to adapt. This can be entrusted to Fouché. His ability to do this kind of thing is still good. He also has a good relationship with Barras. Let him keep an eye on Ballas, and if anything happens, let him bring Ballas back as much as he can. ”

"Well, though, Joseph, is Fouché reliable?" Lucien asked.

"Foucher is not reliable." Joseph replied unabashedly, "But in this matter his interests are the same as ours." Fouché is a very good person who can see where his interests lie. So in this matter, as long as there are no major changes in the overall situation, Fouché is more reliable than most people. ”

"Okay, I'm going to write to him." Lucien was already self-conscious.

"Yes. In addition, we can't rely entirely on Fouch in such matters. Although he is reliable now, it does not mean that he will be reliable in the future. We must have the power to replace him, to carry out tasks underground. Lucien, what do you think about this? ”

"Me?" Lucien immediately understood that this was an important test for him. If you do well, you may be able to go even further in the future.

"Joseph, you make me think about it a little more. Tomorrow, I'll give you an answer tomorrow, okay? Lucien thought about it, in fact, he already had a lot of ideas in his head, if it was before, he would definitely not care if this method was reliable or not, he would say it first. But it suddenly occurred to him that Joseph and Napoleon's biggest opinion of himself was not that they felt frivolous and unreliable? So, he had to be a little calmer. It's better to think about a lot of things.

"Very well, then we'll talk about this at this time tomorrow." Joseph nodded and said, "Okay, let's move on to the next item, well, here are the various income and expenses for today, you can help me review it......"

That night, the light in Lucien's room was on......