On December 19, the day of the Frost Moon and Olives, Napoleon met one of his old acquaintances, Commissioner Joseph Fouché, in Marseille. Fouché was sent to Marseille to succeed Cudon to investigate the previous counter-revolutionary activities in the south and to take charge of the requisition of various supplies.

When Cudon came, he was full of ambition, and he thought that a trip to the south would make him a meritorious service like St. Just. Who knows, those guys in the south are so unbeatable, his movements are a little slower, and he doesn't catch up with the victory of the battle.

Then he thought that he had done a good job, but he did not expect that Paris was also very dissatisfied with the results of his suppression of the counter-revolution. Robespierre is said to have complained privately:

"Kudon knows how to kill people, yes, he killed a lot of counter-revolutionaries, but if we just want to kill those guys, who to send is not the same? Why send him? He went, but he couldn't just kill someone! He had to organize production and gather wealth. But look at this guy, he cut off 2,000 heads in one go, but you look at him didn't get anything more! The number of heads he cut off was not even the average of a commissioner compared to the amount of wealth he confiscated...... He's wasting his head......"

For this reason, the National Salvation Committee held a special meeting to discuss it, and everyone except Kano felt that Cudon was ineffective. As for Kano, he adhered to the habit of this time, and he did not make a direct evaluation of Cudon's performance, but as soon as he opened his mouth, he said: "I want money, I want a lot of money, I want a lot of money!" "Well, this statement is even more powerful than other people's accusations of Kudon's incompetence.

So it was decided that Cudon must come back at once and go south with another one who could make money. Among the Jacobins today, there are two people who are recognized as being able to make money, one is Danton, and the other is Fuche.

Selfishly, Robespierre disliked Fouché even more—after all, Fouché had betrayed him. But when it came time to choose between the two, Robespierre chose Fouché without hesitation. There are two main reasons, one can be said in private; There is another one that can only be thought in the heart, not spoken.

The reason for being able to say it in private is this: Danton is indeed good at making money, but he is also good at getting money back to his own home. If he were to do this, I believe he would be able to hand over more wealth and supplies than Cudon could give. However, he will certainly hold a considerable amount of it to fill his pockets. This was a serious disservice to the reputation of the revolutionary government.

The reason that can only be thought of in my heart is: Dandong's status and appeal are much higher than Fuxie's, and now he has been pushed out of the inner circle, and now let him be in charge of this matter, if it is not done well, this guy will come back and kill him.

As for Fouché, although this guy is also very powerful and dangerous, but after all, the starting point is low and the influence is limited, even if he makes more contributions, Robespierre still feels that he can still suppress him.

Others, on this issue, probably think about the same as Robespierre. In addition, Fouché's performance has been really good recently, whether it is in Le Mans, or in the Vendée, or in Lyon, Fouché has not cut off the most heads - of course, there are no few, Fouché is a very careful person, he carefully controls the number of people he kills, not too much, not too little.

But in terms of making money, Fouchet's performance is very outstanding. Of all the commissioners, Fouché was the most out of the money he had to hand over to the state treasury. And there are many more Fuxie, not like the gang of people sent to Belgium before, who offended all the Belgians, but on the premise of maintaining the stability of the local society. It's definitely not easy.

If you can count how much money Fouché can get for the revolutionary government for each head cutoff, then Fouché's efficiency is even more frighteningly high, because the ratio is even more than twice that of Cudon.

In today's world, when the entire government is extremely short of money and things, a person like Fuhe is almost a living treasure. So everyone unanimously agreed that Fouché should replace Cudon. Even Kano, who has always looked down on him as well, expressed his support for his appointment after asking "will this guy make money".

Fouché was indeed a hard worker, and when he arrived, he greeted his old acquaintance, Napoleon, and plunged into his office, where he stayed for three days. In the past three days, he has not left the office except for eating and going to the toilet.

For the past three days, Fouché has been in his office studying the case files that Cudon has left behind. When he was hungry, he had some bread and a bottle of milk brought to him from outside; When he was sleepy, he asked someone outside to prepare him strong coffee, or cold face wash; When the light dimmed, he asked someone outside to bring him a candle. For three whole days, Fuche did not go to bed for even half an hour. In this way, with astonishing energy, he carefully read, studied, and classified the case files left by Cudon, and made targeted annotations.

After all this, Foucher said to his guards: "I am going to sleep, and in the meantime you must keep this room in good condition, and not let anyone come near, remember, not to enter, but to approach." ”

Fouche's voice was not loud, and his voice was full of exhaustion. Also, anyone, even if he is full-rested, must be very tired after such intense labor. But the guards weren't going to relax the slightest bit about this matter because Fucher's voice wasn't loud - if something went wrong, it would kill someone!

Fouché returned to his room, collapsed on the bed, and fell asleep immediately. After three days of work, he already had a general idea of the current situation.

Fuch slept in bed for four hours, and then got up in good spirits. Then he ate the bread of three men in one go, and came to Napoleon, telling him that he was going to Toulon to see the field, and that he needed to send some soldiers to accompany him.

Napoleon gave him a company and told him to contact Davout, who was stationed in Toulon, after arriving in Toulon.

"If you need any support, you can ask Davout directly. Well, that young man is the one who used artillery to defeat the rebel counterattack last time at Le Mans. You know. Napoleon said to Fouché.

"General Bonaparte, thank you for your help, last time at Le Mans, we had a very pleasant cooperation. I hope that this time, we can also make new contributions to the republic. ”

With that, Fouché got on his horse, waved at Napoleon, and left.

Napoleon knew what Fouché was going to Toulon for. In Toulon, Cuudon cut off two thousand heads in one go, but he cut them so fast that he cut off the heads of the nobles before he could find out where their money was hidden.

Cudon probably thought that if he went to the homes of the nobles, or at most the manors in the countryside, and did a good search, he would be able to find out the gold louis and silver livre that they had hidden. However, it is already this era, and even the local nobles in other provinces know that they have to store these things in the bank for interest. And it is not too easy to hide the bank's deposit certificate

Now that Fouché is going to Toulon, he thinks he is trying to see if he can make some money back, and find a way to dig out some deposits from the bank that can be confiscated. Napoleon, however, found it difficult to think about such a thing, and he did not think that Fouché could be very successful in this matter.

Fouché spent just over two days in Toulon before returning to Marseille. As soon as he returned to Marseille, he found Napoleon.

"General Bonaparte, I have some clues in Toulon. These clues indicate that in Marseille. There were also those who participated, or at least watched, the rebellion in Toulon. ”

"Wait-and-see?" Napoleon said.

"It's just not knowing." A cold smile appeared on Fuche's face again, "If you don't know, you are colluding, and you are joining a traitor." In this struggle, no one is on our side, or on the side of our enemies, and no one has room for neutrality. ”

Napoleon more or less followed Fouché's train of thought. Fouché did not go to Toulon not to dig up the deposit certificates of the nobles who had been in a different place from the bank, but to connect the Toulon rebellion with the nobles and wealthy people of Marseille. As long as he can do this successfully, he is still worried that he will not be able to get the money?

Napoleon, however, felt that he had better not interfere in these matters, so he smiled and said, "These fellows are well hidden, and I have nothing to do with them." I want you to be successful, and if you need anything, just tell me what to do. ”

"If there's anything you need help with, I'll be sure to ask for help." Fuché also replied politely.

The day after Fouché returned from Toulon, he launched a manhunt, arresting more than 1,000 people in one go, and filling the prisons of Marseille.

But Fouché did not hand over all these people to the "revolutionary tribunal", and did not even say that they were criminals. Even when he was arrested, he said "to assist in the investigation".

Fouché showed some people enough evidence to guillotine, and then said that he was tracking down the money hidden by the rebels in Toulon, and that he knew that some of it had been hidden from some nobles or "decent men" in Marseille. Foucher also said that if they could make a contribution to the Republic in this matter, then he was a generous man, and he did not have a good memory, and most of them would have forgotten some of the things they had done.