"On behalf of His Holiness the Pope, I bless these newlyweds to support each other under the watchful eye of the Lord and overco challenges together! May the Lord bless you, this pair of newlyweds..."
The Archbishop of Paris, with a devout expression, conveyed the Pope’s and God’s blessings to Jero Bonaparte and Augusta.
Jero Bonaparte, who felt indifferent to the so-called blessings of God and the Pope, listened expressionlessly to the Archbishop’s lengthy formalities.
If not for the purpose of making his title more sacred, Jero Bonaparte would not be willing to engage in such aningless and extrely tedious activities.
To ensure the smooth conduct of this wedding, the Tuileries Palace spent over 5 million francs from start to finish.
Just purchasing flowers and decorations from the Tuileries Palace to Notre-Da Cathedral cost nearly 500,000 francs.
For the "frugal" Jero Bonaparte, this was the first ti he engaged in such an extravagant and labor-intensive act of spending.
There was no other choice; one must compromise with reality.
Furthermore, a wedding like this happens only once in a lifeti, spending a little money is rightful!
Jero Bonaparte thus comforted himself.
After a round of prolonged formalities ended, the Archbishop of Paris handed the pure gold crown placed on the table to Jero Bonaparte.
"Your Majesty, please place it on the Empress," the Archbishop said to Jero Bonaparte.
Jero Bonaparte raised the crown with both hands and gently placed it atop Augusta’s head.
Augusta’s closed eyes opened when Jero Bonaparte placed the crown on her head.
Within Notre-Da Cathedral, nobles, generals, and the new elite bankers imdiately stood up, shouting: "Long live His Majesty! Long live the Empress!"
Then, Mokar erged from the back of Notre-Da, holding a small box engraved with exquisite patterns in his hands.
Mokar ca before Jero Bonaparte and presented the box. Jero Bonaparte opened it himself, revealing a ring inside.
The ring, made of pure silver with a red gemstone set in the gem slot, appeared exceptionally luxurious and splendid.
Jero Bonaparte took out the ring, gently held Augusta’s hand, and slowly placed it onto her middle finger.
When the ring was fully placed on Augusta’s middle finger, Jero Bonaparte felt a natural surge of pride.
Being a ti traveler, he sat in a position historically occupied by his cousin, marrying the orthodox princess that his cousin could never aspire to.
From a certain perspective, Jero Bonaparte had completely surpassed the historical Napoleon III.
This sense of happiness was sothing he could never experience in his previous life. Although there was still a considerable gap between Jero Bonaparte and his uncle.
The wedding continued until the evening and only then ca to a conclusion. Amidst cheers, Jero Bonaparte and Augusta left Notre-Da Cathedral and returned to the Tuileries Palace, as the Bonaparte Clan’s dominion over France gradually stabilized at this mont.
That night, Jero Bonaparte and Augusta spent a wonderful night together.
On the morning of November 1st.
The sky was still dim when Jero Bonaparte carefully slipped out of bed and, treading lightly, left the bedroom to return to his study.
During the wedding preparations, Jero Bonaparte had not been working, so many docunts that required his review and andnt were piled up by the secretariat.
All the docunts were placed on the desk in the study. Staring at the mountainous pile of files, Jero Bonaparte sighed, then glanced at the clock in the corner of the study with the corner of his eye. It was now 6 a.m., and he estimated it would take until around 9 a.m. to finish all the docunts.
No sooner said than done, Jero Bonaparte sat on a cushioned chair and began to browse the docunts’ contents.
These included reports on Bordeaux Province’s grape cultivation, Paris Region cooperatives, and railway transport summaries...
Jero Bonaparte ticulously examined all the content, occasionally frowning, sotis breaking into a smile.
Unknowingly, nearly two hours had passed when suddenly the door to the study opened.
Hearing movent at the door, Jero Bonaparte raised his head to glance in its direction. The Empress of France, Augusta, stood at the entrance, watching Jero Bonaparte.
"Hmm? You’re awake!" Jero Bonaparte said to Augusta while continuing to peruse the docunt contents with his head down.
"Hmm?" Augusta walked slowly to Jero Bonaparte’s side, surprised to see the docunts piled on the desk: "Why are there so many?"
"This is already the content handed to after being filtered through various departnts and the Secretariat layer by layer!" Jero Bonaparte shrugged, saying, "Every aspect of France needs my oversight, so how can the workload not be heavy?"
"But you don’t need to work so fiercely!" Augusta said softly to Jero Bonaparte, concerned that his health might not withstand the strain.
"There is no way. Every aspect now requires scrutiny, and if we’re not careful, places can easily co up with a lot of big news," Jero Bonaparte said, pointing to the docunt in his hand to Augustus. "This is a report on cooperatives from the central province!"
Jero Bonaparte handed the cooperative report to Augusta.
After reading it from top to bottom, Augusta looked at Jero Bonaparte in confusion and asked, "This report seems fine! Aren’t many people joining the cooperative?"
"That’s precisely the biggest problem!" Jero Bonaparte responded helplessly. "According to this report, more than 70% of the farrs in their province have joined! Since when did farrs show such high enthusiasm? If every farr understood the benefits of cooperatives, why would I have ordered the establishnt of Agricultural Colleges in every province back then!"
"What do you an?" Augusta seed to understand Jero Bonaparte’s implication.
"Either the people below are fooling us, or soone is forcibly using administrative orders to achieve their goals for political achievents!" Jero Bonaparte sneered.
No matter where or when, the bureaucratic class behaves the sa. They will go to any length for political achievents.
Such people were called ruthless officials in ancient tis.
"And it’s not just the central areas; similar situations have appeared in so southern regions!" Jero Bonaparte pulled out several docunts from the pile on the right and sighed, "Professor Jean Dulles is a competent professor, but his understanding of bureaucracy appears to be still in the ivory tower."
"I don’t think so!" Augusta expressed a different opinion.
"Oh? What do you think?" Jero Bonaparte asked Augusta.
"The reason these docunts are here is probably that your minister noticed sothing amiss!" Augusta explained to Jero Bonaparte. "Otherwise, they might never have reached your desk. Didn’t you say all docunts are filtered by various departnts before reaching you!"
"You have a point!" Jero Bonaparte gently stroked his jaw.
"So, what do you plan to do?" At this point, Augusta had fully assud the role of both wife and assistant.
"What else can we do? Of course, conduct a field inspection! Without investigation, there is no right to speak!" Jero Bonaparte shrugged as he spoke to Augusta, then added, "Let’s treat it as a honeymoon for the two of us!"
"Alright!" Augusta had a happy smile on her face.
Jero Bonaparte continued to flip through the contents below, while Augusta assisted in organizing what he had reviewed.
On November 2nd, Jero Bonaparte and Augusta decided to leave Paris to inspect the provinces, with their first stop being the province that claid 70% of the farrs eagerly joined the cooperative.
The results of the surprise inspection were just as Jero Bonaparte had anticipated. The vast majority of farrs in the province were coerced into joining the cooperatives, with many not even knowing what a cooperative was before joining.
After so investigation, Jero Bonaparte found that most cooperatives were far from fulfilling the obligations they should and were instead a complete ss.
Only a few cooperatives organized by reputable priests or slightly affluent farrs showed positive feedback.
Moreover, the province’s cooperatives did not even reach the proclaid 70%, barely around 40% at best.
Even so, the entire province was in disarray.
Jero Bonaparte then inspected the local agricultural schools, only to find issues with staffing, as many agricultural schools couldn’t recruit many students.
Agricultural loans prioritized nobles and large landlords, and the wealthy ’initially rich’ group used loans to begin small-scale land rgers.
The policies initially favorable to farrs beca oppressive asures in local areas.
Bureaucratic coercion for efficiency resulted in policies that reminded Jero Bonaparte of a ti over a century later, bringing a sense of lancholy.
He felt a sense of sorrow as any good policy in the hands of irresponsible local officials turns into an act of harm against the people.
Upon experiencing the corruption of the bureaucratic class, Jero Bonaparte imdiately dismissed the governor of that province as well as several city mayors, and appointed a capable official as governor. Though this capable official was a mber of the (moderate) Republican Faction, Jero Bonaparte resolutely chose to appoint him.
In Jero Bonaparte’s words: "I would rather have a capable official from the Republican Faction than an incompetent fool harming the people."
Upon taking office, the new governor quickly selected a group of mayors familiar with grassroots operations from the city council. Most were mbers of the Orthodox and Orléans Factions familiar with grassroots operations.
After the new governor and mayors took office, they imdiately issued an order allowing farrs to dissolve cooperatives if they were unwilling to establish them.
Nearly 60% of the cooperatives were directly dissolved, and most farrs returned to working individually.
Seeing the joy on the faces of the farrs in front of them, Jero Bonaparte shook his head and sighed again, "The road ahead is long and arduous!"
With the first province receiving a thunderous blow, Jean Dulles, understanding Jero Bonaparte’s stance, also imdiately took action, and the agricultural inspection team began checking provinces that exceeded cooperative establishnt targets.
As expected, provinces that overachieved targets failed completely.
Subsequently, Jean Dulles also issued an order to dissolve unqualified cooperatives.
Jero Bonaparte also severely criticized the provinces that used administrative orders to complete tasks, dismissing another batch of incompetent governors, while promoting a group of capable officials.
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