He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 526

Extracurricular (4) Vidocq Tracks Down Anti-Government Revolutionaries

A hunting cap, a pipe, and a monocle.

He looked like a gentleman heading out for a leisurely trip to the countryside.

But the man wearing them looked quite rough.

He seemed like he’d be right at home wandering the dark back alleys of Paris, smelling the sewers.

The rough man with the monocle, Eugène François Vidocq, bared his teeth.

“So, you can’t tell me who made this pamphlet?”

On the other hand, his opponent was a young man who seemed every bit the scholar.

In fact, with his youthful face, he looked more like a freshman who had just entered university.

Suddenly, the trembling young man glared at Vidocq and retorted.

“How would I know? I’m just a mathematician.”

“Look, Évariste. I know you’re a student at the École Polytechnique [a prestigious engineering school]. But, seditious documents were found in your room.”

“Galois.”

Évariste Galois shouted through gritted teeth.

“Call me Monsieur Galois. Monsieur Vidocq. I know you’re a high-ranking investigator, but I’m also the son of the mayor!”

Later in history, he would become a famous mathematician by publishing the so-called Galois theory.

But now, he was just a student at the École Polytechnique, the best engineering school in Paris.

Therefore, he had no choice but to be at the mercy of Vidocq, a famous investigator.

Especially since he had been branded as a dissident and summoned.

Momentarily fiddling with the [Legion of Honour] medal [a prestigious French order of merit] hanging on his chest, Vidocq tilted his head.

“Then I’ll change the question. What is your relationship with Metternich?”

“What are you talking about all of a sudden? Metternich? The old Austrian Chancellor? I don’t know such a has-been. I don’t think I was even born when he was Chancellor.”

“Right. A has-been. But he’s also the one leading the anti-imperial movement centered in London.”

Vidocq grinned.

“I have intelligence that high-ranking Jacobin officials have been in contact with him. And, what was found in your room was a pamphlet scribbled by the Jacobins. Now, do you understand why I called you here?”

Only then did Galois realize he had made a mistake.

In the first place, Metternich was a figure who had long been out of the spotlight.

So Galois couldn’t possibly know who he was.

On the other hand, the moment he mentioned ‘has-been,’ Galois confessed that he knew who Metternich was.

Metternich, who was lurking in London, plotting to undermine France’s dominance over Europe.

Now there was only one solution.

The mathematician Galois closed his eyes.

“Torture me.”

“What?”

“I will prove my innocence through torture! Do it, you dog of the government!”

It was a spirited statement, but he was trembling so much that it was obvious at a glance.

Vidocq snorted.

In fact, ‘back in the day,’ Vidocq had resorted to any means to get a confession.

But now, wasn’t it the ‘modern’ 19th century?

Getting up lightly and opening the door, Vidocq said.

“That’s absurd. Go.”

“Wh-what? Go?”

“Our modern French National Police don’t do medieval things like torture. However.”

At that moment, Vidocq’s eyes behind the monocle flashed.

“You can’t leave Paris for the time being. If you do, you’ll be immediately arrested and thrown into the prison on the Île de la Cité [an island in the Seine River, historically a site of prisons and palaces].”

It was said that once revolutionaries entered the prison on the Île de la Cité, they could not come out alive.

There was even a legend that the current Emperor’s mother, Joséphine Bonaparte, was imprisoned there.

Of course, if that were the case, her body would have been ruined and she wouldn’t have been able to give birth to the Emperor’s brothers, so it must be a lie.

That’s how much the Île de la Cité was a target of fear for those who dreamed of revolution.

Galois trembled without even being tortured and ran out.

-Thump, thump!

His colleague, César Herbaut, who had been watching the scene, clicked his tongue.

“You’re not a National Police investigator anymore. Should I have told him you retired a long time ago and started a detective agency?”

“Shut up, Herbaut. The Chief of Police commissioned me, so I can talk about the National Police.”

“Still not torturing rebels? Can we just let that guy go?”

Torture had already been banned during the Great Revolution through the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

However, the world doesn’t always work according to the law.

For example, when the Spanish royal family was bombed by terrorists.

Even then, torture was used to reveal the mastermind.

Vidocq smirked and urged Herbaut.

“Don’t you know my methods? You have to let him go to track him. Now, Herbaut, hurry up and follow that guy.”

The man who was once Vidocq’s prison mate, Herbaut, grumbled as he put on his fedora.

“Oh, my fate. If I didn’t owe that guy a favor!”

Of course, Vidocq doesn’t know how brilliant a mathematician Galois is.

But one thing is certain.

He’s not a particularly outstanding underground activist.

However, in order to catch the underground anti-imperial movement members who operate in small groups, it is necessary to chase after the rat whose trail has been caught first.

After writing a brief report, Vidocq also got up.

“Then, shall we go meet the real boss?”

He was the one he had to meet in order to receive the reward for this request.

***

The Chief of Police at the time was famous for being a long-serving minister.

“Disappointing, Monsieur Vidocq. Your performance has been really bad lately. Ahem!”

A man who had been the Chief of Police for over 20 years at the age of 66.

A police official who was notorious among anti-imperialists as the Emperor’s hunting dog.

Originally, he was said to have a bad relationship with the Emperor, but the fact that he still held his position tells one thing.

He reads the Emperor’s mind extremely well and acts accordingly.

Vidocq chuckled at Joseph Fouché, who coughed dryly.

“I don’t think I’m a police officer. Your Excellency, Minister Fouché. Tell that to your subordinates.”

“Have you forgotten that you have been granted the glorious title of Special Investigator of His Majesty the Emperor? Your mission is to capture all of His Majesty’s enemies.”

“Oh, I only believe in gold. Not titles.”

Vidocq flicked the gold coin pouch in his hand and retorted.

“Also, so do my informants. Otherwise, they’ll go over to Metternich.”

The era was truly a time when capitalism was blooming.

Everyone coveted money, and if they could earn more money, they would even sell their family.

Therefore, Vidocq couldn’t help but sneer at the words of a former revolutionary who talked about honor.

Besides, if Fouché had wanted to protect his honor in the first place, shouldn’t he have resigned from his position long ago?

Fouché frowned and lifted the report.

“Are you sure?”

“If you’re asking if Metternich is definitely planning an anti-imperial uprising, then of course he is.”

“Are you sure about this report that he will start an uprising in July?”

Vidocq snorted.

“Isn’t that information that can be overturned at any time if the plan changes?”

“Hey, Vidocq. Do you think I paid you 10,000 francs just to hear that kind of report?”

“However, if it’s from just yesterday, it’s true that it’s being planned. Especially the École Normale Supérieure [a higher education institution], the École Polytechnique, and the École Centrale [another higher education institution]. The students from these three places will rise up together.”

École Normale Supérieure, soon the Paris Higher Normal School.

École Polytechnique, Paris Polytechnic University.

École Centrale, Paris Central University.

Collectively, they are the core higher education institutions in France called [Grandes Écoles] [elite higher education institutions].

It is a place where core talents who will lead the future gather and receive education.

It is also a place where people who will become the de facto ruling elite in an empire without nobles gather.

But the fact that anti-imperialists are rampant there was unbelievable.

“It’s a relief that there are no military cadets. I’ll have to tell the headmaster of Saint-Cyr [a military academy] to crack down on them.”

“They may be added.”

“What’s the problem! The Empire is prospering, and taxes are low! There’s no food crisis, so why are they rebelling!”

Vidocq shrugged.

“Times have changed. Your Excellency, Minister. These days, young people are fighting for the right to vote. On the other hand, workers are said to be fighting for money.”

It was different in the old days of the 18th century when the Great Revolution broke out.

The national finances were in ruins, leading to a crisis of bankruptcy, or rather, repeated bankruptcy announcements.

The Little Ice Age climate and heavy taxation overlapped, causing food shortages every year.

When the citizens of Paris rose up, everyone chose to kill rather than be killed.

But now everything is abundant.

Why are they dreaming of revolution?

Fouché, who was once a fervent revolutionary, shouted with a face that he couldn’t understand.

“Those communist bastards should be executed immediately!”

“I think the Jacobin symbol used to be red. You were a Jacobin, weren’t you, Minister?”

“That’s an insulting remark. I like blue. It’s the Emperor’s symbol!”

The former communist Fouché screamed.

“Arrest them all. Not a single one of them! We must make sure they don’t even think about an uprising!”

Of course, he wasn’t ordering Vidocq, who wasn’t a police officer.

He was talking to the heads of the National Police, the Police Bureau, and the Security Bureau who were listening next to him.

The three heads quickly took a salute in a stiff posture and tried to run out.

At that time, Vidocq leisurely fiddled with his monocle and said.

“If I were you, I would give my subordinates other work to do.”

“Hmph, do you know why the Bourbons collapsed? Because they didn’t arrest and throw people like Robespierre or me in jail sooner.”

“If they had made the revolutionaries into scoundrels, the uprising itself would not have happened.”

Vidocq smiled strangely.

“There is a suitable person.”

Attack the messenger rather than the message.

It’s a very useful method from ancient times.

Fouché, an expert in intelligence operations, understood what he meant.

“Who is it? Don’t tell me, the mathematician you interrogated today?”

“No. It’s Babeuf.”

“Wait a minute, is that guy still alive?”

Vidocq nodded to the surprised Fouché and explained.

“Yes. He will be entering the country soon with the spy master, Philip d’Auvergne.”

Although the ones dreaming of revolution are young people, there are old people behind them.

Also, those who are trying to stop the revolution are also old people.

The old man, Fouché, flashed his eyes and responded.

“It’s good to frame him as a traitor. I approve!”

It was a decision made by an 18th-century revolutionary to prevent the 19th-century anti-imperial revolution.

***

No matter how modern the 19th century is, criminals are not automatically caught just by talking.

“That’s right, having to wait for rebels by the sea on this cold day. Achoo!”

Herbaut sneezed and glared at the sea in front of him.

This place is near the port of Brest on the northeastern coast of France.

It was once a place where the British sent troops and supplies to help the counter-revolutionaries inside France.

Vidocq also muttered with longing eyes.

“A woman’s bedroom is better.”

“When are they coming?”

“Well, it depends on the weather in London. No one knows when they’ll come here. Huh?”

Vidocq narrowed his eyes.

“They’re coming.”

Far away, there were people landing on the coast in the storm, piercing through the wind and rain.

“Now, land! Huh?”

In an instant, gunfire rang out loudly.

-Clang, bang!

Beyond the rocks on the coast, dozens of plainclothes detectives stood with guns in their hands.

They are employees of the Vidocq Société, that is, the Vidocq Detective Agency.

They are made up of former soldiers or police officers, and are specialists in combat and shooting.

The British spies who had just landed through the wind and rain all froze.

Suddenly, Vidocq waved his hand.

“Hehe, long time no see. Spy Master!”

D’Auvergne, who was in the ranks, trembled and screamed.

“Damn it, I’ve been caught by that thief again!”

Vidocq chuckled and handcuffed d’Auvergne and his gang.

“Then, will you become the criminals who will cause the anti-imperial uprising? Hehe!”

A detective who catches spies to make criminals.

This is what happened during the first week of March, which Vidocq spent busily.

It was one day when the July Revolution, or the July Rebellion, was predicted.