In Joseph's North Africa strategy, he never planned on using the French Army to force his way through from start to finish.
Not only would that approach heavily deplete the troops and cost a significant amount, it would also easily provoke fierce resistance from local forces in North Africa.
Countless examples from later generations show that defeating the enemy's main force is often not the difficult part; the real headache starts when cleaning up scattered local militias. For instance, a future world superpower managed to defeat Atta in just over ten days, but then spent 2 trillion US dollars over more than a decade fighting guerrilla groups, and still lost in the end.
Therefore, the best method was still to mobilize the local forces in North Africa to work for oneself, and have a small contingent of elite French forces act as a counterbalance to influence the final victory or defeat.
The diplomats of France and the Police Affairs Department had already been working towards this goal in Algiers for quite some time.
...
Joseph's carriage was half a mile away from the Paris Police Academy's training field when he heard the distant sound of bugles.
A troop of police academy students, dressed in smart military uniforms, came running in two columns. Every two meters, the last man in line would stop. Soon, from the entrance of the training field to beside Joseph's carriage, two straight walls of people were formed.
With a loud command from an officer, both columns of police academy students turned around, lowering their rifles with the butts nearly touching the ground, creating a resounding "clack."
The carriage passed between the two rows of students. Joseph nodded in satisfaction at the police academy students on both sides. Just from the welcoming formation, one could see the training quality of these students. Over hundreds of meters, the formation was straight, and the movements were uniform; this by today's European standards was definitely considered an elite force.
Several neat squadrons had already been arranged on the training field.
Nearly a thousand senior students from the first enrollment were lined up at the front. Behind them were the second batch of new students, more numerous but less organized. Joseph had already seen Frient's report; the second enrollment of the police academy had recruited as many as 3,000 students.
This was possible because the police academy provided food and lodging, and it was fully open to civilians, with scholarships available for those with excellent grades. Many children from civilian families living far from Paris, upon learning of the favorable conditions at the police academy, would even travel half a month's journey to register.
Of course, what was most important was that Joseph now had some money to spend, able to afford so many students—the cost of their brand-new full military uniforms alone exceeded 120 livres. And to think, the French treasury hadn't allocated a single denier to the Paris Police Academy.
Behind the second batch of students, there were over a thousand soldiers dressed in somewhat older uniforms and of an older average age. They were Bertier's Corps, who had come to attend the ceremony.
Joseph stepped out of the carriage, surrounded by important figures like Frient and Bertier, and made his way to the center of the reviewing stand, raising his hand in acknowledgment to the students and soldiers on the field.
Immediately, the thousands on the training field stood to attention with chests out, raising their hats in salute, and a thunderous shout erupted: "Long live the King! Long live the Crown Prince!"
Joseph smiled and returned the salute with his hat before delivering a customary speech as the school principal. Such speeches would be made here at least once each year from now on.𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
Afterward, each squadron of students and soldiers marched past the reviewing stand in turn, inspected by the Crown Prince.
Behind Joseph, the newly appointed Minister of Industry, Mirabeau, who had been invited to observe, was profoundly shocked as he watched the proud and well-trained squadrons before him.
For the past few days, he had been perplexed as to why the Crown Prince wanted him to attend the police academy's new student induction ceremony. Only now did he finally understand that the Crown Prince was showcasing his own power—these were no mere police academy students; this was the Crown Prince's own army!
Initially, he had only thought the young Crown Prince was highly knowledgeable about industrial development and could bring prosperity and hope to France's industrial sector.
Now, he realized that the Crown Prince was indeed a genius monarch—advancing industrial development while guarding against potential famine, having integrated a large number of banks recently, and now, he had formed a powerful army here.
What was most important was that the Crown Prince had managed to do all this without anyone realizing it!
Mirabeau inwardly sighed: perhaps in a few years, France would welcome a king as great as the Sun King. No, even more dazzling!
The resonant shouts of the squadrons interrupted Mirabeau's thoughts. He looked towards the training field, only to notice that the soldiers were carrying rifles that were very peculiar, none of which were any model produced by Charleville—he was passionate about hunting and had done considerable research on common firearms.
So, he leaned in and quietly asked the Director of Police Services beside him, "Viscount Besancon, do you know what kind of guns they're using? I don't think I've ever seen them before."
The other immediately replied, "Those are the Auguste Model 1788 Caplock Guns. The Royal Armory, which was personally overseen by His Majesty, recently started manufacturing them."
The Royal Armory next to the Palace of Versailles and the armory in Saint-Etienne were both on the right track, showing initial success with standardized production. If operating at full capacity, the two factories could manufacture over 2,000 caplock guns per month.
This was even with Joseph instructing the Saint-Etienne location to divert much of its effort into researching cannon casting, otherwise, production numbers could be even higher.
Meanwhile, under the leadership of Lavoisier, the Royal Gunpowder Bureau had already mastered the preparation of fulminate mercury, easily producing 30,000 copper caps per month.
With the production capacity of these two institutions, the Paris Police Academy and Bertier's Corps had already been fully equipped with new caplock guns, and routine shooting training was conducted with these as the standard.
After all the ceremonies had concluded, Joseph announced that the first batch of students from the police academy would immediately begin their live exercises.
The first batch of students had clearly not been informed in advance and all appeared very surprised upon hearing the news.
However, the instructors' commands quickly made them realize that the live drills had already started.
This was a special arrangement by Joseph, with the purpose of testing the real mobilization capacity and response speed of the troops.
The urging voices of the instructors resounded everywhere: "Hurry! Move faster!"
"This is war, start running!"
"The last squad to assemble will run five laps as punishment!"
The students didn't panic, but instead dispersed in an orderly fashion under the command of their own squad leaders, quickly running back to their barracks.
Meanwhile, the cavalry and artillery rushed toward the stables...
Mirabeau had not expected that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince would invite him to have lunch in the military camp.
He sat amongst hundreds of police officers, looking at the simple tableware in front of him and feeling quite awkward, but when he turned his head, he found that the Crown Prince, the Director of Police Services, and others had already started eating heartily.
Having no choice, he joined in, and then noticed that, although the food looked coarse, it tasted decent, and there was meat, vegetables, and bread—everything that was needed, almost no different from the officers' meals he had when serving in the cavalry.
When lunch ended, all the students stood up simultaneously, watching as the Crown Prince left the dining hall. Seeing the burning adoration and trust in their eyes, Mirabeau suddenly understood the important significance of this meal.
After rejoining the Crown Prince's party and returning to the training field, Mirabeau was surprised to find that the majority of the infantry had already completed their departure preparations, and not far away, the artillerymen were rushing horses, dragging several cannons in this direction.
He checked his watch, only half an hour had passed since the officers had given the order to assemble!
The only word that came to his mind was "elite!"
Another half hour later, over a thousand fully armed police academy students were formed up in neat columns, leaving the training ground in a grand procession.
Of course, this was the speed that could be achieved without considering logistics preparation—it would take at least several days to gather all the logistical support.
The army of the first batch of students marched southward, maintaining a rapid pace, and finally arrived at Tutsi Town on the afternoon of the sixth day.
After resting there for a day, they finally met their training opponents for this internship—the third infantry of the Mulan Regiment, led by Andre, who had just hurried over from Mulan.
After the two armies joined forces, Andre first met with the commanders of the police academy students to discuss the upcoming training matters, then had dinner together.
Once all official business was finished, Andre, who couldn't wait any longer, came to the police academy students' camp, led by a police academy instructor, finally meeting the young lieutenant who was not yet twenty years old.
The young man and Andre first saluted each other by tipping their hats, then warmly embraced one another.
Andre pulled the lieutenant back at a distance, looked at him up and down with a smile, and said, "Dear Nicolas, you've finally become a true officer!"
The young man named Nicolas replied with vibrant spirits, "Perhaps it won't be long before I can become a great Corps Commander like you, my dear brother."
"Haha, that day will come. But for now, you've just graduated, focus on gaining experience, don't think about anything else," said Andre, patting his brother's shoulder, "Actually, I think that in the future, the most accomplished among us Dawus will definitely be you."
"You've been smarter than me since we were young, and serving under the Crown Prince, you will certainly climb the ranks much faster than I did."
The brothers hadn't seen each other for more than two years and immediately started to chat and laugh as they walked toward the edge of the camp.
"Wow, your military uniforms are truly magnificent; just look at those sharply tailored edges!"
Nicolas nodded, "It's said that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had them designed by a famous Parisian designer. Oh, you haven't seen the winter gear yet. It's really impressive, all made of wool and reportedly costs 70 livres apiece."
Andre glanced down at his own old uniform, nearly letting envy spill from the corners of his mouth before hastily changing the subject, "By the way, when did you leave, and how did you arrive a day earlier than us?"
"We left Paris last Wednesday. Brother, it was a fast-paced march all the way, and I was utterly exhausted. You know, we've never marched this quickly at the academy."
Andre's eyes widened in disbelief, "Are you saying you only marched for 6 days? From Paris to Tutsi Town is nearly 40 leagues!"
Forty leagues is 160 kilometers, which means the police academy students marched over 26 kilometers per day. This was definitely a remarkable pace in the 18th century.
Keep in mind, the Mulan Regiment also set out last Wednesday, covering less than 30 leagues, yet it took them one day longer than the police academy students.
This was the result of the rigorous physical training at the Paris Police Academy. In fact, if not for maintaining formation, those academy students could have easily marched an extra ten or so kilometers each day with their endurance.
Nicolas nodded, "The cadets at the academy have excellent stamina. I heard they often do exercises that include running one league with backpacks. I tried it a few days ago and could barely keep up with some of the slower ones."
Nicolas attended the Paris Military Academy and, although he worked extremely hard and was quite fit during his time there, he had not undergone systematic cross-country running training and almost couldn't keep up with the police academy students.
Hearing this, Andre frowned, "If what you're saying is true, then my corps might have a very tough time in this exercise."
But he immediately smiled again, "Fortunately, I've brought one of Mulan's finest regiments. Even if we can't out-march you, in things like formations and shooting, we'll certainly win back some ground."
"That remains to be seen," Nicolas replied with an odd look, "Do you know how the police academy trains in shooting?"
"How do they train?"
"Previously with flintlock guns, it was 10 shots every 3 days. After switching to caplock guns, the Director of Academic Affairs said to get familiar with the new guns faster, we increased it to 5 shots a day."
"Five shots a day?!" Andre gasped, his own regiment only fired that many every half a month.
He suddenly noticed a term his brother had just mentioned, "What's a 'caplock gun' that you mentioned?"
Nicolas pointed to a police academy student on patrol not far away with a firearm on his back, "Look, that one. I have one too, but I left it over there. It's said to be a new gun designed by His Majesty the King, others say by the Crown Prince. When firing, you don't have to pour in priming powder, just insert a copper cap. Oh, like this..."
He said as he took a percussion cap out of his belt pouch and handed it to his brother, "This gun can be loaded three to four seconds faster than a Charleville, and it also has a slightly longer range."
Andre's face darkened, as he began to consider how he would explain to his wife, the Duchess of Vilar, if his seasoned soldiers were to be defeated by police academy students with less than a year of training.
The next morning, with the sound of a cannon, the joint exercise between the Mulan Regiment and the first batch of Paris Police Academy students officially began.
According to the rules, whichever side reached the Paris Mars Field first could "occupy" the high ground there, taking up a more advantageous defensive position. The later arrivals had no choice but to launch an assault.
Just two hours later, Andre received a report from his scouts saying that the "enemy" had already entered march mode.
He was surprised and looked through his binoculars, indeed noting that the police academy students had already set off in neat formation.
"How is this possible?" he turned to his staff officer, "Did they prepare in advance?"
The latter also lifted his binoculars in haste, "That's impossible, Commandant. I had people supervising their side, they definitely would not... wait, are they not taking any supply wagons?"
"Hmm?" Andre scrutinized further and saw that his staff officer was correct.
He immediately showed a smile, "These inexperienced youngsters will soon have to stop and wait for their supply trains."