The Fox of France - Chapter 221: Dispute

Stafford’s pupils contracted as he grabbed O’Kiley’s collar. “Are you trying to threaten me?”

“Sir, you misunderstand. I… I would never dare,” O’Kiley hastily replied, “I only wanted to, to invite you for a meal, sir.”

Stafford released his grip on O’Kiley’s collar and looked at him for a moment before saying, “Are you trying to use me to intimidate someone?”

“Sir, you’re brilliant!” O’Kiley quickly grinned, giving a thumbs-up.

“Sir, you see, there’s a pub on Okan Street, which used to be my territory, but then that damn Javert from the detective squad – you see, he’s a real piece of work. He took over that street with his numerous henchmen. Sir, if you’d be willing to help, allowing me to invite you to that pub, Javert wouldn’t dare to compete with me, would he?”

“Hmm,” Stafford thought for a moment before continuing, “Captain O’Kiley, you are quite resourceful!”

“Thank you for the praise, sir!” O’Kiley replied quickly.

“In which pub is this?”

“The Amethyst Inn.”

“If you collect money on Okan Street, I want half of it,” Stafford said.

“But, sir, the money I collect on that street is already yours. How can I take half of it? It all belongs to you. Sir, you have many expenses. I won’t hide it, but if we let Javert and his gang know that I’m your man – no, your dog – they won’t dare to mess with me. Not giving me respect is the same as not giving you respect, and not giving you respect means not giving the United Kingdom respect. With this respect, I can hold my head high in front of them.”

Stafford smiled and said, “O’Kiley, you’re quite something. You have a conscience. But why do you have confiscated goods here? Do you really have dealings with them?”

“Oh, sir, I dare not make such claims. Even if I had ten times the courage, I wouldn’t dare. But, sir, think about it. Where do the rebels get their guns? There are only two possibilities: French guns and British guns they’ve seized.”

At this point, O’Kiley paused for a moment and continued, “Sir, you know that British guns come in two types: new and old. New ones, like the rifles your men are equipped with, would be used by the regular elite rebels. The local rebels wouldn’t have many of those. The other type is the old-style smoothbore guns used by our constabulary.”

“Sir, our constabulary is good for maintaining public order, but in a real fight, we’re not up to it, especially against elite rebels. However, those rebels are the worst; they generally avoid confrontations with your men and focus on bullying us. Our constabulary loses guns every day. So, the rebels’ most common guns are our constabulary’s rifles. Especially the local rebels, most of their guns are either identical or originally ours. So, when it comes to confiscating guns, we just need to have my men turn them in. There should be more.”

“This is good, but you don’t need to take all their guns. Generally, in battle, even if you win, if you don’t wipe out the enemy completely, they tend to grab some weapons as they flee. So, the number of weapons you can confiscate in a battle is far less than the number of enemy casualties. How many rebels did we kill?” Captain Stafford asked.

“Over a hundred!” O’Kiley said, “Men, women, young, and old, we killed them all. Unfortunately, it was in the swamp, so we couldn’t bring their bodies back. We couldn’t even cut off their heads.”

“O’Kiley, we’re not barbarians who count heads.” Stafford frowned. “So, let’s see, around ten guns, right? Any issues with these guns?”

“Of course not. We lost over forty men, and we recovered quite a few of their guns. They can be counted as part of the confiscation.”

“Very good,” Stafford nodded. “Apart from weapons, there should be other things. Take care of these details for me.”

“Sir, I’ll handle it. You can rest assured; there won’t be any problems.”

“Alright, go back and get some rest. Tomorrow, you’ll need to disrupt their potato operation,” Stafford’s mood had significantly improved.

Due to their new “swamp boots,” on this day, many British soldiers pursued the rebels into the swamp, just like Stafford’s unit. Still, most of them returned empty-handed. Stafford, despite suffering significant losses, was one of the few who captured rebels and confiscated a substantial amount of equipment. In the end, he earned the reputation of being a “swamp warfare expert” and received commendations. But that’s a story for another day.

Meanwhile, in France, Joseph, Napoleon, and Lucien, the three brothers, found themselves in a heated dispute, unlike anything they had experienced before.

This conflict had been sparked by Napoleon’s plan to reform France’s legal system. In the original timeline, Napoleon, who held a deep fascination for Roman law, had collaborated with legal experts like the President of the High Court, Tronchet, the Roman law scholar Malville, the government’s Minister of Justice, Portalis, and the prosecutor of the Navy Court, Boulay de la Meurthe, to create the famous “Napoleonic Code.”

This legal code held a high status in history, being one of the earliest civil codes of the bourgeois nation. It affirmed the legitimacy of property ownership for the bourgeoisie and farmers, protecting them from feudal encroachments. It negated feudal privileges, established principles of freedom and equality for the bourgeoisie, and ensured that every citizen possessed equal civil rights and legal capacity. The code addressed various aspects of social life, including family, marriage, and inheritance. This code was the earliest civil code in capitalist countries, dismantling feudal legislative principles, and it became the legislative standard for the bourgeoisie in Europe and the Americas, fostering capitalist development.

In later times, two major legal systems dominated the world—the “Anglo-American legal system,” also known as the “Common Law system,” and the “Continental legal system,” represented by Roman law and the “Napoleonic Code.” In the context of the “Continental legal system,” the term “Civil Law” specifically referred to the “Napoleonic Code.”

In the original timeline, Napoleon, after suffering defeat at Waterloo and enduring exile once again, had expressed rather dramatically, “My life’s military achievements have flowed away with the waters of the River Ems. But my Code will endure forever.”

The authenticity of this quote might be questionable, but the “Napoleonic Code” was indeed a remarkable achievement, hailed for its “innovative, significant, controversial, practical, and enduring” qualities.

When it came to Joseph’s support for the “Napoleonic Code,” there was no doubt. This code primarily affirmed the principle of private property rights. In the original context, nearly one-third of the articles in the code aimed to safeguard the inviolability of private property from various angles. For Joseph, who had amassed wealth through violent means during the revolution, this was indeed a favorable development.

“Now that we’ve enriched ourselves through violent means, we should establish rules to prevent others from following the same path to wealth. We cannot allow others to reach a dead-end like us,” Joseph firmly believed in this principle. In this regard, Napoleon’s legal code elevated the interests of their family to the interests of the state, a perspective Joseph wholeheartedly supported.

However, after discussing the fundamental principles of the “Civil Code,” Joseph and Napoleon moved on to discuss political arrangements. It was in this matter that their differences became apparent.

Initially, Napoleon simply mentioned his intention to ease tensions with the Papal States. During the French Revolution, the Papal States had firmly allied themselves with the counter-revolutionaries. The revolutionary government in France, adhering to the tradition of “No money, seize the church’s property,” led to a complete rupture between France and the Vatican. During the Reign of Robespierre, France even went as far as to abolish the Catholic Church, replacing it with the so-called “Cult of Reason.”

However, after Robespierre’s fall, the crackdown on the Church diminished. Nevertheless, the government and the Vatican had not reached a reconciliation. Legally, the Catholic Church remained an “illegal organization” in France.

Joseph was supportive of this initiative because religion, in his view, was the opium of the people, much like the people’s vice. Without religion, how could the masses endure the pain of their future suffering?

However, during their discussion, Napoleon’s words raised a concern for Joseph. “Even Roman emperors knew the importance of using Christianity to secure their status. That’s why the Pope placed the crown on their heads. Although the Pope was their servant, it was more convincing to the common people than proclaiming themselves gods.”

“Napoleon,” Joseph furrowed his brow, “there is something crucial I’ve wanted to discuss with you for a long time. It pertains to the future political system of France.”

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