Joseph, however, seemed to have more to say, waving his hand emphatically, "Regrettably, the northern shore of the Black Sea still harbors Ottoman fortresses. Only by swiftly leveling them can we ensure the stability of ports vital for Black Sea trade."𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺
"Afterward, Russia should press forward into the south bank of the Danube River, seizing control of the river's estuary from the hands of the Ottoman Empire!"
"And on the east coast of the Black Sea, Georgia—a small country under Russian protection—is still occupied by the Ottomans at the Black Sea outlet and faces the suppression of the Persians, urgently awaiting Russia's rescue," he added seriously.
Looking earnestly at Paul, he continued, "If necessary, France stands ready to provide support at any time!"
Crown Prince Paul was stunned; the French Crown Prince seemed even more aggressive than his own mother. Except for the southern coast of the Black Sea—Ottoman territory—he had designated almost everything for Russia. Had there been outsiders present, they might have mistaken him for the Russian heir.
In fact, Joseph was merely reiterating the historical Russo-Turkish Wars. These places represented coveted interests for Russia, an aspiration no Russian could resist.
Sure enough, Paul nodded in excitement, "This is also His Majesty the King's..."
Joseph quickly added, "It's His Majesty the King's intention; please be sure to convey this to Her Majesty the Empress."
As the French Crown Prince, his words carried ample diplomatic weight.
Russians are straightforward, valuing directness both in gratitude and revenge.
Paul, too, responded immediately with a reciprocating gesture, "I assure you, we will also support France's actions in North Africa whenever necessary!"
After parting with the Russian heir, Joseph returned to his private quarters only to find the servants at a loss, surrounding the Spanish Crown Prince—who was clearly drunk, his hair a mess, and his demeanor utterly dejected.
Upon seeing the French Crown Prince return, Antonio promptly stood up with his glass, eyes reddening again.
Joseph could only shake his head, drinking a few glasses with him and quietly patting his back in comfort.
Soon, Antonio collapsed into drunkenness. Joseph instructed the servants to carry him to bed and as he turned around, he saw Fouché approaching quickly, saluting, "Your Highness, should we continue to monitor the second floor of the south wing?"
He was referring to the surveillance of the Spanish Crown Princess.
"No need," Joseph shook his head. Antonio had proven himself ineffective, and there was little Joseph could do about it.
He glanced at Antonio and offhandedly said to Fouché, "Is there a way to give him the courage to deal with that unfaithful woman?"
Fouché paused, then whispered, "Your Highness, dealing with that woman might be troublesome, but dealing with her lover should not be difficult."
"Oh?" Joseph inquired, "And how do you intend to do that?"
With an excited and cold smile, Fouché replied, "Destroying him should be easy, and it shouldn't cause too much trouble."
Joseph frowned; he disliked resorting to such "dirty" tactics, to the point that he instinctively overlooked this option.
However, he then remembered Antonio's pained expression and narrowed his eyes. Godoy was just a minor guard with no significant background; perhaps a straightforward approach might be most effective.
He looked at Fouché, "Can you ensure it is foolproof?"
"Rest assured, it will appear to be an accident; no one will suspect," Fouché reassured him.
"Tomorrow is His Majesty the King's birthday; don't cause too much commotion," Joseph cautioned.
"Yes, Your Highness, I understand," Fouché responded.
At lunchtime, a tall and handsome man in his thirties encountered Joseph in the corridor and immediately stepped forward to greet him.
Eman quickly informed him in a low voice, "Your Highness, this is Prince Poniatowski of Poland."
Joseph nodded slightly but deliberately turned his face away, ignoring the Polish prince and leaving him in awkward observance as he proudly walked away.
With eyes everywhere in the Palace of Versailles, and having chosen to align closely with Russia, Joseph needed to keep a distance from Poland.
Prince Poniatowski wasn't too upset; after all, Poland was in decline, riddled with deep-seated problems, especially since it had just lost a vast territory to Russia, Prussia, and Austria a decade earlier. It was quite normal for a great power like France to look down on them.
But just as he turned the corner of the staircase, a strange young man suddenly greeted him and handed him a note.
Prince Poniatowski gripped the note in surprise, only unfolding it when he was alone. It was from the French Crown Prince, inviting him to meet at a certain place outside the Palace of Versailles at two o'clock that afternoon.
The midsummer afternoon was intensely hot, particularly as it had been a while since France saw any rain.
Wiping sweat from his brow, Prince Poniatowski was about to check the time again when he saw two "gemstone" carriages—the latest French fashion—stop beside him.
Moments later, inside the carriage, Joseph eyed the rather valiant-looking Polish prince and smiled, "I apologize for meeting you like this. However, please believe that our ensuing conversation is of utmost importance to you and to Poland."
Joseph was well aware that the current King of Poland, Stanisław August Poniatowski, was unreliable. Back then, his rise to the throne of Poland was due to his affair with Catherine, supported by the Empress herself[Note 1].
Perhaps due to Catherine's overwhelming dominance in his previous life experiences, even after becoming King, he remained in great fear of her.
This also led to the surrender of the entire Polish army during the second partition of Poland under Stanisław August Poniatowski, despite the main force of the Polish military still being intact, as he firmly believed they could absolutely not defeat Russia.
Across the whole of Poland, nobles mostly concerned themselves with their own political interests, forming cliques, allying with Prussia, or colluding with Russia, with hardly anyone caring about the life or death of Poland.
Only his nephew, the King of Poland, Prince Poniatowski, and the renowned general Tadeusz Kosciuszko, persisted in organizing and preparing the military, even managing to push back the Russian Army in the war of the second partition years later, proving themselves worthy of cultivation.
Especially since Kosciuszko had not yet made his mark, and the entire task of cultivating the military of Poland was the responsibility of Poniatowski, who, as a Prince, also wielded significant influence over the political situation in Poland.
This time, as he came to France, Joseph naturally wanted to seize this opportunity to introduce him to some methods that could "invigorate" Poland.
As for how much he would implement after hearing them, that would depend on Poland's luck.
Prince Poniatowski looked at the young French Crown Prince for a few seconds, then nodded solemnly, "I believe in you, Your Highness. Please, go ahead."
Joseph exhaled lightly, "First, you must understand that the situation Poland faces is extremely dangerous, and it may face the danger of national extinction in perhaps five years or so."
According to the historical trajectory, the second partition of Poland would occur five years later.
Prince Poniatowski was stunned, he shook his head slightly, "Your Highness, aren't you being a bit alarmist?
"Even though Poland faces many threats, we are still a large country, and we have an alliance with Prussia. Once there is a threat, Prussia will send troops to assist us."
Joseph was somewhat speechless; the Poles were really naive. Prussia was the most eager country when it came to your partition, even more so than Russia!
It's just that Prussia thought it might not be able to deal with Poland alone, so they continuously encouraged Russia behind the scenes to take action, while on the surface pretending to ally with Poland.
Historically, as soon as the Russian Army mobilized, Prussia immediately broke the treaty and attacked Poland from both sides.
Joseph immediately said with a grave tone, "If you want to preserve Poland, you must remember, never trust Prussia!"
The Prince of Poland asked in surprise, "Why do you say that?"
"I..." Joseph really wanted to tell him he had read history, but could only say, "France's intelligence system has obtained absolutely reliable information that obtaining the northwestern part of Poland is Prussia's primary strategic objective."𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶
"How could this be possible?!"
"You can verify it through your own intelligence means." Joseph didn't expect him to believe it immediately, but as long as the Poles were cautioned, he believed they would eventually notice something.
Prince Poniatowski nodded and asked, "Why are you telling me all this?"
"First, I do not wish for Prussia's plan to succeed."
Prince Poniatowski naturally had no reason to doubt this—Prussia was very close to Britain, and France was their mortal enemy. France certainly did not want Prussia to become more powerful.
Joseph continued earnestly, "Of course, more importantly, it's because I have great sympathy for Poland, and I do not wish more suffering to fall on the Polish people."
Prince Poniatowski automatically disregarded this point; "sympathy" and "good will" were meaningless decorations in international politics.
"Thank you very much for your warning, Crown Prince."'
"It's nothing." Joseph went on, "Moreover, the constitution that Poland is trying to establish probably needs to be accelerated."
"Ah? The constitution?" Prince Poniatowski was surprised that the French would speak of Polish domestic affairs.
"Forgive my bluntness, but the constitution you are attempting to create is too extensive, leading to too many subjects needing discussion, and the progress is slow."
Joseph said, "The biggest problem in Poland right now is the 'liberum veto', and you must not entangle the process of abolishing it with the new constitution. In my estimation, your Sejm will not be able to complete the entire constitution in three or four years."
The so-called "liberum veto" referred to the ability of any member of the Polish Sejm to veto a resolution by themselves.
This resulted in foreign countries, such as Russia, Prussia, and others, being able to prevent Poland from passing any legislation they found displeasing by simply bribing a few members of the parliament.
At the same time, members, considering their own interests, would veto many bills that were beneficial for the nation's development. The end result was that Poland could hardly implement any beneficial policies over hundreds of years, and the state of the nation kept deteriorating.
And as the Polish Sejm was preparing to abolish the liberum veto in the new constitution, Poland would remain stagnant until then.
"What do you mean?"
"Enact a law separately, to abolish the 'liberum veto'." Joseph added, "Poland is truly in imminent danger. We must act quickly!"
He did not know if Prince Poniatowski was taking his words to heart and continued, "The Polish land forces also need to be expanded as soon as possible. To achieve basic national defense security, an army of 100,000 is necessary. Yet currently, you have only 10,000."
Prince Poniatowski was somewhat surprised. According to repeated studies by the Polish military, they also believed it necessary to expand the army to 100,000, coinciding with the suggestions of the Crown Prince of France.
Actually, Joseph had simply informed him ahead of time about Poland's constitutional demand to expand the army to 100,000 four years later. However, at that time, there was only one year left before the second partition of Poland, and ultimately, Poland only managed to expand its army to 37,000, still very far from the "lifeline".
Joseph continued, "Moreover, have your Sejm not be hasty in abolishing serfdom."
"I know that abolishing serfdom can greatly enhance the strength of Poland, but all reforms have a 'painful period,' after which comes great development. And Poland cannot afford the pain at the moment."
"Of course, you can improve the plight of serfs as a first step, but the prerequisite must be to unite as much strength as possible to resist foreign enemies."
Historically, Poland, due to radical reforms in serfdom, alienated many of the Old Nobility Forces. These nobles slackened in their duties during Poland's invasions, greatly weakening the resistance against foreign enemies.
Prince Poniatowski found it amusing; the current reform tendencies in Poland were freedom, equality, and constitutional government, and weren't these ideas all transmitted from France? There were people like Rousseau and Montesquieu.
And yet, the French Crown Prince suggested that Poland temporarily retain serfdom...
In the carriage on the road, Joseph conveyed to Prince Poniatowski that France would provide certain assistance to Poland through the United States, hoping they could complete their war preparations as soon as possible.
After saying nearly everything that needed to be said, Prince Poniatowski returned to his own carriage and took another road to return to the Palace of Versailles.
...
On the day of Louis XVI's birthday.
All of Paris entered celebration mode. Several government-sponsored locations distributing free food became gathering places for the citizens.
Every three hours, there would be free performances by government-sponsored theatre troupes.
During the intermissions, people took out their instruments and played and sang on their own, endeavoring to praise His Majesty's sagacity, valor, and kind benevolence; it was entirely a scene of peace and prosperity.
And yet no one remembered that France was facing its most severe food shortage in centuries.
Meanwhile, all sorts of celebration activities at the Palace of Versailles had also reached their climax.
The singing and swordsmanship competitions both had their top eight contestants, and professionals were there to comment on each competitor's strengths, occasionally eliciting loud cheers from the audience.
However, in an unassuming small room on the second floor of the Palace of Versailles, Fouche was staring at his subordinate and asked in a low voice, "Are you certain there are no exceptions?"
"Yes, sir. Godoy has been coming to the Palace of Versailles for four days, and every night at 9 o'clock, he has attended Madame Garlan's music salon punctually."
Fouche nodded to himself; he had long discovered that Godoy had initially gained the favor of the Spanish Crown Princess through his skill in playing the guitar and singing. Music was his "bread and butter".
[Note 1] At this time, Poland practiced a system where the nobility elected the King. Moreover, the Polish political situation was in chaos. Catherine, by means of bribes to the Polish nobility, forcefully secured Stanisław as the King of Poland.