Life of Being a Crown Prince in France

Joseph reminisced about the barefoot doctor system from later generations and continued:

“These quasi-doctors usually farm, and when someone in the village gets sick, they go to their home to treat them.

“Quasi-doctors are managed uniformly by the government. The government subsidizes the quasi-doctors with 8 francs each month, and the village tops it up with 5 francs. I think many people would be willing to take this job.”

In the French countryside, making an extra 13 francs a month is absolutely tempting. After all, an adult male farmer only earns about 20 or more francs a month.

“As for medical equipment and medicines, they are distributed by the government at regular intervals, and the quasi-doctors are only responsible for storage.”

Currently, there are over 36,000 villages and towns in France, and including cities, approximately 40,000 quasi-doctors are needed. This means that the French treasury could support a simple national healthcare system with an annual subsidy of 3.8 million francs.

This amount seems large, but the reduction in mortality among the working population due to the healthcare system would be enough to earn several times its value back.

Joseph thought for a moment and continued: “There must be a dedicated department to manage all these things. Hmm, let’s add a ‘Medical Hygiene Bureau’ under the Ministry of Civil Affairs, responsible for everything related to medicine and pharmaceuticals.”

Perna immediately chimed in excitedly: “Your Highness, then we should quickly have each village and town select suitable quasi-doctors to go to the nearest city for training.”

Joseph shook his head with a smile: “Quasi-doctors also need to farm. If you make them leave the village, there will definitely be opposition. Even if they are willing, it’s difficult to train such a large group gathered together.”

“Then what should we do?”

Joseph continued following the experience of later generations: “Send doctors to the countryside to teach them. No, even the selection of quasi-doctors should be handled by doctors.

“This way, doctors can also take them to treat patients, teaching them faster and making a deeper impression.”

Perna hesitantly said: “Your Highness, I’m afraid it will be difficult to find so many doctors willing to go to the countryside.”

Doctors are a high-status profession in this era, mostly unwilling to take on such dirty and tiring work.

Joseph quickly said: “The students from the Military Medical University are enough for the job. Plus, the medical departments of the University of Paris and University of Toulouse, there are at least a thousand people altogether.”

Perna still frowned: “But the students in the medical departments probably wouldn’t agree…”

“Add practical assessments.” Joseph snapped his fingers, “Having students engage more with patients is also a process of gaining experience.

“Without practicing in the countryside, they cannot earn assessment points. If the quasi-doctors they train are not qualified, their assessment will also fail. Of course, the Medical Hygiene Bureau will provide them with a certain amount of fieldwork subsidy.

“This way, with batches of medical students participating in the practice, within two or three years, most villages and towns will have their own quasi-doctors.”

Joseph looked at Perna again: “And the most important task still has to be accomplished by you.”

“The most important task? What is it?”

“The ‘Assistant Doctor Manual’.” Joseph said, “You can gather some capable doctors to compile it. The content must be simple and easy to understand, with as many illustrations as possible. The recommended drugs should also be those that are reasonably priced.”

Perna nodded vigorously: “Okay, Your Highness, I definitely won’t let you down!”

After breakfast, Joseph and Perna planned the details of the national healthcare scheme, and the latter rushed back to the Military Medical University that afternoon, eagerly selecting experts to compile the ‘Manual’.

Joseph had just found a brief moment of leisure before Queen Mary dragged him off to listen to Luigi Cherubini’s new composition.

In the music hall of the Petit Trianon Palace, while Cherubini was still tuning, Joseph casually picked up a nearby ‘Paris Commercial News’, and immediately noticed the front-page article ‘Let the Glory of the Palace of Versailles Dispel Europe’s Long Night’.

Seeing the title, he thought it was written by one of the ‘Yilin style’ reporters he had previously trained, but upon checking the author, he found that the article was actually reprinted from the ‘Pfalz Morning News’ and was written by an Austrian.

He skimmed through the article again, feeling his scalp tingle — the author practically praised him to the skies. Hmm, if Caesar and Alexander were alive and read this article, they might very well fall to their knees in admiration of Joseph.

Moreover, what surprised Joseph the most was that the article’s praise wasn’t baseless. All content was eighty percent factual, with just twenty percent flattery, and was incredibly smooth and convincing.

He grew increasingly interested in this Austrian and immediately gestured to Eman: “Please invite Mr. Denico to see me.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

After his mother’s private music concert ended, Joseph yawned his way back to his own chambers, where ‘The Voice of the Royal Family’ — Paris Commercial News editor-in-chief Denico was already waiting for him in the lounge.

After the editor-in-chief made his greetings, Joseph directly asked: “Do you remember the front-page article in the newspaper today?”

“Yes, Your Highness. The article was exceptionally well-written, so I bought the rights to it.”

“Do you know its author?”

“I have some understanding, Your Highness.” Denico said, “Actually, I’m considering bringing him into our newspaper.

“Oh, he is a Viennese named Rabo Tobias von Scheler, a minor noble.

“After the Vienna uprising, he wrote many things, mostly promoting the Liberals, but recently he’s been writing very positive remarks about our country.”

Joseph nodded: “Please bring him into the newspaper as soon as possible. I happen to need someone like him to do some work in Portugal.”

“As you command, Your Highness.” Denico bowed, then added somewhat awkwardly, “However, he is currently handling a lawsuit in Vienna and it’s uncertain when it will be resolved.”

“A lawsuit?”

“I heard that his son was involved in the uprising and might be sentenced to death.”

“Alright, I will see to it.” Joseph said to Eman, “Please have Mr. Talleyrand come over.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

…

Vienna.

In a rundown small building, Mrs. Scheller was forcibly stuffing a tin makeup box into a leather suitcase.

However, the suitcase seemed to have weathered too much, as two seams suddenly burst on the side, causing the leather on the surface to curl up.

The woman shook her head numbly: “I have to get Fabien to fix it.”

“Leave that stuff.” Baron Scheller frowned and waved, “Dispose of whatever can be thrown away; we won’t need them once we reach Hust anyway.”

Their youngest son Lucas was sentenced last week, spared from execution but exiled to Hust for labor, twenty-five years.

They decided to go there with him, perhaps still having the chance to take care of their son.

“Bang bang”, the door was knocked.

“Who is it?” Scheller impatiently said, “We’ve already terminated the lease, please take any issues up with the landlord.”

The knocking persisted obstinately.

Scheller walked over and yanked open the door.

He was stunned for a moment, then closed the door, turning to his wife: “I must have hallucinated from too much insomnia… I just saw Lucas outside.”

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