"Your Majesty, I suspect this must be Cafenak's doing!" Percy declared confidently, "Only he could mobilize those damned bureaucrats against us!"
"My friend, please do not speak in such a tone!" Jerome Bonaparte raised his hand to stop Percy's complaints, "After all, those guys are merely unfortunate souls loyal to the system! Their annual salary is less than 4000 francs, and they still have to face their superiors' reproaches!"
In 19th century France, being an official was indeed a decent job compared to other industries, but only just decent. The annual salary of grassroots bureaucrats sitting in Parisian offices was only about 1300–3800 francs, while skilled workers of the same period earned around 2500 francs annually, and French farmers had an annual surplus income of 1500–2000 francs. This meant that without some extra income, it was difficult for grassroots bureaucrats to support a family, making extortion from some Outer Province folks a hidden rule among them.
