Fox of France

Chapter 52, Playing with Fire (2)

After the Bastille was captured, there were rumors everywhere in Paris that the king was furious and was about to mobilize his army to suppress the people of Paris. It is said that the furious king ordered that in the city of Paris, "big trees must be burned, stones must be knifed, and people must be replaced." So the whole of Paris became tense, and the streets were full of people building barricades. In fear, some people even demolished the houses (of course, most of the time, the houses of the "tyrant's lackeys" were demolished, and the number of "tyrant's lackeys" depends on how much material is needed to build the barricades. ) to build barricades.

Almost overnight, all the cabbies in the whole of Paris were out of work, because all the streets were barricaded and barricaded. Some inexperienced fellows, when building barricades and barricades, didn't even think about leaving passages in and out.

In order to defend against a possible attack, all militias in Paris felt that they should unite and fight under one banner. So militia representatives from various neighborhoods gathered together to discuss the matter of unified command.

The militias in every block sincerely hope to unite, which is actually the instinct of human beings as social animals when facing a crisis. But to unite, we need a command structure, a commander. But the militiamen immediately found that it was difficult for them to find such people.

Because most of the militiamen do not know each other, and most of the militiamen also know that they lack military skills. The siege of the Bastille made them realize how far they are from the regular army. Although each of them didn't pay attention to the royal army in the Montmartre Heights area, everyone was trembling with fear. Some people would dream of guillotines or gallows when they dreamed.

Under such circumstances, a "good nobleman" who did not participate in the meeting at all, but was considered "upright, kind, loving the people, and proficient in military affairs" was elected by the majority of delegates as the president of this unified militia. commander. This "good nobleman" is naturally the Marquis de Lafayette.

It is said that during the meeting, someone also mentioned the name of another "good nobleman" - the Duke of Orleans. However, other representatives said that His Royal Highness, the Duke of Orleans, is indeed a good nobleman who is "upright, kind, and loving the people", and compared with the Marquis of Lafayette, he has the advantage of being "more generous" (because Orleans The Duke is much richer than the Marquis of Lafayette) But the Duke of Orleans doesn't understand military at all. If he is allowed to direct, it will harm everyone.

Some representatives even said that during the siege of the Bastille, the sacrifices caused by His Royal Highness the Duke of Orléans' good intentions and bad things were even greater than those caused by the tyrant's guns.

"In short, the Duke of Orleans is a trustworthy and good man. But such things as military command are not something he can do." This sentence has become a common consensus among everyone.

After the Marquis of Lafayette was elected, everyone sent someone to invite the Marquis of Lafayette to take office. This is a bit like the leader of the rebel army who pushed Li Bodhisattva, who had not participated in the uprising at all, to the position of governor after a certain uprising in the Eastern Great Food Kingdom in later generations. However, the representatives of the Paris militia did not break into the house of the Marquis Lafayette with guns, they just went to the door of Lafayette and asked someone to hand in the invitation; and the Marquis Lafayette also Instead of hiding under the bed and shouting "Don't harm me, don't harm me" like Bodhisattva Li, he accepted the invitation graciously and served as the commander-in-chief of the Paris militia.

As soon as the Marquis de Lafayette took office, he immediately began to reorganize the militia in Paris. He first planned to reorganize all the militia in Paris into the National Guard.

To this end, he immediately produced the uniform designed for the National Guard-a uniform with blue trousers, and he also produced the national guard badge and flag-they were made of red, white and blue. composition. Among them, red and blue are the colors of the city emblem of Paris, while white is the representative color of the Bourbon dynasty.

Such badges and flags clearly show the political leanings of the Marquis de Lafayette, who is a constitutional monarchy. But to be honest, don't look at the civilians in Paris talking about "tyrants" at this time. However, they actually agree with such flags and badges very much at this time.

The sans-culottes in Paris never thought that they could overthrow the king. After they took down the Bastille, they were actually very afraid of the possible punishment of the king. They also agreed with the Marquis de Lafayette to become the commander-in-chief, and one of them The reason is that they think that the Marquis of Lafayette can help them speak in front of the king.

In the eyes of those sans-culottes, the Marquess of Lafayette was definitely the most suitable for this job. What's more, he is the only one suitable to do this. Because the other of the two great nobles (the Duke of Orleans) who clearly leaned towards the revolution obviously had a tense relationship with the king. (The Duke of Orleans has always been committed to discrediting the king. Of course, he also wants to establish an image of himself as "incompatible with the tyrant". Therefore, when people need a person who can communicate with the king, no one will think of him.)

The Marquis of Lafayette took advantage of their psychology very successfully. He assured them that he would and could defend everyone, as long as everyone supported his leadership.

The massacre feared did not take place, and the king's army did not attack Paris. In fact, the king didn't believe in the army at all, and the people around him tried their best to tell him that the army was not reliable.

For a constitutionalist like the Marquis of Lafayette, the only way to force the king to accept a constitutional monarchy is to convince the king that the army is only loyal to the country and not to the king personally. For those conservative nobles, such as the Earl of Artois, the national standing army is not a good thing. What standing army does the country need? Shouldn't the army belong to the individual nobles, and should the king call it up when needed? And in order to oppose their political opponent, the Marquis of Lafayette, they also tried their best to slander the French army.

Speaking of it, at least on the issue of "unreliable military", conservatives and constitutionalists rarely reach an agreement. And King Louis XVI was originally a somewhat indecisive person. Everyone said so, so he naturally believed it. So the king never thought about using the army to bloodbath Paris at this time, even when those "mobs" took down the Bastille, and the Earl of Artois said that the army actually participated in the rebellion At that time, the king was so frightened that he almost wanted to flee to the provinces. In fact, just as the citizens of Paris are full of fear of the king, the king is also full of fear of the Parisian mob.

But all of this, the civilians in Paris don't know. In their view, the fact that the legendary massacre did not take place must be due to the Marquis de Lafayette. Radicals believe that this is because the National Revolutionary Army he organized made the king retreat; milder people think that this is because the Marquis is a suitable bridge between the citizens and the king.

The Marquis de Lafayette indeed served as the bridge. A few days later, he came to Versailles with a detachment of the National Guard to meet King Louis XVI. It is said that the monarch and his ministers had a very happy conversation, and Louis XVI also put the cap badge of the National Revolutionary Army brought by the Marquis of Lafayette on his hat.

Things have developed here, and the Marquis of Lafayette seems to have won a big victory. An English-style France with a constitutional monarchy seemed within reach.

Things seem to have calmed down, and it is said that the Marquis of Lafayette is busy drafting a very historic declaration with reference to the North American Declaration of Independence, and establishing a system of parliamentary and administrative institutions that reference the British and North American.

Although the situation has eased, the Paris Military Academy has not yet returned to normal. So Joseph was able to continue to stay at home and watch the theater.

"If the revolution can stop here, it might be a good thing for France." Joseph looked out from the window. In the street outside, a group of National Guardsmen were busily tearing down barricades.

"Isn't the revolution over yet?" Louis said. "Joseph, I don't like revolution at all. I can't go to the street, I can't go to school, I can't play with my classmates, and Aunt Sophie is not coming, and Lucien wants me to do it." Housework... I don't like revolution at all!"

"When you first heard that the school was closed, you didn't know how happy you were! Now that Joseph is at home, you pretend to love studying!" Lucien sat straddling the chair, resting his chin on the back of the high chair, squinting his eyes Said contemptuously.

"That's not because you pushed all kinds of housework to me while Joseph was not at home!"

"I would like to accept the bet. I have already made you a knight and a bishop. If you still lose, what else is there to say!"

So Louis fell silent. But Lucien said, "Joseph, I heard what you said just now, do you think the revolution is not over yet?"

"The end? How is it possible?" Joseph sneered, "My brother, this is not the end, nor the beginning of the end, not even the end of the beginning. Those who are dissatisfied with today's reality, but think they have How can this revolution end before those who have power are not satisfied, or exhausted their own strength? Besides, on today’s stage, there may not be heroes who can achieve great things, but there is absolutely no shortage of the kind of people who let themselves If you do things, you can't do anything, but if you let them make trouble for others, their level is first-rate. You just wait and see."

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