Fox of France

For the next few months, life was still "calm". Of course, this "calm" is relative to the days when the Bastille was besieged.

The order of the high-level communities in Paris has been basically guaranteed. The newly formed National Guard patrolled day and night, so that those small beetle thieves didn't dare to mess around in these places. Today the poor are largely purged from the National Guard because they have to spend so much of their time earning a living instead of military training.

But if you step out of these neighborhoods and walk into the areas where the poor live, you will immediately find that the restoration of order is only an illusion, and the order here is even more chaotic than before the revolution.

According to Aunt Sophie, the streets are full of thieves and robbers these days.

"I dare not walk on the street with bread." When Joseph suggested that Aunt Sophie could take some bread from him to give to her children, Aunt Sophie said so.

"Monsieur Bonaparte, don't you know how messy it is out there in the neighborhood these days! Why, a woman like me, walking down the street with a loaf of bread - my God, that's like walking in a forest with tigers It's even more dangerous inside. Don't talk about me, even a big guy like you, if there's only one person, I'm sure that if you're in those places with bread, you'll be robbed within a hundred steps. If it's Lu Master Xi’an, he will be shot if he can’t walk ten steps. If little Louis, ah, he himself will disappear without a trace.”

"If so, how do you take the bread you bought home?" Joseph asked.

"Of course several of the neighbors went to buy it together." Aunt Sophie said, "If you say it's all caused by you men, what kind of three-level meeting, what kind of king, what kind of nonsense is the meeting, the revolution. Originally, I thought that life was already sad enough, and making a scene would make it even more sad. Who knows... sir, they all said that the third-level meeting will be held, and everyone will have enough to eat. But some bad people don’t let us The third-level meeting was held. We all went to fight those bad guys. But the bad guys also fought, and the third-level meeting was held, but the bread became more and more expensive. When the third-level meeting was not held, we couldn’t afford bread; The meeting was held, but we still couldn't afford bread: wasn't the third-level meeting held for nothing?"

After hearing this, Joseph sighed and said, "Aunt Sophie, the third-level meeting itself can't make bread."

At the same time, he added in his mind: "Besides, those representatives never thought about how to make the bottom of society have enough bread."

The idea did not wrong those representatives. In fact, most of those representatives were rich people, and they didn't worry about bread. Some people even compared the wages of the French and the British, and concluded that the wages of the French were too high, which dragged down the French economy. Therefore, legal means should be used to limit the proposal of high wages.

"But, doesn't it mean that once the third-level meeting is held, everyone will have a good life? They can't just lie like this." Aunt Sophie muttered.

"Actually, it's not just you." Joseph sighed and said, "Even my life is more difficult than before. Except for salary, everything has gone up. My life has become difficult."

This is half true and half false, but if Joseph didn't have some other income, relying solely on the school's salary, his life would indeed become a bit difficult now. Even "senior technicians" like Joseph (this is Joseph's self-deprecating term) may encounter difficulties, and the lives of ordinary people are naturally even more difficult.

But in fact, if there is no three-level meeting and no revolution, even if the life of ordinary people is a little bit more difficult, nothing will necessarily happen. To be honest, in Europe, the life of the French, even the people at the bottom of France, is actually not bad. At least, compared to British workers whose average service life is no more than three years, or Russian serfs who don't even have personal freedom, they really don't know how high they are. As for Germany? Heine even said: "One percent of the suffering of our German people is enough for the French to launch a thousand uprisings."

But the problem is that the convening of the third-level meeting has given the bottom a huge hope. All French people, even the bottom French like Aunt Sophie, know about it and are full of hope for it. And all kinds of propaganda keep making this hope bigger and bigger and more beautiful. It seems that as long as the three-level meeting is held and the king supports the constitution, all problems will be solved. It's almost like "After the third-level meeting, the constitution becomes everything, foie gras is on the table, and the chick cuddles at night".

However, in the face of reality, this overblown hope was shattered like soap bubbles. The House of Representatives was held, the Constituent Assembly was formed, the Bastille was knocked down, and yet, not to mention foie gras, there was no more black bread. The pain caused by such a gap far exceeds the pain of not having enough to eat, and the hatred caused by such a gap naturally far exceeds the hatred caused by not having enough to eat. So the Revolution, instead of breaking out in the most oppressed countries, first broke out in France.

"So, the king agreed to hold a three-level meeting, which was his biggest mistake. The anger of the citizens of Paris is still gathering. As long as there is a little guidance, the confrontation between the whole Paris and the king is inevitable. Hehe, losing the support of Paris, even He has won the hatred of Paris, so why can the king wear his crown steadily?" In the Royal Palace, the Marquis of Mirabeau was talking with the owner here, the Duke of Orleans.

The Marquis of Mirabeau is a wonderful man. He spent the first half of his life either in scandals or in prison.

When Mirabeau was young, he showed a wandering factor. His father sent him to the army to exercise, but he gambled, picked up girls and even tried to become a deserter. As a result, he ended up in the Isle of Re prison. After he was released from prison, he participated in the suppression of the Corsican rebellion, during which he was promoted to captain for his outstanding performance and returned to Paris.

Under his father's arrangement, he married Emily, the daughter of Marquis Mariani. Mirabeau's father's purpose was to obtain the other party's huge wealth through this marriage. But this couple is not in tune, and they look down on each other, not to mention, they both like a luxurious life, spend money every day, and owe a large amount of foreign debts. In order to prevent his son from dishonoring the family's reputation, the old Marquis of Mirabeau imprisoned him and forbade him to handle property by himself. As a result, Mirabeau still didn't stop, and in 1774 he was imprisoned in the Fortress Prison of Chateau d'If. (It is the prison where Edmond Dantès stayed in "The Count of Monte Cristo".)

In 1775, Mirabeau was released from prison. However, as soon as he was released from prison, he seduced a married woman, the young wife of the Marquis Molière, and eloped with her to Holland.

This behavior of course caused the old Marquis Mirabeau to cut off all his sources of income. So Mirabeau had to start relying on writing for a living. Mirabeau was born in the upper class, and knew all kinds of bullshit in the upper class of France, so he wrote articles to expose the corruption of the upper class in France, and soon became a famous critic of the old French system.

However, the money earned from writing is not enough for Mirabeau's expenses. This person has always been a spendthrift, and the thing he is best at is spending money. So during this period of time, he was imprisoned again because of a debt dispute. Of course, Mirabeau declared that this was his persecution by the reactionary French authorities.

But soon, Mirabeau was released from prison, and miraculously paid off his debts, lived a more extravagant life, and never got into trouble because of debt disputes. In this regard, Mirabeau claimed that it was because his various successful investments brought him rich returns. And said that achieving financial freedom is just a small goal. But many people said that he just found a big financial backer and got a lot of money from him. This big benefactor is the Duke of Orleans who wholeheartedly wants to discredit the king.

For his constant criticism of the French ancien régime, Mirabeau gained a solid reputation among the disaffected Third Estate. Mirabeau became the representative of the third estate when the council of the third estate was convened. And became one of the leaders of the Constitutional Convention.

"However, Parisians have experienced situations similar to today's. Moreover, the growth of wheat this year is very good. It is generally believed that if there are no sudden natural disasters, by this autumn, there will be a nearly one year of wheat growth. It is a rare bumper harvest in the past ten years. At that time, the price of food will definitely drop. This is independent of people's will. Once the price of food drops, the dissatisfaction of the people of Paris will also drop, and the flames of revolution will ignite It will go out. If we don't hurry up, the old system will continue." The Duke of Orleans frowned.

Mirabeau laughed out loud, and the fat under his broad chin also shook.

"His Royal Highness, don't worry. How can we support the autumn harvest in the current situation? If it was before, the people of Paris could bear it, but it's not the same now. The third-level meeting and the revolution gave them hope. This hope is broken, and the anger generated in it is not easy to suppress. Besides, who can suppress such anger nowadays? Besides, the countryside in other provinces is now in turmoil, and the peasants are eager to get rid of land rent and tenth tax , they can't wait, now there are rebellions everywhere. In order to appease them, the Constituent Assembly is preparing to pass a new decree. This new decree will definitely be blocked by the king, and then we will raise prices by the way, and then will Turn the anger of the people on the king, and the situation will turn in our favor."