Chapter 237: Turning Point
Brienne asked, puzzled:
"Are you saying, the Church?"
"Oh, I forgot to tell you," Joseph said, tapping his forehead. "Speaking of which, I'll need your help with this."
When Brienne heard that Archbishops Beaumont, Daffleure, and others had actually agreed to use their 'private grain reserves' to cover the food shortages in the southern provinces, he was immediately overjoyed:
"How did you persuade them?"
What he really wanted to ask was, 'How did you know the clerics had hoarded such large quantities of grain?'
When he was still in Toulouse, he had his own clerics do similar things, but after becoming Chief Minister, he disdained such meager profits.
"By establishing a Church Cultural Development Company and selling new 'Blessing Cards'," Joseph explained briefly, then instructed, "You go ahead and draft the order to recall the officers. We can discuss the details later."
"Very well, Your Highness."
However, he had only taken a few steps before turning back, a slight frown on his face:
"Your Highness, regarding the latter part of this order... whether they should be charged with rebellion, perhaps it would be better for the High Court to make that ruling."
Joseph was somewhat surprised. 'This isn't a society governed by the rule of law yet, so why is he still so concerned with procedural justice?'
Brienne, noticing his expression, quickly weighed his words:
"Your Highness, if the officers are directly condemned as rebels in His Majesty the King's name, it could plunge the nobility into alarm and fear. It might even cause many neutral nobles to sympathize with those ambitious schemers."
Joseph immediately understood. He had indeed acted too hastily. Those officers were stationed in their respective areas as part of their duty; they could easily conjure up a dozen reasons to refuse to come to Paris. If they were condemned as rebels for that, it would make other nobles feel that the royal family was acting arbitrarily, leading them to wonder if they, too, would be convicted of a serious crime should they slightly displease the Crown in the future.
This had already touched the bottom line of the noble class.
Joseph pondered, then nodded:
"You're right. Then we will simply issue a strict order for the officers to come to Paris. Those who disobey will bear the consequences themselves."
He then murmured to himself:
'It seems I'll have to find a way to make them truly rebel at least once...'
Once Brienne had departed, Joseph took out the list he had screened earlier on the way. He wrote personal letters to each of the high-ranking officers on it, then had the Queen sign them before sending them out.
Next, he summoned representatives of the Capitalist Nobility, such as Mirabeau and Bailly, handed them a pre-prepared document, and gave them detailed instructions.
By the time these tasks were done, night had fully fallen. Joseph, ignoring his fatigue, boarded a carriage with his dinner and headed for the Paris Legion's garrison.
Inside the rapidly moving carriage, he gazed at the starlight outside the window, chewing on salted beef. He sighed inwardly, 'I've truly worried myself sick for France...'
Montpellier.
In the hunting grounds of Count Sérurier's estate, Marquis de Saint-Véran lightly flicked his reins, gazing at the endless rows of military tents of the Montcalm Legion in the distance, and said to the Duke of Orleans beside him:
"Do you think the royal family will agree to those terms?"
The latter also urged his horse to a slow walk, saying leisurely:
"With such widespread unrest, the royal family faces immense financial and public pressure, and their prestige will be severely damaged. That Austrian bitch has no other choice; she will definitely agree, at least partially."
"So, which clauses can we allow her to remove?"
"Any of them." The Duke of Orleans shrugged indifferently. "As long as she makes concessions, you and the other generals will march out to suppress the uprising."
The exaggerated terms he had presented to the Queen were merely thrown out casually; he never actually expected the royal family to accept them.
This was merely a smokescreen. His true objective was to give the army a suitable pretext to mobilize simultaneously!
The combat effectiveness of those rioters was negligible, and they had all been incited by his agents. Suppressing them would be as easy as turning one's hand over.
However, once the armies from various regions were mobilized, it wouldn't be so simple for them to return to their garrisons.
At that point, the military, armed with the immense prestige gained from suppressing the rebellion, and using the pretext of ongoing unrest, would converge their forces northward from various regions, forming a semi-encirclement of Paris—if the arrangements in the northwestern provinces had been completed beforehand, it would be a complete siege.
With the meager forces at the royal family's disposal, they would surely be panic-stricken. The Assembly of Notables would then seize the opportunity to lead the nobles in exerting renewed pressure on the Crown.
By that time, the demands would be far more substantial than the previous ones.
According to the Duke of Orleans's plan, he should at least be appointed Prince Regent—to achieve this, he had already formed a marriage alliance with the highly influential Marquis de Luckner from the military, whose daughter would soon marry Philippe.
Royal authority would revert to its state before Louis XIV, adopting a form of High Autonomy for the noble lords.
After that, as a Prince Regent with full control of power, he would be free to manipulate the royal family however he pleased!
The Duke of Orleans pondered how he would torment Louis XVI's family, while saying casually to Marquis de Saint-Véran:
"From Brittany to Provence, everything is ready. The legions total 80,000 men. General Urtule and his forces in the north will also respond to us simultaneously."
Marquis de Saint-Véran looked at him and said:
"Your Grace, with such a large-scale troop movement, the logistics..."
The Duke of Orleans said dismissively:
"I will provide funding for all the legions. Furthermore, the Duke of Durfort and the Duke of Mouchy will also mobilize resources to supply the army."
Financial support was also a crucial factor in the Duke of Orleans becoming a central figure in the military. Even before this incident, he had distributed tens of millions of livres among more than twenty high-ranking military generals.
To overthrow the royal family, he was prepared to commit his entire fortune of over fifty million livres. In military spending alone, he was confident he could defeat the Crown.
In reality, this only accounted for his cash and bonds; if his fixed assets were included, the sum would be astronomical. It was worth noting that the annuity alone, paid to him by the royal family each year, amounted to three million livres. The Orleans lineage also possessed immense assets, so saying he was 'rich enough to rival a nation' was no exaggeration.
"That's excellent," Marquis de Saint-Véran said with a pleased expression. "When do you think the Queen's emissary will arrive?"
"Soon, I imagine..."
As the Duke of Orleans spoke, a servant from Count Sérurier's estate rode up on horseback, saluting them and saying:
"Your Grace, General, someone from Versailles has arrived."
The Duke of Orleans and Marquis de Saint-Véran exchanged a smile:
"Come, let's go see."
When the two returned to Count Sérurier's villa, they didn't notice the Count standing dumbfounded with a rather strange expression.
The Duke of Orleans sat down nonchalantly in a chair and said to the court official who had come to deliver the message:
"Tell us, which terms has Her Majesty the Queen agreed to?"
Before the official could speak, Count Sérurier, standing nearby, handed him an edict bearing the King's Great Seal.
The Duke of Orleans glanced over the document and immediately leapt to his feet in surprise.
Marquis de Saint-Véran, perplexed, leaned in and saw that the paper contained only a few simple sentences, the main content of which required all officers of Major rank and above to report immediately to Versailles.
He looked at the official delivering the order, still speaking from his previous mindset:
"The Queen hasn't ordered troops to suppress the rebellion?"
The official nodded, gesturing towards the document:
"That's all, Marquis."
Marquis de Saint-Véran seemed a bit agitated:
"Which terms did the Queen find unacceptable? We can discuss them again..."
The official delivering the order remained impassive:
"His Majesty has no other instructions, Marquis. Please sign to confirm you have received the order."
Marquis de Saint-Véran and the other two instantly looked at each other in dismay, unsure what to do.
They had envisioned many possible reactions from the Queen, but they had never expected her to simply let the rebellion run its course.
It was as if they had gathered all their strength, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to their opponent, only to suddenly find nothing but a mass of air before them, nowhere to land their strike.
"But what about the rebellion?" Marquis de Saint-Véran seized the official. "My army is ready, just waiting to..."
"You may personally inquire with His Majesty in Versailles about that." The official bowed politely, a hand over his chest. "I have received no other instructions."
The Duke of Orleans suddenly stepped forward and said:
"What about the other provinces? Are they also ignoring the unrest?"
"To my knowledge, that seems to be the case, Your Grace. Apart from Bordeaux and Lyon, the southern provinces should all have received the same order."
Bordeaux, being the largest potato-growing region in France, hadn't experienced significant food shortages this time, and thus no unrest had occurred there.
In Lyon, after the first signs of food scarcity appeared, the textile industry guild immediately took the lead, organizing major factories to gather their foremen and security guards, forming temporary patrol teams that quickly dispersed the rioting crowds.
This was primarily because, since Paris Fashion Week, Lyon's textile factories had been quite profitable. The industry guild had provided a substantial sum of money to reward the patrol teams, thereby ensuring that the factories did not cease operations due to the unrest.
Once the official had departed, Marquis de Saint-Véran immediately looked awkwardly at the Duke of Orleans:
"Your Grace, what should we do? Should we go to Paris..."
"Absolutely not!" the latter exclaimed, his face livid. "I don't believe that Austrian bitch will truly ignore the rebellion. You wait here; she will definitely compromise!"
Marquis de Saint-Véran hesitated:
"What if she doesn't compromise?"
The Duke of Orleans gritted his teeth:
"Then we'll directly lead our armies..."
Marquis de Saint-Véran immediately shook his head decisively:
"No, no, mobilizing troops without orders is rebellion!"
He dared to use military force to coerce the court amidst chaotic circumstances, but he didn't have the courage to openly rebel. A rebellion lacking legitimate justification could at most force the royal family to flee abroad, followed by intervention from other great powers, eventually leading to the return of the monarchy and the rebels' heads on the guillotine.
He knew the Duke of Orleans wanted to usurp the throne, but he had no desire to be a stepping stone beneath it.
But he also knew that, having blackmailed the royal family this time, if he went to Paris, his political career would be over immediately.
After much thought, he finally made up his mind:
"I think it's safest to wait and see."
The Duke of Orleans returned to his room with a gloomy expression. He wrote letters to each of the more than twenty military leaders, urging them to hold out and wait for the royal family to compromise first.
...
Two days later.
The starving people of Montpellier swept through the city like locusts, seizing every scrap of food they could find.
Baron Laurent's villa was a complete mess.
In the maid's resting room, a grimy old man found a small piece of bread in a corner cabinet. He immediately waved it happily at a seven or eight-year-old boy nearby:
"Alexy, look what I found..."
He was halfway through his sentence when a woman suddenly flashed out beside him, snatched the bread, and shoved it into her own mouth.
The old man pointed at the woman, shocked and enraged:
"You, you shameless wretch, that's food for the child..."
Before he could finish speaking, a five or six-year-old child walked in from outside, carrying a small infant, and said extremely weakly to the woman:
"Mama, my sister, she..."
The woman hurriedly scooped up the infant, fed the chewed-up bread into her mouth, and kept murmuring anxiously:
"Swallow, Eliane, quickly, swallow!"
She had long since run out of milk due to starvation, and could only feed her dying daughter in this manner.
The infant's cheek puffed out, as if she had swallowed the food.
The woman nodded excitedly, about to bite off more bread to feed the child, when her hand suddenly felt lighter. She turned to see the bread had been snatched away by the old man.
"Give it back, please!" she pleaded with a hoarse, tearless cry. "Eliane can't hold on much longer..."
The old man, however, was completely unmoved, shoving the bread into his grandson's hand:
"Sorry, Alexy is starving too."
The woman handed the infant to her older daughter, then used her last ounce of strength to snatch the food from the boy's hand, while the old man desperately clutched her waist:
"Alexy, eat quickly!"
"Please, leave a small piece for Eliane!"
As the two weakly struggled, they suddenly heard someone outside shouting:
"Quick, to the church! The Church is distributing food!"
"It seems the Adege parish is doing it too!"
Both froze, then simultaneously released their grip. Seeing that the bread was already gone, the woman quickly pulled her older daughter and rushed towards the church.
The old man caught up in a few steps, took the infant from the slightly older child, and gestured to the woman:
"I'll carry her for you, we can move faster that way."
Following the unruly crowd, they hurried to the church in the south of the city. Sure enough, priests were distributing dark bread, and the starving people were almost pushing down the church's fence.
The woman and the old man waited in line for half an hour, finally receiving a pound and a half of bread each. They immediately began to eat it ravenously with the children.
A moment later, the woman watched her youngest daughter, whose mouth was still working after being sated with the bread pulp, and silently bowed to the priest.
The priest made the sign of the cross over his chest and said to the continuously bowing crowd around him:
"You should thank the merciful God, not me."
Another priest beside him added:
"And also His Royal Majesty the King, Her Majesty the Queen, and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince! The food is being distributed by them in conjunction with the Church."
The crowd immediately began to make the sign of the cross, then cheered, "Long live His Majesty the King!"
Once the people were no longer hungry and had received the priests' promise that "more food would be distributed tomorrow," they wearily returned home.
Meanwhile, dozens of gang members paid to incite the riots were still shouting not far away:
"Who's coming with me to Viscount Anrol's house? They definitely have food there!"
The people merely looked at them indifferently, but no one responded.
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