One Black Heart, Two Preparations

Just as the struggle in Paris was about to reach its climax, in Toulon, Joseph had just taken a day off to go fishing at Fort Mulgrave with his mother and all his younger siblings to celebrate the family reunion—just a few days earlier, Napoleon had sent men to bring Louis over from Paris.

After punishing Lucien, Joseph was quite pleased with his prestige among his brothers. However, he also keenly sensed that the distance between him and his siblings seemed to have grown somewhat.

This is a situation that is easy to occur, as the saying goes, "What is lovable is not necessarily respectable, and what is fearsome is no longer lovable; it is not difficult to achieve both, but it is truly difficult to achieve both." However, if the elder brother is only "respectable and fearsome" in the eyes of his brothers, then it is hard to guarantee that there will be no rifts in the future. Therefore, in order to rebuild his "lovable and lovable" image in everyone's hearts, Joseph took the time to arrange this event.

Of course, in Joseph's habit, such matters inevitably involved some private embellishment. So, although this event was read as a family gathering, it was described in many places as a "technical experiment" in order to reimburse some of the expenses that could be reimbursed.

Of course, the experiment cannot be described as fishing and grilling fish, but must be described as "the navigation status of a high-speed communication ship at low speed and related experiments to enhance its self-sufficiency at sea".

Seeing the name of this experiment, we know that this family gathering will be held on this newly built small boat, weighing only about a hundred tons. This small boat, also painted gray-blue, looks exceptionally short from a distance because it has two hulls, but in fact, with two hulls and a deck between them, the deck space is quite spacious. If viewed from above, the boat's square deck does give it a bit of a raft feel.

But this boat is much more expensive than a raft. It's even more expensive than the larger "Black Pearl."

For example, the structural components connecting the two large pontoons below the waterline and supporting the entire hull were all cast in bronze to ensure sturdiness and resistance to seawater corrosion. The mold-making and casting processes were quite expensive. As for the pontoons themselves, each was made from three thick pieces of balsa wood. Balsa wood is the lightest wood in the world, with a density half that of cork used for thermos stoppers, and it has a uniform grain and excellent corrosion resistance, providing considerable buoyancy.

Balsa wood itself isn't particularly valuable, but it's a South American product, and the France didn't have much in stock. So, they had to smuggle it in from the Spain. Even the Spain generally only had sawn balsa planks; whole, thick pieces that were also difficult to find, and properly dried balsa wood was hard to come by. As a result, unscrupulous smugglers managed to sell balsa wood at the price of Brazil mahogany. Then, the entire pontoon had to be covered with copper sheets to reduce drag, further increasing costs.

As for the ship's planks and other materials, Joseph used the best he could find, even if it only resulted in a slight performance improvement. Joseph didn't care about the cost of the ship, since it wasn't his own money being used.

The family boarded the boat, and the small boat unfurled its sails, moving as fast as an arrow.

"How fast can this ship go?" Napoleon asked.

"More than fifteen knots," Joseph replied. "Fastest than any other ship we have now. At sea, no ship can catch us. And this ship is relatively easy to operate; it only requires two people to control, or even one person can control it. Also, have you noticed? Although this ship is not large, it is more stable than many much larger ships."

As the two men chatted, the ship sailed into the bay below Fort Mulgrave. Lucien volunteered to help furl the sails and watched the sailors lower the anchor. Then everyone took out their fishing rods and began fishing. Well, this was the so-called "experiment related to enhancing self-sufficiency at sea."

Napoleon's mind wasn't on fishing. He haphazardly threaded a small piece of sardine onto the hook, cast the bait into the sea, and said to Joseph, "Joseph, things seem a bit off in Paris lately."

The situation in Paris is indeed not right. According to the information they have received, Robespierre first joined forces with Danton to wipe out the Enragés led by Hébert; then he turned around and wiped out Danton and his group as well. Then he implemented a series of extreme economic policies, some of which were even more extreme than those of Hébert and his group.

"Something's not right," Joseph said. "Theoretically speaking, our 'Incorruptible One' is nearing his end. Napoleon, you know, there's a saying, 'Whom God would destroy, He first makes mad.' Do you know why he went mad?"

"Why?" Napoleon asked.

"Because he has nowhere else to go," Joseph said with a smile. "He killed Hébert and lost the support of the Sans-culottes; he killed Danton and lost the support of the merchants and factory owners. Now, he can only maintain his rule through terror itself. So he has to go mad, because he is surrounded by enemies, surrounded by eyes that hate him. If he shows even the slightest weakness, they will rush up and tear him to shreds. With his current madness, he won't live long; but if he doesn't go mad now, he might not even survive today."

"Then why don't you go back to Paris? Going back now would bring enormous political benefits," Napoleon asked.

But before Joseph could answer, he laughed to himself, "Ah, Joseph, I forgot, you're not me. If it were me, I would definitely go back at this time. You... you're simply unwilling to take any risks."

"Now is not the time to go back," Joseph shook his head. "It's not a question of whether or not to take the risk, but rather that the risk and reward are disproportionate. Napoleon, first of all, we must admit that Robespierre was indeed a very formidable fellow. I think you wouldn't disagree with that, would you?"

Napoleon remained silent.

"The reason why capable people are capable is because they are good at using the resources at their disposal, even extremely limited resources, to create miracles," Joseph continued. "Why is Robespierre going crazy now? The economic resources he can mobilize are insufficient to support his policies. He is doing this now because he is eager to buy off the lower classes, but his policies are unsustainable, meaning he will soon face the problem of economic resource depletion. No money is no money, just like a math problem that can't be solved is simply unsolvable. He will definitely take large-scale risks before the funding chain breaks and try to launch another Qing Dynasty. If he really succeeds, then the resources obtained from the Qing Dynasty will be enough to sustain him for a while. So going to Paris at this time is extremely risky."

"What if the profits are small?" Napoleon asked.

"Don't you understand?" Joseph raised an eyebrow. "If you go to Paris now, can you be the one who does the most credit for overthrowing him? Do you have enough resources to control this government beset by internal and external troubles? You don't. So why are you rushing over there? Do you remember Napoleon? I told you that we don't need to take sides. Truly powerful people never need to take sides, because wherever they stand, that's a side. Now that man is at his wit's end, but who is so great as to replace him?"

"Hehe..." Napoleon chuckled twice without saying anything, but his attitude was already very clear.

"Then don't rush," Joseph said. "Even if these people win, they certainly won't be able to control the current situation. We just need to wait, wait until France needs a true hero."

"Very well," Napoleon said, "What if Robespierre wins?"

"What if? Let's see if you can control the army. If you're as incompetent as Dumouriez, then we'll have no choice but to escape to the New World on this ship. But don't worry, with your brother here, we'll have food to eat wherever we go."

"Bah!" Napoleon.

Just then, the bell on the fishing rod next to Joseph suddenly rang.

"A fish has taken the bait!" Joseph exclaimed.

In Paris, the situation had reached a critical juncture. Just a day earlier, a man had attacked Couthon with a pistol. However, the gunman's marksmanship was poor; he fired two shots but missed Couthon. The people around him reacted and surrounded him, at which point the man swallowed poison and committed suicide.

This unsuccessful assassination attempt, however, caused a huge uproar. First, the assassin's identity was confirmed: he was a former subordinate of Hébert, and when he fired at Couthon, he shouted, "Kill the tyrant's lackey! Avenge Hébert!"

Robespierre's efforts in recent days to win over the Sans-culottes have been repeatedly thwarted, reopening what seemed to be a healed wound.

Robespierre realized that pursuing the matter would undermine his ongoing efforts to repair relations with the Sans-culottes. However, ignoring it would clearly make him appear weak and thus embolden his enemies, emboldening them to unite against him.

Therefore, he found himself in a dilemma. However, after careful consideration, Robespierre decided that he had to investigate the matter.

This is because his current position depends entirely on people's fear of him, or rather, "terror has become a means of self-protection, and thus a ridiculous thing" (Engels). Any action that weakens terror weakens his position.

Secondly, he also realized that if he could not eliminate the remaining Hébert, his plan to win over the Sans-culottes would be difficult to succeed.

Meanwhile, the rapidly declining reserves of supplies began to sound alarm bells for him. In an effort to appease the Sans-culottes, previously soaring food prices were forcibly suppressed again, and the practice of adulterating flour with chalk, talcum powder, and sawdust was also halted. The sale of grain to neutral countries in exchange for essential supplies was also suspended, but Paris's grain reserves continued to decline rapidly.

On the other hand, the amount of grain being sent to Paris from other regions was rapidly decreasing. A series of upheavals in Paris had weakened their control over the provinces, and the deliberate passivity of some officials exacerbated the problem. As a result, Paris could no longer sustain its grain supply to support Robespierre's policies.

A few months earlier, Robespierre could have easily sent special envoys to other provinces to combat procrastination and oversee the grain requisition. But now, he could not do so. Because at this point, he had very few people he could still trust. Sending them out would reduce his control over the situation in Paris.

However, he also knew that allowing this situation to continue would only lead to his demise. Given the circumstances, he had no choice but to take a risky action.

In early June, under Robespierre's arrangement, Couthon submitted a document to the National Assembly entitled "The Law for Punishing Enemies of the Revolution." This law further simplified the trial process of the Revolutionary Tribunal, abolished defense lawyers, and stipulated that the court would no longer need witnesses or physical evidence to make a judgment. The court could use its own judgment and could sentence the criminal simply by reasoning from common sense. At the same time, the punishment was also simplified, and the Revolutionary Tribunal would only make two judgments: acquittal or death.

The National Assembly, trembling with fear, obeyed Robespierre's will and passed the bill. Even Carnot, now the most defiant in Robespierre's eyes, did not oppose this clearly unreasonable bill. This was because Fouché had already warned him beforehand, "The moment everyone has been waiting for has arrived."

The bill immediately caused a great deal of tension. The entire National Assembly was in a state of panic. Everyone knew that Robespierre was preparing another Qing Dynasty, and everyone could tell from this murderous bill that the number of heads Robespierre was going to chop off this time would probably be far greater than in the previous purges.

Moreover, this bill sparked controversy even within Robespierre's own ranks. Saint-Just and Robespierre had their first heated argument over it. It is said that after this argument, Robespierre returned to his lodgings and told his landlord, "I have no one left to trust but you."

The "Law for Punishing Enemies of the Revolution" was certainly not a joke. Robespierre had to eliminate all potential opponents of his before the food supply in Paris completely collapsed. Thus, the guillotine began operating at full speed, beheading an average of eighteen to twenty people every day.

Among these individuals were businessmen, small workshop owners, and even many from the lower classes—because they were suspected of being involved in the assassination attempt.

During these days, Fouché was not idle either. He disguised himself and kept contacting the members of parliament, telling them, "Your name is on the next list!" Sometimes, he even deliberately risked leaving some traces so that Robespierre's men would know who he might have met.

As the various pieces of information gradually came together, Robespierre 'Fouché figure loomed in the clues. Robespierre decided that he would go to Parliament first thing tomorrow morning to force them to announce Fouché's arrest and send him to the guillotine.