Royalist Nemesis (2)

The Capitol building stood there silently, and from the outside, not a single person could be seen.

"Hahaha..." a member of the Royalist Party burst into laughter, "I knew these traitors had already run away! These cowards! Hahaha..."

Holding a huge white flag (that was the color of the Bourbon Dynasty's flag), he turned around and shouted to the men behind him, "Brothers, follow me! Plant the white flag on top of the Parliament Building!"

The crowd surged toward the Capitol Building in a chaotic frenzy, with many firing indiscriminately at the walls. Bullets sparked as they struck the walls, and windows shattered with a deafening crash.

The crowd was getting closer and closer to the building, less than forty meters away. But at that moment, explosions suddenly rang out from all directions.

Countless fireballs emerged from beneath the plaza in front of the Capitol Building and from beneath the road leading to the Capitol Building, followed by countless more fireballs exploding in mid-air.

"This is..." Barras asked in a trembling voice, having been hiding behind a window on the second floor of the building, peering out through a periscope. Although it was winter, sweat was already beading on his forehead.

Barras knew that hiding elsewhere at this time would certainly be much safer. However, when it came time to divide the spoils, he would naturally receive far less. Therefore, after considering it all night, he decided to close his eyes and take a gamble, after all, Fouché and Lucien were there. If he wasn't confident, they probably wouldn't...

But just now, when those thugs swarmed in, Barras was genuinely frightened. He recalled the bizarre and imaginative ways those nobles had died during the September massacre, and his legs went weak. He almost forgot that he had prepared a small bottle of poison with him.

But this series of massive explosions changed everything. After the explosions, the entire plaza outside the Capitol Building, as well as several nearby streets, were swept away by shockwaves and shrapnel. Most of the surging crowd had become corpses lying in disarray, and the survivors were groaning on the ground. No one could stand in the empty plaza and streets anymore.

"This is an electrically detonated landmine," Lucien replied. "It's our company's latest product."

In the original history, in 1799, Volta created the first practical battery— the Volta pile. In the same year, E. C. Howard created the important detonator Mercury Fulminate. However, in this timeline, a few years earlier, Lavoisier, while developing Nitrated Starch at the "Military Technology Research Institute," incidentally produced Mercury Fulminate as well. More recently, in order to develop various explosives, especially timed explosives, Joseph replicated the battery. Moreover, his starting point was far superior to Volta's; he immediately created the easy-to-use carbon-zinc battery and the rechargeable zinc-copper battery using dilute sulfuric acid as the electrolyte.

Add to that the electric detonator invented by Lavoisier, and if you add a timer, you'll have a time bomb that future generations will love—a must-have for home, travel, murder, and arson. Giving this to Europe revolutionaries, especially those in Poland and Russia who love assassination, would likely blow up half of Europe's aristocracy.

Of course, the uses of these technologies are not limited to assassination; they play a very important role in many fields. For example, here, by simply modifying the technology originally intended for safe blasting in mines (where the fuse is unreliable and relatively dangerous), this deadly weapon was created.

The so-called "electrically detonated landmines," at best, consist of a package of Nitrated Starch wrapped in oiled paper and rags, then covered with broken glass, nails, and other such materials, with an electric detonator inserted and wired. At worst, a long nail is driven into the ground, explosives wrapped in glass shards and nails are placed on top, an electric detonator is inserted, wired, and a genuine "Bonaparte's Little Melon" is placed on top, with the pull cord secured to the nail below. Once detonated, the Little Melon will be blown into the air, and its detonator will be activated. If the amount of explosives is appropriate, the Little Melon can explode in mid-air, leaving the target with nowhere to escape.

Over the course of one night, the Red Army laid more than three hundred of these mines in the square and along the main road leading to the Capitol, turning the entire area into a giant death trap.

"Counterattack! Take this opportunity to crush them!" shouted Colonel Berthier, the current commander-in-chief of the Red Army and also Carnot's protégé.

Suddenly, hundreds of soldiers in red uniforms emerged from behind windows and doors, rifles with bayonets fixed, rushing out of doorways and leaping from windows towards the rioters in the distance who were still stunned by the explosion and had not yet come to their senses.

The rioters, already terrified by the explosion, hadn't immediately scattered and gone home not because they still had any courage, but because they were paralyzed with fear. Now, seeing a troop of soldiers charging towards them with gleaming bayonets, they instantly snapped back to reality, turning tail and running, shouting as they ran, "We've lost! Run! Run! Damn it, don't get in my way!"

The crowd was in complete chaos and couldn't run fast, so the Red Army quickly caught up, first with a volley of fire, then another round of Little Melon, and then... well, that was it.

The rioters never even considered retaliating; they were simply scrambling to escape. The smarter ones dropped their weapons, left the streets, and fled into the alleys. After all, the Red Army wasn't chasing them; they were only chasing the areas with the largest crowds.

"Mr. Barras, now you can issue the order to quell the rebellion to the National Guard in each district in the name of the city's defense commander. I'm sure they will all obey orders obediently now." Lucien glanced outside, then turned to Barras and said this.

In fact, Barras didn't even need to issue an order. Upon receiving news of the Royalist Party' failed siege of the National Assembly, the National Guard in the districts, who had initially maintained "benevolent neutrality," naturally joined the fray. Even those who had initially leaned towards the Royalist Party and had even mobilized to besiege the National Assembly, only arriving a little late, immediately declared, "We're here to suppress the rebellion and defend the Republic!"

As the saying goes, "When a drum breaks, everyone beats it; when a wall falls, everyone pushes it down," on the one hand, the rioters scattered and fled in disarray, while on the other hand, various National Guard stepped forward to quell the rebellion. As a result, a rebellion that should have changed the world in Paris was suppressed in just half a day.

However, to be honest, the Royalist Party's losses were actually quite limited. After all, among those at the forefront, there weren't many people of truly noble blood. Moreover, before launching the rebellion, although these people all claimed that they would definitely succeed this time, these nobles who had survived even in Robespierre's time had long been accustomed to preparing their escape routes in case of failure.

Furthermore, Barras and his new friends were temporarily unable to apprehend the nobles, so most of the nobles involved in the riot, unless they were foolishly reckless enough to be at the forefront, managed to escape successfully. Of course, some believe that this was simply because some people still needed the Royalist Party to put pressure on others.

With the rebellion quelled, the most important thing was naturally to reward those who had contributed. The Thermidorians gathered in the National Assembly to discuss the establishment of a new government and parliament.

First of all, those who made great contributions in this incident must be rewarded, otherwise it would be unreasonable, and... moreover, the Red Army would not agree to it.

In the past, no matter how turbulent Paris was, the military had never truly intervened in Paris political struggles. But this time, the military suddenly appeared, and with such a thunderous blow, proved one thing. "Don't misunderstand us, we're not targeting any of you here. We're saying that if it's about overturning the table, you're all trash!"

The Red Army, numbering only 500 men, easily routed 40,000 rioters, suffering pitiful casualties. The only soldier who was honorably wounded in battle twisted his ankle while chasing the rioters. As for how many rioters died, only heaven knows. It is said that the horse-drawn carts carrying the corpses were busy all day long.

Now that the military has begun to intervene in politics, it's impossible to simply go back to the way things were before and do nothing. Even if the military itself wanted to, it's no longer possible. Now, in everything we do in France, we can no longer ignore the military's attitude and interests.

"For some time now, our military industrial management has been in complete chaos, sending far too much junk to the army! I tell you, the soldiers are very dissatisfied! They suspect that there might be a conspiracy by Royalist Party, they suspect that some of us are betraying them and France for money! They all feel that this situation absolutely cannot continue!" At the government meeting, Barras suddenly transformed into a spokesperson for the interests of the army.

"Therefore, we must pass a resolution to restore the military representative system and the system of quality inspection and accountability for military procurement. Any attempt to cram shoddy goods into our army is a betrayal of the great France and should be punished in the most severe way!"

Military procurement, except for a few classified cases, should all be conducted openly. The military should publicly state its technical standards, and only qualified products from companies that meet those standards can enter our military...

"Barras has sided with the military quite quickly," a member of parliament whispered to another in the audience as Barras was giving his enthusiastic speech.

"Indeed, Mr. Genet," the congressman replied in a low voice. "But I'm more concerned about the standards set by the military. I think it's quite possible that some scientists developed something first, and then the military tailored a standard to their product."

"Sigh, that Barras fellow, he really has a good eye," Mr. Genet muttered. "He was the one who figured out how to sell the Naval and Technical Research Institute to that family at a bargain price. And I heard that Mr. Barras just sold two of his gunpowder factories to them, and supposedly he's become a shareholder in some kind of 'Military-Industrial Consortium'."

"This is so enviable... He made his fortune without even telling us beforehand..."