Rumors and the National Guard (4)

Charles could find no reason to oppose this suggestion. Although Joseph was not a drill instructor, everyone could sense, while he guided them in constructing barricades, that the military expertise of an instructor from a military academy was far beyond what they, as laymen, could offer.

"Of course, no problem. As long as Monsieur Bonaparte is willing, we would naturally be more than happy to have you," Charles said with a smile. "I wonder if Monsieur Bonaparte would be willing to assist us?"

"As a member of this community, it is naturally my duty. However, as you all know, I am an active-duty soldier. If there are orders from above, I must prioritize them. As long as it does not conflict with military orders, I am willing to contribute my strength," Joseph replied.

"Then, let us all express our gratitude to Monsieur Bonaparte!" Charles said.

And so, Joseph became the military advisor for the neighborhood's National Guard. Following this, they agreed to begin reorganizing the neighborhood militia into the National Guard starting tomorrow and to commence their military training.

However, this plan was almost immediately dashed. For at noon that very day, a new rumor emerged.

The rumor claimed that the cannons at Montmartre Heights and the Bastille were already aimed at the city center of Paris. Troops loyal to the King were about to launch an attack on Paris.

This was, of course, a rumor, but the vast majority of the citizens of Paris believed it to be true. Furthermore, there was no way to debunk such a rumor. This was not only because "a rumor takes a second to spread, but a rebuttal takes a mile to run," but also because at this juncture, debunking it was a political error. Anyone attempting to refute it would be viewed by the enraged masses as a "lackey of the tyrant." They would not hesitate to hang such people from the nearest lamppost.

Since no one dared to debunk it, the rumor naturally became all the more believable. The flaws originally present in the rumor were ignored, and in the process of spreading, they were even silently patched up by others. In short, this rumor convinced almost every citizen of Paris.

Over the past few days, the citizens of Paris had already armed themselves to some extent, especially after seizing the undefended Les Invalides. From there, people had obtained over thirty thousand muskets and a dozen cannons. However, Les Invalides contained only these firearms and artillery, but lacked sufficient gunpowder.

Thus, a newer rumor was born based on the previous one: there was a massive amount of gunpowder inside the Bastille. This rumor was "logical," for if the King intended to use the cannons of the Bastille to suppress the resistance in Paris, they would naturally need to store enough gunpowder within the Bastille.

Attacking the heavily guarded Montmartre Heights was truly beyond the capabilities of the Parisian militia. By comparison, however, the Bastille seemed much easier to handle.

The Bastille was a structure from the era of the Hundred Years' War, originally built as a fortress outside the city gates to defend Paris. It featured eight towers about 30 meters high, connected by walls 30 meters high and 3 meters thick. Later, 15 cannons were mounted on the walls. The castle was surrounded by a moat 26 meters wide and 8 meters deep, which connected to the Seine River, with only a drawbridge providing access to the outside. It could absolutely be called an impregnable fortress.

However, as Paris expanded, the Bastille, originally outside the city gates, became a structure within the city, and its military role in guarding Paris was diminished. Thus, the Bastille as a military fortress died, replaced by the Bastille as a fortress of royal power.

In the late 14th century, the fortress was converted into a royal prison, specifically used to hold the most important "state prisoners." Many of those imprisoned there were political dissidents. Therefore, in the hearts of the French people, this prison was almost a symbol of the French autocratic dynasty.

The Bastille garrison consisted of eighty-two men. In early July, thirty-two Swiss mercenaries were transferred into the Bastille to strengthen its defenses. But in terms of the number of guards alone, it could not compare to Montmartre Heights. Moreover, due to a lack of maintenance, the moat beside the Bastille had dried up. This further reduced the defensive capabilities of this former fortress, making the militiamen feel even more confident that they could take it.

Therefore, early the next morning, a large number of armed citizens (no one knew exactly how many) with chaotic organization began to close in on the Bastille. This event naturally forced Charles to postpone his plans to reorganize the neighborhood's National Guard.

The Bastille was surrounded by tens of thousands of armed Parisian citizens, but these citizens, armed only with muskets, actually had no good way to deal with the Bastille. The fortress walls were too high, and the surrounding moat, though devoid of water, was still too wide and deep, making it extremely difficult to climb across.

However, the commander guarding the Bastille, de Launay, did not think so. Because despite appearing tall, sturdy, and impregnable, the Bastille was, after all, only a 14th-century fortress. Many of its designs and concepts were far behind the times. One could even say: "My lord, the times have changed."

The towering walls of the Bastille were almost unconquerable in the 14th century. But such tall, vertical walls had now become an obvious weakness. The Siege of Constantinople in 1453 had already proven that tall, vertical walls were highly susceptible to large-scale collapse under artillery fire. Consequently, subsequent fortress walls gradually became lower and thicker, with the wall faces sloping increasingly inward. This prevented the walls from collapsing over large areas under cannon fire. Yet, these improvements were nowhere to be seen on the Bastille.

The walls of the Bastille were too high—30 meters—completely vertical, and only 3 meters thick. Such walls could not withstand the bombardment of cannons. Furthermore, because it had been converted into a prison, there was no longer a requirement to clear fields of fire, so various buildings had been constructed near the Bastille, which significantly obstructed the vision of the guards atop it.

Therefore, de Launay had no confidence at all in whether he could hold this ancient fortress.

So, when the citizens began to close in on the Bastille, de Launay forbade his soldiers from firing on the approaching citizens and requested peace talks with them.

It took the chaotic citizens quite some time to select a group of representatives to enter the Bastille and negotiate with the garrison. However, during the negotiations, due to poor communication and the fact that the talks consumed too much time, a new rumor began to spread among the citizens.

This rumor claimed that the representatives who had entered the Bastille had been slaughtered in a brutal and merciless manner by the "lackeys of the tyrant." This rumor immediately enraged the tens of thousands of "armed mob" surrounding the exterior. Consequently, the crowd began to press toward the Bastille, all shouting:

"Take the Bastille, kill those villains!"

"Kill them all! Kill them all!"

"Charge! Charge!"

Someone took the lead in singing the Slave War Song. At first, it was just one or two people, then more joined in. The singing converged into a rushing river, surging toward the Bastille. Tens of thousands of militiamen, muskets in hand, sang "The old world is falling to pieces, slaves, rise up, rise up" as they closed in on the Bastille. Some of the faster militiamen even crossed the dried-up moat and climbed to the drawbridge, swinging axes in an attempt to cut the chains holding it.

In a panic, a Swiss guard fired a shot at the militiaman holding the axe high. With that, all peaceful negotiations ceased; the militiamen immediately returned fire, and the two sides began to clash in a flurry of gunfire.

However, the situation was not very favorable for the militiamen. The Bastille was, after all, a fortress—even if it was only a 14th-century one, it still provided the defenders with significant advantages. In the exchange of musket fire, the guards, protected by the fortress and firing from a high vantage point, easily struck down many militiamen. Those untrained militiamen, despite their numbers, did not even know how to aim effectively. Many had never even touched a firearm before (though, truth be told, whether a smoothbore musket hits its target often doesn't depend entirely on aiming). After they fired, whether they hit their target was basically a matter of faith. So, they fired chaotically, the sound of gunfire crackling everywhere; while it looked lively, the result was that they basically failed to hit any targets. (In actual history, by the time the Bastille surrendered, only one defender had suffered a minor injury.) The defensive firepower, however, was much more effective, quickly downing dozens of militiamen. The remaining militiamen were suppressed, and had it not been for the many buildings near the Bastille providing them cover, their losses would certainly have been even greater.

For some time thereafter, the battle entered a stalemate. Commander de Launay raised the flag more than once, hoping to cease fire and negotiate with the besiegers outside, but his gesture was rejected without hesitation by those outside. They believed that de Launay's actions were merely a deception, and that after his men fired upon the people, he had already lost the right to surrender!

But not accepting negotiations was one thing, and being able to break in was another. The militiamen used various methods, including some whimsical ones. For instance, some suggested using burning tarpaulins to start a fire or even destroy the defenders' cannons. However, once they lit the tarpaulins, they realized they had no way to get the burning material over the thirty-meter-high walls.

Of course, some thought of cannons, and the militiamen did indeed possess them. But they lacked gunners, so the few volleys fired from a safe distance were highly unsuccessful. Although, in theory, the Bastille was a massive target and it shouldn't be difficult to hit it, these militiamen—who had never used cannons before—successfully managed to make their shells miss the giant target in front of them. They fired several shots, but not a single one managed to hit the walls of the Bastille.