The Peace-Loving Radish (1)
For the next few months, Paris seemed peaceful, and everything was on track. On October 1st, the new National Assembly elections concluded, and the results left Lafayette deeply disappointed. His Feuillant Club won 264 seats, while Robespierre's Jacobins won 136. Of the remaining seats, a small portion fell to the Royalist Party, and the majority to those with no clear allegiance. Lafayette's control was not a majority, and he had to find ways to maintain his advantage over the unofficial alliance between the Jacobin and the Royalist Party (an alliance neither side would acknowledge, attacking each other with vicious rhetoric, and in fact, both hoping for the other's demise. For example, if Robespierre were to suddenly die like Mirabeau, the Royalist Party would surely rejoice and dance at his grave. Yet, they tacitly cooperated against a common enemy).
Robespierre was not elected to this term of parliament. This was because he had previously proposed that members of parliament should not be eligible for re-election. Although this proposal was not passed, Robespierre, as the initiator of the proposal, voluntarily withdrew from this round of elections. Therefore, many people praised Robespierre's noble character.
However, another theory suggests that Robespierre used this as a bargaining chip to secure the support of the Royalist Party and some smaller centrist factions for Pétion's appointment as mayor of Paris. After leaving his position as a member of parliament, Robespierre did not fade into obscurity; on the contrary, freed from the constraints of that role, he began frequently publishing commentaries in various newspapers, which, in a sense, actually increased his public profile.
Of course, these things are temporarily irrelevant to the Joseph brothers. Their lives remain largely unchanged. If there is any difference, it's that their standard of living has slightly declined.
Although both brothers had been promoted and received a significant pay raise, their recent wages had been converted to Assignat. This wasn't just happening to the Joseph brothers; everyone was in the same situation. Carnot, and even Lafayette, were Assignat as well. So, just a couple of days ago, Carnot told Joseph with a distressed expression that he had previously promised to invite the family to his home and treat them well. But now, he was facing some financial difficulties, so the invitation had to be postponed.
Originally, with Carnot's income, even with the continuous drop in the price of Assignat, his family could still live comfortably. However, Carnot had many old friends, most of whom were low-ranking platoon leaders in the army who would never rise through the ranks. Their salaries were now also paid in Assignat. Before, their salaries were barely enough to support them, but now, with salaries paid in Assignat, their lives had become truly difficult.
Carnot was a kind-hearted man who couldn't bear to see his friends suffer, and as a result, he ended up emptying his own pockets.
Joseph and Napoleon did not yet have any friends who needed financial assistance. Therefore, their income was actually sufficient to support themselves, especially since Joseph had other sources of income. However, they still lowered their standard of living to avoid attracting attention. This reduction, in turn, earned them a reputation for integrity.
Armand visited Joseph again; by this time, he had become the editor-in-chief of a democratic newspaper called * Voice of Paris *. This newspaper was quite compact, with Armand serving as editor-in-chief, copy editor, columnist, and accountant all in one.
This newspaper naturally received support from the Jacobin Club; in fact, a significant portion of its operating funds came from the Jacobin Club. Some of the articles also came from club members. However, it is said that Robespierre felt the newspaper was too "Jacobin," since the Jacobin Club already had a similar newspaper (Marat's * L'Ami du peuple *). Therefore, he suggested that Armand find contributors outside the Jacobin Club to differentiate it from * L'Ami du peuple * and to better attract centrists.
Therefore, Armand approached Joseph, hoping he could write some tidbits of scientific knowledge for him. He also tried to get Lucien involved, asking him to write articles for his newspaper.
This suggestion certainly appealed to Lucien, who was at an age where he was still quite naive and didn't know the immensity of the world. However, because of Joseph's constant guidance, he didn't dare to express his opinion directly. Joseph, of course, knew that doing such things at this time would be suicidal. So he rejected the suggestion, arguing that Lucien was still young and should focus his energy on his studies. As for the popular science articles and the like, Joseph also declined, saying he was too busy with work.
After Armand left, Joseph called his brothers together for a meeting to analyze the current situation, so as to unify their thinking and determine the family's next course of action.
"Napoleon, Lucien, do you know of any political force, such as the Royalist Party, whose strength comes from?" Joseph asked his brothers, who were sitting around the table.
This is a fairly basic question. At least after numerous political re-education sessions, it is indeed a very basic question. Therefore, Napoleon basically disregarded it, completely ignoring Joseph's question, and even snorted softly to show his contempt for Joseph's rehashing of old ideas.
However, Lucien honestly replied, "The foundation of any political organization's power is its financial foundation. Finance is the mother of all governance; without money, no political organization can function. An organization's strength is determined first by how much revenue it can obtain, and second by the efficiency with which that revenue is used. And their political demands are certainly related to these things."
"Well, let's look at the first political force in France — the Royalist Party," Joseph said. "Where do the Royalist Party get their money?"
"It's mainly feudal rent, and some Royalist Party also do business." Napoleon found the question somewhat interesting and began, "In addition, some great nobles have accumulated a lot of wealth. Foreigners can also give them some money. But nowadays, forget about rent. The peasants won't pay. Except for the most remote and isolated places, no nobles can expect to collect rent anywhere. As for business, if they knew how to do business, they wouldn't be in this situation today. So their main sources of income are accumulation and foreign aid. Neither of these can last, therefore, their power is actually the weakest. They must change the situation before their money runs out, otherwise, they will be eliminated."
"Then, my dear brother," Joseph laughed, "If you were Louis XVI, what would you do?"
"Me? If I were Louis XVI, firstly, I could no longer gain the trust of others; I would have to live and die with the Royalist Party. Secondly, I would definitely flee. Of course, this would be much more difficult than before, but it's not entirely hopeless. The palace cannot be guarded forever. After all, this is not a prison. So I would find an opportunity to slip out, then ride out of Paris. As long as the people waiting outside have a light carriage ready, I would definitely be able to escape. Then I would go to Lyon and start a war—that's what I think is the best course of action," Napoleon said.
"And what about the Queen?" Joseph asked.
"That silly Austria woman?" Napoleon said. "Let her stay in Paris. She can't go far with us. Besides, if the Paris kill her, it will surely attract intervention from other countries. The Paris aren't that stupid. So what's there to worry about?"
"Would the king do that?" Lucien asked.
"He doesn't have the judgment or the guts," Napoleon snorted. "And he's not the leader of the Royalist Party either."
"And what would you do if you were the leader of the Royalist Party?" Joseph asked again.
"You mean I'm the Count of Artois?" Napoleon said. "Good heavens, how could I have such a foolish brother? Well, if I were the Count of Artois, I would only try to start a war. Because only with war can I have a chance of victory; any other outcome would be slow suicide for the Royalist Party."
"No wonder the Royalist Party are now so on good terms with Robespierre and his group," Lucien interjected.
"Then, my brother," Joseph nodded with satisfaction, "You analyze our superior, Lord Lafayette's, situation and how he is dealing with it."
"Your Excellency Lafayette? His cronies have made a fortune in this revolution. So they most want the situation to remain stable. But looking at the Assignat, we know that this situation cannot continue. He hasn't figured it out yet, and he still harbors illusions. If he really understands the situation, he only has one way out, and that is to start a war."
"Explain in more detail," Joseph said, his expression showing great interest.
"Actually, if the king hadn't fled, if he had trusted him from the start—frankly, in that situation, the best course of action for our king, besides fleeing to Lyon, would have been to ally with Lafayette. But... His Excellency Lafayette is truly unfortunate to have encountered such a king. Now, he cannot stabilize the situation domestically, the Royalist Party are unlikely to cooperate with him, and the king is no longer supported by the people. For him, the only way out is to use the army and war to establish a military dictatorship like Caesar's. However, our superior may not have Caesar's determination and courage, and even if he did, he may not have the same military talent. Moreover, he actually agreed to the suggestion of paying the army with Assignat —I don't even know how to comment on this. He's almost on par with His Majesty the King. Doesn't he realize that without an army, what does he have?"
"And what about the Jacobin?" Joseph asked again.
"The Jacobin are actually in the best position," Napoleon said. "They are the opposition, and the worse the political situation, the better for them. Although they are few in number in parliament, the Paris Commune has fallen into their hands. This means it will be very easy for them to instigate an uprising. As long as the current situation continues, Paris will revolt again sooner or later. So for them, enough seats in parliament to cause trouble is enough. As long as the current situation continues and there is no war, their chances of winning are actually the greatest."
"No wonder I saw Robespierre's article in Armand's newspaper a couple of days ago, where he appealed for the best possible way to avoid war," Lucien nodded.