Famine

The officers immediately frowned and looked at the Duke of Orléans.

The latter smiled and said, "The Royal House army is expanding rapidly. As far as I know, they recruited nearly a thousand new soldiers in a short period of time after returning to Paris."

"Now, including the Moulins Legion that has pledged allegiance to the Royal House, as well as the Swiss Mercenaries, the Royal House has tens of thousands of soldiers at its disposal."

"You forgot about the Flanders Brigade, oh, it's called the Paris Legion now," Mono chimed in. "They've always been flirting with the Royal House."

"Thank you for the suggestion. So that makes 13,000 men." The Duke of Orléans glanced at the Marquis of Saint-Priest. "At this rate, it won't be long before the Royal House possesses a powerful army, and you gentlemen will become utterly useless."

General Astu scoffed dismissively, "Just over 10,000 men? Not even enough to maintain order in France."

The Duke of Orléans smiled. "Are you familiar with the weaponry of the Berthier Legion?"

As he spoke, he took out an Auguste Percussion Cap Gun and tossed it, along with a small bag of Percussion Cap, to General Astu. This weapon, which was already in mass production, was not difficult to obtain from the Ordnance Factory if one was willing to spend the money.

After the group of military leaders figured out how to use the Percussion Cap Gun and took turns test-firing it, their faces all showed solemn expressions.

"You are all experts; you can certainly see how much this gun can enhance the army's combat effectiveness."

Before the officers could object, the Duke of Orléans immediately added, "In fact, the most dangerous thing is the new promotion system that the Royal House is implementing in the army."

"Promotion mechanism?"

"Haven't you heard?" the Duke of Orléans said with an exaggerated expression, "In the Royal House army, commoners can be promoted to officers based on their military merits, without any restrictions, and can even rise to the General! Moreover, not only is there no 'promotion fee' for promotion, but they also receive a substantial bonus."

The officers' expressions immediately turned cold upon hearing this.

This system is practically digging up their ancestral graves!

They have historically monopolized military officers based on bloodline and status. If even commoners can now rise to the rank of general, their descendants may very well lose control of the military in the future.

What followed was the loss of substantial profits.

Mono muttered at the opportune moment, "Oh, perhaps in the future everyone will be under the command of some lowly commoner, fighting bloody battles against the enemy. And he'll be sitting in the command post, mocking and ridiculing you all..."

"This is absolutely unacceptable!" General Astu roared. "The Royal House is desecrating military traditions!"

The other officers joined in the cursing, but the Marquis of Saint-Priest looked solemnly at the Duke of Orléans: "Duke Grace, we have always wanted to demonstrate the military's stance to the Royal House. However, this requires a catalyst, such as an enemy the Royal House cannot handle."

"This opportunity is about to arise," the Duke of Orléans proclaimed. "Before long, the Royal House will be plunged into a great crisis."

"Oh? Why are you so sure?"

Mono chimed in, "Because a massive Famine will soon occur, and riots will break out everywhere."

"A mob?" The Minister of War shook his head. "Those rabble pose no threat."

The Duke of Orléans chuckled, "If we do something 'altering,' the situation will be completely different."

He outlined his plan, concluding, "This time we also have the support of the Assembly of Notables. Yes, the Royal House's recent actions have gone too far, and everyone hopes to correct the King's mistakes."

The eyes of the dozen or so officers present lit up.

I was so stupid, so very stupid!

An ordinary Carriage was heading towards the Saint-Germain District under the setting sun. Inside, Soleil clasped her hands together, head bowed, constantly blaming herself. "How could I have thought those two guys were heroes who saved Celine, and even rashly asked His Crown Prince to exonerate them!"

She tossed her slightly wavy black hair forcefully. "His Crown Prince is probably going to misunderstand and think I'm an accomplice of those two..."

A handsome young man in his early twenties sitting opposite her comforted her, saying, "Tulip, don't blame yourself too much. Everyone can be blinded at times. Besides, we'll be able to help you make amends soon."

The muscular man next to him, easily over six feet tall, scoffed, "Hmph, your decision to beg that Royal House bastard was a mistake from the start. Why worry about his misunderstanding..."

Soleil immediately glared at him. "How could you speak of His Crown Prince like that! You have no idea that His Crown Prince is completely different from the rest of the Royal House; he is kind and full of a sense of justice!"

The burly man shrugged and turned his head away. "Fine, whatever you say..."

The handsome man parted the curtains and glanced out the window. "Everyone, let's recall the operation plan. We're almost at the Bastille."

The carriage immediately fell silent.

A few minutes later, two Carriage stopped one after the other at the street corner opposite the Bastille. Soleil and five young men got out of the carriages and gazed at the terrifying fortress in the distance.

"This is probably the most dangerous mission I've carried out in recent years," a thin, red-haired man said in a low voice.

"For the sake of fairness and justice, any danger is worth it!" the handsome man immediately replied.

Soleil nodded. "Twilight is right! The Brotherhood always stand with justice!"

These people were all members of the Brotherhood that Soleil belonged to [Note 1]. This Brotherhood nearly twenty members, all of whom were Nobility who liked to do chivalrous deeds in Paris. Although they were quite immature, they had helped many poor people.

A young man carrying a bow and arrow glanced at the sky and said to Soleil, "It's almost time. Now it's up to you."

The girl nodded, lifted her veil, and strode towards the Bastille.

She was extremely agile and swift. Under the cover of dusk, she quickly arrived at the base of the Bastille. With the help of very simple tools, she climbed up to a lookout window Domi high, like a gecko, out of the blind spot of the patrolling guards on the wall.

She easily opened the Window Tax, clearly not a first-timer, then climbed inside and lowered the rope from her waist down the windowpane.

Shortly afterward, three Brotherhood companions climbed down ropes into a battle chamber in the Bastille.

Soleil urged in a low voice, "There are only 3 minutes left until the routine check-up, hurry up and change your clothes!"

The group quickly changed into their Military Uniform and, led by Soleil, slipped down the corridor into a storage room. They then climbed through a window into another room on the third floor, taking advantage of a shift change to sneak into the officers' lounge, before climbing out the window again...

In the heavily guarded Bastille, Soleil managed to carve out her own path through sheer talent.

About ten minutes later, the three, who had faced numerous dangers along the way, safely arrived at the west side of the cell on the third floor where the Maletdu Brothers were being held.

Soleil, hiding behind a protruding pillar at the end of the corridor, peeked at the two guards in front of the cell door, then turned back to the red-haired man beside her and said, "Fox Hunter, you have to distract those two guards."

The latter glanced at the cell and swallowed hard. "It looks extremely dangerous."

However, he still covered his face, muttering "for justice," and ran towards the two guards. It wasn't that he was fearless; it was just that his father was a very prestigious Count, and even if he were arrested, he could get out by paying a sum of money.

Upon seeing the unfamiliar figure, the guard immediately drew his sword and gave chase, shouting, "Alert! Intruder!"

Soleil immediately went to the unguarded cell. This time, instead of picking the lock, she gestured to her strongest companion, "Thunderstone, it's your turn."

The latter nodded, pulled an iron awl from his waist, swung it high, and smashed it against the door lock.

With a muffled thud, his strength was immense. A crack instantly appeared on the cast iron lock, as if it would shatter with another blow.

A small window in the cell door was pried open, and a man with a pointed face and monkey-like features looked out. "Brother, they're banging on the door; they don't seem like guards."

"Get out of the way." A different face appeared behind the small window, asking suspiciously, "Who are you?"

"Fox Hunter" immediately said in a gruff voice, "The boss sent us to rescue you."

This is the plan that Soleil and the others plan to make up for their mistakes.

After learning that Mono's son could not be convicted due to insufficient evidence, they decided to stage a prison break to gain the trust of the Maletdu Brothers and extract useful evidence from them. Of course, if they couldn't fool the two, kidnapping and interrogating him was also an option.

The people in the cell asked in surprise, "Duke Highness has changed your plans?"

"Duke?" Soleil, who was closest to him, was taken aback. Shouldn't the eldest of the Maletdu Brothers be Mono's son? How did he become Duke?

Before she could think further, a flurry of footsteps suddenly echoed down the west staircase.

Just as she was about to urge Thunderstone to hurry up, the door of a cell in the distance suddenly opened, and seven or eight fully armed guards poured out, clearly having been lying in ambush there all along.

Soleil and the others were shocked and quickly drew their weapons, engaging in fierce combat with the guards.

They all came from prestigious Nobility families and had practiced swordsmanship since childhood. For a time, they overwhelmed the guards, who outnumbered them twice as many, and forced them to retreat repeatedly.

Just as the three reached the end of the corridor and were about to jump out of the window to escape, they heard a "click" sound of a gun being pulled back behind them.

Soleil slowly turned her head, and what came into view was more than thirty dark gun barrels.

A man with dead fish eyes pushed past the guards and sneered, "I've been waiting for you. Arrest them all!"

Three hours later.

In the interrogation room of the Bastille, Fouche frowned, tossed aside the Testimony in his hand, and glanced at the beautiful young woman opposite him. "Soleil Frez's daughter?"

Soleil nodded nervously.

Fouche sighed. "So, you want to kidnap the prisoner?"

"No, sir, we just want to get a Testimony from them..."

Suddenly, Fouche slammed his fist on the table in a rage and roared, "Do you know how long I've been planning to catch the mastermind behind this? And you've ruined it all!"

Based on his experience, he could tell that the Lesser Nobility he had just interrogated were not lying.

He waved irritably at the guard, turned and left. "Lock him up first."

Soleil was pulled up by the two guards, but suddenly remembered something and hurriedly said to Fouche, "By the way, sir, I heard those two guys say that their leader is a Duke."

"Oh?" Fouche immediately turned back.

Royal Palace.

The Duke of Orléans looked at the butler with a grim expression. "Someone wants to kidnap the Maletdu Brothers? Who is it?"

"That's still unclear," the butler said, head bowed. "The only news from the Bastille is that there are four people. Oh, and they also said that during the interrogation, they vaguely heard someone mention ' the Duke.'"

The Duke of Orléans' gaze sharpened immediately. After a moment of contemplation, he suddenly stood up. "Quickly, have the uprising begin in all regions immediately."

The butler paused, then hurriedly and cautiously reminded him, "Master, the arrangements for those northwestern provinces haven't been completed yet..."

"They've likely already realized something; we can't delay any longer."

The Duke of Orléans paced back and forth anxiously for a few moments, then ordered, "Make preparations, we're leaving Paris too. Go tell Mono to leave as soon as possible."

"Oh, and also, the money given to the military was paid directly with Bill of Exchange from the Paris Discount Bank; there wasn't enough time to get it from the United Kingdom."

As the French Reserve Bank's status as the "central bank" gradually became established, it began to exercise necessary supervision over major France banks. The enormous amount of "funding" he promised to the military was easily noticed.

He had originally planned to transfer the money through a United Kingdom bank, but the situation has changed, and it may be too late.

Provence Province.

Nice.

Several tattered Craftsman braved the biting cold wind to reach the nearest Strategic Grain Reserve, only to find that nearly a thousand people had already gathered there—they had all been informed by government grain sales points that the Grain Reserve had not delivered any grain, and had traveled a long distance to inquire about the situation.

The grain depot officials had to repeat themselves again and again, "Our grain has all been diverted to Montpellier, and there's really no grain in the Warehouse right now. But in just a few days, the grain from Grenoble will arrive..."

A tall man with a scar on his face immediately interrupted him loudly, "You said the same thing five days ago, where is the grain now?"

The man next to him immediately chimed in, "The government has been saying there's enough food and that we don't need to worry. It seems we've all been fooled!"

A gaunt old man in a thin Flax coat, pulling a child of about ten years old, struggled to squeeze in front of the Grain Warehouse Officials, bowing his head and patting his chest, saying, "Sir, bread in the city is selling for 22 sous a pound, we really can't afford it... Please have some mercy and distribute some grain."

Typically, a loaf of bread in Nice costs no more than 10 sous per pound. For the citizens who barely make ends meet with their wages cut short, this means they would go more than half a month without money to buy food.

[Note 1] The earliest Brotherhood was a Guild, which later evolved into a society. It was generally composed of members with the same interests or beliefs, or even established for social purposes. Members supported and helped each other, and also elected leaders to manage the society. It was very common in the 18th century.

(End of this chapter)