Turning point

Brienne asked in confusion:

You mean the Church?

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. 69shux. com," Joseph slapped his forehead, "Speaking of which, we'll need your help here."

When Brienne heard that Archbishop Beaumont, Daffleur, and others had agreed to contribute their "private grain" to fill the food shortages in the South provinces, he was overjoyed.

How did you convince them?

What he really wanted to ask was, how did you know that the priests had hoarded large quantities of Grain?

When he was still in Toulouse, he had his priests do similar things, but after he was promoted to Chief Minister, he no longer cared about such small gains.

"Establish Church Cultural Development Company and sell new ' Indulgence '," Joseph briefly stated, then instructed, "You first draft the order to recall the officers; we'll discuss the details later."

"Yes, Your Highness."

Although Brienne felt that the army should be used to maintain order, he nodded in agreement and prepared to carry it out immediately because of his absolute trust in His Crown Prince.

However, he turned back after taking only a few steps, frowning slightly as he said:

"Your Highness, the latter part of this order... regarding whether or not to charge someone with Rebellion, perhaps it would be best for the High Court to decide."

Joseph was somewhat surprised. This wasn't a society governed by the rule of law anymore, so why was procedural justice being emphasized so much?

Brienne noticed his expression and quickly said, after careful consideration:

"Your Highness, directly accusing the officers of Rebellion in His King King's name might terrify the Nobility and even cause many neutral Nobility to sympathize with those ambitious individuals."

Joseph immediately realized that he had indeed acted too hastily—those officers were stationed in their localities, which was part of their duty, and they could find a whole host of reasons to refuse to come to Paris. If they were convicted of Rebellion for this, it would give other Nobility the impression that the Royal House could do whatever they wanted, and they would then project that onto themselves, wondering if they too would be severely punished if they ever disobeyed the Royal House.

This has crossed the line for the Noble Class.

Joseph nodded thoughtfully:

"You are right, then just strictly order the officers to come to Paris, and those who disobey will bear the consequences."

He muttered to himself again:

"It seems we need to find a way to really incite them to Rebellion..."

After Brienne left, Joseph took out the list he had previously selected on the road, wrote personal letters to each of the senior officers on it, and then had the Queen sign them before sending them out.

Next, he summoned Mirabeau, Bayei, and other representatives of the Capitalist Aristocrat, handed them a pre-prepared document, and explained it to them in detail.

By the time he finished, it was completely dark. Despite his exhaustion, Joseph took dinner, boarded the Carriage, and headed to the Paris Legion's encampment.

On the speeding Carriage, he gazed at the starlight outside the window, chewing on cured beef, and sighed inwardly: He really was worried sick about France...

Montpellier.

In the hunting grounds of the Earl of Serulier Manor, the Marquis of Saint-Viran lightly flicked his reins, gazing at the distant, sprawling tents of the Montcalm Legion, and addressed the Duke of Orléans beside him:

Do you think the Royal House will agree to those conditions?

The latter also urged his horse to slow down, and said leisurely:

"Such widespread riots put enormous Finance and public pressure on the Royal House, and will severely damage Royal House prestige. The Austrian Bitch has no other choice; she will definitely agree, at least partially."

"Which clauses can we allow her to remove?"

"Any terms." The Duke of Orléans shrugged indifferently. "As long as she makes concessions, you and the other generals will send troops to quell the riot."

The exaggerated conditions he proposed to the Queen were arbitrary and he never intended for the Royal House to accept them.

This is just a smokescreen; his real goal is to give the army a suitable excuse to move around simultaneously!

The fighting power of those rioters was negligible, and they were all instigated by his men; quelling them would be a piece of cake.

Once troops in various locations are mobilized, returning to their posts will not be so simple.

At that time, the military, with its immense prestige in suppressing the unrest, would use the pretext of ongoing riots to converge troops from various regions to the north, forming a semi-encirclement of Paris —if the Northwest Province had completed their deployment earlier, it would have been almost a complete encirclement.

With the limited military strength at the disposal of the Royal House family, they would inevitably panic. The Assembly of Notables would then take this opportunity to lead the Nobility in putting pressure on the Royal House once again.

By then, the conditions offered will be far more complex than they were last time.

According to the Duke of Orléans ' plan, he should at least serve as Regent —to achieve this, he has already arranged a marriage between himself and the Marquis of Luckner, who is very influential in the military, whose daughter will soon marry Philip.

The Royal Power would revert to its pre- Louis XIV state, characterized by a high degree of autonomy for the Nobility lords.

After that, as the Regent with all the power, he could do whatever he wanted with the Royal House!

The Duke of Orléans pondered how to torment Louis XVI and his family, while casually remarking to the Marquis of Saint-Viran:

"From Brittany to Provence, everything is ready, with a total of 80,000 men across the various legions. General Urtule and his forces in the north will also respond to our call at the same time."

The Marquis of Saint-Viran looked at him and said:

"Duke Grace, such a large-scale troop movement raises logistical concerns..."

The Duke of Orléans said indifferently:

"I will provide funding for each legion. Furthermore, the Duke of Dourfo and Duke of Mouchy will mobilize resources to supply the army."

Financial support was also a key factor in the Duke of Orléans's rise to a core position in the military. Prior to this incident, he had already distributed tens of millions of Livre to more than twenty senior military officers.

In order to overthrow the Royal House, he is prepared to use all of his wealth, which exceeds fifty million Livre. He is confident that he can defeat the Royal House in terms of military spending alone.

In fact, this only includes his cash and receivables; if fixed assets are included, the figure would be astronomical. It's worth noting that the Royal House alone provides him with an annual pension of 3 million Livre. The Duke of Orléans' lineage also possesses a vast amount of property; saying he's as wealthy as a country is no exaggeration.

"That's wonderful!" said the Marquis of Saint-Viran with delight. "When do you think the Queen's messenger will arrive?"

"It should be soon..."

As the Duke of Orléans was speaking, a Servant of the Earl of Serulier rode up to them and bowed, saying:

"Duke Grace, General, the people from the Versailles Palace have arrived."

The Duke of Orléans and the Marquis of Saint-Viran exchanged a smile:

"Let's go take a look."

When the two returned to Earl of Serulier's Villa, they failed to notice that the Count, who was standing there in a daze, had a rather strange expression on his face.

The Duke of Orléans sat down casually in his chair and addressed the Court Official who had come to deliver the order:

"Tell me, what conditions did Her Majesty the Queen agree to?"

Before the official could speak, Earl of Serulier handed him a decree bearing the King's seal.

The Duke of Orléans glanced at the document and immediately stood up in surprise.

The Marquis of Saint-Viran peered over in surprise and saw that the paper contained only a few simple sentences, the main content of which was to require all officers of the Major and above to immediately report to the Versailles Palace.

He looked at the official who delivered the order and, following his usual train of thought, said:

"Did the Queen not order troops to quell the rebellion?"

The latter nodded and gestured towards the document:

"That's all, Your Excellency."

The Marquis of Saint-Viran seemed somewhat anxious:

"What conditions is unacceptable to the Queen? We can discuss it further..."

The official delivering the order remained expressionless as he said:

"His Majesty has given no further instructions, Your Excellency. Please sign to confirm that I have received the order."

The Marquis of Saint-Viran and the other two looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

They had considered many possible reactions from the Queen, but they never expected her to simply let the riots run rampant.

They seemed to have gathered all their strength, preparing to deliver the most fatal blow to their opponent, only to suddenly find that there was only air in front of them, and they had nowhere to exert their strength.

"But what about a riot?" Marquis of Saint-Viran grabbed the official. "My army is ready, just waiting..."

"You can ask His Majesty at the Versailles Palace yourself," the latter said politely, bowing slightly. "I have not received any other instructions."

The Duke of Orléans suddenly stepped forward and said:

"What about the other provinces? Aren't they going to stop the riots either?"

"As far as I know, it seems so, Duke Grace. All the South provinces, except for Bordeaux and Lyon, should have received the same order."

Bordeaux, as the region with the largest Potato -growing area in France, did not experience any food shortages, so no riots occurred.

Meanwhile, in Lyon, after signs of food shortages appeared, the Textile Industry Guild took the lead in organizing major factories, bringing together their supervisors and security guards to form temporary Patrol, which quickly dispersed the rioting crowds.

This was mainly because the Textile factories in Lyon had been making good profits since Paris Fashion Week, and the trade guild allocated a large sum of money to reward the Patrol, thus ensuring that the factories did not stop production due to the riots.

After the Orderly Officer left, the Marquis of Saint-Viran immediately looked awkwardly at the Duke of Orléans:

"Your Duke, what should we do? Should we go to Paris...?"

"We absolutely cannot go!" the latter said, his face ashen. "I don't believe that Austrian Bitch really won't take the riots seriously. You just wait here, she will definitely compromise!"

The Marquis of Saint-Viran hesitated and said:

What if there was no compromise?

The Duke of Orléans gritted his teeth and said:

"We'll just lead the army directly..."

The Marquis of Saint-Viran immediately shook his head decisively:

"No, no, deploying troops without orders is Rebellion!"

He might dare to seize power and force the emperor to abdicate while the situation was chaotic, but he didn't have the guts to rebel directly. A rebellion without legitimacy could at most force the Royal House to flee abroad, followed by intervention from other major powers, and finally the return of the Royal House and the executioner's Guillotine.

He knew the Duke of Orléans wanted to usurp the throne, but he had no intention of becoming a stepping stone for the throne.

But he also knew that because he had threatened the Royal House, his political future would be ruined if he went to Paris.

After much deliberation, he finally made up his mind:

"I think it's best to wait and see."

The Duke of Orléans returned to his room with a gloomy expression and wrote letters to each of the more than twenty high-ranking military officers, urging them to hold on and wait for the Royal House to compromise first.

Two days later.

The starving people of Montpellier swarmed through the city like locusts, taking away all the food they could see.

Baron Laurent's Villa was in complete disarray.

In the maids' break room, a dirty old man found a small piece of bread in a corner cupboard and immediately waved it happily at a seven or eight-year-old boy beside him.

"Alessi, look what I found..."

He had only spoken halfway when a woman suddenly appeared beside him, snatched the bread from his hand, and shoved it into her mouth.

The old man pointed at the woman in shock and anger:

"You, you shameless bastard, that's children's food..."

Before he could finish speaking, a five- or six-year-old child walked in, carrying a small baby, and said very weakly to the woman:

"Mom, my sister..."

The woman quickly picked up the baby, fed her chewed bread, and anxiously murmured:

"Swallow it, Eliane, swallow it quickly!"

She had long since run out of breast milk due to hunger, and this was the only way she could feed her dying daughter.

The baby's cheek puffed out, as if it had eaten something.

The woman nodded excitedly, about to take another bite of bread to feed the child, when suddenly her hand felt light, and turning her head, she saw that the bread had been snatched away by the old man.

"Give it back to me, please!" she pleaded, her voice hoarse with tears, "Eliane can't hold on much longer..."

The old man remained unmoved and stuffed the bread into his grandson's hand.

"Sorry, Alessi is starving too."

The woman handed the baby to her eldest daughter, and with her last strength tried to snatch the food from the child's hand, while the old man desperately hugged her waist.

"Alessi, eat up!"

"Please, leave a small piece for Eliane!"

The two were weakly wrestling when they suddenly heard someone shouting outside:

"Hurry to the church! Church 're distributing food!"

"It seems like there are some in the Agde Diocese too!"

Both of them were taken aback for a moment, then simultaneously let go. Seeing that the bread was all gone, the woman quickly pulled her eldest daughter along and headed towards the church.

The old man caught up in a few steps, took the baby from the older child, and gestured to the woman:

"I'll carry it for you; that way we can travel faster."

They followed the rioting crowd to the church in the south of the city, where they saw priests distributing black bread, and the starving people almost knocking down the church fence.

The woman and the old man waited in line for half an hour before finally receiving a pound and a half of bread each, which they immediately devoured with their child.

A moment later, the woman looked at her young daughter, who had eaten her fill of breadcrumbs and whose mouth was still moving, and silently bowed to the priest.

The priest then made the sign of the cross on his chest and addressed the crowd that was bowing in prayer:

"You should thank a merciful God, not me."

Another priest beside him added:

"And His Majesty the King, His Majesty the Empress, and His Crown Prince! The food was distributed by them and the Church together."

The crowd immediately began to make the sign of the cross, and then shouted, "Long live His Majesty the King!"

Once the people were no longer hungry and had received the priests' promise that "there will be more food tomorrow," they returned home exhausted.

Meanwhile, dozens of gang members who had been paid to incite the riots were still shouting nearby:

"Who's coming with me to Viscount Anrol's house? There's bound to be food there!"

People just looked at them indifferently, and no one responded.

(End of this chapter)