Drawing in the Net, Hauling in the Fish

The rioting farmers immediately joined in, shouting, "Don't be afraid! Charge!"

"Let's fight those Nobility!"

"There are more of us, so don't be afraid! Let's beat them up!"

However, it was the Nobility who launched the first attack.

Two gunshots rang out from within the Nobility ranks. The leading Nobility "commander" immediately frowned, turned around, and shouted, "Who's firing indiscriminately?!"

The Southern Netherlands spy who had just fired the shot, hiding behind the others, shouted, "We must let those @% of the lowly people know how powerful we are!"

"Damn it, this is a riot! Defend City Hall with our swords!"

"For His Majesty the King, warriors, teach those lowly people a lesson!"

Most of the Nobility who came here were young, and after being incited like this, their blood boiled, and another twenty or thirty people began to raise their guns and fire.

The farmers opposite were initially frightened and shrank back, but encouraged by Liberals leaders such as Saint-Just, they quickly regained their composure and raised their guns to return fire.

The two sides shouted and cursed at each other from opposite ends of the street, which was about a hundred paces apart, and kept firing their guns at each other. In a short time, the noise and gunshots mixed with the Powder Smoke and quickly enveloped the two blocks nearby.

However, despite their impressive numbers, both sides consisted of rookies who had never been on the battlefield, and the distance was too great, so after fighting for a long time, very few people were hit.

Just then, whistles suddenly sounded around the street, and more than 400 Police split into two teams and flanked the two sides in the conflict from behind.

Reims has been quite unsettled lately, with the Police on alert almost around the clock. However, due to the limitations of communication technology at this time, it took them more than an hour to gather enough people to disperse the rioters.

Chaos immediately erupted among the farmers. Some continued to "fight" under the command of Saint-Just and his men, while others fled into the gaps between the surrounding buildings. The majority, however, looked around in panic, unsure of what to do.

Meanwhile, the Nobility became smug, making arrogant and provocative remarks, hurling profanities, and some even remotely directing the Police to intercept the fleeing farmers.

As the entire street descended into chaos, several men dressed in grey coats with felt hats pulled low emerged from a corner, showed their Intelligence Bureau credentials to the Police leader, and then pointed towards the Nobility.

The Police immediately turned and ran towards the Nobility, quickly surrounding the two hundred-plus people.

Several young Nobility stepped forward, gesturing and shouting at the Police —after the Police Reform, most Police were commoners, and although they were highly trained, they were still looked down upon by the Nobility —and yelled, "Don't just stand there! The rioters are about to escape!"

"What are you trying to do? This place is full of Nobility. The person you're looking to arrest is over there."

The lead Public Security Inspector gave the group a cold look and said in a deep voice, "Did you fire first?"

"Yes," a curly-haired Nobility said arrogantly, "If your Police can't handle those lowly people, then we'll teach them a lesson!"

"You all participated in the shootout just now?"

"That wasn't a bloodbath, we were maintaining order..."

Before the Nobility could finish speaking, the Public Security Inspector gave a signal to the surrounding Police and gestured to the Nobility in front of him. "Arrest all those involved in the riot!"

"Yes, sir!"

The Nobility panicked. Some cursed loudly, others flaunted their illustrious status, while many more argued with the Police, shouting, "What do you want? Those lowly commoners on the other side of the riot!"

"Let me go! I'm here to quell the riot..."

"Let me go. Look, I don't even have a gun."

Moments later, about 200 arrogant Nobility were pinned down by the Police and made to stand in a row against the wall facing the street.

The Policing inspector walked past them and said coldly, "To gather a crowd and shoot civilians in Reims City without authorization, regardless of your identity, is a riot!"

"As for those who weren't armed, your swords could have killed just as well, but we stopped them in time."

A captain beside him leaned over and whispered, "Sir, they are all Nobility, and some of them are of very high status. You see..."

The Policing inspector glared at him. "Does Nobility give you the right to incite a riot?"

"No, I can't..."

Take them all!

"Yes!"

The Policing inspector had orders personally signed by the Police Department chief in his pocket, instructing him to arrest all the troublemaking Nobility. So he was very calm and didn't care about his status at all.

Of course, the Police Department chief was acting on the orders of His Crown Prince, which is why he made such a large-scale arrest of Nobility who were "involved in the riot".

When Joseph heard Talleyrand mention that many Nobility had been incited to go to the Northwest Province to "protect the interests of the Nobility," he immediately realized that this was a very useful tool.

So he ordered Fouche to send men to keep an eye on those Nobility and instructed the Police Department to not hesitate to arrest them if there was evidence.

Zesfield Village.

Saint-Just rallied the hundreds of peasants before him. "Don't be afraid of those Nobility. Most of them can't even carry a gun a mile. We almost crushed them today."

"Although we didn't storm City Hall the day before yesterday, next time we'll have more people, and we'll definitely be able to..."

The farmers waved their arms and shouted along with him from time to time, their emotions running high. After these two riots, they were no longer so afraid of the Police, and indeed, as Mr. Saint-Just had said, more and more people were gathering around them.

Next time, there should be two thousand people storming the City Hall together. At that point, who would care about a mere few hundred Police?

Those farmers who were the most vocal and at the forefront of the protests, having received subsidies from the Southern Netherlands "Committee," were especially eager to join the fray.

Saint-Just continued his speech, "In order to avoid being bled dry by those Nobility for another 50 years, we must unite, we must use..."

Just as he was getting into the swing of things, Father Joly, the parish priest, came running up, panting, waving and shouting to the farmers, "Be careful, everyone! Don't fall for the tricks of those treacherous Southern Netherlands!"

Saint-Just frowned at him and said, "Priest who has sold his soul, do you think your divisive tactics will work?"

More than a dozen Mounted Police following Father Joly finally reached the threshing ground where the meeting was taking place—not all Mounted Police horses; many rural Mounted Police walked.

The leader glanced coldly at Saint-Just, jumped onto the stone platform where the latter was giving his speech, and then took a letter from his pocket, showing it to the farmers present. "Look, everyone, this is a letter from the Southern Netherlands Parliament to your Mr. Saint-Just."

"It is said that the Southern Netherlands will provide the money and guns, and Monsieur Saint-Just will be responsible for inciting peasants to riot in France cities. Their pretext is that the government will impose exorbitant land buyout fees."

"Oh, you can come up and see for yourselves, there's Mr. Saint-Just's autograph here..."