Eagle’s Glory

【The Glory of the Young Eagle】 【】

Surrounded by the crowd, Aigron walked toward the church in a mighty manner.

Although Aiglon was caught in a frenzy of excitement on the surface, he was still extremely calm and vigilant in his heart. He was always paying attention to the surrounding environment and did not let go of any suspicious signs.

For him, reputation is important, but the most important thing is his personal safety. After all, reputation can be accumulated slowly, but if his life is lost, there will be nothing.

Of course, with his current reputation, he may not die if he is captured by mistake (but this is also possible, because King Charles X is famously reactionary, and he will suddenly lose his mind and go crazy. Napoleon’s son will take revenge on the then Duke of Enghien, no one can say for sure.)

Moreover, even if his life is not in danger, being in jail is not an easy life - he still has a bright future, and his wife (and future children) are waiting for him to go home, so how can he waste his precious youth in jail?

So he must do his best to maintain his safety.

The people around him now are the people he brought back from abroad, as well as a few supporters who are in France but rarely show up in public. The Marquis of Treville did not appear - unlike Aigron, General Treville He would then have to return to his home in Paris, so he could not appear in front of others.

Because of this, Aiglon arranged for the Marquis of Treville to lurk outside the town and keep an eye on the road between the Strasbourg Fortress and the town. If there was any trouble, he would escape according to the plan he had thought of before.

He believed in the loyalty of the Marquis de Treville and, at least for now, their fates were bound together.

After confirming that there was nothing unusual around him, Aigron safely followed the veteran who led the way to the church.

As they approached this simple rural church, the parish priest was puzzled by the sudden influx of a large group of people. He walked out of the church and faced the noisy group of guys.

"My brothers, what are you doing? Why did you come to me instead of drinking coffee and wine?" he asked curiously.

This priest was probably in his fifties, with a rather short, fat figure. Although he was wearing a black robe, he did not look serious. He had a gentle smile on his face, and combined with his broad figure, he looked naive.

However, Aigron had no interest in talking to him at the moment. He still had a serious face, and then directly revealed his identity to the other party.

"Hello, Father. I am the King of Rome. I have just returned to France and I need your help now."

"Huh? You...you said you are?" The smile on the priest's face disappeared instantly, his eyebrows rose, and the wrinkles on his forehead became deeper, "What is it?"

He blinked and kept looking at the young man, not understanding what happened.

Before Aigron could explain any more, his whole body trembled like a rabbit with fried hair. "King of Rome? Duke of Lechstadt? Napoleon II?"

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【The Glory of the Young Eagle】 【】

"Both, this is all me. It's really hard for you to remember it all. You can choose any of the titles to call me -" Aiglon nodded friendly, "Of course, I would be happier if it was the last one."

Looking at the young man's face, the priest seemed to have seen some ghost, and his face suddenly turned pale with fear.

"Oh God!" he shouted, then turned to run away.

How could Aigron give him such an opportunity again?

He didn't even need to wink, and Andre Davout, who was beside him, grabbed his shoulder directly.

This poor old priest was no match for a young man like Andre. He was instantly grabbed by the shoulders and could no longer escape.

"This is not the welcome I expected." Aigron's expression did not change and he still said gently.

Of course, although his tone and words were quite polite, his eyes had already sent a stern warning to the other party - if you don't obey, your life will be in danger.

The priest gasped for air and slowly accepted the reality, but he still stared at Aiglon with lingering fear, "You...why are you back?"

"This is my country, why can't I come back?" Aigron asked.

At this moment, he saw that the veteran Anglers next to him seemed to have something to say.

So he nodded to the other party, indicating that he would speak if he had anything to say.

After getting the permission, veteran Anglers briefly introduced the priest, "This is a good guy. During the Revolution, he refused to swear loyalty to the Republic, so he was included in the list of enemies of the Republic and was forced to hide everywhere until the Empire. He ran away after the society stabilized. However, although he is a royalist in his position, he is very kind and kind to people, and he is quite famous here. If you can, please don't be too rough with him."

"Of course, I don't want to be rude to any Frenchman - unless I have to." Aigron said, looking at the priest again.

His eyes seemed to say 'please don't force me to do anything'.

Then, Aigron spoke to the priest again, "Father, I'm sorry for bringing you unexpected trouble today, but please don't worry, I won't be able to stay here for long. So as long as you stay here for a short period of time, If you cooperate with me, I will never harm your safety - although my political stance may be different from yours, based on my identity and dignity, I will not lie to you."

Aigron's words seemed to calm the priest's emotions a little.

"What...what do you want from me?" he asked in a trembling voice.

"It's very simple. You ring the bell and call the nearby villagers over. The more people who come, the better." Aigron answered briefly.

He still didn't say half of the sentence, but his eyes told the other party - if you don't comply with this request, then I will have no choice but to do so.

He had never served the empire, and as a priest he had no children (at least not in name) to die for the emperor, so of course Aigron did not need to be too polite to him.

The priest did not agree immediately, but looked at Aigron anxiously, then at the group of people surrounding him, and then involuntarily looked towards the direction of the fortress.

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【The Glory of the Young Eagle】 【】

"You are right, the garrison will come, but it will take time, and during this time I can do many, many things -" Aigron clenched his fists in a demonstrative manner, "Similarly, I don't have enough time, so Please don’t make me waste any more words.”

"Can you promise not to harm others?" the priest tried to bargain.

"Of course, as long as no one pulls a gun on me, I will never fire first -" Aigron promised with a look of pride. "I ran back to France not to kill anyone, but to see this land and its people."

"Hey..." The priest sighed, and finally nodded helplessly, "Okay."

Then, under the supervision of Andre Davout, he returned to the simple church, and then swung the church bell in the small attic.

Amidst the tinkling of bells, villagers from various villages and houses unexpectedly poked their heads out of their houses and fields, wondering why the church suddenly summoned them.

Soon, villagers gathered from all directions.

Aiglon stood in the open space, listening to the bells and watching more and more people gathering in front of him.

Of course, a well-dressed foreign boy like him attracted the attention of the villagers.

Aiglon's plan was going smoothly, but at the same time, he felt a kind of pressure on his back - God! If they hate me, it only takes a few people to call for help and they can swarm me and arrest me.

There are already hundreds of villagers here, and there will be more later, but he only has a few people and a few guns in his hands - such a small amount of weapons is completely meaningless in the face of so many young and middle-aged people.

This was not the first time Aigron faced a large crowd, but at that time either those people were his subordinates, or he had enough subordinates surrounding him to protect him. This was the first time he faced such a disparity in proportion. Passed by so many people with different looks and unpredictable thoughts.

His body instinctively sensed danger, making his mouth go dry.

However, there was no fear in his heart.

If you want to accomplish a great cause, you must have courage. What does such a small scene mean?

He adjusted his breathing, and then looked at the people gathered around him quietly with a proud calmness, ignoring their whispers.

Slowly, the sound of the bell gradually became weaker, and hundreds of villagers gathered.

Aiglon felt that it was time, so he finally spoke loudly.

"Citizens of France! I, the King of Rome, am back to visit you!"

His brief words immediately caused a commotion in the crowd. Some people were exclaiming and lost their voices, some had disbelief on their faces, and some were at a loss.

Eggron knew that this was a critical moment and he had to show his attitude to control the emotional pulse of the crowd.

He walked forward slowly towards the crowd, not afraid of falling into the crowd at all.

Perhaps feeling the mental pressure, the crowd retreated involuntarily, and some even turned pale and wanted to run away.

"I came back and forth to visit you." Aiglon stood still, and then looked at the people with excitement, "Please don't be afraid of me, don't reject me, because I am one of you... I am French, I I set foot on French soil just to see you. Have you forgotten the emperor so much that you don’t want to say a few words to his son?"

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【The Glory of the Young Eagle】 【】

His voice was as loud as ever, but it became softer on purpose.

Under his questioning, the crowd gradually stopped, and some brave people began to look at him. Although a few people still chose to escape, he had finally controlled the situation.

"I came here not to bring any disputes, and I never want to kill. I just want to see you and see France..." Aigron said emotionally, "I want to know, after all these years, without waves, Naparte family, is your life better? Without the Bonaparte family, are the gentlemen in Paris more willing to listen to your voice and feel your suffering? Without us, you feel more freedom and prosperity Yet?"

None of his three questions received a response, but from the eyes of the crowd, he could see that the answer was - no.

Aigron knew that for these villagers, it was meaningless to talk about empire and bloodline. If he wanted to mobilize their emotions, he must first start with their lives.

As it happens, the Bourbon royal family's more than ten years of rule can provide him with enough artillery shells - although the peasants have escaped the endless military service in the imperial era, their lives have not been much better, and they have even been politically suppressed. Rejected to insignificance.

"No, I saw the answer in your eyes - after the emperor left, the gentlemen who came back did not give you a good life." Aigron said in a slightly exaggerated tone, "They forgot their wealth, their Where does the power come from? They think they are born to climb on top of you and dominate you. They enjoy themselves unbridled but forget you, making you suffer and bear the burden - you have not forgotten the billion bill. , right? After they come back, have the taxes and debts on your heads increased again? They have not brought any glory to France, but they have the nerve to ask you to beg for food, and use the money you finally saved to have fun. This Is it fair? Are you destined to be bullied by them? No...that's absolutely not the case! Didn't you give the loudest answer thirty years ago?"

In September 1824, Louis XVIII died, and his younger brother, Count Artois, succeeded to the throne and became King Charles X. He and his assistants were obsessed with extreme orthodox policies and were determined to make amends. The old ruling class has been traumatized by the revolutionary fervor of the past few decades.

In order to achieve this goal, after he came to the throne, he and his Prime Minister Count Villers passed a number of laws, the most famous of which was the "One Billion Francs" Bill, whose main content was to pay tribute to the confiscation and sale of property during the French Revolution. The nobles provided compensation totaling one billion francs.

France, which has just experienced decades of turmoil, certainly cannot have so much cash. The billion francs have become long-term public debt, held by the exiled nobles for a long time. The government will allocate funds from the national finance to repay it.

In other words, the royal government stipulated in the name of law that the citizens owed a debt of one billion francs to the exiled nobles and must bear huge principal and interest.

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【The Glory of the Young Eagle】 【】

Based on the currency value of the franc at that time, one billion francs was equivalent to approximately 300 tons of gold.

The introduction of this bill immediately aroused public dissatisfaction.

Those nobles who followed the Bourbon royal family into exile abroad and finally returned home took this for granted - after all, they almost lost their lives during the revolutionary wave. Even if they were lucky enough to escape abroad, their property would be seized by the revolutionary government. It was confiscated and auctioned, causing heavy losses to legitimate property, which should be compensated.

However, most people at the bottom do not recognize this reason at all - after all, isn't the property of the so-called lords obtained by continuously oppressing the people and tenants?

For thousands of years, the peasants have been burdened with heavy taxes and miscellaneous taxes from the lords, and they have to work for the lords from time to time. After so many years of heavy oppression, it is not enough to be liquidated by the Great Revolution. How can they still support the already very important people? In the absence of a huge state machine, it will bear an additional huge debt of one billion francs?

Both sides had their own "reasons" and were almost irreconcilable. For the lower working people, the resentment naturally focused on King Charles X and his government.

For Aigron, King Charles X's implementation of such a perverse and reactionary policy was tantamount to sending propaganda bombs to himself.

Not only can he accuse the Bourbon royal family of ignoring public opinion, but he can also take the opportunity to extend it and question their "political morality."

After all, just to please a very small group of people, King Charles X could do such an outrageous act. Is he still qualified to rule this country?

Going further, maybe this is not an isolated reactionary measure, but the beginning of a grand plan to try to pull France back to before 1789?

Eggron doesn't care what King Charles X thinks, but in short, he just wants to desperately exaggerate that "the king just wants to return the country to before 1789."

Only in this way can farmers' deepest fears be aroused.

The peasants had little resonance with the freedom and equality preached during the Revolution. Those beautiful words seemed to them to be the stuff of city dwellers, but they regarded the land they received from the lords during the Revolution as their lifeblood. Son - a piece of land, land that can be passed down from family to family, is everything to farmers.

The property changes that occurred during the Great Revolution, especially land changes, were taboos that could never be touched again, just like the Ark of the Covenant that could never be opened again.

And Aiglon deliberately used this taboo to show off, just like matadors waving red cloth to provoke the most sensitive nerves of the villagers.

"This billion francs will become a noose hanging on you and your descendants, making you bear a burden that has no legal reason at all, making you suffocate in peace! You are burdened with taxes, you are the cornerstone of the kingdom's finances, you have no Any right has to bear the heaviest burden. It was the same then and it is still the same now! The salt you eat and the wine you buy are equivalent to filling the bill for the squandering of these shameless people!"

Aiglon said to the crowd word by word, "And this is not enough. Their desires are never-ending, because their ability to spend money is passed down from generation to generation. Nothing can make up for their short bills! You think you paid this Is one time enough? No, once you give in, you give in forever. Once you give in, you give in endlessly. You have already seen how many rights you have been deprived of. Next, in your silence, the remaining rights will only be deprived of more. , until one day, a master's steward will come to the countryside on horseback and tell you that this land has belonged to them since ancient times, and belongs to these masters who are always domineering. Tell me, have you accepted this fate? ?Are you really born to be their tame sheep, offering your wool without complaint?”

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【The Glory of the Young Eagle】 【】

Then he repeated it loudly. "Would you like that?!"

"No!"