Fox of France

For the next few months, the city of Paris looked calm and everything was on track. On October 1st, the new National Assembly election ended, but the result of this election disappointed Lafayette. The Feuillon Club under his leadership won 264 seats, while Robespierre's Jacobins also won 136 seats. About half of the remaining seats, a small part fell into the hands of the royal party. Many more fall into the hands of those without clear attribution. The seats controlled by Lafayette did not reach a majority, and he had to do everything possible to maintain the private alliance between Jacobin and the Royalist Party (neither of the two parties in this alliance will admit the existence of such an alliance, and they will use various They use a vicious language to attack each other, and in fact, they both hope that the other party will die as soon as possible. For example, if Robespierre suddenly died of illness like Mirabeau, the royal party would definitely be overjoyed to his grave to sing and dance. But against a common enemy, they had a tacit cooperation) advantage.

Robespierre was not elected to this term. Because before that, he proposed that members of parliament should not be re-elected. Although this proposal was not passed, Robespierre, the initiator of the proposal, voluntarily gave up this round of elections. So quite a few people are praising Robespierre for his integrity.

However, there is also a saying that Robespierre used this as a means of exchange in exchange for the support of the Royal Party and some smaller middle factions for Petion as mayor of Paris. After Robespierre ceased to serve as a member of parliament, he did not remain silent. On the contrary, without the restriction of this identity, he began to frequently publish various commentary articles in various newspapers and periodicals. In a sense, , but increased their popularity.

Of course, these things have nothing to do with Brother Joseph for the time being. The days of the brothers were no different from usual. If anything, their standard of living is now slightly down.

Although the military ranks of both of them have been promoted, their wages have also increased a lot. But recently the wages paid to them have turned into vouchers. Of course, this is not aimed at the two brothers Joseph, it is the same for everyone. The salaries of Cano and even Lafayette also refer to coupons. So two days ago, Kano told Joseph with a bitter face that he had said before that he would invite the family to his home and treat them well. But now, he has some financial difficulties, so this invitation must be postponed.

Originally, with Kano's income, even though the price of the stock index fell again and again, the life of his family was still no problem. It's just that Kano has a lot of old friends, and they are all small platoon leaders who are at the bottom of the army and will never be promoted. The military salaries of these people are now paid with coupons. In the past, their military pay was barely enough to support their lives, but now, after paying the military pay with finger coupons, their life is really difficult.

Kano is a warm-hearted person, and he doesn't want to see his friends suffer. As a result, his own pockets are flattened.

Joseph and Napoleon currently have no friends to support. Therefore, their income is actually enough to support their lives, not to mention Joseph has some other income. But they still lower their standard of living a little so as not to draw attention from others. And this decline, on the contrary, brought them a reputation of incorruptibility.

Amon came to find Joseph again, and he had now become the editor-in-chief of a democratic newspaper called "Voice of Paris". Of course, the scale of this newspaper is quite compact, and Amon alone serves as the editor-in-chief, copy editor, columnist and cost-effective accountant.

This newspaper naturally received the support of the Jacobin Club. In fact, a considerable part of the funds needed for the operation of the newspaper came from the Jacobin Club. Some articles in the newspaper, also from members of the club. But it is said that Robespierre felt that the newspaper was too "Jacobinized" and it was not good. For the Jacobin Club already had such a paper. (Mala's "People's Friend") So he suggested that Amon could find some writers outside the Jacobin Club, which would be somewhat different from "People's Friend", and would be more conducive to attracting those centrists.

For this reason, Amon came to Joseph, hoping that he could write some scientific knowledge for himself. In addition, he tried to lure Lucien to write articles for his own newspaper.

This proposal moved Lucien's heart, after all, he was at an age where he didn't know the heights of heaven and earth. But because of Joseph's teaching to him all the time, he didn't dare to express his opinion directly. And Joseph naturally knew that at this time, doing these things was definitely killing him. So he rejected the proposal on the grounds that Lucien was still young and should focus on his studies. As for those small popular science articles, Joseph is also busy with work, so I'm afraid he doesn't have much time to shirk them.

After Amon left, Joseph called several brothers together for a meeting to analyze the current situation for them in order to unify their thinking and determine the next step of the family's policy.

"Napoleon, Lucien, do you know where a political force, such as the Royalist Party, comes from?" Joseph asked his brothers sitting around the table.

This is a fairly basic question. At least after many times of political education, this question is indeed a very basic question. So Napoleon basically dismissed this question, ignored Joseph's question at all, and even snorted softly in his nose to show his contempt for Joseph's fried rice.

However, Lucien replied honestly: "The strength of any political organization is their financial foundation. Finance is the mother of all governments. Without money, no political organization can operate. The strength of an organization first depends on their ability to How much fiscal revenue is obtained depends on the efficiency of the use of these revenues. And their political demands must also be related to these things.”

"Well, let's first look at the first political force in France - the Royal Party." Joseph said, "Where does the Royal Party get its money from?"

"It's mainly feudal land rent, and some royalists also do business." Napoleon felt that this question was a little interesting, so he said, "In addition, there are some big nobles who have a lot of accumulation. Also, foreigners can also give them money. A little money. But now, don't even think about land rent or anything. The peasants won't pay it. Except for the most remote and isolated places, no nobles can expect to receive land rent. As for business, if they can do business, It would not be what it is today. So their main source of income can only be accumulation, and funding from foreigners. Neither of these things can last, so their strength is actually the weakest. They must be in their hands Before the money is exhausted, change the situation, otherwise, they can only be out."

"Then, my dear brother." Joseph smiled, "If you were Louis XVI, what would you do?"

"Me? If I were Louis XVI. First, it is impossible for me to gain the trust of other people now. I can only live and die with the royal party. First, I must flee. Of course, this will be much more difficult than before, But it is not entirely hopeless. The palace cannot be kept under tight guard forever. This is not a prison after all. Then find a chance to sneak out, and then ride out of Paris on horseback, and then as long as the responders outside have a buggy ready, you will be free. Surely you can escape. Then run to Lyons and start a war—this is the best way I think." Napoleon said.

"And what about the Queen?" Joseph asked.

"That stupid Austrian bitch?" said Napoleon. "Let her stay in Paris. You can't go far with her. Besides, if the Parisians kill her, it will definitely attract the intervention of other countries. The Parisians also It wouldn't be that stupid. So what's there to worry about?"

"Would the king do that?" asked Lucien.

"He doesn't have the judgment and courage." Napoleon snorted, "He's not the leader of the royal party."

"Then what would you do if you were the leader of the royal party?" Joseph asked again.

"You mean I'm the Comte d'Artois?" said Napoleon. "My God, how can I have such a stupid brother? Well, if I were the Comte d'Artois, I'd have to find a way to start a war. Because Only when there is a war, can I have the possibility of victory, any other result, for the royal party, is a slow suicide."

"It's no wonder that the Royal Party is now in such harmony with Robespierre and the others." Lucien interjected.

"Then, my brother." Joseph nodded in satisfaction and said, "Let's analyze the situation of our boss, Your Excellency Lafayette, and how to deal with it."

"Mr. Lafayette? His gang has made a fortune in this revolution. So they most hope that the situation will continue to be stable. However, looking at the index, we know that this situation cannot continue He hasn't figured it out yet, and he still has illusions in his heart. If he really wants to understand the situation, he has only one way out, and that is to start a war."

"Be more specific." Joseph showed a very interested look.

"In fact, if the king did not flee, if the king could trust him at the beginning—to be honest, in that situation, apart from fleeing to Lyon, the best way for him to deal with it is to talk to Lafayette We formed an alliance. But...Your Excellency Lafayette is really unfortunate. He met such a king. Now, he cannot stabilize the situation internally. It is impossible for the royal party to cooperate with him. 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. However, our boss may not have the determination and courage of Caesar, and even if he did, he may not have the military talent. And he actually agreed I don’t even know how to evaluate this approach. It’s almost catching up with our Majesty the King. He doesn’t even think about it, without the army, what else does he have?”

"And what about the Jacobins?" Joseph asked again.

"The situation for the Jacobins is the best," said Napoleon. "They are the opposition party. The worse the political situation is, the better for them. Although they have a small number in the parliament, the Paris Commune has fallen into their hands. That's why It means that it becomes very easy for them to provoke an uprising. As long as the current situation continues, the Parisians will revolutionize again sooner or later. So for them, as long as there are enough seats in the parliament, it is enough. If the current situation continues, as long as There is no war. They have the best chance of winning."

"No wonder I saw Robespierre's article in Amon's newspaper two days ago, where he called for avoiding war as much as possible." Lucien nodded.