Fox of France

Although Robespierre and Lafayette are trying to slow down France's march towards war, driven by the black party and the centrists, France is still moving towards war step by step.

On this issue, the centrists who did not have any organization began to unite. Speaking of which, the person who united the centrists was not the original centrists, but a member of the Jacobin Club—Jacques Pierre Brissot de Valville.

Brissot originally made a living as a buyer, and once followed the Duke of Orleans. After the Duke of Orleans went to England, he followed Lafayette for a while. After the flight of Louis XVI, he turned to support the Republic and had a direct dispute with Lafayette at the club. He therefore sided with Robespierre in that split of the Jacobin Club.

In the new elections, he became a member of the National Assembly as a representative of Paris. There, through someone, he befriended Clavier again.

The National Assembly is a peculiar place, where the more radical members are, the easier it is to get attention and become "influential" members. And this environment has made Brissot's political views more radical in two respects.

The first aspect is the admiration of the republic. In the National Assembly, most of the centrists no longer trust the king, and attacks on the king are very easy to get applause. So Brissot first proposed the "Exile Act", pointing the finger at the nobles in exile. He accused those nobles of instigating the "hijacking of the king" incident, conspiring to launch a rebellion, and being the enemy of France, and then proposed to punish these people, such as ordering them to return to the country for trial, (of course, as long as the nobles in exile are not bad-minded It is impossible to come back.) If they refuse to return, the court can try them in absentia, convict them, and impose various penalties against them personally (of course such judgments cannot be enforced) and their property (this is very enforceable) penalty.

Brissot convinced everyone that the passage of the "Exiles Act" can alleviate or even solve the problems caused by the excessive issuance of index coupons to a large extent.

The bond was originally issued with the church's real estate as collateral. If the government can issue strictly according to the number of church properties, then these coupons will naturally be gradually withdrawn through the gradual sale of the church land, and naturally there will be no danger of inflation.

But as soon as the money printing machine is turned on, there is money to spend immediately. This way of getting money is so tempting that not many governments, especially precarious ones, can resist turning on the money printing machine. As a result, how many coupons the government has printed, I am afraid that the people in the government may not be clear. According to rumors, the printed coupons are enough to buy the church's real estate several times. In this way, the depreciation of the coupons will naturally be a mess. Although some countries in later generations need to use "Beijing" (10 to the 16th power) as the unit of currency measurement, the depreciating coupons are still for the people. The state is under increasing pressure.

If the land of those fugitive nobles could be confiscated and used as collateral for the bonds, then the issue of the bonds would probably be temporarily alleviated. (Of course, if you continue to print, you will still have to overturn sooner or later, but isn’t that what will happen in the future? In the future, why bother so much?)

Naturally, the bill was passed in the parliament without any problem. Of course, the Black Party would oppose this proposal. As for Lafayette, he did not want to press too hard on the nobles, so he also expressed his opposition. But the centrists plus the Jacobins already constituted a majority in the parliament. (Besides, some people in the Lafite faction are not too firm)

Then, as Brissot had hoped, the bill was vetoed by the king. Under the Constitution, the king has veto power over bills passed by parliament. Of course the king knew that vetoing such a bill would definitely anger the parliament, but now that the royal party was the only force he could rely on, he also had no choice.

This rejected motion greatly increased Brissot's reputation. Since such tricks are useful, they will naturally be used again. Immediately afterwards, Brissot proposed a motion to stop paying salaries to priests who refused their allegiance. Naturally, this motion was vetoed by the king again.

Through such a series of operations, Brissot successfully established his reputation in the parliament. At the same time, with the support of Clavier and some other gentlemen, he successfully united many centrists around him. , and by the way, he won the nickname of "Mr. Veto" for Louis XVI, which made his image of "the unrepentant feudal leader" more and more deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.

As for the second radical direction, that is war.

Now that he had the assistance of M. Clavier and his friends, it was natural for Brissot to speak on their behalf. Of course, Brissot would not say that to the outside world. Brissot's slogan on the Propaganda War is "Export Revolution".

Lafayette has been emphasizing that there are many problems within the French army, and it is difficult to guarantee combat effectiveness, so as to delay the war; while Robespierre has always pointed the finger of attack at the possible "military dictator".

Now Brissot's response to Lafayette's statement is that the French army has problems, and the armies of other countries have even more problems.

He believes that the revolution of the French people has inspired the whole of Europe, and the people of most European countries are looking forward to the revolution. Once a war breaks out, the French army will "take what the world goes by and attack the borders of relatives" in the war. Is there any reason why it can't win?

As for Robespierre's statement, he also satirized it. It is thought that he actually believed in the goodwill of foreign feudal kings, and actually underestimated the patriotic enthusiasm of the French people.

Under Brissot's leadership, the centrists quickly gathered together. A large number of people, including Vinio, the Rolands, etc., united around Brissot. And once they are united, the war will take a big step closer.

On November 29, the parliament passed a resolution requiring the king to immediately issue a warning to the Elector of Trier, ordering him to immediately disband the army of the French exiled nobles in his territory, otherwise France will use various means including force to defend itself. safety.

This time, "Mr. Veto" did not veto the resolution, but immediately approved the resolution and issued a warning to the Elector of Trier.

The Elector of Trier was the prince of the so-called "Holy Roman Empire". In theory, threatening to use force against him was threatening to use force against Austria. Louis XVI and Queen Mary had been waiting for the brazen Austrian emperor to launch an attack on France, but after the emperor installed a B, he ran away and never mentioned the matter of meeting France up. At this time, the French parliament can pass such a resolution. In the eyes of the king and queen, it is really going to sleep and just hit the pillow.

After issuing the warning, the king and queen hoped that the emperor would be furious, and then the army of the Holy Roman Empire would come to kill them, and then those guys in the parliament could be hung up street lights one by one.

However, the development of things completely exceeded the expectations of the king and queen.

The feudal kings on the other side of the Rhine trembled in fear in front of the warning issued by France, just like the French worried that there would be too many chaotic forces in their own country, and there would be a leading party in the real fight. Those "holy" The "Romans" are also worried that the common people on their side will believe in French heresy and follow the French to start a revolution.

Moreover, this is really not unfounded worry, because some people in these countries have even shamelessly violated French intellectual property rights and established a group of "friends of constitutional government clubs". The German electors don't know how many leading parties there are in France, (although those exiled nobles have talked a lot about the leading parties in France. But everyone knows, it must be bragging, because if France The king’s power is so strong, why did they become exiles?) But they know how many leading parties there are on their side.

So these electors were immediately persuaded. They sent people to Vienna to ask for the emperor's protection, and they sent people to France to say that it was all a misunderstanding.

Of course, if the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire exploded and stood up to take the lead against France, they might be able to pretend to be a tiger. However, the emperor of Rome was actually held back by the queen of Eastern Rome, although the queen was all in the world. Among the countries, the most hated France, but now, the queen actually plays the role of French protector.

Instead, the King of Spain jumped out and yelled twice. After all, the King of Spain also had the last name Bourbon. However, the voice of the King of Spain was extremely weak. It was nothing more than hoping that France would respect the sovereignty of other countries and not threaten with force at every turn. This kind of shouting has no other effect except to show one's cowardice.

The "Roman Emperor" had to conduct urgent consultations with the King of Prussia to find a countermeasure. At the same time, they sent people to the UK to seek help from the UK. However, Britain made it clear that Britain understood and respected the emperor's position on this matter, and was willing to remain neutral in good faith.

This is actually very normal, because if Britain also joins the chorus against France, it may really scare France, but he dare not move. You know, the British don't believe in Catholicism. But the British already knew very well that the Austrian emperor was not willing to go to war with France at all. If the British joined in, he could boldly and rob Poland with the Russians. On the contrary, if the British remained neutral, the French were encouraged, and maybe they would really fight.

In Europe, the French love food and beauty, the Italians love beauty and art, but what about the British? The British love nothing more than seeing the Continent burning.

Before reaching an agreement with Prussia, the Austrian emperor could only exercise restraint and let the electors of the Rhine disband the army of exiles, and this weakness further encouraged France's militant forces.

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