I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 253: Eliminating National Thieves

The floor-to-ceiling windows on the west side of the second floor of the villa disappeared along with the window frames. The wall directly behind the windows collapsed in half, exposing uneven red bricks. The corridor on the other side of the wall was full of brick dust and blood stains, and the roof was penetrated. It’s a hole, and I don’t know how the cannonball got up there.

The citizens outside cheered like a tsunami. The temporary gunner felt as if he had punched Count Tiole with his own hands, and the pleasure of revenge rushed to his head.

Several gunners were about to reload, but suddenly they saw the guards who were lying at various windows, aiming their guns outwards, began to panic, and most of them retreated into the villa.

"Look, those guys are scared!" Someone immediately pointed at the villa and shouted.

"They knew what crime they had committed and began to feel guilty."

"Everyone, rush in and avenge our relatives!"

People shouted and poured into the villa from all directions. Although there were sporadic gunshots coming from the doors and windows, it did not stop the surging crowd at all.

Fouche, who was observing the situation not far away, couldn't help but frown when he saw this. The resistance in the villa stopped too suddenly.

He immediately thought of something, turned around and shouted to the official beside him: "They may want to run! Go quickly... No, I will go myself! Keep an eye on the nearby buildings!"

"Yes, sir!"

Fouché, dressed as an ordinary merchant, led five of his men and rushed into the villa with the rioting crowd.

The whole villa was already in chaos. Everyone was desperately searching for belongings and destroying everything they could see.

With hysterical shouts, laughter, and faint cries as the main melody, and the sounds of broken wood and porcelain as the chord, hundreds of people played a symphony of madness and destruction here.

Soon, someone unknown lit the kitchen on the first floor on the south side of the villa, and the breeze carried thick smoke that quickly spread through the house.

Fouche looked around and quickly came to the stairs.

There were crazy rioters and guards fighting with each other everywhere, and people rolling down the stairs from time to time. Fouche nimbly avoided these people and ran all the way up to the second floor.

In front of them was a more chaotic battlefield, with thick smoke already rising, but people didn't care at all, coughing and rushing towards the guards. A few gunshots could be heard from time to time, but the guard who fired was quickly overwhelmed by more people.

Fouche walked along the corridor to the atrium of the villa, and saw seven or eight guards gathered outside a room in front of him, nervously pointing their guns around.

Several corpses of rioters were lying next to it. A large section of the wall on the west side collapsed, and a large number of broken bricks were piled next to it.

He immediately understood that this was the room that had just been hit by the cannon.

And there are so many guards gathered here, which means there must be some big shot in the room!

Just as he was thinking about how to get in, thick smoke slowly drifted over. A guard officer ran from the other side of the corridor and shouted to the guard with a gun: "The fire has reached the drinking room next to it, you, you and you, come with me to put it out!

"Hold on a little longer, and Aurore will soon bring reinforcements from Count Castel's family!"

The officer left with a few guards. The guards at the door waved their hands to disperse the smoke, but they were soon smoked to tears.

Fouche immediately took a deep breath, signaled to the men behind him, and then while the guards were fighting the smoke, he bent down and got into the hole in the wall.

There wasn't much smoke in the room, and an officer turned around immediately when he heard the noise. With a sinister smile, Fouche pulled out the pistol from his waist and pulled the trigger, sending him flying backwards.

Immediately, Fouche saw a person lying on his side on the armchair in the middle of the room.

The man's face was pale and his wig was tilted to one side. He was startled by the gunfire and struggled to raise his head to look this way.

That dusty face was none other than the Duke of Orleans.

Fouche put away his pistol and took a few steps forward. Only then did he notice that the left arm of the person in the chair was missing from the elbow down, and the broken area was tightly strangled with a bandage. There was also a piece of broken glass about a finger's width inserted into his back on the right side. Although there was a thick bandage wrapped around the glass, there was still blood dripping from the end of the glass.

"you……"

As soon as the Duke of Orleans opened his mouth, his facial features twisted in pain, and then he coughed, and his mouth was covered with blood foam. Apparently his lungs were seriously injured.

There was a fight between guards and police intelligence agents outside the door, but it soon subsided.

Fouche came to the Duke of Orleans, stared at him as if he were looking at a painting that he was extremely satisfied with, and said in a calm tone: "Good morning, Your Excellency, Duke. I regret to inform you that because you have committed serious treason and conspiracy, For the crime of overthrowing the royal family, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince asked me to sentence you to death on his behalf."

When the Duke of Orleans heard the words "Crown Prince", his eyes suddenly widened, and veins popped up on his forehead. He struggled to say something, but suffered a spasm of pain. A waterfall of cold sweat washed away vertical marks on the powder on his face.

"Yes, His Highness is fully aware of the things you did secretly." Fouche seemed to have guessed what he was going to say, and nodded, "Then, he took action to solve your... well, how should I put it? ,little tricks?

"Oh, by the way, Your Highness has something else you want me to give to you."

Fouche took out a small silver box from his body, opened it, took out the contents, and unfolded it.

It was a crown folded out of paper. The Duke of Orleans stared intently at the paper ring dyed gold and painted with gems in Fouche's hand, his eyeballs filled with bloodshot eyes. He wanted to roar loudly and tear up the paper ring, but found that he was like a frozen insect, unable to move at all.

Fouche put the exquisitely crafted "crown" on the head of the Duke of Orleans, then took out the dagger and said with a smile: "His Royal Highness said that he is very aware of your long-cherished wish to ascend the throne. However, you can only Wear this."

As he spoke, he raised the dagger, only to find that the latter's body suddenly collapsed on the chair.

Fouche frowned, stepped forward and touched the Duke of Orleans' carotid artery, then sighed unhappily and put the dagger back into its sheath.

Not long after, more than a dozen agents from the Police Intelligence Division left Count Thiole's villa from different directions. Each one of them was holding some dishes, candlesticks and other things, just like ordinary rioters.

Then the agents on guard at the perimeter also evacuated one after another, like a few inconspicuous drops among the thousands of rioters.

…

Palace of Versailles.

Mirabeau gestured to Queen Mary by stroking her breasts: "Your Majesty, you see, those who opposed this bill have obviously been convinced. This is a reform that everyone wants. The nobles gave up some small rights with their noble character. And it brings great hope to countless farmers.”

As he spoke, he glanced at the petitioning nobles outside the window.

There are new aristocrats who support the "abolition of aristocratic privileges", while the ranks of the old aristocrats have died down.

The core members of the old aristocracy had long since given up on government affairs—nine of them were killed by rioters in their hometown. The rest of the people's family properties were completely destroyed. Not only were the manors smashed or burned, but the most important thing was that all their belongings, land deeds, bonds, etc. were lost, and even the certificates of noble blood were missing.

In this era, if aristocrats did not have property commensurate with their status, they would not have a prominent position, and their political influence would also dissipate.