the girl scout
"Joseph, the Constituent Assembly has passed a new decree." Joseph had just returned home when Lucien shook a newspaper in his hand and shouted this at him.
"For some time now, Lucien is getting more and more interested in politics ah." Thinking so, Joseph asked, "They adopted the Declaration of Human Rights?"
Joseph's history in his past life was learned from his gym teacher (this is normal, anyway, for Joseph in his past life, history is enough as long as he can pass the exams, the college entrance exams don't test, so what's the point of learning so much? If you have this time, you might as well have a couple of math problems to suppress your fear). So as far as the literature of the Revolutionary period was concerned, Joseph knew only one Declaration of the Rights of Man.
"No, no!" Lucien said, "It's a decree declaring the abolition of all feudal rights."
"What? Show me?" Joseph was taken aback. He knew that uprisings or riots had been breaking out in the countryside everywhere lately. (What to call these peasants' actions depended on the speaker's ass.) As far as he could tell, there wasn't much France, mired in near-anarchy, could do about those peasants. The Constituent Assembly did try to pacify the peasants. But to get the decree out so quickly and with such force?
"It's not scientific!" Joseph said, "This kind of thing involves the interests of all parties, and is as complicated as the Knot of Gordium (an extremely complicated knot in the legend, and it was said that anyone who could untie it would become the king of Asia. (Alexander the Great later untied the knot by cutting it with a straight sword). Without Alexander's sword, it would have been impossible to untie it. There isn't an Alexander the Great in the Constituent Assembly today, so how did they do it? Bring it quickly and show me."
Lucien handed the paper to Joseph, who then sat down on the sofa and read it carefully.
After reading it for a while, Joseph couldn't help but let out a giggle.
"Joseph, why are you laughing?" Lucien asked.
"I laughed at the king's gutlessness and the Constituent Assembly's shamelessness ah." Joseph played hard to get, but it was a pity that Lucien didn't even know about the stunt, Joseph continued, "Look at this decree, it really treats the peasants as fools! Oh, 'all feudal obligations are abolished', but those that involve money, such as land rent and tribute in kind must be redeemed, and the money for redemption must be in place at once - the amount of thirty years at a time, if the peasants are able to come up with that much money at once, then I'll go and to be a peasant! What's more, if you look again, here, the redemption is based on the village, which means that as long as there is a family in a village that can't come up with so much money, it can't be redeemed.... Also here, the redemption has to be agreed by both parties - which means that as long as the lords don't agree, even if they have money, they can't redeem it. consent, it cannot be redeemed even if there is money. Is this not drawing bread for the hungry to eat? This is treating the peasants like fools. You say it's ridiculous."
"Well, it is indeed fooling. But Joseph ... I wonder if there are some people who don't want to quell the chaos in the countryside per se. Anyway, as long as it's not him who's unlucky. Besides, this decree, it still needs the king's approval to go into effect. I'm afraid the king is having a hard time dealing with this right now." Lucien said with a frown.
"Lucien," Joseph said in surprise, "You thought of this yourself? Not bad, I think you're catching up with Napoleon, that idiot!"
Lucien knew that this was really a compliment, although the implication seemed to be that he had not caught up with some fool. But Lucien had always thought that that second brother of his own was definitely a genius.
"You said before that there are some people who can't do much on their own, but are still good at messing things up. This time, it should be the time for them to make trouble." Lucien replied.
Just as Lucien said, King Louis XVI was now worried about the "August Decree" that was unofficially submitted by the Constituent Assembly.
"Your Majesty, you cannot authorize such a thing!" Queen Marie's face turned white with anger, "If you approve such a ridiculous thing, you will lose the support of the nobles. This is simply a death sentence for the entire French tradition!"
"I know this!" Theoretically the most powerful man in France said, "But if I outright dismiss it, it's bound to stir up new violence! Some people are waiting for something like that!"
But instead, this comment made the queen even more furious: "You're always afraid, always afraid! The more you're like this, the less those guys will take you seriously. The forces loyal to you will be demoralized by your delay and fear, and those rebels against you will be complacent because of that. You are constantly striking at your own people and strengthening your enemies! I really don't know how a man like you could become King of France!"
"I never wanted to be King of France in the first place." Louis XVI whispered.
"Yes, you only wanted to be a hunter and locksmith. Maybe one day, when we lose the crown of France and are stranded in a foreign land, you will be able to use your locksmithing skills to feed your family." The Queen said angrily and sarcastically, then stood up and walked out of the room and closed the door heavily.
Louis XVI sighed, stood up as well, and walked into a small room to his right - that was where he studied various locks. It was the only place where he could briefly have a little pleasure these days. Anyway, this decree, the Constituent Assembly only through informal way to submit up, that is to say, seems to be able to delay ...
King Louis XVI adopted an ostrich policy with regard to the "August Decree", which was submitted by the Constituent Assembly and which he left unissued, neither objecting to it explicitly nor approving it.
As the queen predicted, some of the nobles who followed the king closely began to move abroad one by one. It was said that they went abroad in order to gain support for the king throughout Europe, but it was undeniable that the king's power was being steadily weakened as these men left one after another.
The price of food in Paris continued to rise, and along with it all sorts of rumors. Among these rumors, some of the most widespread were these.
The first widespread rumor was that the reason why there was a shortage of food in Paris was because the countryside in the provinces was in chaos, with rioting peasants everywhere. The peasants were rioting because the king had stubbornly refused to ratify the August Decree.
Another widespread rumor was that the lack of food in Paris was due to a deliberate attempt to prevent food from entering the city. Who were the people who were doing this? The answer, of course, was the "hardliners" who supported the tyrant. It was because of their interference that Paris was not supplied with enough food.
According to Lord Wei's experience, there is a secret to lie to people, that is, except for the most critical places, and other places as much as possible to tell the truth. These two rumors are very much in line with Lord Veyron's experience.
It was true that the countryside in the provinces was in chaos and full of rebellious peasants. It was also true that the king had not ratified the August Decree. But in fact, the Constituent Assembly did not submit the final draft of the August Decree to the king until October 1, which meant that there was no such thing as an August Decree that needed the king's approval before then. Moreover, the peasants' revolt had begun in July, before the August Decree, and the chaos in the provinces was in fact no worse than it had been in July.
It is also true that there is a deliberate attempt to prevent the entry of grain into Paris and to raise its price, but it is not the king who is doing it, but a certain nobleman and a group of decent men of the third rank who follow him. They took advantage of this opportunity to make a great deal of money, but threw the black pot on the king's head all at once.
It was in this uneasiness that the time came in October, 1789. Generally speaking, July and August are the harvesting season of wheat in France. By the end of August at the most, wheat should have been harvested everywhere. This year France had a bumper wheat harvest, and the news had long been spread into the city of Paris. Everyone thought that a good wheat harvest would surely bring about a drop in the price of bread, however, until October, the price of bread continued to rise steadily and sustainably.
With the gradual departure of the nobles who had supported the royal government, the king's family also felt more and more insecure about their own safety, so at the end of September, the king transferred the Flemish legions to the vicinity of Versailles. Flanders was a relatively conservative region, a region where the king's party was strong. The legions of this region were, in the eyes of the general public, somewhat more supportive of the king.
On October 1, the king hosted a banquet for the officers of the Flemish Legion. It was after this banquet that a rumor spread through the newspapers in Paris:
The king's family appeared at the end of the banquet. The officers of the Flemish Legion cheered the king and trampled on the red, white and blue caps representing Paris and the National Guard.
The news spread rapidly through Paris, and fear arose once more. The people did not realize that the King's power was actually severely weakened compared to what it had been in July, and was no longer likely to be a real threat to Paris. It seemed to them that after months of deliberate preparations, the king must have transferred more troops for the suppression of Paris, which was in danger, and they had to stand up and defend themselves with the weapons in their hands.
On the afternoon of the 4th of October, after having made supper for Joseph and the others, Aunt Sophie suggested that she would need a day's leave to-morrow.
"Is it something in your family?" Joseph asked.
In this day and age, for a maid who did housework, Joseph was certainly the best employer, bar none. Because to a considerable extent, he still retained the habits of how he treated those domestic aunts in his previous life. Quite concerned about their lives.
"Ah, sir, I'm fine at home. But we women, yes, some of the women in the Harlequin and St. Anthony's districts have contacted and are going to the town hall together tomorrow to ask for their help with our bread problem."