Intrigue

For a while after that, Paris seemed to settle down. One by one, the barricades were all removed, and some of the stores that had been closed were opened, and nothing seemed to have changed except that the merchandise was a little less and the prices a little higher than before.

Aunt Sophie was back again, and Louis was at last freed from the drudgery of housework. Louis had just recently learned how to play chess, and it was just the right time to get addicted to it. And since the school was temporarily closed and he couldn't go out because he was staying at home, he had to drag Lucien to play chess.

Lucien then took the opportunity to gamble with Louis on the chessboard, using his chores as stakes, and then passed on all the chores he should have done himself to his brother. The Bonaparte family is full of good brothers.

But now, one by one, schools are returning to normal. It's funny that while Louis and Lucien's schools were back in session, the Paris École Militaire, where Joseph taught, was still closed.

But that's not really surprising. Whereas Louis and Lucien's schools were private, the school where Joseph taught was a drain on the treasury and the kingdom's coffers. These types of organizations are always going to be much slower to respond. What's more, it's in a situation where the king is quite unhappy with the army these days.

Now that Joseph was free, he took a look at Sophie, who had just finished cleaning and cleared out for the moment, and made small talk with her.

"Aunt Sophie," Joseph said, "It's been a messy few days, is everything good at your house?"

"What's so good about it." Sophie shook her head, "The days are just as sad, if not more so. The price of bread has gone up again, and there's something worse than that, which is that even if you have money, it's hard to buy bread anymore."

'Looks like some people can't sit still.' Joseph thought this in his mind but spoke up and asked, "Aunt Sophie, is bread hard to come by now?"

"Sir, you're a decent man, you don't need to concern yourself with such things. You may not know that I ran four whole blocks to buy today's bread. Even squeezed through the apron while grabbing bread. God, I don't understand what's going on! Didn't they say that everything was all right, and that things would come and go better for everyone in the future?"

Joseph shook his head as more and more people entered Paris since the beginning of the Estate General. In addition to the delegates from all over the country (which wasn't much of a crowd), many peasants and vagabonds made their way to Paris—this strained Paris's already meager food supply.

In such a situation, another revolution took place. Instead of turning out more food, the revolution itself will bring about the destruction of all existing orders. At a time when the existing order has been disrupted, and the new order has not had time to be effectively established, the transportation and sale of food will surely be disrupted, and the efficiency will surely be reduced. So it's only natural that the price of food has gone up to the point where it's still unavailable even after the price has gone up.

In such a situation, there will be a natural rush and hoarding, and then the price of food will rise further and further unavailability. And the problem will get worse if there are people who intentionally take advantage of the situation to add to the panic artificially.

Joseph was suddenly reminded of a piece of history from a later era in the Eastern Great Eating Country. At that time, the most important city of the Eastern Great Eating Country, Shanghai, had just been liberated, and a similar problem of skyrocketing prices and economic chaos immediately occurred. How did Chen Yi, the first mayor of Shanghai, the Eastern Great Eating Country, solve the problem at that time?

Mayor Chen solved the problem by using no more than two tricks. One move is economic means. When you raise the price of food, you'll import food on a large scale from the origin of food to see how much you can afford and sustain you; the other move is political means, those who play the stock exchange to buy silver dollars on a large scale, pulling up inflation, there are not so many silver dollars in their hands to play with you, and he sent troops directly to seize your entire exchange.

Relying on these two moves, Mayor Chen quickly stabilized the situation. However, these two tricks are difficult to implement at this time in Paris. The large-scale transfer of food from the source requires a state apparatus capable of controlling the whole country and mobilizing resources efficiently. Would there have been a revolution in France in this day and age if they had this? In the Seven Years' War, the French would have "held the rulers of England and Prussia before them" and gained what Genghis Khan called the greatest joy in life. (Genghis Khan said, "The greatest joy in life is to go around hunting down your enemies, invading their lands, plundering their wealth, and then listening to the cries of pain from their wives and children.") Where will there be any revolution?

As for the second move, it requires the same set of powerful state apparatus. Now, the Marquis de La Fayette had control of the National Guard and a part of the French army, but his hold on these forces was not firm, and, consequently, he was not in a position to resort to such means.

Thinking of this, Joseph then said to Sophie, "Aunt Sophie, I reckon that I'm afraid that the price of food will be even higher for some time to come, so if you still have any savings left, trade it in for more food as far in advance as possible."

"Alas, sir, as you know, a family like ours has no savings anywhere." Aunt Sophie said with a sigh.

...

At the same time, one person, like Aunt Sophie, worried about the rising food prices. This man was the Marquis de La Fayette, who had prevailed in the previous political fiasco.

The Marquis de La Fayette had considerable influence in the army, which gave him a good deal of the upper hand in the revolution. But his power in the economy is quite limited. The Marquis de La Fayette's title was not low, but he wasn't one of those old, deep-rooted nobles. There weren't a lot of financial resources, and there weren't a lot of avenues to get money in hand. In this respect, the difference between him and the Duke of Orleans was as great as the difference between the Duke of Orleans and him in military matters.

But as a famous general, Marquis de La Fayette remained quite calm even in the face of such trouble. Years of war he had taught him that it was time to think about how to retreat when there was no solution to gain victory.

"The various atrocities in Paris must be brought under control, and we can no longer tolerate the continued shedding of all that innocent blood. Some people, they're not revolutionaries, they're just thugs! They are screaming about democracy, but what they are really interested in, what they are really doing, is looting and slaughtering! In the name of revolution, they arbitrarily accuse others of being 'enemies of the people' and then kill and rob them. How many merchants in the city of Paris, operating in their own right, were hung from street lamps by those thugs? And the purpose of those thugs has nothing to do with democracy at all, all they are doing is looting other people's legitimate property. This chaos must be stopped! Marquis, the people of Paris have entrusted you with the command of the self-defense forces to stop possible looting. Does it mean that the plunder of the mercenaries is plunder, but that the plunder of the thugs is not?" The representative, Barnave, waving his arms in a lounge adjacent to the council chamber, said this to the Marquis de La Fayette seated across from him.

"You have a good point, but you can't be too hasty in this matter." The Marquis de La Fayette leaned back a little, "You know, there are still quite a few weapons in the hands of those thugs. There are also still certain gangs. There are even a number of people in the National Guard who are their sympathizers, or even simply part of them. Today we haven't had the time to completely remove all of these people from the National Guard."

"How long will it take to clear out all these guys?" Sieyès, on one side, also asked. 

"Soon. I don't want to remove these people by violent means, but the economic conditions of these people don't allow them to participate in military activities without working for long periods of time." The Marquis de La Fayette said, "The National Guard has instituted discipline, and those who continually miss their sessions are dismissed from the program. That way, it won't be long before the hooligans themselves won't be able to stay in the National Guard."

"These people are a threat to order even if they are removed from the National Guard." Barnave said.

"Do you expect us to make a move to suppress them immediately?" Lafayette said, "That would really play right into some people's hands. The real threat to us has never been the sans-culottes."

"So are we just going to let ..."

"Don't do what we can't do, it will only be a waste of our power." Lafayette said, "It's not unacceptable to back off a little bit when necessary. My lords, his Majesty is still hesitant to give up all that is old and accept the new system; and he is afraid to follow the path of Charles I. categorically. That said, isn't that why we think that His Majesty the King is a fit Majesty for constitutional government? But there are those who would deliberately send His Majesty to the guillotine. And yet it is not the case for what appears to be a revolutionary, but not a constitutionally fit monarch, on the part of it."

Several people darkly nodded as they listened, knowing who the Marquis de La Fayette was talking about.

"I'm afraid the One can't sit still any longer than we can in today's situation. Let's just be quiet for a while and watch him perform. We can use him to put pressure on the king while also using the king to irritate him. I know him. He's bound to show his cracks. We'll take steps when the time comes, which is quite a bit better than just rushing into it now."

After Marquis de La Fayette said this, he looked at his friends again, and seeing that they were all silent as if they had been convinced by himself, he nodded and added, "In fact, there is one more thing that I have invited you all to do today."

"What is it?" Sieyès asked.

"I'd like to introduce you all to a new friend." Marquis de La Fayette said, "A bishop inclined to progress."