Women's Militia

"Joseph, the National Constituent Assembly passed a new decree." Joseph had just come home when Lucien, shaking a newspaper in his hand, shouted this at him.

'It's been a while, Lucien is getting more and more interested in politics.' With this in mind, Joseph asked, "They adopted the Declaration of Human Rights?"

Joseph's history in his past life was learned from his physical education teacher (which is normal, anyway, for Joseph in his past life, history is enough as long as he can pass the exams, and there is no exam in the college entrance exams, so what's the point of learning so much? With all this time, why not have a couple of math problems to weigh them down?) So, as far as the literature of the Revolutionary period is concerned, Joseph knew only one Declaration of the Rights of Man.

"No, no!" Lucien said, "It is 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 farmers' moves depends on the speaker's ass) As far as he could tell, France plunged into near anarchy and didn't have much to offer those peasants. The National Constituent Assembly also intended to try to appease the peasants. But to get the decree out so quickly and with so much force?

"That's not scientific!" Joseph said, "This kind of thing involves the interests of all parties, and is as complicated as the Gordian Knot (an extremely complicated knot in the legend, which it was said that anyone who could untie it would become 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 unravel. They don't have an Alexander the Great in the National Constituent Assembly today. Quickly bring it and show it to me."

Lucien handed the paper to Joseph, who then perused it on the sofa.

After looking at it for a while, Joseph couldn't help but let out a chuckle.

"Joseph, why are you laughing?" Lucien asked.

"I laughed at the King's audacity, and the National Constituent Assembly's shamelessness." Joseph pretended fiercely, but it was a pity that Lucien didn't even know about the stunt, and Joseph went on, "Look at this decree, it really takes the peasants for fools! Oh, 'all feudal obligations are abolished in their entirety', but those involving money, such as land rent and tribute in kind must be redeemed, and the redemption money must be paid in one go - a full thirty years' worth at a time, and if the peasants are going to be able to come up with that kind of money in one go, I'm going to go become a peasant! What's more, if you look again, here, redemption is on a village basis, which means that as long as there is a family in a village that can't come up with that kind of money, it can't be redeemed ... Also here, redemption has to be agreed upon by both parties - which means that as long as the lords don't agree, they can't be redeemed, even if they have the money. Isn't this a drawing of bread to feed the hungry? This is completely treating the farmers like fools. Do you think it's laughable."

"Well, it does muddy the waters. But Joseph ... I'm wondering if there are some people who don't want to quell rural chaos per se. Anyway, as long as it wasn't him who was unlucky. Besides, this decree, it needs the king's approval to go into effect. The king is having a hard time dealing with this right now, I'm afraid." Lucien said with a frown.

"Lucien," said Joseph in surprise, "Did you think of this yourself? Not bad, I think you're catching up with Napoleon, that idiot!"

Lucien knew that it was really a compliment, although the implication seemed to be that he couldn't keep up with some idiot. But Lucien had always thought that that second brother of his family was an absolute genius.

"You've said before that some people can't do much on their own, but they're pretty good at messing things up. This would be the time for them to make trouble." Lucien replied.

As Lucien said, King Louis XVI was now worried about the "August Decrees" that had been unofficially submitted by the National Constituent Assembly.

"Your Majesty, you cannot authorize such a thing!" Queen Marie's face turned pale with anger, "If you approve something as absurd as this, then you will lose the support of the nobles. It's like a traditional death sentence for the whole of France!"

"I know this!" Theoretically, the most powerful man in France said, "But if I had dismissed it outright, it would surely have provoked new violence! Some people are waiting for something like this!"

But these words instead made the Queen even angrier, "You are always afraid, always afraid! The more you do, the less those guys take you seriously. The forces loyal to you will be demoralized by your delays and fears, and those insurgents who oppose you will be complacent because of them. You're constantly hitting your own people and growing the enemy! I really don't know how a man like you can be the King of France!"

"I never wanted to be King of France in the first place." Louis XVI whispered.

"Yes, you just want to be a hunter and a locksmith. Perhaps one day, when we have lost the crown of France and are stranded in a foreign land, you will be able to support a family with your locksmithing skills." The Queen said angrily and sarcastically, then stood up, walked out of the room, and slammed the door heavily behind her.

Louis XVI sighed and stood up, walking into a small room to his right - where he studied the various locks. It was only there that he could briefly have a bit of fun all these times. This decree, the National Constituent Assembly, had only been submitted informally. That is to say, it seems that it can still be delayed ...

King Louis XVI adopted an ostrich policy with regard to the "August Decrees", which was submitted to him by the National Constituent Assembly and which he left unissued, neither explicitly opposing it nor approving it.

Just as the Queen had predicted, some of the nobles who had followed the King closely began to move abroad one by one. It is said that they went abroad in order to gain support for the king throughout Europe, but it is undeniable that the king's power was being steadily weakened as these men left one after another.

The price of food in Paris continues to rise, and along with it, all sorts of rumors. Among the most widely circulated of these rumors are some of these.

The first widespread rumor was that there was a shortage of food in Paris because the countryside in the provinces was in chaos and full of rioting peasants. The peasants rioted because the king stubbornly refused to authorize the August Decrees.

Another widespread rumor was that the scarcity of food in Paris was due to a deliberate effort to prevent food from entering the city. So what kind of people do things like that? The answer, of course, is the "hardcore" who support tyrants. Paris is not supplied with sufficient food because of their interference.

In the experience of Duke Orleans, there is a secret to deceiving people: to tell the truth as much as possible in all but the most critical places. These two rumors would be very much in line with Duke Orleans's experience.

Indeed, the countryside in the provinces is in chaos and full of rebellious peasants. It's also true that the King disapproved of the August Decrees. But in fact, the National Constituent Assembly did not submit the final draft of the August Decrees to the king until October 1, which means that there were no August Decrees that needed to be ratified by the king before then. Moreover, the peasants' revolt had begun in July, before the "August Decrees", and the chaos in the provinces was no worse than it had been in July.

As for the fact that there was a deliberate effort to prevent grain from entering Paris and to raise the price of grain, this was also true, but it was not the king who did it, but some great nobleman and a group of respectable men of the third estate who acted after him. They took the opportunity to make a lot of money but threw the black pot on the king's head, one guy at a time.

It was in the midst of such uneasiness that the time came in October 1789. Generally, July and August is the season for harvesting wheat in France. Wheat should have been harvested everywhere by the end of August at the most. It was the year of a good wheat harvest in France, and the news had long since reached the city of Paris. Everyone assumed that a bumper wheat harvest would surely bring down the price of bread. However, all the way through October, the price of bread continued to rise at a steady, sustainable rate.

With the gradual departure of the nobles who supported the royal government, the king's family felt increasingly insecure about their own safety. At the end of September, the king transferred the Flanders Regiment to the vicinity of Versailles. Flanders is relatively conservative and is a region where the royal party is strong. In the eyes of the general public, the regiments in this region were a little more supportive of the king.

On October 1, the king gave a banquet to the officers of the Flanders Regiment. It was after this banquet that a rumor spread again in Paris through various newspapers:

When the feast was at its end, the king's family appeared at the banquet. The Flanders Regiment officers cheered the king, threw the red, white, and blue cap badge representing Paris and the National Guard to the ground, and trampled on it.

The news spread quickly through Paris, and fear arose again. The people didn't realize that the King's power was severely weakened compared to what it had been in July, and it 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 that they must rise up and defend themselves with the weapons in their hands.

On the afternoon of October 4, after making dinner for Joseph and the others, Aunt Sophie suggested that she would need to take the day off tomorrow.

"Is it something in your family?" Joseph asked.

In these times, for a maid doing housework, Joseph was certainly the best employer, no one else. Because he still retains, to a considerable extent, the habits he had with those domestic aunts in his last 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 in the Saint-Antoine's area, are in touch to go together to the town hall tomorrow and ask them to help us with the bread problem."