Chapter 49 - The Arrival of a Great Era

The militiamen had limited gunpowder, and this kind of wastefulness couldn't continue for long. However, they had plenty of hot-blooded lives to spare, so wasting a few wasn't a big concern for them. They decided to brave the enemy bullets and push the cannons close enough to Bastille, close enough that making the cannonballs fly required the skill level of a world-class Chinese soccer forward clearing the ball against the opposing goal, and then they'd open fire, shattering this "fortress of tyranny."

But ideals are plump, and reality is often quite bony. The cannon had only been pushed forward a couple of steps when it drew the attention of the defenders. Among the defenders, there were Swiss mountain men, armed not only with standard rifles but also with their hunting rifles with rifled barrels.

In fact, rifled firearms had been around in Europe for quite some time, and their advantages in accuracy were well-known. However, their slow rate of fire made it challenging for them to find a place in the military (during the firing line era, after the first volley, soldiers faced a thick battlefield fog, and they either had to charge with bayonets or quickly reload and fire another round of probabilistic shooting. In the first case, long range didn't matter; in the second case, rate of fire was more critical than accuracy).

So, these weapons were generally only useful in places where precision mattered, but speed was not a high requirement, such as hunting. Consequently, the military rifles of this era were mostly smoothbore, and the more high-end hunting rifles were often rifled.

Switzerland was full of forests and mountains, so rifled barrels were quite common among the Swiss. Swiss mercenaries often provided their own weapons, and many of them had rifled hunting rifles.

Several Swiss soldiers armed with rifled hunting rifles immediately opened fire on the militiamen struggling to push the cannon. The military quality of these Swiss soldiers in this era was actually quite good. Their shooting was quite effective, and they quickly brought down three or four militiamen. However, the rifled firearms of this era loaded very slowly. Compared to standard smoothbore rifles, they had a much slower rate of fire. So, while the Swiss soldiers were busy reloading, the militiamen pushed the cannon forward a bit more. Then, the guns fired again, and several more people fell.

The militiamen displayed true fearlessness. They positioned the cannon under the Swiss fire and loaded it with powder and the cannonball. With the help of trained gunners, the cannon's rate of fire was actually much higher than that of rifled rifles; in the hands of well-trained British Royal Navy crew, their rate of fire might even be faster than smoothbore rifles.

However, the problem was that the individuals controlling the cannon had never operated one in their lives. The majority of them had never touched a cannon before. So their loading process was naturally very slow, so slow that during the time it took them to load a cannonball, the rifled rifles on the opposite side fired three rounds, killing over ten people. Only then did they finish loading.

Then, when the cannon fired towards Bastille, the cannon burst open because they had packed double the amount of powder to ensure that it could collapse the walls with a single shot.

"We need real gunners, real gunners!" The militiamen cried out, "Anyone among you who has been a gunner before, please step forward! France needs your strength!"

However, no one stepped forward. Among the thousands of militiamen besieging Bastille, there were no gunners.

The situation had reached a standstill again. The militiamen continued to take cover behind buildings, shooting haphazardly at Bastille, while the defenders of Bastille remained calm, seldom returning fire but achieving significant results when they did. In the exchange of fire, it was the militiamen who were being hit, and the defenders remained nearly unscathed.

...

The National Guard in Joseph's neighborhood did not participate in the siege of Bastille; instead, they strengthened their defenses. The leaders of the National Guard closely monitored the progress of the battle.

"Bastille is not that difficult to capture. The key is that the militiamen lack competent gunners. If a few cannonballs accurately hit the same spot at the base of the walls, it could lead to the collapse of the wall. Once the wall is no longer protecting them, what can a hundred defenders do? Unfortunately, the militiamen lack skilled gunners," said a plump shopkeeper-like man.

"Among the militiamen, there are indeed skilled gunners, but they are not among the common rabble," Charles said. While theoretically, everyone belonged to the "Third Estate," in practice, the people in this neighborhood, including Charles himself, had no respect for the militiamen currently besieging Bastille.

Joseph knew what Charles meant. There were indeed skilled gunners among the militiamen. These gunners had been part of the French royal army just a few days ago, but various circumstances had led to their dismissal, and they had immediately joined the militiamen. However, although they were also militiamen (just like Charles and his group), they were not the same as the militiamen currently besieging Bastille. They were part of the more organized National Guard.

Joseph also knew that these gunners were ultimately controlled by someone. A prominent figure in the army, who wielded great influence, controlled these genuinely combat-capable National Guard. In history, when the attack on Bastille reached a deadlock, it was this figure who brought a cannon to the scene and used continuous and precise artillery fire to force the defenders to surrender. It was this decisive action that allowed this figure to become the commander-in-chief of the Paris National Guard and a significant figure in the early days of the revolution.

This prominent figure was the Marquis de Lafayette.

"However, this time, Marquis de Lafayette might not get what he wants. Even without his support, the Duke of Orleans has other means," Joseph thought.

The Duke of Orleans and the Marquis de Lafayette were both nobles who supported constitutional monarchy. However, this didn't mean they were allies. The Duke of Orleans was of royal blood, and he aspired to become the suitable candidate for the monarch in the constitutional monarchy he hoped for. But the ideal candidate in the mind of the Marquis de Lafayette was not him. Perhaps the Marquis de Lafayette didn't particularly appreciate the locksmith (Louis XVI had an amateur hobby of making various high-difficulty locks), but he believed that any member of the royal family would be more suitable for the French crown than the Duke of Orleans. Because if the Duke of Orleans became king, with his power and influence, he would never settle for being a mere figurehead.

Therefore, the Marquis de Lafayette had always seen the Duke of Orleans as the "greatest threat to democracy." In the original history, after the Marquis de Lafayette came to power, he immediately used a combination of threats and bribes to exile the Duke of Orleans to England when the attack on Bastille reached a stalemate. This decisive action allowed him to become the commander-in-chief of the Paris National Guard and a key figure in the early stages of the revolution.

But now, unlike in history, the Duke of Orleans didn't have artillery, but he possessed something that he didn't have in the original history—high explosive powder.

With Joseph's help, Lavoisier had created a relatively safe explosive by mixing diatomaceous earth with nitroglycerin. Of course, compared to the highly insensitive explosives of the future, they couldn't even be detonated by shooting, but they were much more potent than the black powder of the time. With this substance, they could create a straightforward and violent weapon to deal with various fortifications—a bomb.

The rate of fire of firearms in this era was quite limited, and the number of defenders at Bastille was limited. Even if they reached the base of the walls, regular militiamen wouldn't be able to do much against this 30-meter-high, 3-meter-thick wall. However, the Duke of Orleans' men were different. They had a weapon capable of instantly destroying this wall—the bomb.

At this moment, a group of National Guard soldiers passed through Joseph's neighborhood, pulling a cannon. Their well-organized equipment, precise steps, and the well-fed horses pulling the cannon indicated that they were a well-trained unit, not something the common rabble of militiamen could match.

"Marquis de Lafayette has already taken action," Joseph thought. "The Duke of Orleans' people should be taking action soon as well."

Just then, there was a massive explosion that caused the glass windows in the area to vibrate and rattle.

"Did a gunpowder magazine explode somewhere?" someone asked in panic.

"It seems to be coming from the direction of Bastille. Could it be that they've really blown up all that gunpowder?" Charles furrowed his brows.

It was rumored that there were tens of thousands of pounds of gunpowder in Bastille. Of course, this was a rumor; Bastille didn't have that much gunpowder. But earlier, when the warden of Bastille was negotiating for surrender with the besieging militiamen, he had threatened to ignite tens of thousands of pounds of gunpowder and take everyone with him. So now, everyone believed that there was a large amount of gunpowder in Bastille.

"It shouldn't be," Joseph gazed eastward and then shook his head. "If it were a gunpowder magazine exploding, we should be able to see thick smoke rising by now. The smoke we see is not significant enough."

The gunpowder of this era produced a lot of dense smoke when it exploded. So, this explosion was definitely not a gunpowder magazine.

"There isn't much smoke after the explosion, but it made buildings shake from this far away. This must be the Duke of Orleans' men using high explosive powder. It seems that Marquis de Lafayette's troops arrived too late. But with such a big shake, how much explosive powder did they pack in those bombs?" Joseph wondered.