Chapter 45 Rumors and the National Guard (1)

　Just at almost the same time, not far away in the Palace of Versailles, King Louis XVI was talking to his Queen about a similar topic.

　　"Your Majesty, are you aware that there are already people openly advocating a rebellion?" His queen, Marie Antoinette, stared at her husband with big, beautiful eyes and asked.

　　"What day goes by in the Royale without someone advocating rebellion?" Louis XVI replied in disbelief.

　　Queen Marie glared at her own husband before saying, "Mr. Lavoisier's nephew, actually became a rebel as well! He was at the Royale Palace, staging a play that incited rebellion and propagated it! Especially that song in there, it's not just propaganda for rebellion, it's even blasphemy-don't you want to take care of it at all?"

　　"How do you want me to control it? Order a ban on the performance and have them all arrested?" Louis XVI asked rhetorically, "Nowadays, the whole of Paris is in chaos, there are rumors everywhere, if we do that, we could easily start a real riot."

　　"Isn't the current situation a real riot?" Queen Mary asked without wavering.

　　"At least they haven't come armed towards Versailles." Louis XVI replied.

　　"You are the king, how can you say such things!" Queen Marie was enraged by her husband's weak answer.

　　"Queen, let's face reality." Louis XVI lowered his head and seemed a bit ashamed of his situation as well, "The police system in Paris is basically paralyzed, and the army hasn't been paid for a very long time because of financial problems. They are likewise very disgruntled with the kingdom, and as a result, they have become less reliable. And, all along, the army around Paris has been infiltrated by guys who are against us, and we can't count on them nowadays. It's really hard to say exactly who their guns will be pointed at if anything does happen. It's the armies in the provinces that are slightly more reliable. What are we going to suppress these rebels with today?"

　　"What about the mercenaries? What about those Swiss, those Germans? They take our money, don't they work? And aren't there provincial, more reliable armies?"

　　"The mercenaries, and the more reliable armies are not yet fully in place. Today they can only be used to protect us, not enough to calm the situation."

　　"And how long will it take for them to be fully in place?"

　　"It's hard to say, because it requires money firstly, and secondly, we can't move too fast, or we'd be urging them to revolt. When they do move, our current forces won't be able to withstand it." Louis XVI said rather hesitantly.

　　"In that case, if we stay in Paris now, we will become hostages instead?" The Queen asked again.

　　"It's not quite that, but we don't have the upper hand on this side." Louis XVI said with a sigh.

　　"Then why are we staying here? Why don't we go where our forces prevail? We go to the provinces, where our forces prevail. Why do we stay here?"

　　"Because once we leave, it means that a civil war is sure to break out." Louis XVI said, rather embarrassed, "Even if we are the ones who win in the end, our country has already been destroyed by the civil war. So, in order to avoid a civil war, or at least a devastating one, we must stay in Versailles now."

　　"But what exactly can we do by staying in Versailles?" Queen Mary asked.

　　"Stabilize them first, then slowly move our forces over." Louis XVI said, "We have to paralyze them and not let them despair immediately. Until our forces are concentrated to our advantage."

　　"Perhaps ..." said the queen, "perhaps, if anything, I can get in touch with my family."

　　"It is not yet necessary to do so, for the time being." Louis XVI said, "Even the normal correspondence between you and your family should be taken care not to increase or decrease."

　　"This is absurd!" The Queen said, "Is anyone going to check our letters anymore?"

　　"I do not mean that. But messengers going out from Versailles are noticed by people who are interested. Then rumors may arise." Louis XVI frowned.

　　"Rumors," Queen Marie sneered, "Are rumors something that can be dispelled by such a move? No, because rumors need no basis at all. On the contrary, my liege, the more you indulge it, the stronger it becomes. I think that you should issue a royal decree now that the play is sacrilegious and forbid it to be performed. If you give in, they will do whatever they want, and soon they will grow to the point where they will be intolerable to us. Therefore, if you really wish to delay, then do not indulge them too much."

　　However, Louis XVI just shook his head.

　　"Your Majesty, if you continue to indulge these behaviors, even the Church, will be disappointed in you." Felson, who had been standing on the side without saying anything, also spoke up.

　　"Then, order a ban on the performances. But, don't enforce it." Louis XVI thought about it and said this.

　　"If it's not enforced, then it's better not to order it." The Queen said, "If the order is given but not enforced, it will only make others look down on us even more, and even encourage them to commit further offenses."

　　"What if it is enforced and there is a conflict?" Louis XVI asked rhetorically, "We send those Swiss Guards we have with us to suppress them? We don't have enough forces on hand to put them down, and in the event of a conflict, that's what would really expose our weaknesses! So for now, my queen, we must avoid any direct conflict. Even if we have to endure humiliation like Henry IV."

　　Henry IV was the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire during the eleventh century. He was excommunicated by order of the then Pope Gregory VII because of his power struggle with the Holy See. At that time, the Holy Roman Empire was not internally stable, and after Henry IV was expelled from the Holy Roman Empire, theoretically, the allegiance of all his subordinates to him was also dissolved at the same time. Some of the independent lords in the country, led by Duke Rudolf, declared that they would not recognize Henry IV as monarch if he did not receive papal forgiveness.

　　In the face of internal and external difficulties, Henry IV was forced to bow to the Pope, and he took the queen and his son to the castle of Canossa, where the Pope was staying, to confess to the Pope, hoping that the Pope would retract the edict that had excommunicated him. He and his wife stood in the snow for three days and three nights before being summoned by the Pope. It was only after suffering much humiliation from the Pope that he was pardoned by the Pope. Later, Henry IV finally calmed down the civil unrest, and then with his army, he killed his way into Rome, expelled Pope Gregory VII, and made another pseudo-pope, which was also a revenge for Canossa's death.

　　Now Louis XVI brought up this story, that is, he hoped that everyone could take Henry IV as an example and endure the momentary humiliation for the future. Therefore, after hearing this, everyone was silent.

　　After a while, the Queen spoke, ''In that case, let's simply pretend that we don't know anything. I've heard people say that for one thing, either you don't do it or you do it to the end. If we don't act, then His Majesty the King will at least appear mysterious. If we act, but act weakly, then it is rather looked down upon."

　　Louis XVI hurriedly nodded and said, "I think the Queen has a point."

　　"But, Your Majesty the King." The Queen suddenly said with a mocking tone again, "I think everyone should have their own bottom line, I have actually always been curious and have always wanted to see, where is your bottom line, Your Majesty?"

　　...

　　Although the King had not made a decision to ban Spartacus, the rumors that Spartacus would soon be banned were still spreading more and more outrageously. At first, these rumors only said that the king was going to ban the play, then they said that the king had sent out a secret note to arrest the author as well as all the actors and actresses, and later, all the actors and actresses who dared to take part in the performance of the play would be excommunicated.... In a word, all sorts of rumors kept on coming out to dazzle the people.

　　At this point in time, Amang showed some of the same wisdom as his uncle. He took all these rumors and used them as free advertising. Taking advantage of these rumors, he took the opportunity to advertise to the outside world: "This may be the last performance, if you don't come to see it, you won't be able to see it again!"

　　Just as Adam and Eve were defenseless before the temptation of the "forbidden fruit," so the children of Adam and Eve were defenseless before the temptation of the "forbidden fruit. Adam and Eve's children and grandchildren will always be particularly energized when confronted with something with the word "forbidden" in it. So the gimmick of "soon to be banned" worked very well indeed, and now every performance of the Dragon and Rose Theater Company is full, and some other troupes have followed the trend to perform the play. Because of this, the blasphemous "Slave War Song" also spread throughout Paris.

　　At first, the actors in the troupe were a bit nervous when these kinds of rumors spread, but the effect of the sold-out performances brought them more income. Especially in today's environment where food prices are rising wildly, these incomes are even more convincing. So nowadays, those actors have become fond of all kinds of rumors, and they even create all kinds of rumors themselves, so as to attract more viewers. For example, rumors that so-and-so actor had been attacked by unknown people or something were constantly being created from them.

　　Because during this period of time, Paris was constantly experiencing all kinds of conflicts, big and small, and a few days ago, even the French Guards and the German Dragoon Cavalry fought, rumors about the King's intention to massacre the citizens of Paris were becoming more and more popular. There were quite a few people who believed in those rumors that Armand and the others had created themselves.