The months that followed were "quiet". This "calm" was, of course, relative to the days of the siege of the Bastille.
The higher neighborhoods of the city of Paris were basically kept in order. The newly formed National Guard patrolled day and night, making it impossible for the small-time thieves to make trouble in these places. Nowadays those poor people have largely been purged from the National Guard, as they have to spend a lot of their time earning a living rather than undergoing military training.
But if you go out of those neighborhoods, without looking, into the areas where those poor people live, you'll immediately notice that the restoration of order is just an illusion, and that it's even more chaotic than it was before the revolution.
According to Aunt Sophie, the streets are full of thieves and robbers today.
"I wouldn't dare walk down the street with bread." When Joseph suggested that Aunt Sophie could take a little bread from him to go back to her children, Aunt Sophie said this.
"Mr. Bonaparte, you don't know how chaotic it is out on the block these days! My goodness, a woman like me, walking down the street with bread - my goodness, it's more dangerous than walking in a forest with tigers. Not I, but a big man like you, if you were alone, I'm sure you'd be robbed before you'd gone a hundred paces with your bread in those places. If it had been Master Lucien, you would have been shot within ten paces. If it had been little Louis, ah, then even he himself would have disappeared without a trace."
"If so, how will you bring home the bread you have bought?" Joseph asked.
"Then, of course, several of the neighbors would go and buy it together." Aunt Sophie said, "I'd say it's all the things you men have caused, what with all the nonsense about the three levels of meetings, and the king, and the meetings, and the revolution. Originally thought, the days are already difficult enough, make a mess, will not be more difficult, who knows ... Mr. They all said that the three levels of meetings, everyone will be able to eat a full stomach. But there are some bad people who won t let us have a three level meeting. We all went to fight to those bad guys. But even though the bad guys were beaten and the three-level meeting was held, the bread became more and more expensive. When the Third Degree Conference was not in session, we could not afford to buy bread; when the Third Degree Conference was in session, we still could not afford to buy bread: then was not the Third Degree Conference in vain?"
Hearing this, Joseph sighed and said, "Aunt Sophie, the Third Degree Conference itself cannot turn out bread."
At the same time, he added in his mind, "Moreover, what those delegates were thinking about was never how to make even the lowest class of society have enough bread."
This idea did not wrong those representatives. As a matter of fact, most of those delegates were rich, and they didn't worry about bread. Some even compared the wages of the French and the English and came up with the proposal that the French wages were too high, dragging down the French economy, and therefore the high wages should be limited by legal means.
"But didn't they say that everyone would have a good time once the three levels of meetings were held? They can't just lie like that." Aunt Sophie muttered.
"It's not just you guys actually." Joseph also sighed and said, "Even I, nowadays, have a tougher time than before. Everything has gone up except for the salary. Things have gotten hard for me."
That was half-true, but if Joseph hadn't had some other income and relied solely on his school salary, his life would indeed be a little tougher now. Even a "senior technician" like Joseph (this was Joseph's self-deprecating expression) could be in trouble, and naturally, the lives of ordinary people would be even more difficult.
But in fact, if there had been no Third Congress, no revolution, even if the ordinary people had been in a more difficult situation, nothing would necessarily have happened. Honestly, in Europe, the French, even the bottom of the French people, were not really having a bad time. At least, compared to the British workers whose average life expectancy is no more than three years, or the Russian serfs who don't even have personal freedom, it's really not that much higher. As for Germany? Heine even put it this way, "One percent of what we German people have suffered would be enough for the French to start a thousand insurrections."
But the point is that the convening of the Tertiary Conference gave a great hope to the underclass, and all the French, even the underclass French like Aunt Sophie, knew about it and were hopeful about it. And all kinds of propaganda kept on blowing this hope bigger and bigger and more and more beautiful, as if all problems could be solved as soon as the Tertiary Convention was held and the King supported the constitution. It was almost as if "after the three-stage conference, the constitution would be everything, foie gras on the table, and a girl to hug at night".
However, in the face of reality, this was blown up to the big big hope, just like a soap bubble dashed. The Third Congress was held, the Constituent Assembly was established, the Bastille was knocked down, however, not to mention foie gras, even the black bread is no longer available. The pain that can be brought about by such a fall far exceeds the pain of not having enough to eat, and the hatred that can be brought about by such a fall naturally far exceeds the hatred that can be brought about by not having enough to eat. So the Revolution, instead of breaking out in those countries where the oppression was most severe, broke out first in France.
"That is why it was the king's greatest blunder to agree to the convening of the Tertiary Congress. The anger of the citizens of Paris is still gathering today, and with a little guidance, a confrontation between the whole of Paris and the king will be inevitable. Oh, having lost the support of Paris, or even gained the hatred of Paris, on what basis can the king still wear his crown securely?" At the Royale Palace, Marquis Mirabeau was talking to the Duke of Orleans, the owner of the place.
The Marquis de Mirabeau was a wonderful man, who had spent the first half of his life either in scandal or in prison.
Mirabeau showed the prodigal factor when he was a youth, his father sent him to the army for exercise, but he gambled, picked up girls and even tried to be a deserter. As a result of this he ended up in Thunder Island Prison. After his release he took part in the suppression of the Corsican rebellion, during which he was promoted to captain and returned to Paris.
He married Emilie, daughter of the Marquis de Marianne, at the behest of his father, whose intention was to gain access to the other's vast wealth through this union. But this pair of couples are not in tune, each other can not see each other not to say, but also like the luxury of life, every day squandering, owe a large sum of foreign debt. The old Marquis Mirabeau in order to prevent his son from dishonoring the family reputation, so he shut him down, and prohibited him from handling his own property. As a result, Mirabeau continued to be a bad influence, and in 1774 he was imprisoned again at the fortress prison of Yvesbourg. (The same prison where Edmond Dantes spent time in The Count of Monte Cristo.)
In 1775, Mirabeau was released from prison. Upon his release, however, he seduced a married woman, the young wife of the Marquis de Molière, and eloped with her to Holland.
This behavior, of course, led to the old Marquis Mirabeau cutting off all his financial resources. Mirabeau was then forced to start writing for a living. Mirabeau came from the upper class and knew all kinds of shit in the French upper class, so he specialized in writing to expose the corruption of the French upper class, and soon became a famous critic of the old French system.
However, the money earned from writing was not enough to cover Mirabeau's expenses, and the man was a consistent spendthrift, and the best thing he could do was spend money. So during this time, he was once again imprisoned for a debt dispute. Of course, Mirabeau claimed that this was a persecution by the reactionary French authorities.
Soon after, however, Mirabeau was released from prison and miraculously paid off his debts, lived a more flamboyant life, and actually stayed out of trouble for his debt disputes. In response, Mirabeau claimed that this was due to his various successful investments, which brought him great returns. And says that achieving financial freedom is just a small goal accomplished. But many people say that he just found a big money maker from whom he got a lot of money. This big money maker was the Duke of Orleans who was bent on discrediting the King.
Because of his continuous criticism of the old French system, Mirabeau gained a good reputation among the third rank who were dissatisfied with reality. When the Tertiary Convention was held, Mirabeau became a representative of the third class. And became one of the leaders of the Constituent Assembly.
"However, a similar situation to today's has been experienced by the Parisians many times. And this year's wheat is growing so well that it is widely believed that if there are no sudden natural disasters, by this fall there will be a bumper crop of wheat, one of the few in the last ten years. At that time, the price of grain will definitely fall. This is not subject to human will. Once the price of food falls, the discontent of the people of Paris will fall with it, and the flames of that revolution will be extinguished with it. If we fail to seize the day, the old system will continue to perpetuate itself." The Duke of Orleans frowned.
Mirabeau laughed gleefully, and the fat under his broad chin jiggled.
"Your Highness the Duke doesn't need to worry, how can the current situation support the fall harvest? If it was before, it's not impossible for the common people of Paris to endure, but it's not the same today. The Tertiary Conference and the Revolution gave them hope, and then reality shattered that hope, and the anger that arose from that is not easy to suppress. Besides, who else can suppress such anger nowadays? Moreover, the countryside in the provinces was now in turmoil, the peasants, anxious to get rid of the rents and tithes, could not wait any longer, and there were now rebellions everywhere. To appease them, the Constituent Assembly is preparing to pass a new decree. This new decree will surely be blocked with the king, and then we'll raise prices a little by the way, and then direct the people's anger a little toward the king, and the situation will turn in our favor."