From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

At the north end of the Saint-Louis Bridge, Colonel Giovanni stared blankly at the crowds of people on the Ile de la Cité, and was speechless for a moment.

Although he already knew that this was the work of His Excellency Bonaparte, Colonel Giovanni couldn't help but swallowed when looking at this riot, which could be called the largest in twenty years. He had no idea that the daring Bonaparte had What exactly does Lord Naba want to do?

The police reinforcements behind the colonel had expressions of disbelief. They watched in shock as the flow of protesting people extended from the Île de la Cité along the Pont Saint-Louis to both banks of the Seine. They couldn't help but exclaimed:

"My Lord, what happened to these mobs?!"

"Fuck this. I'm afraid there are thousands of people up there."

"I think it might be tens of thousands. What the hell is going on? Is it just because of those damn rumors?!"

"Can we, with less than a thousand people, suppress them?"

Even for those police officers who have experienced hundreds of battles, such a scene is a tough battle that is rare in ten years.

The colonel's adjutant frowned, quickly assessed the situation at the scene, and said to Colonel Giovanni anxiously:

"Sir, we must act immediately. People are still coming from all over, and their numbers will only increase. We must first block the surrounding streets, and then call in more reinforcements from other areas. "

Those experienced veterans all agreed with the adjutant's plan. In their opinion, the wisest thing to do at the moment was to immediately control the surrounding roads and launch a suppression of the mob on Ile de la Cité.

If the citizens of Paris cannot be told immediately that the police force has begun to take over the situation, then the number of people participating in the rally will only continue to increase, and the scene will be beyond the control of their police force.

The police and soldiers looked at Colonel Giovanni solemnly. Many of them had unconsciously placed their right hands on the handles of their sabers, ready to slash at the unarmed people with their swords.

They knew they had to take action immediately. Every second every night, there would be one more mob they had to face.

Hundreds of nervous and expectant eyes fell on Colonel Giovanni. As long as the commander gave an order, the bloody suppression activities would begin immediately.

Unsurprisingly, as long as the soldiers' blades are stained with blood and as long as the cries of the wounded are heard from the crowd, the weak citizens will flee like mice, except for the red blood covering the Seine. Membrane, nothing will be left behind from this rally.

However, under the gaze of all the soldiers, Colonel Giovanni in the crowd seemed to have heard nothing and was still staring blankly at the Île de la Cité not far away.

After a long while, he finally turned his head and glanced at his subordinates, and opened his mouth expressionlessly.

However, what came out of Colonel Giovanni's mouth was not the suppressive order that made the soldiers nervous and longing for it, but a defensive order with a cold tone that could not be refused:

"Everyone, stay put and do not draw weapons, let alone have any conflicts with demonstrators; in addition, the troops on the island are notified to evacuate immediately and return here to meet up."

"What?!"

Not only the police and soldiers, but also the colonel's adjutant did not understand the purpose of this negative order at all, and repeatedly exclaimed:

"What do you mean, sir? If we don't take action, those mobs will only intensify. When they see us standing here like wooden figures, they will only flock to the Palace of Justice more unscrupulously."

Colonel Giovanni turned sideways, stared fiercely into the adjutant's eyes, then pointed at the crowd on the Ile de la Cité, and reprimanded coldly in front of all the soldiers:

"Don't you have eyes? Didn't you see how many people were there? You idiot! We left it alone. This was just a huge protest. If we had a confrontation with them and a conflict, that would be A riot involving tens of thousands of people! Can you take responsibility?”

"I"

The adjutant was also speechless for a moment, staring helplessly at his commander with wide eyes. For some reason, he suddenly felt that the officer in front of him was no longer the astute and experienced Colonel Giovanni in his memory.

The adjutant glanced reluctantly at the citizens who openly bypassed the soldiers and continued to the Ile de la Cité, gritted his teeth and said:

"Sir, then at least the surrounding roads must be blocked to prevent more people from participating in the rally."

And his proposal was interrupted by Colonel Giovanni with a low growl:

"Major, are you dissatisfied with my order? Or do you want to disobey me?!"

The adjutant's lips trembled slightly, but he couldn't utter any other words for a long time. He gritted his teeth and sighed reluctantly, then took two steps back and returned to the queue.

In such an emergency, the crime of disobedience will inevitably be punished by a military court.

When the other soldiers saw this, they had no choice but to continue to obey Colonel Giovanni's orders after looking at each other for a while. Their sabers and muskets were all tied to their waists and backs, and they did not dare to show any edge.

The mounted police also turned over and dismounted one after another, standing there with unwilling expressions. Even the horses beside them began to flick their tails in boredom.

The police and soldiers just stood there, allowing more and more people to pass them by, and then resolutely rushed towards Ile de la Cité.

"Look! Those cowards don't dare to come here!"

On the Ile de la Cité, the scene of police and soldiers retreating by the Saint-Louis Bridge was naturally seen by thousands of people on the island.

When the policemen in dark blue uniforms and coats rushed to the Seine River in droves, the people on the island were still panicking, thinking that the outcome of this massive protest would be nothing more than business as usual. was brutally suppressed.

After all, these police and soldiers have never been shy about imposing their violent privileges on ordinary people.

But at this moment, the police and soldiers who used to be bossy and majestic were cowering motionless by the bridge. They did not dare to set foot on Ile de la Cité, and even withdrew all the soldiers on the island.

The people were even stunned by this bizarre scene for a moment, because before this, the police and soldiers only used swords, guns, clubs and muskets to deal with them, unarmed civilians. They had never shown such weakness before.

The show of weakness in this scene instantly pushed the people's shouts to another climax.

Everyone believes that it is their united strength that forces the police to no longer dare to show off their power:

"My compatriots! Let us continue to be united!"

"As long as we stand together, they won't dare to drop sticks on our heads like they did before!"

"Gentlemen policemen on the other side of the river, please go back. It has nothing to do with you here!"

"This is our cry, the cry of the people! We demand the trial of Madame Du Barry!"

The sound waves on the Ile de la Cité were getting louder and louder, and the people were shouting loudly, enjoying the sense of security that this unity brought to them.

Even the most cowardly and resigned farmer will feel his blood pumping all over his body when he is among this crowd of people and under this deafening sound, and he will shout loudly to join in.

The number of people participating in the rally continued to increase, and even the five hundred-foot-long riverbanks near the Ile de la Cité were crowded with angry and excited people.

Especially after hearing that the Paris police force did not dare to intervene in this demonstration, the originally timid citizens finally let go of all their shackles and boldly took to the streets with others.

As for the people on the Île de la Cité, their demands have now been completely unified - the Paris High Court must initiate a public trial against Madame Du Barry.

Naturally, there was no response from the Palace of Justice to this ridiculous request. Only dozens of policemen and soldiers retreating behind the gate were still nervously confronting thousands of indignant people outside.

After dozens of minutes of shouting and waiting to no avail, the people tried to launch an attack on the gate of the Palace of Justice, trying to force their way into the High Court.

The soldiers inside the door also responded quickly, setting up their muskets and firing a round of warning shots, which barely managed to calm down the people in the front row.

The people came here just to severely punish that vicious and damned woman, not to loot the entire Palace of Justice; the police and soldiers inside the door just wanted to wait for the arrival of reinforcements, and it was impossible for their detachment to do so. It could withstand the full impact of thousands of people outside.

The two sides inside and outside the palace gate were facing each other nervously, and no one dared to rashly escalate the situation further.

While the two sides were confronting each other, on the top floor of the main hall of the Palace of Justice.

"It looks like we've reached an impasse, Your Honor."

Standing on the top floor of the main hall, through a large crystal-clear floor-to-ceiling window, Lawrence had a panoramic view of everything that happened on the Ile de la Cité. Then he chuckled and looked at Justice Maupe, who was wearing a crimson judge's robe.

Justice Mopp slowly added a spoonful of sugar cubes to each of the two cups of black tea, handed one of the cups to Lawrence, and then glanced at the crowd of people below:

"I really don't know how you did it, these are all your people?"

Lawrence took the tea cup and took a sip, shook his head and said:

"There are only a few, and the rest are ordinary people who voluntarily come here to speak out; you know, if you want to light a fire, the important thing is not how to light the fire, but to add more firewood. As long as there is enough fuel, a little spark will Enough to create an explosion.”

"Yeah."

Justice Mopp couldn't help but feel a little more fear in his eyes when he looked at Lawrence, but this strange look quickly disappeared from his face.

He drank all the black tea in the cup, stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, frowning and asked:

"But compared to this, you won't be suspicious if you appear at the Palace of Justice at this time, right?"

Lawrence smiled and spread his hands and said:

"I'm here to discuss with you the coronation ceremony of His Majesty the King. Who knew that such a bad thing would happen to me so unluckily."

Everyone knew that King Louis XV was eager to wear the Corsican crown immediately, and no one was stupid enough to question Lawrence's reason.

Hearing this reason, Justice Mopu couldn't help but curled up his lips and asked while adjusting his judge's robe:

"It's a good title. So, what are you going to do next? I cooperate with the High Court to directly sentence Madame Du Barry? And then use the verdict to put pressure on the palace?"

In the eyes of Justice Maupe, the core of Lawrence's plan is to use the High Court and his own judgment to put pressure on Louis XV, forcing Louis XV to expel Madame Du Barry to quell public dissatisfaction; as for the thousands of people underneath The 10,000 protesters only gave the High Court a reasonable reason to sentence Madame Du Barry.

Of course, only Lawrence himself knew that the unprecedented-scale protest he deliberately instigated was not just for the sake of giving the High Court a smooth sail.

Louis XV was very dissatisfied with the behavior of the thirteen high courts in curbing the royal power. A judgment from the high courts was not enough to make the king willingly expel Madame Du Barry.

Lawrence took another sip of black tea in the cup, shook his head and chuckled:

"No, since it is a trial, how can the defendant be absent? The people below also want to see that woman appear in the Palace of Justice, right?"

Justice Mopu was startled subconsciously and asked in surprise:

"You want to bring Madame Du Barry to the Palace of Justice? How is this possible? Do you want to drag his favorite lover to the High Court of Justice in front of the king?!"

"Madame Du Barry is not in the palace at the moment." Lawrence said suddenly.

Justice Mopu frowned and asked with some disbelief: "How do you know? Do you have an informant around her?"

"Your Majesty, please believe me."

Even though he had stayed in the Palace of Justice all morning, Lawrence still smiled confidently, having expected everything:

"And there must not be too many guards around her. I will send someone to bring her."

With that said, Lawrence clapped his hands at the door, and then Grosso, who had been waiting outside the door, walked in.

Grosso was dressed in civilian clothes, and even the scar on his face was specially covered with a bandage. Apart from his unusually strong body, he was no different from the protestors below who were shouting loudly.

Justice Maupp looked at Grosso's clothes in surprise and seemed to have guessed what Lawrence wanted to do.

"Bring Madame Du Barry and Mr. Du Barry back to the Palace of Justice." Lawrence ordered in a deep voice:

"Take a few of my guards with you, and be careful not to reveal your identity, and don't let Madame Du Barry get hurt. Now is not the time for her to die."

Grosso had obviously known Lawrence's plan for a long time. He nodded understandingly and then turned and left the top floor of the main hall.

Watching Grosso leave, Lawrence looked back at Justice Maupe, who was wearing a crimson judge's robe, and said with a smile:

"Then, it's time for you to perform, Lord Mopu."