From Corsica to the Fourth Rome

"De Mope"

Madame Du Barry raised her head stiffly and looked at Justice Maupe on the presiding platform. Her eyes that were originally out of focus gradually became clearer at this time, and some sparkle finally returned to her pupils.

Her body was shaking slightly, but it was not because of the cold, but because of the anger and fear that filled her brain.

Madame Du Barry could not understand at all, she was the most powerful woman in France, how could they dare to kidnap her to the Palace of Justice to participate in an inexplicable trial.

However, looking at the thousands of pairs of eyes around her that stared intently at her, a sense of fear that penetrated her bones occupied Madame Du Barry's brain before the humiliation of being kidnapped.

She took a deep breath, tried her best to restrain the trembling of her legs, and then looked at Justice Maupe, trying to still maintain her identity and majesty as the Countess of Du Barry, and scolded in a sharp voice:

"De Moppe, what on earth do you want to do! You and that damn Laurence Bonaparte, what on earth do you want to play! I will tell you, after I return to the Tuileries Palace today, this matter will be revealed."

"quiet!"

Seeing Mrs. Du Barry drooling, Justice Maupe directly picked up the judge's gavel and slammed it on the presiding bench, instantly interrupting Mrs. Du Barry's words:

"The person on trial, Jeanne Bequ, is not allowed to make any noise in the court."

"You! Mopu!"

Madame Du Barry's pupils trembled, and she raised her voice to say something, but the next second, the citizens' comments immediately drowned out all her words:

"What? That woman is Madame Du Barry?! I thought she ran away from the asylum."

"It can't be wrong. Justice Mopu just called her madam. They must know each other."

"This damn woman isn't hiding in the palace."

"Hmph, it's really good luck to be able to witness the trial of this snake-hearted woman."

"This vicious bitch, damn, I'm going to get mad when I see her face!"

"Bitch! Go to hell!"

"Go to hell!"

At this moment, the people in the courtyard were finally convinced that the unkempt female madman on the stage was the legendary Countess Du Barry.

As Madame Du Barry's identity was confirmed, the mood of the citizens instantly changed from shock to anger.

Even the abuse and curses could not alleviate the anger in the hearts of the citizens. Many people directly picked up the stones on the ground and threw them at Madame Du Barry.

From the perspective of the citizens, Madame Du Barry was the source of all the misfortune of this winter, and the newspapers they read every day almost emphasized this point.

In fact, many people present vented their dissatisfaction with the country and society on Madame Du Barry.

Whether it is inflation or rising prices, or corruption and economic malaise, it seems that the culprit of all these bad things is the Countess Du Barry in front of them.

On the trial stand, listening to the rude and straightforward insults in her ears and looking at the rain of stones falling in front of her eyes, Madame Du Barry's mind went blank, as if she had not yet accepted this nightmare reality.

She is the noble countess, the noble mistress of the king.

But now, she stood in the middle of thousands of people with an unprecedented ugly look, being criticized by thousands of people, and forced to swallow the most vicious insults.

Such a huge gap instantly put Madame Du Barry into a trance, and she couldn't say a word for a long time even if she opened her mouth.

In addition to this unbearable humiliation, looking at the thousands of extremely angry people, Madame Du Barry suddenly had a frightening question in her mind - whether she could return to Duy alive today. Lery Palace.

Justice Mopu did not take the initiative to stop the discussion of the people at the scene. He quietly waited for the curses in the courtyard to gradually subside, and then said in a deep voice:

"Jeanne Bequ, since you have come to the court, please cooperate with all investigations of this court; if you are innocent, this court will not force you to suffer any injustice, but if you are guilty, this court will not Missed any clues, can you understand?"

Madame Du Barry glanced around at the people who were watching eagerly from the corner of her eyes, and managed to squeeze out a sentence through her teeth:

"I see."

At this point, Mrs. Du Barry's remaining rationality also told her that she could only hope to escape if she cooperated with Justice Maupp to continue this pretentious trial. Otherwise, the people present alone would never let her go. Leaving the Palace of Justice with swagger.

"Very well, Jeanne Bequ, we will start investigating and interrogating you now."

Justice Mopp nodded with satisfaction, spread out a blank file on the main hearing table, took out a quill dipped in ink, and prepared to start recording this unprecedented public trial:

“First of all, it’s about your alleged crime of embezzling citizens’ property. Listen carefully, those on trial, have you ever misappropriated property that should belong to the common ownership of citizens?”

Before Justice Maupe could finish speaking, Madame Du Barry shook her head twice and said sharply:

"Appropriation? Are you kidding? When have I ever done that kind of thing? What crime can be slapped on me!"

As soon as she finished speaking, there was an overwhelming wave of insults from the crowd below:

"Shameless woman! Still lying at this time!"

"Go to hell! You dare to quibble!"

Justice Mopu's face also darkened. He put down the quill in his hand and confirmed in a low tone:

"Jeanne Bequ, you should understand that if you tell any lies in court, this court will definitely give you a maximum penalty."

Madame Du Barry snorted coldly, not taking Justice Maupe's threat seriously at all. After all, what she feared was the thousands of passionate mobs at the scene, not any judgment of the High Court.

She knew in her heart that no matter what crime she was ultimately sentenced by this hypocritical court, as long as she could return to the Tuileries Palace and to Louis XV, no matter how thick the verdict was, it would be nothing more than a pile of waste paper.

Justice Maupe was not offended by Madame Du Barry's contempt. He said with dignity and without changing his expression:

"Okay, the person on trial, Jeanne Bequ, since you insist on your innocence, this court needs you to provide an explanation for the following things."

After that, under Madame Du Barry's puzzled gaze, Justice Maupe took out a stack of accounts from his robe, handed it to an assistant judge beside him, and motioned for him to read it out.

The assistant judge took the nearly half-foot-thick account, walked to the center of the courtroom, and read loudly in front of everyone:

"On April 2, 1769, 250,000 livres were allocated for the Countess Du Barry to order a dress. Note: the cost of gemstones on the dress is not included in this amount."

"On June 12 of the same year, 2.2 million livres were transferred for the Countess Du Barry to purchase a garden villa in the Saint-Germain district. Note: The cost of repairing the villa is not included."

"On July 7 of the same year, 400,000 livres were transferred to the Countess Du Barry to purchase eight purebred Andalusian horses to pull the carriage for the lady."

"On September 15 of the same year, one hundred thousand livres were transferred for Madame Du Barry to hold a salon and cocktail party in Versailles."

This stack of accounts was exactly what Lawrence had obtained from Supervisor Jonah, and contained all the records of Mrs. Du Barry's misappropriation of funds from the royal accounts over the years.

As the assistant judge read, the people in the audience gradually widened their eyes with expressions of disbelief.

Although the citizens had already heard about the luxurious life of the royal family before this, it was not until these specific figures were put in front of their eyes that the citizens knew that this woman's greed and extravagance had far exceeded their imagination.

The citizens could not imagine that a dress worth 250,000 livres and a draft horse worth 400,000 livres. That amount of wealth that they could never look up to in their lifetime was completely poured out like running water in Madame Du Barry's hands. go out.

After being shocked, the people suddenly became angry.

Such an extravagant and wealthy woman was not satisfied with this extravagant and indulgent life, and even wanted to extend her claws to the life-and-death subsidy that the poor were eagerly waiting for.

Madame Du Barry stared blankly at the accounts in the hands of the assistant judge. She did not understand at all how this account from within the palace could appear in the hands of Justice Maupe.

But there was no extra time for her to think about these issues at this moment. When Madame Du Barry heard the curses ringing in her ears again, her face suddenly turned red and she directly interrupted the assistant judge and shouted:

"Enough! What do you want to say? All this money was given to me by His Majesty the King. Are you questioning His Majesty the King's decision?!"

Justice Mopu knocked the judge's gavel again and said in a deep voice:

"I have said that the person on trial, Jeanne Bequ, is not allowed to make any noise in the court; since you said that these were all gifts from His Majesty the King, we will investigate in the future, but as for the records on the last page of the account, What excuse are you going to make?"

The assistant judge also quickly turned to the last page of the account and shouted at the top of his lungs:

"On December 20, 1770, four million livres were transferred for Madame Du Barry to purchase a set of jewelry. Note: There are insufficient idle funds in the internal treasury account. This amount was borrowed from the winter subsidy fund account."

"On January 14, 1771, an income of seven million livres was obtained, from donations by Laurence Bonaparte and His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, for the payment of the winter allowance of 1771."

"On January 17, 1771, seven million livres were transferred. Note: At the request of Madame Du Barry, this amount was transferred from the winter subsidy fund account to the internal treasury account."

As the last three records were read out, the entire scene fell into a brief silence.

Madame Du Barry was stunned on the spot, her face turned pale, her eyes were fixed on the accounts in the hands of the assistant judge, and she could not utter a single word.

She had no idea where that last record came from.

She hadn't even seen that damn Supervisor Jona these days, so it was impossible for her to make such a ridiculous request, saying that she would divert the 7 million bailout funds again.

After a brief moment of confusion, the people in the audience finally understood what the last three records meant:

This means that all the rumors about Madame du Barry these days are completely confirmed.

It was this woman, not anyone else, who shamelessly and tragically embezzled two bailout funds in a row.

Thinking of the miserable life of the poor people in the winter described in the newspapers, and thinking of the frozen corpses found on the street corners every morning, including their wives and children, the citizens responded to the woman on the stage. The hatred instantly reached a new climax:

The next moment, the curses were like a violent storm, sweeping towards the judgment stand from all directions:

"Hypocritical bitch!"

"Confess your crime, you bitch!"

"You're wasting our time every second you're alive!"

"Hang her, hang her!"

Madame Du Barry stood helplessly in the center of the storm. No matter which direction she looked, her eyes met the fierce eyes of the citizens who wanted to eat their flesh and blood raw.

She took two steps back in horror, and shouted with a trembling cry:

"No, I didn't! That account was forged! I didn't touch the seven million livres, are you all fools?! Mopu, you despicable villain!"

Madame Du Barry yelled in collapse, trying to make the crowd around her understand that it was impossible and she did not dare to touch the seven million livres.

That was a donation from His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. No matter how stupid Madame Du Barry was, she would not get involved with this amount of money.

However, no one would listen to the defense of a hateful sinner. Justice Maupe also looked at Madame Du Barry with cold eyes, quietly waiting for the abuse to subside, and then said:

"Jeanne Bequ, this account comes from the palace. Every record has a seal stamped on it. You say this is forged, but what evidence is there?"

"I you.!"

Madame Du Barry was trembling and couldn't say a word. Of course she couldn't prove that the last record was forged. After all, she only learned about the existence of such a record three minutes ago.

Justice Maupp just looked at Madame Du Barry's ugly appearance, and continued after a moment:

"If you have no reasonable doubt, the evidence in this court is valid. What explanation do you have for these records?"

"I don't"

Madame Du Barry lowered her head in despair. The most important of the hundreds of records were the last three, or rather the last one, and what excuse could she make for a forged record.

Justice Mopp nodded slightly, took the accounts back from the assistant judge calmly, and then looked around at the fifty-two voting judges sitting on both sides.

The voting judges also looked at Justice Mopp and nodded unanimously. Although the final decision moment had not yet come, the judges all knew how to cast their votes.

Madame Du Barry lowered her head and said nothing. She just hoped that this disgusting trial could end as soon as possible and leave as soon as possible from the thousands of bloody mobs surrounding her.

Regardless of whether she is imprisoned or under house arrest, as long as His Majesty the King learns of her whereabouts, Madame Du Barry will have the confidence to stand up immediately with Louis XV's love for her, and backhand the pretentious Maupe and Bonaparte who dared to send someone to kidnap him was strangled to death.

However, Justice Maupp did not immediately hold a vote.

He picked up the quill and made some notes on the file, then looked at Madame Du Barry again and said:

"Then, Jeanne Bequ, this concludes the discussion of your first crime. Next comes your second crime, but not before that."

Madame Du Barry was stunned again. She could not imagine what else Justice Maupe could do besides misappropriating subsidy funds.

Justice Maupe ignored Madame Du Barry's doubts. He gently put down his quill, looked at the sea of ​​people in the audience, and said in a deep voice:

"Call the witnesses, enter Jean Du Barry!"