Versailles is worse than being queen

◎Hold a three-level meeting◎

In 1775, a strange scene appeared in France - after Louis XVII quickly ascended the throne at the Palace of Versailles, there was a king and a queen in this country, and they were not husband and wife.

Not only are they not husband and wife, but they are against each other; one in Versailles, one in Paris.

In the Palace of Versailles, everyone was in a hurry.

"Move troops! Mobilize troops!" Louis XVII changed from his gentle manner when he was the Count of Provence in the past, and yelled at the minister, "Paris... Paris dares to rebel! Kill all the rebels for me!"

Louis XVII sat down on the sofa, gasping for breath: "Parisians may have long forgotten who made them develop into what they are today... I have long felt that giving the capital too much autonomy would lead to disaster."

The monarch is not in Paris, and the city itself could become unmanageable if it swells too large.

Therefore, starting from the era of Louis XIV, the king has issued various decrees and decrees to limit the expansion of Paris, such as forcing the city wall to be limited to a certain area, and prohibiting the construction of new houses in Paris, or even if new buildings are to be built, they must To use the most expensive building materials, adopt the most complicated procedures and construction standards.

However, Paris is still growing savagely on its own.

Not just physical growth.

Some more invisible and intangible places are also quietly leaving Versailles' control.Take, for example, the banning of the Rheinische Zeitung five years ago - no fact has made it clearer than the conflict between supporters of Werther's Sorrows and the Church that the Church was trying to meddle in people's lives with sheer power. thought of.

Although the original newspaper office has been empty, new newspapers of various colors coming out of unknown printing workshops can be bought in almost every corner of Paris.Even taking this as an opportunity, more and more political pamphlets were published, reaching an astonishing 53 volumes per week before the assassination of Louis XVI.

The capital has been a thorn in the side of the king since more than ten years ago, until the moment the city closed its gates to the envoys from Versailles, the last layer of cover was ripped off.

In the evening of this day, the manuscript collectors of the "Rheinische Zeitung" just opened the mailbox and were stunned by the various manuscripts inside.

After a brief selection, the editors smiled meaningfully at each other.

"...then let the people decide."

The next day's front page of the "Rheinische Zeitung" included two articles besides the main events of the previous day.

The first editor's note was a letter from Versailles, "Although it does not agree with this newspaper, we think that the people of Paris have a right to hear threats to them, and considering the risks they face, we have published this article."

The words of this letter are not unreasonable: "Anyone who supports heresy against the king is an act of rebellion! The king is the ruler chosen by God and the highest authority in France. To betray the king is to betray France and God—— All rebels end up in hell."

"Do you want to support that foreign woman who came out of some Germanic stinking ditch, or the French king Louis XVII that God chose for you?"

"Remember, even the capital, Paris will not be spared. Soon, the army will clear it, and the blood of the rebels will become the holy water that cleanses Paris."

On the same page, another article was authored by the Queen's Order: "Notes on Tax Reform".

"There are 600 million people in France. The first-class nobles and priests account for less than [-]% of them, but they own a disproportionate amount of wealth and land. They enjoy the wealth plundered by their ancestors, but they own Exemption from taxes, and your hard-earned money to build their lives of luxury. Louis XVI and I agree that this is far from justice."

"Versailles is not the center of France, nor is it the whole of France. We have visited every corner of this country, and we have heard the voices that make up the vast majority of the people, but almost never uttered. Once, they could not express themselves, they must Voiced by others...but now, those voices will become an integral part of the kingdom."

"Crime has happened in front of everyone, and atrocities will never stop our determination. I will abolish the tax exemption of nobles and priests, and treat everyone as equal before the laws of France."

This newspaper, like countless others before it, spread throughout Paris in a short time.

What followed was an overwhelming amount of political pamphlets, "Who gave the nobles and priests the right to step on us? When did God show us that we must feed them?"

"Their position is not born, it is not God-given. They are the moths of France!"

People in Paris are already very enthusiastic about discussing politics, and in this unprecedented moment of chaos, they are almost angry.

For the vast majority of citizens here, they have been looking forward to the tax reform promised by the new king since he was about to take office-until they witnessed the atrocities committed in broad daylight.

Such is human nature.When a thing has been like this for a long time, it is often difficult for people to perceive the irrationality of its existence, and any change needs extra push to make it.

But once someone says "to change", it's like breaking an invisible wall suddenly, and people suddenly find that the long-standing habits and systems are so unreasonable, and they can't bear it for a moment.

And when hope has been ignited in people's hearts, it is undoubtedly the most intolerable thing to let it be cut off suddenly at the next moment.

"God's chosen ruler? God's chosen ruler is Louis XVI! God chose him to tell us it's time for us to take back our power!"

The whole of Paris is like a pyre about to be ignited, and all this reaches its climax with the arrival of a person——

Voltaire, who had been in exile for many years, returned to Paris at the invitation of the Queen.

On that day, countless people, just like saying goodbye to the alchemist who brought miracles before, held torches and crowded to the pier to welcome the famous thinker. People can hear.

For an entire generation in Paris, they almost grew up reading his works.In the most dangerous hour of the country, he came to Paris, not Versailles——

It made it clear that he stood with the people.

"Your Majesty, I have admired your name for a long time." After being escorted into the Louvre, the 81-year-old man smiled faintly at Antanya.

"Two old friends of mine have mentioned you to me—one is Her Majesty the Empress of Russia, and the other is still advising you."

"Mr. Smith?" Antanya asked.

Adam Smith had been away from Paris for three months before, saying that he was visiting an old friend François—Voltaire’s real name.After being disliked by the kings of France and Prussia, the thinker lived in Verne on the French-Swiss border.

"Yes."

"Your Majesty, I can understand that you were greatly influenced by Her Majesty Ekaterina when you were young." The old man's deeply wrinkled eyes showed a deep and sharp light, as if he could see all the secrets of the world, "But Not enough to explain why you acted so radically - pardon me for using the word 'radical' to describe your decree. Not even His Majesty the Tsar did so."

"One more thing. I don't really understand why you're staying in France... no offense, but if you get out of here as soon as possible and go back to Austria, I think your parents will be able to make sure that no Frenchman can hurt you, no matter here what happened."

When Voltaire said this, he sighed deeply: "To be honest, I have an intuition that something unprecedented will happen in France."

Antanya looked at the old man with white beard and hair in silence.

In fact, in the last life, when the old man returned to Paris, she also met him.

But she was not interested in complex philosophical thoughts at that time, just because it was her duty as a queen.She didn't understand his theories, just as she didn't understand how France would change dramatically in the next few years.

Now, God played a big joke on her, and everything seems to be on a predestined track.

The fire of upheaval first ignited from Paris, and it was true in the last life, and it is also true in this life.

If she was told a few years ago that she would ignite the flames of the Great Revolution with her own hands, she would definitely think it was a fantasy.

But now...all the impossible has become possible.

why?

She has lived in the most luxurious and splendid palace, and also lived in the cold and damp death row.

She has ridden in a luxurious carriage made of gold, and also ridden in a torture cart that was thrown by the people with stones and mud balls.

Before she went to the guillotine, she also asked herself why.

If she hadn't experienced that upheaval, she would have spent her life dancing, laughing, dressing up, and giving alms like countless queens on this continent for generations, and had children, and finally became a noble, beautiful and beautiful queen. A boring queen who died knowing nothing about the world.

She would never have the chance to know what weight that crown represented.

In the face of death, she wrote to herself: "Only in misfortune can I truly know who I am."*

That crown is too heavy.

She finally understood and forgave, she originally thought that everything should be paid off at the moment when her blood stained the guillotine red.

She thought that in this life, she would do her best to prevent herself from falling into the danger she had once again.

——Until the boy who hadn't officially put on the crown fell beside her with a gunshot.

She once left her last words to her children before she died, "Don't avenge our deaths...I forgive all those who have brought me misfortune."

But from the moment Louis died, what lingered in her heart was deep-seated hatred.

Isn't the Great Revolution dangerous?Isn't it confusing?Wouldn't she herself be one of those to be guillotined again in what was about to happen?

But if she left like this, Louis' bones would lie cold in the catacombs of the church, and those murderers who planned on their own initiative and were silent behind the scenes would step on his bones and step onto the throne.

How dark must it be in the world to tolerate such history being written by human beings?

Antanya slowly closed her eyes.

She said to the old man word by word: "Sir, something is going to happen."

"But you know, whether I stay here or not, it's going to happen."

The transformation of thought is an irreversible qualitative change. The Enlightenment has been going on for a century, and some waves will eventually come, and some histories will eventually emerge.

Louis gave France to her.

At least, with her as an insider, maybe the upheaval that brought chaos for more than half a century can be developed in a more controllable direction.

After all, so many innocent people have died in storms.

At this moment, someone hastily knocked on the door and apologized.

The man whispered something in Antanya's ear.

Antania let out a long breath, and nodded slightly to Voltaire: "Sir, you know, I am waiting for a message."

That news has come.

The queen stood up and solemnly said to the messenger: "Please send a notice to the whole country."

"Paris will have a three-level meeting in a month's time."

The author says:

For the development status of Paris, tax reform and the relevant content and data of the Great Revolution, please refer to Tocqueville's "The Old Regime and the Great Revolution" and Peter McPhee's "Liberty and Destruction: The French Revolution, 1789-1799".

In addition, queen and queen are the same word in French, so sometimes I feel that the expression may be a little confusing, so I want to explain it here.

"They cannot express themselves, they must be expressed by others." This sentence comes from Marx's "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte". I am deeply touched by the recent situation (for this reason, I often almost forget the code words, I am guilty of QAQ) , the right to speak is really important.