Although cities were not yet brightly lit at night in the pre-industrial era of Europe, big cities like Paris and London are in the midst of a period of rapid changes in nightlife. People are sleeping later and later, and go outdoors after dark to find joy and benefits, while cafes, pubs, casinos, and brothels all over the city are still full of people even late at night.
Since the establishment of the "First French Republic" in September, the curfew in Paris has also been relaxed a lot. Although it was past twelve o'clock when Zhao Xin and the others came out, and they were walking in the shadows of the street, they could still occasionally see a few pedestrians going home together on the street.
European street lighting at the end of the 18th century commonly used whale oil lamps. Generally, two ropes were stretched diagonally from both sides of the street, and the lamps were hung below the intersection point of the ropes. Relying on a high-hanging oil lamp on an empty street, the lighting effect can be imagined. In fact, the purpose of this thing is not to facilitate citizens' night walking at all, but to improve public security conditions. The problem is that because the lighting effect is not good, it is difficult to improve the urban security situation much, so walking alone at night is still risky, and it is easy to get slapped.
With the help of night vision goggles, the 21 people stopped and walked like a swimming black snake. It took them almost 40 minutes to reach the wall located in the northeast corner of the monastery garden.
The old method of using a group of five people to build a ladder is still used, and one person is quickly sent to the wall for surveillance, and then the others climb up in turn. Although Zhao Xin has not fought for a long time, he has been exercising and his physical coordination is still good. He did not waste much time when climbing over the wall.
The 21 people who participated in the operation divided into two teams after entering the garden square according to the previously planned plan. The first team of 11 people, including Zhao Xin, is responsible for attacking the Temple Tower Prison. They will go north along the bushes on the east side and climb up the wall on the west side of the Temple Fort, where there is a corridor and the Temple Tower Prison. connected.
The second team of 10 people will move westward along the shrubs on the south side, remove the sentries above the roof, and monitor the National Guard in the monastery.
The above two teams are each divided into two groups, namely the support group responsible for fire cover and the assault group responsible for surprise attacks.
According to their respective goals, the two groups advance in a single column with alternating cover; that is, the first group moves a certain distance, stops and covers, and the second group flanks the first group, moves forward some distance, stops, and covers. Alternate cycles. Although it is a bit slow to do this, it will be safer at a higher alert level.
When everyone is moving forward, in order to facilitate the transmission of information among teammates and the rapid transfer of positions, the person behind will put their left hand on the shoulder of the person in front. These tactical movements are not actually the daily training subjects of the soldiers of the North Navy's special operations battalion, but for this operation, many night trainings have been carried out on the Thor.
Just when Zhao Xin and his team arrived at the foot of the north wall, the person at the front suddenly raised his arm and made the stop and lie down gestures. The eleven people in the first team immediately lay down on the grass. There was no movement. A few minutes later, two National Guard soldiers carrying guns and lanterns came along the path from the west.
When the two soldiers passed by Zhao Xin and the others and turned their backs to each other, four soldiers from the special operations battalion slowly stood up from the grass like ghosts and tiptoed behind them. The two at the front suddenly opened their arms. They rushed forward, covering each other's mouth with one hand, and strangled each other's neck with the other arm.
The two French soldiers were shocked. They instinctively pulled the arms from their necks and kicked their legs unconsciously. However, their legs were quickly hugged tightly, and the pieces hanging on their bodies made a slight sound. After more than ten seconds, the two fell into a coma completely.
The four people who took action quickly put the hands of the National Guard soldier behind his back and locked them with plastic handcuffs. The same was true for his feet. His eyes and mouth were wrapped twice with tape, and then he tied a tape between his hands and feet. A rope; in this way, they cannot move even if they wake up. The four men then carried the two guys away and placed them behind a dense bush.
In this way, the two teams acted independently, clearing out the National Guard soldiers patrolling and standing guard in the square one by one. Half an hour later, these people were either turned into corpses under the crossbows, or they were tied up with four hooves like pigs waiting to be slaughtered. , thrown into the grass...
Since the 38-year-old Louis XVI moved into the Temple Tower Prison, except for his personal servants, the people around him no longer regard him as a king; everyone calls him "Louis Capet", and there is no such thing as "Louis Capet" in his tone. Every bit of respect.
Louis XVI explained that his name is not "Capet", but "Auguste". You must know that the Capetian dynasty in French history ended as early as the 14th century, and there was still a brick wall between the Bourbon dynasty and the Capetian dynasty. What about the Loire dynasty? The problem is that the people guarding him are not historians or heraldry scholars, and they still stubbornly call him Capet.
The National Convention had a headache about how to deal with Louis XVI's family. Nowadays, public opinion in France generally believes that the king and his wife deserve what they deserve, but 7-year-old Louis Charles and 14-year-old Marie Theresa are innocent. The two brothers and sisters have not made any mistakes and should not be punished by the law. punishment, but they were imprisoned together.
Unlike his elder sister who is already sensible, the 7-year-old little prince seems not to care much about everything around him and looks carefree every day.
From the time of his birth, rumors circulated among the nobility that he was not the son of Louis XVI, but the product of an affair between Count Fersen and the Queen. But Louis XVI didn't believe it at all. He doted on his youngest son very much. Two years ago, the leader of the reformists, the Marquis de Lafayette, and some people from the National Convention even conspired to try to threaten Marie Antoinette with adultery charges and get her to declare the child illegitimate. The queen sneered at this, if you have the ability, try it!
Although he is a prisoner, everyone else in the castle likes this beautiful, lively, and kind child, and even the most despicable guy among them cannot get angry with him. No matter where he is, this innocent child always puts a smile on people's faces.
Life in the Temple Prison was simple and orderly, with the same content repeated every day.
Every morning around seven o'clock, when Louis XVI got up to wash up, the valet Harnett would wake up the young Louis Charles. From this moment on, cheerful slurping and tickling laughter will fill a sad room with joy. While Louis was dressing and washing, his father was already sitting by the fireplace reading. After getting up, there was a routine prayer. Louis XVI would also go to another room and read the Bible for 15 minutes.
At nine o'clock in the morning, father and son, accompanied by supervisors sent by the Paris Commune, would go to the third floor to have lunch with the women. Lunch usually consists of coffee, hot chocolate, hot double cream, hot milk, cold syrup, cold milk, barley water and lemonade, plus three buttered buns, a plate of fruit, six coffee buns, and three table breads. In addition, there are salt and sugar as seasonings.
After lunch, Louis XVI took his son back to the second floor and gave him geography lessons in the room; Hartnett combed the ladies' hair on the third floor, then returned downstairs to take care of the little prince, teaching him writing and grammar. After studying, he would play with blocks or dolls in the front room on the second floor. Louis XVI sat in the corner of the fireplace, looking at his son through the open door. As for the watchers, they either sat by the stove or leaned against the window, monitoring Louis XVI's every move.
The queen who lives upstairs usually spends her time reading with her daughter and sister-in-law, and occasionally sings or plays musical instruments to pass the time.
In the afternoon, the Louis XVI family would take a walk in the square gardens, accompanied by guards and watchers. Then continue reading, playing games, and waiting for dinner to arrive.
At nine o'clock the little prince would go to bed, and the watchers would step aside to allow the queen and princess to kiss the child good night. Louis XVI would read until 11 o'clock.
To the bewilderment and surprise of all observers, when the arrogant and indifferent cloak of the royal family was removed, the king's family turned out to be very amiable, simple, and even kind.
But in fact, the friendship of the Louis XVI family towards the watchers was a means to divert the attention of the watchers and secretly exchange information. With the help of sympathizers, a loud voice would come to the vicinity of the great monastery every night and shout out the important news of the day in the silence of the night; Louis XVI also learned from this that a Chinese mission was coming to the city. But it was not sent by his pen pal Emperor Qianlong, but by some "Republic of China".
For Louis Charles, who has experienced three turbulent years, under his innocent appearance is a very precocious child. He knew he was behind bars and his every move was being monitored. Because he was afraid that the guards would torture his parents, he never mentioned the life in Versailles or the Tuileries Palace, nor the unhappy things since the Revolution, trying to leave a good impression in front of the most despicable guards. impression.
For example, during the September massacre, the scene in which sans-culottes wearing red hats stuck Marie-Thérèse Louise's head on a spear and held it up in demonstration outside the window of the temple tower has been deeply engraved in my mind. It entered his heart, but he never mentioned it, and even if someone around him said those things, he would pretend not to know. However, this also caused him to often suffer from insomnia at night. He would open his eyes and look at the dark ceiling, recalling what he did and said during the day...
When Zhao Xin and the others quietly climbed up the city wall and killed all the patrolling National Guard soldiers, no one else in the castle knew anything about it, but Louis Charles, who had not yet fallen asleep, heard "ta da da" "the sound of. He pricked up his ears, trying to distinguish the subtle sounds outside, knowing that his biggest fear was that those National Convention people would suddenly come to the prison and hurt his parents.
Suddenly, there was a "boom" sound outside, and the huge roar made Louisa shrink into the quilt like a kitten. Then, I heard chaotic footsteps upstairs, and it seemed that many people were pouring into the temple tower.
"Huh?" The little guy felt a little strange. If the National Association people came in, they should have come up from downstairs. Why did they go to the third floor?
Louis XVI had been awakened by this time, but he was a little confused because of the darkness in the room. He turned towards his son and whispered softly: "My child, where are you? Are you okay?"
Louischard jumped into his father's arms from the crib and whispered: "Dad, I'm fine. Someone is coming, many people!"
"Don't be afraid, don't..."
With a "bang", the locked door was kicked open from the outside. The servant named Goulet rushed in with a rattling key chain in one hand and a sword in the other, followed by a sword. Hartnett, the servant with the candlestick.
This Goulet did not come from the Tuileries Palace, but was a servant of the Count Artois, the previous owner of the castle. The Count of Artois was the brother of Louis XVI and the last king of the French Bourbon dynasty in history - Charles X.
Previously, the Paris Commune issued a decree requiring all former servants of Count Artois to leave the Temple Tower. However, these servants had already considered this place their home, so they tried every means to stay, and were even hired as guards or service personnel. Goulet is one of them. Because this guy is a flatterer and imitates the sans-culottes in wearing a red hat, he is appointed as the "key keeper".
By the light of the candlestick, Goulet saw Louis XVI and his son nestling together. In his opinion, those who came in must be royalists and came to save the king. The problem is that there are more than 200 National Guardsmen and cannons in the monastery, so no one can escape even if they come. So he quickly walked to the bedside, raised his sword and pointed it at Louis XVI and said tremblingly: "If they come, I will kill you!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the sound of musket shooting sounded outside the temple tower. However, in the gaps between each shot, there were countless "swish" whistling sounds echoing, and then the screams of the injured were heard.
Hartnett put down the candlestick and walked quickly to the blinds, trying to see what was going on outside. However, since the blinds were nailed shut and could not be opened, he could only turn around and shake his head with a pale face.
When Goulet saw this, he shouted: "Quick! Lock the door and no one can come in, otherwise I will kill him!"
At the same time, in the tower, Erlu, who was holding a shotgun, was leading people to the second floor. They had searched all the rooms on the third floor and found that they were all women.
Zhao Xin shouted loudly in English for a long time, and finally found Marie-Antoinette and three others hiding in the corner shivering in the innermost room. Seeing that the situation was not good, the two guys guarding them were about to stab the queen with their swords, but half of their heads were blown off by the two soldiers with their guns. Blood mixed with pink and white objects splashed on the queen's face.
Because the stairs were too narrow and dark, the flashlight hanging under the gun's muzzle couldn't illuminate very far, so Elu at the front didn't dare to walk too fast. Sure enough, when they were about to reach the second floor, as soon as they showed up, at least four or five long and short muskets were fired immediately, causing rubble to scatter on the wall. Then someone rushed over with long swords and muskets with bayonets. .
Unfortunately, it was not the royalists who came, but the Northern Navy.
Boo! Boo! Tom......
Within ten seconds, Elu and a soldier behind him fired half of the bullets in the shotguns in their hands. The entrance to the second floor was littered with dead and wounded, and the smell of blood instantly filled the air.
"Don't come in! I will kill him!" Goulet was frightened and yelled. Little did he know that by doing so, he pointed out the location to Elu and the others. Erlu walked outside the door and quickly glanced inward through the fence above, roughly seeing what was going on inside the house.
"Bang!" The sound of banging against the door sounded instantly. Goulet was shocked. He raised his sword and was about to stab Louis XVI. Unexpectedly, Harnett rushed up and knocked him into the corner. The two quickly A scuffle broke out on the ground.
Erlu hit him with his shoulder several times, but the heavy oak door couldn't be opened at all. In desperation, he was about to aim the muzzle of the gun at the door knocker when he heard a crash inside the door and the door actually opened! I saw a blond and blue-eyed child appearing in front of me...
