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...here, 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?!"
"How can we suppress them with less than a thousand people..." 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. Their number There will only be more and more, so we have to start by blocking 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 most important thing at the moment was The wise thing to do is to immediately take control of the surrounding roads and launch a suppression of the mob on the 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 where you are and don't pull out." We must not draw weapons, let alone have any conflicts with the demonstrators; in addition, notify the troops on the island to evacuate immediately and return here to rendezvous.”
"What?!" Not only the police soldiers, but also the colonel's adjutant did not understand the purpose of this negative order at all, and they screamed: "You...what are you talking about, sir? If we don't take action, those The mob will only become more violent. When they see us cowering here like wooden figures, they will only flock to the Palace of Justice even more unscrupulously." Colonel Giovanni turned sideways and stared fiercely into the adjutant's eyes. Then he pointed at the crowd on the Ile de la Cité and reprimanded him coldly in front of all the soldiers: "Don't you have eyes? Didn't you see how many people there are there? You idiot! Let's just let it go. This is just a fight." It’s just a huge protest demonstration. If we confront them and have a conflict, it will be a riot with tens of thousands of people participating! 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 not the astute and experienced Colonel Giovanni in his memory at all. .
The adjutant glanced reluctantly at the citizens who openly bypassed the soldiers and continued to the Île de la Cité. He 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 he was interrupted by Colonel Giovanni in the middle of his proposal: "Major, are you dissatisfied with my order? Or do you want to disobey it?!" The adjutant's His 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 over!" On the Ile de la Cité, the scene of the 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 this is the strength of their unity that forces the police to no longer dare to show off their power: "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 voice, the voice of the people! We demand the trial of Madame Du Barry!" The voices on the Ile de la Cité became louder and louder. The people shouted 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 seems that we have reached an impasse, Your Excellency." 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, and then chuckled and looked at the people wearing clothes on the side. Justice Mopu in crimson judge robe.
Justice Mopu 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. Are these all your people?" Lawrence took a sip of the tea cup, shook his head and said: "Only a very small part, the rest are ordinary people who voluntarily came here to speak out; you know, if you want to ignite a In a fire, the important thing is not how to ignite it, but how to add more firewood. As long as there is enough fuel, a little spark is enough to create an explosion."
"Really..." Justice Mopu couldn't help but have a hint of fear in his eyes when he looked at Lawrence, but the 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 appeared in the Palace of Justice at this time... The palace will not be suspicious, right? ?" Lawrence smiled and spread his hands and said: "I am here to discuss with you the coronation ceremony of His Majesty the King. Who would have known that such a bad thing would happen to him." Everyone knows that King Louis XV is extremely eager to put on the Corsi immediately. Jia's crown, no one would be foolish enough to question Lawrence's reasoning.
Hearing this reason, Justice Mopu couldn't help but curled up his lips, and while taking care of his judge's robe, he asked: "It's a good title... So, what are you going to do next? I will cooperate with Gao Did the court directly convict 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 was to use the verdict of the High Court and himself, the chief justice, to put pressure on Louis XV. , forcing Louis XV to expel Madame Du Barry to quell public dissatisfaction; as for the thousands of protesters below, they just 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 the 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?" Mo Mo Justice Pu 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 most beloved lover in front of the king?" Go to the High Court to be tried?!”
"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 Excellency, please believe me." Even though he stayed in the Palace of Justice all morning, Lawrence smiled confidently, having already calculated everything: "And there must not be too many guards around her. I will send someone Bring her here." As he spoke, 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. Be careful not to reveal your identity and don't let Madame Du Barry get hurt. Now But it’s not the time for her to die yet.” Grosso had obviously known Lawrence’s plan for a long time, nodded understandingly, then turned and left the top floor of the main hall.
Watching Grosso leave, Lawrence looked back at Justice Mopp, who was wearing a crimson judge's robe, and said with a smile: "Then, it's time for you to perform, Mr. Mopp."
