Over the next few months, the city of Paris looked calm and everything was on track. On October 1, the new National Assembly elections came to an end, but the results disappointed Lafayette. His Fyan Club won two hundred and sixty-four seats, while Robespierre's Jacobins won one hundred and thirty-six. A small portion of the remaining about half of the seats went to the royal party. Many more fall into the hands of those who do not have a clear belonging. Lafayette does not control a majority of seats, and he must do everything he can to maintain a private alliance with the Jacobins and the royal party (neither side of this alliance will admit the existence of such an alliance, they will attack each other with all kinds of vicious language, and in fact, they both want each other to die as soon as possible). If, for example, Robespierre had suddenly fallen ill and died, as Mirabeau had been, the royal party would have been so happy that they would have gone to his grave to sing and dance. But in order to oppose the common enemy, they carried out tacit cooperation) superiority.

Robespierre was not elected to this term. Because before that, he proposed that the parliamentarians should not be re-elected, and although this proposal was not passed, Robespierre, as the initiator of the proposal, voluntarily gave up the round of elections. So there are quite a few people who praise Robespierre's high spirits.

However, there is also an argument that Robespierre used it in exchange for the support of Pétien as mayor of Paris by the royal party and some smaller centrist factions. After Robespierre ceased to be a member of parliament, he did not fall silent, on the contrary, without the restriction of this status, he began to frequently publish various opinion articles in various newspapers and magazines, in a sense, to increase his popularity.

Of course, these things have nothing to do with the Joseph brothers for the time being. The brothers' days were no different than usual. If anything, their standard of living is currently slightly declining.

Although the ranks of both of them have been raised, their salaries have also increased a lot. But the salaries they have recently been given have turned into vouchers. Of course, this is not for the two Joseph brothers, but for everyone. Carnot, and even Lafayette's salary, are also coupons. So two days ago, Kano told Joseph with a bitter face that he had said that he would invite the family to his house and treat them well. But now, he has some financial difficulties, so the invitation has to be postponed.

Originally, with Kano's income, even if the price of the index coupon has fallen again and again, his family's life is still no problem. It's just that Kano has a lot of old friends, and they are all small platoon commanders who are at the bottom of the army and can never be promoted. The salaries of these people are now also paid with coupons. In the past, their military salaries were barely enough to support their lives, but now, after using finger coupons to pay for military salaries, their lives are really difficult.

Kano was a warm-hearted man, and he couldn't see his friends suffering, and as a result, his own pockets went flat.

Joseph and Napoleon did not have any friends who needed to be financed at the moment. Therefore, their income is actually enough to support their lives, not to mention that Joseph has some other income. But they still lowered their standard of living a little bit so as not to attract the attention of others. And this decline, on the contrary, brought them a reputation for incorruptibility.

Armand came to Joseph again, and by this time he was the editor-in-chief of a pro-democracy newspaper called the Paris Voice. Of course, the newspaper was quite compact, and Armand was the editor-in-chief, copy editor, columnist, and accountant on his own.

Naturally, the newspaper was supported by the Jacobin Club, which, in fact, received a considerable part of the funds needed to run the paper. Some articles in the newspaper, also from members of the club. But Robespierre is said to have felt that it was not good for the newspaper to be too "Jacobinic". Because the Jacobin Club already had such a newspaper. So he suggested that Armand should find some contributors outside the Jacobin Club, which would be a bit different from "Friends of the People" and more conducive to attracting those centrists.

For this reason, Armand came to Joseph, hoping that he would write him some scientific trivia or something. In addition, he tried to get Lucien to write an article for his newspaper.

This proposal was very appealing to Lucien, after all, he was now at an age that he did not know the height of the sky. However, because Joseph had been teaching him, he did not dare to express his position directly. And Joseph naturally knew that at this time, engaging in these things was definitely death. So he rejected the proposal on the grounds that Lucien was still young and should focus on his studies. As for those popular science articles and other things, Joseph is also busy with work, and I am afraid that he has no time to shirk.

After Armand left, Joseph summoned several of his brothers to a meeting to give them an analysis of the current situation, so that they could unify their minds and determine the next course of the family.

"Napoleon, Lucien, do you know where a political force, such as the royalists, comes from?" Joseph asked his brothers who were sitting around the table.

That's a pretty basic question. At least after many times of political education, this question is indeed a very basic one. So Napoleon basically dismisses this question, ignoring Joseph's question at all, and even snorting softly in his nose to show his disdain for Joseph's fried cold rice.

Lucien, however, replied honestly: "The basis of the strength of any political organization is their financial base. Finance is the mother of all governments, and without money, no political organization can operate. The strength of an organization depends first on how much financial revenue they can receive, and secondly on how efficiently these revenues are used. And their political demands must have something to do with these things. ”

"Well, let's start with the first political force in France, the royal party." Joseph said, "Where does the royal party's money come from?" ”

"It's mainly feudal rent, and some royal parties also do business." Napoleon felt that the question was a little interesting, so he spoke, "There are also some great nobles, and there is a lot of accumulation. Also, foreigners can give them a little money. But now, don't even think about land rent. The peasants won't give it. Except for the most remote and isolated places, no nobles anywhere could expect to receive land rent. As for business, if they would have done business, there wouldn't be what it is today. So their main source of income can only be accumulation, as well as the financing of foreigners. Neither of these things can last, so their strength is actually the weakest. They have to change the situation before the money in their hands runs out, otherwise, they will have to be out. ”

"Well, my dear brother." Joseph laughed, "If you were Louis XVI, what are you going to do?" ”

"Me? If I were Louis XVI. First, it is impossible for me to be believed by other people now, and I can only live and die with the royal party. First, it must be an escape. Of course, this will be much more difficult than before, but it is not necessarily completely hopeless. The palace could not be kept tightly guarded forever. This is not a prison after all. Then find an opportunity to slip out, and then get on your horse and escape from Paris, and then you will be able to escape as long as the people who meet you outside have a light carriage ready. Then I ran to Lyon and started a war - that's what I think would be the best thing to do. Napoleon said.

"And what about the Queen?" Joseph asked.

"That Austrian stupid?" Napoleon said, "Let her stay in Paris." You won't be able to run far with her. Moreover, if the Parisians kill her, it will surely attract the intervention of other countries. Parisians wouldn't be so stupid either. So what's there to worry about? ”

"Will the king do that?" Lucien asked.

"He doesn't have the judgment and guts." Napoleon snorted in his nose, "Nor is he the leader of the royal party." ”

"Then what would you do if you were the leader of the royal party?" Joseph asked again.

"You mean I'm the Count of Artois?" Napoleon said, "Oh my God, how can I have such a stupid brother?" Well, if I were the Count of Artois, I would have to find a way to provoke a war. Because only when there is a war can I have the possibility of victory, and any other outcome is a slow suicide for the royal party. ”

"No wonder the royal party is now so in tune with Robespierre." Lucien interjected on the side.

"So, my brother." Joseph nodded with satisfaction and said, "Let's analyze the situation and coping with our superior, His Excellency Lafayette." ”

"Your Excellency Lafayette? His men all made a fortune in the revolution. So they want the situation to continue to stabilize. However, if we look at the indicator, we know that this situation cannot be sustained. He hasn't figured it out yet, and he still has illusions that if he really figures out the situation, he has only one way out, and that is to start a war. ”

"Be more detailed." Joseph looked very interested.

"Actually, if the king doesn't flee, if the king can trust him in the first place—to be honest, in that situation, our king would have the best course of action for him than to flee to Lyon, and to make an alliance with Lafayette. But...... His Excellency Lafayette was unfortunate to meet such a king. Now, he can't stabilize the situation internally, the royal party can't cooperate with him, and the king is no longer supported by the people. For him, the only way out was to use armies and wars to establish a military dictatorship like Caesar's. But our boss may not have the determination and courage of Caesar, and even if he had, he might not have that military talent. And he actually agreed to the suggestion of using finger coupons to pay military salaries, which I don't even know how to evaluate. It's almost time to catch up with our Majesty the King. He also doesn't want to think, without the army, what else does he have? ”

"And what about Jacobin?" Joseph asked again.

"The situation in Jacobin is the best." Napoleon said, "They are the opposition, and the worse the political situation, the better it is for them." Although they were few in parliament, the Paris Commune fell into their hands. This meant that it became very easy for them to provoke an uprising. As long as the present situation continues, sooner or later the Parisians will have to revolutionize again. So for them, the seats in parliament are enough to cause trouble. The current situation continues, as long as there is no war. They have the best chance of winning. ”

"No wonder I saw Robespierre's article in Armand's newspaper the other day, where he called for war to be avoided as much as possible." Lucien nodded.