As the Marquis de Lafayette spoke, a middle-aged man of about forty years of age with a slightly lame foot in a black bishop's robe walked in and bowed to the others.

"Bishop Talleyrand!" Several people in the small reception room recognized the priest at once.

The bishop was a celebrity in the salons of Paris and in the places where he was entertaining. He came from a declining aristocratic family and was sent to a seminary from an early age. This is also the path often taken by many children from aristocratic families.

Generally speaking, the children of aristocratic families often have several ways out.

First, inherit the property of your ancestors, and then become a happy fat house waiting for death—but the property that Talleyrand spoke of has been consumed by the happy fat houses of previous generations.

Second, go to the army and live well on His Majesty's salary—but the army doesn't need a lame officer.

Third, to become a civil servant, and then to live a good life with His Majesty's money, embezzled public funds, and bribes from others - but to get a civil office, you need to pay bribes first. Talleyrand's family could not afford the money.

Talleyrand had only one last way to go, and that was to become a clergyman.

Theoretically, all believers are God's people and are equal before God. But in fact, there are always people who are more equal to God than others. Generally speaking, clergy from a commoner background, in the church, at most, parish priests, bishops and above clergy, are all nobles.

The church has a lot of assets to be a bishop and to live a good life.

There is a story in Boccaccio's Decameron. It is said that a Catholic persuaded his friend, a Jew, to convert to Catholicism. The Jew was a little tempted and told his friend that he wanted to visit Rome, the capital of Christendom.

His friend was astonished at this decision, and he felt that his mission would fail, for no one had arrived in Rome without seeing the extravagance of the Catholic Church. There is no virtue there at all, only all kinds of evil.

However, the Jew went on a trip to Rome and was immediately baptized and converted to Catholicism, because he thought: "The Catholic Church is so corrupt and depraved, and yet it is still standing, because there is a true God behind it." ”

Unlike the Jew, Talleyrand was originally a Catholic and studied theology at the Seminary of St. Sherbes for five years. These five years of study did not bring him "closer to God", but made him an atheist. But for the sake of the church being able to give him money, he still pretended to be very religious.

By virtue of this pretense of piety, when Louis XVI ascended the throne, he received the position of abbot of the Abbey of Saint-Rémy in Reims, as well as an annuity of up to 18,000 livres (a silver coin, later developed into francs).

With this money, Talleyrand spent his days in Paris living a secular aristocratic life. Because the dean's position is a beautiful difference who only gets a salary and doesn't do anything, he has time. He bought a small comfortable house in Paris, took turns between Reims and the capital, drank and gambled, and searched for flowers and willows.

He took this opportunity to get some more acquaintances with bankers, and he helped them to get information about the church, and even the kingdom's government, and these people provided him with all kinds of opportunities to make a fortune, and he made a lot of money by speculating in various securities.

Talleyrand was not a miser, money came quickly and was spent simply. With the help of his friends, after the Necklace incident, he almost succeeded in taking the place of Cardinal of Roon if it were not for the Queen's obstruction.

Although he failed to become a cardinal, he still got the position of archbishop of Orton in his hands.

Because Talleyrand climbed step by step by relying on the king, in the eyes of most people, he should be a hardcore conservative and royal party, but now he appears here.

"Ladies and gentlemen, it is an honor to meet you." Bishop Talleyrand spoke.

"Your Excellency, do you have something to say to us when you suddenly come to our assembly?" Siyes asked.

"The Count of Artois is ready to leave France with his family and go to Italy." Bishop Talleyrand replied.

The "Count of Artois" was the younger brother of Louis XVI and the most staunch of the old school. The later historian Alexis de Tocqueville once said of him:

"We have seen many leaders in history whose knowledge structure, cultural level, political judgment and value choices will stay at a certain stage in their adolescence. And then no matter how long he lives, no matter how much changes have taken place in the world, he behaves as a zombie at some point.

If there is a chance for him to ascend to a great position, he will definitely look for resources from the moment when the process of his intellectual and intellectual development stops, and construct his political ideas, value choices, and statecraft. The character of such a person is generally stubborn, paranoid, and stupidly self-confident, foolish, thinking that he defends some kind of value and can open up a new direction for the development of the country.

In fact, they often wear ancient costumes, but they perform on the modern stage, like a ghost in a tomb who suddenly appears in broad daylight, and everyone knows that he is a ghost, but he thinks he is a real god. However, the ideas he chooses and the policies he pursues are all moldy old goods. ”

"The Count of Artois is going into exile?" Siyes smiled contemptuously, "He's running away?" Isn't he going to suppress us? And now he's running away? ”

"He fled, and I am afraid that a certain highness will be even happier." Barnaf frowned.

"But that's a good thing, isn't it?" Marquis Lafayette said, "The King's power has weakened, and now His Majesty has no more power to rely on but us." ”

"But we don't have much to do with the mob that His Highness instigated right now." Barnaf Road.

"Then let him continue his performance. We can't give what the mob wants, can His Highness give it? When he set fire to his brother's house, he didn't think about whether his house and his brother's house were connected. Marquis Lafayette said.

"Our house is also adjacent to theirs." Barnaf replied.

"You are right, Mr. Barnaf. In fact, the third estate is a false concept. Bishop Talleyrand began, "The three ranks, this division is all nonsense, but some idiots actually believe it. ”

"What do you mean by that?" Siyes frowned. His famous work is "What is the Third Estate". Now that Talleyrand had gone so far as to say that the "Third Estate" was a false concept, he was naturally not very happy.

"Gentlemen, look at our neighbour to the west, the most successful country in the world today. Think again, what exactly is privilege? Talleyrand said.

"I don't understand what you mean." Siyes said. He failed to keep up with Talleyrand's train of thought, which made him dislike Talleyrand even more.

"Privilege, in the final analysis, is the priority of getting a good life." "The traditional aristocracy, by birth, enjoyed this priority. But in modern times, this kind of origin priority has largely become unworkable. Even if there is no revolution, the priority of birth is inevitable, even the priority of property that has been converted. ”

Seeing that Siyes seemed a little unconvinced, Talleyrand smiled again: "Take me as an example. I was born into a small aristocratic family. When I was born, I didn't catch up with the good times, and my family had long since declined. The riches of the past had long since fallen into the hands of the Jews, and there was nothing left except an affix (referring to the word "de" in their name that denotes their nobility). The life of our family is no better than that of a decent person of the third estate, and even far inferior to them. Because they are richer. Money is privilege. ”

At this point, Talleyrand paused for a moment to digest his words. After a while, he continued: "Let's look at the British, is there a nobility in England?" Yes, are there decent people in Britain who are not nobles? The same has. So is there a thug with nothing in Britain? Of course, what country would not have the poor who have nothing and therefore have nothing to fear? Why, then, can there be a bloodless 'Glorious Revolution' in Britain? ”

"Why?" Siyes asked.

Talleyrand laughed: "Because the British understand that money is power, and power is money. These two things are interchangeable. A man can be a nobleman, a clergyman, or a rich man at the same time. There is no such thing as an unbridgeable chasm. ”

"Like you, Lord Bishop?" Siyes asked with a sarcastic smile.

"Yes." Talleyrand smiled disapprovingly, "Only poverty has a deep gap with privilege. The aristocracy should be aware of this and should open the doors of power to those who are decent. And those decent people should also be combined with the aristocracy, so that the decent people can share the power, and the nobles can share the wealth. In the end, everyone got what they wanted, and that's why Britain is strong and stable.

All this time I have tried to convince the king and other nobles that they will follow the example of the English and make an alliance between all decent people.

But in France, there are just too many fools. Among the nobles was a zombie like the Count Artois who was still alive in the Middle Ages, and he thought that he could rule France according to the practice of the Middle Ages, and he was not willing to give any benefits to those rich and decent people, but he didn't know that money was power. How can those who are rich, or more precisely, decent people with power be at his mercy?

And the Duke of Orleans, a fool who thinks he is clever, who casually opens the bottle sealed with the devil without thinking about how it will end in the future! Do we really want to share power and wealth with those sans-culottes? France's wealth, though so large, could not be evenly distributed among these scoundrels. But now, the Duke of Orleans has released them and let them see their power. Once they realize their power, they don't use it for their own benefit. But we can't give what they want, because they want to live the same life as us! It's impossible!

Whether it is a nobleman or a wealthy person, they should naturally enter into a sacred alliance. Yet because of stubbornness, stupidity, and damned arrogance and ambition, they all went down the wrong path. a stubborn refusal to move forward, even if it should have brought them a better life; One recklessly unleashed the devil.

Now France is in great danger because of these fools. I don't think the king can save France anymore, and the only ones who can save France are all here. That's why I'm here with you now. ”

Siyes stared at Talleyrand for a long time with wide eyes, and then he sighed, "Your Excellency, you are Machiavelli of France, a man without faith. ”

"No, Mr. Siyes." Talleyrand said with a serious face, "You are prejudiced against me. It's true that I don't really believe in God, but I love France. ”

"Your Excellency," Barnaf said, "I am not interested in your faith. I know that you were reprimanded for taking the initiative to visit Voltaire, who was excommunicated for his fierce opposition to Catholicism. And you confessed to His Excellency the Cardinal, and it is said that the confession was sincere. But we don't care about any of that. My concern is that now that the devil has been released from the bottle, how can I put them back in again. Is there anything you can teach us about this? ”

"There have been only two ways to get the devil back out of the bottle." Talleyrand replied immediately.

"Which two?"

The first was King Solomon's method, which overwhelmed the demons by his own strength and forced them into the bottle. The other way, the fisherman's way, is to deceive them with lies and lure them into the bottles themselves. ”

"As a bishop, you use the pagan story as an analogy." Siyes couldn't help but interject again.

"Seek the truth, even if it is far away in the East and eat the country." Talleyrand replied.

"It's another pagan saying."

"It's not a day or two since France and paganism have formed an alliance."

"Let us get back to business, Mr. Sière, Your Excellency." Barnaf said, "Your Excellency, which do you think we can do?" ”

"It's a two-pronged approach." Talleyrand replied, "However, before we are ready to put the devil in the bottle, we must first find a way to dispose of the guy who has put the devil out of the bottle for his own ambitions." Otherwise, although this highness has limited ability, he will probably not be able to do anything he wants, but for many years, he has been making trouble with the king, and there are not many people in France who are more proficient in how to make trouble. If we can't clean him up first, it won't be easy for us to succeed. ”

"What are we going to do with him?"

"Don't rush yet, wait for him to make a mistake." Talelang said.