Just as the struggle in Paris was about to heat up, Joseph had just given himself a day off to take his mother and all his younger siblings to the Fortress of Malgrave to celebrate the family reunion by taking his mother and all his younger siblings to the Fortress of Malgrave, which Napoleon had just sent to pick up Louis from Paris the other day.

After punishing Lucien last time, Joseph was quite satisfied with his prestige among his brothers. But he also keenly felt that the distance between his brothers and sisters seemed to be a little farther away.

This is a very easy situation, as the saying goes, "the lovely do not have to be respectable, the fearful are no longer amiable, it is not difficult, but it is also difficult". But if the elder brother is only "respectable and fearful" in the eyes of the brothers, then it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no suspicion in the future. So in order to rebuild his image as "cute and amiable" in everyone's hearts, Joseph took the time to arrange this event.

Of course, according to Joseph's habit, this kind of thing, of course, is inevitably a matter of pretense for public welfare. So this event, although it is read as a family gathering, in many places, it is written as a "technical trial" in order to reimburse some expenses that can be reimbursed.

Of course, the content of the experiment must not be written as fishing and grilled fish, but must be written as "the navigation state of a high-speed communication ship at low speed, and the relevant experiment to strengthen the self-sustaining ability at sea."

As soon as we saw the name of the experiment, we knew that this family gathering would take place on the newly built boat, which was no more than 100 tons. This small boat, which was also painted gray-blue, looked exceptionally short from a distance because of its two hulls, but in fact, the two hulls, plus the gap between the hulls, were also decked, so at least the deck space was quite spacious. If you look down from above, the square deck of this boat has a bit of a raft feeling.

But this boat is much more expensive than a raft. Even more expensive than the larger "Black Pearl".

For example, the structural parts that connect the two large pontoons under the water and support the entire hull are all cast in bronze to ensure sturdiness and resistance to seawater corrosion. It cost a lot of money to open the mold and cast. As for the pontoons, each pontoon is made of three thick balsa woods. Balsa wood is the lightest wood in the world, half as dense as the cork stoppers we usually use to make boiling water bottle stoppers, and it is well-balanced and corrosion-resistant. It can provide considerable buoyancy.

Balsa itself is not precious, but it is a product of South America, and the French do not have much stock in their hands. So it was only smuggled in from the Spaniards by smuggling. Even among the Spaniards, there are generally only sawn balsa planks or something, and the finished hug is coarse, and it is difficult to find dried balsa wood. As a result, the black-hearted smugglers sold balsa wood for the price of Brazilian mahogany. Then wrap a layer with copper to reduce resistance, which in turn increases the cost,

There are also boat boards or something, Joseph can use as good as he can, even if it can only bring a slight improvement in performance. Joseph didn't care about the cost of the boat, it wasn't his own money anyway.

The family got into the boat, and the boat spread its sails as fast as an arrow.

"How fast can this boat go?" Napoleon asked.

"Fifteen knots or more." Joseph replied, "Faster than any other ship now." At sea, there is no ship that can catch up with us. And the control of this boat is also relatively simple, only two people are needed to control it, and even one person is not unable to control it. Also, have you noticed? This boat is not big, but it is more stable than many of the much larger ships. ”

The two men chatted as the ship sailed into the bay below Fort Mulgrave. Lucien volunteered to help put away the sails and watched the sailors drop anchor. Then everyone took out their fishing rods and began fishing. Well, this is the so-called "experiment related to strengthening self-sustaining capabilities at sea".

Napoleon's mind was not on fishing, he slipped a small piece of sardine on the hook, threw the bait into the sea, and said to Joseph: "Joseph, things don't seem to be right in Paris lately. ”

The situation in Paris was not quite right, and as far as they had now received, Robespierre had first united with Danton and killed the angry Ebel; Then he turned his head and killed Dandong and them. Then there was a whole host of extreme economic policies, some of which were even more extreme than those of Ebel.

"It's wrong." Joseph said, "Theoretically, our 'Incorruptible' is on the verge of destruction." Napoleon, you know, there was a saying, 'If God wants to destroy it, he must first make it mad.'" Do you know why he's crazy? ”

"Why?" Napoleon asked.

"Because he has no way out." Joseph smiled, "He killed Ebel, he lost the support of the sans-culottes, he killed Danton, he lost the support of the merchants and factory owners, and now he can only rely on terror itself to maintain his rule." So he had to go crazy, because he was now full of enemies, all eyes hating him, and if he showed even the slightest weakness, those people would rush up and tear him to pieces. With his present madness, he will not live long; But if he wasn't crazy now, he wouldn't even be able to live today. ”

"Then why don't you go back to Paris? If you go back at this time, there will be huge political benefits. Napoleon asked.

But before Joseph could answer, he laughed to himself: "Ah, Joseph, I forgot, you are not me." If it were me, I would definitely go back at this time. What are you...... You're simply not willing to take any risks. ”

"It's not time to go back." Joseph shook his head and said, "It's not a question of whether to take a risk or not, but a question of a disproportionate risk to the benefit." Napoleon, first of all, we must admit that Robespierre was indeed a very good fellow. I don't think you would object to that, would you? ”

Napoleon was silent.

"The reason why great guys are great is that they are good at using the resources in their hands, even extremely limited resources, to create miracles." Joseph continued, "Robespierre is now mad, for what? The economic resources he was able to mobilize were not sufficient to support his policies. He is doing this in a hurry to buy the bottom, but his policies are not sustainable, which means that he will soon face the problem of depleting economic resources. No money is no money, just like if you can't do a math problem, you just can't do it. He will surely take a massive risk before the chain of money breaks, and try to start another purge of the Great Purge. If he really succeeds, then the resources obtained by the Great Purge will be enough to sustain him for a while. So going to Paris at this time, it's very risky. ”

"So what about the small gains?" Napoleon asked.

"Still don't understand?" Joseph raised his eyebrows, "You went to Paris at this time, can you be the person who has the most credit for overthrowing him?" Do you have enough resources to control this troubled government? You don't have any. In that case, you're in a hurry to run over to do it, huh? Napoleon, do you remember, I told you that we don't need to take sides. A truly powerful person never needs to stand in line, because where he stands, he is in a team. Now that person has reached the end of his rope, is there any great person who can replace him? ”

"Hehe......" Napoleon just laughed twice and didn't say anything, but his attitude was already very obvious.

"Then don't worry." "Even if these people win, they won't be able to handle the situation now," Joseph said. We just have to wait, wait for the time when France needs a real hero. ”

"Okay." Napoleon said, "What if Robespierre wins?" ”

"What if? Then it's up to you to see if you can control the army. If you're as incompetent as Dimurier, we'll have to use this boat to escape to the New World. But don't worry, with your brother and me, wherever we go, we will have something to eat. ”

"Phew!" Napoleon said.

At that moment, the bell on the fishing rod beside Joseph rang violently.

"Fish on the hook!" Joseph said.

……

In Paris, the situation has reached the most critical moment, just a day ago, a man attacked Cudon with a pistol, but the gunman's marksmanship was really not very good, he fired two shots and failed to hit Cudon, and the people around him reacted and surrounded him, and then the man swallowed poison and committed suicide.

This unsuccessful assassination caused a big stir. First of all, the identity of the Assassin was confirmed, he was a former subordinate of Ebel, and when he shot at Cudon, he shouted: "Kill the tyrant's lackeys and avenge Ebel!" ”

Robespierre has been trying to win over the sans-culottes these days, but this assassination has caused the wound that seemed to heal to be torn open again.

Robespierre realized that pursuing the matter would undermine his ongoing efforts to repair relations with the sans-culottes. But if he does not pursue it, it will obviously make people feel that he is weak, and as a result, encourage his enemies to dare to unite against him. So he was caught in a dilemma. However, after much thought, Robespierre decided that the matter must be investigated.

This is because his current position depends entirely on the fear of him, or rather, "terror has become a means of protecting oneself, and thus becoming a ridiculous thing." Anything that weakens terror weakens his position.

Second, he also realized that his plan to win over sans-culottes would not succeed if he could not eliminate the remnants of the Ebelites.

At the same time, the plummeting stockpiles began to sound the alarm bell for him, and in order to curry favor with the sans-culottes, the rising food prices were forced down again, and the adulteration of flour with chalk, talcum powder and wood chips was stopped. The sale of grain to neutral countries in exchange for some necessary supplies was also suspended, but food stocks in Paris were rapidly declining.

On the other hand, the amount of food sent to Paris from other regions is rapidly decreasing. A series of changes in the central authorities have reduced their control over the provinces, and the deliberate passivity of some people has exacerbated this problem. Therefore, it is no longer possible for the grain in Paris to continue to support Robespierre's policy.

If it had been a few months earlier, Robespierre would have sent commissioners to other provinces to combat sabotage and to oversee the conscription of food. But at this point, he couldn't do that. Because at this time, there are very few people he can trust. Sending these people out would reduce his control over the situation in Paris.

However, he also knew that allowing this phenomenon to continue would only lead to his demise. The situation was such that he had to make a risky move.

At the beginning of June, under the arrangement of Robespierre, Cudon submitted to the National Assembly a so-called document entitled the "Act on the Punishment of the Enemies of the Revolution". The Act further simplified the trial process in the Revolutionary Court, eliminating the defender and stipulating that the court would no longer need human and material evidence to make a decision, and that the court could sentence the prisoner by means of free will, and only need to be inferred from common sense. At the same time, the punishment was simplified, and the Revolutionary Court would issue only two sentences: acquittal or death.

The National Assembly tremblingly obeyed Robespierre's will and passed the bill. Even Carnot, who was now the most rebellious in front of Robespierre, did not oppose this manifestly unconscionable bill. Because Fouché had already greeted him in advance, that is: "The moment that everyone is looking forward to is coming now." ”

As soon as this bill was announced, it immediately caused a great deal of nervousness, and the whole National Assembly was terrified, and everyone knew that Robespierre was preparing for another great purge, and everyone could see from this murderous bill that the number of heads to be cut off by Robespierre this time was probably far greater than the previous ones.

And this bill, in Robespierre's own ranks, caused controversy. For the first time, Saint-Just had a heated quarrel with Robespierre over this bill. It is said that Robespierre, after this quarrel, returned to his residence and said to his landlord, "I have no one to trust but you."

The Act on the Punishment of Revolutionary Enemies is certainly not for play. Robespierre must destroy all enemies who might oppose him before the food supply in Paris collapsed completely. So the guillotine began to run wildly, cutting off the heads of an average of eighteen to twenty people every day.

Among these heads were merchants, small workshop owners, and even many of the lower classes, because they were suspected of being involved in the assassination.

During these days, Fuche was not idle. He disguised himself and kept in touch with the councillors, telling them, "Your name is on the next list!" Sometimes, he even deliberately ventured to show his traces so that Robespierre's men would know who he might have met.

All kinds of information slowly gathered into Robespierre's hands, and Fouché's figure loomed in those clues. Robespierre decided that he would go to the Parliament early tomorrow morning and force them to announce the arrest of Fouché and send him to the guillotine.