Just as Armand threw out a new rumor that he himself had suddenly disappeared, perhaps to be taken to the Bastille, an even more startling news came: the king's chancellor, Neck, had been dismissed from his post and deported.

Necker's departure was seen as a sign of the king's imminent crushing of the Third Estate rebellion, and he had twice served as France's chancellor of the exchequer.

When he first became Chancellor of the Exchequer, he was generally favored by the people at the bottom of the city for his opposition to free trade in grain. (If cereals are traded freely, the rise in cereal prices, against the backdrop of successive natural disasters, is almost inevitable, which, of course, seriously harms the poor at the very bottom.) ）

He pioneered a way of borrowing to keep the country's finances afloat, thus avoiding tax increases, which made him happy with the wealthy in the upper third estate.

However, in 1781, in order to justify his fiscal policy, he went so far as to publish the French government's financial report, in which he revealed the budget deficit and the amount of the privileged annual salary. The publication of these two figures caused a political turmoil, and the poor people, who had never touched a Louis gold coin in their lives, saw the astronomical expenses of the great nobles, especially Queen Marie Antoinette, who spent 766,000 francs just by renovating the Petit Trianon, where she lived! And the queen rewarded her favorite, Madame Pollina, and in just one year gave her half a million francs! When they look at the numbers, and then at their empty rice bags, they are naturally angry.

So Queen Marie, who won the cheers of the whole of Paris when she first became queen, had the nickname of "Lady of Deficit". And Neck, who caused this turmoil, was naturally dismissed.

Later, however, the fiscal deficit became more and more serious, and it became more and more difficult to borrow debt, (at that time, the interest on France's national debt was as high as nearly 20 percent, but it was still unable to borrow), and the pressure to repay the debt became more and more intense, and it almost became a bottomless pit in fiscal spending. And the privileged class is desperate to pay taxes. Louis XVI couldn't help it, so he used Necker again. However, Necker is not a god either, and he cannot say that there should be a golden louis like God, so there is a golden louis.

So Necker could only propose a tax on the privileged. Then, of course, the clergy and the nobility used tradition as a shield, declaring that in order to tax the privileged, they had to be authorized by the "Estates-General". The privileged thought that Louis XVI would not dare to convene the Estates-General. But they never expected that the poor and crazy Louis XVI would actually convene the Estates-General.

In the Estates-General, Necker helped the Third Estate succeed in increasing the number of delegates and gaining the power to vote on matters related to finances based on the number of delegates rather than the ranks. Therefore, in the hearts of Parisians, Neck's departure meant that the king had made up his mind to stand on the opposite side of the third estate. In everyone's opinion, this was even a signal that the king was ready to suppress the people by force.

"We can't sit idly by, we can't wait for the king's foreign mercenaries and the robbers to come and slaughter us, we must stand up, take up arms and prepare for battle, put on cockades for identification. We have to defend ourselves, our wives and children, and our property. "In front of a café in the Palais Royal, a man was giving an excited speech.

"It's strange, doesn't Desmoulins usually have a stutter? Why didn't he stutter today? The man who spoke was obviously very familiar with Desmoulins, who gave the speech.

"Yes, it used to be so hard to talk to Desmoulins. He would even rather find a piece of paper to write on than speak with his mouth. Today...... Let's hear what he has to say. Another said.

"This dismissal is a wake-up call to the Patriots who carried out the St. Bartholomew massacre! And just today, the playwright who created the immortal Spartacus, our friend Armand Lavoisier, is missing! We all know what this disappearance is all about, he won't be anywhere else, he must have been caught in the Bastille by those king's spies, those vicious dogs! An excited Desmoulins continued to shout. He pulled out two pistols from the pockets of his green jacket at once, "Follow me, let's get armed!" ”

The crowd responded.

"Go together, go together!"

So they went together.

Where to go? Weapons stores, of course. Desmoulins led the men to the nearest weapons store. The shopkeeper saw so many people coming in a menacing manner, and quickly wanted to close the door. But Desmoulins was quicker than him, and he jumped over with a single step, stretched out his hand, and blocked the door that was closing, and everyone rushed in.

"Boss, are you a member of the third rank? Is it a citizen of Paris? Desmoulins asked aloud.

"Of course, of course I am." The earthy-faced boss replied.

"That's good!" "The tyrant is plotting to suppress the revolt of the Third Estate by force, to sack and slaughter Paris!" Should you do your part to defend the people of Paris? ”

Everyone looked at the shopkeeper.

The shopkeeper stole a glance at the two pistols in Desmoulins' hands, then at the men who followed him, and then replied in a trembling voice: "Of course...... What are you talking about...... Of course...... I ...... "Compared to Desmoulins, he was more of a stammer.

"Well said." Desmoulins patted the shopkeeper on the shoulder, turned his head and shouted to the people, "You can see how righteous this citizen is!" He is willing to support us, he is willing to join us! Come on, everyone get armed! We are going to fight for Paris, for freedom! ”

So everyone picked up all the weapons in the store. This man took a shotgun, and the other took a spear...... The shopkeeper looked at everyone, wanting to stop it, but he didn't dare to just watch. At this time, Desmoulins shoved a hunting knife into his hand: "Citizen, thank you for your generosity!" Let's go, let's go and defend Paris together! ”

The shopkeeper carried the hunting knife, and under the coercion of everyone, he headed towards the block in front. As they walked, they shouted to the others, inviting them to join them, and the group quickly expanded. After walking about half a street, the shopkeeper gradually came to his senses.

"Citizens, citizens! Turn right from here, there's a weapons shop, many of us don't have weapons yet, let's go there, go get armed! The shopkeeper shouted, raising his hunting knife aloft in his hand. Needless to say, the owner of that weapon shop must be his rival.

So a group of people who did not have weapons in their hands, and a few citizens with shotguns, followed the shopkeeper.

Sure enough, after turning the corner, I didn't walk more than a hundred steps before I saw a weapons shop. By this time, however, the door of the weapons shop had been closed.

"Open the door, open the door!" The shopkeeper stepped forward and tapped the door with the hilt of his hunting knife, shouting in a loud voice.

"We don't do business today...... a trembling voice behind the door responded.

"Open the door, open the door! Citizens, you have an obligation to support the people in the defense of Paris! One man shouted.

"Yes, we need weapons against tyrants! Open the door! Another shouted.

"No...... I don't open the door...... It's all my hard-earned money, and I can't just give it to you! The voice behind the door shouted.

"Are you going to be on the side of the tyrant and against the people?" A man shouted loudly.

"Smash the door open, let's smash the door open!" Another man shouted.

So someone started slamming on the door.

"Stop!" The voice inside shouted, "If you don't stop, we'll shoot!" ”

However, people did not stop.

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out from inside the house, and a man who was slamming on the door collapsed with his leg clutched.

The people who were slamming the door dispersed.

"This damn guy must be a supporter of the tyrant!" One man shouted.

"Kill this bad thing!" More people shouted.

A few shotguns slammed into the back of the door. Several holes were suddenly opened in the door. Someone reached from the side and kicked the door, and it was kicked open - a few bullets just now, breaking the deadbolt in the back.

Everyone rushed in and saw a middle-aged man loading his shotgun with trembling hands. But his hands trembled so badly that the gunpowder was spilled outside the muzzle, and when he saw everyone rushing in, he threw down his shotgun, straightened up, and turned to flee. But a spear stabbed him from behind and pinned him to the wall at once.

"Damn the lackeys of the tyrant!" A man rushed up with a shout, grabbed the man by the hair, brandished the long knife in his hand, and slashed at the man's neck. It's just that his technique is really not very good, and this knife failed to cut off the cervical vertebrae and cut off his head. Perhaps thinking that the knife had embarrassed him, the man frantically grabbed the knife and slashed at the man's neck several times before finally cutting off his head.

The man lifted his blood-stained face and, with his blood-stained hand, lifted the man's head high, just as Perseus had lifted Medusa's head high.

"Look, that's what happens to a tyrant as a lackey!" The man shouted with a drunken ecstasy.

"He's damned!"

"That's how a tyrant's lackey should be!"

Everyone responded in the same tone.

In fact, to get drunk and crazy, you don't necessarily need to drink or use some other thing, you just need to have a large group of people with you and have a noble reason.

"This kind of lackey should be killed by the whole family!" Someone shouted again.

"Over here, there seem to be people over here!" Someone shouted again.

Everyone went to the back room, but the shopkeeper stayed behind, and he heard someone shouting, "God, help us!" ”

Then someone shouted: "This lackey, there are also women and children!" ”

"Kill them all! They deserve it! ”

A few screams followed, and then several men came out of the back room triumphantly, with their faces covered in blood, and shouted: "Arm, defend Paris!" ”