Charles could not find a reason to object to this suggestion. Although Joseph was not a commanding instructor, when he was guiding everyone to build barricades, everyone still felt that an instructor who taught in a military academy was far from being able to compare with a layman himself.

"Of course, no problem, as long as Monsieur Bonaparte wishes, we are of course very welcome." Charles laughed, "I don't know if Monsieur Bonaparte is willing to help us." ”

"As a member of the community, I naturally have a responsibility. But as you know, I'm an active soldier, and if there is a military order sent from above, then I must prioritize the military order. As long as it doesn't go against the military order, I'm willing to do my part. Joseph replied.

"Let us, then, all express our gratitude to Monsieur Bonaparte!" Charles Road.

In this way, Joseph became a military adviser to the National Guard in the neighborhood. Then they agreed that tomorrow they would begin to reorganize the neighborhood militia into the National Guard and begin military training for them.

But that plan came to naught almost immediately. Because at noon that day, new rumors appeared.

The rumor said that the cannons of Montmartre and the Bastille had been aimed at the city of Paris. The army, loyal to the king, was about to launch an attack on Paris.

This is a rumor, of course, but the vast majority of Parisians believe it. And there is no way to refute this rumor. This is not only because "spreading rumors with one mouth, refuting rumors and breaking legs", but also because at this point in time, refuting rumors is a political mistake. Anyone who tries to debunk the rumors will be seen as a "tyrant's lackey" by an angry populace. They will not hesitate to hang these people on street lamp poles.

Since no one dares to refute the rumor, this rumor naturally makes people believe it more and more. No one dared to mention the loopholes in the rumors, and even in the process of spreading, they were silently filled. In short, this rumor convinced almost all the citizens of Paris.

The citizens of Paris had been partially armed in the last few days, especially after the seizure of the undefended Les Invalides, from where more than 30,000 rifles and more than a dozen cannons were obtained. It's just that there are only these guns and artillery in the Invalides, but there is not enough gunpowder.

So the newer rumor was born on the basis of the previous rumor, that is: in the Bastille there was a lot of gunpowder. This rumor was "plausible", since if the kings intended to use the Bastille cannons to suppress the Parisian revolt, they would naturally have to stock up on the Bastille with enough gunpowder.

Attacking the heavily fortified heights of Montmartre was really beyond the reach of the militia in Paris. But the Bastille seems to be much easier to deal with in comparison.

The Bastille was built during the Hundred Years' War between England and France, originally a fortress built outside the city gates to defend Paris. It has 8 towers about 30 meters high, connected by a wall 30 meters high and 3 meters wide, and later, 15 cannons were installed on the wall; The castle is surrounded by a moat 26 meters wide and 8 meters deep, which is connected to the Seine and connected to the outside world by a drawbridge. It's definitely a fortified castle.

Later, however, as the city expanded, the Bastille fortress, which was originally outside the city gates, became the interior of the city, and its military role in defending Paris was weakened. So the Bastille, as a military fortress, died, and was replaced by the Bastille, which served as a fortress of royal power.

In the late 14th century, the fort was converted into a royal prison for the most important "Qin prisoners". Many of these detainees are political prisoners. Therefore, in the hearts of the French, this prison is almost a symbol of the French autocratic dynasty.

The Bastille garrison numbered 82 men, and in early July, 32 Swiss mercenaries were transferred to the Bastille to strengthen its defenses. But in terms of the number of defenders alone, this place cannot be compared to the Montmartre heights. And because of the lack of maintenance, the trenches next to the Bastille have dried up today. This further reduced the defensive capacity of the former fortress. This made the militiamen feel even more that they should be able to take the fortress.

So, early the next morning, in large numbers (no one knows how many there were), the disorganized armed crowd began to approach the Bastille. Naturally, this incident also made the plans of the National Guard in the neighborhood to be postponed.

The Bastille was surrounded by tens of thousands of armed Parisian citizens, but these armed citizens with only rifles did not have much to do with the Bastille. The walls of the fortress were too high, and the surrounding moats, although there was no water, were still too wide and deep, and it was very difficult to climb through.

But de Lonay, the commander of the Bastille, did not think so. Because the Bastille, which looks tall and impregnable, was only a fortress of the 14th century. Many of its designs and concepts are far behind the times, and it can even be said, "My lord, times have changed." ”

The towering walls of the Bastille were almost unconquerable in the context of the fourteenth century. But this kind of towering, vertical wall has become a conspicuous weakness today. The Battle of Constantinople in 1453 had proven that the tall, vertical walls were very prone to massive collapse under artillery fire. As a result, the walls of the fortress after this gradually became low and thick, and the walls of the walls became more and more inclined inward. This made it possible to avoid a large area of the wall collapsing under the fire of shells. But these improvements are not visible in the Bastille.

The walls of the Bastille were too high, up to 30 meters high, completely vertical, but only 3 meters thick. Such a wall could not withstand the bombardment of artillery. In addition, since the prison was converted into a prison, there was no longer a requirement to clean up the shooting area, so various buildings were built near the Bastille, which made the view of the guards on the Bastille a lot obscured.

So de Lonay wasn't sure if he could hold on to this ancient fortress.

So when the citizens began to approach the Bastille, de Lonay forbade the soldiers to shoot at the approaching citizens and demanded peace with them.

It took a lot of time for the citizens to elect a group of delegates and enter the Bastille to negotiate with the defenders. However, during the negotiations, due to poor communication and the fact that the negotiations took too much time, a new rumor began to spread among the citizens.

The rumor claimed that the delegates who had entered the Bastille had been killed by the "lackeys of the tyrants" in a brutal and merciless manner. The rumor immediately angered the tens of thousands of "armed mobs" gathered outside. So the crowd began to approach the Bastille, shouting:

"Knock down the Bastille and kill all the bad things!"

"Kill them all! Kill them all! ”

"Rush forward! Rush up! ”

Someone took the lead in singing the "Slave War Song", which was sung by one or two people at first, then by many more, and the song came together to form a rushing river towards the Bastille. Tens of thousands of militiamen, rifles in their hands, chanted "Rise up the slaves of the old world" as they approached the Bastille. Some of the fast-moving militiamen had even crossed the dry trenches and climbed to the side of the drawbridge, picked up their axes, and tried to cut the chains hanging from the drawbridge.

A Swiss guard, in a panic, fired a shot at the militiaman with an axe in his tale. So all peace talks ceased to exist, and the militia immediately returned fire, and everyone crackled into a ball.

However, the situation of the battle was not very favorable for the militia, and the former Bastille was a fortress after all, even if it was only a fourteenth-century fortress, but it still gave the defenders more advantages. In the rifle fire, the guards, who were covered by the fortress and condescended, easily knocked down a lot of militiamen, and those who were untrained, although they were numerous, they could not even aim effectively, and many of them had never even touched a gun before that, and could not even aim (but then again, whether a smoothbore gun can hit or not depends on the aiming in many cases. After they shoot, whether they can hit the target or not basically depends on faith. So they shot indiscriminately, crackling gunshots, although it looked lively, but as a result, they basically failed to hit any target. (In its original history, until the surrender of the Bastille, only one defender was slightly wounded.) But the defending side was far more effective in firepower, and dozens of militiamen were quickly brought down, and the rest were suppressed, and if it weren't for the large number of buildings near the Bastille that could provide them with cover, they would have suffered much more losses.

For some time after that, the fighting entered a state of scorching. Commander de Lonay hoisted his flag more than once, hoping to negotiate an armistice with the besiegers outside, but his offer was rejected by the besiegers outside without hesitation. They believe that de Lonay's actions are only deceiving everyone, and after his men shoot at the people, he is no longer qualified to surrender!

But it is one thing not to accept negotiations, and it is another thing to be able to get in, and the militia has used all kinds of means, including some whimsical ones. For example, it was suggested that burning linoleum cloth could be used to cause fires and even burn the defenders' cannons. However, when the linoleum cloth was lit, they realized that they could not get the burning linoleum cloth over the 30-meter-high wall.

Of course, there are also people who think of artillery, and the militia does have cannons in their hands. But they lacked gunners, so several shelling at a safe distance were very unsuccessful. Although the Bastille was theoretically a huge target, and it would not be easy to shoot at it, the militia gunners, who had never used a cannon before, managed to avoid the huge target in front of them with their shells. They fired several shots, but even one shot was able to hit the walls of the Bastille.