For some time after that, Paris seemed to settle down. The barricades were demolished one after another, and some of the shops that had been closed were opened, except that there were fewer goods and the prices were a little higher than before, nothing else seemed to have changed.

Aunt Sophie is back, and Louis is finally freed from the heavy chores. Louis had just recently learned to play chess, and it was when he became addicted, and because the school was temporarily closed, he couldn't go out at home, so he had to play chess with Lucien.

Lucien took this opportunity to gamble on the housework, betting with Louis on the chessboard to win or lose, and then succeeded in passing on all the housework that he should have done to his brother. To say, the Bonaparte family is rich in good brothers.

But now, the school is gradually returning to normal. It's funny to say that the schools of Louis and Lucien have resumed, but the Paris military academy where Joseph teaches is still closed.

But it's not strange. The schools of Louis and Lucien were both private, while the school where Joseph taught was financed, and it was financed. The reaction speed of such institutions will always be much slower. All the more so when the king was now quite dissatisfied with the army.

So now Joseph was at ease, and he saw that Sophie had just finished cleaning and was temporarily free, so he chatted with her.

"Aunt Sophie," said Joseph, "it's been a mess these days, and everything is okay at your house?" ”

"What's good." Sophie shook her head and said, "It's just as sad as the days, and even more so sad." The price of bread has gone up again, and there is something even more terrible than the price increase, which is that even if you have the money, it is difficult to buy bread. ”

"It seems that some people can't sit still." Thinking so, Joseph opened his mouth and asked, "Aunt Sophie, is bread hard to buy now?" ”

"Sir, you are a decent person and need not care about these things. In case you don't know, I ran four blocks to buy today's bread. While still grabbing bread, I squeezed through the apron. God, I don't understand what this is all about! Didn't they say that everything is okay, and everyone's life will be better and better in the future? ”

Joseph shook his head, since the Estates-General began, more and more people had entered Paris. In addition to the representatives from all over the country (there were not many of them), there were also a large number of peasants and vagabonds who came to Paris. This made Paris's already scarce food supply even more strained.

In such a situation, there was another revolution. Far from producing more food, the revolution itself will destroy the existing order. When the existing order is disrupted, and the new order has not had time to be effectively established, the transportation and sale of grain will certainly be disrupted, and the efficiency will certainly be reduced. Therefore, it is natural that the price of food has risen, and even if the price has risen, it cannot be bought.

And in such a situation, there will naturally be panic buying and hoarding, and then the price of food will rise further, and further will not be able to buy. And if someone deliberately takes advantage of this situation and artificially increases the panic, the problem will become more serious.

Joseph suddenly remembered a piece of history in the later generations of the Todai Eating Country. At that time, the most important city in the Eastern Eater Country, the Demon Capital, had just been liberated, and a similar problem of soaring prices and economic chaos immediately occurred. At that time, how did Chen Leshan, the first mayor of Dongda Eat the National Demon Capital, solve the problem?

Mayor Chen solved the problem by using two tricks. One trick is an economic means, if you raise the price of grain, I will import grain from the grain producing areas on a large scale to see how much you can eat and support you; Another trick is political means, those guys who play securities trading buy silver dollars on a large scale, pull up inflation, I don't have so many silver dollars in my hands to play with you, I will directly send troops to seize your entire exchange.

Relying on these two tricks, Mayor Chen quickly stabilized the situation. However, these two tricks were difficult to implement in Paris at this time. The large-scale transfer of grain from the grain-producing areas requires a state apparatus capable of controlling the whole country and efficiently collecting all kinds of resources. If France in this era had such a thing, would there have been revolutionary things? During the Seven Years' War, the French were afraid that they would have "ruled England and Prussia for a long time and held the blame first", and obtained what Genghis Khan called the greatest happiness in life. (Genghis Khan said, "The greatest joy in life is to hunt down your enemies everywhere, invade their lands, plunder their wealth, and then listen to the cries of their wives and children.") Where else will there be any revolution?

As for the second move, it is the same need for a strong state apparatus. The Marquis de Lafayette now controlled the National Guard and part of the French army, but his control over these forces was not secure, and he was therefore unable to do so.

Thinking of this, Joseph said to Sophie: "Aunt Sophie, I estimate that the price of grain will probably be higher for a period of time in the future, if you still have savings, exchange it for more food as early as possible." ”

"Alas, sir, you also know where a family like ours has any savings." Aunt Sophie said with a sigh.

……

At the same time, there was a person who, like Aunt Sophie, was worried about the rising price of food. This man was the Marquis de Lafayette, who had gained the upper hand in the previous political turmoil.

The Marquis de Lafayette had considerable influence in the army, which gave him quite the upper hand in the revolution. But his power in the economic sphere is rather limited. The Marquis de Lafayette was not low, but he was not the kind of old-fashioned aristocrat that was deeply entrenched. I don't have much financial resources, and I don't have many channels to make money. In this respect, the gap between him and the Duke of Orleans was as great as the gap between the Duke of Orleans and him in military affairs.

However, as a famous general, the Marquis de Lafayette was still quite calm even in the face of such trouble. Years of war taught him that when victory could not be solved, it was time to think about how to retreat.

"The atrocities in Paris must be brought under control, and we can no longer tolerate the continued shedding of innocent blood. There are people, they are not revolutionaries, they are just thugs! They talk about democracy, but what they are really interested in and what they are really doing is looting and slaughtering! In the name of the revolution, they arbitrarily accuse others of being 'enemies of the people', and then kill and rob people. In the city of Paris, many of the merchants who ran their own business were hung on the street lamps by the thugs. And the purpose of those thugs has nothing to do with democracy at all, they are only to rob other people's legitimate property. This chaos must be stopped! Marquis, the people of Paris have entrusted you with the command of the Self-Defenses, one of the purposes of which is to put an end to possible plunder. Could it be that the raids of the mercenaries are plunder, and the raids of the thugs are not looting? In a lounge next to the council chamber, Barnaf, the representative, waved his arms and addressed the Marquis de Lafayette, who sat across from him.

"You're right, but you can't rush this matter too much." The Marquis de Lafayette leaned back a little, "You know, in the hands of those thugs, there are quite a few weapons. There are also certain gangs. Even in the National Guard, there are many people who are sympathizers for them, or even simply one of them. We have not yet had time to completely remove all of these people from the National Guard. ”

"How long will it take to get rid of all these guys?" Siyes on one side also asked.

"It's coming. I do not want to use violent means to eliminate these people, but the economic conditions of these people do not allow them to participate in military activities without working for long periods of time. "The National Guard has established discipline, and those who are constantly absent from their activities will be expelled. In this way, it will not be long before the hooligans themselves will not be able to stay in the National Guard. ”

"Even if these people are removed from the National Guard, it is a threat to order." Barnaf said.

"Do you want us to take down them right away?" "That's really playing into someone's hands." It's never the sans-culottes who really pose a threat to us. ”

"Then are we just going to let it ......?"

"Don't do what we can't do, that will only cost us our strength." "It's not unacceptable to back down a little when necessary," Lafayette said. Your Majesty, you are still hesitant, and he is not willing to give up all that is old and accept the new system; and did not dare to resolutely embark on the path of Charles I. Speaking of which, isn't it because we think His Majesty the King is a constitutional-fit Majesty? However, someone would deliberately send His Majesty to the guillotine. But His Highness, though he may seem revolutionary, is not a king fit for constitutional government. ”

Several people nodded secretly, they all nodded secretly, they knew who the Marquis de Lafayette was talking about.

"In today's situation, I'm afraid that he can't sit still even more than us. Let's just watch him perform quietly. We can use him to put pressure on the king, and we can use the king to stimulate him. I know him, and he's going to show his flaws. When the time comes, it will be much better for us to take measures than to act rashly now. ”

After the Marquis de Lafayette had said this, he looked at his friends again, and saw that they were silent, as if persuaded by themselves, so he nodded and said, "Actually, I invite you today, there is one more matter. ”

"What's the matter?" Siyes asked.

"Introduce a new friend to everyone." Marquis Lafayette said, "An archbishop who is inclined to progress. ”