At about the same time, in the nearby Palace of Versailles, King Louis XVI was talking to his queen about something similar.

"Your Majesty, do you know that there are already people openly advocating rebellion?" His queen, Marie Antoinette, asked as she stared at her husband with wide, beautiful eyes.

"On what day did no one advocate a rebellion at the Palais Royal?" Louis XVI replied disapprovingly.

Queen Mary glared at her husband, and then said, "Monsieur Lavoisier's nephew has become a traitor!" He staged a drama of incitement to rebellion at the Palace of Royal, propaganda rebellion! Especially the song in it, it's not just propaganda rebellion, it's even blasphemy - don't you want to care at all? ”

"What do you want me to do? Ordering a ban on performances and having them all arrested? Louis XVI asked rhetorically, "the whole of Paris is now in a mess, full of rumors, and if we do this, it is easy to provoke a real riot." ”

"Isn't the current situation a real riot?" Queen Mary asked unwaveringly.

"At least they haven't come to Versailles with weapons yet." Louis XVI replied.

"You are the king, how can you say such a thing!" Queen Mary was enraged by her husband's weak answer.

"Queen, let's face it." Louis XVI bowed his head, as if he was a little ashamed of his situation, "The police system in Paris is basically paralyzed, and the army has not been paid for a long time because of financial problems. They were also very dissatisfied with the kingdom, and as a result, they became less reliable. Moreover, all this time, the army near Paris has been infiltrated by those guys who oppose us, and today we cannot count on them. If there's really something, it's really hard to say who their guns will be on. However, the armies of the provinces are slightly more reliable. What are we going to do to suppress these rebels now? ”

"What about mercenaries? What about the Swiss, the Germans? They took our money, didn't they work? And isn't there a provincial, more reliable army? ”

"Mercenaries, and more reliable armies are not yet fully in place. Now they can only be used to protect us, and they are not enough to calm the situation. ”

"And how long will it take for them to be fully in place?"

"It's hard to say, because first, we need money, and second, we can't move too fast, or we're urging them to rebel. They really started to do it, and we can't withstand the strength we have. Louis XVI hesitated.

"So, if we stay in Paris now, we're going to be taken hostage?" The queen asked again.

"Not yet, but our forces on this side don't have the upper hand." Louis XVI said with a sigh.

"So what are we staying here for? Why don't we go where our power prevails? We go to the provinces, where our power prevails. Why are we staying here? ”

"Because if we leave, it will definitely mean a civil war." Louis XVI was rather embarrassed and said, "Even if it were us who won in the end, our country would have been destroyed by civil war." So, in order to avoid a civil war, or at least a devastating one, we must now stay in Versailles. ”

"But what can we do in Versailles?" Queen Mary asked.

"Stabilize them first, and then slowly turn our forces around." Louis XVI said, "We must paralyze them, and we must not make them despair at once." Until our forces are concentrated and an advantage is formed. ”

"Perhaps......," said the Queen, "maybe, if anything, I can contact my family." ”

"It's not like that yet, and I don't need it yet." Louis XVI said, "Even the normal correspondence between you and your family should be taken care of, not increased and not reduced." ”

"This is ridiculous!" The queen said, "Is there anyone else who wants to check our letters?" ”

"I'm not talking about that. But the messengers who go out from Versailles will be noticed by those who have a heart. Then, there may be rumors. Louis XVI said with a frown.

"Rumors," sneered Queen Mary, "can rumours be dispelled by such an act?" No, because rumors don't need to be based at all. On the contrary, my majesty, the more you indulge it, the more powerful it becomes. I think it is time for you to issue an edict that the play is sacred, and that it should be forbidden. If you just give in, they'll do whatever they want, and soon, they'll grow to the point where we can't tolerate it. So, if you really want to stall, don't indulge them too much. ”

Louis XVI, however, only shook his head.

"Your Majesty, if you continue to indulge these behaviors, even the church will be disappointed in you." Fersen, who had been standing aside without speaking, also spoke.

"Then, let's ban the show. However, don't enforce it. Louis XVI thought for a moment and said.

"If it's not enforced, then it's better not to give an order." The queen said, "If we give an order and do not carry it out, it will only make others look down on us even more, and even encourage them to commit further trouble." ”

"What if it's enforced, and there's a conflict?" Louis XVI asked rhetorically, "We sent those Swiss Guards around us to suppress them?" We don't have the strength to suppress them, and once a conflict arises, it will really expose our weaknesses! So now, my Queen, we must avoid any direct conflict. Even if we have to endure humiliation like Henry IV. ”

Henry IV was Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century. Because of his power struggle with the Holy See, he was excommunicated by Pope Gregory VII at the time. At that time, the Holy Roman Empire was not stable, and after Henry IV's excommunication, all his subordinates' allegiance to him was theoretically lifted at the same time. Some of the independent princes in the country, led by Duke Rudolph, declared that they would not recognize Henry IV as monarch if he could not be forgiven by the Pope.

Under internal and external troubles, Henry IV had to bow to the pope, and he took the queen and the prince to the castle of Canossa where the pope stayed to confess to the pope, hoping that the pope would retract the edict that excommunicated him. He and his wife stood in the snow for three days and three nights before they were summoned by the Pope. After suffering humiliation from the Pope, he was pardoned by the Pope. Later, Henry IV finally quelled the civil strife, and then led the army into Rome, expelled Pope Gregory VII, and set up another puppet pope, which can be regarded as a revenge for Canossa.

Now Louis XVI talks about this story, that is, he hopes that everyone can follow the example of Henry IV and endure the humiliation of the moment for the future. So, after hearing this, everyone fell silent.

After a while, the queen spoke, "In that case, let's just pretend that we don't know anything." I've heard people say that if you don't do something, you can do it to the end. If we don't act, His Majesty will at least look mysterious. If we act and act weakly, it will be looked down upon. ”

Louis XVI nodded quickly and said, "I think what the queen said has a point." ”

"But, Your Majesty." The queen suddenly said in a mocking tone, "I think, everyone should have their own bottom line, I have always been curious, and I have always wanted to see, Your Majesty, where is your bottom line?" ”

……

Although the king did not make the decision to ban "Spartacus", the rumors that "Spartacus" was about to be banned continued to spread more and more outrageously. At first the rumors were that the king was going to ban the play, then it was said that the king had sent a secret message to arrest the author and all the actors, and then that all the actors who dared to take part in the play would be expelled...... In short, all kinds of rumors are constantly being introduced, which makes people dizzy.

At this time, Armand showed some of his uncle's wisdom. He treated these rumors as free advertisements. Taking advantage of these rumors, he took the opportunity to publicize to the outside world: "This may be the last performance, if you don't come to see it, you won't see it in the future!" ”

Just as Adam and Eve were defenseless in the face of the temptation of the "forbidden fruit." The children of Adam and Eve were always particularly energetic when confronted with the word "forbidden." So the gimmick of "going to be banned soon" is indeed very effective, and now every performance of the Dragon and Rose Theater Company is full, and some other theater troupes have followed suit to perform this play. It was for this reason that the blasphemous "Slave Battle Song" was also spread throughout Paris.

At first, when such rumors came out, the actors in the troupe were still a little nervous, but the sold-out performance effect brought them more income. Especially in today's environment of crazy food prices, these incomes are even more convincing. So now, those actors have fallen in love with all kinds of rumors, and they even create all kinds of rumors themselves to attract more audiences. For example, rumors that so-and-so actor was attacked by unknown people or something are constantly being created from them.

Because during this time, there were constant clashes in Paris, large and small, and even the French Guards and German dragoons fought a few days ago, and rumors about the king's intention to massacre the citizens of Paris became more and more popular. Armand: Many of them believed the rumors they had made up themselves.