At the northern end of the Pont Saint-Louis, Colonel Giovanni was speechless for a moment as he gazed at the crowd on the Île de la Cité.

Although he already knew that this was the work of His Excellency Bonaparte, Colonel Giovanni could not help but swallow his saliva at the sight of this largest riot in twenty years, and had no idea what the daring Bonaparte wanted to do.

The police reinforcements behind the colonel had even more disbelief on their faces, and they watched in shock as the crowd of protesters stretched from the Île de la Cité along the Pont Saint-Louis to the banks of the Seine, and could not help but exclaim: "My lord, what is the matter with these mobs?!" ”

"Fuck it... This, I'm afraid there are thousands of people on it. ”

"I think maybe it's tens of thousands, what the hell is going on, is it because of those damn rumors?!"

"Can we, less than a thousand, suppress them?" and even for the battle-hardened police, such a scene is a once-in-a-decade battle.

The colonel's adjutant frowned, quickly assessed the situation on the scene, and said to Colonel Giovanni in an anxious tone: "Sir, we must act immediately, the people are still coming from all directions, their numbers will only increase, we must start by blocking the surrounding streets, and then bring in more reinforcements from other areas." The experienced veterans were all very much in favor of the adjutant's plan, and in their opinion, the wisest thing to do now was to immediately take control of the surrounding roads and launch a crackdown on the mob on the Île de la Cité.

If the citizens of Paris had not been told that the police force had begun to take over the situation, the number of people attending the rallies would only continue to surge, and the scene would not have been able to control by their police forces.

The police soldiers looked at Colonel Giovanni with solemn faces, and many of them had unconsciously put their right hands on the hilt of their sabers, ready to swing their knives at the unarmed civilians.

They knew they had to get started right now, and every second every night they would face one more mob.

Hundreds of nervous and expectant glances fell on Colonel Giovanni, and the bloody crackdown would begin as soon as the commander gave the order.

Not surprisingly, as soon as the soldiers had blood on their blades, and as soon as the howls of the wounded could be heard from the crowd, the weak citizens would flee like rats, leaving nothing behind of the rally except the crimson blood that covered the Seine.

However, under the gaze of all the soldiers, Colonel Giovanni in the crowd stared blankly at the Île de la Cité not far away, as if he had heard nothing.

After a while, he finally turned his head and glanced at his subordinates, and opened his mouth expressionlessly.

However, what came out of Colonel Giovanni's mouth was not the repressive order that made the soldiers nervous and expectant, but a defensive command with a cold tone that could not be refused: "Everyone, stand by and do not draw your weapons, let alone clash with the demonstrators; In addition, inform the troops on the island to withdraw immediately and return here to rendezvous. ”

"What?!" Not only the police soldiers, but even the colonel's adjutant did not understand the purpose of this negative order at all, and exclaimed: "You... What are you talking about, sir? If we don't take any more action, the mob will only get worse, and when they see us here like wooden men, they will only flock to the Palace of Justice even more brazenly. Colonel Giovanni turned sideways, stared fiercely into the eyes of the adjutant, and then pointed to the crowd on the Île de la Cité, and coldly reprimanded in front of all the soldiers: "Don't you have long eyes!" You don't see how many people are on there? You idiot! We let it go, it's just a huge protest demonstration, and if we confront them and have a conflict, it's a riot with tens of thousands of people! Can you take responsibility?! ”

"I—" The adjutant was also speechless for a moment, staring at his commander helplessly with wide eyes, and for some reason, he suddenly felt that the officer in front of him was not at all the shrewd and sophisticated Colonel Giovanni in his memory.

The adjutant reluctantly glanced at the citizens who had bypassed the soldiers and continued to the Île de la Cité, gritted his teeth and said, "Sir, that... At the very least, the surrounding roads should be blocked, so that more people do not participate in the rally...", and his proposal was interrupted by Colonel Giovanni in a low voice: "Major, do you have any dissatisfaction with my orders? Or do you want to disobey?! The adjutant's lips trembled slightly, but he couldn't spit out any other words for a long time, he gritted his teeth, sighed very unwillingly, and then took two steps back and returned to the queue.

In such an emergency, the charge of disobedience is bound to be punished by a court-martial. Seeing this, the rest of the soldiers had no choice but to continue to obey Colonel Giovanni's orders after looking at each other for a while, and their sabers and muskets were honestly tied to their waists and backs, and they did not dare to show a trace of edge.

The mounted policemen also turned over and dismounted one after another, standing in place with unwilling expressions, and even the war horses beside them began to flick their tails in boredom.

The police and soldiers stood still, allowing more and more people to pass by them, and then resolutely rushed to the Île de la Cité.

...

"Look! Those cowards didn't dare to come over at all! On the Île de la Cité, the scene of the police and soldiers retreating by the Pont Saint-Louis was naturally watched by thousands of people on the island.

When the policemen in dark blue uniforms arrived on the banks of the Seine, the people of the island were terrified, believing that the protests would end in a bloody crackdown as usual.

After all, these police officers have never been stingy in imposing their violent privileges on ordinary people.

But at this moment, the police and soldiers who had been commanding and domineering in the past were cowering motionless by the bridge, and they did not dare to set foot on the island of the Ether Island, and even withdrew all the soldiers on the island.

The populace was even stunned for a moment by the bizarre scene, for the police had never been used by police soldiers against their unarmed civilians with knives, guns, clubs and muskets.

And the weakness of this scene instantly pushed the people's shouts to another climax. Everyone believed that it was their united force that forced the policemen to stop daring to show their might: "Compatriots! Let's continue to stick together! ”

"As long as we stand together, they won't dare to smash sticks on our heads like they did before!"

"Gentlemen of the policemen on the other side of the river, please go back, there is nothing to do with you here!"

"This is our cry, the voice of the people! We demand that Mrs. Dubarry be tried! The voices on the Cité rose higher and higher, and the people shouted loudly, enjoying the sense of security that this solidarity brought them.

Even the most cowardly and submissive peasant felt the blood in his veins run through his body when he was in the midst of this crowd of people, under the deafening sounds, and he shouted to join in.

The number of people attending the rally continued to grow, and even the banks of the 500-foot-long river near the Île de la Cité were filled with angry and excited crowds.

Especially after hearing that the Paris police force did not dare to interfere in this demonstration and rally, the originally timid and cowardly citizens finally threw off all shackles and boldly took to the streets with the others.

As for those on the Île de la Cité, their demands are now fully unified – the Paris High Court must initiate a trial of Madame du Barry.

Naturally, the Palace of Justice did not respond to this absurd request, except for the dozens of police soldiers who retreated behind the gate still nervously confronted the thousands of indignant crowds outside the gate.

After dozens of minutes of shouting and waiting to no avail, the populace attempted to storm the gates of the Palace of Justice in an attempt to force their way into the High Court.

The soldiers inside the door also reacted quickly, set up their smoothbore guns and fired a round of warnings, which barely calmed down the people in the front row.

The people came here only to severely punish the vicious and damned woman, not to ransack the entire Palace of Justice; The police soldiers inside the gate just wanted to wait for reinforcements to arrive, and it was impossible for their detachment to block the full onslaught of thousands of people outside.

The two sides inside and outside the palace gate were facing each other nervously like this, and no one dared to rashly further expand the situation.

... At the same time as the two sides confronted each other, the top floor of the main hall of the Palace of Justice.

"It seems that there is an impasse, Your Excellency." Standing on the top floor of the main hall, Lawrence could see everything that happened on the Île de la Cité through a large, crystal clear window, and then chuckled and looked at Justice Mopp in a crimson robe.

Justice Mopp unhurriedly added a spoonful of sugar cubes to each of the two cups of black tea, handed one of them to Lawrence, and then glanced at the crowded scene below: "I really don't know how you did it, it's all your people?" Lawrence took the teacup and took a sip, shook his head and said, "Only a very small part, the rest are ordinary people who came here voluntarily to speak out; You know, if you want to start a fire, it's not how you light it, it's about adding more firewood, and as long as you have enough fuel, a little spark is enough to make an explosion. ”

"Is it—" Justice Mapp looked at Lawrence with a hint of jealousy, but the strange look quickly disappeared from his face.

He drank all the black tea in the cup, stood up and walked to the floor-to-ceiling window, frowned and asked, "But compared to this, you appeared in the Palace of Justice at this point in time... The palace won't be suspicious, will it? Lawrence smiled and spread his hands, "I have come to discuss with you the coronation of His Majesty, who knew that such a bad thing would happen to you." "Everyone knew that King Louis XV was eager to wear the Corsican crown at once, and no one would be foolish enough to question Lawrence's reasoning.

Hearing this reason, Justice Mopu couldn't help but pout the corners of his mouth, and asked while taking care of the judge's robe on his body, "It's a good name... So, what are you going to do next, that I cooperate with the High Court to directly sentence Madame du Barry? Use the verdict to put pressure on the palace? In the eyes of Lord Mopp, the core of Lawrence's plan was to use the verdict of the High Court and his own justice to put pressure on Louis XV to force Louis XV to expel Madame du Barry in order to appease the people's grievances; As for the thousands of protesters below, it was just a reasonable reason for the High Court to sentence Mrs. Dubarry.

Of course, only Lawrence himself knows that the protests he deliberately instigated on an unprecedented scale were not just to give the High Court a name.

Louis XV was already dissatisfied with the efforts of the thirteen high courts to curb royal power, and a single verdict from the High Court was not enough for the king to willingly expel Madame du Barry.

Lawrence took another sip of the black tea in the cup, shook his head and chuckled: "No, since it is a trial, how can the defendant be absent; The people below also want to see that woman appear in the Palace of Justice, right? Justice Mup was subconsciously stunned for a moment, and asked in surprise: "You want to bring Madame du Barry to the Palace of Justice?" How is this possible, are you going to drag his favorite lover to the High Court for trial in front of the king?! ”

"Madame du Barry is not in the palace at the moment." Lawrence said suddenly. Justice Mopp frowned and asked with some disbelief, "How do you know?" Do you have eyeliner by her side? ”

"Your Excellency, please believe me." Despite spending the whole morning at the Palace of Justice, Lawrence smiled confidently, having already calculated everything: "And she must not have too many guards around her, I will send someone to bring her." With that, Lawrence clapped his hands at the door, and then Grosso, who had been waiting outside the door, walked in.

I saw that Grosso was dressed as a civilian, and even the scar on his face was deliberately covered by him with a bandage, except for his unusually strong body, he was completely no different from the protesters below who were screaming hard.

Justice Mopp looked at Grosso's dress in astonishment, as if he had guessed what Lawrence wanted to do.

"Bring both Mrs. Dubarry and Mr. Dubarry back to the Palace of Justice." Lawrence commanded in a deep voice, "Bring a few of my guards, be careful not to reveal your identity, and do not let Madame du Barry be injured, now is not the time for her to die." Grosso had apparently been aware of Lawrence's plan, nodded knowingly, and then turned and left the top floor of the main hall.

Watching Grosso leave, Lawrence looked back at Justice Mopp, who was dressed in a crimson robe, and said with a smile: "Then, it's time for you to perform, Your Excellency Mopp." ”