Before seven o'clock in the evening, Degene came back. He hurried upstairs to find Deng Fei and Zhao Xin, and told them what he had learned.
The place where the king's family was imprisoned is called the "Temple Tower", and it actually has something to do with the Knights Templar. It was the original stronghold of the Knights Templar in Paris. After the Knights were destroyed, it has been idle. The main building is
A fifty-meter jagged square spire tower with an average wall thickness of four meters and four floors in total. There are turrets at the four corners. There is a small tower on the front of the main tower, and there are also two turrets on both sides of the narrow building. The king's family
The five of them were imprisoned in the main tower.
"Five?"
"Yes, the king and his wife, two children, and the king's sister, Lady Elizabeth."
Deng Fei asked: "Where are the defense facilities? How many guards are there?"
Degene took a sip of wine and said: "This is not clear yet. But when I passed by the entrance of the great monastery, I saw a dozen National Guard soldiers standing guard."
"Great monastery?"
"Yes, if you want to enter the Temple Tower, you must pass through the Great Monastery."
Zhao Xindao: "Can you find the floor plan?"
"I mentioned it to my father, and he said he would go to the Royal Library to look for it tomorrow. It's not a big problem."
After hearing this, Zhao Xin said to everyone: "It's just our first day here. Don't be in a hurry. We'll get the floor plan first."
Elu said: "How about I take someone over to have a look tomorrow?"
Zhao Xin shook his head and said: "We must not get involved in these things openly. We came to Paris with such a big fanfare, and there are only a lot more eyes around us. Needless to say about those servants, the Russians and British are definitely paying attention.
Follow our every move."
At half past seven, the housekeeper Bu Wei came to report that the carriage to pick them up for the banquet had arrived. In addition to Zhao Xin and Deng Fei, the people going from Beihai Town were also accompanied by Jiao Xun, Huang Chengji, and eight special agents pretending to be followers.
Soldiers from the war camp. In addition, Deguigne also accompanied him as a representative and translator of the French East India Company.
Because today's dinner was a state banquet, it was held in a building on the south side of the Tuileries Garden on the right bank of the Seine. This is also where the offices of the Citizens' Association are located. When Zhao Xin and the others were brought into the hall by the mayor of Paris,
All the French people present applauded and the band nearby immediately started playing soothing music.
The French people present were all smiling, but they were whispering to each other frequently. They were talking about the unique faces and clothes of the people in Beihai Town.
Deng Fei was still wearing the white navy uniform with the rank of lieutenant general. The medals and medals on the left side of his chest were densely hung, and the golden ribbon hanging from his left shoulder to his chest was even more conspicuous.
The gold-plated brass pendant shines under the light. You must know that the European Army uniforms did not yet have decorations on their uniforms at this time, and they would not appear until Napoleon became emperor.
This time, Zhao Xin stood uncharacteristically on the left side of Deng Fei. His identity today was Deng Fei's assistant, so he only had the rank of major.
The French looked at the way the two of them were dressed. Except for their skin color, there was no trace of the ancient Orient from head to toe. It was also different from those in the picture albums. Fortunately, Jiao Xun and Huang Chengji, who were traveling with them, both wore toga.
They wore straight brocade robes with large sleeves, jade belts hanging around their waists, square scarves made of black gauze on their heads, and a fan in their hands. Only then did the French present believe that they were indeed Chinese.
The Frenchman was looking at the people in Beihai Town, and Zhao Xin was also looking at the Frenchmen present. He glanced around and found many familiar faces. Although the people in his impression were portraits in textbooks, they were somewhat different from real people.
, but he recognized at a glance that a thin man wearing a fluffy wig, a pointed chin and sunglasses was Robespierre (this man was short-sighted).
It was hard for Zhao Xin to imagine that such a pale, seemingly harmless guy could actually burst out with huge energy in the future and drag the entire France into a bloody abyss.
"We must obey the virtues of the people! Terror without virtue is evil, and virtue without terror is weakness!"
Yes, just like his spiritual mentor Rousseau, they only love abstract "people", but for living and concrete people, they always treat them like rags that they throw away after use.
The thinker who wrote "The Social Contract", fell in love with each other, sent all his five children to orphanages, and was eventually promoted to the altar by countless people, gave Europeans two bloody hands,
Robespierre and Kant. One of them sent the king and more than two thousand citizens to the guillotine in the political field, and the other sent the awesome God to the gallows in the ideological field.
In his later years, Rousseau also wrote a book called "Confession" but actually "Justification", which can be called a model of disgusting hypocrisy. In the book, he explained the behavior of sending his biological children to an orphanage as follows: "As soon as I thought of
I feel scared that my child will be raised by a messy family. Giving the child to them will only make him worse. The education in the orphanage is much better. This is the reason why I decided to send my child to the orphanage."
That's right, this guy is too busy loving human beings to take care of his children!
Just as Zhao Xin was staring at Robespierre, the famous "ascetic" suddenly felt like a ray on his back, as if there was a great danger hovering above his head. He felt like his hair was exploding.
Like a cat, those big eyes hidden behind green lenses blinked again and again, and instantly locked their target on Zhao Xin.
"It's so strange. This person seems to be like me, and his body contains the power to destroy everything."
Hearing his friend muttering, Dandong, who was standing beside him, asked with concern: "My friend, what's wrong with you?"
"Oh, it's nothing. Maybe it's an illusion."
At this time, Deng Fei was introduced by De Guigne and walked up to Elie Guardet, the current chairman of the National Convention. The National Convention was also a group of people. In order to prevent each faction from monopolizing power, they simply sat in rows to eat fruits.
Result; the position of chairman is elected every two weeks, and the elected person can continue to be elected every two weeks after he steps down.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content that follows! "General Deng, please let me introduce to you the President of the First Republic of France and the Chairman of this National Convention, His Excellency Eli Guardet."
"Mr. President Guardet, distinguished members of the National Assembly, this is the commander of the Northern Navy's fleet in the East Indies, General Deng Fei. The fleet led by General Deng defeated the navy of the Qing Empire many times, and also led a fleet
Captured Batavia, the largest Dutch city in the East Indies..."
All the members of the National Assembly present looked at Deng Fei and others with curiosity. Because of the trade relations and the fact that foreigners were not allowed to enter the mainland, China before the 19th century was too mysterious to Westerners. What they could understand
The Ming and Qing societies that I visited were basically letters or books from missionaries.
Deguigne introduced everyone present to Deng Fei one after another, including Danton, Robespierre, Marat, Desmoulins, Condorcet, the Roland couple, Le Brun, Villeneuve, and Saint-Just.
..... If nothing else happens, most of these people will end their lives within two years, either walking into the bathtub or onto the guillotine.
After everyone present had finished their introductions, Degeine finally added loudly: "In addition, I want to explain that the Far East regime was founded by a distinguished descendant of the Ming Dynasty. After ten years of struggle, they have occupied
The large territory including Mongolia covers an area of more than 10 million square kilometers. I believe that in two or three years, they will complete the unification war and completely destroy the rule of the Qing Empire!"
Boom!!! The French people present were all shocked! Their jaws almost dropped to their feet.
Oh my god! Ten million square kilometers, isn’t that almost 20 Frances? How big is the whole of Europe?
Robespierre was thinking about what he was doing ten years ago... Oh! He was in a lawsuit with his neighbor in his hometown of Arras over a lightning rod issue. Thinking of this, the eyes behind his glasses gradually brightened.
It seems that today is the right time. If you have the opportunity, you must have a good chat with these Chinese people and discuss the strategy of governing the country.
However, some people suddenly remembered the two major defeats that the Russians suffered in the past few years, and looked at Deng Fei thoughtfully.
Without further ado, the four people in Beihai Town, the members of the National Assembly, and their beautifully dressed ladies greeted each other, and then came to sit down in the restaurant. Because there were no female guests in Beihai Town this time, Deng Fei took the lead and led all the men.
The guests took their seats first, and then the female relatives took their seats.
In order to take care of the distinguished guests from afar, a lady and a gentleman sat beside the foursome in Beihai Town. Zhao Xin and Deng Fei were fine, but Jiao Xun and Huang Chengji looked a little confused when they saw the white breasts of the women.
It was unnatural. When Deng Fei saw this, he asked Degene to serve as the translator for the two of them.
Although the members of the National Convention present seemed to be in harmony, the clearly differentiated seats clearly showed their respective factions. The cabinet ministers were all Girondins without exception, while the Montagnards belonged to the "Paris Commune"
.
At present, the conflict between the Montagnards and the Girondins has just begun to emerge. The Girondins have been trying to avoid a trial of the king, fearing that it would reignite the resistance of the royalist forces in the country and intensify the hostility of European monarchies; while the Montagnards
Leaders such as Robespierre, Danton, Marat, Saint-Just and others believed that democracy was not thorough enough and that killing the king was the only way to move towards a republic.
The problem is that this year's food famine caught all the representatives of the National Convention off guard. The common people in Paris are once again facing the famine years of three years ago. Now, the reality is that there is no bread.
Not long after everyone sat down, the waiter in a wig brought out the carefully cooked dishes one after another. Under the bright bamboo lamps and surrounding candles, they looked like flowers blooming. Zhao Xin saw that the ingredients were very rich.
At least from the appearance, it can be seen that it is carefully cooked.
He didn't know that for today's meal, the mayor of Paris had worked hard and summoned many palace chefs who had been living among the people after the revolution to prepare such a table.
You must know that there were no big hotels in France at this time. Even the larger "Hotels" were just family-style hotels composed of multiple small rooms. Moreover, this kind of "Hotel" did not provide a wide variety of meals.
At most it’s bread, milk, and two eggs and you’re done!
Seeing a pile of knives, forks and spoons with different uses in front of them, Jiao Xun and the others did not take out their chopsticks this time. De Guigne had taught them a lot when they were on the boat, and they didn't feel unfamiliar at all. Waiting for Guardet and Deng
After Fei finished his toast, he started using it slowly and step by step, surprising the woman sitting next to him who was about to explain its use to them.
It is said that the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789 led to the reshuffling of the original first, second and third grades. All aesthetic ideals in the monarchy era were declared ugly, and the palace dining table culture that symbolized "imperial power and rank" was completely overturned. At least in
Everyone at the table can speak freely and toast each other freely.
However, there were not many wine glasses and bottles on the banquet tables in this era. If you wanted to drink, you had to wait for the waiter to bring it over. The purpose of this was to prevent someone from poisoning the wine. Before the Great Revolution, even at palace banquets
There is only one wine glass per table for everyone to take turns using.
Want to poison? Come on, let's hurt each other! Anyway, everyone has to take turns to drink to the bottom.
Zhao Xin thought, don't look at the people here who are shouting freedom and equality for the sake of the people. Judging from the exquisite and gorgeous wigs, vests and knee-length shorts on their bodies, it is obvious that they are not standing with the sans-culottes. It won't take long,
The Jacobins would publicly scold the Sans-culottes for eating "pig food." When the "equality theory" began to gradually collapse, the ideal would be completely disillusioned.
It was often said in later generations that the purpose of a dinner party was not just to eat, but it was the same in the 18th century. The reason why the mayor of Paris had such a big party was not only because Beihai Town was the first envoy to visit after the establishment of the "First French Republic"
Secondly, he was also thinking about the rumored food. However, this kind of thing cannot be discussed at the dinner table, especially when a woman is present, what kind of business, money, etc. cannot be discussed.
After dinner, when the waiter cleared the table and finally removed the tablecloth, the real conversation finally began.
The members of the National Convention holding glasses of wine began to ask about the institutional issues of Beihai Town. Their first concern was what the constitution of Beihai Town contained.
How do you ask Deng Fei to answer this? He can only say that of course we also have an electoral system, but because the people are not well educated and the country is too large, it is currently only carried out at the administrative village level. Age,
It's OK when you're 18 years old.
"We have clear laws. All land is state-owned, and people only have the right to use it..."
"Decentralization of power? Of course, there is a committee for each of the military, administration, and legislation... The head of state is the descendant of the "last prince of the former Ming Dynasty", who was the leader who initially led the resistance to the Manchu regime.
....."
When the French learned that the supreme head of state in Beihai Town didn't even have a palace, and his family lived in an ordinary house that was two or three times larger than this restaurant, they couldn't help but sigh in admiration...
"As for the handling of the emperor and nobles who brought the Qing Dynasty, a Supreme Court will be formed to try it. As for the specific matters...you see, I am a soldier, and soldiers cannot interfere in politics."
"Mr. Condorcet? I heard that you are a mathematician? My two companions have admired you for a long time. M. de Guigne, please help me translate..."
Deng Fei said that his mouth was dry and he kept drinking wine to quench his thirst. Many of the contents he talked about were discussed with him these days by Zhao Xin and were used to learn and apply them. While he was talking, he served as the editor of "Oke"
Desmoulins, editor-in-chief of Les Delières, kept recording. He planned to sort it out overnight after returning and publish it in the newspaper tomorrow.
Zhao Xin stood for a while holding the wine glass. He couldn't understand the French, so he came to the door with the wine glass and planned to smoke a cigarette. As soon as he took out the cigarette, he heard footsteps coming from behind. He turned around and said, "Rousseau's