Chapter 250: The People's Inborn Talent for Rebellion
"Hmph! That rude woman!"
Queen Marie slammed her silver spoon down on the table, angrily chewing her cherry-frosted cake. Even her favorite dessert couldn't cheer her up now.
The pleasant mood she had enjoyed earlier during her chat with Count d'Artois at lunch had been completely ruined by the visit from Madame Adélaïde.
The queen muttered to herself in frustration, "Hmph! That old princess who can't even get married! Who does she think she is to meddle in the affairs of France?"
Yes, Madame Adélaïde was one of Marie Antoinette's least favorite people in Versailles. When Marie had first arrived at the palace, Adélaïde had tried to manipulate her into fighting with Madame du Barry, making her very uncomfortable.
In fact, Joseph knew that Madame Adélaïde was the first person to refer to the queen as the "Austrian wench" behind her back.
With Adélaïde backing the old nobility, she would likely cancel out any efforts Count d'Artois made to oppose the abolition of noble privileges.
Provence, Nice.
A middle-aged man, wearing a black jacket and gray cotton pants, stood atop a fish vendor's cart, his gestures sharp as he spoke with rising anger:
"Who took away the reserve grain that His Majesty had prepared for us? It's because that grain disappeared that the price of bread in the city has more than doubled!
"What are these heartless people trying to do?
"They want to kill us!"
The memory of the recent grain shortage, during which many had lost loved ones, was still fresh. People stopped in their tracks, frowning as they listened.
The man continued:
"Perhaps you've seen the news.
"Yes, the names on that deck of cards—Duke de Sévérac, Count de Sillery, Duke de Durfort, Duke de Mouchy... They were the ones who used underhanded means to steal the grain from our reserves. Then they just sat back and watched as we starved to death!"
This speaker was one of the agents Mirabeau had sent to Nice.
Joseph had deliberately withheld the full details of Monnot's unauthorized orders and the resulting disruption of the grain reserves, even refraining from arresting Monnot. His plan was to pin this disaster on more significant targets.
And according to the news from Paris, the unrest in the southern provinces hadn't fully subsided yet—because Joseph needed that simmering tension to continue. What he needed was a well-directed "riot."
As for evidence to support these accusations—who needed it?
The public didn't care about evidence. They just needed someone to blame for their suffering. If the nobles wanted to defend themselves, they could go from province to province pleading their case. But with the slow spread of information, it would take them half a year to explain the truth to everyone—if they could even find it.
In reality, they didn't have the evidence to clear themselves.
That was the advantage of controlling the narrative. The powerful nobles, led by the Duke of Orléans, had spent years using the media to slander the monarchy. Now, it was time for them to taste their own medicine.
Joseph knew he couldn't topple so many powerful nobles all at once, not even a single figure like Duke de Mouchy—it would take a lot of effort to bring him down.
But this was France.
What weapon held the most power here?
Undoubtedly, it was the street riots and the collective protests of the citizens! The French people's inborn talent for rebellion was no joke—it was a terrifying beast that could even devour a king!
Once that beast was unleashed, the likes of Duke de Mouchy and Duke de Durfort would crumble like paper.
Even the mighty Duke of Orléans would be torn to pieces by it!
Of course, Joseph knew that this beast was dangerous. If it got out of control, the consequences would be dire.
That's why from the very start, he had worked to ensure that the beast's focus remained narrow, with only his people guiding it.
He had even prepared scapegoats for afterward.
It was all to ensure that once the beast had devoured its targets, it could disappear as quickly as it had appeared.
As the man in black continued his speech, the gathered citizens began whispering to each other:
"What is this 'deck of cards' he's talking about?"
A young man quickly pulled a pamphlet from his pocket and flipped to the first page.
"Ah, you don't know? Look, it's right here!"
The crowd leaned in to look and saw a series of playing cards, each bearing a simple portrait and a name underneath.
The first card was the Duke de Mouchy, followed by the Count de Sillery...
There were 52 cards in total, capturing the top figures of the Assembly of Notables.
Joseph had arranged it this way to focus the people's anger. As long as everyone on that deck of cards was taken down, the protesting crowds would naturally dissipate once they ran out of targets.
In the future, the Americans would use this tactic to great effect—and Joseph found it incredibly convenient.
An older man in the crowd pointed at the pamphlet and shouted to the man in black:
"Is it really them who took the reserve grain?"
"It's them!" the speaker clenched his fist. "They took all the grain and hoarded it in their estates!"
Someone else raised a question:
"But why would they do that?"
"Money! It's all about money!" The man in black pointed east. "By stealing the reserve grain, they caused a shortage, which drove up the price of bread. Then they sold the grain at a high price, making over twice the profit!
"Your life, my life, the lives of all the poor—they're nothing more than coins jingling in their pockets!"
The old man's eyes filled with tears as he remembered his wife, who had starved to death. He gritted his teeth and growled:
"Those devils should burn in hell! I'll... I'll get my revenge!"
Others in the crowd, reminded of their own lost loved ones, began to shout angrily as well:
"Hang those monsters!"
"We'll get revenge!"
"Make them pay!"
The man in black, standing on the cart, hadn't expected things to escalate so quickly. He had prepared nearly an hour of speeches, but it seemed unnecessary now.
He waved his hand with force and pointed toward Duke de Durfort's estate:
"Let's go! Let's settle the score with that devil!"
Nearby, an agent from the Police Bureau gave a signal to a scar-faced man beside him.
The scarred man grinned, nodded, and led a group of twenty men to the front of the crowd, shouting:
"I know the way! Follow me!"
Driven by the herd mentality, hundreds of people followed, and as other speakers rallied more citizens along the route, the crowd soon swelled to over a thousand.
The man in black took a water bottle handed to him by a colleague, drank a few gulps, and prepared to head to the next location to continue rallying the people.
Further away, a few policemen had been quietly "advised" by secret police and were happy to stay out of it.
By 3 p.m., the massive crowd had surrounded Duke de Durfort's estate.
The estate's guards nervously pointed their guns at the furious citizens, while the butler hurried out to negotiate with the scar-faced man leading the mob.
(End of Chapter)
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