After His Majesty the King made up his mind to stop resisting, the protracted siege of the palace finally came to an end.
The palace guards laid down their weapons, the militiamen finally took control of the palace, and the Duke of Orleans and his cronies finally entered the palace that they had besieged for ten days.
However, for the Duke of Orleans and his supporters who initiated the siege, this "victory" was full of bitterness, and they did not even have time to celebrate their victory at the moment.
The Duke of Orleans' face was as dark as water, and there was no trace of joy on his face. He glanced at the gardens and buildings along the way without any expression.
As a member of the royal family, he has been to the palace countless times and is extremely familiar with every plant and tree here. However, everything he saw now made him feel extremely strange.
During the long struggle, many places have been reduced to ruins, with unburied bodies everywhere. Even the intact buildings are covered with soil and blood, and the entire palace has been changed beyond recognition.
Is this the palace I captured? Is it really worth paying so much to get such a building? The Duke asked himself, feeling increasingly heavy.
Of course, he was not feeling sorry for the victims, but was worried about his current situation.
All along, he has created an image for himself as a "moderate". What he really wants is to become a British-style constitutional monarch. This is also the best political niche he can find for himself as a member of the royal family -
He could use gentle means to cover up his scandalous act of usurping the royal branch.
However, all these plans were in vain at this moment, because His Majesty the King refused to cooperate, and he was forced to use force to besiege the palace. This also tore off the mask he had always been wearing and exposed his true face of plotting to usurp the throne.
Although he finally took over the palace after making great efforts, his losses can no longer be recovered.
The siege that lasted for many days was bound to tear apart France's upper class. Those nobles who claimed to be royalists would definitely never forgive themselves, the royal family members, who dared to use swords and guns against the royal family. Moreover, during the siege, these royalists
Party supporters must have suffered heavy casualties, and even if he wanted to use gentle means to win them over, it would be difficult to do so again.
If this struggle was limited to the Orleans family and the Bourbon royal family, the situation would not be so bad. He could use time to make up for all the losses. Anyway, as long as he became the king, he could use the power and resources in his hands to slowly
Win people's hearts, cultivate his own supporters, and make people forget his past evil deeds.
However, at the climax of this struggle, during the showdown between him and the royal family, the boy from the Bonaparte family ran out to disrupt the situation! He should have died in Austria, or at least in Greece, but God seemed to be
Just like making fun of yourself, you must let this kid jump around and cause trouble for yourself.
Because of the chaos in Paris, news from various places is almost cut off. However, judging from common sense, I am afraid that this boy is already very close to Paris and may come to him at any time - and that will disrupt all his plans and make the entire
The situation has become unpredictable.
Because he knew all this, the Duke certainly couldn't find much joy in his heart at the moment, only a sense of crisis in the road ahead.
But no matter what, victory is better than failure. At this moment, he is already riding a tiger and can't get off. Even if the road in front of him is very dangerous, he can only bite the bullet and go on - because once he fails, he will be irreversible, even the best ending.
He will also lose everything he owns now and have to go into exile again.
Just as his own think tank Gao Dan said, now even if he tries his best, he must first seize the throne. Only at any cost can he have a chance to reorganize the situation and save his own destiny. A slight hesitation will ruin everything for him.
Under the guidance of his confidants, the Duke of Orleans walked into the palace and came to the room where the royal family members were detained.
At this time, the members of the royal family were a little flustered and frightened when faced with the fate of being imprisoned, but some of them showed calmness and courage.
"Ungrateful beast! Shameless wild dog!" As soon as she saw the Duke of Orleans, an old woman about 50 years old, she yelled at him. Her words were extremely violent, and she could not see any elegance and restraint of a royal family.
, as if he wanted to eat the Duke's flesh and sleep with his skin at this moment, "After all, you are a bitch like your father. The late king should have killed you long ago!"
Of course the Duke of Orleans knew this lady. She was Princess Marie-Thérèse, the eldest daughter of Louis XVI and the only living child of Louis XVI.
During the Revolution, she was imprisoned with her parents and suffered all kinds of abuse and torture. She witnessed her parents and sister-in-law being sent to the guillotine, and also experienced the pain of her brother Louis XVII's premature death amid poverty and abuse.
It was hard to survive.
After she came of age, she fled France and joined her fleeing uncles. Later, in order to show the unity of the family, the prince's brother, Count Artois, let his eldest son, the princess's cousin Louis-Antoine de-
Bourbon married her.
After the Count of Artois became King Charles X, his eldest son naturally became the Dauphin, and Princess Marie-Thérèse became the Dauphin of France. However, the two of them had no heirs.
The death of her relatives made her character extremely fierce and extreme, and she was even more hostile to the former revolutionaries than the most extreme royalists. She has always supported the liquidation of the past revolutionary parties, and even attempted to blow up the republic's
Symbolizes the Panthéon.
Because of the dark history of the previous Duke, she naturally hated the Duke of Orleans and his family, and had always avoided interacting with their family. She also warned the king many times to severely deal with the ambitious Orleans family.
Precisely because she was full of hatred and fearless, even in the state of being a prisoner, she had no fear and kept yelling at the Duke of Orleans.
The Duke turned a deaf ear to this. He was not in the mood to scold a woman at the moment. He just glanced coldly at the people in front of him.
His Majesty the King, the Dauphin and his wife, the Duchess of Berry, and the young Prince Henry, at this moment, the five core members of the Bourbon royal family were all in front of him.
They were once the most noble people in this country, possessing the purest and noblest royal bloodline. But now they are all behind bars, and they don’t know where they will go in the future. After forty years, the fate of these noble royal family members has finally come to them again.
They showed their ferocious faces.
Compared to the frightened Crown Prince and the yelling Princess Marie-Thérèse, the king seemed much calmer at the moment. Even at this time, he did not forget to maintain his dignity as a king.
Seeing the Duke of Orleans and his entourage walking in, the king just gave him a contemptuous look, then continued to caress his grandson Prince Henry, and then spoke to the Duke coldly, "Despicable guy, even though you occupy the right place at the moment
You will enter the palace, but you will never wear my crown!"
The Duke of Orleans also turned a deaf ear to the king's curses and was not angry at all.
Although he was extremely disgusted and even hated this old guy for causing him countless troubles at the moment, he didn't want to do anything to this old guy.
Before the surrender, His Majesty the King sent someone to negotiate terms with the Duke, and then conditionally laid down their weapons. Because time was tight, the Duke promised to ensure the safety of the King's family and the palace guards.
Of course, the so-called promises were only temporary measures, and the Duke did not mind breaking the promise if necessary, but after weighing it, he decided to keep the promise as much as possible.
Because he knew that his family could not commit regicide twice, otherwise it would lose all its political capital and there would no longer be a place for it.
Amidst the noise, the Duke of Orleans bowed to the king meticulously, and then made a request to the king in a humble but tough tone.
"I need to speak with you alone, Your Majesty."
Before the king could express his opinion, he waved his hand gently.
Then, a group of guards around him immediately stepped forward and prepared to drag away the royal family members other than the king. The duke wanted to show off his power and remind the king who was the real owner of the palace at this moment.
"Stop! Don't touch my family! You are not worthy!" The king glared and then let out a loud roar.
Although the fallen phoenix is not as good as a chicken, this old man is the king after all, and he has a bit of majesty and aura, so after his roar, the surrounding guards were stunned for a moment.
While they were stunned, the king motioned with his eyes to his family members to leave with dignity.
So, under the king's demonstration and encouragement, these royal members with different expressions did not show any timidity after all, and walked out of the room silently, leaving only the duke and the king.
"What do you want to say?" After everyone left, the king glanced at the duke contemptuously again, "I'm waiting to hear those vicious rhetoric from your mouth."
The Duke frowned slightly, but did not reply to the King. He was not in the mood at the moment and had no time to scold the old man.
His time is precious and cannot be wasted on unimportant things.
"Your Majesty, you must have seen it yourself. Now that you have lost all the means and foundation to rule this country, you are no longer suitable to remain on the throne. On behalf of the French National Assembly and the people, I urge you to abdicate as soon as possible so that
Restore order to the country."
"I don't think you are qualified to speak on behalf of the people." The king ignored the duke's request and refuted his remarks, "No one has authorized you to attack the legitimate king of France, and no one has authorized you to ask me to abdicate on their behalf!
"
"I did not participate in the turmoil, nor did I order to fire on you. It was your perverse behavior that angered the people, and the people spontaneously organized and launched an attack on you." The Duke replied coldly, "Now I am just representing righteous indignation.
The people came to see you and put forward their demands."
The Duke's strong words made the King angry. Just when he was about to curse the Duke, the Duke suddenly took a step forward, got in front of the King, and then yelled at the King loudly.
"Now, can't you face the reality? Your Majesty, open your eyes and see that you have been abandoned by the entire country! Everyone has long been resentful of you, except for the most die-hard royalists.
People are willing to be loyal to you again! Don’t you believe what I say?
Then I would like to ask you, after the riot, the palace was besieged for so many days, have you seen any reinforcements? There are hundreds of thousands of troops in this kingdom. If the soldiers are willing to save you, how can such a small mob possibly save you?
Forced into this desperate situation? Even if only a few thousand people poured into Paris, could they disperse the besiegers? But could they? Not at all, not a single one came!
So, I ask you to face the reality, the soldiers have already abandoned you, and no one is willing to defend your crown anymore!"
In the midst of the Duke's roar, His Majesty the King's heart trembled, and then began to cramp violently.
He knew in his heart that although the Duke always spoke sweet words, his words just now were not deceiving. When the riot just started, he sent two marshals out to bring in reinforcements. However, after holding on for so many days, no reinforcements came in at all.
Paris came to rescue him, but he had been abandoned by the army and the people throughout the country.
It was precisely because of the despair that the reinforcements were not coming that he suffered a mental breakdown, and finally chose to give up the resistance in order to save his family.
It would be a bit cruel for a king to face the reality of betrayal and separation from his relatives, but at this moment, there was no room for self-deception in front of the king. He could only face this cruel reality.
Why did it end up like this?
The king understood something in his heart, but he also didn't understand something. He knew that he was not loved by others, but he couldn't understand that he was not a tyrant, but he ended up like this. His old and rusty brain could no longer understand the current trend of thought.
He thought that he could still rule the country with the same methods as his ancestors, but he didn't expect that everything had changed drastically.
After these days of suffering, the king has actually given up the struggle. He knows that he can no longer rule the country, but the hatred in his heart for the Duke of Orleans makes him would rather throw away the crown than watch it being destroyed.
The Duke picked it up and put it on the mean head.
"No one loves me...well, maybe that's true -" the king laughed miserably, and then glared at the Duke, "So, does anyone love you? Maybe there have been before, and they will be deceived by your disguised face.
, they will imagine that you will rule this country, and now...how many supporters do you think you will have? You are just a despicable conspirator, and everyone will see this, except those careerists who are swallowed by desire.
, no one will join in the same trend with you!"
Compared with those personal attacks and curses, the king's words at this moment really hit the Duke's pain, making his face instantly distorted, "At least I am more loved than you! You are an incompetent person, except for your good luck, you have survived the death of two brothers.
What else are you capable of? You should have gone away and given way to others!"
"Hmph..." Seeing the Duke's furious look, the king's heart was filled with the joy of revenge, "Then we'll see. I can give up the throne, but I won't give you anything. If you have the ability, go and sit on the throne yourself.