Flowers, Swords and France

There was a faint sound of thunder in the clouds, and the June rain was coming again. The sky was gloomy. It was still noon, but the light was very dim, as if it was about to fall at night.

In this extremely gloomy weather, a carriage was running on the street, rushing towards the destination.

However, although the weather conditions were not very good, the streets were finally free of the gunfire and shouts that had never stopped before. With the efforts of the army and the National Guard, the mob had just been pacified, and the city had returned to its usual calm.

However, this calm was not without reason after all. The streets were full of bullet holes and black smoke, and in some places there were stones and wood blocks left after the barricades were blown away. The bumpy road surface also affected the speed of the carriage.

These traces left after the war seemed to tell everyone about the fierce battle scene in the city not long ago. Three days of fighting made everything so disturbing and terrifying.

Fortunately, it all ended at last.

It looks like it's going to rain again. Looking at the weather, the passenger in the carriage thought to himself. Then, he hurriedly asked the driver to speed up to avoid the coming heavy rain.

This passenger looked quite old. He was already a little bald in the middle of his head, and his hair on the temples was already gray. He was Odilon-Barrot, a politician, a member of the National Assembly, and now a senior member of the Order Party and a collaborator of the Order Party leader Mr. Thiers. Today he happened to visit his collaborator.

"Sir, I would like to go faster!" After hearing the urging. The driver complained slightly dissatisfied, "But now the road is not smooth everywhere, how can I speed up? Not to mention there are so many soldiers. They are all over the ground now, I can't do anything if I want to go faster!"

Upon hearing the driver's complaint, the member of parliament was speechless for a moment, so he stopped talking and stopped urging.

He was right. Because the army dispatched by the government has not completely dispersed, the streets are now full of people in military uniforms. And because the chaos has been basically calmed down. They gathered in twos and threes, and their faces were no longer tense and serious. They were laughing and chatting in low voices. Discussing the previous battle, some people were holding bottles and constantly drinking. However, under the strict orders before, they did not bother those well-dressed pedestrians.

Because of many days of fighting, the faces of these soldiers have been smoked black. The clothes are also a little messy and dirty. The steps are also a little staggering. Some people are too tired and even lie on the ground to rest.

This army, which has just picked up the gun to complete the suppression task, has no appearance of the mighty and victorious army in military novels after the victory. They just want to rest tiredly. Even when a carriage passes by, they do not avoid it, and still talk and rest in the same place, as if they didn't notice it at all.

These soldiers who have just saved the Republic can certainly get this little privilege.

As a last resort. The carriage carefully avoids these soldiers and moves forward slowly.

As the carriage passed through the streets, sporadic gunshots were heard from some of the alleys nearby.

This was certainly not a battle, but the sound of execution gunshots - in accordance with the orders of the senior commanders in the army, in order to avoid any unexpected situations in the suppression, many captured mobs were hastily shot. The mobs shot may be more than those who died in the battle.

After hearing the gunshots, Odilon-Barro was at a loss, he just looked up at the sky.

The light raindrops slowly fell to the ground, and then the raindrops became bigger and bigger, gradually making a clapping sound of hitting the ground. These raindrops soon mixed into water on the street, taking away some of the original smoke and dust, and sweeping away the blood that fell before. Perhaps, it also washed away a piece of history.

"Damn it! It's really raining!" The old member of the National Assembly couldn't help but curse in a low voice.

Fortunately, this torment in the rain did not last long. With the driver's strenuous control, the carriage finally arrived at Mr. Thiers's house after a while.

The parliamentarian's carriage was directly let in because the master had already given instructions in advance. Soon, after hastily tidying himself up, the parliamentarian came to the small living room of the house.

As soon as the parliamentarian came in, the owner of the house quickly came to greet him.

"Mr. Barrow, I think it will be raining so hard, so I will come back later."

"Hey, goodbye!" The parliamentarian sighed, and then sat down at the master's signal. "If I knew it was going to rain so hard, I wouldn't have gone out at this time. Well, it's all the fault of those soldiers. They occupied the streets in groups of three or five, and we got wet in the rain..."

"These people helped us get rid of the mob, so it's okay to get wet in the rain, right?" Mr. Thiers replied with a smile, but soon he became serious again, "But, they should have dispersed from here quickly, haven't the mobs been pacified?"

"That's right! It depends on what you say!" Odilon-Barro nodded and agreed with his opinion.

Of course, the two men's aversion to the army occupying the city was not simply due to the fact that "the army blocked the street". Their considerations were both clear and simple - if the army continued to occupy the city, what use would the parliament have?

It was time to consider the aftermath.

After both of them sat down, they quickly got down to business.

"How are the things we discussed before going now?" Mr. Thiers asked in a low voice.

"No problem, everything is going well." Representative Odilon-Barrot nodded, indicating that he had almost done the job. "Just wait and see, in less than two days, our republic will have a new leader..."

[On June 1848, the National Assembly formally passed a resolution to end the temporary rule of the Executive Committee and handed over its government power to General Cavaignac, who officially became the "Head of the Government of the French Republic" (the highest executive officer) to reward General Cavaignac for his contribution in suppressing the mob and encourage him to continue to carry out the remaining suppression matters.

Although the tone of the representative seemed very excited, Thiers could always hear a little teasing and ridicule from his words. He couldn't help but smile slightly. Laugh.

"Mr. Barrot, you look like you are not satisfied with the result?"

"How can I not be satisfied!" Odilon-Barrot shook his head, "General Cavaignac defended the country and order, he deserves to be rewarded, right? To be honest, this general did a great job, the best! He beat the mob to pieces."

"Maybe he killed about 10,000 people, not too many." Mr. Thiers answered calmly, looking at him with interest, waiting for his next words.

"He did a good job, beautifully, we have to take off our hats to him..." Mr. Odilon-Barrot's tone became more subtle, "But, Mr. Thiers, seeing this scene, don't you feel a little worried?"

The original text is in the sixth # 9 @Read the book!

"Worried?"

"Hey, why are you hiding from me at this time?" Odilon-Barrot sighed softly, "Aren't you worried that we will usher in a new First Consul? Let me tell you, the First Consul back then was not as good as this general. This time, the momentum of setting half of the city in flames is something I have never seen in my life!" Then, he looked at Thiers with a flickering look, "Don't forget, later the First Consul led his troops into the Council of Five Hundred... Sir, aren't you afraid? This general who is more good than the First Consul will also play such a trick on the National Assembly at that time? He can bloodbath Paris today, can't he bloodbath the parliament again in the future?"

Under the sight of the parliamentarians, Mr. Thiers' expression gradually became solemn.

"If you say you are not worried, you must be lying."

"Hey, I finally heard a truth!" Odilon-Barrot shouted softly.

Thiers stood up and slowly walked to

Due to his height, his head was not much higher than the window frame, but it was enough for him to see the city outside that had just ended the war.

"That's right," he said slowly after a long while, "We have to be on guard against this."

Then he continued to ponder.

"What we want is a General Monk. We will bring back the Royal Family of Orleans, so we can give him a duke like the British; but we definitely don't want a new Napoleon!" Mr. Thiers frowned and said word by word.

"What does it mean...? "Barrow whispered behind him.

[George Monck (1608-1670), an Englishman and politician, a general of the Parliamentary Army during the Civil War, followed Cromwell in battle and made many military achievements. He served as Governor of Scotland when Cromwell was the Protector of the Kingdom from 1654 to 1658.

Soon after Cromwell's death, he launched a mutiny and asked Parliament to agree that Charles II, who was in exile, would return to the country to become king. His actions played a decisive role in the restoration of the Stuart royal family in Britain.

In recognition of his merits, he was named Duke of Albemarle by the restored Charles II, and was awarded the Order of the Garter, and received an annual pension of up to 7,000 pounds.

"General Cavaignac deserves to be paid. If we don't, it will definitely anger him. Who knows what he can do now. "After thinking for a while, Mr. Thiers expressed his considerations, "However, we really cannot let him lead the army alone. The army should be under the management of the Republic and the Parliament, not obey a certain person. We no longer need a dictator!"

"That's it!" Odilon-Barrot nodded heavily, fully agreeing with his opinion. (To be continued...)