He Became Napoleon’S Genius Son [EN]: Chapter 19

(18) I Won the Mars Massacre Gamble

The French Revolution is often remembered for the guillotine, wars, and bloody uprisings.

However, historically, these events occurred after the Reign of Terror.

Specifically, after 1793, when the king was completely overthrown and eventually executed.

It’s still 1791, and the political situation remains highly volatile.

The revolutionary factions are divided, the royalists are still a force, and the constitutional monarchists are watching each other warily.

Who finds this situation most intolerable?

The radical revolutionaries.

“Let’s overthrow the king!”

Originally, the Champ de Mars [Field of Mars, a large public space in Paris] was the plaza where the army paraded before Bastille Day.

Now, people were gathering here.

Citizens from all over Paris, impoverished, starving, and angry, flocked to the site.

Sans-culottes [literally, “without breeches,” referring to commoners who wore trousers instead of the knee-breeches of the aristocracy], those wearing long pants.

Citizens already passing through the Champ de Mars looked back in surprise.

“What’s going on? Wasn’t this supposed to be a festival?”

“Festival, my foot! Let’s get the Society of the Friends of the Constitution to resolve to overthrow the king!”

“Orléans has fled! They say the king tried to escape too, but was caught!”

The face of the person shouting at the forefront was quite unexpected.

“Demand the suspension of royal power from the Assembly! No, demand abdication!”

A very gentle-looking man was leading the crowd and collecting signatures.

Of course, the signatures were for a radical petition to depose the king.

Even those who were watching from a distance were drawn into the fervor.

One of the onlookers, Jacques Récamier, tilted his head.

“Jacques Pierre Brissot? Is he making such radical claims?”

“Do you know him?”

“He’s a writer famous for advocating the abolition of slavery. I didn’t think he was a radical, but he’s talking like Hébert [a radical journalist and revolutionary].”

Eugène, who was only tasting the coffee next to Récamier, raised his head.

He’s still too young to drink coffee regularly.

But now that he’s about 10 years old, shouldn’t he be able to have a taste?

However, French coffee, both today and in this era, is practically pure, undiluted coffee.

“Ugh, bitter. Um, well, there’s a familiar face next to him, though?”

Wrinkling his nose at the bitter taste, Eugène gestured lightly.

Only then did Récamier see the man standing firmly next to Brissot, shouting slogans.

A huge physique, a booming voice, and above all, eyes full of ambition were impressive.

Georges Danton, one of the three giants of the early Revolution.

Récamier clicked his tongue.

“Ah, it’s because of Danton, huh. Tsk.”

“But the fervor doesn’t seem as strong as before, does it? Monsieur Récamier.”

“Well, the king trying to escape is just a rumor, isn’t it? It didn’t actually happen, did it? Wait.”

Suddenly, Récamier’s eyes widened.

“Could it be that they aimed for that and arrested him preemptively?”

If the king had been caught in the middle of his escape, as in the original history, what would have happened?

If all the citizens of Paris had witnessed that, the demonstration would not have been this small.

Even Brissot, who is leading the demonstration, is only demanding abdication.

As a man who would later turn to the moderate ‘Girondins’ [a political faction during the French Revolution], he is only demanding abdication.

However, in the original history, the demonstration demanded the king’s execution.

Not to mention Danton.

It was only thanks to Eugène’s preemptive arrest that the citizens were unable to witness the king’s cowardly attempt to flee.

Of course, Eugène pretended not to know and feigned ignorance.

“There’s a misunderstanding. I have never arrested His Majesty the King. I have never reported that he was trying to escape.”

“Come on, who doesn’t know that Lieutenant Hoche of the National Guard is your man? Maybe except for His Majesty the King.”

“Again, it’s a misunderstanding. Mr. Hoche is my mother’s old lover, though.”

Eugène spoke, looking lightly at another familiar face in the middle of the protesters.

“In this era, who is whose person doesn’t really matter. The world changes on a daily basis.”

Camille Desmoulins, along with Brissot and Danton, is a young man who is leading the signing and demonstration.

Everyone knows that Desmoulins is Robespierre’s man.

But in the original history, Desmoulins was executed by Robespierre.

Of course, Brissot and Danton met similar fates.

It’s not something that happens over decades.

If it goes according to history, it will happen in just three years.

The so-called master-servant relationship in the revolutionary period is so flimsy.

Récamier, who doesn’t know the future, knew how human minds change.

Récamier clicked his tongue.

“That means it applies to those protesters too, right?”

“That’s right. They seem to be revolutionaries right now, but how long will that last?”

“Well, it doesn’t seem easy for Danton or Brissot to control them.”

Suddenly, a sans-culotte citizen shouted from one side of the plaza.

“Here, there’s a royalist aristocrat!”

At that moment, everyone’s eyes in the plaza turned to him.

Originally, the Champ de Mars is not a dedicated space for demonstrations.

Upper-class citizens who came out for a stroll, middle-class citizens who came to sign, and lower-class citizens who came out in anger are mixed together.

However, there is an enemy that they all antagonize.

That is an aristocrat, especially a royalist.

A noble man who was watching the situation in a fancy outfit opened his mouth in surprise.

“Kill him!”

“W-wait a minute! I’m an aristocrat, but I’m not a royalist!”

“He’s the one who tried to make the king escape!”

Of course, he is a nobleman who came to see the Champ de Mars, not Count Fersen [a Swedish count and close friend of Marie Antoinette who orchestrated the royal family’s failed escape].

However, the crowd, already full of anger, heat, and explosive energy, could not stand it.

In an instant, thousands of people rushed in.

-Waaaa!

It happened before Eugène, or even Brissot and Danton, who were leading the demonstration, could do anything.

Récamier pulled Eugène, who was watching the scene in amazement.

If we stay in this place, even the spectators will be in danger.

“Terrible. Let’s go soon too.”

Eugène saw the unlucky nobleman.

He is being beaten to death in the crowd.

Even if he wanted to help, there was nothing Eugène could do now.

Eugène turned away with a frown.

“Yes.”

It seems that the riot itself cannot be stopped after all.

***

The Champ de Mars Massacre, a famous incident even in the original history.

“We have to stop it! Those rioters! Otherwise, they’ll push into the parliament!”

Members of the National Assembly were urgently summoned to the parliament in Paris.

Originally, the National Assembly was an organization established by citizens’ uprisings.

However, uncontrolled demonstrations are naturally a burden to the members.

In particular, the mayor of Paris, Bailly, the former chairman of the National Assembly, who is responsible for the safety of Paris, felt this acutely.

The biggest problem is that members of the Jacobin Club [a radical political club during the French Revolution] are at the forefront of the demonstration.

Paris Mayor Bailly gnashed his teeth and denounced them.

“Good heavens, Brissot is leading the way. Is he out of his mind? Danton is originally that kind of person, but!”

“Mayor Bailly. This is a problem that the mayor should solve! Disperse them, those people!”

Moderate Representative Brunier shouted.

“Shouldn’t we send out the National Guard! Where is General Lafayette!”

The total number of people gathered in the Mars Square is 20,000.

In the original history, as many as 50,000 gathered, so it is less than half of that.

Still, it is at least 20 times more than the number of National Assembly members.

Since the police force is not working properly, there is only one way to stop the crowd.

It’s the army.

The protection of Paris is naturally entrusted to the darling of the revolution, the National Guard led by Lafayette.

However, Antoine Barnave, a close aide to Lafayette and a member of the constitutional monarchy, stood up and announced.

“The general has resigned.”

“What? Why in this situation!”

“It is ostensibly his responsibility for not preventing Philippe Egalité [Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans], the Duke of Equality, from escaping. But in reality, it must be because of the guilt of catching the king.”

At that moment, one person stood up.

“We must go to the square and listen to their opinions.”

Everyone was silent for a moment.

Maximilien Robespierre, a hard-liner in the parliament, a Jacobin, and one of the leaders of the even more hard-line Montagnards [the most radical faction of the Jacobin club].

Everyone thought that he would soon rise to the leader of the parliament.

Especially after Mirabeau [an influential orator and statesman], who had been checking Robespierre at the beginning of the year, died.

But there is a problem.

The person leading the demonstration, especially Desmoulins, is Robespierre’s close aide.

With a very suspicious face, Paris Mayor Bailly opened his mouth and protested.

“Monsieur Robespierre, you speak so easily.”

“Mayor, what is important to us now is not restoring order, but listening to the opinions of the people. They are the people of France, and also the new sovereign. Think of the newly enacted constitution!”

“Who doesn’t know the law? I led the creation of that constitution! But!”

The man who led the famous Jeu de Paume Oath [a pivotal event during the early stages of the French Revolution], Paris Mayor Bailly, shouted.

“Isn’t the crowd in that square now shouting to depose the king!”

The crowd gathered in the Mars Square is shouting only one thing.

King’s abdication.

That doesn’t mean that all the problems facing revolutionary France will be solved.

However, it is clear that at least the crowd’s aimless anger has been concentrated into one demand.

Then Robespierre asked with a solemn face without a smile.

“Shouldn’t we depose him?”

“What?”

“Everyone here knows that the king planned to escape with the Austrian woman [a derogatory reference to Queen Marie Antoinette], right? It was just a matter of whether to carry it out or not. But!”

Pointing to the National Guard standing on one side of the parliament for security, Robespierre shouted.

“Didn’t our revolutionary soldier, Lazare Hoche, capture the scene where that man was trying to escape!”

Hoche, who was suddenly targeted, quickly lowered his head.

But everyone has already looked at Hoche.

In the age of revolution, soldiers do not only succeed with skill.

They will succeed when politicians, especially members of the revolutionary government, pay attention.

Conversely, if they receive attention, it is easy to fall into the abyss regardless of their skills.

Of course, Robespierre was just using Hoche, who was originally a friend from a reading club.

That word worked.

The members began to stir.

Maybe the king really tried to escape and was caught.

Bailly, flustered, protested.

“So we resolved to detain him and suspend his royal power! Recognizing the danger!”

“We must go one step further. Even for that, we must talk to these people!”

“Are you crazy? To overthrow the king? Who will rule next?”

Robespierre argued as if it were natural.

“The parliament governs the country by upholding the will of the people, Mayor! That’s how the ancient Greek citizens governed the country!”

It is now 1791.

Europe is still in an era where it is too natural and common sense for a king to rule.

Even England has a king with real power, and the country is run through parliament.

But to kill the king altogether and choose a republic from ancient Greece and Rome?

Just three years ago, it was a country where the king held absolute power.

It was difficult for even the revolutionaries in this place to accept.

Bailly trembled all over and shouted.

“Nonsense! Who is Lafayette’s successor?”

“Uh, General Dumouriez and General Kellermann are there. Both are waiting in Paris.”

“Dumouriez would be good! Tell him to suppress the rioters!”

Charles François Dumouriez.

Originally from a noble family, he was also active as the king’s secret agent during the reign of Louis XV.

However, when the revolution began, he saw it as an opportunity and immediately joined the revolutionary faction, the Jacobins.

Bailly judged that Dumouriez, who was from a noble family and did not care about the means, was the right person.

Because he would be a soldier who would suppress the citizens of Paris without any mercy.

Bailly, who is also the security manager as the mayor, shouted.

“You can use firearms!”

Even Robespierre was surprised by this statement, kicking his chair as he stood up.

Use of firearms.

That meant it was okay to kill.

A government established by a civic revolution killing its own citizens?

Robespierre, not yet a politician of terror, couldn’t imagine such a thing.

“You’re insane! Mayor Bailly, you’re making a mistake!”

However, Bailly responded by firmly ordering the security forces.

“You’re the one who made the mistake, Robespierre. Arrest him too!”

“Bailly!”

“Order must be maintained! That applies even during a revolution!”

Once, he was the very person who brought the king down from his throne at the Versailles Jeu de Paume [Tennis Court Oath] court.

As the former chairman of the National Assembly, he was responsible for leading the constitution and protecting the citizens of Paris.

With bloodshot eyes, Bailly made the decision to shed blood.

“Absolutely!”

Even if it meant killing all 20,000, he decided to protect the power of the National Assembly.

***

Once a protest gains momentum, even those who planned it cannot control it.

“The sovereignty of France resides in the people! The king’s escape is a crime, and we demand his abdication!”

Danton shouted loudly.

Blood had already been shed.

Only one aristocrat had died, but a person was dead.

The assembled crowd had already experienced three years of revolution and had clashed with the army in bloodshed.

Those who had occupied the Bastille square had risen up.

Danton was also unable to control them.

Danton judged that it was better to stand before this crowd in such a situation.

That’s why he was raising his voice even louder.

Of course, not all the crowd had a unified opinion.

People whispered among the crowd.

“But is it true that he was caught trying to escape?”

“No one saw it. It’s just a rumor.”

“Rumor or not! The king must abdicate!”

Moderates, centrists, hardliners.

All those positions were mixed together in the citizens gathered in the Champ de Mars [a large public space in Paris].

In fact, in the original history, it wasn’t such a complex composition, but a single anger dominated them.

Why?

Because the entire population of Paris saw the king being caught while trying to escape.

But now, Eugene had acted first.

Thanks to that, no one saw the scene of the king’s forced return.

That was the reason why the gathering, which originally would have been 50,000, or even 100,000, was reduced to less than 20,000.

However, even in a much more moderate situation than originally, the National Assembly made the worst decision.

One of the crowd discovered this worst decision and shouted in surprise.

“Hey, wait a minute! Aren’t those soldiers?”

Soldiers with bayonets attached to their muskets marched into the square in formation.

-Clack, clack, clack!

The commander leading the way on horseback was General Dumouriez.

Lafayette, who should have been in this position, had stepped down himself.

Thanks to that, Dumouriez had seized the opportunity.

In order not to miss this opportunity, Dumouriez threatened a strong response.

“In the name of the National Assembly! The crowd must disperse and return home! Otherwise, we will have no choice but to use force!”

Later, in the original history, Napoleon’s rise to power was similar to this.

He became a ‘star general’ while suppressing the rioting citizens of Paris.

So, it’s not wrong for Dumouriez to see it as an opportunity.

In any case, in the chaotic period of the revolution, everyone, whether politicians, citizens, or soldiers, valued the force that would maintain order.

However, there is something Dumouriez doesn’t know.

It was still 1791, a time when the flames of revolution were only getting stronger.

In short, the citizens are not afraid of guns.

Immediately, a moderate man among the hardliners, Camille Desmoulins, was furious and stepped forward.

“Force! This Desmoulins will gladly take a bullet! How can the people’s army aim a gun at the citizens!”

The revolutionaries, who had been hesitant for a moment, especially Danton and Brissot, joined in and stepped forward.

“That’s right! How can the people’s army shoot the people!”

“Dare! Has the Assembly become the king’s henchman?”

“That’s right! Let’s go to the Assembly! Let’s bring down the traitors! This Desmoulins will lead the way!”

At once, the crowd was also furious and stepped forward.

“Let’s drive out the betraying army!”

Dumouriez, embarrassed, pulled his horse back and hurriedly ordered.

“Shoot, shoot!”

If it were an era with tear gas, they would have used tear gas to suppress them.

However, at the end of the 18th century, the only physical force to suppress an excited crowd was gunpowder.

Perhaps it’s a more moderate method than bayonets.

Nevertheless, a gun is a gun.

-Tatatang!

The surprised soldiers fired in unison.

In the crowd hit by bullets, the ranks broke, and people fell bleeding.

The citizens screamed.

“Ugh!”

“Gu, guns! They shot!”

“Blo, blood, blood!”

Danton, with bloodshot eyes, grabbed a citizen who had fallen bleeding.

“Kill! Those traitors!”

Clearly, Danton was encouraged to come to this place.

He also incited the citizens for his own political ambitions.

But this blood is real.

Now, the citizens’ army is trying to kill the citizens.

The excited citizens rushed out with Danton.

On the other hand, Dumouriez’s army was embarrassed and flustered.

An order is needed.

Will they retreat?

Or will they stab and kill them with bayonets?

Just as Dumouriez was about to grit his teeth and issue an advance order.

-Bang!

Everyone stopped at the sudden loud noise.

At the same time, a man rode a horse between the citizens and the army.

The explosion happened behind the man.

Someone must have detonated gunpowder strongly.

But neither the citizens in the square, nor the army, nor anyone else realized that fact.

Because the man who came running on a white horse was someone completely unexpected.

It was Lafayette, who until recently was the commander of the National Guard.

“I’m late, too late.”

Lafayette, on his white horse, looked at Dumouriez with a heavy face as he saw the blood.

“General Dumouriez, this is not right.”

“General Lafayette? Why are you here? I heard you resigned and went back to your hometown?”

“I heard the news and rushed here. This, this is not right.”

Suddenly, Lafayette turned his gaze to the National Guard army.

“National Guardsmen, we are soldiers to protect the people. Not soldiers to punish the people.”

The soldiers, trembling with excitement, fear, and agitation, watched Lafayette.

What they feared was not just the crowd.

The soldiers were also trembling at the fact that they might have to kill 20,000 citizens.

Dumouriez, a general with quite a bit of combat experience, noticed that fact.

It is difficult to issue an assault order as it is now.

Lafayette desperately said to Dumouriez, who was frowning.

“Please, I hope you will step back now. I will try to persuade the people.”

At that moment, Danton shouted from behind, holding a bleeding citizen.

“Blood has been shed! Lafayette! The price for this!”

Again, the citizens began to get excited.

The soldiers, who had been about to step back for a moment, readjusted their guns.

Just as a series of clashes were about to occur, Lafayette jumped off his horse and grabbed the fallen corpse.

“Do we have to shed blood again!”

The shout echoed throughout the Champ de Mars stage, chairs, and area.

As befitting a general who once commanded an army in the vast New World, Lafayette had a very good voice.

Even if that’s not the case, Lafayette is desperate now.

To prevent the bloodshed in front of him from turning into a disaster.

Perhaps because he had to prevent the massacre that he might have had to bear.

“Everyone, I fought against the oppressors in the New World! I fought a war, and I saw countless people die! They were all the same people who spoke English, but they fought because of the king’s orders!”

Those words have power because they are the words of someone who fought for the citizens.

“Today, should we, the French people, fight each other, shed blood, and die countless times? Absolutely not!”

Absolutely no [civil war].

The French soldiers must not massacre the citizens.

The citizens must not kill the French soldiers, who are also citizens.

Just a year ago, the citizens of Paris held a festival in this Champ de Mars.

It was a festival celebrating the success of the revolution.

But should we hold a massacre in this place, making the memory of that festival pale?

Everyone was thinking about that in their heated minds.

Lafayette did not miss that gap and shouted loudly.

“I will hold the king accountable! Also, I will hold the Assembly accountable for this blood! So, trust me and step back!”

At that moment, there was a shout from somewhere.

“Long live General Lafayette!”

It was Marceau, Eugene’s subordinate, who was hiding in the crowd.

It’s clearly just incitement.

But this incitement coincided with what the crowd was thinking.

The crowd shouted in unison.

“General Lafayette is the hero of the people! Protect the people! Army, step back!”

“Long live! We will follow Lafayette!”

“Waaaaa!”

In that shout, there was nothing Dumouriez could do.

Dumouriez lowered his head and gestured.

The National Guard began to step back in unison.

As if to protect the citizens, Lafayette stood in front of the crowd.

On the other hand, Danton, Brissot, and Desmoulins were dumbfounded as they watched the scene.

It’s not the kind of picture that the revolutionary hardliners wanted.

Of course, it was even less of a sight that the suppression faction wanted.

Suddenly, there were eyes watching that scene from a very far distance with a [telescope].

“It’s easier than I thought. Monsieur Beauharnais.”

It was Eugene de Beauharnais.

Although he is still a boy, the one who called Eugene now called him [Monsieur] [French for ‘Mister’].

It was an acknowledgment that Eugene was not just a simple child, but an adult worthy of being treated as an equal.

On the other hand, Eugene glanced back at a man who was hiding with him on the wall of the Champ de Mars.

Fouché, the man who spread rumors to the people and did the preliminary work to make Lafayette a hero.

That work has manifested as a result today.

Eugene smiled and replied.

“No, the real problem starts after this. Because the time of the Assembly will begin.”

It was Robespierre who caused the riot.

It was Mayor Bailly who moved the army.

But it was Eugene who spread the rumors in advance, sent Lafayette at this time, and, above all, detonated the explosives to stop everyone.

This gamble surrounding the Champ de Mars.

Eugene has won.

Eugene’s eyes shone as he looked at Lafayette, who was standing on the square in front of the white horse, the corpse, and the crowd.

“Now that General Lafayette has become the hero of the people, it’s time to start the next game.”

Prevent the execution of the king and the advent of the Reign of Terror.

And thus, protect the princess.

Eugene’s gamble, the time was coming for the next game to begin.