Although the king's escape was just a farce, it completely changed the situation of the country. Before this, although some people in society, such as Mara, were trying hard to attack the king, the moderate faction obviously had the upper hand in the parliament. Especially after the king took the oath to the Constitution, this was even more so. In fact, at that time, even the radical Robespierre and Danton were shouting long live to Louis XVI. At that time, the difference between radical and moderate was just technical differences, such as whether the priests should be allowed to swear allegiance to the country, and whether democratic elections should be used to select bishops or something. But after Louis XVI's escape, the situation suddenly changed.

After discovering the king fled, Lafayette immediately announced that the king was kidnapped by the "enemy of the country". This statement once deceived many people. However, not long after, people found a letter left by the king in the palace. In that letter, the king claimed that he was kidnapped to Paris. After July 1789, all the documents he signed were forced and therefore invalid.

When the letter was discovered, Lafayette was arranging to "rescue" the king and other things to prepare for the aftermath. (In fact, he did not expect that they could even capture the king). So there was no time to block the news, and in a blink of an eye, the matter of the letter became well known. Although Lafayette strongly claimed that the letter was forged and written by the king's kidnappers. However, this explanation immediately lost any persuasion after the king and his party returned to Paris. Because in the team where the king fled, there was only one groom except the king, which showed that the king was not coerced at all!

However, the mystery of politics is often lying with your eyes open. Although you know that the king is opposed to revolution and constitutionalism in his heart, it is still in their interests to maintain constitutionalism. Therefore, these people pretend not to know that the king is against revolution and does not know that the king is against constitutionalism, and continue to support constitutionalism and safeguard the king.

But the king's prestige among the people was completely destroyed by this matter. The angry people smashed all kinds of things related to the royal family. The things related to iris (the symbol of the Bourbon dynasty) on the street were either smashed or covered with things. Because most members of the parliament still supported the constitutional monarchy, the people at the bottom turned their anger of unsatisfactory life to them. In their opinion, these people were in a slew of collusion with the king and oppressed the people. It was because of these people that after the revolution, the people's lives did not improve even a little.

This anger has always been there. It is only for two reasons that this anger has hidden like magma. The first of these two reasons is their expectations for the National Assembly. At that time, they believed that the National Assembly could represent their interests and were speaking for them. As long as they wait patiently, good days will definitely come. However, this patience has been constantly consumed during this period.

In the 1791 Constitution passed by the parliament, French citizens are divided into "active citizens" and "negative citizens" according to different property conditions. (The law stipulates that only those who pay taxes a certain amount have the right to vote and the right to be elected, and are active citizens. In a sense, this is to restrict the rights of citizens based on property.) Just a few days before the king fled, the parliament just passed the famous "Leshabalière Act". According to this law, workers are strictly prohibited from organizing trade unions and holding strikes. Violators are fined 500 livres, deprived of their rights for one year, and the leader is fined 1,000 livres, and sentenced to 3 months in prison.

These laws not only did not protect the interests of the lowest class, but instead increased their constraints on them, which naturally quickly consumed the confidence of the lower class people in them.

As for the second reason, these people lack leaders.

However, the king's escape solved both problems. The previous actions of the National Assembly, coupled with the impact of the king's escape incident, greatly reduced the status of the parliament in the hearts of the people at the bottom. It can be said that the National Assembly today has lost the trust of the people at the bottom.

After the king's escape, the demonstrations of the lower class people also gave some radical parliamentarians new opportunities. They keenly noticed that once they stood on the lower class people, they would get a lot of political resources. Brisso, Bonneville and Condorcet publicly stated that France should consider adopting a republic.

As a result, there were more and more things.

However, these messy things did not seem to affect Joseph and Napoleon. On the contrary, because the possibility of war was increasing, their affairs became more hasty. The newly established troops were lined up to conduct confrontation exercises with them. During these exercises, Napoleon used various sneak attacks and ambushings more than once to defeat them. So much so that Napoleon, who was just a second lieutenant, was famous among the National Self-Defense Forces in Paris.

But soon, something unexpected disrupted Joseph's work again.

On the 16th, the Parliament officially announced that the king and queen were innocent and that they were kidnapped. Of course, the Parliament also pretended to declare that they would severely punish those "hijacking".

Such a decision angered the men. On the 17th, led by some Republican figures, a group of men went to the God of War Square near the City Hall to demonstrate. There, they were suppressed by the National Self-Defense Forces led by Lafayette, with heavy casualties.

In response, Lafayette explained that the thugs first launched an attack on the National Self-Defense Forces that maintained order. The thugs hung red flags on the city hall and fired after warning them three times. (According to the previous law passed by the parliament, the city hall needed to display the red flag before quelling the riots, and then issued three warnings before using lethal force.) But the republicans and the uninhibited trousers accused Lafayette of lying. According to their statement, the National Self-Defense Force commanded by Lafayette only hung the red flag, and then fired at the crowd without even one warning.

Since the gun has been fired, continue to suppress it.

Lafayette announced in parliament that the trousers were thugs, and behind them were conspirators. The conspirators were the guys of the Cordelier Club. So the parliament passed a warrant for several important members of the Cordelier Club, including Danton and De Mullant. Danton immediately escaped from Paris after receiving the news. In terms of his escape skills, he was much better than Louis XVI, so he ran to England smoothly. De Mullant also found a place to hide.

In fact, because the police system has not been restored yet, the effect of hunting is actually very limited.

On the surface, Lafayette seemed to have the upper hand, but these actions greatly affected his reputation. Especially in the National Self-Defense Forces, there were a large number of sympathizers of the Cordelier Club. Soon, even in the National Self-Defense Forces, opposing Lafayette was heard. This voice greatly shook Lafayette's status. Although his allies, Dubol, Banav and Lamer, were not very different from Lafayette in terms of political views, they were also happy to see that Lafayette's status was damaged. After that, a series of actions by the parliament were actually completed under their auspices, but people believed that Lafayette was manipulating all this. So soon, Lafayette's fame changed from a hero to an executioner and a conspirator.

Fame is really weird. Sometimes, flawless reputation is fragile than flawless paper. This is also an example of what Mr. Mark Twain encountered when he was running for governor.

One afternoon after the incident in the War God Square, when Joseph was about to leave work, he happened to meet Lafayette who had returned from outside. Lafayette was exhausted. Seeing Joseph, he called him over and told him: "Tomorrow night, the club will have an important meeting. I hope you can attend too."

Joseph knew that the "club" Lafayette referred to as "Jacobian Club". Now, after moving to Paris, the "Brittany Club" set up the club's location in the Jacobin Monastery and officially renamed the "Friends of the Constitutional Club".

Regarding the activities of Jacobin Club, Joseph has always been able to hide as far as he can. What's more, in such a chaotic time, so he hurriedly said that he was very busy and had very important things and could not attend this meeting.

"Is it the army's business?" Lafayette asked with a frown. This was a common reason why Joseph was absent from the club.

Joseph immediately replied, "No, it's my personal business." Because he knew that if it was because of official business, then Lafayette, his immediate boss, would definitely order him to give up all kinds of official business for the time being.

Then he asked: "General, can I ask, what important things are in the club that require members like me who rarely go to appear?"

"The club must re-election to elect a new club president. Can't you take some time if you have any personal matters?" Lafayette replied.

At this time, the Jacobin Club was not a radical organization. However, the radical voices in the club are no longer small. Especially recently, this is even more so. Many of the voices made by the club are no longer in line with Lafayette. But for Lafayette, this club is an important tool for him to gain political influence and cannot be given up easily. Perhaps Lafayette hopes to clean up the Jacobin Club through this election.
Chapter completed!