Fox of France

　　　　 At almost the same time, in the Palace of Versailles not far away, King Louis XVI was talking about similar topics with his queen.

　　 "Your Majesty, do you know that someone is already publicly advocating rebellion?" asked his queen Marie Antoinette, staring at her husband with wide beautiful eyes.

　　 "In Royal Palace, on a certain day no one preached rebellion?" Louis XVI replied disapprovingly.

Queen Mary glared at her husband, and then said: "Mr. Lavoisier's nephew has also become a traitor! He staged a drama inciting rebellion in Royal Palace, propagating rebellion! Especially that The song in it is not just propagating rebellion, it is even blaspheming the spirit-don't you want to care at all?

"What do you want me to do? Order a ban on performances and let them be arrested?" Louis XVI asked, "Now the whole Paris is in a mess, and there are rumors everywhere. If we do this, it will easily lead to It’s a real riot."

　　 "Isn't the present situation a real riot?" Queen Mary asked unwaveringly.

　　 "At least they haven't attacked Versailles with weapons yet." Louis XVI replied.

　　 "You are a king, how can you say such a thing!" Queen Mary was enraged by her husband's weak answer.

"Queen, we have to face the reality." Louis XVI lowered his head, and seemed to be a little ashamed of his situation. "The police system in Paris has basically been paralyzed, and because of financial problems, the army has been there for a long time. They have not received the military pay anymore. They are also very dissatisfied with the kingdom, so they have become less reliable. Moreover, the army near Paris has been infiltrated by those who oppose us, and now we cannot count on them. What's the matter, it's really hard to tell who their guns are facing. It's that the troops of other provinces are a little more reliable. What are we doing to suppress these rebels now?"

　　 "What about the mercenaries? What about the Swiss, those Germans? They took our money, don't they work? And there are more reliable troops from the provinces?"

　　 "The mercenaries and more reliable armies are not fully in place. Now they can only be used to protect us, not enough to calm the situation."

　　 "Then how long will it take them to be fully in place?"

"It's hard to tell, because first, we need money, and second, we can't move too fast, or we're urging them to rebel. They really started, and our existing strength can't stand it. "Yes." Louis XVI said hesitantly.

　　 "So, if we stay in Paris now, we are going to become hostages?" the queen asked again.

　　 "Not so much, but our power here does not prevail." Louis XVI said with a sigh.

　　 "Then what are we doing here? Why don't we go where our power has the upper hand? We go to other provinces, where our power has the upper hand. Why should we stay here?"

"Because once we leave, it means that a civil war will definitely break out." Louis XVI said embarrassingly, "Even if we are the winner in the end, our country has been destroyed by the civil war. So, in order to avoid civil war, At least to avoid a devastating civil war, we must stay in Versailles now."

　　 "But, what can we do in Versailles?" Queen Mary asked.

　　 "First stabilize them, and then slowly transfer our strength." Louis XVI said, "We have to paralyze them, not let them despair immediately. Until our strength is concentrated, forming an advantage."

　　 "Maybe..." the queen said, "maybe, if there is anything, I can contact my family."

　　 "It hasn't reached this point yet. It's not needed for the time being." Louis XVI said, "Even the normal communication between you and your family should be careful not to increase or decrease."

　　 "This is ridiculous!" the queen said, "Is there anyone who wants to check our letters?"

　　 "I'm not talking about this. But the messengers who go out from Versailles will be noticed by interested people. Then, there may be rumors." Louis XVI frowned.

"Rumors," Queen Mary sneered. "Can rumors be eliminated by such actions? No, because rumors need no basis at all. On the contrary, my Majesty, the more you indulge it, the more powerful it will be. I I think you should issue an edict now that the drama is deemed sacrilegious and its performance is forbidden. If you just give in, they will do whatever they want, and soon they will grow to the point where we can’t tolerate it. So, if you really If you want to procrastinate, don’t indulge them too much."

　　 However, Louis XVI just shook his head.

　　 "Your Majesty, if you continue to indulge in these behaviors, even the church will be disappointed in you." Felson, who had been standing by and silent, also said.

　　 "Then, order a ban on performances. But don't enforce it." Louis XVI thought for a while and said.

　　 "If it is not enforced, it is better not to order." The queen said, "If an order is issued but not implemented, it will only make others look down on us even more, and even encourage them to commit further chaos."

"If it is enforced, what if there is a conflict?" Louis XVI asked, "We sent the Swiss Guards around us to suppress them? We don't have enough power to suppress them. Once a conflict occurs, then Only then will our weakness be truly exposed! So now, my queen, we must avoid any direct conflict. Even if we have to endure the humiliation like Henry IV."

　　 Henry IV was the emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in the 11th century. Because of his struggle with the power of the Holy See, he was expelled from the Church by the then Pope Gregory VII. At that time, the interior of the Holy Roman Empire was unstable. After Henry IV was expelled from the church, theoretically all his subordinates were also relieved of allegiance to him. Some domestic princes, led by Duke Rudolph, declared that if Henry IV could not be forgiven by the pope, they would not recognize his monarchy.

　　 Under internal and external troubles, Henry IV had to bow his head to the pope. He took the queen and prince to the Canossa Castle where the pope was staying to confess to the pope, hoping that the pope would withdraw his edict to expel him. He and his wife stood in the snow for three days and three nights before they were summoned by the Pope. After being humiliated by the Pope, he was pardoned by the Pope. Later Henry IV finally put down the civil strife, and then led the army into Rome, expelled Pope Gregory VII, and set up another pseudo-pope, which can be regarded as revenge for Canossa.

　　 Now Louis XVI mentions this story, which is to hope that everyone can take Henry IV as an example, resist the momentary humiliation, and hope for the future. So, after hearing this, everyone stopped talking.

After a while, the queen said: "If this is the case, then we should just pretend that we don't know anything. I have heard people say that one thing is either not done or done to the end. If we do not act, then the king Your Majesty at least seems mysterious. If we act, but act weak, then it will be looked down upon."

　　 Louis XVI nodded quickly and said: "I think what the queen said makes sense."

　　 "But, Your Majesty." The queen suddenly said in a mocking tone, "I think everyone should have their own bottom line. I have always been curious, and have always wanted to see, Your Majesty, where is your bottom line?"

　　……

　　Although the king did not make the decision to ban "Spartacus", the rumor that "Spartacus" will be banned soon continues to spread. In the beginning, these rumors only said that the king would ban the performance of the play, and then said that the king has issued a Miza~www.readwn.com~ to arrest the author and all the actors, and then all the people who dare to participate Actors who perform in this play will be expelled from education...In short, various rumors are constantly being updated and new ones are dizzying.

　　 At this moment, Aman showed some wisdom like his uncle. He treated these rumors as free advertisements. Taking advantage of these rumors, he took the opportunity to publicize: "This may be the last performance. If you don't watch it again, you won't see it!"

　　 It is like Adam and Eve have no resistance to the temptation of the "forbidden fruit". The children and grandchildren of Adam and Eve are always very enthusiastic when facing things with words like "forbidden". Therefore, the gimmick of "being banned soon" is indeed very useful. Nowadays, every performance of Dragon and Rose Troupe is full, and some other troupes have followed suit. For this reason, the blasphemous "Slave's Battle Hymn" spread throughout Paris.

　　 At the beginning, when such rumors came out, the actors in the troupe were still a little nervous, but the full performance effect brought them more income. Especially in an environment where food prices are rising wildly, these incomes are even more convincing. So now, those actors have fallen in love with all kinds of rumors, and they even create all kinds of rumors on their own to attract more audiences. For example, rumors that certain actors have been attacked by unknown people are constantly being created from them.

Because during this period of time, various large and small conflicts occurred in Paris. A few days ago, even the French Guards and the German Dragoons also fought. There are more and more rumors that the king intends to massacre the citizens of Paris. It's popular. Many people believed the rumors that Amon and the others had created.