Chapter 382 Contradictions and Greater Contradictions

Chapter 383 Contradictions and Greater Contradictions

These nobles had all played a "walk-on" role in the previous street confrontations, so they would not have been detained for too long.

More than 30 people came out of the prison in Reims, and their family members and servants who had been waiting for them for a long time immediately gathered around them. Some shouted loudly, some asked for help, and some cried. Then they dragged their prodigal son towards the stop. Go in the carriage outside.

However, those young nobles all clamored to wait until after the public trial the day after tomorrow before returning to the Palace of Versailles.

Yes, a prison guard told them yesterday that a public trial of the Southern Netherlands spies would be held on the 17th of this month.

How could they, already filled with righteous indignation in prison, miss this?

What followed was another burst of angry rebuke or pleading from family members and servants.

The noble young men angrily told them how they had been deceived by spies from the South Netherlands and were preparing to come to Reims to defend the rights of the nobles, but were accidentally arrested by the police.

"How dare they lie to me! I have to watch those guys hang!"

Someone shouted loudly, which immediately caused a burst of agreement:

"Yes, I can't just leave with humiliation!"

"I'm going to hit them with rocks like civilians do!"

"I even want to hang them myself..."

The story that the Southern Netherlands sent a large number of spies to incite French peasants to revolt soon spread throughout France, causing an uproar.

The newspapers are full of news about this matter, as well as notices of the public trials of spies in Reims, Lille and Paris on the 17th of this month - according to the instructions of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, all news that has nothing to do with the "espionage case", news The Publication Bureau will not approve it for the time being to ensure that public opinion is directed in the same direction.

There are many versions of the story of the Southern Netherlands spies circulating in the market, describing in vivid detail how the spies planned and how they were eventually discovered and arrested by the heroic intelligence service.

Of course, these were also written by novelists organized by the Intelligence Service - including the literary giant Beaumarchais, who once worked for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince - to write the manuscript overnight. The plot is guaranteed to be tightly linked, with endless suspense and reversals, and focuses on depicting the sinister intentions and hateful ugly faces of the Southern Netherlands spies to disrupt France.

For a time, everyone in the streets was talking about the evil spy. No matter whether they were nobles or civilians, they were all furious and denounced the shamelessness and sinisterness of the Southern Netherlands people.

The land redemption policy, which caused a stir in the city a while ago, has been temporarily forgotten by people.

Most of the peasants who made trouble stayed at home, worried that they would be accused of treason, and no one went to protest. Now, mass protests have been equated with espionage and incitement. Who dares to go now? come to grief?

As for the nobles, when they met and greeted each other, they would first curse each other for being a South Dutchman, or "cry" that their son had been deceived by spies and was caught by the police in the northwestern provinces. This has almost become a kind of political correctness in Versailles.

The entire France's condemnation of the Southern Netherlands spies reached its climax on the 17th.

In the square outside the Paris High Court, there were five to six thousand onlookers gathered. Some nobles even paid tens of livres to buy "seats" from civilians who had good seats in order to watch from the front.

When forty members of the Southern Netherlands "Committee of Free Alliances" were taken to the hut in the corner of the square, the crowd of onlookers immediately burst into a tsunami-like roar:

"Hang these wretches!"

"They are the ones who brought chaos to France! Death penalty!"

"My sister died in the riots in Lille, and it was them who did it! Spies in the Southern Netherlands must go to hell!"

"Declare war on the Southern Netherlands and let them repent with blood!"

Someone next to him immediately reminded him in a low voice that France had already declared war on the Southern Netherlands rebels and had achieved two major victories.

The man who shouted to declare war immediately changed his tune and shouted: "Long live His Majesty the King! Crush those rebels!"

Soon, the public trial began.

The officials of the High Court first read out the charges of the dozens of spies one by one, as well as the evidence collected.

The Intelligence Bureau successfully completed the task assigned by Joseph this time and obtained a large amount of evidence that the "committee" incited the riot. The pile of letters, documents and current account details was more than half a meter thick.

Of course, some of them were "copied" by Fouche, but in this case no one would actually verify the authenticity of the evidence.

Amid the roars of the onlookers, a large number of witnesses came on stage one by one, such as farmers who had received subsidies from the "Committee" or French liberals who incited the riots to testify against the Southern Dutchmen standing in the dock.

Then the family members of the riot victims showed up, tearfully complaining about the tragedy caused by the spies and asking the judge to severely sentence these spies.

The entire trial process lasted from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and only about ten people were tried. Officials of the High Court immediately announced that the trial would continue tomorrow.

The crowd surrounded the High Court and cursed angrily for more than half an hour before gradually dispersing.

…

Second floor of the Tuileries Palace.

In the Industrial Planning Bureau office, Venio was blowing a rainbow fart to Joseph with great excitement:

"Your Highness, as you said, the riots in various places disappeared overnight. Some farmers who participated in the riots even went to the police station to surrender. You are truly the embodiment of wisdom and strategy, a person blessed by God!"

Brian kept nodding his head: "When the conflict between two people is so big that they can never reach an agreement, only a bigger conflict can make them forget their previous differences and face the common enemy together.

"Your Highness, how did you come up with such a wonderful idea? Your mind always makes me almost crazy with envy. "

Joseph smiled and signaled them to stop: "You came to me, didn't you just want to talk about this?"

The two looked at each other, and Brian said carefully: "Your Highness, the riots in the northwestern provinces have indeed been temporarily quelled, but you know that both peasants and nobles are waiting for the land redemption plan.

"The Southern Netherlands spy incident will be over sooner or later, and their attention will turn back to this. Although there shouldn't be any more major chaos after the spy incident, people's dissatisfaction will always erupt one day, so..."

Joseph immediately nodded very seriously: "You are right, then the day after the public trial, officially announce the land redemption plan."

Brian paused and said with a bitter face: "Your Highness, but we still don't have a plan that can satisfy everyone."

Joseph smiled: "Just follow the revision suggestions I gave you last time, and announce it after the revision."

"You mean, let the farmers redeem the land output for 8 years, and the annual tribute method?"

"That's right."