King's Landing in France

Chapter 84 How to Solve the Fiscal Crisis Quickly and Economically

That night, the French king's family was escorted back to Paris by the National Guard and lived in the Tuileries Palace.

The people who surrounded the Palace of Versailles also escorted the King's National Self-Defense Forces, and returned to the city in a mighty manner.

The king went to the city, and the gentlemen of the National Assembly spent the evening discussing what to do with themselves, and finally decided to move into the city.

So Lafayette sent someone to clean up the royal equestrian field next to the Tuileries Palace, captured all the horses and found another place to raise them, shoveled the horse manure, and asked a carpenter to make a whole set of stepped stands. Transformed into a meeting place.

When he went to this new venue for the first time, Danton complained all morning, saying that he smelled of horse manure.

An Ning actually smelled a little bit, but he has experienced the test of a university dormitory and can quickly ignore the smell of the surrounding environment.

Without this skill, there is no way to survive in the boys' dormitory.

At the end of October, the National Assembly was finally settled in the former royal equestrian grounds.

At the first meeting in the new venue, the topic was a hot topic: how to solve the current financial crisis in France.

Although the "Declaration of Human Rights" was revolutionized, feudal privileges were promulgated and abolished, and although the people in Paris were appeased by the bumper harvest of grain, the financial crisis in France was not alleviated.

France is already in debt of 4 billion livres, and the treasury simply cannot afford to pay the debt.

What's worse, now that according to the August decree, the peasants have completely ended their feudal obligations and no longer have to bear various exorbitant taxes, they simply don't pay any taxes at all.

Not only did farmers not pay taxes, but many urban civilians also refused to pay the old taxes and fees, and did not recognize the "legacy" of these old systems.

The result is a huge France that cannot be taxed at all.

Now the national self-defense army's military salary basically depends on the sponsorship of big nobles and big businessmen. In cities and towns outside Paris, the local self-defense army cannot pay the military salary one after another.

What is even worse is the situation of the original kingdom's army, because the kingdom has been completely shut down, and these troops have not been paid for a long time.From time to time news of mutiny of soldiers reached Paris.

An Ning even received a letter from Napoleon. In the letter, the young second lieutenant complained that he was paid less in the army than before, only the basic salary, and he had to spend extra money to mend the military uniform.

If the financial problem is not resolved, the new constitutional monarchy of France will die in its infancy, and it will not even wait for the promulgation of the first constitutional monarchy.

Therefore, the representatives of the National Assembly had to interrupt the original constitutional issue and discuss how to solve the financial crisis.

Lawyer Barnave was the first to speak - he gained considerable reputation for supporting the violent revolution after the revolution, and now he is one of the most important figures in the parliament, second only to Mirabeau and Mounier.

Barnave stood on the brand-new podium, supported the freshly painted railings of the podium with both hands, and shouted loudly: "To solve the financial crisis, there is the simplest solution! Let all the great nobles here, and Great merchants, bankers, generous!
"You have so much property, naturally you should take more responsibility!"

There was booing from the delegates.

Great aristocrats, great merchants and bankers expressed their opposition in this straightforward way.

But Barnaf did not back down: "I think a one-time patriotic bond should be issued! It can be subscribed by everyone based on the principle of voluntariness and equality. As long as a bond with a face value of one billion livres is issued, we can completely solve our financial problems. difficulty!"

"Whimsical!" A potbellied representative immediately stood up and refuted, "One billion livres, do you think this is a small amount? Are you going to let us go bankrupt?"

Barnave still did not back down: "The problem now is that the army can't even pay for the army! You have also seen the Versailles march in October. It was done by the people who were too hungry. Think about it. What will the soldiers who can't get through it do! In fact, the news of soldiers' mutiny can be heard all the time recently!"

After Barnave finished speaking, the fierce opposition just now suddenly dropped.

The rich people looked at each other, obviously they all thought of a terrible thing.

Barnave continued: "Do you want to see soldiers rushing to loot your property? Angry people can stab the Marquis of Delaunay in the streets with spears, and angry soldiers can do the same! Which of you Want to parade in that form? Is it you? Or you? Or is it you?"

Barnave called several people in succession, but no one dared to take over.

For a moment, the entire equestrian field—the former equestrian field fell into silence.

Barnave was very proud: "Yes, that's it, none of us want things to become like that. So I propose to vote for the issuance of patriotic bonds!"

Speaker Mounier stood up: "Is there any objection? If there is no objection, the vote will begin now."

Half an hour later, the voting results came out.

More than half of MPs disagreed with the sale of patriotic bonds.

Banav thumped the railing of the podium angrily: "You will regret it! When you are sent to the gallows by the rebels, you will definitely regret it!"

With that said, he stepped off the stage indignantly and returned to his seat.

At this time, a figure in a black priest's uniform stood up and signaled for the speaker to speak.

At first, An Ning didn't pay much attention to this person.

People wearing black in the parliament are generally conservatives, mainly a group of die-hard priests and minor nobles. Almost all of them are dressed in black, so they want the black party.

Generally, these black-clad people stand up and speak, they are all the same as the third, and they are nothing more than a different method to fight for the lost feudal power.

Some priests of the Black Party even advocate the restoration of tithes, which can be said to be extremely reactionary.

But after seeing clearly who the man in black was, An Ning immediately recovered.

This man is Talleyrand.

An Ning reckoned that this chameleon was about to make his shocking proposal that betrayed his class.

Standing on the brand-new podium, Talleyrand touched the new paint on the armrest with both hands and said slowly: "Actually, there is another good solution to the financial crisis. Rather, the ready-made solution to the financial crisis is in the There it is, why didn't gentlemen think of it?"

Talleyrand looked around the room.

Someone shouted unconvinced: "Don't brag, can you still make money out of thin air?"

"Although I can't make money out of thin air, I can tell you where you can get money." Talleyrand said slowly, and then glanced at the leader of the black party, Father Molière, "The church has accumulated hundreds of years. A lot of wealth, as long as we confiscate the wealth of the church, the financial crisis will be solved."

A burst of noise erupted in the venue immediately.

Father Molière of the Black Party stood up directly and said angrily, "What are you talking about? Talleyrand, you traitor to the church! Are you worthy of the church's kindness in nurturing you?"

Talleyrand shrugged: "The church is indeed kind to me, but now that I am a member of the National Assembly, France is in danger, and I have to stand up!"

An Ning is convinced, this is the real leader of the fence-sitting faction, look at how righteous the sentence "France is in danger" is.

When An Ning was overwhelmed, the whole hall was full of noise, with various voices.

At this moment, Mirabeau stood up and suppressed all the arguments with a thick voice: "Everyone! I think this is a good way! According to the principles of our constitution, natural human rights, everyone is equal, the church Privileges will be permanently abolished!

"In the future, France should have a brand-new, nationalized religion, just like the Anglican Church, priests no longer need those luxurious robes and gold and silver instruments, all can be confiscated!

"There are also church properties, as well as those churches that are too big for people, all of which can be nationalized.

"In this way, France will get billions or even tens of billions of wealth, enough to support us to establish a new tax system!"

Mirabeau's voice fell, and the noise rose again, everyone was expressing their views on this explosive statement.

Only peace, keep quiet.

Dandong was having a lively discussion with others, but suddenly noticed that An Ning hadn't spoken, so he leaned over and asked, "Why don't you express your opinion?"

An Ning curled her lips: "The confiscation of the church's property can indeed solve the financial crisis temporarily, but...in the long run, it may lead to the division of the church, and even lead to rebellion."

An Ning actually read the script and directly spoiled it.

But Danton sounds like this is a look into the future.

Danton: "No... As for this?"

"Why not? Think about it, in backward areas, such as the Vendée, the priest of the church is the organizer of the local community life, and the priest is very prestigious among the local farmers. Now you have to copy What will the peasants do with the houses of these priests?"

Danton pursed his lips, lost in thought.

Robespierre who was next to him also turned his head and said to An Ning: "You say it like this, indeed...but there is no other better way to solve the financial problem. We can't just take advantage of it. Fortunately, it is only the farmers' The rebellion should soon be suppressed by the National Guard."

An Ning looked at Robespierre: "Then what if the farmers get help from the UK from the sea?"

Robespierre was also silent.

An Ning sighed: "However, you are right. Now there is no solution to the financial crisis except expropriation of the church's property. I agree with the expropriation of the church's property."

Later in the day, after heated discussions, parliament voted 568 in favor to 346 against to pass a bill that would expropriate church property across the board.

As an incidental to the expropriation of the church property, the parliament also decided to take back the Pope's two enclaves in France, Avignon and Conta-Fernessen.

No one expected that it was this decision that ignited the smoke of the civil war.

(End of this chapter)