Descending On France 1780
Chapter 114: The Lion of Bastille 108, who is it?

Chapter 114: The Lion of Bastille 108, who is it?

On the morning of July 14th, Revolution Square was already crowded with a large number of citizens.

At eight o’clock, Lafayette’s National Guard entered the square and cordoned off a large area in the middle for the ceremony.

By nine o’clock, the number of citizens had increased even further, with a dense crowd filling the space outside the boundary set by the Self-Defense Army.

At this time, Andy also arrived at Revolution Square with his troops. Some people in the crowd recognized Andy riding at the front and shouted, "It’s the hero of Versailles!"

Immediately, someone corrected them, "Idiot, not the hero of Versailles, but the hero of the Bastille, the Battlefield Magician from Conte!"

Andy pretended not to hear the voices of the crowd, but his expression betrayed him: In fact, he quite enjoyed being lauded by the public.

According to the plan, Andy’s troops were scheduled to participate in the parade later on. The unit he had brought back from Conte had already undergone seven days of drill training, focusing solely on marching in four-column formations.

As for the Guards Cavalry Group that had just been placed under Andy’s command, their usual training was mainly ceremonial processions, so they did not require much additional drilling.

The various army units participating in the parade gradually took their places. The number of spectators had also multiplied several times over, completely jamming Revolution Square.

Many in the crowd wore red Liberty Caps, so from Andy’s perspective, the entire square was a sea of red, which reminded him of his motherland.

Andy, from the viewing platform, saw Dan Dong and others. Robespierre was still wearing his old green coat but had ditched the wig, donning a Liberty Cap instead.

The Liberty Cap, it was said, originated as traditional attire in the lesser Asia region and later, during Roman times, became a symbol of emancipating slaves. Now it extends in meaning to symbolize liberty.

At ten o’clock sharp, King Louis XVI and Queen Marie appeared in the special seating area of the viewing platform.

The King was not wearing a Liberty Cap, but a black tricorn hat, adorned with an exceedingly large tri-color cockade.

Queen Marie did not wear any items associated with the tri-color of red, white, and blue, seemingly still proudly clinging to her noble status.

Seeing that the Queen wore no tri-color insignia, the crowd immediately became agitated.

Andy heard someone curse loudly, "Damned Austrian woman! She still doesn’t support liberty!"

Andy glanced towards the direction from which the voice had come, but he couldn’t see who had spoken.

At that moment, Lafayette approached the platform where the King was seated. He said something to the Queen, who then reluctantly put on the tri-color adorned hair clip that Lafayette handed her.

Consequently, the crowd, which was just murmuring moments before, erupted into cheers as if this were a significant victory.

Lafayette himself was dressed in a National Guard uniform, topped with an officer’s cap adorned with a plume dyed in three colors.

Looking at that feather, Andy suddenly remembered that among the gifts sent to his estate in recent days, there was such a bird feather, which turned out to be used for making hat ornaments!

Andy had no idea and had thought it was meant for making quill pens for writing, so he had just left it untouched.

Now the cap Andy wore bore a simple tri-color cockade.

However, the outfit Andy was wearing had been meticulously prepared by Vanni, made from luxurious fabric and embellished with many accessories, resembling the old Beijing flag-bearers in the movie "Tea House."

The Honorary Legion Medal that Andy wore was polished by Vanni, and possibly even waxed, making it glisten in the sunlight.

After greeting His Majesty, Lafayette moved to the front of the viewing platform.

"I now declare the celebrations for the one-year anniversary of the Storming of the Bastille to begin! Up next is the first event, the National Guard parade! Military band, play the music!"

As there were no amplification devices like loudspeakers in this era, Lafayette’s voice sounded somewhat faint to Andy, as if it was drifting from afar.

Andy could hardly make out what he was saying.

But he could hear the military band quite clearly as they began to play.

Andy wasn’t sure about the name of the piece; it was a tune he hadn’t heard before his time travel and likely hadn’t been passed down through the ages.

It must have been a standard march.

Andy glanced at the ceremonial officer beside him and ordered, "The parade has begun, let’s set off!"

With that, he gently nudged his horse’s belly with his spurs, prompting the horse to walk at a slow pace.

Yes, the leader of the entire military parade was none other than Andy Frost.

Anning rode a great white horse, leading the parade at the very front, with grand and assured steps.

The ceremonial officer loudly announced Anning’s name: "The first to pass the reviewing stand, the hero of the Storming of the Bastille, the protector of Versailles, the queller of the Conte revolt, the Battlefield Magician Andy Frost!"

The crowd cheered loudly.

In the midst of the cheering, Anning couldn’t help but stand even taller.

As the cheers subsided, suddenly someone sang out loud: "Do you hear the people sing?

"Singing the song of angry men?

"It is the music of a people

"Who will not be slaves again!

"When the beating of your heart

"Echoes the beating of the drums,

"There is a life about to start

"When tomorrow comes..."

Anning frowned slightly, he was all too familiar with the tune of this song, it was the famous interlude from the musical "Les Misérables".

The only problem was, the original work "Les Miserables" depicted the Parisian republicans’ uprising of 1832, and then the musical didn’t premiere until the 1980s, this song was also in English.

Well, I’ll be, who would have thought it would be born so many years ahead of its time during the Great Revolution? And in French, no less?

Oh well, if it is to be early, so be it, this song is quite fitting for the time of the French Revolution in every aspect except that it’s in English.

Now that it has become a French song, the only problem is gone.

But why... why did everyone start singing this song when the ceremonial officer was introducing me?

As soon as Anning had this question, he got his answer.

Because he heard the crowd singing: "The lion of Bastille leads us, as we declare war on the stale past!"

Anning felt like facepalming.

What the hell?

The lion of the Bastille?

Are they talking about me being forcibly carried into the prison?

Please no, I can’t take this kind of praise...

Yet the crowd was still singing with passion, and even many of the National Guards maintaining order were joining in.

Anning glanced at Lafayette on the reviewing stand, feeling like Lafayette’s face was particularly dark.

The entire Revolution Square burst into song, "The lion of Bastille inspires us"!

Anning could only keep a straight face, putting on a very solemn expression. Luckily he was on horseback, not touching the ground, for if his feet were on the ground, he surely could have dug out a three-bedroom apartment there with his toes.

But the crowd was happy, so happy that after singing it once, they began again from the top.

Everyone was singing with full voice, swaying their bodies, it looked as though waves were surging across the square.

On the rooftops surrounding the square, there were also people holding the tricolor flag, they too waved their flags in rhythm with the song.

Without doubt, today’s main character in this square was Anning.

Amidst the singing, Anning marched past the reviewing stand.

Anning had no part in the following ceremony, and had planned to lead his troops back home after this pass, but as he reached the edge of the square, a captain rode up to him and said, "Major General, General Lafayette invites you to the reviewing stand to join in the ceremony!"