Descending On France 1780
Chapter 129 - 123 Stability decrease by three what will happen

Chapter 129: 123 Stability decrease by three what will happen

Anning left Paris, but everything in Paris remained the same, unaffected.

Lafayette still struggled to maintain his position, facing impeachments from all sides.

The Constitutional Assembly was still endlessly arguing over the details of various bills.

The people of Paris were still worried about their livelihoods, the only relief being that because of two consecutive years of good harvests, the price of bread remained at a barely acceptable level for most people.

In the Conte Region, Anning was busy inspecting his own estate.

Previously, he had seized church land but hadn’t had time to examine it carefully because he was too busy; he had just swallowed all the deeds whole.

Now that Anning had some free time, he took the deeds every day to inspect the land he had confiscated, only to find out that at least a third of the land around Conte had come into his hands.

These lands were so vast that Anning could ride on horseback all day and still be within his own boundaries.

Moreover, many of these lands were completely uncultivated forests, and many estates were in a semi-abandoned state, probably because the church didn’t have enough manpower to run these estates.

After discovering this, Anning decided to establish a company responsible for operating these estates, and then recruited workers from Paris.

Anning named this company Conte Development Company—admittedly, he was terrible at naming.

To operate the company, Anning needed a lot of experienced managers, people who weren’t available in Conte and even if he invited all the intellectuals from the entire region, it wouldn’t be enough.

So these talents also had to be found in Paris.

For a while, the people of Paris found a new direction: going to Conte.

Those who couldn’t make it in Paris and wanted some new hope, all flocked to Conte, where they received a piece of fresh land arranged by the company.

Anning’s actions even inspired the gentlemen of the National Assembly, and soon the National Assembly sent commissioners nationwide to inventory the confiscated church properties, which would then be rented out at very low prices to those willing to cultivate them.

Not long after, the Parliament passed the Land Recovery Act, initiating land reclamation nationwide. Any unclaimed land found during this process was taken over by the state and then rented to the peasants.

Yes, Anning had inadvertently promoted land reform in France, originally something that was supposed to happen later.

With the implementation of the Land Recovery Act, the financial situation of the government further improved, and the problem of currency devaluation was somewhat alleviated.

Then in November 1790, the Priest Law was published, almost exactly in line with historical timelines.

After the publication of the Priest Law, it quickly caused a huge uproar nationwide.

Many conservative priests in various regions refused to swear allegiance to the nation according to the Priest Law, and they were labeled as the so-called Non-Juror Priests. Patriots throughout the country immediately acted according to the Priest Law, rounding up these Non-Juror Priests and executing them all by hanging.

This sparked massive disturbances in conservative regions.

For peasants in conservative areas, from birth they might have been baptized by a nearby church priest, their marriage ceremonies were officiated by this priest, every Sunday service was organized by this priest, and Christmas communion was also received from this priest...

One could say, these priests, or more formally called "Parish Priests," were the organizers of rural life. The rural populace might not know who their Lord was, but they were certainly very familiar with the Priest Lord.

Now, just because these priests refused to swear an oath and were being hanged, one can imagine how furious the peasants would be.

After the revolution, rural peasants hardly enjoyed any benefits from it. Although they burned the land deeds of the lords, they still did not receive any land. The parliament decreed that all land needed to be redeemed at market price, which the peasants could not afford.

They did not acquire ownership of the land, but still had to pay taxes as usual.

Moreover, in the rural areas, the tax collectors were previously elected from among the local residents, but now tax collectors were dispatched from the cities. These strangers arrived in the countryside and behaved arrogantly, making many unreasonable demands.

Thus, since the Great Revolution, the peasants had had enough.

The accumulated dissatisfaction exploded violently in the last month of 1790 after the city’s lords hanged the local priest.

By 1791, the entire rural area of France was ablaze with rebellion.

To put it in terms of the game "Continental Europe," an event occurred that caused the national stability to drop by -3, resulting in rebel armies everywhere.

Players would normally spend money to stabilize, but the parliament had no money—financial status had just started to recover, and there was no money available.

In many places, representatives of the parliament were hung from streetlights—just like they did to the nonjuring priests.

Patriots who supported the parliament were slaughtered by the peasant army.

Many former nobles, due to the parliament’s loss of power, seized the opportunity to stir up trouble, and the peasants suddenly remembered the nobles’ past benevolence and rallied around these former nobles.

They forgot that just two years earlier, in the summer of 1789, it was they who had stormed into the lords’ manors, burned the land deeds, and cheered for the National Assembly.

Of course, these rebellions temporarily did not affect Paris; in fact, they did not even affect the communities around Paris.

As the closer to major cities, the more the residents were influenced by revolutionary ideas and more progressive, correspondingly, many of these areas’ priests supported the National Assembly and thus, most of them chose to take the oath.

France seemed divided into two worlds: near the cities, it was peaceful, whereas far from the cities, chaos reigned.

In these turbulent rural areas, Conte enjoyed a unique peace.

Conte was also far from major cities, but in Anning there were no nonjuring priests; those likely to become such had long been sent by Anning to labor in the farms.

And those who could have joined the rebel army had already witnessed the bravery of the National Guard a year ago and still trembled at the mention of General Frost.

How could such people rebel? They wouldn’t; they didn’t have the capability, you see.

With the national unrest unfolding, the defended Conte led by Anning, much like a few major cities, became a sanctuary for patriots fleeing trouble.

Anning was well-prepared; he had already built a host of new residences in Conte just waiting for the refugees.

He also arranged jobs for the refugees, making the entire Conte, compared to other chaotic areas, seem like a peaceful haven.

In March 1791, the parliament issued a third directive summoning Anning to suppress the rebellion, but Anning replied that there were signs of rebellion in the Conte Region as well, and he needed to maintain stability there, so he continued to hold back.

However, Anning felt that the time for battle was drawing near.

Thus, he ordered military exercises to test the National Guard’s training results over the year.

The exercises were scheduled for the morning of April 15, 1791.