Descending On France 1780
Chapter 217 - 210 The French Republic was born in fire and blood

Chapter 217: 210 The French Republic was born in fire and blood

February 25, 1793, Robespierre, with the support of the Paris Security Commander, Major General Frost, forcefully pushed the National Assembly to pass the legislation that abolished the French King.

The vote was held four times, with the first three failing to pass, and the opposition was already chanting "Long live the King."

Then Anning ordered the Paris National Guard, responsible for protecting the National Assembly, to fix bayonets.

Of course, he didn’t order them to actually suppress by force, but rather to show that troops with bayonets looked more valiant.

Under the watchful eyes of the valiant National Guard, the bill was passed on the fourth vote.

The assembly established by the Royalist members immediately declared the bill illegal, calling upon everyone to defend the King.

Time moved on to February 26th.

**

In the early hours of the 26th, as light snow floated down from the sky, Anning, dressed in the French Army’s standard military overcoat, stood in front of the army barracks building looking up at the night sky.

Before him, five regiments of ten thousand men brought from Marseilles stood quietly in the snow.

At the forefront of the troops were the Twilight Knights and the elite sharpshooters. The gray uniforms of the Twilight Knights nearly blended into the great snow, and the golden shimmer of the rear-loading rifles of the elite sharpshooters could still be seen under the torchlight.

The entire scene was one of grim solemnity.

Anning muttered to himself, "Why must it be this time?"

This date was all too significant, suitable for an uprising.

But to call it an uprising was not quite right, for the Chairman and opinion leader of the National Assembly was Robespierre, an ally of Anning.

Seeing Anning not speaking, Bertier spoke up, "Your Excellency, it’s already one o’clock, isn’t it time..."

Anning raised a hand, stopping Bertier from continuing.

Then he swept his gaze over the entire army standing silently in the snow and took a deep breath.

"Soldiers!" he called out, his voice instantly echoing across the entire square, "Among you, many have fought with me in Italy for over a year! When we were fighting bloodily, the defeatists at home, the traitors within our country were selling us out!"

"Who are the traitors? They are the old Nobles, the King! They regard France as their private property; they want the Emperor of House Habsburg to reclaim their former privileges!

"Soldiers! Can we tolerate such things happening? No! Today, we shall confront these traitors with our bayonets!"

Anning heard Napoleon mutter beside him, "And with canister shots."

Forget about your grape shots!

Anning: "Soldiers! After today, France will belong to all its citizens! After today, there will be no King to lord over us! Long live the French Republic!"

The soldiers shouted in unison: "Long live the Republic!"

Anning: "Now, march! Tonight, we show no mercy to our enemies!"

As his voice fell, the officers from various units began to give orders, and the troops started to move out.

Anning, mounted on his horse, stood by, watching the troops set off, suddenly feeling a strong desire to burst into song.

This scene was so much like a film shot by a fairly prosperous Japanese person.

Only a piece of background music was missing, "The turbulent waters of the Miluo River slapped the waves; the clouds churned tumultuously over Mount Wu..."

In his previous life, Anning was half a military otaku, and military otakus, for some reason, would collectively go crazy every year on this day, turning a very serious historical event into a meme culture phenomenon.

This predates the later famous "no strength" and "trying to launch a warship in such a faint voice" by far.

For this reason, upon seeing this scene now, Anning couldn’t help but remark on the striking resemblance.

But that was just an observation.

**

After the troops were deployed on the streets, Anning stood alone on his horse in Revolution Square, the iron rings on the horse’s hooves clinking crisply on the cobblestones.

Revolution Square was originally named Louis XV Square; after the revolution, it was renamed Revolution Square. In actual history, after the restoration of the Bourbon Dynasty, the square was renamed Place de la Concorde.

Yes, the same Concord as the Concorde airliner, it is one of the most famous squares in Paris.

But now, it is also called Revolution Square.

It is said that, after the Royalists manage to kill off all of the Blues, they plan to rename this square to Louis XVII Square to celebrate the return of the monarchy.

Unfortunately, Anning has already determined not to let this happen.

The noise was getting closer.

Suddenly, a young man holding a torch appeared in front of Anning. He charged into the square alone, coming face-to-face with Anning, who was on horseback.

Anning shouted loudly: "Go back, kid!"

However, the child seemed not to hear and turned around to shout: "Come on!"

While shouting, he waved the torch in his hand.

In the next moment, a large crowd carrying torches turned the corner, flooding into the square.

The dense mass of torches was like a huge wave, sweeping towards Anning’s position from the other end of the square.

Anning continued to shout loudly: "Everyone! Go back! Don’t advance any further! There’s no need to throw away your lives for Louis XVII!"

As soon as he finished speaking, someone in the crowd fired a shot. The bullet Duang hit Anning’s forehead, and although it was deflected, the impact still made his scalp go numb.

Without a word, he turned his horse and ran towards his own troops.

The French Army blocked one side of the square; they filled the street completely with two rows in formation.

The front row of the French Army maintained a crouching position, a standard two-line firing formation.

Seeing Anning retreat to the side of the troops, Napoleon said, "I told you, your mercy is useless."

Anning shook his head: "There are still women and children in that crowd. I’d rather fight against ten times as many enemies than fire upon them."

Napoleon: "So, we are retreating?"

"No, of course not." Anning shook his head, and then drew his saber, "All units, ready your guns!"

As Anning gave his order, the Royalist mob was still advancing, singing "Long live Henry IV", waving flags with the white iris emblem—well, actually, royal iris embroidery is quite expensive, so most people just used a plain white cloth.

Anning hesitated; he was reminded of the first youth who entered the square and confronted him alone.

Napoleon: "Andy?"

Anning immediately snapped out of his reverie, raised his saber, and swung it forward: "Fire!"

The rifles fired.

The entire street was quickly filled with the smell of gunpowder from incomplete combustion.

The first row of rioters fell in heaps, but obviously, this kind of damage only made them more fanatical.

They howled as they fired their guns and charged towards the French Army’s line.

At this point, Napoleon ordered: "All units, make way!"

The well-trained French Army immediately gathered to the sides, revealing the hidden 6-pound cavalry guns behind their ranks.

Seeing the cannons, the rioters at the front hesitated.

Napoleon: "Fire the cannons!"

The cannons roared, the sound reverberating and thunderousing through the surrounding buildings.

The deathly gust from the canister shots swept across the street.

The Royalist charge was immediately shattered.

Even the well-trained Austrian army would break under grape shot at close range, let alone a ragtag mob.

Napoleon: "Quick, reload!"