Descending On France 1780
Chapter 305 - 298 Mr. Charles, the West Icehouse invites you

He noticed that it was raining heavily outside, and Moura was drenched, but the letter was completely fine.

In the future, this wouldn’t be a big deal at all; just put it in a plastic bag.

But they were still hundreds of years away from the invention of plastic.

Holding the dry envelope, Anning appreciated Moura’s attention to detail.

Indeed, he was different from the reckless Lasalle, although he too was a Cavalry.

Anning was about to tear the letter open directly, then remembered that in this era, tearing open a letter directly was considered lacking in ceremonial sense and would be ridiculed.

So Anning, holding the letter, started walking towards the study.

Moura asked Anning, "What should we do with this man?"

"We need him to testify in court, to prove that this is indeed a letter from Paul Balas and his mistress."

"So Moura, you should employ some methods to ensure this gentleman willingly serves us."

Such as a powerful mental infusion rod or something.

Moura nodded understandingly, about to lead the man away, when Vanni stopped him: "Actually, you don’t have to do it yourself, you could hire a few executioners, they would probably be glad to alter Charles’ life trajectory a bit."

Moura: "You are harsher than me, executioners... and I suppose you want them to bring the guillotine over and assemble it?"

Vanni: "Anyway, I’ve said my piece. I don’t want to personally torture a surrendered prisoner later and bear any heavy psychological burden."

Moura nodded, then left with Mr. Charles and his subordinates.

Anning didn’t concern himself with these details; he hurried back to the study, picked up the letter opener, carefully opened the envelope, and pulled out the letter inside.

He began to read.

Christina came up behind Anning, leaning over and reading the letter together.

Due to the position, Christina’s pectoral muscles were directly resting on the top of Anning’s head.

Suddenly, Christina exclaimed, "Look, here!"

Christina read aloud, "Next is Dan Dong, the one you call the square-headed lion, Dan Dong. He seems to have some objections to Robespierre’s actions. Many gentlemen in Paris have already sensed this tendency, so all those secretly opposed to Robespierre have quietly started contacting him.

"But for now, he and Robespierre are still intimately united as comrades-in-arms, advancing and retreating together in the Parliament.

"Given time, the situation in Paris will probably change quite a bit because of this."

Anning: "Exactly, looking through the whole letter, this is the only part with a problem, no, a big problem! Paul Balas is trying to split Robespierre and Jacques Danton! This is solid evidence! And saying ’given time’ implies that when the time is ripe, Paul Balas will usurp the Republic!"

And to speak the truth, in the original history, he actually did just that.

The Directorate established by Paul Balas and the Thermidorians was essentially a coalition of profiteering opportunists.

If not for Lazarcano constantly organizing the Revolutionary Army, along with Napoleon coming from Italy all the way to Vienna, the Directorate could barely maintain for a few years.

Even if Robespierre went mad later in his life, he was better than these opportunists.

At least Robespierre was committed to the ideal of establishing a France of liberty, equality, and fraternity.

The more Anning thought about it, the more excited he became. After thoroughly reading the entire letter again, he went back to scrutinize the problematic sentences.

Suddenly unsure, he asked Christina, "Do you think the Savior Committee would send Paul Balas to the guillotine based on this piece of evidence?"

Christina: "You don’t need to worry about this aspect. Even if we don’t have evidence, just coming forward and firmly accusing Paul Balas of treason won’t be contested by anyone. The angry mob might even hang Balas from the streetlights."

Christina paused, glanced again at those few sentences in the letter, and then sighed, "I thought you were just being paranoid, but they indeed intend to instigate discord between Dan Dong and Robespierre. You’ve handled these issues as if..."

Christina didn’t finish her sentence, and Anning didn’t ask.

His attention was wholly focused on the task of concocting charges against Paul Balas using the compromising material at hand.

**

Josephine Boarne did not sleep well tonight; she inexplicably felt a sudden panic during the night.

In this era, the cause of such panic is fundamentally unknown, nor is there any effective medication to quickly alleviate the symptoms.

She could only sit up and watch the pouring rain from her balcony.

The wind tonight was strong, carrying the rain and howling as if foreboding something.

Watching the storm, Boarne grew even more agitated.

Her intuition was rarely wrong.

After pacing back and forth restlessly for a while, Josephine Boarne decided to go directly to Balas.

Because after thinking it over, she felt that only this matter could potentially be problematic.

That letter.

She summoned her coachman to prepare the horses and then swiftly wrote several notes at the table, attaching some gifts, instructing the servants to deliver them to the gentlemen specified in the notes first thing tomorrow morning.

These people included, but were not limited to, allies of Paul Balas and those privately dissatisfied with Robespierre.

If something truly went wrong with Balas, and it reached an irretrievable point, she might be able to seek their help.

After making all the arrangements, the coachman informed her that the carriage was ready.

Josephine Boarne immediately went downstairs to the inner courtyard of Malmaison Castle.

The carriage stood in the thinning rain, its lanterns swinging with the wind. Josephine’s coachman, clad in a raincoat, held a pistol in his hand.

The weapon cabinet in front of him contained ten loaded pistols in five layers; they were all ready to fire, just needing the powder poured into the pan.

Given the current lack of safety outside Paris, with highwaymen and rebel armies everywhere, having such weaponry was at least a hopeful deterrent against those with sinister intentions.

Josephine entered the carriage with the help of a servant and then knocked on the front window glass of the carriage compartment.

The coachman immediately whipped the horses to gradually accelerate.

Josephine anxiously tapped on the window: "Faster."

The coachman shook his head: "With such heavy rain and muddy roads, we simply can’t go faster, Madam."

"We must hurry, please!"

Josephine pleaded without revealing why she was so urgent, after all, she couldn’t let more people realize that there might be lethal information in that letter.

Right now, Josephine just wanted to instantly be by Balas’s side.

In her imagination, Balas was reading the letter she wrote yesterday, with Charles standing by silently, waiting to bring back his response.

If all her worries turned out to be unnecessary, that would be a relief.