Descending On France 1780
Chapter 84 - 078 Declaration and Bread

Chapter 84: 078 Declaration and Bread

On a day at the end of August, thunderous artillery sounds echoed from an estate in the outskirts of Paris City.

Anning, holding a monocular telescope, watched the distant targets, with several points of impact landing far from the targets.

Before Anning could comment, her maid Vanni already spoke up behind her: "Such poor accuracy, truly awful."

"No, Vanni." Anning shook her head, turned to look at her maid, "These people have only received artillery training for a month, being able to fire the cannon is already a victory."

Anning paused, then added: "To fire it without harming themselves counts as a victory."

Vanni: "Is it okay to have such low standards? The current situation is so chaotic..."

Indeed, the situation was very chaotic and would become even more so in the future.

Having an army loyal to oneself at such a time was naturally a great advantage.

Anning looked at Vanni and smiled, "You think such an army is unreliable in the midst of chaos? You’re overthinking it, this is the Artillery of the National Guard, not my private soldiers."

Vanni: "Isn’t it?"

"Of course not. Such words should never be uttered in front of others."

"That goes without saying." Vanni lowered her gaze and put on a humble demeanor, "Even if my mouth were to fall off, I would never speak these words in front of others. However, although you do not consider them your private soldiers, they might think they are themselves. More than once, I’ve heard sergeants appointed by you say, ’They only recognize one person, the Captain.’"

After the taking of the Bastille, Anning’s military rank was promoted to Captain by Lafayette.

"They said that?" Anning glanced at her maid, "That’s because I give them an extra military salary. With the current price of bread, without the extra salary, their families would starve."

While talking, Sergeant Jean Paul, appointed by Anning, ran up, saluted, and reported loudly: "All artillery sections have completed firing, please give your instructions!"

"Have everyone return. Remember to clean the cannons properly," ordered Anning.

"Yes!" Jean Paul saluted again and left.

Watching the back of this "elected" sergeant, Anning couldn’t help but think again about having them shout "Loyalty!" during salutes.

There’s no helping it, the movie ’Fifth Republic’ has no other merits except for its punch.

Just then, Vanni interrupted Anning’s reverie: "The price of bread has risen again. Although our bread is currently supplied by the Duke and we don’t have to worry for now, if the price of bread continues to rise, maybe Paris..."

Anning cut off Vanni’s words: "Don’t worry, it’s almost September now, there haven’t been any great disasters this year, the grain harvest will be bountiful. By then the price of bread will come down."

Vanni: "Is there enough time?"

"There are only a few months left, according to my estimates, Paris will erupt in one more large-scale unrest at most," Anning said confidently.

Indeed, historically there was only one major unrest before the grain prices dropped.

If Anning remembered correctly, it should be in October.

Now it’s only August, still early.

Anning: "I’m off to Versailles Palace for the meeting, have the coachman bring out the carriage."

The estate where Anning currently resided belonged to the Duke of Orleans, who lent the house along with the servants and coachman to Anning, so now she no longer needed to ride rented carriages to Versailles.

Of course, this estate was not easy to reach by rented carriage anyway—it was already outside the city, and even beyond the ranges of the Thiers city walls that were planned in 1846.

With the remote location of the estate, the completely open fields all around, and the bush and woodland under the name of the Duke of Orleans, Anning had enough space to train her artillery.

Of course, this also had to do with the relatively short range of the contemporary cannons, so there wasn’t as much need for a large training ground.

In such a wilderness, there was nowhere to find a rented carriage, so Anning had to switch to riding in the Duke’s family carriage to the meeting place.

The Duke of Orleans had specifically ordered to remove the family crest from the carriage.

Initially, the Duke wanted to have a carpenter craft a personal crest for Anning’s carriage, but unfortunately, as the son of a leatherworker, Anning didn’t have a symbol that could represent him.

In the end, without a choice, the Duke ordered the carpenter to engrave the initials of Anning’s name, AF, on the carriage.

To be honest, Anning found this abbreviation awkward no matter how he looked at it, as if he might run out of water at any moment.

Not long after Anning instructed Vanni, the carriage emblazoned with the AF insignia appeared before him.

The coachman’s face was filled with worry, and he hastily saluted Anning and then dismissed himself.

Anning couldn’t help but ask: "What’s the matter, Fred?"

Fred was the coachman’s name.

"Sir, it’s still about the bread! My wife and I work on the estate and don’t need to worry about bread, but my brother is just a painter, and no matter how hard he works these days, his family can’t eat their fill.

"I know the great men in Versailles are preoccupied with more important matters, but couldn’t they use just a tiny bit of their talent to help us solve the bread problem?

"Sir, you are a hero of the Bastille, please give him advice!"

Anning pursed his lips, thinking to himself that the gentlemen in Versailles do have ways, just releasing the stored bread and grain would settle it.

But the problem is, those hoarding the grain are none other than the gentlemen meeting in Versailles.

Of course, Anning could not tell the brutal truth, so he sighed, patted Fred’s shoulder: "Tell your brother to wait until late October, everything will get better. The price of grain will drop then."

Fred wrinkled his brow, his expression full of disbelief: "Just wait a bit more than a month?"

Anning nodded: "Yes, that’s right."

Fred smiled: "That’s great, the end is finally in sight. Once I deliver you to Versailles, I will send word to my brother, telling him the good news!"

Anning felt a bit uneasy.

He opened the carriage door and got on, then turned to wave at Vanni: "I’m off."

"Have a safe trip," Vanni said with a flat expression while waving goodbye.

Anning closed the carriage door, and Fred whipped the horses: "Giddy up!"

The carriage set off slowly.

**

Upon arriving at Versailles and entering the usual Imperial Conference Hall for meetings, Dan Dong eagerly came over and grabbed Anning’s hand: "You’re finally here! I heard from Munier that today we are going to finalize the Declaration of Human Rights that we’ve been deliberating over for days, and on the land of France, equality, liberty, and brotherhood will be realized!"

Anning retorted: "But there is no bread."

Dan Dong paused, then rubbed his nose awkwardly: "The bread shortage is just a temporary difficulty, with the August Decrees soon to be signed officially, the countryside will calm down, and once the peasants harvest this year’s crops, the price of bread will return to normal."

Robespierre, coming over, cursed: "His Majesty the King is just dragging his feet and not signing the August Decrees. If you ask me, we should take more decisive action."

Anning: "How could he possibly sign? As a King, signing the decree means he also gives up feudal powers, then would he still be a king?"

Robespierre: "Of course! The King of England also gave up a considerable part of feudal powers, transferring power to Parliament, but isn’t he still the King of England?"

It was apparent that the current Robespierre wasn’t the radical republican he would later become; everyone goes through a process before becoming radical.

Robespierre was clearly in a less radical phase now.

At this time, the National Assembly’s elected Chairman Munier stood at the podium: "Gentlemen! Today we are going to vote on the final draft of a great declaration! What has been distributed to you is the definitive version of the Declaration of Human Rights! We have one hour for the final discussion!

"After one hour, we will vote on this declaration!"

An hour later, the National Assembly unanimously passed the Declaration of Human Rights.

Mirabeau stood up and shouted: "Long live! Long live liberty, equality, brotherhood! Long live the tricolor emblem! Long live the declaration!"

Anning chanted with the crowd, but the anxious face of the coachman Fred lingered in his mind.

The declaration was indeed important, laying down the basic principles for legislation in most countries later on, a great stride in human history.

But declarations can’t be exchanged for bread, and soon, due to hunger, the people of Paris will take actions that will profoundly shock all the dignified gentlemen present.