The Crescent of the Sultan

Chapter 73 Death of the King

As the royalists were about to storm the king's tower, the Ottoman spies began to retreat.

The spies belonging to the Jacobins quickly fought against the royalists. Due to their numerical superiority, the royalists who had rushed outside Louis XVI's room were once again forced to retreat.

Looking at the man in black gradually leaving, Louis XVI slipped weakly to the ground, knowing that he would no longer have hope.

Two days later, at the National Constituent Assembly, Roland agreed to Robespierre's conditions, and the Girondins and Jacobins once again stood in the same room.

At this time Robespierre was speaking.

"Dear Members, it's great to see you all again.

I believe that the recent movement has allowed you to once again see the power of the people. "

Robespierre's voice turned cold at this time.

“But there are always people who do not recognize the power of the people and are superstitious about the authority of the monarch.

One night, there were two waves of people, one of which could be said to be royalists, but whose manpower was the other group of spies who spoke with a strong Gironde accent? I don't know. "

When they heard "Gironde", some people on the field couldn't help but cast their eyes on Roland, who was sitting in the first place.

But Roland had no intention of answering, as this would only make things worse.

He knocked on the table and signaled many participants to start the main topic of the day - the trial of Louis XVI.

Poland had attracted the attention of Austria and Prussia, and Duke Biron had been defeated by the troops sent by Napoleon.

These two events gave the National Constituent Assembly enough confidence that they would formally declare the abolition of the monarchy and establish the First French Republic.

On February 24, 1790, Louis XVI was summoned to the National Convention to face his accusers. He was accused of treason and crimes against the state.

But he was still vigorously defended, and there is no doubt that Robespierre took the opportunity to mock Roland again, although this time it was not Roland who did it.

However, when the verdict came, everything that happened on the scene was still expected.

The accused, Louis XVI, stood in the middle of the courtroom. He was pale and plainly dressed.

The counting of votes begins soon.

Jean-Paul Marat had one vote to convict Louis-Auguste de Bourbon.

With one vote, Maximilian Robespierre convicted Louis-Auguste de Bourbon.

With one vote from Danton, Louis-Auguste de Bourbon was found guilty.

With one vote, Roland convicted Louis-Auguste de Bourbon.

With one vote, Napoleon Bonaparte convicted Louis-Auguste de Bourbon.

Philip, with an equal vote, convicted Louis-Auguste de Bourbon.

When the counting staff read this, the dull tribunal finally came alive.

People started talking.

"This is the former Duke of Orleans."

"The king's distant uncle is here. ₆₉ₛₕᵤₓ.cₒₘ"

"He also voted."

"This man is just a villain."

Philip Equality, who was sitting in the chair, could hear all this clearly, but he didn't care. At least he survived and became a member of the Revolutionary Party. This is enough, isn't it?

As for Louis XVI, he was not moved at all after hearing the other party's name.

Louis XVI could clearly see the nobles who were still in Paris at this time and would not have any hope at all.

After the vote count, 693 delegates voted to find the king guilty, no one thought he was innocent, and 23 people abstained.

The next day, the National Convention met again to decide what to do with the king. The vote this time was more balanced, but equally irrefutable: 288 votes called for the king to be imprisoned or exiled, and 361 votes believed that the king should be executed immediately.

A last-minute motion for probation was also denied.

The king's fate was sealed.

He had long been mentally prepared and accepted the news calmly.

This morning, when Louis XVI was sleeping soundly, someone woke him up and informed him that he would be sent to the guillotine the next day.

That night he said goodbye to his family and had dinner alone.

The next day, in the early morning of February 26th, Louis XVI woke up at 5 o'clock and listened to mass. The Irish-born priest and his close friend Henry Essex Edgeworth (I have a feeling that this person is related to The Earl of Essex in England is related (but not found) who received Holy Communion in his hands.

It was Edgeworth who accompanied Louis XVI to the guillotine in the Place de la Revolution.

The guillotine here is named after a doctor named Joseph-Ignace Guillotin.

Guillotin was a kind and well-meaning man who proposed that all condemned prisoners should have the right to be beheaded (a method of execution that had previously been reserved only for nobles) and that the execution should be as quick and painless as possible.

The king stared at the tall guillotine. Although his face was pale, he showed no fear.

Accompanied by Edgeworth, he walked firmly up the steps to the guillotine, then took off his coat, shirt, and collar.

He motioned to the drummers to be quiet for a moment, and then said in a firm, steady voice: "I forgive all those who have put me to death, and I pray to God that the blood you are about to shed will never be at the request of France.

As he lay prone on the guillotine, Edgeworth shouted: "Go to heaven, Son of St. Louis!"

Then, the blade smashed down.

It was obviously a matter of seconds, but Louis XVI felt that time had slowed down.

At the moment when death was approaching, Louis XVI's heart was like a clear lake, with ripples.

He stared at the falling blade quietly, his thoughts wandering in the ocean of memories.

Countless days and nights in the past flashed through his mind: his glory and power as a king, the suffering and turmoil his country suffered.

At the last moment, Louis XVI closed his eyes and let his breathing become slow and deep, as if waiting for a peaceful ending.

At the last moment, Louis XVI quietly and firmly accepted the judgment of fate.

He seems to have seen through the cycle of life and death, and sincerely wishes France's future.

The next second, the king's head rolled to the ground, and the French monarchy collapsed.

The king's death was like a heavy hammer of fate, forever engraving France's history of monarchy in the depths of people's memory.

It was the fall of a king, the destruction of the royal family, the disintegration of royal and divine power.

As the king of France, he once tasted all the power and glory, but now he returns to the mortal world in flesh and blood. His death conveys the dialectical conflict between wisdom and ignorance, justice and brutality.

Louis' death is not the end.

Internationally, the death of Louis XVI caused a huge shock.

His departure has almost become the focus of politics in various European countries. A wave of reform will sweep from France. In particular, various monarchies will have to re-examine themselves in the near future.

At home, the death of Louis XVI triggered violent social unrest and deep divisions.

On the one hand, the revolutionary radicals sang and danced in front of his guillotine, exulting in their victory over the royal power; on the other hand, the royalists who were loyal to the monarchy felt the deep pain that the country's turmoil and bloody massacre had brought to the motherland. .

The king's martyrdom inspired anger and thinking deep in people's hearts.

His death is a symbol of the victory of the revolution and the turmoil of the country. It is also the end of an era and the beginning of a new era.

The era of autocracy is coming to an end, and the era of revolution is about to come.

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