Fox of France

When Fouche's carriage arrived in Paris, Fouche realized that all his plans on the carriage were useless, because both Desmoulins and Danton had been sent to the guillotine. That night, the lights in Fouche's residence were always on, and no one knew what Fouche was doing.

Early the next morning Fouche went at once to the National Assembly. He was almost the first person to arrive at the parliament. When he entered the parliament hall, except for a cleaning staff member, the entire hall was empty and there was no one there.

Fouché sat down in the seat of the Mountain School in a state of anxiety. Gradually more members came to the hall, and they sat down one after another, but no one spoke or greeted Fouché. In fact, this kind of indifference does not necessarily imply any other meanings, because the congressmen do not speak to each other or greet each other.

In Fouché's memory, the National Assembly was always very lively, sometimes as lively as a vegetable market. There is no hand to speak, and the congressmen are always whispering, some are talking about the current situation, and some are discussing the appearance of a certain courtesan; when a congressman makes a speech on the podium, if someone agrees with it, they will applaud If someone objected, there would be whistles, and some people even took off their leather shoes and knocked on the table in front of them. Naturally, the parliament was even more lively. But at this time, many congressmen had entered the parliament hall, but everyone just sat in their seats in silence, motionless, like stone statues in a cemetery. And the entire parliament hall is like a silent and gloomy cemetery.

Time passed and it was time for the meeting. However, more than half of the seats in the council hall are still empty—the right seat has been vacant for a long time, and those who used to sit there have disappeared one after another; now even the left seat is vacant. Fouché could tell at a glance that Chaumet, Danton, Desmoulins, Chabot, Hébert, Fabre Degnantin... the seats of dozens of people were all vacant.

Looking over there, Fouche saw a person with a sallow face and a low, receding forehead, who was also looking at Fouche with his small eyes—that person It was Robespierre. Robespierre noticed that Fouche was also looking at him, and smiled at Fouche—like a lion smiles at a rabbit already under his paws.

Fouche's heart suddenly tightened, and from this terrible smile, he saw Robespierre's undisguised malice towards him. He couldn't help shivering all over his body, sweating in the spring, his hands and feet were cold, what's wrong with this society, it's full of oppression for a poor chameleon like him, his tears almost flowed out (fortunately, Fu Xie's eye sockets are large and have a high capacity), hell is empty, and demons are in the world...

Fouché knew that he could not wait any longer. He stood up, walked towards the podium, and said to the host: "I am citizen Joseph Fouche, the commissioner of the Marseille region, and I was ordered to return to Paris to report to the 'National Salvation Committee'. But I want to say these things here. It might be better to say it."

Fouché's behavior was a challenge. It was not the National Assembly that ordered him to return to Paris, but the "National Salvation Committee", and it was not the National Assembly that required him to report, but the "National Salvation Committee". But instead of reporting to the "National Salvation Committee", he directly asked the National Assembly, which is theoretically the superior body of the "National Salvation Committee", to report. challenge.

Fouche stared at the host, who hesitated for a moment, raised his head, and glanced towards the seat—maybe, he was looking at Robespierre. Then he said to Fouché: "Well, Citizen Fouché, you can come up and speak."

Fouche stepped onto the podium and glanced at the audience habitually. He noticed that Robespierre was looking at him with interest, just like Tom looked at Jerry who had been caught in his claws.

Fouche took a deep breath and began his speech.

Fouché's speech was rich in content, sincere in emotion, and took a good deal of time. But if you want to sum it up, it is actually relatively simple, that is: I have shed blood for Jacobin, I have made contributions for Jacobin, and I want to continue to be a dog for Jacobin, you can’t do this...

The assembly listened silently, no one applauded, no whistled, and no one took out leather shoes to knock on the table, only Fouche's voice echoed in this empty hall, just like echoing in an empty cemetery Same.

Finally, Fouché's speech was over, and there was still silence below. It seemed that everyone had died, and what was left here were just clay puppets.

Fouche didn't know how he got off the podium in the end. He sat back in his seat, shivering in fear. He knew that his resistance was a complete failure. The National Assembly is no longer the National Assembly it was then, when courage was worn out by a series of events.

Since the executioner broke into them like Potephemos (the cyclops in Greek mythology, who once broke into Odysseus's team, grabbed his companions and ate them), and took some of them to feed After the guillotine, those who remained in the National Assembly had grown depressed, almost reduced to marionettes.

At this time, Robespierre stood up. Fouché was pale and trembling. He knew that if Robespierre said that he was a traitor, a poisonous snake spitting out letters, all the congressmen would applaud and cheer, and then someone would propose to arrest the traitor Fouche, hand him over to the Revolutionary Tribunal for trial, and then ...Fouche is really familiar with this set of procedures.

"Regarding the report of the citizens of Fouché, I suggest that the National Assembly should hand over this matter to the 'National Salvation Committee' to deal with it." Robespierre said.

This sentence was completely beyond Fouche's expectations. Robespierre could directly ask the National Assembly to declare him a traitor and arrest him. As long as Robespierre said so, the remaining congressmen would raise their hands in agreement. But Robespierre made such a request...

Robespierre's proposal was immediately supported by all the members, and that was it. Fouché is like a fish jumping in a fishing net. He jumped hard, trying to escape to the blue sky, but finally fell into the big net still surrounding him powerlessly.

Fouché left the National Assembly in despair and returned to his residence. But he quickly forced himself to calm down - panic doesn't help, if he wants to keep his head, he has to calm down first.

Fouché was not someone with a certain artistic flavor like Danton or Desmoulins who was willing to face death calmly. He decided that, no matter what, he was going to struggle until the last moment.

So Fouche remembered Robespierre's actions today. He began to wonder what Robespierre meant by doing so. In the end, he came up with two such guesses.

First, Robespierre did want his life, but he didn't want to kill him just like that, but wanted to appreciate his fear and despair like a cat playing with a mouse, and then when he got tired of playing, he wanted to kill him again. Bite off his neck all at once.

Second, Robespierre hopes that he can honestly surrender to himself, surrender to him, and repent to him. Then treat him like a dog honestly.

Fouche felt that the first possibility was greater, at least, based on his understanding of Robespierre, that should be the case. But the second possibility cannot be completely ruled out. After all, Fouché felt that as a dog, he was still very useful and valuable.

Fouché is a very man of action, and since he had such an idea, he put it into practice without hesitation. Fouche immediately cheered up, left his residence, and went to Robespierre's residence on Rue Saint-Honoré. Calvin of the First French Republic (the leader of the Protestant Calvinism during the Reformation, he once burned Servette who opposed his teachings) in order to show his poverty and virtue, he rented a car on this street. Living in a small attic.

What exactly Fouche had with Robespierre that evening is unknown, since Fouche never mentioned it to anyone afterwards. But we can guess what happened to Fouché from what happened to others like him.

Barras also went there to confess his mistake to Robespierre and beg for mercy. Downstairs, he first encountered difficulties from the landlord. The landlord is a devout follower of Robespierre. Ballas was searched by him because he suspected that Ballas might be an assassin.

Then Ballas climbed up the attic along the wooden ladder, and in a narrow room where Robespierre's own portrait was hung, he met Robespierre. And Robespierre didn't even give him a chair, just let him stand there and talk.

At that time, Fouche must have humbly admitted his mistake to Robespierre like Barras, shed tears, and pulled his trousers to ask for his forgiveness. And Robespierre probably scolded him bloody like he did to Ballas at that time. The only difference is that Ballas was forgiven and Fouché was not.

When Fouche left the Rue Saint-Honoré, he couldn't help shaking with fear and anger. He knew that Robespierre was going to cut off his head. What else could he do now? Maybe early tomorrow morning, someone will knock on his door, open the door, and he will see some soldiers of the National Guard, and an officer leading the team said to him: "Joseph Fouche, you are trying to overthrow the republican government! , was arrested for restoring the feudal system!"

At that point, would he still be able to say, "I'm sorry, you made a mistake, Joseph Fouche lives next door," and run away? But where could he escape? There will be no place for him in France. He killed so many nobles and left France, and those exiles will not let him go... What's more, once he escapes, everything he fought for will be gone. up.

On the dark and cold street of Rue Saint-Honoré, Fouche's footsteps gradually became firm: he could not wait for death, nor could he escape. He had only one choice, one way, and that was to rush to Robles. Cut off Robespierre's head before Pierre cut off his own!