Chapter 20: Calm

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We silk workers,

Each of us is so poor we are naked.

Those who hold high office,

Wear coats and adorn themselves with brocade sashes.

We weave these things,

Yet, even if we starve to death, we will not have a single scrap of cloth to shroud us.

We silk workers,

Each of us is so poor we are naked.

But, our era is fast approaching,

And your era is about to perish.

When that time comes, we shall

Use the mourning clothes of the old world,

For the thunder of uprising is already echoing through the clouds.

The second uprising of the Lyon workers shook France and also aided Austria.

The situation of internal strife and external threats that Franz had anticipated did not materialize; instead, things seemed exceptionally smooth.

It appeared that once the Hungarians decided to withdraw from the German Customs Union, all problems were solved.

The Prussian ambassador committed suicide by hanging and had exhausted the funds allocated by the Prussian government.

Even more damaging to the Prussian government's reputation was that people saw more than one dancer entering and exiting the ambassador's room.

Consequently, busybodies linked money, women, and the ambassador together, fabricating a series of scandals.

The successor to the Prussian Foreign Minister was forced to state in public that the former minister loved his wife dearly and that the circumstances were under investigation.

Investigation was a mistake; upon investigating, the Prussians discovered that the matter was linked to an organization called the Polish National Restoration Army.

This caused the Prussian military to lose its composure; assassinating a Prussian Foreign Minister was simply too audacious.

The Prussian high command felt unsafe, fearing they would be targeted by members of the Polish National Restoration Army; the turnover of brothels in Berlin plummeted that month.

The French were not faring any better. Just as the plague had passed, an uprising of unprecedented scale broke out in Lyon.

This was entirely because factory owners did not treat workers as human beings. At this time, French workers had to work eighteen hours a day, and even then, they were forced to work overtime.

Since a large-scale uprising had already broken out in France in 1831, the high command had issued the October Decree to prevent workers from forming associations.

In October 1833, the government of the July Monarchy issued a decree banning associations and prohibiting the existence of any group of more than twenty people.

However, as the saying goes, for every policy, there is a countermeasure.

The workers broke themselves into small units, establishing countless small groups of fewer than twenty people.

The result was that instead of stopping, associations became even more frenzied, which infuriated King Louis Philippe.

In March 1834, the rulers of the July Monarchy issued a decree banning workers from forming new associations and forcing them to dissolve existing mutual aid societies, under penalty of punishing all members and ordering the arrest of worker leaders.

This move enraged the workers, who decided to take up arms against the July Monarchy.

But the French were far more efficient than the Austrians when it came to suppressing revolutions.

The army of the July Monarchy was long prepared. After the uprising broke out, the troops quickly entered the city, occupying every intersection and major stronghold, and setting up artillery outside the city; the Lyon insurgents were like turtles in a jar.

Of course, the French capacity for rebellion was no joke. The insurgents were experienced, and even when faced with overwhelming military force, they chose urban warfare as their response.

If the army wanted to win, they had to fight house by house, which would come at a massive cost.

To fight the army in the field, unless one encountered a bungling general leading a group of soldiers who didn't want to fight,

An insurgent army without heavy firepower faced nothing but a fate of slaughter when confronted by a regular army.

It was the uprising in Paris, however, that caught the high officials of the July Monarchy somewhat off guard.

The July Monarchy, Cabinet.

"Guizot, damn it, the country is already in a crisis, and you are still worrying about the damn Austrians!"

"Thiers, you short-sighted fool, the Austrians are competing with the Prussians for leadership in Germany. Whichever side wins, it will be a disaster for France, don't you understand?"

"Before the Germans create a disaster, the workers outside will rush in and hang you and me from the streetlamps!"

Finally, at Thiers' insistence, tens of thousands of troops entered Paris to maintain order. The uprising was suppressed, but it left the entire French government nearly paralyzed.

Simultaneously, the "Bloody Week of Lyon" began. Soldiers received orders that they could shoot anyone who appeared to be an insurgent or a sympathizer.

In the bloody street fighting, men and women were dragged from their rooms and executed in the streets.

The atrocities lasted for a week, until the last batch of insurgents were all shot dead in the Cathedral of Cordeliers.

"Charles will not have died in vain; he is a hero!" A tall, bearded man wrapped a youth tightly in a piece of tattered cloth.

"I am not afraid of death! Let me go back, I want to fight them to the end!" The youth tried to break free, but was held tightly by the bearded man's hands.

"If you go back, they will have died for nothing! We must live well for them; one day, General Napoleon will return to save us," the bearded man roared.

"But General Napoleon is dead?" Tears flowed from the youth's eyes.

"General Napoleon has nephews and sons—Louis Napoleon Bonaparte—and General Jerome is also alive!"

"But what if they are all gone too?" the youth asked.

"France needs a Napoleon, and there must be a Napoleon," the bearded man's answer was resolute.

"Yes! There must be a Napoleon." The eyes of the youth named Charles flashed with a determined light.

At this time, there were many others as ragged as they were; the French army had not sought to exterminate them all.

Among this group, some had regained their spirit, while others had lost their souls.

The Lyon uprising in France had failed, and because of this, Talia had lost an entire year's salary to Franz.

After all, in the eyes of people at that time, French uprisings always seemed to succeed.

At this moment, Louis Bonaparte had just become a captain in the Bernese Artillery Regiment, while Jerome was spending his twilight years in Italy, having become a prince through his marriage to his father-in-law.

In 1834, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte was never lacking in various types of conspirators, dangerous elements dissatisfied with the state, even fervent worshippers and self-righteous frauds.

A man named Pécini approached Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.

This Pécini had once served in the French army but had always remained a low-ranking officer; later, he went to Bohemia to be an editor-in-chief but was quickly fired; finally, he discovered that only Bonapartism was his path to greatness.

Under the recommendation of the Napoleonic poet Belmont, Pécini met Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, and the two hit it off immediately.

Pécini advocated that a hero need not care about the current situation, but should instead create the situation; these words deeply moved Louis Napoleon Bonaparte.

In truth, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte had never given up on taking action, which aligned perfectly with Pécini's advocacy.

Thus, the two decided to go to Strasbourg to create a situation.

Within the Austrian Empire, several very small-scale uprisings were swiftly suppressed.

Without the French and the Prussians, the Austrian nobility seemed to have lost their momentum.

Within the Hungarians, due to the fall of Prince Ertházy, they needed to elect a new leader.

But as it happened, everyone's strength was roughly equal, so things became interesting.

The Hungarian nobility suddenly sided collectively with Austria; before a new leader could be decided, they would all be faithful servants to Austria.