69: 065 We refuse to leave 69: 065 We refuse to leave On June 20th, the delegates had just arrived at Versailles Palace when they saw soldiers blocking the assembly hall.
Mirabeau was yelling at the officers blocking the assembly hall like a rooster, “We are the representatives of the National Assembly!
We need to go in for the meeting!”
Anning was thrilled to see this scene: It’s coming, the Tennis Court Oath is coming!
But outwardly, he feigned a puzzled expression, grabbing a delegate who had arrived earlier and asking, “What’s going on?”
The man Anning grabbed did not know him, but he recognized Anning and responded respectfully, “Mr.
Frost, as you can see, the soldiers have blocked the hall and won’t let us continue the meeting!”
Anning simply uttered “Oh.”
Then the man added, “By the way, Mr.
Frost, you’re an officer, aren’t you?
Could you order the soldiers to let us through?”
Anning thought to himself don’t mess with me, I already inadvertently became a big shot in the Parliament last time, and since then I can’t even slack off in peace; there’s always someone asking for my opinion.
This time I will definitely not speak out; let everyone go to the tennis court for some exercise—just like in the history of another timeline.
However, Anning still had some doubts in his mind: Will they make me stand out this time, too?
Am I the child of fortune?
Chances to stand out that shouldn’t be mine are all coming at me?
Just then, Anning heard someone loudly say, “Since the King won’t let us in, we’ll just find a big enough place to continue our discussion!”
Another person shouted, “To the royal tennis court!
It’s spacious there!”
Anning let out a sigh of relief: Thank goodness, not everything turns out to be about me stepping up.
More delegates began to chant, “To the tennis court!
We’ll deliberate there!”
Seeing the scene, Anning joined in the rabble-rousing: “To the tennis court!”
So, a large group of grumbling delegates began to move.
Anning went with the flow.
Along the way, Robespierre somehow ended up beside Anning and said indignantly, “It’s the King!
The King wants to oppose us, to oppose the drafting of the constitution!”
Anning chimed in, “Definitely the King, who would willingly give up power?”
Robespierre continued, “Why doesn’t His Majesty understand, constitutional monarchy is also to his benefit!
If he goes on , it may not be long before we do like the Americans, and drive out the King!”
The Robespierre of this time was already thinking of driving out the King.
Danton caught up and said, “Isn’t this just perfect?
Among the delegates of the Second Class, there’s Marquis Lafayette, the hero of the American War of Independence.”
What hero of the American War of Independence, no, call him Mr.
Lafayette, the Father of America!
Now they had arrived at the tennis court.
The delegates filed in amidst curses, and then Mirabeau found a table to jump on, loudly declaring, “Gentlemen!
This is the King’s response!
He is trying to force us to give up what we are doing!
No, that cannot be allowed!
“Gentlemen, I think we should reaffirm our earlier declaration!
“Unless a reasonable constitution that meets current demands is drafted and enacted, before that, the National Assembly shall never dissolve!”
The crowd cheered together.
Many onlookers perched on the indoor tennis court windows also loudly echoed Mirabeau’s words.
Sais also stood up on the table, next to Mirabeau, and said, “I propose we publish this declaration!
And everyone sign it and send a copy to the King!”
Let him know our determination!”
“We will never compromise with royal authority!”
In fact, in recent decades, royal authority in France had already been curtailed a lot, but curtailment mainly came from the Supreme Court, which was made up of nobles.
In reality, it was the nobles who had been contending with royal authority during this period, somewhat similar to the power struggles between the monarch and chancellor in China.
However, this time, the Third Class was challenging royal authority!
The declaration was quickly drafted, and then the delegates went up one by one to sign.
Anning quietly wrote his own name in a corner, making it less noticeable.
The declaration was thus sent to Louis XVI.
“This is outrageous!” Queen Mary furiously slammed the table, “How could you tolerate them sending you such a thing!
You should send everyone who signed this to the Bastille!”
Louis XVI frowned, “My dear wife, do you realize this is five hundred people?
The Bastille could not hold that many.”
Then capture a few of the ringleaders!
For instance, that Andy Frost from last time!
That leatherworker disgraced my ball; he stepped on people’s feet and made a fool of himself at the ball!”
Anning probably didn’t know that Queen Mary remembered him, just because he had embarrassed himself at her ball.
Louis XVI looked troubled, “That…
but he hasn’t committed any crime…”
“Isn’t this a crime?” Marie pointed to the declaration on the table, “They’ve all sent you such a thing!
These people are no longer mere delegates, they are troublemakers; this is a rebellion!
You must strike hard!”
The King held his forehead, “I thought…
closing the assembly hall would make them think twice…”
“Don’t you understand yet?
You must deal with them with the severest of thunderous measures!
Deploy the Royal Guard!”
As Mary spoke, she seemed to think the Royal Guard could solve any problem as if by a pipe dream.