Fox of France

Following the voice of the Marquis de Lafayette, a middle-aged man in his forties with a slight limp in a black bishop's robe walked in and bowed to the others.

"Bishop Talleyrand!" Several people in the small reception room recognized the priest at once.

This Monsignor Bishop is a popular figure in the salons and pleasure-seeking places of Paris. He was born in a declining aristocratic family, and was sent to study in a seminary since he was a child. This is also the path that many children from aristocratic families often take.

Generally speaking, children of noble families often have several ways out.

First, inherit the property of the ancestors, and then be a happy fat house waiting to die-however, the wealth Talleyrand talked about has been exhausted by the happy fat houses of previous generations.

Second, to be an officer and live on His Majesty's pay - but the army doesn't need a crippled officer.

Third, go to be a civil servant, and then live a good life with His Majesty's salary, embezzled public funds, and bribes from others-however, to get the position of a civil servant, you need to bribe others first. The Talleyrand family could not afford the money.

So Talleyrand had only one last way to go, and that was to become a priest.

Being a priest is actually a good way. In theory, all believers are God's people and are equal before God. But in fact, there are always some people who are more equal before God than others. Generally speaking, priests of common origin are, at most, parish priests in the church, and all clergy above the level of bishops are of noble origin.

The church has a lot of assets, can be a bishop, and can live a good life.

There is a story in Boccaccio's "Ten Days Talk". It is said that a Catholic persuaded his friend, a Jew, to convert to Catholicism. The Jew was a little tempted, so he told his friend that he was going to Rome, the capital of the Christian world.

His friend was shocked by this decision. He felt that his mission would fail, because no one came to Rome and could not see the luxury and lust of the Catholic Church. There is no virtue at all there, only vices of every kind.

However, the Jew went to Rome and was immediately baptized and converted to Catholicism, because he felt: "The Catholic Church is so corrupt and depraved, but it still stands, it must be because there are real gods behind it."

Talleyrand was different from that Jew. He originally believed in Catholicism and studied theology in St. Sulpice Seminary for five years. These five years of study did not bring him "closer to God", but instead made him an atheist. But for the sake of the church giving him money, he still pretended to be very pious.

Relying on this pretended piety, when Louis XVI came to the throne, he won the post of abbot of Saint-Rémy Abbey in Reims, and up to eighteen thousand livres (a silver coin, later developed into francs) annuity.

Relying on this money, Talleyrand lived the life of a secular noble in Paris. Because the position of dean is a beautiful job that only pays a salary and does nothing, he has plenty of time. He bought a comfortable little house in Paris, lived alternately in Reims and the capital, drank and gambled, and made love.

Taking this opportunity, he got acquainted with some bankers. He helped them get news from the church and even the Kingdom government, and those people provided him with various opportunities to make a fortune. He made a lot of money by speculating in various securities. less money.

Talleyrand was not a miser, and the money came quickly and was spent simply. With the help of his friends, after the necklace incident, if it wasn't for the Queen's obstruction, he almost succeeded in replacing the position of Roon's cardinal.

Although he failed to become a cardinal, he still got the position of Archbishop of Orton District in his hands.

Because Talleyrand climbed up step by step by relying on the king, in the eyes of most people, he should be a hardcore conservative and royalist, but now he appears here.

"Gentlemen, it's an honor to meet you." Bishop Talleyrand said.

"Your Excellency, you came to our meeting suddenly, is there anything you want to tell us?" Siers asked.

"Count Artois is already preparing to leave France with his family for Italy," Bishop Talleyrand replied.

"Count Artois" is the younger brother of Louis XVI and the most staunch conservative. The later historian Tocqueville once commented on him:

"We have seen many leaders in history. His knowledge structure, cultural level, political judgment and value choices will stay at a certain stage in his adolescence. Then no matter how long he lives, and no matter how many changes in the world, He both appears as a zombie at one point.

If there is a certain opportunity for him to ascend to a high position, he will definitely look for resources from the moment when his intelligence and knowledge development process stops, and construct his political ideas, value choices, and governance strategies. This kind of person is generally stubborn, paranoid, and foolishly self-confident, foolish and self-serving, thinking that he is defending a certain value and can open up a new direction for the country's development.

In fact, they often wear ancient costumes, but perform on the modern stage, like a ghost from the tomb suddenly appearing in broad daylight. Everyone knows that he is a ghost, but he thinks he is a true god. However, the ideas he chose and the policies he implemented were all moldy old goods. "

"Count Artois is going into exile?" Siès smiled contemptuously, "He's going to run away? Didn't he keep trying to suppress us? Now he's going to run away?"

"He escaped, I'm afraid a certain Highness will be happier." Barnaph frowned.

"But it's a good thing, isn't it?" said the Marquis de Lafayette. "The king's power has been weakened. Now, apart from us, His Majesty has no other power to rely on."

"But now we don't have much to do with the mob instigated by His Highness," Barnaph said.

"Then let him continue his performance. We can't give those mobs what they want. Could it be that His Highness will give it? When he set fire to his brother's house, he didn't think about it. Is the house connected to your brother's house?" Marquis Lafayette asked.

"Our house is adjacent to theirs, too," Barnave replied.

"Mr. Barnave, you are right. In fact, the third level is a false concept." Bishop Talleyrand said, "Three levels, this division is all nonsense, but some fools actually believe it is true .”

"What do you mean?" Siez frowned. His famous work is "What is the Third Level". Now Talleyrand should say that the "third estate" is a false concept, which naturally displeased him.

"Gentlemen, please take a look at our neighbor to the west, the most successful country in the world today. Think again, what is privilege?" Talleyrand said.

"I don't understand what you mean," Siers said. He failed to follow Talleyrand's train of thought, which made him dislike Talleyrand even more.

"Privilege, in the final analysis, is the priority of obtaining a good life." Talleyrand said, "Traditional aristocrats, relying on their birth, enjoy this priority. But in modern times, this kind of birth priority has been practiced to a large extent. It doesn’t make sense. Even if there is no revolution, the priority of birth is inevitable, and it has even been converted into the priority of property.”

Seeing that Siès seemed a little unconvinced, Talleyrand smiled again and said: "Take me as an example. I was born in a small noble family. When I was born, I didn't catch up with the good times. The family has long been It has fallen. The wealth of the past has long since fallen into the hands of those Jews. Except for an affix (referring to the word "Germany" in the name to indicate his noble status), there is nothing. The life of our family is no more than that of a first-timer. The decent people of the third class are good, even worse. Because they have more money. Money is privilege."

At this point, Talleyrand paused a little to allow everyone to digest his words. After a while like this, he continued: "Let's take a look at the British. Are there nobles in England? Yes, are there decent people who are not nobles in England? They are the same. So are there thugs who have nothing in England? Of course there are, What country does not have poor people who have nothing and therefore nothing to fear? Why then, in England, can there be a bloodless 'Glorious Revolution'?"

"Why?" Siers asked.

Talleyrand said with a smile: "Because the British understand that money is power, and power is money. These two things can be transformed into each other. A person can be a nobleman, a priest, and a rich man at the same time. There is an unbridgeable chasm."

"Like you, my lord bishop?" Siers asked with a sarcastic smile.

"Yes." Talleyrand smiled disapprovingly, "Only poverty has a deep gap with privilege. The nobles should be aware of this and should open the door to power to those decent people. And those decent people People should also be united with nobles, so that decent people share power and nobles share wealth. In the end, everyone gets what they want, which is why Britain is strong and stable.

I have been trying to convince the king and other nobles that they would follow the example of the English and make a union of all decent people.

But in France there are too many fools. Among the aristocrats, there are Count Artois, a zombie still alive in the Middle Ages. He thought that France could be ruled according to the medieval method, and he was unwilling to give any benefits to those rich and decent people, but he didn't know that money is power. How could those rich, or more precisely, powerful and respectable people be at his mercy?

There is also a smart idiot like the Duke of Orleans. He opened the bottle that sealed the devil at will without thinking about how it would end in the future! Are we really going to share power and wealth with those sans-culottes? The wealth of France, though great, cannot be equally divided among these mobs. But now, the Duke of Orleans has released them, allowing them to see their strength. Once they realize their power, they will not use it for their own benefit. But we can't give them what they want, because they want to live the same life as us! This is absolutely impossible!

Whether they are nobles or wealthy people, they should naturally form a holy alliance. But because of stubbornness, stupidity, and damned arrogance and ambition, they all went astray. One stubbornly refuses to move forward, even though moving forward should bring them a better life; the other unleashes the devil regardless of the consequences.

France is now in great danger because of these fools. I think that now the king can no longer save France, and only you present can save France. This is why I am here before you now. "

Siès stared at Talleyrand with wide-eyed eyes for a long time, and then he said with a sigh: "My lord, you are the Machiavelli of France, and you have no faith."

"No, Monsieur Siès," said Talleyrand seriously, "you are prejudiced against me. I do not really believe in God, but I love France."

"Your Excellency," Barnave said, "I'm not interested in your faith. I know that you were reprimanded for going to visit Voltaire (Voltaire was excommunicated for his fierce opposition to Catholicism). And you made a confession to His Excellency the Cardinal, and it is said that the confession was sincere. But we don't care about that. My concern is, now that the devils are out of the bottle, how can they be put back. On this point , do you have anything to teach us?"

"If you want to put the devil out of the bottle back, there are only two ways since ancient times." Talleyrand replied immediately.

"Which two kinds?"

"The first is the method of King Solomon, who overwhelms the devil by his own strength and forces them into the bottle. The other method, the method of the fisherman, deceives them with lies and lures them into the bottle themselves. .”

"As a presumed bishop, you actually used pagan stories as an analogy." Sies couldn't help but interjected again.

"Seek the truth, even as far away as the East." Talleyrand replied.

"That's another pagan saying."

"It's not a day or two since France and Paganism formed an alliance."

"Let's get back to the point, Monsieur Siès, His Excellency." Barnave said, "Your Excellency, what method do you think we can use?"

"Both ways," Talleyrand replied, "but before we are ready to put the devil in the bottle, we must first find a way to deal with the guy who released the devil from the bottle for his own ambition. Otherwise, this Although His Majesty is limited in ability, he may not be able to do anything if he is really asked to do it. But for many years, he has been making trouble with the king. Regarding how to make trouble, there are not many people in France who are more proficient than him. If you can’t Get rid of him first, it will not be easy for our affairs to succeed."

"How should we deal with him?"

"Wait until he makes a mistake," said Talleyrand.