I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 949: Scherer's Travels - Part
"Fortunately, we brought this up today." Talleyrand limped out of the house with Zubov and said with his head tilted, "But I think this might be a good opportunity for you."

Zubov didn't respond. "What do you mean by opportunity?"

Talleyrand lowered his voice and said: "Since you became the commander-in-chief of the Guards, you have not won a major battle.

"If you can defeat the Persians this time, gain a large amount of territory in the Caucasus, and even invade Persia, I believe that His Majesty the Tsar will look upon you with new eyes."

Zubov's heart suddenly moved.

As an ambitious lover, his greatest wish was to surpass Potemkin, the Tsar's favorite.

He was more handsome than Potemkin and better at making the Tsar happy. The only thing he lacked was military achievements.

Potemkin conquered Moldavia on the west coast of the Black Sea for the empire, and he went to seize the Caucasus on the east coast!

Thinking of this, he felt full of energy.

……

Rhineland.

Kastellaun, a small town in the western Palatinate.

In an ordinary house on the street, Baron Scherer glanced at the smoked sausage, chicken, vegetable soup and mashed potatoes on the table, and nodded politely to the old couple opposite him: "Thank you for your hospitality, this is really sumptuous, Mr. Niklas, Madam."

In fact, these foods seemed just ordinary to him, but he knew that given the conditions of Nicholas' family, they could probably only eat them during festivals and celebrations.

Mrs. Nicholas smiled and waved her hands: "I don't know if it suits your taste. And you paid so much for the room..."

Yes, Scherer and his wife were just staying here temporarily.

They had originally planned to cross the Rhine River from Strasbourg into France, but halfway through they heard that Count Latour had ordered all river crossing facilities, including docks and bridges, to be demolished for fear of an attack by Massena, making it impossible to pass through in a short period of time.

So Scheerer had to take a detour through the Palatinate and head south from the Saarland to Reims.

However, when they arrived in Kastellaun, they found that there was a "World Cup Football Tournament" going on here and all the hotels were full.

Finally, with the enthusiastic introduction of the innkeeper, they came to Nicholas's house to stay temporarily.

Well, actually the homestay business is quite developed in this era, and many citizens are willing to provide accommodation for a fee.

Several people around the table said a prayer, and just as Scherer picked up the spoon, he heard chaotic shouts from outside the house, "Elect the parliament immediately!"

"French people get out of the Palatinate!"

"We want freedom, the French have no right to rule here!"

Scherer seemed a little excited. He quickly walked to the window and saw seventy or eighty people holding banners and shouting as they walked down the street.

He turned to look at Niklas and said excitedly: “So you have liberals here too!
"Are the police strict in their arrests? Let's go and show our support to them later..."

Mr. Nicholas stepped forward and pulled up the curtains. He looked at Scherer with a strange expression: "What are you talking about? Why do you support the rioters?"

Scherer was stunned for a moment, then suddenly realized: "Are you worried about the police? Yes, those damn running dogs!
"But believe me, if we move fast enough, they won't be able to catch us. I have experience..."

The old man's tone was already somewhat unfriendly: "Mr. Scheerer, if you keep talking nonsense, I'll ask you to leave." "No, no, listen to me, freedom depends on all of us fighting together!" Seeing that he was "stubborn", Scheer imitated the people who gave speeches on the streets of Vienna, waving his arms and shouting, "Otherwise, how could the king and his lackeys reduce the terrible taxes, how could they stop..."

Nicholas interrupted him and said, "Of course, His Majesty the King has arrested the damn tax farmer and reduced the tax rate by nearly half compared to before."

"Ah?" Scherer was stunned for a moment, then he regained his confidence and said, "Yes, the tax is lower, but are you satisfied with this? Work, life, rights, there are still many things to fight for..."

The old man was already walking towards the door. "It seems that you are in the same group with those rioters outside. We were almost fooled in the same way.

"Now, please leave. Anne, give him the money back."

"No, but," Scheerer argued, "why do you want to defend that guy in the palace? Freedom and human rights are..."

Mrs. Nicholas whispered, "But his Majesty is very good. I mean, the King of Paris.

"After the French came, they built a salt washing factory on the outskirts of the city. Many people in the city worked there, and the wages were much higher than in the previous factories. My two sons boiled water there and earned 13 florins a month."

"Our situation here is still relatively poor. It is said that the wages in the quarries in Cologne and the coking coal plant in Brühl can reach 17 florins per month." Niklas pointed out the window. "So you are going to join those rioters to mess everything up and let us go back to the life we ​​had before?"

Seeing that Scherer remained silent, he spoke in a slightly kinder voice, “By the way, you are from another place, so you may not know.

“The king sent in new police, arrested gang members, and never beat anyone randomly.

“Now the children can play football in the church and get bonuses if they play well.

"There's a...what's it called?"

"The shopping mall." The old lady reminded.

"Yes, the mall. It's full of exquisite French goods. The prices are cheaper than what the caravans brought in before.

“Oh, and now there are free opera performances on the street every month.”

The old lady added: "I heard that starting from next year, the church will also teach children to read for free."

Nicholas glanced at Scherer again, sat back in his chair, and gestured out the window: "Those guys are rogues and hooligans. I don't know what they are doing all day. If the police hadn't stopped me, I really wanted to beat them up!"

Scherer opened his mouth for a long time before he uttered: "But even so, we must fight for freedom and human rights."

The old man looked at him in confusion. "I don't know what you are talking about. Freedom? No one has put you in jail.

"Oh, now even serfs can enter the city at will, what's the lack of freedom?"

Mrs. Nicholas reminded him again in a low voice: "There are no serfs now."

"Yes, that's right. The king abolished serfdom. Now they only have to pay 12 years of ransom to buy a piece of land."

Scherer: “Is this true?”

"Of course, you can ask anyone you want. It's the same all over the Palatinate."

Scherer felt a little dizzy.

He has been campaigning for parliament and elections, but even if the parliament were to run the town, it probably couldn't do a better job, right?
(End of this chapter)