Chapter 283 five preparations

Some newspapers at the time reported that the barricade on Machang Street was an "impregnable building", and so they described it.They say it's as tall as a building, which is wrong.The fact is that its average height does not exceed six or seven feet.Its construction design is such that soldiers can hide behind the wall or commandeer over it at will, and they can climb to the ridge of the wall by a four-level stone ladder built inside and cross out.The front of the barricade was built of stones and barrels, with posts and planks, and the wheels of Ansel's pony and the overturned stagecoach, criss-crossing and joining together to form a whole, which could be seen from the outside. From the looks of it, the image is branched and chaotic.One end of the barricade was adjacent to the hotel, and between the other end and the wall of the opposite house, a gap that could allow one person to pass was left as a way out.The pole of the stagecoach had been tied with ropes to keep it upright, and a red flag was tied to the end of the pole, which flew over the barricade.

The little barricade in the Rue de Mondour, hidden behind the hotel houses, is out of sight.The two barricades joined together form a real horned fort.Enjolras and Courfeyrac thought that it was inappropriate to build a barricade on the Rue de la Mondedu, from the Rue des Monders to the vegetable market. They obviously wanted to leave a road leading to the outside, and they were not afraid of the danger of the enemy coming from that road. And the tough missionary friars come in. This unobstructed way out, left as a passage, is perhaps what is called a traffic lane in the Art of War; Except for the protruding corners formed by the hotel, it is like a trapezium completely closed.The distance between this large barricade and the row of tall houses at the bottom of the street is not more than twenty paces, so we can say that the barricade is backed by the row of houses.Those houses were all occupied by people, but the doors and windows were closed from top to bottom.

All this work was successfully carried out in less than an hour, without the sight of a fur-cap or a spear-basket in the hands of the brave gang.Occasionally, when a few bourgeoisie were still passing through the Rue Saint-Denis at this moment of insurrection, they glanced at the Rue de las Changs, and when they saw the barricade, they quickened their pace. With both barricades completed and the red flag raised, they dragged out of the tavern a table on which Courfeyrac stood.Enjolras brought the square box, Courfeyrac opened the lid, and it was full of bullets.The bravest shuddered at the sight of the bullet, and all fell silent.

With a smile on his face, Courfeyrac distributed the bullets to everyone. Each gets thirty rounds.Some people had gunpowder, and began to make more bullets from the melted bullets.As for the whole keg of gunpowder, they kept it on another table by the door of the store. The drums and horns of the assembled troops resounded through Paris, and had never ceased, but had become a monotonous sound, which they paid no attention to.That kind of sound, sometimes from near to far, sometimes from far to near, floats back and forth, it is unbearable to hear. Later, the barricades were built, everyone's posts were assigned, the guns were loaded, the sentries were on duty, the pedestrians disappeared, and the surrounding houses were all silent, as if they were dead, there was no sound of people, and the dusk began to deepen , Gradually entering the night, they stayed alone in this shocking street, in the dark and dead environment, feeling that they had been cut off from the outside world, and what was pressing towards them was an unspeakable misery and horror. They hold their weapons tightly, firm, at ease, and wait.