The chief effort of the Huguenots was to seize the towns on the Seine above and below Paris, in order to stay provisions, and so to compel the government to submit.[1125] The capture of the Pont de Charenton[1126] by Condé’s forces was a heavy blow to the government, as Charenton chiefly supplied Paris with wheat and flour. The Parisians fully expected to be attacked and made preparations therefor by breaking up the stones in the streets and piling them in heaps for ready service or taking them into their houses; at the same time they destroyed pent-houses and other similar insignificant structures in order that they might the better hurl their missiles.[1127] So suddenly had the war been begun that the blockade of Paris for the time being was almost complete. Lagny on the Marne,[1128] Charenton, Porchefontaine, Busanval, Argenteuil, St. Ouen, Ambervilliers, and St. Denis constituted the inner zone of Huguenot control while farther out Montereau on the highroad to Sens, Etampes on the road to Orleans and in the heart of the wheat district that supplied the capital,[1129] Dourdan at the junction of the Blois-Chartres roads, and Dreux on the road toward Normandy, formed an outer circle. So closely was Paris invested that the windmills in the faubourgs of St. Denis, St. Honoré, and Port St. Martin were burned by the Huguenots. The churches for leagues around were plundered of copes, chasubles, tunics, and other rich silk and satin garments. The Huguenot gentry made shirts and handkerchiefs out of the lace and linen of the clergy. But all gold and silver taken, as altar-vessels, crosses, chalices, were turned into the general spoil for the sake of the cause.[1130] Forced loans were imposed upon small merchants and even the peasantry were constrained to forced labor,[1131] so that the latter fled by hundreds to Paris. The ravages of the Huguenots were so great that they defeated the very purpose they had in mind. For thousands of the peasantry, under cover of a liberal ordinance intended to provision Paris,[1132] drove their cattle into the city and carted thither the grain and provisions they had stored up against the winter, where they sold it cheap, rather than see it destroyed by “volleurs quilz pillent et brulent granges, maisons, moulins et font tout le mal qu’ilz peullent faire.”[1133] Wine, meat, and bread were not dear in Paris; beechnut oil and oats were at a reasonable price. [Illustration: BLOCKADE OF PARIS by the Huguenots OCT.-NOV. 1567 Huguenot positions ... _Methuen & Co_ ] [Illustration: HUGUENOT MARCH TO PONT-à-MOUSSON after the battle of S^[T]. DENIS _Methuen & Co._ ]