Victor Hugo, Quatre-vingt treize.

1793, that is. A ship bringing the general, a potential leader of the remaining supporters of the ancien régime, to Brittany from England, has run into difficulties off the Channel Islands. These are compounded when a cannon gets loose through the carelessness of a cannoneer, who later himself succeeds in stopping it as it rolls around the deck. The general, who believes in being hard but fair, decorates him for the second action and has him shot for the first. The clue is just to make you think about numbers, though it probably makes most people think about Private Eye, which is less helpful.