Chapter 34: Poles are sometimes punching bags

Chapter 34: Poles are sometimes punching bags

Chapter 34: Poles are sometimes punching bags (Part )
This diplomatic turmoil will definitely last for a while. In any case, the relationship between Sweden and Russia cannot be repaired. This is also caused by the Swedish government's erratic behavior in secret diplomacy. The main responsibility lies with the king himself. In any case, what the situation in Sweden is like is something that St. Petersburg can only pay close attention to.

Although the Swedish king's actions embarrassed the Russian royal family, and on the issue of the Grand Duchess's faith, he first verbally promised to maintain the bride's Orthodox faith, but then there was no written guarantee in the document. This behavior in itself was cheating.

Then the biggest victim of the whole incident is now the Russian Crown Princess, after all, the bride that the King of Sweden is going to marry is her own sister.

When Grand Duchess Elena and Solovyov heard the Queen's scolding and the Crown Princess's crying, they had actually been talking about this issue for a while. The facts were irrefutable, and Elizabeth could only bear it. It was unlikely that she would find any comfort at this time.

Although she was only 18 years old, Alexander seemed to have lost her initial sense of novelty. In this family, the only one she could rely on was her husband. Her sisters-in-law could not help her at all with this problem, so she turned to seek psychological comfort from some older ladies.

No matter how you look at it, people need comfort right now, and it's not like no one else has this idea.

In the past, when the Crown Princess was wronged, she would go to the head female official to talk, but today's incident happened suddenly, and the Queen's anger was extremely fierce, which made her panic.

At this time, she was desperate and tried all kinds of methods. Since the usual channels were not working and her best friend Countess Stroganov was not in the palace, she was afraid that she could only seek help from Alexander's entourage.

Solovyov did not go back immediately. After all, there was a ready-made labor force, and Elena thought he was useful, so she asked him to help put away the painting tools and send the plaster statue to the warehouse.

Then, she was still walking in front, forming a queue. I don’t know what she was thinking, but after a while she forgot about the quarrel between her mother and sister-in-law. After all, she was still a child, and she would forget about the unpleasant things. She still had the mind to shout “one, two, one” as if she was a sergeant major.
Tsar Paul had a good upbringing. In addition to their own hobbies, the Grand Duchesses all had some military influence. Elena was the most well-behaved among the four consecutive Grand Duchesses. She had never been in trouble, and no trouble would come to her. She was not as reckless as the fourth sister.

Then, with this team of servants at the back and an officer in the front, it really looked like a march.

In the palace, those who obtain the qualification of "eunuch" are often not here to work. It is just a title, and it is also a system introduced by the Russian court during its westernization. In fact, the title of these attendants has developed more and more like an honorary title and a symbol of identity to win over the local nobles.

Of course, Solovyov did not want to work in this field, and his family's status was probably not high enough. In the local area, his status was only slightly higher than that of ordinary gentry because he had a fake title without a certificate preserved.

For such country nobles, it would be better for them to make some achievements in the army. If they are lucky, they can retire directly at the eighth grade or above officer level, and then return to their hometown to become a civil servant, which makes it more convenient for them to do work in various fields.

They walked in the corridor of the Winter Palace and did not need to go up to the second floor. After finding the warehouse, Elena went up to the room on the second floor with her maid and female teacher.

She also invited Solovyov. The European court was not as heavily guarded as the Eastern court. Besides, it was not strange for a child to order a few officers who were not on duty around.

But when they went upstairs, they saw Adam Czartoryski coming out of the Crown Princess's room, looking a little panicked.

It is not surprising that anything happens in the palace. This Polish prince is a close friend of the Crown Prince and often goes in and out of the couple's room. However, there is one identity of his that is worth noting, that is, he is a Pole. Although he is regarded as a confidant by Alexander, this guy's ability to commit suicide can be said to be something that only a purebred Pole can do.

Although that was in the future, when he was Russia's foreign minister, he publicly stated that he would put Poland's interests first and sold his "United Kingdom of Poland and Lithuania" plan to Alexander. Although the situation was similar to the "Kingdom of Dacia" that the Queen promised to her old lover Potemkin but failed to fulfill, it is common practice for the Poles to make small calculations and seek their own death.

If you want to find some Poles who are not looking for trouble, most of them have gone to Paris to work in the academic and artistic fields, or they are not pure Polish at all, or at best only half of them.

The prince's motives were actually very suspicious, and no one knew what he was trying to do by entering and leaving the Crown Princess's room at this time today.

Elena knew that her sister-in-law would lock herself in the library when she was upset, and it was common for the Polish prince to come and take care of her when Alexander was not around. Of course, Elizabeth kept her distance from these people at this time to avoid the embarrassing situation like when she first arrived at the court and faced the Queen's last favorite, Count Platon Zubov.

Of course, a few years later, as she became increasingly isolated in the palace, she could only seek comfort in her own small space.

At that time, it seemed that there were a few daring guys who dared to come to the palace and want to become the lover of the Crown Princess and later the Queen of Russia. Because these materials were destroyed in the period of Nicholas I, many people could only get some information about Louisa of Baden from her contemporaries.

As for Prince Czartoryski, he was actually very suspicious. Solovyov calculated the time in his mind. From the quarrel between the Queen and the Crown Princess, when the Queen was furious and the Crown Princess was silent and just crying, it was only about an hour. Of course, if he was dressed neatly, he should not be able to do anything.

In the palace, his space for movement was actually limited to when he was summoned, and he could move freely when following Elena. He himself was not a guard, and his official base was actually in Tsar Paul's private palace. It was just that there was no soldier there, so he was not bound by duty and had more room to move around.

At this time, it is hard to say whether he also wants to be an adventurer. There are many people like him doing dangerous work in St. Petersburg.

Dolokhov reminded his bad friends to stay away from Solovyov and not cause trouble for him. Before the duel, Dolokhov also said that they should not join our circle.

Come to think of it, his uncle was also a cavalry general. No wonder this lunatic is fearless sometimes. Besides courage, there is also another reason, although it may not always be useful.

However, Czartoryski's actions aroused Solovyov's suspicion. The more he thought about it, the more confused he became. However, Elena refused to "dismiss" him. It was as if she wanted to play house with a girl. She got a real officer to be her "adjutant", and he couldn't get away for a while.

This is not surprising. The eldest daughter, Alexandra, is only 14 years old. Paul's requirements for their personal lives are relatively relaxed. It is not like Alexander and Constantine who had to receive the strict education of the queen since childhood, and now have to continue to be strictly managed according to the army's schedule.

But it does not affect thinking. The Poles have always been able to commit suicide, and in order to save trouble, Paul released more than 20,000 Polish prisoners, and then packed them up and sent them to Western Siberia. However, just sending them there may be a waste of labor. After passing Ufa and heading east, many cities have not been built yet. Sending these Poles there is indeed a waste.

You have to know that places like Siberia, even if people are sent there to enrich the labor force in a few decades, will never be able to develop due to the harsh climate and various factors.

It was indeed necessary to find a way to send those who were likely to cause trouble in Europe to some suitable places. In fact, when the sea was able to sail, it was not impossible to send the Poles to America and build a "Fort Ross", but the manpower and transportation costs were there. The total cost of the second great expedition was 30 rubles, and thousands of people were mobilized to survey the territory in several major directions. Moving thousands or even tens of thousands of Poles, no matter where they went, still had to take the cost into consideration.

Moreover, Solovyov now knew the most terrible thing. He was just a captain. If he continued like this, he would keep playing "house" with several grand duchesses and would waste his time.

General Bonaparte, you'd better launch an expedition to Egypt as soon as possible. This way, those European countries will find it profitable and will come to Tsar Paul to send troops to organize the Second Anti-French Alliance.

No matter how accurate the historical events are, they are actually of no use.

That is, when Solovyov was placing maps and picture albums there, Elena might ask some questions.

This kind of album is published in relatively small quantities and contains watercolor paintings of major countries and cities in Europe. It can be collected in a folder and taken out when needed.

Archduchess Elena probably liked this set of picture albums very much, but she also had a strange habit of displaying them on a map.

Just say that she was favored by the Queen, so she must have been affected. After all, when the old lady was around, she was always drawing on the map.

"Soloviev, do you have a map in your briefcase?"

"Your Highness, which one do you want to use?"

"It's a full map of Europe! Do you have this?"

"Your Highness, I really don't have this. I always carry battle maps with me for the convenience of my superiors. The kind of map you need may be..."

"That's okay. I'm just saying it. I'll have to trouble you to put all these watercolor paintings on the map. Can you recognize which cities they are?"

"Of course I recognize this. The map you are holding is Constantinople."

"Well, you."

Elena tilted her head and thought for a moment before giving the instruction.

"Captain, after you put the map here, put these watercolor cards in the corresponding areas. Please wait for me for a moment."

Then she got up and left. The room she used was a vacated reception room. When Tsar Paul was in power, most of the "favorites" in the court left the Winter Palace. They also knew that the emperor did not like them very much. Some retreated to the salons in the city, some returned to their own residences, and some left St. Petersburg directly. Even the dean of the Imperial Academy was "invited" directly back to her estate in Kaluga.

Paul, on the other hand, was more productive, and he and his wife always made arrangements for production. Even if he had mistresses, they were only spiritual. The queen treated her daughter-in-law like an "evil mother-in-law". She turned a blind eye to the fact that Paul sometimes went to his mistress, Ekaterina Nelidova, to complain and seek comfort. She allowed several mistresses who did not have relations with Paul to exist, just like the relationship between Louis XV and Madame Pompadour in the last period of his life.

Anyway, it didn't affect her status as queen, but she was not so friendly to her daughter-in-law.

The Crown Princess, who had just been crying in her reading room, was quickly dragged out by Elena.

Elena was very smart. She knew that she couldn't just leave her sister-in-law there crying. After her mother's rage, she would definitely go back to her "processing workshop". Even though her due date was approaching, she still had the mind to make some patterns. She was going to make a new set of relief carvings in the new year based on the children's current images.

So, she was not on the second floor of the Winter Palace, but went to the Small Winter Palace.

No wonder Elena dared to drag her sister-in-law out of the room and now came to this reception room.

That is, the Winter Palace is large and has a lot of old maps. There are so many outdated maps like the ones William Pitt the Younger mentioned that if they were placed in the countryside, they would have to be covered with wallpaper.

And Elena has some interest in these things, some of which were used by her queen grandmother.

"Elena, what do you want me to do with you?"

"You have to guess which European cities these watercolors represent. I've even got an officer to be the referee. Lisa, you have to play with me!"

The Crown Princess, whose eyes were still a little red and swollen, calmed down when she saw Elena acting like a spoiled child with her. It was not an easy life for her to be alone in St. Petersburg.

Solovyov also met the legendary "bullying bag" Crown Princess. The last time they were at the shooting range, the women were all in the back and he didn't notice them, but he heard about it from Madame Lebrun.

As for the second creation in Roman mythology, Psyche, a beautiful girl who always suffers misfortune, is indeed a very suitable description of the Crown Princess. Especially after being scolded by her mother-in-law, she cried because of being bullied, and wiped her tears with a pitiful look. It is really hard to understand why Alexander left such a treasure at home and went out to find a mistress.

(End of this chapter)