Chapter 45 There is too much bad news in August
Chapter 45 045 There is too much bad news in August
In the summer of 1798, the French did a lot of things along the way. Although the news was slow to reach St. Petersburg, fast horses could depart from Vienna, pass through Warsaw, and then transfer to St. Petersburg from the Baltic coast.
At this time, the French signal machines were actually more efficient and faster. In the absence of telegraphs, this type of signal was already considered very fast.
The Valletta Fortress has always been considered indestructible. Even if it came from the sea, the powerful countries in the Middle East in the past have not been able to break through it. There is no new dynasty to govern the country, and the small country of Malta has never been conquered.
However, in June 1798, the French expeditionary fleet quickly succeeded here. Anyway, the combat effectiveness of the Knights of Malta was already very poor. Even with only a few thousand people, they were vulnerable, and the locals did not support their plan to continue fighting.
In just a few days, the French took control of the island and obtained a large amount of wealth from the collection of the Knights of Malta. It would be strange if the French did not rob the local people when they came out to fight.
General Bonaparte did not bring Massena this time. The general who was keen on robbery might think it was a pity. However, the Egyptian expedition was not fun at all. There were too many dangerous things.
For example, there was Rear Admiral Nelson, who was blind in one eye and missing an arm, and turned the Royal Navy into a royal brothel. When he went out to sea, the captain of his flagship HMS Vanguard was a guy who was "unskilled in sailing", so the mast was blown off, and the Mediterranean Squadron missed General Bonaparte's expedition fleet.
When the French landed on Malta, his Mediterranean Squadron was still operating around the Island of Elba. He then pursued them in the direction of Malta, but because he ran too fast, he missed the French again.
At this moment, General Bonaparte was still organizing training for the officers on the "Orient", and he did not notice that danger had passed by him several times.
If Nelson had an ironclad ship, its boilers would be burning red by now, and it would be sailing at a mad speed of 29 knots.
He then turned to the Levantine coast, but his search was fruitless there as well.
Sometimes, if the navy has better skills and tactics, it can also cause huge trouble. If Nelson's ship had sailed a little slower, he would have probably encountered the French fleet at sea.
This expedition was itself an absurd move by the Directory and would soon bring about another anti-French alliance.
The current patrons of the Order of Malta are Britain and Russia. Britain still has some actual presence and regularly sends squadrons here for resupply. Russia does this based on previous promises and treaties, and when the Russian fleet or merchant fleet passes through the Mediterranean, it also needs some neutral or friendly places as resupply points.
By the time this news reached St. Petersburg, it was already August, and it was considered a slap in the face to Tsar Paul.
Judging from the time, this was the day when Louisa was about to give birth. After occupying Malta, General Bonaparte went to Egypt. Naturally, during his expedition to Egypt and Syria, he won first and then lost, and it was all in vain. Apart from rediscovering the great civilization of Egypt and triggering an archaeological boom in the future, there were probably pseudo-historians who claimed that the civilizations of Egypt, Greece and the Middle East were all fake. A few people regarded them as the golden rule, while most people regarded them as fools, and they became more of a topic of online conversation and a joke. That's about it.
Art historians, please stop attacking archaeology and whitewashing the Elgin family, a habitual offender in destroying cultural relics, on the issue of the Parthenon!
When the news reached St. Petersburg, Paul was indeed very dissatisfied, but he did not make up his mind to go to war with the French. It was Britain that was really confronting France. After his inspection, he returned to St. Petersburg and did not intend to intervene in a war at this time, especially since it might not be of much benefit to Russia.
After all, you don't need to read "Zuo Zhuan" to know that if Russia sent troops westward to help the European monarchies defeat France, any benefits it gained would mainly be in the neighboring countries. For Russia, there would be no direct benefits or advantages, and it would have been a waste of being a good guy.
In fact, it is not advantageous for Russia to take action when France shows no signs of destroying the European order.
In this way, just like Britain always has to maintain the balance on the European continent and France has to maintain the system after the Thirty Years' War, they all have basic diplomatic national policies as their foundation.
Paul was not in a hurry now. He had to wait for the movement of the Vienna court. Now the two families had already had the intention of marriage. Archduke Joseph came to St. Petersburg to marry Archduchess Alexandra, but Paul said in front of his daughter, "I will never see her again. She will be a 'sacrifice'." A haze appeared in the family. Count Rostopchin, who had fallen out of favor recently, also noticed Paul's abnormality and wrote in his notes, "Marriage with the Habsburgs is not a good idea."
Even though Archduke Joseph had good personal character, it was indeed doubtful what the overall effect of this marriage would be.
As for Alexandra's own attitude, in fact, she was a little disheartened after a failed marriage that lasted for several years. She loved poetry and was a little sentimental. When she heard about the marriage plan and that her father spoke to her in a guilty tone when he talked about it, she felt very uncomfortable.
She even thought about joining a monastery to become a nun and never getting involved in any marriage again.
The previous Swedish king had been causing trouble for several years, which had seriously worn out her patience. From the age of twelve to fifteen, she was troubled by this matter.
But this was my mother's idea, and it also involved a marriage between Russia and Austria.
Now it was Luisa and Elena's turn to worry about this problem, as well as Maria and Ekaterina. The eldest sister had been facing these problems since she got involved with that "Swedish idiot".
But what was more important was that Louisa was sent to the delivery room this time. Because Paul was worried about the old Western doctors, he decided to let the Naval Hospital, which he trusted, assist in the delivery of the frail Crown Princess.
Although the Tsar himself was supervising the hygiene issues, the performance of the Admiralty Hospital was the best in St. Petersburg.
"But she has to rely on herself to have a baby."
This time, the whole family was guarding the door. Louisa was in pain inside and had started shouting a bunch of German words like Huch. It looked like the situation was not optimistic.
Paul was leaning on a cane, his face was livid, and he hadn't heard anything good about it throughout the entire month of August.
He himself felt that there were problems with his eldest daughter's marriage, and so did several of his favorites and people in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Although this marriage could strengthen relations with the Habsburgs, he had also heard about the situation in the Austrian court since Maria Theresa.
This is not optimistic. If I really send my daughter there, who knows what will happen.
He was also troubled by this, and although it was a day when he had no intention of governing, he still asked Prince Saltykov to follow him with a folder.
This Privy Councillor, a senior Russian civil servant, looked more and more like Humphrey. What's worse, his title was probably higher than his, except for the special prince. Giving him a title would not be very attractive.
"Your Majesty, I think that at this time, you remaining calm is the greatest support for Her Majesty Elizabeth."
"Thank you, Sasha, I know, but now the marriage with Austria, if the negotiations can be suspended, I think after all, diplomacy is decided by the diplomats of both sides on behalf of the two governments and monarchs. I want you to join the negotiations. Well, think of some ways." "Your Majesty, how can you have such an idea? This has already been negotiated through correspondence with Vienna."
Paul's emotional instability seems to have become a huge variable. He felt uncomfortable when he heard that his daughter-in-law was suffering in the delivery room, and now he began to worry about his daughter.
Solovyov had not looked at the course of Russian history, nor had he read the script because all he knew about this era were probably events involving generals and major figures, the marriage between Russia and Austria being a diplomatic move, and because the parties involved were not very famous, very few people paid attention to it.
Of course, if you read the script, you wouldn’t think this is a big deal.
Prince Alexander Saltykov remembered a delaying tactic that he had mentioned to Tsar Paul's aide-de-camp, Count Karl von Nesselrode, during a previous conversation in a cafe.
This is the famous "Foreign Ministry Four-Stage Tactic". Although the British are most familiar with it, it does not mean that other countries will not use it. I don't know where the little bespectacled earl learned it from or summarized it.
For the young prince, there is actually one thing that needs to be noted, that is, their family actually serves the monarch, and the operation of the government can only be ranked second, but no absurd policies can be formulated. Since the emperor has begun to worry that the eldest princess may encounter misfortune when marrying Austria, he also thought that as a "servant of the monarch", he should serve the monarch's ideas.
After all, this did not involve fundamental interests, and in the reform of the great nobles, Prince Saltykov's family and his counts did not suffer much loss, so they still worked for the Tsar's reforms.
The prince himself was only the second son. His eldest brother was blind, and although the third brother had become a senior civil servant and court attendant with the help of his father and brother, he was also a playboy. The burden of the entire prince's family fell on him and his henpecked old father.
But recently, because of his abilities in administration and diplomatic affairs, he has gained the trust of His Majesty the Tsar, and there are some things I want to share with His Majesty.
After thinking it over again and again, he decided to bring up this idea: "Your Majesty, I think you can take the following approach. But it requires..."
"Ah, I know what you mean, we can go to the stairs, the guards are only on either side."
As for what happened in the delivery room, Paul really had no way to deal with it. The queen was not there this time, so she could take charge of the household affairs.
Queen Maria saw Paul's movements and knew very well that he was going to discuss something with the "cunning little fox".
She could guess that because her daughter-in-law was now in the delivery room and had a close call with death, His Majesty must be worried about his daughter.
They are an old couple, and they have been through so much. But the five girls in the family will all get married in the future, and the first birth is usually the most dangerous, but the subsequent ones will be smoother.
She went through this herself, but the first time she gave birth to Alexander and the last time she gave birth to Mikhail were indeed a bit dangerous.
Alexander over there looked like a ginger cat scratching the wall, and he was very anxious.
When Paul turned to the staircase, Prince Saltykov the Younger stated his opinion to the Tsar.
"Your Majesty, we can adopt the four-stage strategy mentioned above. We can delay the time of this marriage. Grand Duke Joseph's visit is in February 1799. When he comes to St. Petersburg, we must follow Russian traditions. There are some ways to delay the time, such as the traditional folk engagement ceremony and the one-year cooling-off period before the marriage."
These seem to be the real Russian traditions, that is, when the engagement arrives in St. Petersburg, both parties have to inspect each other.
"You have a good idea, go on."
"If another anti-French alliance is organized and our army needs to be dispatched, the final decision on whether to marry will also depend on the war situation."
Paul suddenly understood what was going on. Don't rush to send your daughter there. Grand Duke Joseph is in St. Petersburg for an engagement. After the engagement ceremony, the formal wedding will take another year, and the diplomatic clauses must be added.
Alexander Saltykov, also known as "Sasha", was a master of words in this regard. His strengths were official writing and poetry in French, and diplomatic terms were all drawn up in French, so there was a way to solve this problem.
"That's it, Sasha. You should do it this way. You must consider the contents of the contract carefully, especially the diplomatic terms of this marriage."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Paul's heart was half relieved by the matter concerning his daughter, and the other half was about his daughter-in-law. He didn't want his son to repeat the path he had taken.
However, his worries soon passed. Although Louisa seemed very fragile in the eyes of her parents-in-law and husband, she still survived the ordeal and finally gave birth to a baby girl.
The biggest problem was that the Crown Princess was too slim, and the weight of the child when it was born was enough to make her a "big princess". The biggest advantage that the Queen had when she chose her almost cost her her life.
Now there are professional doctors and midwives here. After cleaning the baby's body, they put him in the cradle and take him out.
"Your Majesty, this child is of great importance!"
Moreover, this pair of blue eyes, when slightly opened, looks like a pair of sapphires, highly consistent with the pupil color of the parents.
"Thank God, thank God for the artillery, 201 rounds! This is a great joyous event!"
Paul and his whole family were mentally tortured for a whole day, and now they can finally feel relieved.
As for naming the child, Paul did not follow the general rules. The nearby naming day was Catholic, so he finally named his granddaughter "Evdokia", which means "kindness" or "love" in ancient Greek. If a derived nickname is familiar to everyone, it would be "Donia".
(End of this chapter)