Chapter 51 001 Before the Italian Expedition

Chapter 51 001 Before the Italian Expedition

Chapter 51 001 Before the Italian Expedition

The salon was Solovyov's least favorite place. When he returned to St. Petersburg, he actually wanted to finish translating some of the content as quickly as possible before leaving St. Petersburg to fight abroad.

The first issue that was published received a good response. From the letter sent from the editor of the Petersburg News to 17 Nevsky Prospekt, it can be seen that readers welcomed it very much.

As for why he chose to write anonymously and leave the letters at Count Stroganov's house, it was because people are afraid of becoming famous, just as pigs are afraid of getting fat. He didn't want to be a "translator" or something like that, and the prospect of joining the army was much better than translating various books at home.

"Mikhail, do you want to go to art school?"
"Non, je traduis juste." (No, I'm just translating.)
Today the Countess and the old Earl were at home, and the reason they spoke French during their conversation was that a distinguished guest from France was visiting.

A fat man, a cowardly and reactionary coward, and an unfortunate princess visited Petersburg from the Jelgava Palace.

That is to say, Louis XVIII, his brother, Count of Artois, Louis XVI's eldest princess Marie Therese, and Count of Artois's two sons had all come, and the exiled French royal family had all arrived in Russia. They also welcomed the Russian Tsar to join the war against the "rebels".

As for Louis XVIII, he did not understand Russian and could not understand the content of the text, so he could only explain it through Countess Stroganov.

“This is the Russian translation of the popular Chinese novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. Only a few chapters have been translated so far. Our young translator will soon go to Vienna with the army.” (This is the Russian translation of the popular Chinese novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”. So far, only a few chapters have been translated. Our young translator will soon go to Vienna with the army.)
"Capitaine, we thank you for your commitment to the war to maintain order, and we hope you will return safely." (Captain, we thank you for your commitment to the war to maintain order, and we hope you will return safely.)
"Thank you, Your Majesty, I express my deepest sympathy to Her Royal Highness Marie-Thérèse and I wish you all the best in Petersbourg." (Thank you, Your Majesty, I express my deepest sympathy to Her Royal Highness Marie-Thérèse and I wish you all the best in Petersbourg.)
But he bowed while speaking.

Solovyov's behavior today was very strange, just like Dean Talleyrand, who was doing well in the Directory, although he was reported by the Americans for soliciting bribes and eventually lost his position in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

This situation did not make Louis XVIII very happy. The only one who benefited from it was the unfortunate French princess. After hearing about the series of unfortunate engagement scandals of the Russian princess, she also began to show some signs of fear of marriage.

After all, she is Little Cake's daughter, and she is indeed very beautiful, with sapphire eyes and great "justice" inherited from her mother.

Although the Count of Artois was extremely stupid, he considered that the marriage between his eldest son and niece might make both of them unhappy, so he proposed to his brother to terminate the marriage. Before that, when they met Tsar Paul, the former French princess and the Russian princess were discussing "how to avoid an unsuitable fiancé", which happened to be overheard by the Count of Artois.

He was stupid, but he was responsible for his family. Besides, his niece was only 20 years old, so if possible, he should let her have some choice. Or he could let her live in Russia and marry a Russian prince-level family or a German nobleman serving here, which would be better than being with his stuttering son.

Louis XVIII was concerned about the interests of the exiled Bourbon royal family, but he had not yet been tempered and trained. Apart from his ability to escape, in fact, the two brothers combined were not as good as Mr. Talleyrand's lame leg.

But when it comes to arranging his family, the Count of Artois is not so stupid. He has two sons. No matter what, once the anti-French alliance succeeds, the final result will be the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy. After the death of his brother, they will all be his family. At that time, he has the final say. He doesn't believe that Louis XVIII, who is so fat, can live longer than him.

He is...very vulgar when it comes to royal power, but there is nothing that can be done about it, his vision and stupidity and stubbornness should make him even more clueless than his elder brother.

Solovyov couldn't bear to see this group of fools and an unlucky young lady performing a farce anymore, because he had another invitation.

The Countess wanted to keep him here. There had to be some topics to talk about when entertaining the exiled French royal family.

"Thank you, ma'am, but it's really difficult to always hide your thoughts when you are with such a family."

"I understand your thoughts, Misha, but Alexander Sergeyevich, my father-in-law, is an acquaintance of theirs in Paris, and Mrs. Lebrun will be here soon."

"Ah, that's even worse. Madame Lebrun and Queen Marie have such a close relationship. I'm afraid she and Julie will hug the princess and cry. That would be a very scary scene."

Although he had a good relationship with Madame Lebrun and Julie, these things were all on his mind.

"Besides, I have an appointment to go to a salon. You know, I usually don't go to 'literary salons', but sometimes I just can't avoid it."

"You better be careful, don't let some high-ranking girl seduce you again."

The Countess knew about the incident, but Solovyov was very restrained. This guy has been introverted and deep recently, even calmer than the son of the "King of Prussia".

"Don't worry, Countess. I think it will be all right."

Then he left, and the issues raised at the table were actually for the old count to catch up with friends he hadn't seen for many years. After all, when Louis XVIII was in Paris, he was also a member of the court, and he was always there to see him. Even if he didn't want to get involved too much, as the chief steward of the court and the leader of the Petersburg nobility, he was always in charge of reception work.

Moreover, his daughter is getting married soon, and she is engaged to the son of a country gentleman. Although the other party is the nephew of Marshal Suvorov, the gap in status is not small.

However, marriage problems are often not something that one can control.

Solovyov's visit to the salon was actually quite embarrassing. He was discovered by the new colonel of his regiment when he was writing a preface in the barracks. There was nothing he could do, so the colonel arranged a "cultural salon" for officers and asked Solovyov to help improve the cultural accomplishment of these officers.
Compared with this kind of vegetable market composed of men, the "literary salon" of ladies may be better, as long as they are not discussing trivial household matters.

He really had nothing to say to a bunch of rough guys, especially the grenadiers' officers, who were generally quite rough.

When these guys heard that there would be a one-on-one duel at the beginning of the film, a group of dragoons and hussars started to make a fuss.

"We think that General 'Lubu' should not fight three-on-one, but should accept a one-on-one duel. Fighting three-on-one would be too disrespectful to his opponent." "Then how do you explain his previous victories? It is obvious that General 'Lubu's' military strength exceeds that of ordinary generals, so a three-on-one fight is legal."

Fortunately, everyone who came today could speak Russian, otherwise Solovyov would have gone crazy on the spot. They started a heated debate on the duel mode of "Three Heroes vs. Lu Bu", which really made him fed up.

And there are signs that the argument will continue, and there may even be a fight.

For this kind of incident, Solovyov still felt that he needed to maintain order at the scene.

He took out his revolver. Since they were on an open rooftop, he wasn't afraid of ricochets or damaging the ceiling, so he fired six shots.

Now, there is finally peace.

"I am the translator of this book, not the author. The Chinese duels before the battlefield are all stories from more than a thousand years ago. You should follow the outline of the story. I don't want you to really duel today just because of discussing the 'duel rules', you French imitators! Duels are not Russian or German, they come from France and Italy!"

In such a rapid firing situation, considering that Solovyov was dual-wielding pistols, he only used one gun, and no one could mess with him, so he continued speaking.

"If this were my own work, you could discuss whether it makes sense!"

"That's right. How many versts are the Chinese away from us? Too far. We have to cross most of Siberia before we can see the border."

Finally, these impulsive guys were suppressed. There are really many kinds of fans in Europe. After being published several times, the "Chinese Knight Fan" appeared. There are too many kinds of fans in Russia. In addition to the French fan and the Orthodox fan, there is even the Austrian fan. The first two are Russian customs, and the German girls in Austria will not marry here. As for the English fan, it is also a historical issue.

He didn't want to take on this kind of menial job anymore, but his pistol could fire continuously, which won unanimous praise from the officers.

Many nobles went to the Tula Arsenal and the reorganized "Royal Arsenal" at their own expense to purchase weapons as private weapons. However, due to limited production and the fact that they had become "weapons of mass destruction" in duels, only single-shot traditional flintlock pistols were allowed to be used in duels. All nobles would prepare their own "duel pistols" at home.

With a six-round gun and high accuracy, the young Russian aristocratic officers of appropriate age must be "cleared out" before the "magnetic magazine" is "emptied". Even if the emperor is not at home today, this cannot be done.

What's more, at this moment, their emperor is recruiting soldiers and preparing to send all the troops to Vienna.

Compared with the young masters of the Petersburg Guards, Solovyov was closer to the war than them.

This juggernaut company of the Pavlovsky Grenadier Regiment has now been fully armed and is ready to be assigned to the Moscow Grenadier Regiment. This is a temporary placement. There are quite a few temporary troops, and the Russian army is divided into three routes to participate in three battlefields.

For this anti-French alliance, there were five main battlefields: Egypt and Syria, northern Italy, southern Germany and Switzerland, Naples, and the fifth battlefield planned by the British in the Netherlands.

This location looks familiar. When the Dutch were still able to fight, they dared to burn the Thames. So far, the only people who have achieved this and won once were the money-grabbing "Fan Shopkeepers" in Amsterdam (there is always a "Fan" in the Dutch names). It seems that this land of theirs is naturally good for the British.

In the future, the British will be taught a lesson by Germany's "Boss Feng". If they march there now, the result will not be very good. They also pulled in 20,000 Russian expeditionary forces to fight the French there. In fact, the British reason is simple: except for General Bonaparte who went to Egypt, the main force of the French army must be the Rhine Corps and the Italian Corps. If they land here, they will at most encounter a French observation corps. It's a pity that they could think of this. It would be better for them to take the 20,000 Russian troops directly to the Vendée where the royalists are particularly rampant.

When Solovyov later learned that the Russian army was involved in the fighting on this battlefield, he could only sigh that the British were extraordinary in defaulting on their debts. Since they owed money to "Shopkeeper Fan" before the war, they wanted to "armedly default on their debts" at this time. What a clever method!
Of course, before going to the war, Solovyov had to go home to pack his bags. His old father had recently gone to Moscow to develop the market on behalf of the count, and only his stepmother and two sisters were at home.

"Mikhail, tu dois revenir sain et sauf." (Mikhail, you must return safely.)
"Don't worry, but you seem to have some other requests today."

The Baroness did have something to ask Solovyov, and she wrote it down.

"It's all about arrival in Vienne and combat in Franais, it's all about Frances."

(When you go to Vienna and fight the French, don't forget to help me find my cousin Rose. Her full name is Marie Rose Josèphe Tascher de la Pagerie)

Although he saw the third name in the string, his associative ability was not good enough, because the stepmother was captured by pirates for too long, and she was only 12 years old at the time, so she did not remember the name of her cousin's husband. If she remembered, Solovyov would not have to look for it, and he could have solved the problem by challenging the French.

"Oui, je demanderai aux Franais quand je les attraperai !" (Okay, I'll demanderai the French soldiers I catch!)

Then he packed his bags and returned to the barracks. He would not come back home for a while as he would be waiting to set off. Although No. 4 Laundry Lane was not far from the barracks of the Grenadiers, the legions that were preparing to set off had to assemble.

The time of departure also depends on the final announcement by the Tsar.

Among the commanders of the three directions of this expedition, the commander of North Italy was, as expected, Marshal Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov. In his letter to Tsar Paul, Francis II had repeatedly pleaded with the old marshal to come out of retirement. This was no longer a secret in St. Petersburg.

And their company of jockeys was most likely the small guard of the old marshal on his way to Vienna - according to reliable information from the palace, it came from Sergei Kuzmich. Fortunately, this guy didn't get stuck this time.

(End of this chapter)