Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Since landing in Le Havre, Zhaolian also felt that Solovyov was a bit strange, insisting on going to Rouen to fulfill a vow.

Since I met Solovyov, I have found that he, like the Confucian scholar, also believed that "Confucius did not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits," but only when he arrived in Rouen did he stop and stand on the riverbank.

"General Suo, why is this?"

"Three years ago, when I led my troops to Reims, I was stationed there. In a dream, a young woman in armor stood before me. When I asked her, she said she was Joan of Arc, the heroine who had saved France. Later, I worshipped her statue in a church, and then it rained. Although I don't usually believe in these things, it was a kind of omen. Afterwards, I was able to escape unscathed from the Battle of Reims. Now, in Rouen, the place where Joan of Arc suffered and was killed by the English, I stopped here. If I can burn incense and pray, it will be a way of fulfilling my vow."

After hearing about Joan of Arc's deeds, Zhao Lian was also moved by the existence of such a remarkable woman, and thus set up an altar to worship her.

Well, in France, this is considered a plus.

Moreover, the French were also curious that this Chinese man had come from afar, and since he wasn't someone they had only dreamt of like General Solovyov, they came to pay their respects, probably as a sign of respect for a hero.

If you go to the Temple of the Sages, it will be even more lively. If you burn incense, there won't be enough incense to go around evenly.

As for the Chinese engaging in feudal superstition, they treat Japan as a place with clear skies and no clouds.

However, after the ceremony, the Seine River was somewhat disturbed, and a sudden gust of wind arose.

There was no particular connection, but perhaps Joan of Arc and the French patriots who resisted the British in Rouen felt something.

Of course, it wasn't a new thing for Zhaolian to take the Qing emperor to see the British. The fact that she paid homage to a French heroine was partly due to Zhaolian's lingering resentment from the previous year.

Rouen is not far from the coastline, across from the British Isles, and the British will soon find out.

Although it didn't cause any diplomatic incident, it certainly won over the French people.

When Talleyrand heard about it in Paris, although he kept a long face, the angle of his smile was so wide that even some weapons couldn't suppress it.

The French delegation was first received in Paris by the head of government, Prince Talleyrand, who was then serving as Prime Minister.

Next, he went to the Tuileries Palace to meet Catherine the Great, the French Queen Mother, and the young Emperor Napoleon II.

As for the itinerary in Paris, it was the most important part of the Qing Dynasty delegation's return visit before arriving in St. Petersburg, the capital of Russia.

Therefore, all parties involved are paying close attention to this matter.

The only problem at this point was Mr. Talleyrand's leg.

Solovyov needed to make contact with Talleyrand before the Qing delegation entered Paris.

Although Ney returned early, they had parted ways quite early, and Ney spent most of his time on his own ship, so Solovyov didn't mention much about etiquette to him.

“If that’s the case, I should bow to accept the Chinese emperor’s edict, but His Highness the Chinese prince needs to return the bow.”

Solovyov knew that Talleyrand could conceal his gaze when he bowed, even while leaning on his cane.

This is a French-made lame fox, and this Russian big bad fox. Although they have different styles of doing things, they are both very cunning.

"That shouldn't be a problem, although the other party is of noble status. But you also come from a prestigious family, so it shouldn't be a problem."

"These matters still need to be reported to the prince in China by the count. In addition, there are activities to be arranged. After the Tuileries Palace, we will go to the hunting grounds of Versailles Palace."

"If that's the case, it's a good hospitality."

"Also, how is the emperor now?"

"He's doing well in Port-au-Prince, but his focus is on the plantations. Getting the sugar industry back to production in Santo Domingo won't be easy. And there's a lot more to do—planting trees in the eastern parts of the island, and more."

When Talleyrand heard this, he felt a bit overwhelmed.

After all, he was an old comrade who was over sixty years old. Before the young emperor took power, although he was the prime minister and foreign minister, there were many things that needed to be done by others. He was already somewhat unable to keep up with the pace of doing things himself.

Especially someone like Solovyov, who's a chatterbox, once he starts talking, you can't listen to him. He didn't even fully understand Napoleon's own intentions.

I originally intended to test the waters, but my opponent just copied and pasted a long passage.

Fortunately, Solovyov was a Russian general, not a French minister; otherwise, such a gossipy father would have been truly unpleasant.

In addition, there's Prince Demid Leclerc, Solovyov's son-in-law. Although his health is average, he's very prolific at fathering children and has considerable personal ability. He's just as talkative, only lacking in experience. Talleyrand can handle this young man while simultaneously suppressing any ambitious future sons of the Bonaparte family.

It was only natural for Solovyov to visit his grandson.

But we have to wait for now, since we still have a lot of official business to attend to.

Of course, what he never expected was that Maria had come from Weimar to visit her sister in Paris and was now in Paris.

He didn't have time to go to Mrs. Recamille and Polina yet, and Maria arrived again. This was definitely a prelude to a chaotic battle.

My wife is still on her way to Paris!
Another possibility is that while he's living in Paris, his life will likely be divided up between his wife, housekeeper, and lovers.

This time, the Big Bad Fox is even more nervous than when he last came to Paris.

Fortunately, Anna didn't come from the Netherlands to join in the fun, otherwise things would have been even more complicated.

When Solovyov and Maria developed feelings for each other, she was still a child, and children are most likely to tell the truth.

Fortunately, Solovyov hadn't turned into a big bad fox yet at that time. That's why nothing serious happened. Maria had already given him a lot of headaches when they were in Paris for the wedding.

But business was of utmost importance. Now that he was back at his residence in the castle, the first thing he mentioned was how Zhaolian met with the French Prime Minister, and then the Empress Dowager and the young Emperor.

After hearing this, Zhao Lian felt that the etiquette was very convenient for him to come here on his mission.

Except when meeting the monarch, it was probably based on kneeling on one knee, but everything else was simplified.

Kneeling on one knee is also a gesture of greeting; with a few modifications, it's quite simple.

As for the return gift to France, it will also be brought out now and displayed at the Tuileries Palace.

This also allowed the French people to enjoy the emperor's favor, and some of the porcelain pieces were precious items that France had never seen before.

Royal porcelain is something I've never seen in France.

Talleyrand even considered some things, such as auctions.
Fortunately, France's finances are not currently strained. Although it is heavily indebted, its economy is still relatively healthy.

In addition, the bankers, under Mr. Lafayette's management, were also operating the bank well at this time, while also making war reparations.

This is why, even after Solovyov left Europe, France still demanded reparations from major European countries.

However, because Catherine was the Queen Mother of France, and had the backing of Russia, Prussia, and other countries, she didn't demand too much. More often, French bankers invested in the German regions to fund the reparations.

Things were going very smoothly. Europe was in a recovery period, and since these past few years had been years of famine, no one had any desire to wage war, and everyone was in a state of peace.

What Solovyov saw at this time was also a peaceful Europe, but one in a state of superposition between food sufficiency and hunger.

He hadn't recovered well when he went out.

After he told Zhaolian about it, Zhaolian agreed.

However, this situation is not serious in the coastal areas of France; in fact, the areas seem more prosperous and affluent than the places the three Hanlin scholars had visited before.

However, the young Russian nobles, having been tested in the flames of war, discovered the enormous gap between Russia and France when they finally arrived in Paris.

The Qing Dynasty officials, having first arrived in the French countryside before even entering Paris, had a deeper impression of the countryside.

If you go to Paris, compared to old Beijing, the Seine River might be a super-deep ditch, and you'll often find a lot of corpses pulled out of it, some of them still fresh, having just drowned.

They might even have spent a long time in the royal palace, worked at the Hanlin Academy, or had their own residences, so they might not have noticed what the streets looked like.

But I would be very interested in which official residence we were going to visit.

After entering Paris, the mission was stationed on Boulevard Mont Blanc.

This place is very close to Lady Récamier's mansion.

Solovyov and Katya, along with their child, went to see the lady.

The wife gave birth to two daughters for Solovyov, and both of them grew quite a bit taller.

The two women, who were usually very close, started tearing each other apart when they saw Little Lev.

A half-brother, who is also a fun living toy.

Even little girls can fight each other so fiercely.
Even though there is an age gap between the two of them.

Furthermore, Solovyov had a bad habit: when the children fought, he would always take care of the younger one, showing a preference for girls.

Katya also brought two children, which shows how lively the place was.

Then the girls all started crying, which inevitably made things a bit awkward.

“Michelle, that’s where you’re wrong.”

Mrs. Recamier sighed and began her management methods.

He left his youngest daughter, Eugenie, to play with Lisa, and told Solovyov to give Lev to Clara.

Pasha sat to one side, letting Mihrima watch over him.

In this way, the "new toy" was given to Clara, and the children quieted down for a while.

The girls started hugging each other, and besides, after the diplomatic reception, Demid and Octavia were going to bring their children over, so there was still plenty of dolls available and no need to worry too much about them fighting.

When Qing Dynasty officials arrived in Paris, they mainly visited the various landmarks built since Napoleon became emperor, including the artworks in the Louvre.

However, this also presents some minor inconveniences.

That's European art. The clothes are never worn, which caused Zhaolian to frown when she saw them.

But he had gotten used to traveling by boat with Solovyov, who mentioned European customs quite often along the way.

In particular, we need to know the characteristics of these European artworks so that some old-fashioned bureaucrats won't come and angrily denounce them as offensive to public morals.

Moreover, according to Solovyov, some of the statues are even covered in clothing.

Therefore, Soren asked a hilarious question: could these statues wear clothes?

Then, the Louvre director, who was in charge of receiving them, gave a very clever answer.

“In the past, there were some works that could have been dressed up during the revision process. However, artists and viewers have different preferences, so artworks are always left as they are, unless there is a particularly important event, such as the ‘Last Judgment’, in which Michelangelo himself did not agree to the revisions, and the Vatican in Rome sent someone else to dress up the figures in the painting.”

After listening, Zhaolian felt that there was some truth to it.

He then highly praised the paintings, saying that although they were "immoral," they were lifelike and that this kind of painting technique was rarely seen in the Qing Dynasty.

As for Madame Le Brun's paintings, they're like a photo editing app; although the technique is superb, they still drew criticism from Zhao Lian.

"Although Madame Le was a master of her craft, the figures in her paintings do bear some resemblance to the real people."

Yes, that's a very accurate assessment of the problem.

This was also an old question from Madame Le Brun, and the director did not answer it, after all, Madame Le Brun herself was in Paris and had a great influence in the art world.

Moreover, Zhaolian didn't find it strange at all. It was nothing unusual for Daiqing to have female mathematicians and astronomers, or for France to have female painters.

Thus, the relationship between France and the Qing Dynasty entered into a phase of mutual commercial praise.

Before diplomatic activities began, with Talleyrand present, Zhao Lian sat next to the translator at the French Academy, thus gaining insight into France's attitude towards China.

After hearing this, Zhaolian also felt that these Frenchmen were really good at bragging.

Of course, he heard about the situation on the French side and they also started exchanging compliments.

The scene was incredibly friendly. Although Zhaolian had a higher opinion of Solovyov, she hadn't expected the French to be so "devoted to the emperor's rule." The old emperor was a general from the frontier and also had an interest in scholarship; the scholars in his family were even more remarkable.

After the correspondence between Kangxi and Louis XIV, and the communication between Qianlong and Louis XVI, a Qing dynasty prince, along with three Hanlin scholars and French academicians, began to flatter each other.

This makes things much fun, and it looks really entertaining.

Solovyov didn't attend the mutual praise session; instead, he was playing with his children on Mont Blanc Street.

If they came, I'm afraid they'd get goosebumps all over.

I've seen people boast like this, praising each other to the skies to their faces. Even when Zhang Wen went to Western Shu and came back to tell Brother Shiwan that Prime Minister Zhuge was a wise and just leader, he only went so far as to say that.

That's so cheesy! (End of Chapter)