Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 119 019 I am the one who arranges the guards!
Throughout June, Solovyov spent more time in the flower garden than on duty, but he was always energetic and he always made a schedule for the army's duty arrangements, even down to the precise arrangements for each post.

"Mr. Major, do you still need to deploy secret sentries?"

"Of course we have to set up secret sentries. This position is more comfortable than standing guard in the open."

The person who came was an adjutant from the regiment headquarters, whom Solovyov was not familiar with. General Tarejin himself actually seldom took care of the affairs of the regiment. After all, the leader of the regiment was Paul himself.

Most people would not have thought that this guy could be a member of a conspiracy group.

When Tarezhin learned that Solovyov had deployed secret sentries, he actually had ways to deal with it, such as sending the major away and taking some action when he was not on duty.

Now the Tsar has sent him to save the flowers and plants in Peterhof Palace, but the masters have not made up their minds yet, and some key positions have not yet been determined.

In addition, Peterhof Palace is a place to spend the summer, with many doors and windows, and the guards' posts are all external. If a coup really wanted to take place, I am afraid that these soldiers would raise their bayonets to protect their emperor.

What's more, the Guards Jaegers have been taking turns on duty recently. These Guards are the ones they have never been able to infiltrate, and they are all equipped with quick-firing rifles. They have no chance of winning at this time.

This was put aside, and Solovyov's time in the flower garden passed quickly. Now many flowers are blooming, especially the grafted jasmine flowers, and the flower garden is also beautifully trimmed.

Now it was time for him to put down his work in the flower garden and go to the hospital to visit Julie. He also wanted to talk to Madame Le Brun about the portrait order.

Madame Lebrun has returned to St. Petersburg these days to take care of her daughter. Her daughter is tall and slender. Although her face is not as pretty as hers, she likes her daughter no matter how she looks at her. Now she is holding the two children in her arms, one on each side, with a happy smile on her face.

She named both girls herself. The first one was named Elizabeth, representing her mother, and the second one was named Helen to commemorate her good friend Elena. The two often practiced sketching together.

"Brunette, Pierre had a great success at the exhibitions in Moscow and Paris." (Brunette, Pierre had a great success at the exhibitions in Moscow and Paris.)
Madame Le Brun was very satisfied with her son-in-law, especially his artistic talent. As a painter of late classical art, he influenced many later artists. However, Julie was not very satisfied with his paintings.

"Why did he choose such a subject?"

This subject, a story from ancient Rome, was a relatively successful example in Pierre Guerin's art work in 1800. It depicted the return of Marcus Sextus. He returned home, but his wife had died. In the painting, the daughter of this "Sixth" (Sextus means 6) was holding his legs, while his wife was lying on the bed.

Even after a few months, although Julie loved her husband, she still had some small opinions about this matter. The two of them had different artistic creation directions. Julie painted the daily lives of girls all day long, while her Pierre was always creating works of ancient stories. Madame Le Brun, on the other hand, also took on some mythological stories while mainly doing portraits, but she cleverly integrated her customers into the whole picture.

For example, she recently received a big job, which required her to replicate the "Flora" series that she had drawn last year using Julie as a model according to the figures and faces of these female customers.

She has done this more than once and has achieved great success in both art and business. She is also very popular and sought after by customers. It can be considered a business philosophy.

She just wants to comfort Julie: "Marcus Sextus, échappé aux descriptions de Sylla, trouveà son retour, sa fille en pleurs, auprès de sa femme morte. Genoux. Ce tableau, où l'on vit une allusion au retour des émigrés.”

(Marcus Sextus escaped from Sulla's ban and returned to find his daughter weeping beside his dead wife. Marcus is sitting beside the bed. He holds one of his wife's hands while his young daughter kisses his knee. The painting suggests the return of the emigrants.)
"Maman, tu veux toujours y retourner?" (Mom, are you still going back?)
Julie's eyes were filled with tears. She and her mother had never been apart for a long time, so she felt reluctant to leave. Pierre Guerin came to St. Petersburg to be a lecturer at the Academy of Arts. Although the couple planned to return to Paris in the future, they felt more comfortable in St. Petersburg.

"Brunette, mother loves you, too. I'm just going back to Paris to see you. We'll be together again." (Brunette, mother loves you, too. Mother is just going back to Paris to see you. We'll be together again.)
This is probably the most intimate mother-daughter relationship, they just hugged each other like this.

However, it is different from the past when there were only the mother and the two of them. Now there are two more girls. Madame Lebrun, the grandmother, wears her iconic big straw hat. She is not a "wolf grandmother". She also injects her love into her granddaughters.

When Solovyov and Yulia came to visit, they saw the mother and daughter hugging each other and crying, and they couldn't come in for a while.

“On entre?” (Can you come in?)
After Julie wiped away her tears, she saw the Soloviev siblings standing at the door. Polina was definitely too young to be brought along, and the Baroness couldn't come due to the same health reasons. They were very familiar with Madame Lebrun and her daughter.

However, Yulia's French was still not very good, so the communication here became Russian. Anyway, Madame Lebrun was not completely unable to understand it.

"Julie, or Mrs. Galen, congratulations on becoming a mother. I always feel very happy at this time."

They are safe now. The hospital pays great attention to the sanitary conditions, especially the disinfection and ward environment. Because Julie gave birth to two babies at once, it was not convenient for her to get out of bed. She only covered her body with a blanket, but wore clothes on her upper body. The nurses who patrolled the ward came to check on her regularly. After all, she was an "important patient" sent from the palace. With some unique characteristics of Russia, the hospitalization fee was high, and the care was also very meticulous.

"Yeah, Mom probably didn't have it as hard as I did, but it was still dangerous enough."

The mother and daughter were always very close to each other. Even though the lady was almost fifty, she still looked very young because of her dressing. Only the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes betrayed her age.

"That's great. My sister Polina is so close to my mother at home. I want to share the happiness with them."

To be honest, it is rare for a Baroness to be a stepmother. She takes care of Yulia like her own daughter.

Considering that early marriage is common in this era, those who have children early will have children about this age now.

"If you come to visit, Yulia, we welcome you too. You and I actually have the same name, just like another me in the world."

Julie is a chatterbox and is good at talking. She is also very close to Yulia. It seems that when they get there, they can get along well with the sisters. Then she hugged Yulia and the two began to put their faces close.

It's awkward to see Solovyov here.

"As for me, Julie, I'm here on behalf of my mother. I asked the servants to make chicken soup, and it's still hot when I open it."

"Misha, you are so nice, it's a pity that you are not a girl, otherwise you would be my good sister."

"Okay, don't mention this. Last year, my wife said that I looked like your uncle." "You look a lot like my uncle, except for the green eyes and blond hair, and your skin is a little rosier."

"I am a soldier. What is your uncle, Mr. Étienne Vigee, doing?"

"Etienne is a playwright and poet, and is good at writing comedies."

It was Madame Lebrun who added that although Solovyov had a good memory, he could not remember everything.

"Thank you, ma'am."

"Misha, you are now a major. It is not easy to be promoted quickly at this age."

"But ma'am, I was at war with France before. That's your homeland. I think it's a good thing for you to go back. It means peace is coming."

"If you have the chance, Misha, you can go to Paris and be a guest in my house. It is you who helped us, mother and daughter."

"Don't say that. That man cheated in the gentlemen's club and made my friend and senior Prince Bagration lose a lot of money. I taught him a lesson for you, for Julie, and for my friends. It's not that simple."

What's more, although this guy's shot didn't kill the secretary at that time, the aftereffects were still fatal.

Regardless of whether he is dead or alive, Mrs. Lebrun mentioned something here: "I have just completed some of His Majesty's orders recently, Misha, you will need them when the time comes."

"Madam, don't worry about this. If you arrange for the shipment, it will probably be the soldiers from my battalion who will go. They are the most loyal to the emperor, and I also know a lot about art."

"I have also seen the portraits you brought back, and one of them seems to be authentic."

"Oh?"

"It's a Titian painting, and you can tell from the painting technique. I compared it with the original in the Hermitage, and it's from the same period. And it's the earliest work in Naples, which I also saw when I traveled in Italy."

“Just like your theme paintings, they often have a theme arranged.”

Mrs. Le Brun knew that this boy was speaking frankly and had no ill intentions, so she smiled back, "That's right, and there are at least six versions of it. Michelangelo even praised Titian's composition of 'Danae and the Golden Shower'."

"I want to donate this painting to the palace as well."

"That's good. The Art Academy will have one more collection, and your home isn't very suitable for preserving these paintings. Also, there are other works that can be converted into cash and are worth buying. When I return to Paris, I will help you sell them."

"Thank you, ma'am."

"It's okay. As a professional, this is still something I can do."

However, Solovyov was not in a hurry to cash out. He even mentioned to his wife that if he sold all his money, she could keep the money.

He had absolute trust in this lady and was not even worried that she was too smart and could guess his intentions with her rich experience in the Versailles court.

However, Mrs. Lebrun's attention was all on her granddaughter, and she didn't think about this.

The story of Zeus turning into golden rain to seduce Danae is something that cannot be guessed without rich associative thinking, after all, it is just a painting.

And it was not just this one painting. The paintings that Soloviev commissioned Madame Le Brun to paint were mainly by unknown painters, but the composition looked good. However, there was also a painting that looked like an authentic work of Titian. It was correct in terms of painting technique, but Madame Le Brun had not seen the original painting during her trip to Italy, and it was seized from the spoils of the French army, so she had to return to Paris to ask Mr. Le Brun.

However, this would take some time to prepare, and the journey back to Paris would not be so smooth. Madame still had unfinished work in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and the two little granddaughters also needed someone to take care of them. She had to arrange everything around Julie before she left.

As for Mr. Galen, he is currently working on a large mural for the Mikhailovsky Engineers' Fortress. As the deadline is too tight and he has to complete this huge project before the Tsar himself moves in, he has no time to take care of his wife and daughter. He can only ask his mother-in-law to temporarily put down the work at hand and make the arrangements.

However, this theme does not seem friendly at all. It is the story of Agamemnon being assassinated at home after Troy.

If Solovyov knew about this, he could only sigh that Tsar Paul seemed to have a premonition of his fate. He didn't know why he was so anxious to move into the castle.

Whether it is the Winter Palace, Peterhof Palace, or Gatchina, they are all very safe, and the posts of the Guards are well arranged, and the open and hidden posts can provide mutual cover.

Although it looks safe inside the fortress and the walls are strong, it always gives people a feeling of being trapped in their own web.

From a safety perspective, more than one person told Paul this, but he just wouldn't listen.

Solovyov could think of many problems, and he attached great importance to Paul's safety wherever he went. However, in this matter, no matter who it was, it seemed that no one could persuade him.

This was very troublesome, and among the conspirators there was Count von Paaren who supported Paul's relocation, and few outsiders knew that he was luring the Tsar into a trap.

(End of this chapter)