Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 187 044 Swedish furniture is of good quality

After the meal, the content of Solovyov's report was actually very simple. His mind was still clear and he could probably remember what the King and Queen of Sweden said.

If we analyze the situation, it is that the relationship between the Swedish royal family and the government is not harmonious. As recently as 1800, Sweden held the Estates General, and many government affairs were not implemented.

Unlike the French Estates General, the Swedish meeting system has its own characteristics. Peasants can join the nobility, church and citizens in the Estates General, and tax-paying farmers with their own land and farmers on royal land can send representatives to participate in the meeting.

However, although there are many classes participating in the parliament, the situation of land annexation in Sweden is not optimistic. Many nobles still oppose the king, as do many people in the army. Gustav IV's position is not stable, but he still likes to make trouble.

Not long ago, the second period of armed neutrality ended because Nelson raided Copenhagen and wiped out the Danish fleet, which made them determined to start planting trees, but the harvest would take a long time.

Gustav IV is a little panicked now. Although Sweden has always had a good relationship with Britain, and has never been attacked by Britain in history, the Danes have been beaten and Alexander is negotiating with Britain. Sweden naturally cannot withstand the pressure, not to mention that the country's financial difficulties are becoming more and more serious.

It was also because of this that when Frederica was pregnant with Crown Prince Gustav, her sister Louisa wrote to her and told her what she had used in St. Petersburg, and it was really effective, and her frail health had improved.

She knew that her unreliable husband was very expensive, and at least she could not bring him a greater burden. So she suggested introducing Count Bobulinsky's chain stores from St. Petersburg. Even the donkey meat restaurant and stores selling various goods had been moved here. Since the royal family had invested in the stores, the two sums of money from taxes and direct access to the royal pockets would allow the royal family to cut some expenses and spend them where necessary. At least Sweden was not like Russia, where more than 70% of its expenses were military expenses. The spared expenses could finally ease some of the financial tension.

However, the Swedish market is still relatively small, and Queen Frederica's idea can only bring in some return on investment within Sweden.

She did not go with the king at night, but refused on the pretext of having to breastfeed her child. There have always been rumors that this king is not the son of Gustav III, but judging from his absurd behavior, he does look a bit like the other side of that enlightened king. This problem is the same as Paul's.

However, he had too many problems, so Solovyov didn't want to go to the palace again. Instead, he accompanied Carl to visit Stockholm.

When the Baden family came to St. Petersburg and Stockholm, the two brothers-in-law did their best to entertain them. Therefore, if they wanted to travel, the Swedish royal family would send a tour guide to accompany them.

However, Karl Ludwig's interest was in amusing his grandson. The old couple were both in the palace, and Wilhelmina also went to amuse Sophia. Only Marie and Karl came to the street to play.

"Stockholm is also a city built on an island, a bit like Petersburg. It's really beautiful here."

"Karl, compared to Petersburg, this place has a longer history, at least five hundred years old."

"Petersburg is only a hundred years old after Peter the Great founded the city. It looks much newer than here. I also prefer the city where Sister Louisa lives. It's more fresh and comfortable. Mikhail, I remember you have shares in this chain store?"

Solovyov hadn't reacted yet. After all, he had just arrived in Stockholm and was not familiar with the place. What he knew about Sweden was mainly Saab, Volvo, Ericsson, Sven Hedin Electrolux and IKEA. None of these things were available at the moment, and the infamous canned pickled herring was also fortunately not seen.

I did see Bobulinski's chain store, which is called "Queen's Store" here. After all, it was the correspondence between sisters Louisa and Frederica that finally decided to open Bobulinski's store here. There are goods imported from Russia. In addition, there is a donkey meat restaurant next to it, which is still very popular locally.

"Karl, do you want to eat? I don't have many Swedish kronor, but I do have silver coins."

"Mr. Persson, if we want to eat, how should we pay? Mr. Major brought Swedish kronor, but I only have thalers."

"It's okay, Your Highnesses, and Major, you are all guests, and you can keep your bills for dining here."

It sounds a bit awkward to put it on the account of His Majesty the King, but it is also quite fun.

What's more, Solovyov privately called the Swedish king a "stupid donkey", which was somewhat black humor. It is true that he is also a shareholder, but mostly in Russia. In Stockholm, he just has a little reputation.

"That's not a good idea, Mr. Persson?"

"No problem. The palace has already given instructions before I came out."

It seemed that the king and queen gave an explanation, so Mary and Karl were relieved. However, the brother and sister had a good appetite. Karl was growing up, and many of the male princes in Germany were tall. Their daily taste must include pork knuckles and sauerkraut, so it was not surprising that they ate so much.

But Princess Mary's ability to eat so much was indeed unexpected. Although her eating posture was the standard one among all the sisters, and she even had a bit of the princess's reserve and elegance, her appetite was...

Solovyov thought that if Louisa had half the appetite, she might not be so delicate. Recently, her stomach has been uncomfortable, and he had to prescribe some laxatives such as senna for her to regulate her stomach.

Mary's face shape is also very cute and girly. When I see her, I miss Louisa a little.

Although she wasn't away for long, she did miss her when she couldn't see her. After all, Mary was just her sister.

If you want to see it, you have to open the pocket watch secretly in a place where no one is around. Solovyov has two such pocket watches. One has a miniature bust of a woman in a red dress, and the other is the "Girl with a Garland" painted by Madame Le Brun when Louisa was 16 years old. Both were made secretly with the help of Julie.

If he had not taken on the mission in Stockholm, Solovyov would probably have escorted Mrs. Lebrun and her family of five to Berlin, and then went to Mecklenburg to deliver a letter to Elena.

He thought about it, he had quite a few friends, but it seemed that there were more girls of similar age, no matter they were unmarried girls or married ladies. He actually knew quite a few soldiers as well, however... Perhaps it was because he had been in the palace for too long. The advantage of being an officer of the Guards was that when you were on duty in the palace, the number of girls you could meet would be at least three digits.

When his attention returned to the table, he noticed that the tables in this Stockholm branch were of good quality.

"Waiter, this table is of good quality. Where is it made?"

The materials used seem average, but the craftsmanship is good.

"My Lord, are you from Russia?"

"Yes, after all, I am the owner of this store." "The owner of this store is Her Majesty Queen Frederica."

"You should know that Her Majesty the Queen and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth are sisters, born of the same mother, raised together, and have a very close relationship. In addition, this store was introduced from St. Petersburg after Her Majesty the Queen granted permission. The recipe for the marinated donkey meat was thought up by me, one of the small owners in St. Petersburg. You can ask the store manager about what I said."

In a chain store, the shopkeeper knows most.

This can indeed be confirmed, after all, the recipe came from St. Petersburg.

Of course, what Solovyov was concerned about were the ordinary tables and chairs made of pine wood, which felt quite good.

Swedes are indeed good at carpentry, although this is also a stereotype.

"Which carpenter made this? With his skills, if he were to use better wood, he could probably make even better furniture!"

After all, he was born in a family of profiteers. What Solovyov can think of now is the "Chinese style" of European courts, but he can't grasp the essence of it to some extent. If he can find skilled carpenters and explain to them what Chinese furniture is, perhaps he can make a nice set of furniture.

The only palace building during the Empress's period that was not completely strangled by Paul was probably the "Chinese Garden", which had been planned but never started. The Chinese garden that Solovyov had described to Count Bobulinsky did have this factor in mind.

As for where to find the carpenter, we actually found this furniture workshop near Ecker Island.

"Your pine furniture is well made. I am a diplomat from Russia. In addition to my diplomatic mission, I also want to find some business opportunities here and provide wooden furniture to the nobles in St. Petersburg and other places. In addition,..."

It might be more fun to play on a table than on a tennis court.

You know what, Sweden is the country that has caused the greatest psychological trauma to China in the sport of table tennis.

"Gentlemen, I wonder if this can be done?"

Solovyov was thankful that many of these carpenters understood German, so it was at least easier to communicate with them, and he couldn't speak Swedish.

"For a sport like this, I will order 20 pool tables from you. If it is promoted well, I will place additional orders in the future."

These carpenters could not refuse the order. They also knew that at this time, there were only these advance orders. If successful, there would be a steady stream of processing orders in the future.

As for the "Chinese-style" garden palace being built near Tsarskoye Selo, Solovyov thought it was somewhat outrageous. He simply recalled some gardens he knew in his mind, and then he had a strange idea.

He wanted to copy the "Grand View Garden". If he could come up with a plan for the garden land that Alexander had only designated but not started construction on, it would naturally be feasible.

Although there is a bad point, which is that it is easy for one's words to come true, and there are some points in the content of Cao Xueqin's eighty chapters that can be more or less consistent.

Moreover, he had no confidence in his own translation of The Story of the Stone. Thinking about it, the French translation had not even captured the original artistic conception. His literary level was sometimes not perfect. When he looked back at his previous books, he found some minor flaws.

But the plan has been decided. As for signing the check, he still has to write a letter to his father. The money from home can still be taken out. What's more, when it comes to business, Baron Sergei, the more powerful profiteer, will definitely understand him.

As for Gustav, he was also a rather do-gooder. Although he was known to be stingy, he was still very interested in places where he could make money.

The private money Frederica gave him was enough to cover a small part of the royal expenses. If he could make money by assembling furniture, it would naturally be a good thing. Moreover, he felt that it was really boring not being able to play tennis when the weather was bad or the tennis court was being cleaned.

It is really hard to describe this kind of king.

Of course, he agreed to Luisa's plan to visit Sweden next year, and they would come to Finland and Stockholm, and there were many places to travel.

Gustav IV himself did not realize it, nor did the Swedish generals, but the military attaché of the Russian embassy intended to use this journey to familiarize himself with the routes to many places in Sweden.

Louisa would travel from St. Petersburg to Vyborg, from where she would be escorted by the Guards and her retinue across Finland to Turku, and from the Åland Islands to Stockholm, where there would be a great celebration.

If Gustav IV had thought about the fact that he and Alexander were brothers-in-law and that there were other relatives in the relationship, and had not done anything stupid, Russia would not have touched him.

But if he fails to recognize the situation and takes risks, taking over Finland would be the least of his problems. If the consequences are serious, his base in Stockholm will be destroyed as well.

After the matter was settled, Gustav IV also wrote to Badberg to inform the Russian royal family and finally confirm the Russian Queen's visit to her relatives.

He even promised that if he had time in the future, he would visit Karlsruhe in Baden on behalf of Louisa who was too far away from home, even though this man was incompetent and always did a poor job.

But there is one good thing about him, which is that he attaches great importance to family relationships.

After seeing this, Alexander still laughed. Gustav was indeed a frivolous guy. He would let the Russians enter the Swedish territory and even go further, and see the nearest route very clearly.

At the same time, Solovyov had to accompany Baden's family and send them to Malmö to start their journey home.

(End of this chapter)