Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 254 Guests from South America

In the hot summer, Paris is actually not a good place to go. It makes people miss the climate in St. Petersburg. When on duty in Peterhof Palace, it is much more comfortable than lying on a lounge chair to cool off.

"Michel, I think it's time to leave Paris and go to Versailles."

"Why go there? I heard that after Louis XVI moved back to Paris, the Palace of Versailles was abandoned. Many people took away jewelry, artworks and even building materials, whether wood or stone, from there at will."

At this point, Solovyov thought that on this issue, the people of the world should have reached a high degree of consensus. After the burning of the Old Summer Palace, and the appearance of Rome in previous years, it was more or less the same situation. Abandoned buildings always became the source of building materials.

"You even know this?"

"I even know that many of the Bourbon royal family's jewels were stolen and their whereabouts are unknown. The more chaotic the times, the more rampant the thieves and other thieves are. I prefer order."

"Michelle, you sounded a lot like my brother today, and why did you put your hands in your coat?"

Solovyov's unconscious action revealed that he actually admired Napoleon himself. What was even different from others was that others saw his current achievements, while Solovyov knew more and could see the ending and even his affairs after his death.

"Oh I don't have a stomachache, Pauletta."

"You actually want to imitate my brother. It seems that even in Russia, there are people who admire him."

"My neighbor in the apartment, Pierre, probably adores your brother more."

"Isn't that a French name?"

"You know, among us Russians, there are always some people who are French in spirit. Although his name is Pierre, his last name is Bezukhov. He is the favorite illegitimate son of Count Kirill Bezukhov, a wealthy man in Moscow. Because he is honest, simple, and kind, he doesn't have the bad intentions of others."

"There are very few such people nowadays, and I hope he will not be deceived. Some women, or their families, might deceive such a young man, especially if he is a wealthy heir."

Polina's judgment in this regard is very accurate. If she really didn't dislike studying, she would be very suitable for creating some plots. That's about it.

She was going to the Petit Trianon, but Prince Borghese did not come with her; he was still enjoying life in Paris.

But Polina was preparing to go there, and she had some thoughts of her own. Her brother, out of his preference and protection for her, would probably let her live somewhere far away from Paris.

After all, she was too good at getting into trouble.

But preparations also take time. Paulina considered that she would stay there for a while during this summer vacation and would come back at the end of summer to marry Prince Borghese in the church. No matter how much her brother protested, he would just lose his temper and scold his willful sister, and nothing would happen.

As for Napoleon, Paulina had already understood his temper.

Life during this period will be relatively quiet, which is what she hopes for. There is also a garden there, which is perfect for children to play.

When Polina began her preparations, Solovyov left her official residence and came to the banks of the Seine. Although the smell here was not very pleasant, it was better than the Thames. Napoleon was still very fond of cleanliness. He was going to make a new plan for the city of Paris, the first of which was the fountains and various pools for water collection.

But many of those buildings are still under construction, and many places in Paris remain the same. It is not surprising to even see some corpses being fished out of the river on a daily basis.

It sounds like Paris right now is no different from some Indian cities.

Fortunately, this is not the case in a coffee shop, and you might even meet someone while drinking coffee here.

For example, this country, which is the worst at playing football in South America and whose people are more fond of beauty pageants and baseball, has a competition named after it, the Copa Libertadores.

That's right, Solovyov was sitting here, and at the table opposite him was this young man who was now a Spaniard.

"Ole, buddy, you don't mind if I sit here, do you?"

"No problem sir, Russian?"

"Yes, I am Russian. I can be easily spotted by my green clothes and green eyes."

"When you greeted me, I'm afraid you saw that I'm not French."

"Yeah, where are you from?"

"Caracas, the French call their citizens abroad Creoles, and in Spain we call them Criollos."

"The etymology is the same, but your place is a tropical Venice, a nice place."

"But it's very dangerous in the tropics, and I'm afraid my Russian friends won't be able to adapt. I'm Simon Bolivar, and I'm traveling to France. This is Fernando del Toro, my wife's cousin."

These two were the key figures on the Gran Colombia front in the South American War of Independence. The surname Del Toro is not simple either. His father and brother both had the title of marquis and were great nobles and landowners among the native Spaniards of the colonial authorities.

"Mikhail Soloviev, military attaché at the Russian Embassy."

"It seems that we are all guests in Paris."

"But why are you here, and wearing a sign of silence?"

"My wife has passed away. I came back to Europe to tell my father-in-law the sad news. Now I am in Paris just to relax or find something to do. I had planned to go to London to see General Miranda, but England declared war on France, so I returned to Paris from Calais."

Speaking of which, Solovyov remembered that Count Morkov said that during the period of the French Revolution when there was a shortage of professional soldiers, some foreigners were also hired as generals of the Republic, and General Miranda was one of them.

"So you are here, where are you going from here, back to Madrid?"

"No, sir, I intend to stay in Paris. I remember that the Republican government has expressed support for the independence of the American colonies in the past."

"But now is not the right time. France and Spain are allies. On the contrary, the hateful British may be more supportive of your cause." Bolivar frowned when he heard this.

In fact, many people don't like the British, and Bolivar has always praised Washington's cause, so he doesn't have a good impression of the British.

He is still very young, and the Spaniards in Latin America are more or less passionate, impassioned, and not good at hiding their emotions.

In fact, Solovyov himself could not guarantee that he could always hide his thoughts, after all, he was still very young.

"As you can see, Miguel, we don't like the British." As Bolivar frowned, del Toro
"Even though Russia and Britain maintain a close cooperative relationship and are rarely hostile, we don't like them. However, we still have to deal with the British. We can't be like those arrogant bureaucrats in Whitehall and the nobles in the House of Commons, who all remain ignorant and arrogant."

Although, there are many pro-British people in Russia.

Moreover, most of those who come to France are people who have a favorable impression of French culture and system.

"We do hope to establish direct contact with the highest authority in Paris, the First Consul. An independent South America is actually beneficial to France in peacetime."

But in Solovyov's mind, the thought of Venezuela is oil, although there is indeed no mold in his mind.

For him, what he can think of more in South America is a ball, and this sport is not popular yet.

"I want to know where General Miranda is going now. He was very disappointed with the government in Paris in the past. Although I am Russian, I am also very interested."

"It must be the infighting between the governments. When we received his letter in Paris, he was preparing to go to the United States."

"Ah, then he must be planning to recruit volunteers there and then return to Venezuela. You only have one general with rich experience, so you probably need partners."

In fact, what Solovyov was thinking about was that America was going to be in chaos. The British had always intended to intervene. By then, they would not only seek to defeat Spain, but might also want to conquer some places as their colonies.

The British were so greedy that Solovyov did not know that Castlereagh had later received advice from the traitor Dumouriez and abandoned Arthur Wellesley's plan to march into America. However, his plan to support the Bourbon of Orleans to go to South America was also unsuccessful.

There is some soil for constitutionalism in South America. Although Solovyov met Bolivar, one of the two heroes of South America, the other one, San Martín, who had higher personal character and voluntarily gave up all power, was an out-and-out constitutionalist.

It sounds like a title like King of Argentina or Peru would be quite interesting.

Bolivar, on the other hand, always preferred to establish a republic.

Faced with this ambitious leader of the independence movement, Solovyov still wanted to help him.

At least if we make good connections and more friends now, we will be more confident in dealing with the British in the future.

That’s right, when Russia was about to join the anti-French alliance and enter the next season, Solovyov thought further. What he saw was the “big game” between Britain and Russia in the future.

He had also written to his good friend Nesselrode in The Hague, and in his reply he said that he had met the Austrian Ambassador Metternich in The Hague.

The problem is that because of his admiration for Metternich, Nesherrodi had been led by him for a long time.

Although this friend is an excellent diplomat, he has been somewhat manipulated by others.

In diplomacy, there is no need to completely trust others. Such credulity will pay a price in diplomatic occasions in the future, especially after this friend became the Imperial Chancellor and Foreign Minister.

Austria is also an important player on the European chessboard. Although it does not have enough power, it has always been very good at playing tricks outside the game and setting traps for its friendly forces.

Because of Francis II's previous actions, Solovyov also disliked the Austrian court very much.

As for him now, as he is one of the first teams to prepare for the next season, he still needs to understand this concept to some extent.

If it was Saint Martin who was met, perhaps the conversation could be more moderate. In fact, since Russia is also an absolute monarchy, the two sides might have some resonance.

But Bolivar wanted independence for the republic and the American colonies.

"I think so. If you want to see the First Consul, I have an idea. It's to go to Madame Récamier's salon. I think you can meet some people you need there."

Although Lucien was keen on confronting Napoleon all day long, he still supported his brother's career. If there were a few people coming from South America who went directly to him, or even arrived "in advance", there would probably be some stories.

"As for the British, they preferred to use America as a supplier of raw materials and a huge dumping market."

On the other hand, if we mention the French or the Americans, they are all the same, except that it is not clear how great their shortcomings and virtues are.

In the imperialist world, there is also a weirdo like Tsarist Russia, which is ruthless when it comes to forcible occupation, but sincere when it comes to helping. There is also a group of people who believe in Eastern Orthodoxy and various orthodox churches, who have always been looking forward to the Russian "royal army" to attack, including but not limited to Serbia, Greece, Cyprus, Armenia and Georgia.

Even Solovyov remembered that his friends, the three Dolgorukov brothers, had gone to Greece to serve as an officer in the rebel army when their father Peter was young. When the third brother Mikhail traveled to Greece, he met Prince Peter's old Greek subordinates.

"Thank you, I think we will have a chance to meet again."

Bolivar would stay in Paris for a long time. He would go to Napoleon's side later, but he was still dissatisfied with the emperorship. Finally, he returned to South America and fought the independence war with General Miranda.

As for what he can accomplish in the future, Solovyov actually still has some expectations. Today he also talked to Bolivar about some "existentialist philosophy". To carry out revolutionary activities, the focus is to survive and develop strength, rather than to debate who is more correct.

Even though Solovyov himself was in the most reactionary Russia, he was very clear about this.

The British seemed to have already achieved the Industrial Revolution, but their great shortcomings and virtues still affected many parts of the world, causing a lot of trouble, and then they retreated back to their island and just walked away.

But for the locals, it is always the scene after a disaster, but they still need to survive.

(End of this chapter)