Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 264 031 You can’t just recognize someone randomly!
Solovyov did not stay in Le Robert for too long. After receiving a reply from Mr. Henri de Riviera, he returned to Fort-de-France.

We really can't make this matter public, and it doesn't make any sense.

There is no need to cause any trouble at a time like this.

After returning to his flagship, the HMS Elizabeth, he also began to reassess his surroundings.

It is true that relatives have been found, but we cannot talk about it casually. When France and Russia are at peace, we can talk about it, but not during the war.

Solovyov also had his own ideas about how to explain to his family after returning home.

In short, one cannot be reckless in this matter, and he does not expect the title given by Napoleon to be redeemed in St. Petersburg.

Although the titles of the First and Second French Empires can indeed be recognized in Russia, there may even be a strange phenomenon in the future where the White Russian leader is a member of the de Beauharnais family.

The descendants of the Bonaparte family, who have blood ties with the European royal families, do not appear often among the families that are still royal families in various countries in the 21st century. Instead, the descendants of Josephine and Viscount de Beauharnais have intermarried everywhere, and many of them can be considered Josephine's blood descendants.

This is indeed interesting, but it is not the point.

The Russian fleet then continued its journey from Martinique to the west of Saint-Domingo, which is Haiti.

In Martinique, they already knew that the French army in Saint-Domingue, under the command of Rochambeau, had been defeated by the rebels in western Hispaniola, so they had to retreat to the central and eastern part of the island, which is equivalent to this part of the Dominican Republic, with a missing piece in the north.

This gap was taken by the rebel Christopher after he defeated some French defenders in the north and took control of the land, and it was also to ensure the safety of the warlord's base, Cape France.

Of course, this place will be renamed Cape Haitien in the future.

The founding of Haiti is just around the corner, and General Dessalines is about to become governor-general for life, emulating Napoleon's lifelong rule. Every step is equal, but what is done is very ridiculous.

"It's all imitation. They probably just know the French system and then copy it."

"It's their lack of education that limits their imagination. If the British colonies become independent, they may also have to deal with cabinets and parliaments. If they start to argue, it may be even worse."

The voting system that liberalism has adopted does not have a very good final result. Buying votes and threatening to vote are just small matters. If it goes too far, it is not surprising that private votes are cast.

"Misha, if you say that, maybe those bigwigs in our country who admire the British system will have a problem with you."

"But if you copy the system of a country, there will definitely be some areas where it doesn't work. Of course, if you don't spread education, the people will always be ignorant, and that will be the end of it."

Among the leaders of the Haitian uprising, Toussaint Louverture was self-taught. Although his level was limited, he was one of the few clear-headed and wise black people. He was also the person who made Napoleon regret his decision again on the island of St. Helena.

He regretted many things, but he still had some admiration for the leader of the rebel army in Santo Domingo. It was unknown what his attitude was.

However, changing the plantation economy and distributing the land to black slaves and free people would completely destroy the local economy and ultimately lead to the economic collapse of Haiti as a whole.

However, the Haitian warlords who maintained the plantations were extremely reactionary and even went to the east side of the island to capture slaves.

So whether Haiti changes to an American-style constitution in the future, or imitates French rule as it is now, it has already shown the lower limit of human governance capabilities, which is quite scary.

The Russian fleet quickly turned the cape and arrived near Port-au-Prince.

In fact, after Port-au-Prince was controlled by the rebels, they were still highly vigilant about the arrival of white people.

There was no reason. Dessalines and Christopher had previously followed Toussaint Louverture to fight against the British, Spain and France. Christopher had also followed a detachment of free black chasseurs from Saint-Domingue to the United States and helped the US military fight in Savannah.

Although he had seen a lot, he was also very clear about the level of these warlords.

At the artillery batteries in Port-au-Prince, reports have been received that large warships are approaching, causing great panic among the blacks in the city.

Some of them even thought that the French navy had broken through the British blockade and sent another fleet.

Who made the Russian Empire use a tricolor flag?
"Are the French fighting back again?"

After listening to the report from his men, Dessalines was also confused. Fortunately, his wife and Alexandre Pétion were both knowledgeable, and Pétion had attended military school in Paris. For Haitian blacks, this meant that they were high-level intellectuals who were both civil and military.

"Governor, although it is a tricolor flag, it does not necessarily mean that it is only on French warships. Dutch and Russian warships also fly the tricolor flag. Let the commander of the fort see what color the flag is. If the other side sends someone to negotiate, we must also know what color clothes the other side is wearing and what their purpose is."

"Well, let's do what General Petion wants. We can't be wrong."

However, the soldier at the fort's lookout, Faustin Suluk, was completely illiterate and could not read, which led to huge errors in his description.

Even the green uniforms were described as blue.
"What? Blue uniforms again. Could it be that the French are really attacking us?"

"If they come over, they will fire directly at the turret. Did you really see it clearly?"

"I saw it clearly, but they lowered two small boats and hoisted a white flag. It doesn't look like they are here to fight."

"They must have come to surrender. The French soldiers we captured before and the Polish 'black' brothers who joined us all came here this way."

By the way, although there are only a few mixed-race officers of Polish descent, most of the Poles who came to Haiti at this time are still white, and there are at least 4,000 soldiers of the Polish Legion.

These people were all recognized by Dessalines as "black brothers". This was very advanced of his. I'm afraid that the "honorary whites" in South Africa all learned this trick from him. Haiti still has some advanced things in racial apartheid.

"Governor, I'll go take a look. It's not that I don't trust the brothers' eyesight, but we must be cautious in this matter."

So, Petion left the Governor's Palace and came to the fort in Port-au-Prince.

At this time, we saw a white officer leading the way down from the boat, followed by two black men.

"We are from Russia and hope to see General Dessalines, your Governor General."

"I don't believe it. With your flag and three colors, how dare you say you are not French?"

"Yes, you also speak French."

After seeing this, the two Hannibals were quite helpless. It was only because they came together that the black soldiers were less hostile.

Otherwise, a fair-skinned and beautiful person like Solovyov would be in trouble. "Russians, can't you speak French? French is used in many countries. Even those damn British pirates can speak a few words."

Just as Solovyov was about to explain to the soldiers, Petion came over on horseback.

He recognized the Russian flag, and the origin of the green military uniform and the two medals hanging on it were obvious at a glance.

"Okay, guys, put your stuff away."

"General Petion, these people"

"Don't worry about them. They are Russians, not French. Go back to your posts, brothers."

These black soldiers seemed to be well-trained and were arranged in formation. When the French army was attacked by tropical diseases, they were still capable of dragging the French to death on the island.

"My name is Alexandre Pétion, a former artilleryman and now Haiti's Councillor of State."

In fact, if there weren't a few educated people, it would be difficult to get this done even if we imitated the French system.

"Mikhail Solovyov, Lieutenant Colonel of the Guards, I am the envoy of this fleet. These two are Pavel Hannibal, Lieutenant of the Guards, and Yakov Hannibal is the secretary of our fleet. Their grandfather is General Abram Petrovich Hannibal, the Russian General of Engineers."

Speaking of which, Abram Hannibal is quite well-known among black cultural figures.

Petion could also confirm that they were indeed Russians, but he still needed to confirm their purpose.

"On the one hand, we need to submit our credentials to the Governor of Haiti to confirm diplomatic relations. On the other hand, there are indeed some matters that we need to consult General Dessalines in person."

"Okay, you can come with me. I believe in your good intentions, but in Port-au-Prince, you must also pay attention to your personal safety. The locals are not very friendly to the French and are even a little aggressive."

Speaking of which, these are all old news. Attacks on other races are a regular feature of governments and organizations ruled by black people.

Fortunately, both Hannibals are one-quarter mixed-race like Petion, so things won't be so complicated.

The current Governor's Palace of Haiti is the former French Governor's Palace of Saint-Domingue. Although it is in the same location as the "National Palace" presidential palace that collapsed in the earthquake, it is only its earliest appearance.

Later, the gunpowder magazine would explode here, killing the president and hundreds of his presidential guards.

But that did not prevent Duvalier from turning the presidential palace into an arsenal, and he was not afraid of the explosion.

Before the gunpowder depot exploded and sent the president to heaven, the Governor's Palace in Port-au-Prince was almost completely destroyed by an explosion of gunpowder stored there.
After all, the feng shui is not very good, but it is still livable. After all, such a disaster will not happen to them.

Dessalines's appearance scared Solovyov. He was so dark and handsome that he couldn't tell whether he was a kiln worker or a charcoal seller.

Even though he was mentally prepared, he had never seen such a dark-skinned black guy.

Of course, Solovyov's whiteness also aroused their curiosity.

"Hello, Your Excellency the Governor."

"Hello, sir from Russia. I didn't expect there are black people in Russia. I heard it's all ice and snow in your country. But, compared to France, which country is bigger?"

"I think the land area of ​​Russia is much larger than that of France."

"No wonder. General Petion showed me a map. Russia is indeed not small, but France still has so many colonies. Also, how strong is your Russian army?"

"The quality of the Russian army is still very good, not inferior to that of the French. I myself once followed Marshal Suvorov to defeat the French in Italy and captured General Scherer, the commander-in-chief of the Italian Army, alive."

"Since we have fought the French, we are friends."

Dessalines's attitude was indeed unexpected and somewhat blunt.

No matter how you look at it, it seems that if Li Kui became the governor, carrying two axes and sitting behind the desk in the governor's office, it might be more in line with the image of this black man.

"You didn't ask us why we came?"

"The British, French, and Spanish are all bastards. The Poles here are our black brothers. You Russians have no grudges against us in the past and have even fought against the French, so you are naturally our friends."

This statement is indeed invincible.

It saves us from diplomatic etiquette, which is quite refreshing.

Dessalines himself hated the French, so he also made a black-and-white classification.

He did not treat his Russian friends as outsiders and even invited the Russian fleet commander to the Governor's Palace for dinner.

But before that, his assistant Louis Boiron-Tonnerre had a few more questions.

After all, Dessalines himself only hated French white people, but Louis Boiron-Tonnerre, who had some culture, might also hate white people other than Poles who were considered black people, and he was not friendly to anyone.

"The purpose of your coming here is not just a formal visit, right?"

"Of course, our voyage in the Caribbean this time is also to recruit settlers for our country's Rossburg colony."

This Boiron remained wary and unfriendly. Although he was the son of a free carpenter and the drafter of the Haitian Declaration of Independence, he was still generally unfriendly to the white government.

Haiti is also a strange place. Just a few days after their founding, they have already started to engage in reverse racial discrimination.

It's like taking the method of eliminating political enemies during the French Revolution and applying it directly to white people.

Just recently, Dessalines' men had executed hundreds of wounded French soldiers, even though many of the black soldiers had no intention of doing so.

There is no way. After all, in this era, this kind of thing is produced in abundance in France and its colonies.

(End of this chapter)