Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

"Your Excellency, can you understand our thoughts?"

"I know. It's all because of food. Angelos Yeronkas, right? I know the food supply you mentioned is not only for Athens, but also for Corinth and Piraeus, and even these nearby places. But we only have these people. As elders or commanders of the militia, you should also know that it is not that one family controls a certain area and can successfully run the city."

When Solovyov said this, he also wanted to complain about the current sanitary environment in Athens, which was really not good. Moreover, after the oppression of the Turks, there was really no oil and water, and it became a dirty and messy place.

If you want to find a place to live, the Acropolis is more suitable. There is a villa left by the governor of the Ottoman Empire on the edge of the Acropolis, which can be regarded as a place to stay.

Therefore, what he is asking for now is mainly water supply and sanitary environment.

"Then what do you think we should do?"

"Have you ever thought about this, Angelos? We should set up a management committee, and everything should be done within this framework. Also, if there is a mayor now, what power will he have, will he be elected by vote or by the parliament?"

Solovyov was not a know-it-all. He did not know that Angelos Yeronkas was the second mayor of Athens, and the first mayor came from the family he was competing with.

Just this bunch of confusing things was enough to overwhelm Yeronkas's brain.

After all, he is still young and has no experience in handling a series of affairs.

For these people, their brains are not enough to deal with these things. Solovyov has also thought about how to arrange the affairs in Athens.

Finally, after seeing the debate at this level, he felt that after becoming the governor of Thessaloniki, he should continue to serve as the governor here.

Others might be playing the game of being an official, but what he does are really important tasks.

"If that's the case, our Council of Elders has been fulfilling the duties of the committee."

"I know, but if the Council of Elders takes care of everything, a few people can't handle so many things. It's not just the city of Athens and the Acropolis, but also the surrounding towns and villages. As for food supply, since we come from the Bosphorus, we naturally have to send troops to maintain order together with your militia."

He had also thought it through and decided that it would be better for him to take over everything himself, starting with the military.

The Greeks present had no objection. After all, the Russian army's arrival also played a role in maintaining order and conducting regulation.

It seems like it's just an argument between these two families, but if it happened somewhere else, they might start fighting.

As for the mention of "Bosphorus", it is because the Kingdom of Bosphorus, a Hellenistic state in the classical era, was located on the Crimean Peninsula and had long served as a grain supplier to Athens in the Black Sea trade.

It was a pun, but his level of knowledge was probably much higher than that of the locals, which made them speechless for a moment.

"Let's sit down and have a good talk. We need to stabilize the situation here, including the surrounding areas, so we need to manage it more strictly. In the past, during the Turkish era, bandits were rampant. Many of you brothers came from the militia. We all know that there are often a large number of bandits in the Turkish army. In this case, theft and robbery are inevitable. We should now implement strict management, but mainly target robbery, theft, market manipulation, murder and arson."

However, his "three rules" were different from Xiao He's, and his expression became very stern afterwards.

"Anyone who violates these prohibitions will be hanged on a gallows in the square as a punishment. A sign will also be hung below to clearly state what crime they have committed."

It sounds like something the Germans did, except there are no electric poles or street lights here. Perhaps only the gallows can make the onlookers understand the severity of the law.

In this way, these respectable people agreed that although the scattered Turkish bandits nearby were driven away by the militia and the Russian cavalry that arrived earlier, they were still entrenched in some places nearby and might threaten the transportation lines.

In addition to these people, there are also some local habitual criminals.

Solovyov never expected that he would have to fight bandits in Greece.

The bandits are naturally cunning, but their knowledge is limited. The methods used to deal with people like Xu Damabang and Zuoshandiao are probably only useful to them.

The bandits in the mountains and the pirates on the peninsula each have their own ways of dealing with the situation.

Yelonkas agreed with his idea and said, "Although our militia is small in number, we can do whatever you say."

"Well, we need to increase patrols, set up sentries in the Acropolis, and assign inspectors to the market. If anyone dares to drive up prices, they will be severely punished, and the local black market must be banned."

Solovyov also knew that the local currency had always been the inferior coins of the Ottoman Empire. In the early Ottoman period, the Akçe silver coins could still guarantee the silver content, but now the quality can be said to be a very inferior currency.

In addition to this, the quality of the Sutanni gold coins minted according to the Ducat standard has also dropped significantly.

To put it more seriously, the current currency depreciation will cause the price of food to at least double. If it gets even more serious in some places, the inflation will be disastrous.

In order to stabilize prices, the factor of coinage must also be taken into consideration. In fact, Solovyov also found that the quality of the silver ruble was relatively good, so it was also very popular in the market.

There was no other reason. Jews often intervened in the Ottoman Empire's foreign trade, and they were quite satisfied with the quality of the silver rubles.

These recent Akche silver coins are no longer usable.

As for minting coins by ourselves, we only have a makeshift team and there is really nothing we can use.

The silver coins carried by the Russian army can play a big role, so some silver rubles originally intended as military pay were put on the market to recycle inferior Akche silver coins and stabilize prices.

The black market is naturally a key target, and this is also the purpose of setting up patrols in the Acropolis.

It seems that Athens was stabilized very quickly, at least the market seems to be stable.

As for where to live, it was naturally the remaining governor's residence. After Solovyov settled the children, he took Katya and Madame Recamier to the Parthenon.

Now that he is in charge of the affairs of Athens, his power seems unlimited, and he can also offer conditions to the local nobles that they cannot refuse.

If a committee is established, it will be a small place, but it will bring together many families from Athens, and naturally all parties will be satisfied. After all, the power is concentrated, and the benefits of each party are uniformly distributed during the Russian military control, and the gap between them is not very large.

I'm afraid that only after the Russian troops leave will they start to argue.

If there is any trouble, it is not something he can handle at the moment.

Finally, I can relax for a while, and it’s also nice to see the view from the top of the Acropolis.

But the conditions of these two people are obviously different. Katya is younger, so it is no big deal for her to walk this distance.

For Madame Récamier, who always leaned on the sofa, walking this way would hurt her feet, and she had to go all the way to the top.

"Michelle, I'm not like you. I can walk a long way every day without feeling tired. It seems that I have also lived the best years of my life. I can't be like Catherine. She walked all the way from the foot of the mountain to here and looks better than you."

"so what?"

"If you carry me on your back, that won't work. Catherine and I are friends, and she is your wife. I am just the hostess of the salon, helping you attract these customers."

"Then I'll hire a sedan chair for both of you, just like the ladies in Roman times, with a few people carrying you up there, and curtains outside to cover you."

"That's good. Sister Julie is not like me. She practiced dancing all the time when she was little."

Katya took this opportunity to say a few more words. It can be seen that she is in very good shape recently. Even when she was at home with a big belly, she did not forget to practice in the dance studio.

The itinerary of these three people did not seem strange to the Greeks. After all, this place had been ruled by the Turks for a long time, and the customs and habits had been greatly affected.

Moreover, in the ancient Greek tradition, polygamy was not a big deal for the nobles. It was not until the spread of Christianity that monogamy became relatively stable.

However, if someone comes to repair water pipes, borrow salt or do something else, it is not surprising. After all, we are all around the Mediterranean and the Black Sea, and everyone's customs and habits are more or less similar.

Solovyov had learned from Yeronkas that there were also sedan bearers here, so he hired two sedans. He continued to walk, followed only by a few staff members and adjutants.

Since Clausewitz had no combat missions in central Greece during this period, he left him with Langeron in Thessaloniki.

Solovyov himself was also happy about this, because the coming year of 1811 would not be easy either.

In Petersburg there would probably be a grand reception, but Liza was still alive, and Andrei was naturally unlikely to fall in love with Natasha.

It seems that everything is going well and everyone is living their own lives, but one also has to consider that the French emperor may attack at any time, and who knows what changes will occur in domestic and foreign policies in the future.

In this case, we must seize the last time before 1812 and enjoy life.

The reason for saying this is probably that he was too well prepared. He defeated Sweden and the Ottoman Empire on both wings of Russia, and also won a lot of honors. He has become a lieutenant general of infantry. In the next war, he will most likely command an army. After all, he is already a corps commander.

Now that we are in Athens, we naturally have to visit the Acropolis.

The scene here is especially different from the stereotype of a pile of white building ruins. There are even people living in the Acropolis. In addition, there are a large number of buildings stacked up.

It’s just that the Parthenon is located at the highest place. When Solovyov was in St. Petersburg, he often mentioned Greek mythology, so naturally he had to come here to see it.

From the name Athens, we know which god is worshipped here, but the temple looks dilapidated, which doesn't look very satisfactory.

The pillars here are not white now, but there are still some mottled marks, which can prove that these pillars had traces of color in the past. It can even be seen on some sculptures that many of them were originally painted.

As for the white color, that is the effect produced after later restoration, which is bound to arouse some people's suspicion, so there are strange schools of thought such as historical inventors and pseudo-history theories. But it is ridiculous to think about it. If this is the case, then any place where cultural relics have been restored may be worthy of suspicion.

What is heartbreaking is probably the reliefs. 60% of the local sculptures were stolen by old Lord Elgin, but he was not able to sell them at a high price when he brought them back to the country.

Because the British at that time were not as immoral as their later descendants, and they still had some sense of shame. Especially since Greek civilization was the origin of European civilization, they naturally strongly opposed these acts of theft. Even so, Lord Elgin did not go bankrupt completely, and his descendants later did many immoral things in China and India.

I can only say that sometimes bad guys live too long.

"It's a pity that the reliefs in these places have been stolen, leaving only this bare trace. It must be said that it is a loss. But that ridiculous Lord Elgin probably couldn't even get back the money he bribed the Grand Vizier?"

As he said this, Solovyov stopped in front of a relief base that had been stolen and looked at it.

"What should we do?"

"I think if some people have the self-awareness to return the cultural relics at an appropriate time, who knows if someone will be tempted to steal them again after a long time? Unlike archaeological discoveries, Lord Elgin's behavior is outright theft, and I think this is not the first time, nor will it be the last."

"And what about the French garrison in Egypt?"

Madame Recamier turned the topic to Napoleon's Egyptian expedition, and Solovyov said calmly: "After all, it was found when the fortifications were being dug, and the Rosetta Stone was also taken away by the British. At least the French emperor thought that scholars should study these results carefully, which was considered a good thing during the invasion."

"That's an interesting thing to say."

"That's an interesting point of view. Are you two going to sit up here and enjoy the view?"

"Yes."

After Katya finished speaking, she skipped barefoot on the steps to the temple.

This girl has really good physical strength. (End of this chapter)