Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Although Russia was said to be seeking arbitration, the armies of all countries have been weakened.

The French army was significantly weakened by Louis XVIII, leaving only a small force.

Many Russian soldiers had not yet returned home, but since the war was over, their presence in Poland appeared to be more of a demonstration.

The Tsar himself still very much wanted to control Poland and was also trying to win over Prussia.

Therefore, the Russian army was still there, but it was very far from the battlefield and needed to be readjusted.

Even the Russian generals, down to Barclay who has now been promoted to Marshal, are not so enthusiastic about the war.

But Napoleon returned at this very moment, and the Russian troops in Poland also ended their year-long period of leisure.

The Prussian army was probably in a worse state than it was in 1813.

Because of the standoff between the British and American forces in Canada, many British troops were transferred there, leaving the army on the mainland. The number of troops left was already small, and their quality had actually declined.

As for Austria, during the war from 1813 to 1814, they hardly fought any clear-cut battles.

Everything is giving me a headache right now.

The French army was also in a state of disarray, with discipline completely broken down.

So much so that several regiments that had previously defected to Napoleon argued fiercely over their status as Imperial Guards, and there were even signs of a physical fight breaking out.

Nothing that happens nowadays seems strange.

Even at this time, communication between Paris and Vienna was still going smoothly.

Solovyov received a letter from Mrs. Rykamir, saying that Mrs. Stahl was going to Switzerland to seek refuge and that she had given birth to a daughter named Eugénie.

Speaking of which, this is the second name in Ortance's list, so there's nothing wrong with that. The ladies and noblewomen get along very well, and even if they are from opposing camps, they may become best friends.

Moreover, her letter also mentioned the situation in Paris before and after Napoleon's return.

“Your Majesty, I think you might be very interested in the letter that Lady Recamille sent me.”

"This letter probably contains some private conversations between you two, right?"

Alexander, as a Tsar, could sometimes be quite gossipy.

"It did mention some things, including my daughter, not just Clara, but another one, a healthy baby girl."

"Fortunately, Katya gave you a son, otherwise your family would have some trouble, just like mine."

"Your Majesty, Her Majesty the Empress is still of childbearing age, and there will always be newborns. Moreover, whether it will be a boy or a girl, mathematically speaking..."

Solovyov was about to continue speaking, but Alexander interrupted him.

"This is just something you, as an atheist, say to comfort me. Lisa and I are already very happy with only daughters. As long as they can marry a husband, no one can offend the Russian monarch, so there won't be any problems. If it were a son, I would be more worried about his future."

Alexander's inclinations began to lean towards mysticism starting in 1814.

Although he abandoned most of his mistresses and now prefers to live with Louisa, their life together is in a strange state.

The Tsar's personality was sometimes unpredictable.

Solovyov ignored his arguments, deleted his private conversations with Mrs. Rycamir, and read only content related to Paris to the Tsar.

"You mean after Napoleon returned to Paris, the situation there was very unstable?"

"Aside from the fact that the royalists have already fled, it is indeed an unstable situation, and some people who had been quiet for a while are now coming out into the spotlight. Even Napoleon is seeking cooperation with Fouché, which I don't think is a good sign."

"For them or for us?"

"Fouché is a thoroughly ambitious man. His vote to execute the king was an act of opportunism. Now he wants to cooperate with Napoleon, but who knows when he might sell Bonaparte out and turn to another monarch or ruler."

"It seems there are some problems on the French side."

"Your Majesty, they also pose a threat to our intelligence network in Paris. Although I am not worried about Julie, she and the directors of the Bank of France will be running salons together, and she will have some time to rest after having the baby."

However, Madame Récamier will have a longer break, and the salon on Mont Blanc Street will be closed for a while, since she is almost 40 years old and has another daughter.

"But problems will arise in other places, is that what you mean?"

"Yes, especially the intelligence of our diplomats and businessmen in Paris and throughout France, which will definitely be affected."

In short, no matter which side he sided with, Fouché was a very detestable person.

But Napoleon wanted to cooperate with him, and there was also the return of Lazar Cano.

The last time he returned, it was only to help Napoleon defend Antwerp.

This time, his current role is that of Minister of War.

Cano was the founder of the Republic's army, and if someone really needs to organize the army with an unbiased political stance, Cano might be a very suitable person.

Although the emperor himself represented the monarchy, Napoleon promised to implement a constitutional monarchy in the future, which was acceptable to Carnot at this time.

Solovyov had initially worried that if Marshal Davout were to become Minister of War, Napoleon would lose a powerful corps commander.

However, it's hard to say whether Paris is truly stable.

But Mrs. Recamier did not mention Fouché's situation.

You can't expect a lazy, pampered woman who has just given birth to pay more attention to this aspect.

She was quite familiar with Bernadotte, after all, this marshal was Joseph's brother-in-law and Napoleon's "savior," and used to often come to Mont Blanc Avenue with General Moreau. Even her father had saved Bernadotte.

It's good to have news, but the chaos in France is expected to continue for some time.

Meanwhile, the Austrian army was marching south to deal with Murat's Neapolitan army.

The Lombardy and Piedmont regions where Eugene lived declared a state of armed neutrality. He did not support Murat, was unwilling to help Austria, and had no plans to pave the way for France.

Now he also received a letter from Josephine, who, as his mother, told Eugène to observe the situation himself and didn't say much.

In fact, if he simply stood there, forcing the Austrian army to fight only on the Apennine Peninsula and making it difficult for them to cross the Po River in the short term, he could save the French army a lot of manpower on the southern front.

Murat, due to his fickle nature, his strained relationships with his wife Carolina and his two sisters-in-law, and his past involvement in Napoleon's attempted coup in Spain, is now destined to become a pawn and a clown. If he were to personally lead the army and effectively utilize the 80,000 Neapolitan troops, things would be alright.

The worst part was that his command was a complete mess. The Austrian army was bad enough, but the Neapolitan army was even worse.

Solovyov even thought that if he were the King of Naples, even if he was politically confused, he wouldn't be so blind to the situation that he would issue a "Rimini Declaration" first. Moreover, many members of Bonaparte's family were in Rome at the time, which scared the Pope away first.

The army should be deployed first, not to seize territory, but to defeat the first wave of Austrian troops.

Who knows what this show-off megalomaniac is up to now?

Fortunately, he wouldn't say what I would call Paris if the Russians were to invade it.

Otherwise, this is just a pure clown.

Furthermore, Wittgenstein was surprisingly defeated by Murat in the preliminary battles of Leipzig, but fortunately, he was forced to withdraw from the battle due to injuries sustained in the fighting in 1814.

Therefore, Arakcheyev recommended Solovyov to join the Russian army.

Barclay himself has always been disliked by both German and native soldiers in the Russian army because he is a Scotsman of German descent, and he is often bullied by both sides.

It was the Tsar's trust in him that allowed him to maintain his high position, and his performance after 1813 was also satisfactory.

However, it was not uncommon for it to be attacked, and that was the case with the Russian court.

As for Solovyov being recommended, it was because he had indeed blocked Napoleon.

But he really didn't want to go now; he had spent a lot of happy time with his family in Vienna.

Moreover, diplomatic work is not like military work, which involves a lot of physical exertion. Even for relatively young generals like him, many are already struggling to keep up.

He himself looks much better now, probably because of the long campaign and very little rest he has had. He looks much better during his time at the embassy.

Many people don't want war.

But some ambitious people really won't let you settle down.

Even Napoleon's actions this time were relatively restrained; Murat had already jumped up, causing Italy to be in such a state when the anti-French coalition's army was assembling.

Back in the bedroom, Solovyov looked at his sleeping wife and his litter of babies and couldn't help but let his mind wander.

Meanwhile, Napoleon was troubled by the fact that although the quality of his army was better than in 1814, many veterans seemed unwilling to fight.

The situation was similar with the marshals; some even ran away with Louis XVIII, while others simply refused to return to power. In addition, there were also significant problems among the remaining marshals.

Berthier was unwilling to continue serving the emperor, which would leave the position of chief of staff vacant.

Although he had Soult and Suchee, both of whom had previously served as chiefs of staff, Napoleon was not entirely satisfied with their cooperation.

In the end, he chose Soult, which ironically meant he lost a key general on the front lines.

Schuchet, on the other hand, was sent to the Alpine Legion to keep an eye on the flank where the Austrians were located.

Although veteran Pimasena is willing to return, his physical condition is not good, and it is unlikely that he will be able to recover to a state suitable for commanding troops in the short term, or he may not be able to recover at all.

Among the marshals, those who are truly capable are those who have always been in the main army, the earliest batch of veterans.

Although many generals have been promoted in the French army, it is rare for someone to truly excel and be promoted to division-level general, or even to the rank of general like Grouchy.

The French army's own system also seems rather strange here. It is clearly a powerful army that can select talented people from among its officers to serve as mid- to high-ranking officers, and even generals and marshals.

However, most of those in the top-level structure are still elderly people from the past.

This problem will likely plague the armies of European countries for the next 130 years.

As for Napoleon himself, he had much to do in Paris.

He understood that his wife couldn't come to Paris because she had just given birth.

At least Catherine and he were of one mind, choosing between her Tsarist brother and her Emperor husband. Although it was a difficult choice, she could probably stand in the middle and hope for reconciliation between the two sides.

If we disregard Russia, Catherine also experienced her father's assassination and disliked the British.

The one with whom they had a better relationship was probably Queen Louise, who had a large grapefruit.

Incidentally, the Queen's complexion has been quite good lately, and this has had some impact on the internal affairs of Prussia.

When Napoleon thought of the queen, he thought of her beauty and her unconventional personality. Strong women are always appealing to conquerors like him.

Moreover, the Prussian army is even stronger than before.

Napoleon had already devised his strategic plan: he was determined to go to the Low Countries, organize a Northern Army Corps, and appoint himself as its commander-in-chief.

Furthermore, he made an unexpected decision that the Republicans had never anticipated.

"General Claude Le Gueb, his past contributions deserve the scepter of an Imperial Marshal. Bertrand, draft an order to promote Claude Le Gueb to Imperial Marshal, in charge of the Strasbourg Observation Corps and the 'Rhine Legion,' to monitor the possible movements of the Allied forces opposite Strasbourg."

Before Grouchy, someone else had already obtained the marshal's staff.

Of course, Le Gub's loyalty to Napoleon was entirely unexpected.

He did it for France, and his thinking was similar to Moreau's.

Le Gub was one of the few who could get the stubborn Napoleon to acknowledge the abilities of a French general who disagreed with him politically.

Moreover, it was one of the few times in Napoleon's history that he wanted to regret his decision to go to Saint Helena.

In the past, he had sent Legob to the Jura to sit on the sidelines because Legob had defended his friend.

Although Le Gub was unwilling to accept the position, he took office despite his body being even more severely ill than before.

France is currently in crisis, so many Jacobins and relatively neutral republicans have stepped forward.

On the contrary, many of the ambitious people and Parisian bankers made rather absurd choices.

They came in with completely different purposes than the Jacobins.

Therefore, Napoleon distrusted Fouché and did not give him the position of Minister of Police, but instead placed him in the Senate. Even if Fouché had his own faction, he could only exert influence within Parliament. (End of Chapter)