Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 180 037 Diplomatic Assurance to Baden

Soloviev was knocked down by a large glass of draft beer. This operation was indeed unexpected.

After all, he almost never drank alcohol, and his personality always switched back and forth between lively and serious. This kind of thing that happened when entertaining guests was too rare.

It was still Karl Ludwig who personally carried him to the carriage. When returning to the Tafred Palace, everyone laughed when they saw this.

After all, if the tour guide in St. Petersburg was knocked down, there was no way to continue the tour.

"Find a room for Mr. Major, and when he wakes up, forget it."

Louisa was chatting happily with her sisters in the courtyard. She didn't expect Solovyov to be carried back like this. According to the tacit understanding between the two, she would not show any special emotions in front of others.

"What a drunkard. Does your brother-in-law often ask him to protect your safety?"

"It is indeed very safe, Mary, don't underestimate him, he is an inventor, and he also likes to translate oriental literature and poetry."

"Ah, sister, are those poems you mentioned in the letter?"

"What do you think?"

"Chinese poetry still has some feeling even after translation. It's just that this is real Chinese literature, not an adaptation like Mr. Voltaire."

Among the German princes, their grandparents have always been closer to France and have a better understanding of French culture. In addition, the "Chinese style" also appeared in the Karlsruhe Palace of the Baden prince. The shape of the "Chinese Tea Room" looks like a house transformed by Monkey King, but it is always closer to reality.

"Mary, if you want, you can come to Petersburg more often. I'm alone here, and I always feel lonely."

"Sister Frederica is the same. You are so close, but you can't see each other."

"This is our fate. If you get married, it's better to find a duke of ordinary status, at least you can go out for a walk. Others think that I will live a happy life if I marry here, but that's just what the outside world sees. Whether it's Petersburg or Stockholm, they are like bird cages for canaries. I love Alexander, but I'm always worried that if he flies to other places for a long time, he will cool down like now, and I will feel scared."

She hopes that her two sisters will not be constrained by the royal family. If they are close to the duke and marquis family, it doesn't matter even if the expenses are tighter than their Baden Marquis family. At least they still have some freedom.

Alexander gave his father-in-law a medal. Starting from the formal meeting between the father-in-law and the son-in-law, the Baden prince and his family will stay here until October. The main activities during this period include Russia's diplomatic guarantees to Baden, the coronation ceremony of the Russian emperor and queen, and they will not leave until Louisa gives birth to a child, and then they will go to Sweden.

As for the diplomatic guarantees for Baden, Karl Ludwig received some relevant requests from the old feudal lord, asking Russia to guarantee that Baden's sovereignty will not be violated. Although he has gained a lot of benefits from the French, the old feudal lord who has lived for more than 70 years is also a wise man. He is very worried that Napoleon will play some tricks again.

This worry is not unreasonable. Napoleon's daily routine is to make treaties and then not abide by them. The British next door are also like this. On the contrary, the German princes and Russia are relatively "trustworthy". This also depends on how much benefit there is.

Alexander is also very clear about this. Since his father-in-law has come, he must receive him.

Especially the prince, Louisa's grandfather. You should know that this family actually has a close relationship with the Russian royal family. They have often dealt with each other since the empress's era. In addition, Alexander's mother-in-law was Paul's candidate for fiancée at that time, and he even liked her more. If you look closely at the European circle of relatives, you can connect all the surrounding areas from these German states. It can be said that it is a network of relatives connected by princesses.

". It is precisely because of this that we are willing to guarantee the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Baden and prevent it from being infringed by neighboring countries. If such a thing happens, Russia will warn and diplomatically condemn the country that infringes on the hereditary prince's territory of Baden. When more serious incidents occur, Petersburg will not sit idly by."

This kind of guarantee is still quite trustworthy in Russia. Later, its attitude towards Christians in Serbia and the Ottoman Empire was much better than that of Britain and France.

As for what Napoleon will do, it is hard to say what he will do now.

The subsequent banquet was not large in scale. Louisa had been resting in the Tauride Palace, so Alexander held the reception in the Winter Palace and brought the Queen Mother over.

Although Karl Ludwig had seen a lot of them, his three married daughters, two queens, and Louisa was the queen, all sounded very noble, but his most precious third daughter seemed to have an awkward status in Petersburg.

This was inevitable, after all, after the princess of Württemberg married, she became the Russian empress dowager, and she didn't like Louisa's blood and origin.

After all, Paul wrote to Amalia of Hesse from time to time, including when Louisa was born, the queen even sent a congratulatory letter. Amalia was able to marry in Baden because of the dowry provided by the queen.

In addition, as neighboring countries, Baden and Württemberg still have a relationship, but there are many confusing accounts to be made clear.

Empress Dowager Maria didn't like Louisa in the first place. If she was pregnant now and couldn't give birth to an heir and continued to give birth to girls, she would not be happy.

After all, the Queen Mother herself gave birth to two sons before giving birth to several consecutive girls. She also had some opinions about this slender daughter-in-law who could only bloom. No wonder she made a series of strange remarks about "daughters-in-law will not seduce people" on the issue of Naryshkina before.

Karl Ludwig and Amalia of Hesse still had to have a good relationship with their mother-in-law. When it came to the eldest daughter Amalia coming to live in Petersburg, the Queen Mother did not object, after all, this was something Alexander had agreed to before.

If you take this into consideration, Queen Dowager Maria always had a bit of "Empress Wei". She wanted to be the empress herself, not the status of the empress dowager. All of this was shattered by Louisa's speech to the guards that night.

Alexander has always been acting in front of his mother and daughter-in-law. When his father-in-law, mother-in-law, sister-in-law and brother-in-law all came to St. Petersburg, he also needed to act. He is really an excellent actor, but unfortunately there is no award for actors in this era.

He felt tired about this, so after the reception, he went to Maria Naryshkina again. Only the heart of this Polish girl could comfort him now.

Karl Ludwig is a little worried about the treatment of his daughter at present, but Baden’s mother’s family is too weak, so he can only rely on the old man at home to write to his grandson-in-law from time to time, providing some information about the French border to reflect his value. In addition, he mailed a copy of the charter of Heidelberg University to Alexander for reference.

Apart from this, there is not much that can help, so the old man just sits in the pond by himself, and now he can’t stop sighing.

"Your Highness, why are you sighing?"

"Ah, it's Michael, are you sober?"

"I'm really not a good drinker. When I was with the Grand Marshal, I always accompanied the old man to drink two glasses of sweet wine. And drinking. Alcohol tolerance is really not something that can be developed through "training". I'm also afraid that someone will make vodka at the party."

"You don't look like a Russian!"

"You said that these green eyes look like they came from the Caucasus. Maybe there is some truth to this."

"Especially now, if it emits green light at night, it will give people the feeling of a wolf."

Karl Ludwig also felt that there was some truth. Solovyov's green eyes were indeed very distinctive and different from ordinary green eyes.

"How is Louisa doing here? Can you tell me the truth? In the letter she wrote, she mentioned a situation that, although not explicitly stated, seemed to have been wronged."

Soloviev looked around and saw that there was no one around, and then he thought of telling part of the truth: "Your Majesty still cares about Her Majesty the Queen, but which ruler doesn't have a lover outside? Especially in Russia, Her Majesty Elizabeth is not used to life here. It is probably because of the debauched environment in the court that will lead good people astray. It was during the time of His Majesty Paul that the discipline was relatively strict, but then something strange happened. Regicide actually happened in Russia. In diplomatic writings, I'm afraid all of Europe has already known about it. The British are obstructing it. "

"Yes, Britain and France are negotiating, but who knows what they will do next? It must have been very critical in St. Petersburg at that time, right?"

"I accompanied Your Highness to the Mikhailovsky Palace, and some things happened between Her Highness the Queen Mother and Her Highness the Queen. I was by Your Highness's side, so I still know about it. What happened in the past was the diplomatic incident of the Swedish marriage."

Karl Ludwig heard what Soloviev said, and he probably knew that his daughter was indeed bullied in St. Petersburg, but it was not the most serious stage yet. It was just that the Queen Mother unilaterally made things difficult for Louisa, and the problem ranged from the marriage decision of the King of Sweden to the incident on the Mars Square.

But it was good for him to know these things. If he left his eldest daughter Amalia in St. Petersburg, maybe he could find someone to help Louisa, so that she would not be too lonely, and she would have no place to vent her anger.

"But Frederica's marriage to Stockholm has nothing to do with Louisa. I can only tell you this. Moreover, in a small country like ours, if the daughters marry well, they will not be directly squeezed by the big countries."

He spoke in a normal manner, not like a prince of a vassal, but like a German noble with a similar title.

"And Baden is a small country. It was not until my father that the population prospered. In the past, there were not so many girls who could be sent out to marry."

Soloviev did not deliberately learn about the situation in Baden and Württemberg. He only heard the Queen Mother mention her brothers and sisters, and Elena mentioned her grandfather and uncles, as well as some things he knew in Vienna. If these small countries have many girls, they often send them to the surrounding big and small countries for blind dates. If they are unsuccessful, they can get some dowry in return. When giving birth, big countries like Russia also "give red envelopes" to the in-laws. If the heirs and girls can be raised, they can also be relied on and supported.

Before Karl Frederick, Baden had always been a single-line state, but he had more sons, which solved the problem of few offspring. Then came the marriage of granddaughters, and the old marquis, a "farmer friend", promoted agrarianism, which made a very fragile small country barely maintain, but it was still very difficult.

Even the marriage of daughters would be interfered with. The old marquis had always been in contact with Mirabeau, Nemours and others, and had a closer relationship with France. He even planned to marry his second granddaughter to the Duke of Enghien, but failed due to the intervention of the Directory, and had to send her to Bavaria.

It is no wonder that the Duke of Enghien chose to live in Edenheim. After all, the Prince of Condé and the Marquis of Baden had some friendship, but this kind of decision would always be more fatal.

And Karl Ludwig, more or less because of the position of his son-in-law and the current interference of France in Baden, he and his wife were actually against France, and with a son-in-law of the Tsar there, they would not be treated badly.

After listening to this, Solovyov also knew the difficulties in Baden. According to Karl Ludwig's description, Wurttemberg had married a daughter to Baden several generations ago, so the two families were distant relatives and close neighbors. However, the Queen Mother bullied Louisa, and it was really hard to see that they were related.

However, the old prince had never noticed the relationship between the young major and his daughter, so he didn't go into details.

A German prince at the door of France may not live better than a Poles at the door of Russia, and he has always been dependent on others, which is very uncomfortable.

Although the son-in-law made a promise, once the French take action in the future, Petersburg will know it later, and will have to rely on the huge neighbor at the door.

Of course, these two people don't know what will happen to Baden between France and Russia in the future.

Moreover, Solovyov did not know that Napoleon was asking around in Paris recently about where Josephine's relatives were. He even knew that Josephine's ex-husband's cousin had a daughter who was being raised in a city in southern France and was going to bring her to Paris.

Judging from the actions of the First Consul at this time, he still intended to gather his own family, Josephine's in-laws and her family, and establish a new dynasty when he became the monarch in the future. This idea of ​​becoming an emperor was probably already planned. Mr. Talleyrand, who looked like he had two legs, was just trying to figure out what his boss meant.