I am Peter III, Emperor of the Hexagon of the Goose Kingdom

Chapter 152 Letters to Diderot and Voltaire
Seven days later, Ivanovich delighted Peter with detailed information on Diderot and Voltaire.

He affirmed Ivanovic's work and didn't let him go down, looking at the intelligence of the two.

Compared with Voltaire, Diderot is now miserable.

Diderot's character is old-fashioned and enthusiastic. He became interested in a lot of knowledge, such as: mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, anatomy, Latin, political science and philosophy, etc., because he denied the "Bible" and Catholicism was rejected. Arrested and imprisoned, then released.

After being released, Diderot began to compile the "Encyclopedia". Because the accusation of Catholicism was a lie, the publication license was revoked, but instead it aroused people's enthusiasm for buying.

But the publication of "Encyclopedia" still encountered many troubles.

He and his wife had three children, all of whom died, and later gave birth to a fourth child, a daughter named Marie Angelica. Diderot is now worrying about getting a dowry for this beloved daughter.

Since Diderot had spent every penny he had on publishing the encyclopedia, he was now penniless, so he decided to sell his entire collection.

But unfortunately, due to the obstruction of the French court, despite Diderot's great reputation, the nobles just watched from the sidelines.

Seeing this, Peter couldn't help but sigh.

In this era, the gold content of one pound is 7.32238 grams of pure gold, which is equivalent to about 7 taels of silver. The ratio of pounds to rubles is 1:9, that is, one pound is nine rubles.

Thinking that in history, when Diderot was short of money, Ekaterina gave 1.5 pounds with a wave of her little hand, a total of 13.5 rubles. Considering Diderot's influence, Peter gritted his teeth and prepared to support him with 1.4 pounds.

It's not that Peter is unwilling to spend money, it's because he is too short of money.

He was still calculating the cost of repairing the railway.

If calculated according to the 1909-kilometer Beijing-Zhangjiakou Railway built by the East with 693 million taels of silver in 200, the 708 kilometers from Moscow to St. Petersburg would cost 354 million pounds, or 3186 million rubles. 2809 billion rubles.

It’s not that he didn’t know, but he was taken aback. He thought that Peter Ai’s domestic sales could earn more than 1000 million rubles a month, which was enough. He didn’t expect that it would take three months to build a railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg.

It is even more expensive to go to Siberia to take advantage of the huge resources there.

Peter is very envious, no wonder Britain and France feel that the colonies are fragrant.

But Diderot had to do this too.

Russia lacks the reputation of being civilized now, and it is definitely not a loss to do this.

And Peter believed that Diderot would not refuse, and no father would refuse to help in worrying about his daughter's dowry.

"Dear Mr. Diderot, I am Peter III, Emperor of Russia, and I know that you want to sell your personal library, and I am willing to buy it for 1.4 pounds, but it is too cruel to separate a scholar from his library. These books will remain for you while you are alive. All respect to you, Peter III."

After writing Diderot's, Peter began to read Voltaire's.

Compared with Diderot who was enthusiastic but paid his own money to publish the "Encyclopedia", Voltaire was not short of money.

Voltaire's experience was also very complicated. He was imprisoned twice in the Bastille, where most of the prisoners were political prisoners and those who guided fishing boats.

After Voltaire came out, he left home and went to England, and from England to Prussia, spent some time in Frederick's palace, but then broke with Frederick, he returned to France and Louis XV and Pompadour The wife maintained a hot and cold relationship for a period of time, and then decided to concentrate on research.

Later Voltaire moved to Geneva, but here he suffered a catastrophe.

Because Diderot led the compilation of the "Encyclopedia", there is an article on Geneva, in which it is described that the Calvin priest in Geneva abandoned the divine nature of Christianity, and the power in Geneva is composed of aristocratic Calvinists. .

The author of this article is the French mathematician and physicist Jean-Lérand D'Alembert, and the compilation of the encyclopedia was clearly supported by Voltaire's letter to Diderot, plus he was French, plus Due to his great influence, Genevans generally believe that the author was inspired by Voltaire.

So the parliament attacked Voltaire twice in three days. Voltaire relied on his books and said that he had made a lot of money. He simply moved out of his villa in Geneva and now moved to Ferme.

Although Ferme is in France, it is only three miles away from Geneva, and 300 miles away from Paris and Versailles. Louis XV expressly forbids Voltaire from returning to Paris. to Geneva.

And Voltaire's current publisher is also in Geneva.

Combined with the understanding of his previous life, Peter immediately saw that Voltaire definitely did not choose this place for retirement.

Because the small town of Ferme is just located on the road that runs through Switzerland and connects northern and southern Europe. Geographically, it is in the heart of Europe. European intellectuals and artists come and go on this road, and there are countless visitors.

Voltaire used this as his headquarters to attack dissenting opinions.

In addition to these descriptions, the information submitted by Ivanovic also recorded an interesting incident about Voltaire.

That is Voltaire and his widowed niece Madame Denis.

Denis was Voltaire's mistress at the castle of Ferme and Voltaire's bedroom companion.

Voltaire made no secret of Dennis becoming his mistress. To Peter's shame, Ivanovich even included Voltaire's tribute to his niece. The content is as follows:
"I went to Paris just for you... At the same time, in your round..., your whole body and mind leave me with thousands of passionate kisses, everything about you makes me... again and again, let me indulge in the torrent of joy."

With a dry cough, Peter glanced at Ivanovic, who was expressionless, as if he had no emotion.

Peter had to lament that a writer is different. Although he is an emperor, as long as ethics is involved, he will walk on thin ice.

Then Peter began to write quickly. Unlike the letter he wrote to Diderot, Voltaire was not short of money, but his works also depended on the publisher. The establishment of intellectual property rights was a common interest of the two, and it came from the Russian emperor. I believe that Voltaire will not directly refuse the friendship.

After finishing writing, Peter handed the two letters to Ivanovic and said:
"When presenting the letter to Diderot, if Diderot asks, you let someone tell him, if he is grateful to him, please speak up for intellectual property rights."

As for Voltaire, he wrote directly in the letter that if this old man who dared to fight against Louis XV was willing to help him, he would definitely use his influence directly.

(End of this chapter)