shadow of britain

Chapter 208 Representative of Tsarist Russia (4K)

After bidding farewell to Arthur, Mrs. Levin stayed in the hall of the embassy, ​​looking at the four tickets in her hand, as if she was worrying about how to allocate the seats for the concert.

At this moment, there was a sudden creaking sound of hard riding boots stepping on the floor outside the meeting room.

Madam Levin looked up, and a smile suddenly appeared on her face: "Earl Orlov."

The person who came was a man with a mustache and a blue-green officer's uniform.

Speaking of the surname Orlov, it can be said to be a household name in Russia.

The five brothers of the Orlov family were among the right-hand men of Catherine II's coup d'état.

Almost without exception, these five brothers later became important figures in the political and military circles of Tsarist Russia, and the second and third among them became the lovers of Catherine II, and because of this nepotism Climb a little faster than the other three brothers.

Although the father of Count Orlov in front of him was not the queen's lover, he was personally supervised and raised by Catherine II. Therefore, Count Orlov was almost the same as Catherine II. The world's two grandsons - the former Tsar Alexander I and his younger brother, the current Tsar Nicholas I, played from childhood to adulthood.

Based on this experience alone, no one in Russia dares to underestimate Count Orlov's energy.Especially after the current Tsar Nicholas I ascended the throne, the admiration and fear of Count Orlov in Russian political circles has steadily increased over time.

Because everyone knows that compared with Nicholas I's indecisive and gentle brother, the former Tsar Alexander I, the current Tsar has a firm character, a single goal, a steely will, and a strong sense of responsibility and mission. Descriptive words can be counted as advantages, but if all these advantages are superimposed on a ruler, then most of the countries concerned will like to mention a great dictator.

Nicholas I was such an energetic ruler with an almost pathological desire for power.

He was very concerned about everything in the Russian Empire, especially the army, to the extent that he personally ordered the number of buttons on the military uniform to be changed.

As for the Decembrist uprising against his rule, Nicholas I took it for granted that he was extremely concerned about arresting, investigating, interrogating, and punishing the Decembrists, and asked about every detail.

And this uprising also aggravated his suspicious character, making him inclined to stay away from normal administrative institutions.

From the beginning of his rise to power, Nicholas I particularly liked to use various committees independent of conventional state institutions to manage the country. These committees were generally composed of a small group of the most trusted cronies of the tsar.

But such cronies are so few in number that the numerous and different committees in Russia are actually composed of different combinations of the same people.

The work of these committees, like the Imperial Office, was usually secret. However, apart from bringing a slight sense of security to the Tsar, it only made the already very complex imperial administration more confusing.The entire government apparatus was increasingly permeated by direct orders, absolute obedience, and a meticulous military style, and these characteristics became more and more obvious in official documents and appearance.

And Earl Orlov, a talent who has both the attributes of a soldier and a young boy, is of course one of the few confidants of the Tsar. Central government held important positions.

Naturally, the Tsarist Russian delegation at the London Conference was also led by Count Orlov.

However, perhaps other people will always appear trembling when facing the famous man in front of the throne of His Majesty the Tsar.

But Mrs. Leven could chat with him in a stable mood, for no other reason than her father, Count Benkendorf, who was also the director of the Third Department of the Imperial Office who was deeply trusted by His Majesty the Tsar.

In Russia it is known that His Majesty the Tsar spent more time with Benkendorf and Orlov than perhaps with the Empress.

Count Orlov looked at Mrs. Leven, who was holding the ticket with a sad look on her face, and couldn't help but ask: "Dorothea, are you in any trouble? If you need any help, just ask, I'm sure I’ll find a way to help you solve it.”

When Mrs. Levin heard this, she couldn't help but joked: "Alexey, this is not St. Petersburg. If you want to arrest someone, you still have to ask the police officers of Scotland Yard whether they agree. Oh, maybe you will go back now There was still time to go after him, to tell the truth, I just met a young superintendent from Scotland Yard."

When Earl Orlov heard this, he couldn't help but look back: "Are you talking about the young man who just left? He is quite tall and strong. When I first saw him, I thought he was tall He's so tall, he's probably a Dutchman. It wasn't until he greeted me with a strong Cockney English that I realized that he was indeed a real British guy."

"Hush!" Mrs. Levin raised a hand to her lips and said: "Alexei, be careful what you say. Don't let the Duke of Wellington hear it, otherwise he will definitely not be done with you. He hates talking about height. .”

When Count Orlov heard this, he couldn't help laughing and said: "When you said that, I remembered that Duke Wellington seems to be shorter than Napoleon, right? Napoleon claimed to be 5 feet 6 inches tall, but everyone Everyone said he was short, but most people don't know that the Duke of Wellington is only 5 feet 5 inches.

But with all due respect, to achieve the achievements of the two of them, the height is actually not important. During the Napoleonic Wars, groups of big men stood in front of the two of them without daring to breathe.Even if they are actual dwarfs, it doesn't affect their military giants. "

Mrs. Levin asked: "So, are you ready to take on the giant Duke of Wellington this time? Looking at it now, the attitude of the British towards Belgian independence seems to be very ambiguous. They neither explicitly support nor oppose it. .For Russia, this is not a good thing.

His Majesty the Tsar should have given you a handwriting before you came, right?If I guess correctly, in accordance with our consistent policy, he must want you to seek support from the United Kingdom, continue to exert pressure on France, and return independent Belgium to the rule of the Netherlands.Only in this way will there be no gaps in the encirclement network surrounding France.If the Dutch lose Belgium, their existing strength alone will not be able to prevent the French from expanding their sphere of influence eastward. "

Count Orlov nodded and said: "The truth is this, but although the British are uncomfortable looking at the French, they may not feel comfortable looking at us now. Since the British Codrington was in Navarino After defeating the main naval force of the Ottoman Turks in the naval battle, all resistance to our entry from the Black Sea into the Mediterranean has been eliminated.

The British Admiralty and Foreign Office seemed very angry about this incident, so they transferred Codrington to the Channel Fleet to sit on the bench not long after the Navarino naval battle ended.Didn't you also make a secret report on this to His Majesty the Tsar?
The British feel uncomfortable seeing our Black Sea Fleet unimpeded in the Mediterranean, as if they had sand in their eyes. I guess this is an important reason for their ambiguous attitude on the issue of Belgian independence.

If possible, I hope you can clarify Britain's current diplomatic policy for me. I urgently need to know whether they still regard France as the number one threat to Europe. "

After hearing this, Mrs. Levin just replied with a smile: "If you asked me this request when the Tory Party was still in power a while ago, I would definitely reject you directly. Because although the Duke of Wellington and I The relationship is good, but the old man's tone is not so strict, and it is almost impossible to get some useful information out of his mouth."

"Dorothea, what do you mean..." Orlov grinned and said, "The situation has turned around now?"

"There are indeed some turning points."

Mrs. Levin pulled her hair behind her ears and said with a smile: "The Foreign Secretary of the Whig party is my dear Henry. He can take this position, apart from Mrs. Cowper's relationship, he can't do without me. Strong advice to him. To tell the truth, that old playboy Henry wanted to go to the Treasury Department in the first place.

But I told him that the competition for the position in the Ministry of Finance was too fierce. Considering his position in the party, it would be better to seek another important position in the cabinet. Others may not be able to achieve great results in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, but he still has me. I can share with him some inside information that is hard for others to get through my network. "

Earl Orlov laughed and said, "Sounds so sad! Dorothea, I thought you and Viscount Palmerston were together because of love."

Mrs. Levin wrapped her fingers around her hair, and blinked playfully: "Well, there is more or less love. It's very happy to be with Henry. He knows how to get along with women. But, here After all, it is the UK, and doing things in the UK should be done in the British way. Only mutual benefit can be called love, and blindly asking for it is slavery. A decent Russian may not understand this, but the British call it free trade. commodity economy."

Earl Orlov laughed loudly when he heard the words: "It seems that His Majesty the Tsar was right. Putting Dorothea in England, her role is equivalent to half of the third hall. Your father should really send three offices to deal with it." All the foreign intelligence specialists have come to study with you. Recently, I looked through three documents and saw that my head was so dizzy. What they wrote were all nonsensical things, and all the slobbering was full of ambiguous information. As far as these useless information is concerned, if you just grab two chickens, smear them with ink and step on your feet, they will be more insightful than them."

When Mrs. Levin heard this, she hesitated again and again, but couldn't help but euphemistically defended the Third Division. After all, the Third Division was also regarded as a subordinate department of her father, and some of the commissioners of the Third Division stayed in the Russian embassy.

Mrs. Levin said: "Alexey, you should know that the third office has no other choice. Information is not so easy to collect. Sometimes there is no such information, but His Majesty the Tsar said that there must be, so the report of the third office is There must be. Even if you add a little bit of your own conjecture, you have to make a report.

His Majesty the Tsar is such a man of action, so subordinate departments must also keep up with his ambitions. Because of this, he did not let the tragedy of the St. Petersburg Flood of 1824 happen again like the previous Tsar Majesty. The performance of His Majesty the Tsar during the cholera epidemic in Moscow in 1830 was simply admirable.

I bet if cholera happened in England they wouldn't do as well as Russia. "

When Orlov heard Mrs. Levin mentioning this incident, he couldn't help but think of something. He said with a smile: "Speaking of cholera, do you know about Duke Bergendorf?"

When Mrs. Levin heard the other party mentioning this name, she couldn't help but have a bit of a bad taste: "Is this old man making fun of His Majesty the Tsar again?"

Orlov pursed his lips: "After the cholera was over, he wrote a report and submitted it, which said - it seems that for everyone, in the face of His Majesty's unlimited power, the disease itself has surrendered .Of course, I'm inclined to think that this passage is without irony."

Mrs. Levin couldn't help but echoed: "That's right, it's like the last time His Majesty the Tsar had a conversation with him when he wanted to fight corruption. His Majesty the Tsar said: 'I will use hot iron to eradicate bribery!'"

Count Orlov continued: "Prince Bergendorf replied: 'Your Majesty, who do you plan to stay with?'"

Speaking of this, a burst of cheerful laughter erupted in the living room of the embassy. Even the several Tsarist Russian military officers who were standing at the door smoking a cigarette couldn't help turning their faces away, their shoulders trembling, obviously laughing Not light.

However, when there was laughter and laughter in the living room, no one noticed a black shadow flashing in front of the door of the room where the blower was specially placed.

With a letter in his mouth, Little Pinkerton struggled to move his body and crawl out from the vent pipe. When he noticed a gleam of light in the dark hole, he saw him squatting on the wall in an instant. Arthur leaning on a branch of a big tree smoking a cigarette.

Arthur noticed the movement in the vent, he turned his head to look, was taken aback for a moment, then smiled and said: "Boy, you can really surprise me. I just want you to check the ventilation duct. The terrain, so that you won’t find the wrong place when you sneak in next time. I didn’t expect that you brought me some special products from the embassy when you went in the first time.”

He stretched out his hand and hugged Pinkerton out of the vent, and then rolled over with agility.

As the riding boots fell to the ground, the carriage parked on the roadside quickly opened the door. Elder, who was sitting inside, rushed to greet them: "Get in the car quickly. I have already calculated that the embassy's guards will be around here for an average of three minutes." Patrol once, count the time, they will be here soon.”

(End of this chapter)