I'm the Dauphin in France

Chapter 828 Busy Diplomacy

Turgut only praised him in a diplomatic tone, but Prince Heinrich's eyes flashed with surprise.

He had discussed with the Marquis of Wellesley about the latter's new army and knew that it was a very powerful elite force.

"So, victory will eventually belong to the coalition forces." He poked the marble in the corridor with his cane and said happily, "The war will definitely end before the end of the year!"

Lord Grenville smiled and nodded, "That's right. Then, we must launch a general offensive in the direction of Luxembourg as soon as possible. This will greatly help stabilize the morale of the army. In addition, Basel can also cooperate in the offensive. I heard that the French transferred the garrison of Alsace to Italy. This should be an opportunity."

Baron Turgut smiled at him and said, "The Royal War Council thinks so too."

……

Northern Mediterranean.

Gulf of Liguria.

Count Mirandola, the special envoy of the King of Modena, listened to the "pa pa" sound of the paddle wheel hitting the sea with pleasure, and turned to ask the captain beside him: "Mr. Pico, how far are we from Marseille?"

"We will be able to enter the port at noon tomorrow, Your Excellency."

Mirandola nodded with satisfaction and turned to the attendant beside him and said, "Those guys in Parma actually thought that by crossing the Catibona Pass, they could get to Paris earlier than me?"

The attendant said, "Perhaps he hasn't heard of a paddle steamer yet. We can continue to take the river ferry in Marseille and go north along the Rhone River. We can arrive at least four days earlier than Prince Ludovico."

"Ha, this is an industrial miracle." Mirandola gave a thumbs up to the chimney behind him, "Not to mention the envoys from Lucca and Milan. I guess only the Sardinians can enter the Palace of Versailles at the same time as us."

No wonder he was so excited.

Now that several northern Italian states had received French security guarantees and promises of low-interest loans to help them develop, the race to Paris began.

On the one hand, the total amount of the loan is definitely limited, so those who arrive first will have the opportunity to get more, while those who arrive late may not even have anything left.

On the other hand, whoever can arrive at the Palace of Versailles first will leave the most profound impression on the French royal family. In the future, Northern Italy will basically follow France, so this good impression will be of great use.

Mirandola was a man of quick mind and was exposed to many new things. When he was sure that the British fleet had withdrawn from the Mediterranean, he immediately decided to take a steamer to France.

As a result, he was indeed far ahead.

You know, Parma is much closer to France than Modena, and Sardinia is hundreds of kilometers closer.

However, what Mirandola did not expect was that after Prince Ludovico of Parma arrived in Toulon, France, he was generous to the local French officials, so someone told him about something called the "Chap Signal Tower", which could transmit messages to Paris within 40 minutes.

Ludovico was overjoyed and immediately spent 4000 francs to ask the Governor of Toulon to send a respectful and humble letter of greetings to the King and Queen of France on his behalf using the Chap signal tower.

It was 5 days earlier than Mirandola.

……

St. Petersburg.

Hermitage.

Count Stroganov, the Russian ambassador to France, walked anxiously through the corridor. If it were not for court etiquette, he would have wanted to run all the way to the presence of His Majesty the Tsar.

He had set out from Paris more than four months ago, but just as he reached Strasbourg, he encountered a clash between the French and Austrian armies. He did not dare to risk crossing the war zone, and he did not know when the battle would end, so he had to turn back to the north of France and planned to leave from Luxembourg.

However, fighting broke out there as well.

He wanted to travel by sea through Northern Europe, via the Baltic Sea, and reach St. Petersburg from Riga, but he once again encountered a British fleet blockading the French coast.

Although he had diplomatic status, he still didn't dare to take risks - who knew if the British warships would fire a few shots before boarding to check his diplomatic credentials. You know, many French merchant ships would fly the flags of Russia or Denmark in an attempt to get through.

Finally, he waited until the Russian warship came to pick him up, and then he returned to Russia smoothly.

It was already August.

Although Count Stroganov did not know what the Tsar's attitude was towards the French Queen's marriage proposal, as a messenger, he had already delayed state affairs and was naturally extremely anxious.

In the corridor, several young nobles passed by him not far away, and their deliberately suppressed discussions still reached his ears.

"Your Majesty is too old. He needs others to repeat themselves several times before he can understand clearly..."

"I heard she had trouble even walking."

"All state affairs are now controlled by that guy Zubov, and he is a complete loser!"

"But His Majesty the Emperor is very fond of him..."

"We must overthrow this treacherous minister! He only knows how to embezzle and suppress dissidents. If he continues like this, the empire will be doomed!"

"You are right, but His Majesty the Emperor forbids anyone to speak ill of that guy."

"The empire has fallen into a huge crisis. I would like to take that person with me..."

Several people were startled and hurriedly covered the mouth of the person who spoke last, looking around vigilantly.

Count Stroganov pretended to turn around and talk to his servant and walked quickly past them.

After a while, he came to Catherine II's bedroom, straightened his collar, and followed the Tsar's attendants into the room.

Catherine II was leaning on the bed, listening to what Zubov was saying. When she saw the ambassador to France saluted her, she slightly raised her fat and old body and said:
"Oh, you are back, Count Stroganov. Ivan, bring him a chair."

The ambassador to France sat down beside her bed and immediately took out Queen Marie's handwritten letter: "Your Majesty, this is from the Queen of France. The content should be about the marriage of the Crown Prince."

Catherine II motioned Zubov to open the envelope, smiled and nodded, and said, "I have read your report. To be honest, I am surprised. The Romanov family and the Bourbons have never had a history of marriage."

She said this to save face for Russia. The French royal family was too arrogant to look down on these Eastern European barbarians.

Russia had never dreamed of marrying into the French royal family before; the most they had done was to target the German states.

The Tsar listened to Zubov reading Queen Mary's letter - the content was very official and did not involve much political content - and looked at Count Stroganov: "So, what do you think about this?"

The latter thought for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, I think the French side really wants to make this happen. Her Majesty the Queen's envoy is on the way, and he will come to see you immediately as soon as you make a positive response."

(End of this chapter)