Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Napoleon did have a good chance. Louis XVIII was now sitting in the Tuileries Palace in Paris, soaking his feet, and he felt very uncomfortable.

"It looks like there are traces of a usurper everywhere. What is he going to turn the Tuileries into? A workshop?"

When Louis XVIII said this, Berthier wanted to shake his head while listening to him, but he had to maintain his decency, so he couldn't do so.

His mother was the nanny of Louis XVIII, and his father was appreciated by Louis XV. Although he had always been Napoleon's chief of staff, it should be taken into account that his relationship with the royal family was even closer than those generals who were born as dukes, marquises and counts.

"Your Majesty, but it will cost a lot of money to change the decoration here now."

Louis XVIII actually had some skills. He knew that spending money was very troublesome, but this always reminded him of Napoleon, so he had to change it.

As for Berthier, although he had always followed Napoleon, he was also related to the Bourbon royal family. In times of shortage of people, he could be regarded as one of their own. Moreover, because his father was conferred as a French nobleman, he also had aristocratic status.

"You are an engineer, Berthier, and an excellent chief of staff. You are also my marshal and a French noble. I don't need to bother you with these things. Your father had some merits at that time, so my grandfather promoted his status, didn't he? There is no need to rush the decoration here. I left France for 20 years without any rush, and now I am finally sitting here again. If we start this decoration, it will be completed by next year, right?"

Now he asked his attendant again, and the answer he got was affirmative.

"After all these years, I will still be patient. But what about those people who claim to be my nephews?"

"Your Majesty, I think at this time, we just need to consult with the guards at the time to understand the situation."

"Luckily, my niece married Archduke Karl, so she doesn't have to suffer this. If an adventurer really came here and claimed to be my poor nephew, just like what happened in Russia, someone claimed to be Peter III. It's ridiculous, it's all low-level fraud."

He knew the reason clearly, as he had investigated it before.

As for his younger brother, the Count of Artois, the actual prince consort, he is probably the one who sits most securely in the most suicidal position in the French Capet family system.

The princes of the past were all very ridiculous, especially Louis XIII’s younger brother, who turned himself into a clown.

Although the Count of Artois also had this tendency, Louis XVIII had no legitimate heirs, not even any record of children who had died young, so he did not have to worry about inheriting the throne.

Moreover, his two sons were the closest to Louis XVIII and his wife.

However, the Savoy sisters married by Louis XVIII and Count of Artois had died long ago. Louis XVIII's wife died in England four years ago and was not able to become queen alive. She was only the queen declared by Louis XVIII when he proclaimed himself king.

These two brothers are always unlucky.

The Count of Artois has always been worried about his eldest son's marriage. Previously, his niece ran away, and now he needs an heir.

The second son was considering marrying Marie Caroline of the Two Sicilies, the daughter of Maria Clementine of Austria.

But the Duke of Angoulême had some problems. He was a stutterer and shy, so it was no wonder that he opposed the marriage between his son and niece at the time.

In addition, the current situation in France is really bad and is still full of crises.

There would probably be no problem with the marriage of the two dukes, since they were still in exile. According to the usual principles, royal claimants could also marry.

Moreover, the situation in France is very special, as the Bourbon monarchy was overthrown in the past.

Now, it’s time to counterattack and return home.

Having said that, unfortunately, many people’s concerns have indeed come true.

Talleyrand hoped to become prime minister, a dean wanted to become Cardinal Richelieu, or at worst Bishop Mazarin. However, after the Count of Artois came back, he began to form a royal police force, and many of the things he did were retrograde.

If Soloviev had not arranged for the unruly people of Vendée, Louis XVIII might have had a few pieces of land other than the south to support their regime.

Although Louis XVIII considered the agreed settlement feasible, the Count of Artois did not agree with it.

What's funny is that the Count of Artois's sons seem to have the same opinion. It's unclear whether they follow their father's opinion or have their own opinion.

The Duke of Angoulême had no descendants and it is hard to say. The Duke of Berry's son was the last legitimate Bourbon heir of France, Henry V, who was king for a short time and was called by the Pope as a wise man who "gave up the throne for a piece of bed sheet."

It can be seen that this stubbornness, although not necessarily related to genetics, can also be subtly influenced by daily life.

But Peter III and Paul were genuine father and son, and there was also Nicholas behind them.

For these three generations of grandparents and grandchildren, the fathers all died when their sons were very young, but the sons look very much like their fathers. It can be inferred that they must have no relationship with Mr. Wang next door.

Not only did they oppose the reconciliation policies proposed by Louis XVIII before, but they also wanted to restore a lot of property, the property of living nobles, the property of the church, and even especially the property of the church.

Talleyrand would feel strange. These people are not like me who have returned to secular life. Why are they so eager to make money?
The lame former dean didn't know that the religious privileges were probably addictive to these people, even more addictive than his own desire for power.

In addition, the military's salary was halved, a large number of troops were disbanded, and many soldiers returned home empty-handed.

And those soldiers who were released on the European battlefield also returned to France in batches.

Some were captured in Spain, some were captured during the Russian expedition, but the majority were those captured in the battle of 1813.

After these people came back, many officers had no place to stay, and they were grateful to be able to receive half pay.

In this situation, Louis XVIII actually realized that he was in big trouble.

He did not give up the collection of grape and wine taxes, which turned the farmers of Bordeaux into the Bordeaux people, who opposed taxation and therefore had many conflicts with the tax officials and the tax farmers set up by the Bourbon dynasty.

In addition, there are many areas where spending is required.

He once again summoned Mr. Lafayette, the chief director and president of the Bank of France, hoping that he could provide support.

Mr. Lafayette did take out 300 million francs directly from the bank for emergency relief, but this amount was also very limited.

Compared with the original emperor, the restored French king's power was actually not as consolidated, and its power was weakened.

Especially laying off employees from the 70,000 civil servants would be like cutting a major artery.

Although some of these people are useless and take up a lot of budget expenditures, France still needs them to maintain its operations, especially for taxation and administrative management.

It’s not that the court system during the Bourbon dynasty was useless, but relying solely on it, together with the authority of the church, was obviously backward.

It was obvious that Louis XVIII was unable to settle domestic affairs, and even these French marshals had many complaints.

Ney was in Paris, where he seemed to be very useful, still serving as Marshal of the Kingdom of France, but he also heard about the current situation of Jura and Besançon in a letter from his friend Lecourbe.

Le Courbe himself joined the National Guard from there and had deep feelings for Jura.

Therefore, he had to point out that the French were now living a worse life than during the most difficult days of the war, such as before and after the Battle of Valmy and when the Allied forces invaded France.

Those extreme royalists who returned, also known as the Legitimists, were even worse than the Württemberg and Bavarian armies, except that they indiscriminately bullied men and women, which was not as cruel as what they did in the past.

In fact, if Louis XVIII had not disagreed, land annexation would probably have returned.

You peasants, your Bourbon master is back!
This is roughly the feeling. The local situation in Jura is that some royalists came here to cause trouble.

If Le Courbe had not played the card that he had also been persecuted by Bonaparte and forcibly changed the concept, the fellow countrymen of Jura would have been in big trouble.

Le Courbe can only provide temporary relief now. If the royalists and priests come back to make trouble in the future, the people of Jura will probably become unruly people like Bordeaux and Vendée.

As for the Vendée, you were unruly people when Napoleon was in power. After Napoleon left and the Bourbon Restoration, you were still unruly people. So wasn't the Allied Forces' coming here in vain?

It's not just others who are responsible, Solovyov himself thinks he has done a great job.

He was in the embassy in Vienna, also reading the reports from France.

The development of things is still shocking, especially when I experienced it personally.

There have been protests in Paris in the past few days, and there have also been resistance to taxes in other places.

Many of the soldiers who returned to their hometowns also disliked the royalists.

If this continues, there will probably be a French Revolution 2.0, which would be really exciting.

Especially in the past, the villagers only held a pitchfork, and a few might have weapons and horses.

Now, after so many years, the French army has had millions of people join the army, and there are many veterans with military skills. Even among the new recruits, many of them made great contributions in the spring of 1814.

If they really rise up, the current Bourbon army will not be able to withstand it.

We have to take into account that the French marshals were also trained by Napoleon.

Do they dare to shoot at their own soldiers?

If a real fight breaks out, it will definitely be a lively scene.

It just requires a suitable time to ignite this powder keg.

For example, if it develops into an unlimited fighting tournament around France, it will be even more exciting than the last revolution.

After all, at that time, beheadings were mainly carried out in Paris, and the targets were nobles. Later on, it was the Girondists and Jacobins. Now that the royalists can come back, it’s all because the Incorruptibles haven’t done enough.

And, they ran very fast every time.

This is the situation. When the news reached Vienna, Solovyov came to the conclusion based on the existing situation, briefings from the Russian Embassy in Paris, information relayed by intelligence, and letters from French friends.

"Your Majesty, I think France will still fall into chaos. It's just a matter of time. Now that Louis XVIII has returned to Paris, if he can't resolve the fiscal deficit problem and the conflicts between the returning royalists and local landowners before May next year, I think there will still be violent movements, and they may even get out of control."

"What are the possibilities?"

Solovyov saw three possibilities: the emergence of a Second French Republic, the return of Orleans instead of the Bourbon, and even one, which Solovyov now believed might be the unreliable option given by Sir Humphrey.

But Napoleon really came back.

"You mean Napoleon will escape from Elba?"

"This is due to the adventurous nature and rebellious spirit of the Bonaparte family. Except for Joseph Bonaparte, everyone else has this trait to a greater or lesser extent."

Solovyov was very serious when he said this.

"If that's the case, what will happen?"

"Sire, in either case, Bourbon will flee Paris again in the end."

"Paris again."

"But only in the case of Orleans, our army does not need to enter France again. If it is a republic, Moreau is in the United States now, and he will not come back. After all, the war between the United States and Britain has not ended yet. If it is a man like Bernadotte."

"How about it?"

"Your Majesty, you probably only need to give me 100,000 troops, and I will be able to defeat them."

Solovyov gained confidence after the Battle of Reims.

Even Napoleon could not do anything about his position, let alone other French generals, including the old ruffians Masséna and Davout, the best French marshals at the corps and army levels.

He already had the confidence to the point that even Alexander was surprised. You know, Solovyov was always cautious and thorough in his work and was not willing to make boastful promises.

It was he who stabbed the Balkan Peninsula with one blow, but he did not make any boasts at that time.

Alexander smiled.

"You are a little too confident. What if it was Bonaparte?"

"We probably need 200,000 troops, 200,000 allies, and diplomatic means. The more dangerous thing is probably that our allies don't want Russia to dominate European affairs now. They always hold a salon in the palace, but just let us sit at the door."

To deal with Napoleon, more troops are needed.

Solovyov is now also restoring history and making a contingency plan for this option, which now seems the most unlikely.

But he still continued according to his own strange ideas. Although his goal was to defeat Napoleon, he also had to dig holes for his allies.

It is very important that the final arbitration must be made by Russia, not the British. (End of this chapter)