Flowers, Swords and France

"She fell in love with your Crown Prince?" Fran looked at him in confusion, doubting that she had heard something wrong. "How could this happen?"

"I also find it strange, but it happened." Andrei Bezukhov spread his hands and looked at Fran with regret, "Life is sometimes so helpless."

Next, Andrei explained this problem to Fran in a low voice.

The so-called Crown Prince is Alexander, the eldest son of the current Tsar Nicholas I. When he was born in 1818, Nicholas was only the younger brother of Emperor Alexander I, so he was not the Crown Prince but only the Emperor's nephew.

However, because Emperor Alexander I and his second brother Constantine had no children at the time, the third Nicholas was regarded as the future heir to the Russian Empire when he gave birth to his eldest son Alexander.

Therefore, he also received a very superior education and completed all his studies at the age of nineteen. With the help of many teachers, he studied many subjects, including mathematics, physics, geography, history, Orthodox theology, political economy, law and foreign languages, and mastered four foreign languages ​​- English, German, French and Polish. He was also the most well-educated among all the Russian princes.

In 1825, Emperor Alexander I died. Because he had no children and his second brother Constantine gave up the right to inherit the throne in order to marry a Polish noblewoman, the throne fell into the hands of Nicholas, who became the current Tsar Nicholas I, and Alexander officially became the crown prince - if nothing unexpected happens, he will become His Majesty Tsar Alexander II in the future.

From the 1840s, Nicholas I began to gradually support his crown prince Alexander to participate in state affairs, so that he could familiarize himself with state affairs as soon as possible so as to become an excellent heir.

In 1842, during Nicholas I's vacation, Alexander took over the military and national affairs for a month instead of his father. In 1845, Nicholas I visited abroad, and Alexander once again temporarily presided over government affairs. From the late 1840s, Alexander was favored by his father and was given the right to appoint individual ministers. At the same time, he began to gradually handle some daily government affairs.

At first, Nicholas I entrusted Alexander with the responsibility of Russia's agricultural issues. After 1850, he gradually appointed him to military positions and became a sharer of the imperial power.

It is conceivable that he must have passed through countless extremely important information and intelligence, and he was the decision maker and executor of many major affairs in Russia. As a rebel who deliberately wanted to deal with the royal family and collapse the imperial system as soon as possible, Count Pierre Bezukhov hoped to use him to obtain the intelligence he needed.

Compared with his cruel and tough father, the young and vigorous Crown Prince now has more flaws to exploit.

When he turned 20 in 1838, Crown Prince Alexander began to travel to Europe and visited many European countries (but because of the poor relationship between Russia and France at that time, he did not go to France alone).

During his visit to the German states, Alexander chose Maria, the youngest daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt, as his future wife. In 1840, Maria was invited to Russia, and the following year Alexander married Maria. So far, they have had four sons and a daughter.

However, this seemingly happy marriage did not satisfy the desires of the Crown Prince. Like other nobles in the upper class, he secretly indulged in a life of attracting bees and butterflies, and had many romantic affairs - which gave Count Pierre Bezukhov an opportunity to take advantage of.

Under the earl's instruction, his youngest daughter Natasha tried to approach the Crown Prince, and took this opportunity to become a friend of the Crown Prince, and got a lot of very valuable information from him, and even learned a lot of secrets inside the royal family.

With Natasha's efforts, Count Bezukhov obtained a lot of intelligence and prepared to use it to oppose the empire; at the same time, because of Natasha's influence, the count was more respected within the empire - everyone knew that his daughter was a good friend of the future Tsar.

As time passed, the count was pleased to see that his plan was moving towards success little by little. He saw that Russia's weakness had been seen through by him, and a war between Russia and European powers was about to break out - as long as this war broke out and Russia failed, the Tsarist regime would collapse, and his lifelong dream would be realized.

However, at this time, Natasha had other proposals. She asked her father to change the entire plan, no longer seeking to overthrow the entire Tsarist system, but to seek to turn Russia into a moderate constitutional monarchy, let Alexander inherit his father's throne, and then he would carry out various reforms to make the whole of Russia stronger - and in this process, Count Bezukhov could also make great contributions, and even serve as a minister.

"My father was furious at her proposal." After describing the whole process, Andrei concluded with this sentence, "He completely rejected Natasha's proposal and thought that Natasha had betrayed him... Then, he was upset about it and believed that women were emotional and should not do big things."

"This... is understandable." After Fran understood what happened, her suspicions were finally eliminated.

However, she still had some doubts, "But are you really unwilling to adopt her suggestions at all? After all, if this is the case... it will be more acceptable to both parties, right?"

"It is completely impossible for my father to accept such an offer." Andrei shook his head slightly. "His lifelong pursuit is to overthrow the current Tsarist family. How could he accept such an offer to serve the Tsar? Besides, in 1825 , Nicholas suppressed the revolution just after he came to the throne, causing many of my father's friends and subordinates to be implicated and persecuted. He will never forget such hatred. He has been working hard for such a goal for fifty years. How could it be possible? give up?"

"Does that mean hatred makes him unwilling to do this?" Fran asked.

"It's not just hatred, there are also objective realistic considerations. Although my father hates the tsarist system, for the sake of the stability of the country, he is not opposed to allowing Russia to continue to be a monarchy when it is done - but this The power of the monarch must be limited and must be under the control of the Parliament and the people," Andre explained to her in a low voice, "But if Alexander succeeded to the throne, he would have already enjoyed it. How could he, who has had enough power, be willing to accept the status of a constitutional monarch in name only? Moreover, he has a legitimate name, and will obviously receive support and help from a large number of reactionaries... So if we support him, then we will undoubtedly support him. It is a huge mistake, and it can even be said that all our efforts will be in vain. Yes, sometimes we must take a stand and absolutely cannot compromise on certain principles."

"I probably understand what you mean..." Fran thought for a while and finally nodded, "Then what exactly is your father planning to do with Natasha?"

"He is also worried about this problem." Andre sighed again, "You know, parents usually love their youngest children the most. My father really loves her, so... so when she was betrayed , that kind of anger is also the most powerful. He has now imprisoned Natasha. At home, she was forbidden to go out, and all the affairs that were originally handled by her were stopped. Really, my father liked her very much, and she always followed him and was very helpful. I originally thought she would be much better than me. , but I didn’t expect...I didn’t expect...Hey..."

After a pause, he couldn't help but add, "Now he really regrets letting Natasha get involved in these things, which resulted in the quarrel between father and daughter reaching the current level."

"I can understand a little bit about this..." Fran also agreed. "If I disobey my grandfather and brother's will, they will definitely be very angry."

"So you'd better stop irritating them on this matter. This matter can only be solved slowly." Andre was obviously unhappy, "If it can be solved."

"I think it can be solved...after all, we are father and daughter." Fran comforted him.

"I'm not as optimistic as you." However, Andre didn't think as she did. "My father is almost seventy years old, and his health is deteriorating. He is afraid that he will not see his long-cherished wish come true before he dies. So he hates all unstable factors and wishes that everything could go according to plan...so it is difficult for him to forgive those who go against his plan, even his biological daughter. "

"But she is her biological daughter after all?"

"You don't understand. The more you worry about some things, the sadder you will be. The more you place high hopes on it, the more disappointed you will be." Andrei smiled bitterly, "Dad originally had high hopes for Natasha, because all of us sons are incompetent." , he wanted Natasha to inherit his career, but...but something like this happened, which was a huge blow to him. "

Read the original text in Liu#9@书/吧!

"Maybe this will improve your status in father's heart..." Fran smiled slightly.

"I would rather my status remain the same as before." Andre shook his head, "Let me tell you clearly, in fact, I have no revolutionary enthusiasm at all. As you know, my family is very rich. Although I am not the eldest son, I still have a lot of money." If I can get a fortune, it will at least be enough for me to live and drink for a lifetime, so it is not a big problem for me whether I am a tsar, a king, or a president of the republic. I don't have the ideals of my father at all, and I don't want to save anyone. I just want to live my own life... You will laugh at me, right?"

"Many people will think the same as you. In fact, I think people like your father are in the minority, an absolute minority." Fran seemed to express her feelings.

"Yes, yes, that's it." Andre was convinced this time. "People like my father are really rare. You Frenchmen are grooms who make revolutions in order to become nobles, but what about him? , It’s a nobleman who made a revolution just to be a groom! This kind of thing is rare in the world!”

Fran and Mary couldn't help but laugh. Although Andre's words were crude, the analogy was correct.

However, Andre smiled and became serious again. "But no matter what, he is my father. I admire him and am willing to serve him. Regardless of whether I agree with what he has done or not, as long as he has something to tell me, I will definitely try my best to Do it. Since he named me Andrei, I cannot live up to his expectations. If he orders me to shoot the Tsar, I will do it."

"You look much more handsome than before." Seeing him so serious, Fran replied with a smile.

"I've always been so handsome." Andre bent his waist and made an invitation gesture, "Then, Miss Treville, I'll take you to rest, and you can come and have dinner with us later."

"Will Miss Natasha have dinner with us?" Fran suddenly asked. "I would like to meet her."

"Of course." Andre was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't understand why she asked that. "At least at home, she is still a family member."

"You are really gentle." Fran looked at him with a smile. "What a touching family love."

If it was my brother, I'm afraid he wouldn't be so gentle. (~^~)