In terms of the selection of torchbearers, the determination of specific routes, and the security guarantees – well, not every country has ever been as safe as it is today, for example, in Turkey, there are many places where Alibaba and those things are, especially in the border between Turkey and Russia, and the security is even more confusing.

Of course, the countries along the route naturally know that the French attach great importance to the Olympic Games, and if the torch relay or something goes wrong on their own turf, most of the French will be very angry, and the consequences will naturally be very serious. So, although they were not too interested in these pagan activities, they were also dissatisfied with the various infiltrations of the French in North Africa for some time, especially in response to the recent sudden propaganda by the French that Barbary pirates might threaten the safety of the torch's sea voyage from Italy to Spain, so the French demanded that the Sultan of Turkey immediately issue a religious order ordering the Barbary countries to immediately cease piracy at sea.

The Barbary countries have a very long and glorious history of piracy, and since the time of Hayreddin, they have relied on piracy to make a fortune in the Mediterranean. For quite a long time, Barbary pirates were the masters of the Mediterranean, and the countries bordering the Mediterranean were even required to pay them protection money.

As a long-standing strategic ally of the Ottoman Turks, France has been rarely attacked by them. As the Ottoman Turks weakened, their ability to control these nominal possessions in North Africa was greatly reduced. In fact, the Barbary states were already nominally subject to Ottoman Turkey, and were de facto independent states.

However, because the French navy has grown stronger over the years, France still does not need to pay protection money to the Barbary pirates. Later the British, a maritime power, also received this right.

Strictly speaking, there had been no incident of a French ship being attacked by Barbary pirates for many years, and the French were clearly harboring evil intentions for North Africa by throwing out such arguments at this time.

However, the Turks were not too good to disobey the will of the French and gave such an order - of course, the disobedience of the Barbary pirates is another question. But the Barbary pirates were not stupid, and they certainly knew that stirring up the French on this issue could have very serious consequences. As a result, the Governor of Algeria even issued an order prohibiting any plundering at sea from the time the Olympic torch relay arrived in Italy to the time when the torch appeared in Madrid.

But this command instead poses a bigger problem.

The finances of the Barbary states, including Algeria, Tripoli and Tunisia, depend almost entirely on the proceeds of raiding at sea and the collection of protection money. Stopping the looting will naturally greatly reduce the income, so how can we live that day? Therefore, because it is scheduled to stop sea activities for a period of time, the Barbary pirates feel that they should hurry up and grab more while the ban has not yet been implemented.

The Mediterranean is even more dangerous.

But this danger has nothing to do with the fact that we are now sitting in the world's most powerful five-star hotel at sea, the newest and largest battleship of the French Navy, called the Imperator.

This is a purely steam-powered battleship, and a true ironclad ship. Unlike the former "Free Trade", which was sold to the British, her iron armor was not hung on the outside, but the entire ship was made of steel.

The ship had a standard displacement of nearly 7,000 tons and used three three-cylinder steam engines of the latest French development, capable of reaching a maximum speed of 16 knots. (The French have not yet made enough progress in their research on steam turbines.) It's a little slower than the latest Freetrade, but the boat has a smaller length-to-width ratio, so it's smoother and more comfortable.

In addition to comfort, the ship was also more defensive and firepower than the new Freetrade, which was actually used as an assault ship, and had two turrets, one front and one aft, each armed with a twin 150mm rear-mounted barreled retractable cannon.

Because of the limitations of technological factors, the buffer device of the French cannon at this time was still very large, and the efficiency was not high, but with this set of devices, the rate of fire of the French naval guns was increased several times higher on the original basis. And considering the high speed and high defense of this warship, this is already a nightmare for the navies of other countries in this era.

Because of the increased efficiency of the artillery, the number of gunners, as well as the space occupied by the guns, were greatly reduced, which freed up a lot of space for the ship to be used to improve accommodation at sea. The boat was designed with the mission in mind that it might often have to carry important people, so there was even a luxuriously furnished ensuite on board.

Of course, this suite was intended for Napoleon, but it was Polina who first used it.

This time, Polina will travel to Greece, a Turkish possessions, where she will be responsible for lighting the Olympic torch. This was Polina's first trip to a pagan country, and Joseph and Napoleon were more or less uneasy, only Lucien felt that this troublemaker was only a person who made the family suffer, and there was nothing to worry about at all.

"Could it be that you are still worried that Sultan Selim III will take a fancy to this madwoman and take her into his harem? Ah, if that's the case, then I really have to show sympathy for Sultan Selim III. Lucien said heartlessly.

However, despite what Lucien said, it was impossible for everyone to really relax their security on Polina. For example, an elite member of Napoleon's guard was assigned to take care of her security along the way, and a security specialist named Beldon was transferred from the Ministry of Public Security to protect Polina.

Of course, Lucien was a little unhappy with Napoleon's choice to have the Ministry of Public Security prepare Polina's bodyguards, and he felt that the Ministry of Public Security guy had obvious bad intentions, because the guy named Belton was a handsome young man.

Lucien, however, did not think that the MPS's conspiracy would succeed. Because "Isn't he just a handsome little guy?" Polina has seen a lot." Besides, if you can really marry Polina, well, this young man is actually not bad.

In the past, Napoleon always wanted to find a husband for Polina from among his capable men, but these capable lads were one by one conservative, and they were frightened by Polina. For example, two years ago, Napoleon arranged for Davout and Polina to go out together. As a result, the day before the outing, Davout suddenly claimed that he had fallen off his horse while riding and was injured and could not come. Napoleon also visited him himself, and found that Davout had really fallen and injured himself. But later, Napoleon's brother-in-law, Murat, who couldn't control his mouth, accidentally slipped his mouth, saying that when Davout first saw Polina's appearance, he was actually looking forward to it, but then he gradually heard about Polina's legend, so he hesitated, and then he ran to Murat's house to ask Murat and Caroline about Polina, and then, on the way back, he fell and injured himself......

As for Joseph's students and assistants, Joseph felt that it was better not to harm others.

So, by the standards of this era, well, Polina is definitely an older leftover girl. The whole family thinks that Fouché may be playing a beautiful man's scheme, and that Beldon is probably a bait. But the whole family also felt that if Polina ate the bait, it would not be bad.

Aboard the battleship "Imperador", Polina and they came directly outside the port of Athens. The port of Athens was once the most important port in the entire Mediterranean, but by this time it was so far from being able to compare with it that it did not even have a dock for the "Imperator" to berth. Therefore, although the "Imperator" entered the port, it could only anchor in the harbor first, and then transport people ashore in small boats.

The Imperado was equipped with a crane that could lower the lifeboat to the sea, and Polina and her team landed on the shores of Greece.

The French ambassador to Turkey, as well as the Turkish governor in the region, Ali Pasha, came to the port to greet Polina. Ali Pasha was surprised that the French would send a woman to preside over the torch lighting of the Olympic Games, and he seemed reluctant to have to greet a woman, even the woman of the most powerful man in the world. What's more, that woman really doesn't look very presentable.

For ease of movement, Polina wore a men's hunting suit, her hair was tied up and tucked into a tall hat. On his feet were black high-top leather boots with spurs, and on each side of the belt at his waist, a holster with two revolvers stuck in them—which was indeed very unseemly in terms of diplomatic etiquette.

However, one of the great rights of the strong is that they do not have to care about the eyes of the weak. Besides, Polina has seen a lot of strange eyes, and she even wants to say: "The old lady just likes your kind of look that is not pleasing to the old lady, but you still have to be polite to the old lady in a proper manner." ”

Two days later, Polina dressed as an ancient Greek priestess and escorted to the ruins of an ancient stadium near the Acropolis, the site of the ancient Olympic Games. Nestled between the temples of Zeus and Hera in ancient Greece, the site may have once been magnificent, but today it is just a flat clearing. On both sides of it, the once magnificent temples have long since collapsed to the point that only a few pillars remain.