However, in the later trip, Victor still chose to take a carriage, because riding a horse, riding for dozens of minutes is very pleasant, riding for a few hours will make people tired, if you ride for dozens of days, God, it is really tiring. Along the way, the cavalry escorting and the riders with torches rotated at intervals. And Victor has to accompany this flame and torch all over Europe.

"If I hadn't come to Russia, I really wouldn't have known that the world would be so big." Later, when Victor once told his friend about his trip, he once exclaimed, "You know what? One day, I had been in the carriage for eight hours, and we barely stopped halfway except for changing horses at some small stronghold.

So I asked a Russian cavalryman who was following the carriage: 'Hey, friend, how far are we from today's destination?' The horseman replied to me in a very lively tone: 'Ah, it is not far away, it is almost there, only a hundred versts.' I didn't react at the time, but after a while I realized that the verst and the kilometer are very similar in length, that is, there are more than 100 kilometers left, hell, this is not far away, it's almost there.

But what is even more absurd is that it didn't take long for me to become familiar with and accept this notion of distance myself. Well, a thousand kilometers is a little distance, and five hundred kilometers is already relatively close, a hundred kilometers? Ah, that's right around the corner. So much so that when I came back to Europe, I didn't get used to the idea of distance and proximity here......"

However, aside from the fact that the road was too far, Victor's trip was generally quite smooth. The first important Russian city where the flame reached was Kiev. Here, the whole city warmly welcomed Viktor for their arrival, the mayor of Kiev awarded Viktor the title of honorary citizen, and the inhabitants of the city held an all-night torchlight procession. to celebrate the arrival of the flame.

Viktor and the flame rested a little in Kyiv for two or three days, after all, even the able-bodied Viktor was just as tired from running all the way. For three days he stayed in the house of the local nobleman Lebezovsky. The owner, Lebezovsky, also studied in France and studied painting and literature. He told Victor that he had a son who was now in Paris, but he was studying mathematics in Paris.

Actually, he had hoped to study physics or engineering. But I'm afraid that after he learns those things, he won't want to come back and take care of our family's land in the future. And math is much better, at least math doesn't need a lab. He could have studied these in my study without having to agonize that what he had learned in France could not find a place in Russia. Like the son of one of my cousins, who studied construction engineering in France and then returned to Moscow, only to find that there was neither cement nor steel...... Finally he couldn't take it anymore and went back to France. He is not short of money, but he has learned all his skills, but there is no place to show them...... I know it's not comfortable, it's like ......"

"It's like having a hammer in your hand and not finding a nail to hammer." Victor added with a smile.

"Ah, my friend, that's it, that's it. This metaphor is very vivid. Lebezovsky smiled. But then he sighed and said: "Russia is still too backward, our system, many of our things are too backward, and the Russian people are too old-fashioned, all this has to be changed, we think it's a good idea to join the Olympics and organize the Olympic Committee, through sports, we can make more people accept new ideas." Well, I read Science Pravda and really appreciated the sentence on it: 'Civilize the spirit, barbarize the body'. That's a really good statement. ”

The attitude of Lebezov actually represented the opinion of a significant part of the Russian nobility. This is one of the reasons why Victor was able to receive such warm hospitality along the way. Perhaps because distance produces beauty, the Russian aristocracy generally had a better view of the French who overthrew the aristocracy than the Italian and Austrian aristocracy.

After three days in Kiev, Viktor turned to Moscow.

Moscow is the former capital of Russia, and since Peter the Great, the capital of Russia has been moved to St. Petersburg, but Moscow is still one of the most important cities in Russia, the second capital of Russia. Many people say that Petersburg is just a deliberate face of Russia, and Moscow, that is the real Russia.

From Kiev to Moscow, the straight-line distance is probably less than 800 kilometers. However, considering the curvy roads and various terrain obstacles, the real distance is more than 1,000 kilometers, which is really a long way.

The distance of more than a thousand kilometers, although it is far away, but Victor has not run such a long distance before. But more than a thousand kilometers, all of which are almost all wastelands, is the first time Victor has seen it.

And the Russian roads were also an eye-opener for Viktor, because the land would freeze in the winter and melt again in the spring and summer. When the land freezes, the water in the land freezes and expands, loosening the compacted land again, and then once the ice melts, the road becomes a mud pool. This makes Russian roads very difficult to maintain and extremely vulnerable to damage.

Victor embarked on this path at a time when it was still a good time of year to walk – early summer. By this time, the winter melt has dried up, and the roads are no longer completely mud puddles as they were in the spring. However, the road became bumpy in the spring thaw, which also slowed down the carriage. And such roads are particularly prone to damage to the suspension and even the wheels. Stopping on the road to repair carriages has become almost commonplace.

As he walked, Victor calculated in his mind, and finally came to the conclusion that any European country, in the present situation, if it were to invade Russia, could easily be crushed by this damn road and the deadly logistics that would come with it.

"Especially our French army. Over the years, the French army has become stronger than ever, but on the other hand, it has also become more logistically dependent than ever before. Victor thought so, and after a stint as a military adviser in Ireland, he was well aware of the problem.

"What's more, the vast expanse of land, the complex terrain, this is really the ideal environment for guerrilla warfare, and throwing a million troops in here is like sprinkling a small packet of pepper into a big pond. Nothing but a waste of goodies.

And the Russians, yes, they are conservative, they are backward, but they have a unique culture, and, unlike many countries, all the Russians I met had a heart to become a great power. This, combined with the harsh nature of their environment, made them relatively resilient - they were naturally suited to guerrilla warfare, even better than the Irish. ”

Thinking like this, the carriage suddenly jerked again, and then Viktor listened again to the roar of the coachman Maklov: "Damn, it's broken again!" ”

On the other side, the Olympic flame has already arrived in Rome, and the idle citizens of Rome have vividly demonstrated the Italians' lively nature. Almost all the citizens poured into the streets, making the whole city feel like a carnival.

To say, those Italians really think of the torch relay as a carnival. In all directions, groups of masked people poured in, some running out of the door, some running down the window. From every street, from every corner, there were horse-drawn carriages. The carriage was filled with clowns dressed in white trousers and white masks, comical characters in floral clothes and armed with wooden knives, men and women wearing half masks, dressed as marquises, lethfelds, knights and peasants. Everyone screamed and shouted together, throwing paper packets or eggshells of flour at each other. There are also people who spill the juice of tomatoes on their bodies, pretending to be blood, to play zombies or something. If Polina was here, she would be overjoyed to see all this.

But the clergy were not so happy to see this. Especially when they saw that there was a float with such a few guys on it.

Bishop Leonardo, who had just comforted a helpless maiden, then, in the manner of a sage, left the house he had mercifully given to the maiden, who might be able to be his granddaughter in her age, and got into a carriage and went to his church, ready to teach some seminary students how to draw themselves closer to God. But as soon as the carriage came out of the alley, it was met by a crowd of revelers, and then it was swept into the revelry. Then he saw it on a float.

A man wears a papier-mâché clergyman's hat, which is evident from the style of the hat and is the appearance of the Pope. The "pope" was half-kneeling on a float and holding a crown made of gold leaf in his hand and handed it to a man in a French military uniform sitting on a high chair.

"Blasphemy! This is blasphemy! Bishop Leonardo was so angry that he almost jumped straight out of the carriage and rushed directly to the float to see who dared to attack His Holiness the Pope so viciously.

But Bishop Leonardo did not act on it, because he remembered some information that the Holy See had previously communicated to them: "The Austrians are very dissatisfied with the loss of the Roman crown, and they will definitely lose their temper and make some small moves." But ignore them, let them vent, in short, after this matter is over, we will still have to reconcile with His Majesty Franz. ”