After seeing the countess leave, André led Fran and Mary upstairs to his father's study. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info Compared with when he was in front of his mother just now, Andrei was obviously a little uneasy, obviously his father had an important position in his heart, and it brought him a strong shadow.

In the silence, the three of them came to the door of the study together, and then Andre knocked on the door carefully, and then walked in with them without waiting for a response from inside.

As soon as they entered, they all saw the burly, fat old man behind the desk in the study.

Because of his figure and round face, he looks very gentle, wearing a black coat, a gray waistcoat, and gray hair, which is almost like the standard grandfather image in the novel, and can even be said to be a little simple.

However, compared to his gentle appearance, his gaze was much sharper, and his brows were slightly furrowed, as if he was preoccupied, which also made him a little more powerful and wise.

"Daddy!" Andrei cautiously yelled at him, "I'm back......"

Then he pointed to the two women beside him, "This is Mademoiselle de Treville, the sister of Her Excellency the Chancellor, and the other is her friend Mademoiselle de Léorent." ”

"It is an honour to visit you, Monsieur Earl." Fran hurriedly saluted him.

"Miss Dtreville, welcome to Russia." After hearing his son's introduction, the old man immediately stood up and greeted Fran, "I'm really sorry for making you so tired because of our negligence......"

When he stood up, Fran found him bigger than she had imagined, casting a shadow over her like a giant bear, which frightened her slightly, but his eloquence and fluency in French gave her a little more intimacy.

"You don't need to apologize to me, I volunteered to come here." Fran hurriedly comforted the other party, "I'm glad you gave me such an opportunity to travel abroad, after all, I have been to many places before, but Russia has not been to yet." ”

"Well, we've finally found a way to compensate you." The Count smiled kindly, "We can at least try to make your trip to Russia as pleasant as possible—to the best of our ability." ”

"I'm just afraid that you and your family are so enthusiastic that I can't stand it." Fran laughed too.

In this mutual smile, the strangeness between the two people disappeared a lot, and Fran also felt a lot more relaxed.

"How old are you?" The Count suddenly asked an off-topic question. "You look young - and of course, your brother is young."

"I'm going to turn twenty this year." Fran replied with a little embarrassment. "Actually, it's not small."

"Isn't twenty years old? I still don't understand anything at your age?! The Count laughed, as if recalling his own youth, "It's funny to think that you're as old as my youngest child, Natasha, and I think you'll have more in common, for she loves French things...... Oh, please be seated! ”

The youngest child? Isn't that born about fifty years old? Fran suddenly felt a little strange.

But yes, the counts seem to be in good relationship and have many children, and it is not uncommon for them to have a young daughter when they are approaching the age of fifty - there are many examples of this in other places.

I don't know if it's a delusion, Fran noticed that when Count Bezukhov mentioned his daughter, Andrei's face suddenly became a little nervous, as if he was worried about something.

"It is evident that you are not accustomed to such secret assignments," said the Earl, very gently, after having seated them, "and therefore I think I must try to remove your nervousness, so that you can travel freely in Russia and return with a full load without any pressure." ”

"I was ...... before It is true that I have not been able to serve the family business before, after all, I am ......young," Fran replied with some embarrassment, "However, although I have no experience, and I may not be able to deal with it as well as others, I ask you to trust me, because I am cautious and understand what is good for the family, and I will do everything I can to do better, and I will not be rash." ”

"Behold, what a decent word! You're young, but you're cute enough. The Count was still smiling, and then turned to look at André beside him, "If only everyone was like you, they knew what was good for the family and were determined to do it." ”

Andrei hung his head, as if he felt a little guilty under his father's accusations.

"Now that we're here, Mr. Count, you ought to tell us what you summoned us for?" After the initial pleasantries, Fran decided to get straight to the point, "I think since you're so anxious and confidential, it should be extremely important. ”

"It's an extremely important thing indeed." The Earl nodded, and became serious himself, "A large number of documents and intelligence, to be exact. These things are so secret that I think I can only hand them over to you. ”

"Documents and intelligence?" Fran and Mary looked at each other, each a little shocked. "What's it about?"

"I suppose your brother has already told you who I am, right?" The Earl did not answer directly, but asked Fran rhetorically, "So you should know the seriousness and gravity of the problem." ”

"Hmm...... My brother has already told me that you are his collaborator and a ...... A revolutionary party, a revolutionary party that wants to overthrow the current Russian administration. Fran replied cautiously. And you and he have a common understanding on the defeat of the Tsar, so now the two sides are cooperating. ”

"Your brother's description is very short, but also very precise." Count Bezukhov nodded his head as if he was not at all disturbed by this, "Yes, I am a revolutionary party that wants to overthrow the Tsar and liberate Russia and the Russians. Therefore, doing my best to shake and collapse the tsar's **** system is the direction I am committed to, and it can even be said that it has been my goal for decades. And with my wealth and the power of my colleagues, we can also get a lot of information about the inside of the tsarist government, even top secret. ”

Then, he suddenly lowered his voice, "These materials are the information we have so far, including diplomatic archives and secret reports of diplomats, official documents within the government, and even documents approved by the Tsar himself, some of which are originals and some are copied. They come from different sources, but they will prove beyond any doubt that the tsarist government carried out diplomatic machinations throughout Europe, bribed officials from other countries, fomented discord among countries, and plotted wars to try to destroy the peace and put Russia above the rest of Europe. As long as these materials and these plans of aggression were made public, the tsarist government would inevitably fall into a great diplomatic passivity, and at the same time, it would allow the European countries to see clearly the danger of Russia. ”

Although his tone was very flat, Fran and Mary were greatly surprised—although they knew that Count Bezukhov had called someone over and that it must have something to do with the Tsar's government, they really didn't expect that what he was about to show was such an important thing.

This is an unequivocal traitor.

But the count's account continues, "At the same time, there is information about the military movements of the tsarist government, from the distribution of troops to the movement of generals, as well as the production and transportation conditions of munitions, and we will record the information of almost every general and every army." From these documents, I think you can find the outline of their entire military plan, as well as the weaknesses of the tsarist army...... So, Miss Treville, you should understand why we are so serious, right? ”

"Oh my God!" Hearing this, Fran couldn't help but exclaim, "Do you want Europe to go to war with Russia, and then let Russia lose miserably in future wars?" ”

She looked at the Count again, and felt that she could scarcely comprehend the kind, humble old man in front of her.

Why would anyone do that?

"Yes, that's what I wanted. The worse Russia loses this war in the future, the better, the more simply the better, and a quick operation can save our nation a century of pain and suffering. However, in the face of her question, Count Bezukhov was calm and unashamed, "I have spent so much time and collected so much information and documents to achieve this purpose. ”

Fran didn't know what to ask, but like Mary, she couldn't understand the count's thoughts.

"You...... Do you want to take advantage of the crushing defeat of your homeland to achieve your political goals? ”

"Yes, as long as Russia is defeated in the war, the myth of the Tsar will be bankrupt, the enslavement, destruction, viciousness and cruelty he brought to Russia will be revealed to the people in great detail, and his reactionary army will be deeply wounded, and then it will be the best chance to put an end to this tyrannical regime!" Count Pierre-Bezukhov replied angrily, "I love my homeland, but now Russia is the homeland of the Tsar and his cruel favorites and friends, not mine, nor the homeland of the Russian people, and I am not obliged to love such a country, on the contrary, any upright Russian should find a way to bring it to an end as soon as possible, no matter what means!" ”

"But under the Tsar, you...... You are one of the richest people in Russia. Fran carefully pointed out this fact, "If there is a violent upheaval in Russia, then you ...... Then you may incur huge losses. ”

"Yes, I'm one of the richest people in Russia, and I've been since decades ago. When my father, Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov, died, he left me a property of millions of rubles, as well as forty thousand serfs. After half a century of my business -- oh, not really hard -- my wealth has tripled to that amount. Count Pierre-Bezukhov whispered in a tone that was not ostentatious. You see, it will always be easier for rich people to be richer than others. ”

"Forty thousand!" Fran and Mary exclaimed at the same time, then looked at each other in surprise.

A ...... alone There were 40,000 serfs who could be sent and called at will, which was unimaginable even for a nobleman like them - not to mention that the number had now expanded several times.

Doesn't that mean that this count has more than 100,000 serfs under his hands? A person, legally the master of hundreds of thousands of people?

"Unbelievable!" Fran sighed in a low voice, "God, there is such a thing in modern times. ”

"Yes, there are such myths in modern times, it's really tragic." The old man sighed, "It can even be said that it is a shame, a shame for the entire Russian nation!" Just because of the fact that this kingdom should be damned, and then perish as soon as possible! ”

"Can you ...... But you curse serfdom and have so many serfs at the same time......" Fran whispered, "isn't that a contradiction?" ”

"Yes, it's contradictory, miss. It can even be said that it is ironic, because I am also one of the bloodsuckers who lie on the heads of the people. Count Bezukhov nodded, "but there is no way, in order to accomplish the career of my dreams, I must accumulate my family fortune, accumulate resources, and in order to emancipate them, I must enslave them like everyone else—if I liberate them for the sake of conscience, then I will go bankrupt and they will continue to be serfs in the hands of others, and nothing can be changed in the end." At least in my territory, they will be much better...... Miss, I'm not justifying myself, I was born in sin, and I've always lived in sin, I have this awareness. But it was precisely in order that this evil would not continue from generation to generation that I was determined to bring down the Tsar and the whole system he represented, and to liberate and revive the nation. ”

"Just like in the revolutionary times of our country?" Fran asked in a whisper. "That'...... There will be a lot of bloodshed, and even His Majesty will die......"

"Yes, we are going to make a revolution and hold the Tsar accountable for everything he has done. For the sake of the Motherland and the **********, in order to get rid of the terrible and meaningless ****, the British fought with the king, cut off the king's head, you French also sent the king to the guillotine, and you all succeeded...... In that case, why can't we Russians follow suit once? The gentlemen of England and France love to tremble at our thoughts, as if they had never done such a thing themselves! The Count sneered, then waved his hand heavily, "It is better for one head to fall than countless heads." Besides, Nicholas owes us a blood debt, and I will never have the slightest mercy for him who captured and killed many of my friends when he first ascended the throne. ”

"I see......" Fran finally understood what the other meant.

It seems that the Count, as I had previously received, was indeed a man of action who was very adamant to his ideals. And it's terrifyingly daring.

"Miss, stay with us as a guest during this time." After a moment of silence, the Count seemed to recover from the excitement just now, "We are now compiling these materials, some documents have not yet been sent from Ukraine and the Caucasus, and when everything is ready, we will give you all these things, and then you send them to France, and everything is done, you have made a great contribution to France, and you have made a great contribution to New Russia." ”

Fran felt a little uneasy in her heart, she didn't expect that she was unintentionally in such an important position.

But she knew that no matter whether the Count's actions were right or not, whether his thoughts were righteous or evil, her first task was to fulfill her brother's instructions.

As for what happened to the Russians, it would be nice to leave it to the Russians themselves.

"Okay, I'll figure it out." She agreed.

Seeing her so cooperative, the Count was also a lot more relaxed, and looked at her with a smile.

At this moment, a shrill laugh suddenly came from downstairs, as if someone had seen something extremely interesting, and as if someone was shouting for help, the voice was crisp and sharp, making people feel a little creepy.

And after hearing this voice, the faces of the Count and Andre became ugly.

"Did something happen?" Fran asked, a little uneasy.

"Selfishness, vanity, stupidity, insignificance—these are the common characteristics of women when they show their true colors. You look at the women of high society, they seem to have something, but there is nothing, nothing, nothing! "Count Pierre-Bezukhov suddenly spoke in a pompous tone completely different from usual." I still remember it vividly when my friend said this, and now it's almost fifty years later, oh my God...... Time flies! ”

The Earl's words really hurt Fran, and she couldn't understand why the other party suddenly said such a thing.

"Dad, is that what the Duke Andrei Borconsky said too?" Andrei Bezukhov suddenly asked, "Why did he say such mean things?" ”

"He had just gotten married, and he was tired of it." Count Bezukhov sighed, his expression full of old age, "Although he said something extreme, sometimes I really think that there is some truth in what he said. Once any man is addicted to women, then he will not be able to do great things! And no woman is suitable to participate in big things! ”

"I don't think I can agree with you, sir." Fran sank into her face, "You're a prejudice!" ”

"I'd rather it's a prejudice!" The Earl sighed, then Huo Ran got up and left the study, "We'll see you at dinner, Miss." ”

"What's going on with your father! How did such a thing come true! After he left, Fran glared at Andre.

"I'm sorry, he didn't say you, but my sister...... Well, that's Natasha. Andrei looked at her with some embarrassment, "I beg your pardon, Dad is just so angry and sad that he can't choose to speak...... After all, it was his favorite daughter, and she was so sad for his father. ”

After hearing this explanation, Fran finally felt better, but still a little curious.

"What did she do wrong?"

Andrei hesitated for a moment, then finally sighed.

She ...... She is in love with our Royal Highness the Crown Prince. (To be continued.) )