After bidding farewell to Arthur, Mrs. Levine remained in the lobby of the Embassy, looking at the four tickets in her palm, as if she was agonizing over how to allocate the concert seats.

At that moment, there was a sudden creaking sound of hard riding boots on the floor outside the meeting room.

Mrs. Levine looked up, and a smile suddenly changed to her face: "Count Orlov." ”

The person who came was a man with a mustache and a blue and blue officer's uniform.

Speaking of the surname Orlov, it is a household name in Russia.

Among the right-hand men of Catherine II's coup d'état to ascend the throne that year were the five brothers of the Orlov family.

Almost without exception, these five brothers subsequently became important figures in the political and military circles of Tsarist Russia, and the second and third of them also became Catherine II's lovers, and because of this nepotism, they climbed a little faster than the other three brothers.

And the father of the Count Orlov in front of him was not the lover of the empress, but he himself was personally supervised and raised by Catherine II, so Count Orlov was almost the same as Catherine II's two grandsons - the former Tsar Alexander I and his younger brother the current Tsar Nicholas I.

With this experience alone, no one in Russia dared to underestimate the energy of Count Orlov. Especially after the current Tsar Nicholas I ascended the throne, the compliment and fear of Count Orlov in Russian political circles has steadily increased over time.

Because everyone knows that compared to Nicholas I's indecisive and mild-mannered elder brother, the former Tsar Alexander I, the current Tsar has a resolute personality, a single goal, an iron will, and a strong sense of responsibility and mission.

Nicholas I was such an energetic ruler with an almost pathological desire for power.

He was extremely concerned about everything up and down the Russian Empire, especially the fact that he was so concerned about the army that he personally ordered the number of buttons on his uniforms to be changed.

As for the Decembrist uprising, such as the rebellion against his rule, Nicholas I was rightly extremely concerned about the arrest, investigation, interrogation, and punishment of the Decembrists.

The uprising also exacerbated his suspicious nature, which made him tend to stay away from the normal administration.

From the very beginning of his reign, Nicholas I was particularly fond of administering the country with various commissions independent of the regular state apparatus, which were generally composed of a handful of the tsar's most trusted cronies.

But the number of such cronies was very small, so that in Russia the large number of different committees was actually made up of different combinations of the same people.

The work of these committees, like the Imperial Office, was often secret, but it only added to the confusion of the already complex imperial administration, except for a small sense of security for the Tsar. The whole apparatus of government is increasingly permeated with direct orders, absolute obedience, and scrupulous military style, and this feature is becoming more and more evident in official documents and appearances.

And Count Orlov, a talent who has both military and small attributes, is of course one of the few cronies of the Tsar, or more clearly, Count Orlov holds important positions in many councils under the direct jurisdiction of the Tsar.

And the Tsarist delegation to the London Conference was naturally led by Count Orlov.

However, perhaps others will always look trembling when they face this big red man in front of His Majesty the Tsar's throne.

But Madame Levine was able to talk to him in a calm mood for no other reason, because her father, Count Benckendorf, was also the head of the Third Hall of the Imperial Office, who was trusted by His Majesty the Tsar.

In Russia, it is known that His Majesty the Tsar probably spent more time with Benckendorf and Orlov than he did with the Empress.

Count Orlov looked at Mrs. Levine, who was holding the ticket with a sad face, and couldn't help but ask, "Dorothea, are you in any trouble?" If there's anything you need help with, just ask, and I'll find a way to help you out. ”

When Mrs. Levine heard this, she couldn't help but quip: "Alexey, this is not St. Petersburg, if you want to arrest someone, you still have to ask the police officers of Scotland Yard first." Oh, maybe it's too late for you to go back and chase him, but I've just met a young superintendent of Scotland Yard. ”

When Count Orlov heard this, he couldn't help but look back: "Do you mean the young man who just went out?" He was a tall and strong young man, and when I first saw him, I thought he was so tall that he was probably a Dutchman. It wasn't until he greeted me in thick London English that I realized he was a real British. ”

"Shh Mrs. Levine put one hand between her lips and said in disgust: "Alexey, you speak carefully, don't let the Duke of Wellington hear, otherwise he will definitely not finish with you, he hates to talk about height the most." ”

When the Earl of Orlov heard this, he couldn't help laughing and said, "I just remembered that the Duke of Wellington seems to be shorter than Napoleon, right?" Napoleon claimed to be 5 feet 6 inches tall, but everyone said he was short, but most people didn't know that the Duke of Wellington was only 5 feet 5 inches.

But with all due respect, to achieve the kind of achievement of the two of them, height is actually no longer important, during the Napoleonic Wars, a group of big men stood in front of them and did not dare to gasp. Even if they are actually short, it does not prevent them from becoming military giants. ”

Lady Levine asked, "So, are you ready to fight the Duke of Wellington this time?" In retrospect, the attitude of the British towards Belgian independence seems ambiguous, and they do not explicitly support or oppose it. For Russia, this is not a good thing.

His Majesty the Tsar should have given you an edict before you came, right? If I am not mistaken, it is our usual policy that he will ask you to seek the support of Britain and to put sustained pressure on France to bring independent Belgium back under Dutch rule. Only in this way will there be no gaps in the encirclement network containing France. If the Dutch had lost Belgium, their existing strength alone would have been unable to stop the French from expanding their sphere of influence eastward. ”

Count Orlov nodded: "That's the truth, but although the British are uncomfortable looking at the French, they may not be so comfortable looking at us now." Since the British Codrington defeated the main naval force of the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Navarino, all resistance to our access to the Mediterranean from the Black Sea has been swept away.

The British Admiralty and Foreign Office seemed to be very angry about this, so they transferred Codrington to the Channel Fleet shortly after the Battle of Navarino to sit on the cold bench. Didn't you also make a secret report on this to His Majesty the Tsar?

The British, seeing our Black Sea Fleet unimpeded in the Mediterranean, felt as uncomfortable as sand in their eyes, and I guess this was an important reason for their ambiguity on the question of Belgian independence.

If possible, I would like you to give me a picture of Britain's current foreign policy, and I urgently need to know whether they still see France as the number one threat to Europe. ”

When Mrs. Levine heard this, she just replied with a smile: "If you had asked me this request a while ago when the Tory Party was still in power, I would definitely reject you directly. For although I have a good relationship with the Duke of Wellington, the old man's tone is not ordinary, and it is even more difficult to get some useful information out of his mouth than to ascend to the sky. ”

"Dorothea, what do you mean......" Orlov grinned, "Now the situation has taken a turn for the better?" ”

"It's been a bit of a turnaround."

Mrs. Levine pulled her hair behind her ears and smiled, "Now the Whig Foreign Secretary, but my dear Henry. He was able to do this position, in addition to Mrs. Cooper's connections, and I could not have made it possible to give him strong advice. Truth be told, Henry's old playboy wanted to go to the Treasury in the first place.

But I told him that the competition for a position in the Ministry of Finance was too fierce, and that with his position in the party, he might as well seek another important position in the cabinet, and that others might not be able to do much in the Foreign Ministry, but he still had me, and that I could share some inside information with him through my network that was difficult for others to get. ”

Count Orlov laughed when he heard this: "It sounds really sad! Dorothea, I thought you were with Viscount Palmerston because of love. ”

Mrs. Levine ran her fingers around her hair and winked playfully: "Love, more or less a little, it's quite a pleasure to be with Henry, he knows how to get along with women." But, after all, this is the UK, and doing things in the UK has to be done the British way. Reciprocity can be called love, blindly asking for it is a slave, a decent Russian may not know much about this, but the British call this free trade, commodity economy. ”

Count Orlov laughed when he heard this: "It seems that His Majesty the Tsar is really not wrong, put Dorosia in England, and her role is as good as half of the third hall." Your father should have sent all the foreign intelligence commissioners from the three departments to study with you, and I recently looked through the documents in the three places and saw that they were all brainless things, and the saliva was full of ambiguous information. Just these pieces of information that don't have much effect, just grab two chickens and stomp on them with ink, and they are more insightful than them. ”

When Mrs. Levine heard this, she hesitated, but she couldn't help but euphemistically defend the three places, after all, the three departments were also her father's subordinate departments, and some of the commissioners of the three departments stayed in the Russian embassy.

Mrs. Levine spoke: "Alexey, you should know that the three places are also forced to do so. Intelligence is not so easy to gather, sometimes there is no such information, but His Majesty the Tsar said that there must be, then the report of the three places must be there. Even if you add a little conjecture of your own, you have to make a report.

His Majesty the Tsar was such a man of action, so his subordinate departments had to keep up with his ambitions, and because of this, he did not let the tragedy of the 1824 flood in St. Petersburg repeat like his predecessors, and His Majesty the Tsar's performance in the cholera epidemic of 1830 in Moscow that had just ended was simply admirable.

I'm willing to bet that if cholera had happened in the UK, they wouldn't have done as well as the Russians. ”

When Orlov heard Madame Leven mention this, he couldn't help but think of something, and he opened his mouth and laughed: "Speaking of cholera, do you know about Duke Begendorff? ”

When Mrs. Levine heard the other party mention this name, she couldn't help but have some bad taste: "His old man is making fun of His Majesty the Tsar again?" ”

Orlov pursed his lips: "After the cholera was over, he wrote a report and handed it in, which said - it seems that for everyone, in the face of the unlimited power of His Majesty the Tsar, the disease itself has been defeated. Of course, I'm inclined to think that this passage is unironic. ”

Madame Levine couldn't help but echo: "That's right, it's like the conversation His Majesty had with him last time he wanted to fight corruption. His Majesty the Tsar said: 'I will eradicate bribery with red-hot iron!' ’”

Count Orlov continued: "Duke Begendorf replied: 'Your Majesty, with whom do you intend to stay?' ’”

Speaking of this, a burst of cheerful laughter suddenly broke out in the embassy living room, and even several Russian military attachés standing at the door smoking couldn't help but turn their faces away, their shoulders shook, obviously laughing lightly.

However, as there was laughter in the living room, no one noticed a dark shadow flashing in front of the door of the room where the blower was placed.

Pinkerton Jr. had a letter in his mouth, and he struggled to move his body out of the vent duct and crawled out little by little, and when he noticed a glimmer of light at the dark hole, he saw Arthur squatting on the wall and leaning against the branch of a large tree smoking a cigarette.

Arthur noticed the movement in the vent, he turned his head to look, was stunned at first, and then smiled: "Boy, you can really surprise me." I'm just asking you to feel the terrain in the ventilation ducts so you don't find the wrong place the next time you dive in. Unexpectedly, the first time you went in, you brought me some embassy specialties back. ”

He reached out and lifted Pinkerton out of the vent, then flipped out with a slick of his hands.

As the riding boots hit the ground, the carriage that was staying on the side of the road hurriedly pushed open the door, and Elder who was sitting inside hurriedly shouted at them: "Get in the car, I've already calculated, the embassy guards patrol around here in an average of three minutes, calculate the time, and they will be coming soon." ”

(End of chapter)