Fox of France

Regarding the selection of torchbearers, the determination of specific routes, and security guarantees—well, not every country is as safe as the current ones. For example, in Turkey, there are many places with Alibaba and Stuff, especially in the border area between Turkey and Russia, the law and order is even more messy.

Of course, the countries along the way also know that the Olympic Games are something that the French value very much. If something goes wrong in their own territory during the torch relay, the French will probably be very angry, and the consequences will naturally be serious. Therefore, although they are not too interested in these pagan activities, they have also been very dissatisfied with the various infiltrations of the French in North Africa during this period of time, especially the recent sudden announcement by the French that Barbary pirates may threaten the torch The safety of the sea voyage from Italy to Spain, therefore, the French asked the Turkish Sultan to immediately issue a religious order, ordering the Barbary countries to immediately stop piracy at sea.

The piracy of the Barbary countries can be regarded as having a very long and glorious history. 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 Sea, and the countries along the Mediterranean Sea even needed to pay them protection fees.

As a long-term strategic ally of Ottoman Turkey, France has rarely been harassed by them. (The French helped them provide various logistical services at that time) After Ottoman Turkey weakened day by day, its ability to control these nominal territories in North Africa also declined greatly. In fact, the Barbary countries have only surrendered to Ottoman Turkey in name, and are already independent countries in fact.

But because the French navy has gradually become stronger over the years, France still does not need to pay protection fees to the Barbary pirates. Later, the British, a maritime power, also obtained this right.

Strictly speaking, it has been many years since a French ship was attacked by Barbary pirates. The French made such an argument at this time, obviously harboring evil intentions for North Africa.

However, Turkey was not very good at disobeying the wishes of the French and issued such an order-of course, whether the Barbary pirates obeyed was another question. But the Barbary pirates are not fools. Of course they know that teasing the French on this issue may have very serious consequences. Therefore, the Governor of Algeria even issued an order prohibiting any maritime looting during the period from the arrival of the Olympic torch relay in Italy to the appearance of the torch in Madrid.

But the order instead created bigger problems.

The Barbary states, including Algeria, Tripoli, and Tunisia, depended almost entirely on maritime raids and protection fees for their finances. Stopping looting will naturally greatly reduce income, so how can we live in that day? Therefore, because it is scheduled to stop maritime activities for a period of time, the Barbary pirates feel that they should grab more quickly before the ban is implemented.

So the Mediterranean is even more dangerous.

But this danger has nothing to do with sitting on the most powerful five-star hotel at sea in the world--the latest and largest warship of the French Navy named "Imberado".

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

The standard displacement of this ship is nearly 7,000 tons, and it uses three newly developed three-cylinder steam engines developed by the French, with a maximum speed of 16 knots. (The research on the French steam turbine has not made enough progress.) This speed is a little slower than the latest "Free Trade", but this ship has a smaller aspect ratio, so it sails more smoothly and comfortably Also better.

In addition to comfort, the defense and firepower of this ship are also higher than the new "Free Trade" that is actually used as an assault ship. This ship has two turrets, one in front and one in back, and each turret is equipped with a A set of twin 150mm breech-loading cannons.

Due to the limitation of technological factors, the buffer device of the French cannon at this time is still very large, and the efficiency is not high. However, with this device, the rate of fire of the French naval gun is again at the original level. The basis has increased several times higher. Considering the high speed and high defense of this warship, this is already a nightmare for other navies of this era.

Because of the improvement of the efficiency of the artillery, the number of gunners and the space occupied by the artillery have been greatly reduced, which leaves a lot of space on this ship, which can be used to improve the accommodation conditions at sea. At the beginning of the design of this ship, it was considered that it may often need to carry out the task of carrying important people, so there is even a luxuriously decorated suite on board.

This suite was of course prepared for Napoleon, but it was Pauline who first used it.

This time Polina will go to Greece, a Turkish territory, where she will be responsible for lighting the Olympic torch. This was Polina's first trip to a pagan country. Joseph and Napoleon were more or less worried. Only Lucien felt that this troublemaker would only make others 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 lunatic and then take her into his harem? Ah, if that's the case, then I really want to express my sympathy for Sultan Selim III." Lucien Said so heartlessly.

However, although Lucien said so, it is impossible for everyone to really relax the security of Paulina. For example, the elite were specially selected from Napoleon's guards to be responsible for her security along the way, and a security expert named Bell East was transferred from the Ministry of Public Security to protect Paulina's safety.

Of course, Lucien was a little dissatisfied with Napoleon's choice to ask the Ministry of Public Security to prepare bodyguards for Polina. He felt that the guys from the Ministry of Public Security obviously had bad intentions, because this guy named Beldon was a young handsome guy.

But Lucien didn't think the Ministry of Public Security's conspiracy would succeed. Because "isn't he just a handsome guy? Paulina has seen a lot". Besides, if it is true that Polina can be married off, well, the young man Bell East is actually not bad.

In the past, Napoleon always wanted to find a husband for Polina from among his capable subordinates. However, these capable young men were all conservative in their thinking, and they were frightened by Polina. For example, two years ago, Napoleon arranged for Davout and Pauline to go on an outing together. As a result, Davout suddenly announced the day before the outing that he fell off his horse and was injured and could not come. Napoleon also visited him in person and found that Davout had really been injured by a fall. But later, Napoleon's brother-in-law, Murat, who couldn't control his mouth, accidentally slipped his mouth, saying that when Davout first saw Paulina's appearance, he was actually looking forward to this matter, but Later, he gradually heard about the legend of Paulina, so he hesitated a little. Later, he ran to Murat's house and asked Murat and Caroline about some things about Paulina. Then, he fell and injured himself on the way back. ...

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

So, judging by the standards of this era, well, Polina is definitely a leftover woman. The whole family felt that Fouché might be playing tricks on beauties, and that Berton might be a bait. But the whole family also felt that if Polina ate the bait, there would be nothing wrong with it.

Riding on the "Imberado" battleship, Paulina and the others came directly to the port of Athens. The Port of Athens used to be the most important port in the entire Mediterranean in ancient times, but at this time, its status was far from what it was back then, so that the port did not even have a wharf for the "Imberado" to berth. Therefore, although the "Imberado" has entered the port, it can only anchor in the port first, and then use a small boat to transport people ashore.

The "Imberado" is equipped with a crane that can lower the lifeboat to the surface of the sea. Paulina and the others boarded the coast of Greece in this way.

The French ambassador to Turkey and Ali Pasha, the local governor of Turkey, came to the port to welcome Paulina. Ali Pasha wondered that the French would send a woman to preside over the lighting of the Olympic torch, and at the same time he seemed displeased with the fact that he had to greet a woman—even a woman from the family of the most powerful man in the world. Feel very reluctant. What's more, that woman is really not very good looking.

For mobility, Polina wore a men's safari suit, and her hair was coiled up and tucked into a tall hat. He wore black high-top leather boots with spurs on his feet, and on both sides of the belt at his waist hung a holster with two revolvers stuck in it--in terms of diplomatic etiquette, this is indeed too unusual look like.

But one of the great rights of the strong is not to care about the eyes of the weak. Besides, Polina has seen a lot of strange eyes, and she even wants to say: "I just like your way of looking at my mother, but you still have to be polite to her."

Polina lived in a palace specially prepared for her by Ali Pasha that day. Two days later, she put on the costume of an ancient Greek priestess and came to the site of the ancient Olympic Games under the escort of a group of people. Ruins of an ancient stadium near the Acropolis. This site is located between the Temple of Zeus and the Temple of Hera in ancient Greece. It may have been magnificent and magnificent back then, but now it is just a flat open space. And on both sides of it, the once incomparably magnificent temples have now collapsed to the point where only a few pillars remain.