Chapter 368: , The priestess of the fire

Regarding the selection of torchbearers, as well as the determination of specific routes, as well as safety guarantees-well, not every country is as safe as the current one. For example, in Turkey, many places have Alibaba and those Things, especially in the border area between Turkey and Russia, the security is a mess.
Of course, the countries along the way naturally know that the Olympic Games are very important to the French. If something goes wrong with the torch relay, the French will probably be very angry and the consequences will naturally be serious. Therefore, although they are not too cold about these pagan activities, they have also been very dissatisfied with the various infiltrations of the French in North Africa during this period, especially when the French suddenly publicized that the 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 has a very long and glorious history. From the time of Hayreddin, they have relied on piracy to make a fortune in the Mediterranean. For a long time, the pirates of Barbary were the masters of the Mediterranean, and countries along the Mediterranean were even required to pay them protection fees.
As a long-term strategic ally of Ottoman Turkey, France has rarely been disturbed by them. (The French helped them provide various logistical services at that time) After Ottoman Turkey became weaker 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 in fact are already independent countries.
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, the maritime power, also obtained this right.
Strictly speaking, it has not been for many years that French ships have been attacked by Barbary pirates. The French have made such an argument at this time, which is obviously a misfortune for North Africa.
However, Turkey is not very good at defying the wishes of the French and issued such an order-of course, the Barbary pirates' disobedience is another problem. But the Barbary pirates are not fools. Of course, they know that to provoke the French on this issue may have very serious consequences. Therefore, the Governor of Algeria even issued an order to prohibit any maritime plundering during the period from the Olympic torch relay in Italy to the torch's appearance in Madrid.
But this order has brought bigger problems.
The finances of the Barbary countries, including Algeria, Tripoli, and Tunisia, depend almost entirely on looting at sea and collection of protection fees. Stop plundering will naturally greatly reduce income, so how do you live? Therefore, because it is scheduled to stop maritime activities for a period of time, the Barbary pirates feel that they should grab more quickly while the ban has not been implemented.
So the Mediterranean is even more dangerous.
But this danger has nothing to do with sitting on the most powerful five-star hotel on the sea in the world, the newest and largest of the French Navy, the "Inbrador".
This is a pure steam-powered battleship, and a real ironclad ship. Unlike the former "Free Trade" that was sold to the British, her armor was not hung outside, but the entire ship was made of steel.
The standard displacement of this ship is close to 7,000 tons, and it uses three three-cylinder steam engines newly developed by the French, with a maximum speed of 16 knots. (The French steam turbine research has not made enough progress.) This speed is a bit slower than the latest "Free Trade", but this ship has a smaller aspect ratio, so it sails more smoothly and comfortably. It should be better.
In addition to comfort, the ship’s defense and firepower are also higher than the new "Free Trade" actually used as an assault ship. This ship has two turrets in the front and one in the back. Each turret is equipped with one turret. Set of double-mounted 150 mm rear-mounted tube retractable cannon.
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, but with this device, the rate of fire of the French gun is at the original rate. On the basis, it has increased several times. Considering the high speed and high defense of this warship, this is already a nightmare for other navies in this era.
Because of the increase in the efficiency of the artillery, the number of gunners and the space occupied by the artillery have been greatly reduced, which makes this ship free up a lot of space, 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 important tasks, so there is even a luxuriously decorated suite on board.
Of course, this suite was prepared for Napoleon, but Polina was the first to use this suite.
This time Polina will go to Greece, a Turkish possession, where she will be responsible for lighting the Olympic torch. This was Polina's first trip to a pagan country. Joseph and Napoleon were a little bit worried. Only Lucien felt that this troublemaker was only at a disadvantage for the family, and there was nothing to worry about.
"Is it possible that you are still worried that the Sultan Selim III will fall in love with this lunatic woman, and then put her into his harem? Ah, if that is the case, then I really want to sympathize with the Sultan Selim III." Lucien Said heartlessly like this.
However, although Lucien said so, it is impossible for everyone to relax the security of Polina. For example, from Napoleon’s guards, the elite was specially selected to be responsible for her security along the way, and a security expert named Berdon was also transferred from the Ministry of Public Security to be responsible for protecting Polina’s safety.
Of course, Lucien was a bit dissatisfied with Napoleon's choice to let the Ministry of Public Security prepare Polina as a bodyguard. He felt that the guy from the Ministry of Public Security was obviously ill-intentioned, because this guy named Berdon was a handsome young guy.
But Lucien did not think that the Ministry of Public Security's conspiracy would succeed. Because "Isn't he just a handsome boy? Polina sees more." Besides, if Polina can really be married, um, this young man Beldon is actually pretty good.
In the past, Napoleon always wanted to find a husband for Polina from among his capable men. However, these capable young men were conservative in their thinking one by one, and they were frightened by Polina. For example, two years ago, Napoleon arranged for Davout and Polina to go out on an outing. As a result, Dawu suddenly announced that he had fallen off the horse on his horse and was injured and could not come. Napoleon also went to visit him personally, and found that Dawu was really injured in a fall. But later, Napoleon’s brother-in-law, Murat, who couldn’t control his mouth, accidentally said that when Davu first saw Polina’s appearance, he was actually looking forward to it. Later, he gradually heard about Polina’s legend, and he hesitated. Later, he ran to Murat’s house and asked Murat and Caroline about Polina. Then, on the way back, he was injured. ...
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 felt that Fouché might be playing a beautician, and that Berdon might be a bait. But the whole family also felt that if Polina ate the bait, there was nothing wrong with it.
Riding on the "Inbrador" battleship, Polina 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 is far from comparable to that of the past, so that this port does not even have a pier where the "Inbrado" can be berthed. Therefore, although the "Inbrador" entered the port, it could only be anchored in the port, and then carried people ashore in a small boat.
The "Inberado" is equipped with a crane, which can put the lifeboat on the sea, and Polina and the others boarded the coast of Greece in this way.
The French ambassador to Turkey and the local governor of Turkey, Ali Pasha, both came to the port to greet Polina~EbookFREE.me~ Ali Pasha was surprised that the French sent a woman to host the Olympic torch. , And at the same time he seemed to be reluctant to have to meet a woman—even the woman in the family of the most powerful man in the world. What's more, that woman really doesn't look like that.
For the convenience of her movement, Polina wore a men's hunting suit. She curled up her hair and stuffed it into a tall hat. He has black high-top leather boots with spurs on his feet, and a holster is hung on both sides of the belt around his waist, and two revolvers are inserted into it-in terms of diplomatic etiquette, this is indeed too unlike Looks like.
But a big right 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 wanted to say: "My old lady just likes your way of looking at my old lady, but you still have to be polite with your old lady."
Polina lived in a palace specially prepared for her in Ali Pasha that day. Two days later, she put on the costume of an ancient Greek priestess and came to the ancient Olympic Games site under the guard of a group of people. Ruins of the 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 in the past, but now it is just a flat open space. And on both sides of it, the temples that were once extremely magnificent have collapsed long ago to the point that only a few pillars remain.