Mockery

However, for the rest of the journey, Victor still chose to travel by carriage. Riding a horse for a few tens of minutes is very enjoyable, but riding for several hours is exhausting, and riding for dozens of days would be incredibly tiring. Along the way, the escorting cavalry and the torchbearer rotated every so often. Victor, however, was to accompany the flame and torch throughout most of Europe.

"If I hadn't come to Russia, I would never have known that the world was so big." Victor later told his friends about his trip, "You know what? One day, I was on the carriage for a full eight hours. Except for changing horses at some small stops, we hardly stopped along the way."

So I asked a Russia cavalryman following the wagon, "Hey, friend, how far are we from our destination today?" The cavalryman replied cheerfully, "Ah, not far, almost there, only a hundred versts." I didn't understand at first, but after a while I realized that a verst and a kilometer are very similar in length, meaning there were still more than a hundred kilometers to go! Damn, that's not far at all, almost there!

But what's even more absurd is that, before long, I myself became familiar with and accepted this concept of distance. Well, a thousand kilometers is considered a bit far, five hundred kilometers is already quite close, and a hundred kilometers? Ah, that's practically right in front of you. So much so that after I returned to Europe, I wasn't quite used to the concept of distance here for a while..."

Aside from the long distance, Victor's journey was generally quite smooth. The first important Russia city the torch reached was Kiev. The entire city warmly welcomed Victor and his party; the mayor of Kiev conferred upon Victor the title of honorary citizen, and the city's residents held an all-night torchlight procession to celebrate the arrival of the torch.

Victor and the torch rested in Kiev for two or three days. After all, even the strong and healthy Victor was exhausted from such a long journey. During these three days, he stayed at the home of the local nobleman Lebezovsky. The host Lebezovsky, had also studied in France, majoring in painting and literature. He told Victor that he had a son who was now Paris, but studying mathematics.

"Actually, he originally hoped to study physics or engineering. But I worried that if he studied those things, he wouldn't want to come back and take care of our family's land in the future. Mathematics is much better; at least it doesn't require a laboratory. He can study these things in my study without having to worry about not being able to apply what he learned in France in Russia. Like one of my cousins' sons, he studied architectural engineering in France, and then when he returned to Moscow, he found that there was neither cement nor steel bars there... In the end, he couldn't stand it and went back to France. He doesn't lack money, but he has a lot of skills but nowhere to use them... I know that's hard to bear, like..."

"It's like having a hammer but not being able to find a nail to hammer," Victor added with a laugh.

"Ah, my friend, that's it, that's it. The metaphor is so vivid." Lebezovsky laughed. But then he sighed, "Russia is still too backward. Our system, so many things about us, are too outdated, and the Russia people are too conservative. All of this must change. We think joining the Olympic Games and organizing an Olympic Committee is a great idea. Through sports, we can get more people to accept new ideas. Hmm, I read * Science Truth Daily * and really admired one sentence: 'Civilize the mind, toughen the body.' That's really good."

Lebezov's attitude actually represented the views of a considerable portion of the Russia nobility. This was one of the reasons why Victor received such warm hospitality throughout the journey. Perhaps because distance makes the heart grow fonder, the Russia nobility generally held a more favorable view of the France, who had overthrown aristocratic rule, than the Italy and Austria nobility.

After spending three days in Kiev, Victor headed for Moscow.

Moscow is the former capital of Russia. Since Peter the Great, the capital of Russia has been moved to Saint Petersburg, but Moscow remains one of the most important cities in Russia and is Russia second capital. Many people say that Saint Petersburg is just a facade that Russia deliberately presents, while Moscow is the real Russia.

The straight-line distance from Kiev to Moscow is less than 800 kilometers. However, considering the winding roads and various terrain obstacles, the actual distance is more than 1,000 kilometers, which is a long and arduous journey.

The distance of over a thousand kilometers was far, but Victor had driven such a long distance before. However, this was the first time Victor had ever seen over a thousand kilometers of almost entirely barren land.

Furthermore, the roads in Russia opened Victor's eyes. The land freezes in winter and thaws in spring and summer. When the land freezes, the water in it expands, loosening the compacted soil. Once the ice melts, the roads turn into mud pits. This makes Russia roads extremely difficult to maintain and prone to damage.

Victor set out on this road during what was considered a relatively easy time of year—early summer. The winter snow and ice had dried up, and the road was no longer a complete mud pit like in spring. However, the thawing in spring had made the road rugged and uneven, slowing the carriage considerably. Such roads also made the suspension and even the wheels particularly prone to damage. Stopping to repair the carriage was almost a daily occurrence.

As Victor walked, he pondered in his mind and finally came to this conclusion: any Europe country, under the current circumstances, would easily be overwhelmed by this damned road and the resulting deadly logistical burden if it wanted to invade Russia.

"Especially our France army. The France army has become stronger than ever before in recent years, but on the other hand, France is also more dependent on logistics than ever before." Victor thought to himself, having served as a military advisor in Ireland for some time, he was keenly aware of this problem.

"Moreover, the vast land and complex terrain make it an ideal environment for guerrilla warfare. Throwing in a million troops here would be like sprinkling a small bag of pepper into a large pond. It would serve no purpose other than wasting good resources."

"And the Russia, indeed, are conservative and backward, but they have a unique culture, and unlike many countries, every Russia I've met has a heart set on becoming a great power. Coupled with their harsh environment, this has made their character relatively resilient—they are naturally suited for guerrilla warfare, even more so than the Ireland."

Thinking this, the carriage suddenly lurched violently again, and then Victor heard the coachman Marklov roar once more, "Damn it, it's broken again!"

Meanwhile, the Olympic torch had arrived in Rome, and the idle Rome citizens displayed the Italy's love of excitement to the fullest. Almost all the citizens flooded the streets, making the whole city feel like it was in the midst of a carnival.

To be honest, those Italy really treated the torch relay like a carnival. From all directions, groups of masked people surged in, some running out of doors, others leaping from windows. From every street and every corner, carriages crowded in. These carriages were filled with clowns in white clothes and masks, comical figures in flowery dresses wielding wooden swords, and men and women wearing half-masks, dressed as marquises, Lesfies, knights, and peasants. Everyone screamed and threw packets of flour or eggshells at each other. Some even splattered tomato juice on themselves to imitate blood, playing zombies and such. If Pauline were here and saw all this, she would be overjoyed.

However, the priests were not so happy to see all this, especially when they saw that there were these guys on one of the floats.

Bishop Leonardo had just comforted a destitute young girl, and then, with the air of a sage, left the house he had mercifully provided for the girl, who might be old enough to be his granddaughter. He boarded his carriage and headed to his church to give a lecture to some seminary students on how to draw closer to God. But as soon as his carriage left the alley, he encountered a revelry and was swept up in the festivities. There he saw this scene from a float.

A man wearing a paper priest's hat, clearly resembling the Pope, knelt on a float, holding a gold-leaf crown and offering it to a man in France military uniform seated on a high chair.

"Blasphemy! This is blasphemy!" Bishop Leonardo was so angry that he almost jumped off the carriage and rushed to the float to see who dared to attack His Holiness the Pope in such a vicious manner.

However, Bishop Leonardo did not act on it, because he remembered some intelligence the Holy See had previously given them. "The Austria are very dissatisfied with losing the Rome crown; they will certainly throw a tantrum and do something underhanded. But ignore them, let them vent. In any case, after this matter is over, we still need to reconcile with His Majesty Franz."