The blazing sun hung overhead as a luxurious train sped past. On either side of the tracks, the ripe grain seemed frightened, bending at the waist with heads lowered, trembling from time to time.
Inside a lavish carriage of the special train, a splendidly dressed young man was reading a newspaper intently, his brow furrowing now and then.
The young man was Alexandrovich—Alexander III—traveling abroad on a state visit. He had placed great expectations on this trip to Paris, and even on the journey, he did not forget to gather information.
He could no longer be bothered to read the materials supplied by the Tsarist Government. In Alexandrovich's view, those reports carried obvious biases—or rather, they were politically correct.
In his opinion, to gain a preliminary understanding of France, it was enough to read French newspapers on economics and politics. Alexandrovich was not some scholar or expert; this basic information was already sufficient for him.
The more he learned, the more deeply Alexandrovich sighed. From the news in the papers alone, he could see the enormous gap between France and Russia.
This gap was one of "quality," not something that could be caught up with or surpassed in three to five years, as the bureaucrats of Saint Petersburg liked to claim.
What gave him a headache was that the French public did not have a good impression of Russia. One only had to look at the adjectives used in the papers.
"Savages," "swindlers," "scoundrels," "decadent"...
These words stabbed deeply into Alexandrovich's heart. His displeasure was useless; French newspapers were not under his control, and they would write whatever they pleased.
Though most of the content was exaggerated, it was not entirely fabricated out of thin air. Russia truly had plenty of dark history.
Normally, people would not dig up these