Emperor Napoleon is preparing the Russian campaign. To equip his army, he needs to have 32,000 copies of the Russian Empire’s military maps produced as quickly as possible. Meanwhile, the Tsar has sent a spy, Tchernitcheff, to France to uncover the plans of the French military operations. Schulmeister makes him a proposal approved by the Emperor: the Russian maps in exchange for the French plans, which Schulmeister has personally stolen from the Ministry of War. Tchernitcheff accepts. The exchange takes place, but the plans provided have been altered in order to mislead the Tsar about Napoleon’s future troop movements.