Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

During the time Pierre spent in Crimea meeting with Solovyov, they explored many places in Crimea where roads could be built and industries could be upgraded.

Katya took Natasha on trips to various places and to attend salons. Although Natasha had transformed from a lively young girl into a virtuous wife and mother, her love of excitement was still a characteristic of the Rostov family.

Although Solovyov was still a second-class military officer, his actual position was that of a governor-general, a position that even first-class civil officials might not be able to hold. He could even be considered a "regional governor-general," directly governing six provinces in southern Russia, many of which were strategic locations.

Local nobles would be eager to curry favor with such an important figure.

In particular, he also brought Count Bezukhov. Pierre's greatest characteristic is his wealth. He has been among the top five richest people in Russia for many years and is also a very active industrialist. This kind of Russian nobleman is quite rare nowadays.

Even the Yakovlev family, after acquiring noble status, saw their businesses in the Urals stagnate somewhat.

Once one acquires noble status and enters social circles, such situations are bound to occur.

They live a luxurious life but rarely invest in anything else.

Solovyov also learned that his old friend Goncharov was ultimately deprived of the power to run the estate and factory because of his spendthrift father. In the end, he was frustrated and lost his mind after falling from a horse.

This kind of thing is surprisingly common in Russia as well.

To change the current situation, a two-pronged approach is needed to ultimately solve the problem.

A few days later, he received another letter from Moscow, in which Nikolai invited his master to Moscow.

It wasn't anything else; after he made advances on Charlotte on their wedding night, she quickly became pregnant, and her due date was in late April or early May.

Solovyov's birthday is April 25th, and Katya's birthday is also close by, so Nikolai is both inviting his "boss" back and celebrating his mentor's birthday.

At this time, it's still the pre-Easter period, and the royal family members are all in Moscow.

"Please tell Your Highness that I will depart soon, however..."

"His Highness also instructed that he must return this time, which is also his personal request."

"Alright then, I will reply to Your Highness through a messenger."

This time, I definitely have to go.

Solovyov is also arranging things in Crimea. During the spring planting season, the groundwater from the wells he drilled and the irrigation systems he established are all handled by engineers and surveyors, so he doesn't need to worry about them.

Moreover, since there is no war with the Ottoman Empire now, there is naturally time to go back.

In March, Alexander also expressed his willingness to coexist peacefully with the Ottoman Empire, on the condition that the Ottoman Empire stop persecuting Christian civilians. In addition, the Greek question was increasingly brought to the forefront.

Greece, Serbia, and Albania were all de facto independent at this time, and the area north of the Danube had become a Russian protectorate. However, due to the religious beliefs and ethnic composition of the people there, Russia only pushed its borders to the Dniester River.

With that in mind, there would naturally be time to go to Moscow.

In other words, Russia doesn't have the concept of "harvesting children" (采生). Otherwise, there must have been a reason why Nicholas called his master and mistress back.

In St. Petersburg, Queen Mother Maria was showering her new daughter-in-law with attention, just as she had when Louisa was pregnant.

Louisa gave birth to seven girls, but the one she miscarried was a boy. Although the Queen Mother loved her granddaughters, she was still somewhat dissatisfied with this outcome.

Then, Charlotte, who is now also called Alexandra, received a lot of care from the newcomer.

After all, it's quite rare for someone like Alexander to have only daughters born to his wife and mistress.

Constantine's illegitimate children included a son, which made the Queen Mother realize that there was something wrong with her son.

Mikhail will get married in the future, but he's not in a hurry right now.

"Mother, there's no need for that. My sister-in-law..."

“Coria, this is what your wife deserves. Lisa is good in every way—educated, gentle, and willing to organize charitable work—but she didn’t bring an heir with her.”

If it were Peter the Great's time, he would have had enough daughters to try and pass the throne one by one. He only had one daughter, Empress Elizabeth, ascend to the throne, mainly because the child mortality rate in the Russian royal family was too high in the early years, and it was only under Paul and his wife that the situation stabilized.

“But I respect my sister-in-law very much. I was taken care of by her when I was a child.”

Nikolai and his sister-in-law had a very good relationship, partly due to their large age gap. If Louisa had conceived with Alexander earlier, she might even be older than him.

Because the Queen Mother was already quite old when she gave birth to Nicholas, Nicholas actually experienced more maternal love from his sister-in-law, since his early childhood education was all done in Louisa's suite.

It's no wonder that the three younger children were all quite attached to their sister-in-law back then.

However, when Charlotte married into the family in St. Petersburg, the Empress Dowager's bias resurfaced.

Although Alexander is known for his prolific blacksmithing, all his children are girls. Recently, two unmarried older maids in the palace gave birth to healthy baby girls, even though the fathers are currently unknown.

Alexandre also got French actress Miss George pregnant, and she returned to Paris with her daughter.

Yes, it's a girl again.

Therefore, the Empress Dowager took special care of her third daughter-in-law and even observed her belly several times while she was taking a bath.

That is to say, the technology was backward; otherwise, even the Empress Dowager would have needed to use identification methods.

Fortunately, there isn't any right now.

Solovyov was traveling by carriage from the Black Sea coast to the Baltic coast, intending to visit Barclay, but the Marshal had set off for a sanatorium and was not at the estate.

A month later, Barclay died on his way to a sanatorium in East Prussia at the age of 57.

After the war ended, many generals fell ill, some due to old age, others due to the physical toll of years of fighting.

However, the Russian generals who were promoted later were relatively young, and they will likely be able to serve in the military for a long time.

Turning towards Solovyov in Smolensk, one follows the Smolensk Main Road, which was severely damaged during the war but has now been restored.

The land also seemed more fertile. When they passed through Vyazma and arrived at Borodino, Solovyov remarked that this place, where the two armies fought fiercely and 200,000 people risked their lives, was now very quiet.

Upon arriving in Moscow, Solovyov stayed at his mother-in-law's house, bringing the children to their grandmother's place, which brought the old lady some joy. Of course, she also lived a long life, able to watch the children grow up one by one.

However, there were other possibilities, such as Katya collapsing at home after arriving in Moscow.

Based on past experience, it was Solovyov who infected her after she returned home.

Having many children is a good thing, and Solovyov's children are currently all healthy, mainly because the mothers are all in good health. The fathers probably only "deposit" the money, and the "withdrawal" depends on the mothers.

So Katya went back to her parents' home, leaving the children there temporarily so that someone could take care of them.

Petya and Sonia are in Ryazan, which isn't far away, so it's easy for them to come and visit.

Then, it was time to go to the Kremlin to meet Alexander and other members of the royal family.

Alexander was envious when he heard that Katya was pregnant again, after all, the couple had three sons, and having sons is always a good thing.

Of course, this suspect, who had a good relationship with Louisa, was also inexplicably excluded from the list of suspected lovers by Alexander because he had a son.

Although, that is him.

"Your Majesty, I would also like to extend my congratulations to you and His Highness Nicholas. It is indeed a joyous occasion that a member of our royal family has been born in the Kremlin."

"Solovyov, why is this a happy occasion?"

"The late emperor was born in the Mikhailovsky Palace, and subsequent members of the royal family were born in Tsarskoye Selo, the Winter Palace, and the Summer Palace, but none in Moscow. The soon-to-be-born prince will be beneficial in uniting the nobles of Moscow and the interior, as well as the local commoners."

"Even you've started saying these kinds of flattering things."

“Your Majesty, this can only be called a means, as Machiavelli said.”

Seeing that Solovyov was about to ramble on, Alexander, fearing he would launch into a long tirade, changed the subject.

"How have you been in Crimea these days?"

“Your Majesty, everything has been fine there since I took office. During this year’s spring planting season, I arranged for wells to be drilled in the main agricultural and pastoral areas to draw groundwater for irrigation. In addition to the peninsula, there are also sufficient preparations for planting in the higher areas on the right bank of the Dnieper River. It is only on the left bank of the Dnieper River that some flood control measures need to be built to avoid the damage of floods.”

Alexander trusted Solovyov with his work.

"So how are the southern troops preparing?"

"His Majesty has no intention of fighting the Ottoman Empire or the Persian Empire. I am only there to train the army and adjust the military settlements according to the city's zoning, especially to strengthen the defense of the Crimean Peninsula. To this end, we need to open up farmland, build roads, expand ports, and strengthen the defense of important military fortresses, especially the construction of coastal batteries in Sevastopol."

Solovyov intended to utilize the resources of the south to develop the local area and consolidate the "new Russia" seized during the reign of the Empress. Alexander was satisfied with this.

After that, we went to the Nikolayevsky Palace in the Kremlin to visit Nikolay and his family.

Now that Nikolai has seen Solovyov and his brother has come along, he naturally won't speak as he used to.

In short, he has matured and become much more stable, and the prospect of becoming a father has given him an even greater sense of responsibility.

“I was worried that Lottie’s health was weak, but she looks fine now.”

"This is your first pregnancy, so naturally you have some concerns. Her Majesty the Empress Dowager and Her Majesty the Empress have gone through this many times and are more used to it."

"Count, do you have any suggestions?"

“Madam, you always have professional caregivers at the Nikolaevsky Palace, unlike Charlotte from England, who encountered some risks.”

"I hope nothing happens, I'm a little scared too."

The Duchess, formerly known as Charlotte, was indeed quite worried after hearing about the London princess's ordeal.

After all, the princess was in very good health, and it was only with the intervention of doctors that both mother and child were safe and healthy, and she gave birth to a big, healthy boy named Prince George.

"You don't need to worry so much. As long as the human body structure is normal, the fetus is in the right position, and the sterilization measures are appropriate, 99% of mothers will not encounter any danger. If we were worried about that 1%, then human reproduction would probably be a problem. Perhaps our heads are just too big, which makes it difficult for mothers to give birth. But it doesn't matter. We are all here, and we have well-trained obstetricians and gynecologists."

Solovyov is indeed reassuring in this regard; when Louisa gave birth to twins, he was the one who assisted the Guards doctor in delivering the fourth princess from the Queen's womb.

He did it himself, and in the end, he had to take it out himself.

The Duchess was finally relieved to hear about this. She had always been timid since she was a child, and Nikolai would always encourage her when he took her out to play.

We always need to comfort her; she's very sensitive after all.

As for Louisa's children, apart from the eldest princess who was getting married, the other six were all in the Kremlin at the time. They came to visit their uncle and aunt, and because the age gap wasn't that big, they always regarded their uncle as their best older brother.

Six maids gathered around. Although the Duchess had known them since they were very young, she was still a little nervous.

That's just how she is, and Nikolai could only shake his head.

As for the due date, it's in the next few days.

While the Grand Duchess was recuperating at the Nikolayevsky Palace, Nikolai, along with his nieces and younger brother Mikhail, celebrated Solovyov's birthday.

There are also some guests here, such as Prince Yusupov, who is an old neighbor of Solovyov in St. Petersburg and has even bought his father-in-law's estate in Moscow. He himself came here.

There were also noble representatives in Moscow, including Pierre.

This great capitalist, landowner, nobleman, and true philanthropist enjoyed a very good reputation among the common people.

Nikolai knew that Solovyov and Pierre were acquaintances because Solovyov had served in the military for many years, but he never expected that their relationship was so close.

As for railways, Nikolai also agreed to build roads, especially rail transport, and to have a railway network centered on Moscow that can extend to all places where railways can be laid.

Of course, Russia is too cold, and in some places, construction is very difficult.

Solovyov's birthday party was really just a gathering of everyone. Alexander and his wife didn't come, so Solovyov was able to relax a bit more, just like the "king of children" and "parenting general" he used to be, having a tea party with a group of chattering girls.

The Grand Duchess's due date is fast approaching. (End of Chapter)