Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

There's a movie called "The Pursuit of Happyness," but Solovyov doesn't really believe in things like that.

After all, within the Russian context, one's upward mobility is very limited unless one is born into nobility.

Although there is a bug where one's noble status can be achieved by being promoted to a civil official of level eight or above, being a civil official also requires culture and some management experience.

Becoming a military officer is relatively easy.

However, for an officer to grant his son a hereditary noble status, he also needs to consider the petition and the officer's past meritorious service.

Solovyov, who was born with the lowest rank of nobility, is a different story altogether.

Now, in his reception room in Simferopol, he has another guest, his nephew Venyamin Solovyov, a member of the Happy Union.

"Uncle, you're living a really good life here."

"Since the Emperor doesn't grant me the authority to wage war against the Ottoman Empire, I'll just stay here and do more to improve the lives of the local people."

"You are a remarkable person, and compared to the current dignitaries of the St. Petersburg court, you have an advantage in that you are young, close to the royal family, and have high prestige in the army. When I am in the Chernihiv Regiment, the soldiers there all think of you as a remarkable person."

"The regimental commander is General Konovnitsyn. They performed very well in battle. The regimental commander lost a leg at Borodino but still served for a long time, though they are not considered a first-rate unit. Where will your brother Vlosevod go? My cousin Nikolai always says that someone in the family should serve in the Guards."

Solovyov, as an infantry general, did indeed have some of that authority.

As a recommender, he could recommend his own relatives. Veniamin had an older brother named Mikhail, who returned home after his service term expired, so his other brothers could still join the army without taking up any spots.

"Uncle, you don't need to do anything about that."

"You don't need me to do anything?"

"Yes, Father has already arranged for my younger brother to be placed in the Semyonovsky Regiment in Moscow, but unlike you, Uncle, he won't become a battalion commander as soon as he joins the Guards."

"I did that because of the Emperor's favor. If the late Emperor saw this today, what would he think?"

Solovyov was unaware that his nephew was an outer member of the Happy League, and he couldn't possibly know what every Decembrist did—there were hundreds of them.

"Your Majesty Paul Petrovich, his views are good, and he is willing to change the treatment of serfs, but he has not done enough."

Here they come; young people just love to witness things firsthand.

When Solovyov was young, he didn't like doing this either. He was busy most of the time. Only idle people would gather in one place to drink and express their views on the political system.

Please, this isn't a beer hall in Germany, a speech corner in Hyde Park, or a citizens' assembly in Rome. Saying so much won't change the facts; in fact, it might just raise the alert level of the military and police.

For these soldiers, that meant the main thing to watch out for was their colleagues who were tied to the bear's back.

And sometimes, you might not dare to mess with their chameleons.

“Venia, you can express your opinion. This is your uncle’s house. There are probably not many secret police here. They would think I’m boring. I write more than I talk. When I hold salons, it’s always others talking. They don’t hear my opinion.”

Although Solovyov would mention some things, he mostly avoided talking about politics.

Instead, they need to express their opinions through other means.

Even when he's able to write a plan down, he's reluctant to just talk about it.

He did know this, though. Zheng Xuan, a great scholar of Confucian classics in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, disliked this kind of rambling and preferred to focus on scholarship.

My inclination is to do more and talk less.

“You should stand up and make a statement, Uncle Mikhail.”

"What should I do? What shouldn't I do? The more important thing is to complete the construction of the South and improve the treatment of the serfs here. I will always find a way to solve the problem."

Solovyov was also optimistic, believing that things could be done well, rather than through hasty revolutionary means.

Even ten years later, the Decembrists' actions will seem somewhat laughable. Their courage and spirit are commendable, but as revolutionaries, they were clearly far from adequate.

Although these young officers considered Solovyov to be of similar age and easier to approach than the older generals, Solovyov's attitude was similar to that of Raevsky.

Although Solovyov was widely regarded as one of the most progressive and open-minded soldiers, and even possessed some theoretical foundation.

But he really didn't want to join either faction, as that would only cause him mental exhaustion.

“Venia, if you want to do something, you can ask me for advice. Your mother’s family doesn’t have many serfs, only six. But our whole family, including the landowners and gentry, and of course, people like me, each has hundreds or even thousands of serfs. You need to know what they’re thinking, what they’re saying, and what they’re doing to get a clue. Then you can see what skills you have and how many like-minded comrades you have. Many hands make light work; many people know this principle. Of course, don’t use that Greek drama’s slapstick phrase, ‘They may be many, but they’re useless.’ Those who make jokes are often useless when it comes to getting things done.”

Solovyov made it very clear; he was just short of personally participating to find out.

He could now roughly guess which faction his nephew belonged to, but without clear evidence, concrete actions, or a statement from the nephew himself, this was all he could do.

Those old comrades-in-arms from the Borodino battlefield who were still willing to do something often devoted themselves to the reform activities of the noble organizations, many of them doing so spontaneously.

Solovyov shared this attitude, because he had no certainty, and his interpersonal relationships and ambiguous political stance prevented him from taking a stand.

Veniamin was somewhat disappointed, but his uncle's advice was that since he was a relatively young elder and there was only a seventeen-year age difference between them, it was an age gap that wasn't too deep.

Following his uncle's advice, he soon returned to the Chernigov regiment's base.

"So, Venya. What did Mikhail Sergeyevich say?"

"My uncle still made the same statement; given his status, that's probably what he'd say. Luckily, I'm his nephew. If it were anyone else, perhaps only Prince Volkonsky would have gone to him to get a fairly clear answer." After Venyamin said this, Sergei Muravyov-Astopol, the leader of the Decembrists in the south, paid even closer attention to what Solovyov had said.

After all, the path that allowed them to directly reach the big shots was actually that of Venyamin, whose uncle was Russia's top general at the time and was known for his enlightened attitude.

At the same time, he was the youngest among the infantry generals, and had served as acting commander-in-chief of the Russian army, possessing the honor of defeating Napoleon.

"His attitude is probably related to the fact that he has a perfect family."

He even seemed quite pleased with himself in public.

S. Muravyov joined the army at the age of 17 and was caught up in the arduous retreat phase of the 1812 war. However, as an officer in the engineering corps, he suffered less on the battlefield.

However, he was awarded a medal for his performance in the Battle of Krasny and was a brave soldier who followed the army to the Berezina River and then went on an expedition to Europe.

"It's not just that, Seryozha. You know, his relationship with the royal family is too close. If our friends in St. Petersburg were to mention constitutional monarchy, he might actually support it. After all, he was also the tutor of Grand Duke Nicholas and Grand Duke Mikhail, and his wife, Veniamin's aunt, has recently returned to the court to help the Grand Duchess take care of the newborn Grand Duke Alexander."

In fact, if these young people had offered suggestions, the Tsar might have been willing to listen, but the problem was that they were running a secret society.

Muravyov was also a Freemason, and Alexander himself had visited some Freemason meetings, which ironically encouraged these young men.

There's nothing we can do about it; that's just how things are.

“Venia, if it were just about doing things, I think the Earl would definitely do a great job. It’s just a pity that he’s not a general of engineers or the chief engineer of the army, otherwise he could focus on invention.”

After mentioning this, Muravyov joked, "Which stupid bureaucrat assigned Mikhail Sergeyevich to be an infantryman?"

Veniamin was starting to lose his composure. He knew about the family's situation; it was true that his Uncle Sergei's arrangements were made through connections with important figures.

My uncle knew Kutuzov from the front lines years ago, but he wouldn't have arranged for my uncle to go through that route. Instead, he used connections with the governor of Ryazan province and the governor of Moscow to get my uncle assigned to the Suzdal regiment.

Therefore, he cannot say this.

“There will always be someone who makes these arrangements, but Uncle Misha’s reforms in Crimea were truly something no one else could do. He reclaimed farmland and built factories in the southern provinces, which allowed him to absorb more labor. In addition, he dismissed those unqualified officials and ordered them to retire or go to Simferopol and the provincial governors to learn.”

“Those people will be tortured terribly by him, and they will dare not speak out against him, after all, the count is backed by the emperor.”

But Muravyov also knew that Solovyov's actions were different from Speransky's.

Speransky was second only to the emperor in the central government and the court, which made him vulnerable to attacks from the conservatives. In the end, he was reinstated by his political rival, Count Arakcheyev, who admired his character and recommended him to serve as governor of Siberia.

Solovyov went to Crimea. Although the conservatives heard what he did, their interests were not in New Russia. At most, some nobles were from Little Russia.

If their land contained minerals, they could also benefit from Solovyov's industrial and mining tenders, so there wasn't much opposition.

Solovyov saw this as an opportunity, which is why he dared to dismiss a large number of officials at once, transferring them to the reserve or sending them back to their own estates.

Moreover, the officials he purged were met with applause from the local nobility to the serfs. They first praised the emperor's wisdom in sending such a general to serve as governor-general, a position higher than several provincial governors.

Then, I wonder if anyone was making comments behind my back, like, "Why not just get rid of the Tsar too?"

That kind of hellish joke also exists in Muravyov's work.

His father, Matvey Muravyov-Astopol, was part of the diplomat faction within the conspiratorial group that opposed Paul, but he simply didn't make a move in the end.

His three sons, on the contrary, all supported Paul and even sent Veniamin to Solovyov, Paul's biggest fan, to inquire about information.

Sometimes, this world is just that wonderful.

Most of the civil servants and diplomats in the conspiracy group were not implicated, except for the ringleader.

Alexander was also worried that something even more shocking might be uncovered.

Solovyov would probably find it both laughable and frustrating if he discovered these clues later.

When he was young, he followed the old emperor who was reforming the government, and they had to deal with these conspiratorial groups.

He even felt that if Paul hadn't transferred him, it might have been difficult to stop this conspiracy.

Many people were involved, and given Paul's temperament, despite several reports of betrayal, he didn't make a final decision, ultimately only giving the traitor Palen a verbal warning.

Now that he is middle-aged, he has to face the Decembrists. Although their demands are for the change of Russian society and their intentions are good, many of them are the sons of the previous generation of rebels.

It's a complete 180-degree turn. After all this time, he still has to deal with the same group of people.

Here comes Captain Jia's famous quote: "You bullied me before the Imperial Army came, and you still bully me after the Imperial Army comes. Did the Imperial Army come for nothing?"

When he gets old, if he lives long enough, he will probably have to deal with these Decembrists and revolutionaries' relatives.

This is somewhat ridiculous, because from his youth to old age, he was dealing with roughly the same group of people, but these people had completely different political views.

As for the "Happy Alliance," after listening to Solovyov's opinions, they will probably only apply these suggestions to their own families.

The reason is quite simple: the highest-ranking among them was Prince Sergei Volkonsky. Thanks to his brother-in-law, the Chief of the General Staff, and his own bravery in the war, he rose through the ranks very quickly. The Tsar himself had always wanted to promote him to the rank of general.

Alexander did this because he wanted to try his luck among young people, hoping to produce a general like Solovyov.

However, most of these people were brave but lacked the foresight and strategic thinking of Solovyov. (End of Chapter)