Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

After visiting Raevsky and asking about his family, Solovyov felt increasingly like a middle-aged man, even though he hadn't gained weight due to his personal lifestyle habits.

For a Russian man, not becoming obese at this age is actually a good thing; at least it means he is healthy.

In particular, the fact that he no longer needs to be on the front lines for extended periods has made his life much easier.

Work pressure can sometimes lead to more problems.

“Nikolai Nikolaevich, I think there will be more opportunities like this in the future. Every time I go to St. Petersburg, I will pass by your place.”

"Isn't this great? When we old guys are about to retire, the Emperor will only have you left. Arakcheyev's approach won't work anymore. I heard from the soldiers that they all hope you will become the Commander-in-Chief or the Minister of War."

"I don't want to sit in an office. Being the Minister of War means dealing with a mountain of paperwork. When I went to the Crimean government, I could travel all over the country. You'd better not make things difficult for me."

“I know, Mishka, although you are very good as a staff officer, you hate receiving orders and official documents the most.”

"If possible, I would like to retire and go back to the manor. There are many things I can leave behind, but my sense of responsibility compels me to finish those things. Others can't do it, probably only I can."

He was actually well aware that without a strategic vision and familiarity with the target, some things would be a difficult path for someone else to do.

"Go ahead and do it, Mishka."

Raevsky patted him on the shoulder, and the two said goodbye.

Solovyov was too familiar with the palace, which inevitably led him to frequently travel to St. Petersburg.

However, with Mihrima by my side, things would have been fine under normal circumstances, but now that she's pregnant, the journey will be much slower.

He even had to write to St. Petersburg through the post stations to let them know where he was.

Sailing along the Dnieper River, the small boat managed to navigate the narrow waterways upstream and arrive at Smolensk.

From here you can switch to Pierre's wagon and head to Moscow.

I'm not on official business in Moscow right now, so I can travel and see how Petya and Sonia are doing.

Since his mother-in-law moved to St. Petersburg, the Moscow estate has been empty. Petya and Sonia would come from Ryazan in the summer to stay here.

Although the estate belongs to the mother-in-law and will eventually be left to Nikolai, the right to use it should be given to Sonia at this time, since the youngest daughter still has some privileges.

It's not surprising that Solovyov, as the brother-in-law, lives here.

"You guys really got to work quickly. How many children is this?"

“Speaking of which, Mikhail Sergeyevich, you’ve been away for so long, and you have so many relatives at home, it’s hard for you to remember them all.”

After all, Petya was his adjutant before, and also his brother-in-law, so he had to be respectful.

"Petya, you're the fourth Sonia. How come you're the same as Katya?"

"Children born to you are the most interesting. Look how cute they are!"

Yeah, they're all girls. I wonder which blond guy will get the best deal.

Speaking of which, the proportion of blond hair among young Russian nobles is not low. Even though Solovyov's mother had black hair, it couldn't hide the blond hair color of his sons.

As for Sonia's childlike attitude of treating her own child like a doll, it's not surprising.

After all, many noble girls play with dolls from a young age, so they naturally cherish their own children more and wouldn't be harsh on them.

"Yes, it's very cute."

To these girls, he was also their uncle.

Petya also has a son, but the child doesn't seem to have any interest in military affairs from a young age.

Moreover, they are all in the same camp, so unless there is a civil war in Russia, he will not be sanctioned by his nephew.

This kind of plot could probably only be triggered by a distant, nephew like him.

There's no need to worry about being punished by her nephew. Of course, the youngest child might cause some conflict among the girls, but fortunately, both of Mihrima's daughters are very docile, just like their mother, and they won't try to see other people's children.

Katya was quite lively, and these kinds of things would happen with her daughters, whether in Paris or St. Petersburg.

Solovyov also wanted to ask Petya what had happened in Moscow.

Peter simply stated that Mr. Pierre had been busy building the railway recently and had rarely participated in Freemasonry activities.

"Pierre is already your brother-in-law, can't you still get used to calling him that?"

"The Earl became my brother-in-law in 1813."

“If this were in China, you would have to call me brother-in-law.”

"Perhaps so. Pierre went to Tver these past few days to see the completion of the railway line from St. Petersburg to Moscow. He wanted to go to the site to check on it."

"That's roughly how you run a railway company. In the future, we might even be able to take a train directly from Moscow to St. Petersburg."

Although the Moscow-Ryazan and St. Petersburg-Novgorod railways are already in operation, their reliability still needs to be verified.

The good thing is that Pierre doesn't have much time to get involved in Freemasonry and secret societies.

But Solovyov was unaware that he was now being watched.

Those former secret organizations have now split into the Northern Association and the Southern Association.

Although the members of the Southern Association included Solovyov's nephew, as well as his personal friends and colleagues, they held a rather resistant attitude towards him personally.

The reason was simple: although he punished corrupt officials, carried out reforms in his governor-general's territory, built factories, reclaimed land, and improved the living conditions of serfs, he never put forward any political propositions.

Even his early practice of publicly writing articles during his debates with Karamzin is now rare. This is because Solovyov himself prefers practice and genuinely dislikes theory. In fact, his current approach is more like that of Saint-Simon and Irving, and he's even reluctant to speak.

After all, he was a governor-general, and could use the authority granted by the emperor to carry out social reforms within his jurisdiction, an advantage that others did not possess.

He used his actions to get Arakcheyev to turn a blind eye to his behavior, but the Southern Association did not buy it.

The situation is even more interesting with the Northern Association.

There are more upper-class nobles here, and the organization is more complete, but there are always some hot-blooded guys inside.

They advocated for a constitutional monarchy. Solovyov had commented on the personal capabilities of monarchs, though he mainly referred to young Western European monarchs and their regents. This included a strong inclination towards a constitutional monarchy, delegating executive and judicial functions to the cabinet and the State Duma.

Therefore, the young nobles of the Northern Association were more inclined to support him, such as the eldest son of the Konovnitzen family.

Solovyov's eldest daughter, even as a little girl, was already infatuated with him, only she was the more opinionated type.

As for equality of citizens and the abolition of serfdom, the Northern Association can also see these two points in Solovyov's actions.

Therefore, they planned to one day stage a military coup against the Emperor. In the planned cabinet, Solovyov and Speransky would always have a place, along with Miloradovich and Raevsky.

Although the final selection was mostly made up of military personnel, three generals were considered to be inclined to support them.

The composition of the government is also a concern for them.

Although prior to this, there were still some progressive ideas.

Compared to the chaotic situation of the Southern Association, the Northern Association, if it were to remain calm and consider their promising futures—many of whom were already destined to become high-ranking civil servants and generals at a young age and possessed substantial wealth—could actually achieve its goals through a gradual process.

But they don't understand these things yet, and they weren't even aware of this issue when the Northern Association held its meeting in Moscow.

"The topic of our meeting is that Count Solovyov and his housekeeper have arrived in Moscow, but only at Prince Klimsky's estate, and have not come into the city."

“Every time he came to town, he would go to see Count Bezukhov.”

“Count Bezukhov sympathizes with our cause, but his greater interest lies in building railways and factories, as well as the nobles in his circle, who are all kind and good people, somewhat conservative, who, while not advocating for the abolition of serfdom, are willing to improve the lives of serfs.”

To be honest, Pierre's temperament was indeed a bit too mild. Ever since he left St. Petersburg to inherit the family business, he foolishly married Helen, then separated from her, remarried after his wife died, and then appeared in Moscow as an industrial tycoon and the richest man in Moscow.

"Their proposition would be a good one if the country were not under serfdom, just like what those people in Europe did."

Trubetskoy still wanted to make amends for the two, as his personal views were not considered radical at the time, and he was also an old member who had been with the Salvation League since its inception, so he could at least keep the situation under control.

"But Mikhail Sergeyevich, he is clearly one of our allies, yet he makes no statement, he just does things."

"That must have been his habit. I often visited his home in St. Petersburg and met the Countess there."

Pyotr Konovnitsyn, the eldest son of General Konovnitsyn, was also a member. Because he frequently visited the homes of these generals and was able to see their families, he was better informed.

Konovnitsyn
"Yes, you often visit his house. How are the Countess and her daughters?"

"Everything is fine. The Countess always takes the children to Tsarskoye Selo. As for Lisa, she's still a child. I'll probably propose to her when she turns 16."

"That girl is like a daffodil, except she's always staring at you."

Speaking of which, although many members of the Northern Association are wealthy or high-ranking young men, there are also many bachelors.

It's rather strange that young Konovnitsyn is like this; he's with a little girl, but she's always clinging to him.

"But I also learned about some of the count's views. The countess showed me his unpublished manuscripts, which, although mostly military works and literary translations, contained some impressive content."

Trubetskoy became somewhat interested after hearing this.

He showed his charter to Zhukovsky, who praised it highly, but his radical companions did not.

It's strange that Solovyov, who was unwilling to express his opinions publicly, could have his manuscripts freely viewed at home.

"Petya, can you recall the important details?"

"What I can recall is the account of the Manchester strike and crackdown in England. Mikhail Sergeyevich commented that although Britain has a constitution, it is essentially serving a reactionary, exploitative regime. It doesn't even seem like our emperor, who has the will to accept the people's petitions. The British cabinet is particularly reactionary, using Parliament to pass a large number of reactionary bills, thus plunging workers, farmers, and even factory owners and nobles on the verge of bankruptcy into misery. British rule is terrible, especially under a weak regent who is in dire straits but does not think about changing the current terrible situation; he is even less insightful than his daughter, Princess Charlotte."

"This is consistent with his consistent opposition to the British government, and it's not even the worst kind of opposition."

For Trubetskoy, this was expected.

Solovyov always spoke with reason and evidence, unlike Marshal Suvorov who spoke with a lot of abstract ideas.

"His opposition to the charter is indeed surprising."

"The important thing is the will, Muravyov. The charter itself is progressive. The problem is that under a constitutional monarchy, there is a weak monarch, and a reactionary cabinet and parliament. I remember that Count Solovyov included this in his open letter to the Emperor in Crimea, which was a public attack on the Grain Law."

Although Nikita Muravyov was also a moderate in the Northern Association, he was clearly not yet used to Solovyov's complicated way of speaking.

He also needed Trubetskoy to explain it to him, and Solovyov criticized the Corn Law because he happened to be in England when the Manchester workers' rally was brutally suppressed, and it was in England that people realized how terrible this evil law was.

In Russia, such an evil law does not yet exist. At least the current emperor is unwilling to offend any class of people and is not driven by greed. Instead, he spends more time praying.

"If that's the case, why doesn't he step forward?"

Of course, Muravyov was rather direct.

Trubetskoy and Konovnitsyn shook their heads at this; this guy was indeed an action-oriented moderate, but even they found it hard to understand the actions of important figures.

“When I was the duty adjutant in the 4th Army, I remember that Mikhail Sergeyevich’s orders were always very detailed and he would mention that we should only take action when the time was right.”

Trubetskoy didn't want to dampen his companions' enthusiasm, since such cautious people wouldn't really participate in their association.

Solovyov's willingness to pursue reform was determined by the situation in Russia, while the Northern Association's inclination towards revolution stemmed from the passion of its young members, which destined them to take different paths. (End of Chapter)