Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Once negotiations with Afghanistan make progress, Solovyov will have completed his mission in Persia.

At this point, he could apply to return to St. Petersburg.

The Nikolai ship has been built, and his next task is to nurture the next generation. The education of the crown prince is indeed very important.

This is mainly because the emancipation of serfs needed a catalyst. Solovyov himself had already dismantled the slave system in Persia, a point that even the British Conservative Party, which opposed him, highly praised.

The root of the problem is that once productivity is in place, with great force comes great bricks flying and dump trucks clearing roads; this is the trend, and it's simply unstoppable.

These practices were even welcomed in Persia.

Essentially, this is probably because Persia has never wanted to follow the same path as its neighboring Arabs.

Even the culture of the Persians may have influenced the Arabs, who were merely tribes that rose from the desert. Even if religion influenced the Middle East, it must be considered that these regions were once culturally prosperous and economically developed, and were inevitably affected.

It was at this time that the Persians also wanted to be different from the Arabs. They were still somewhat arrogant at heart, and even after being occupied by the Russians, they still considered themselves superior to the Levantines.

Solovyov also grasped this psychology and ultimately adopted a policy of appeasement.

Even after the war ends, long-term rule is indeed important.

This mentality of the Persians is also quite evident.

When Mohammad Khan in Afghanistan reached an agreement, Solovyov could finally breathe a sigh of relief.

His long-term planning and layout have now become a chain.

Outside of India, although Afghanistan did not actually control the area surrounding Peshawar at this time, it controlled several major mountain passes. As long as relations between Afghanistan and the Sikhs continued to deteriorate, Peshawar, and even Kashmir, would be included in the next phase of the power struggle.

Solovyov's return to St. Petersburg might even be more effective than his role in Persia.

Although he and the Imperial Chancellor and Foreign Minister Nesherrodi had been friends since he served as Paul's attendant, and the two had maintained their friendship for more than thirty years.

However, their political views are completely opposite.

Solovyov advocated for the abolition of serfdom, while Neserrodie maintained the old system.

Solovyov opposed an alliance with Austria, while Neserrodi was pro-Austrian.

Solovyov also took a hard line on Britain, but advocated for the establishment of a stable diplomatic consultation mechanism among the major powers.

As a soldier, this was quite unexpected; he had served in the military for forty years, and with so many wars under his belt, that was more than enough.

Neserrodie, on the other hand, was following the Tsar's will. Nikolai was the only one who differed from his teacher in this respect. After achieving a great victory, he wanted even greater rewards.

To prevent Nikolai from making a similar mistake, Solovyov also had to return to St. Petersburg.

In addition, he really felt that he should have a stable family life. After so many years of fighting on the front lines, even an iron man would get tired.

After obtaining the diplomatic agreement from the Afghan side, he wrote to Nikolai, asking for someone to come to Isfahan to replace him.

In this regard, Nicholas also met his request, and thus decided to send Grand Prince Mikhail with a group of civil officials to Isfahan. As the viceroy of Persia, members of the Russian royal family were obviously more suitable.

In fact, Solovyov believed that Grand Prince Mikhail was a suitable candidate, as he was also his student and his stance was more flexible than that of the stubborn Nikolai.

Moreover, the two have communicated within this system, so I believe he can understand the situation.

The Grand Duke himself set off for Persia with his wife and daughters, where it would be much better to spend the winter than in Russia. Therefore, some ministers also hoped to follow the Grand Duke to Persia.

However, Nikolai conducted a rigorous review of these individuals, and some of them went, which could potentially undermine the policies already established by Solovyov.

In the end, Nikolai handed over the power of personnel appointment and recommendation to Speransky, after all, he was marrying Solovyov's adopted sister, and the two were both liberals and knew each other very well.

Therefore, the final list that Nikolai signed consisted of only a group of mid-level civil servants who had received "excellent" ratings in the past few years, plus a group of officers recommended by Volkonsky. This staff followed Mikhail to Isfahan.

Solovyov spent the rest of his time in Isfahan primarily communicating and negotiating with the locals to ensure a smooth transfer of power.

He was relatively at ease with the elders; these old men had actually gained enormous power after the fall of the Qajar Dynasty, something they had never imagined before.

There was no other reason than that Russia's rule in Persia required its reliance on these religious leaders.

In places like Spain, it's essential to maintain a good relationship with the church.

The arrival of a member of the royal family wouldn't have much of an impact on them. It would be just like how they treated the Persian prince in the past. This time, it was the Tsar's younger brother who came, so there was essentially no difference.

Those officials are alright; Solovyov's main job now is to maintain stability.

Mikhail traveled all the way to Isfahan in 1834, bringing his four daughters with him.

Solovyov wasn't surprised, after all, only the stubborn Nikolai had managed to avoid this kind of situation where a son had to be forged into a blacksmith.

“Your Highness, I am different from my elder brother. I still regard you as my teacher.”

"After all, His Majesty is now the monarch who rules Russia. This is no longer the time for me to be in the garden with the three of you."

Even though he was a prince, there was still a difference between him and Mikhail, because Mikhail was a grand duke.

"This place is so beautiful, maybe I can live happily here."

"The palace has been cleaned and is ready for Your Highness to move in."

Grand Prince Mikhail was somewhat unaccustomed to this situation. Since Nicholas ascended the throne, he had spent most of his time in Moscow, while Solovyov was either in the south or away on military campaigns and was rarely in St. Petersburg. As a result, the two did not have many opportunities to meet.

Now that this barrier has been created, it is a wise move on Solovyov's part.

But he and his elder brother were indeed different; as he himself said, their personal relationship could still be maintained.

As for the three daughters she brought, and the Grand Duchess who is currently pregnant and will give birth in the autumn, she will probably still have a girl then. "Your Highness, please don't say that, I still want a son!"

"The problem is, apart from the Emperor."

Alexander and Louisa are both gone, and the word "Emperor" evokes many thoughts in Solovyov.

After all, what he was talking about was the matter of a marriage alliance in the past.

"People say that people over fifty tend to reminisce about the past. You are in very good health, and your father is long-lived and robust. The old count will probably live to be ninety, and there is still a long way to go."

So, Dad is 89 years old now. Since his sisters are all married, his third brother Vasily applied to be a military attaché in the Kingdom of Italy so that he could go there to keep Dad company.

The old man was truly hale and hearty. In the spring, Vasily wrote to say that his father would still take his hunting rifle to hunt birds, but his legs were lame and his eyesight was failing, so he was not very accurate with the gun. However, when hunting foxes, the target was larger, and he could hit it by feeling.

I think I, my two younger brothers, and my younger sisters will also live long lives.

Even Julia, now a widow with eight children and two adopted sons of Christian, lives on the Baltic coast. She goes back to visit her father in the summer, which actually helps her feel better.

Solovyov also discovered that, in 1834, although time may have passed more slowly for him, some of his contemporaries might have already passed him by.

But he does have a lot to look forward to in the future, and Mikhail is right.

However, given this situation, it's unlikely that any man in the Romanov family will live past 70. He'll probably have to send all his students, including Nikolai's sisters, and even Anna.

Sometimes, you can see the end of your journey even when you're only halfway through.

Solovyov was quite emotional. After arranging the handover between himself and Mikhail, he set off on his journey home with his entourage.

Pasha will also stay in Isfahan, and will probably bring Nastya and the children over as well. The Persians have great faith in Solovyov, and will naturally have faith in his son as well.

Therefore, the combination of Mikhail and Pasha should continue to rule Isfahan smoothly.

On their way back, Solovyov and Pushkin went together to visit Griboyedov's widow, Nina.

The Georgian Black Rose remains beautiful; after her misfortune, she has become even stronger, caring for her daughter alone in Tbilisi.

“You didn’t need to come all this way, sir. I know you and Mr. Pushkin are both good friends of my husband, but what can we do? Mr. Pushkin, I heard that something similar happened when you got married, so you should be more careful.”

"That's just a sign; I don't think anything will happen."

Solovyov, on the other hand, knew exactly what was going on. He would keep a close eye on the kid and make sure he didn't spend all his time thinking about duels and instead stayed home with his wife.

Although Solovyov himself had relationships with many noblewomen, Katya kept a close eye on him and knew how to mediate, so the family environment was always very harmonious.

Pushkin would remind Natalia that when her husband recites poetry, they need to understand each other.

Solovyov did not intend to take up a public office when he returned to St. Petersburg this time, even though Nikolai wrote to his teacher and offered him the position of Reich Chancellor of the Empire, which would separate the Reich Chancellor and Foreign Minister positions that he had always held concurrently.

However, Solovyov also politely declined the requests made in the emperor's private letters.

Although Nicholas had many of his bad habits corrected, he was still impulsive, a typical symptom of Romanov men, which became even more pronounced after his nephew Peter III inherited the throne.

He left Georgia and continued north. The nomadic peoples, hearing that the Thracian prince was going to pass through their territory on his way north, warmly welcomed and entertained him.

Solovyov didn't reach Tsaritsyn until autumn, from where he took a boat north, traveling by steamship all the way to Nizhny Novgorod, and from there took a train to Moscow.

Moscow; it's been a long time since he's been here.

This route does not pass through Ryazan, where Solovyov received the telegram on his way from Nizhny Novgorod to Moscow.

Ohm's discovery proved useful; his achievements in electrical engineering enabled Russia to establish a hybrid optical and telegraph communication line from Moscow to Kazan.

The project for the Moscow-St. Petersburg line was even more ambitious, and it was expected that the telegraph line between the two cities would be completed by 1840.

After that, the line from Moscow to the south will also be completed. For Russia, the establishment of the telegraph network will be very useful. Unlike optical communication, which is unusable in bad weather, this line is more stable and the transmission of signals will be more accurate.

If Crimea were still there, and railways and telegraph lines were laid out on it, I believe there wouldn't be any major problems.

Upon arriving in Moscow, Solovyov naturally went to visit his mother-in-law.

However, in the manor left by his father-in-law, there are now noisy children from several families.

After all, Prince Klimsky's family had many relatives. Solovyov's brother-in-law, Nikolai, resigned from his diplomatic job and declined the appointment as ambassador to Austria, returning to Moscow to take care of his mother and younger sister.

The reason is that Petya and Sonia had many children, averaging one every two years, so much so that when Solovyov saw these nieces and nephews coming over, he was more bewildered than when he saw his own litters of children.

With his amazing memory, he eventually learned to recognize all of his own children.

Solovyov still faces some difficulties with Petya and Sonia's children.

"You don't need to remember them all. When we visit St. Petersburg, we won't even recognize all your grandchildren."

"Is that so? Petya, would you rather remain a country gentleman and not take on any official position?"

"At most, I will be elected as a local representative in Ryazan. Don't worry about my political career; I'm not cut out for it."

"I really envy you. We're from the same village and even brothers-in-law, but I can't live as wisely as you."

However, if he hadn't recruited Petya as his adjutant and spent three years with him in the war, Petya might have been shot by the French somewhere along the detachment and died on the battlefield.

Some people think he changed very little, but in reality he changed the fate of many people.

In Moscow, Pierre was also willing to host a grand reception for his old friend. The two hadn't seen each other in a long time; old friends met in Paris, thirty years of friendship—they had much to say. (End of Chapter)