Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

"Your Majesty, I wonder if you are satisfied with this plan?"

"I just want to clarify the responsibilities of nobles of all ranks, as well as peasants."

Solovyov was sitting at the Tsar's desk, leaning back in his chair, pondering what to say.

"I was just thinking, Your Majesty, what kind of structure would you be able to accept? From nobles with titles to registered nobles, citizens and peasants, each would have their own hierarchy."

"If possible, everyone should fulfill their duties and obligations according to this class division."

After Nikolai said that, Solovyov knew what to do.

"In that case, Your Majesty. Our hierarchical system is clearly far more complex than the French Estates-General or the Swedish Estates-General. From a judicial perspective, it is also necessary to convene the State Duma and elect representatives from all over the country to come to St. Petersburg to assume their posts."

"But if that's the case, what about the colonies, Mikhail Sergeyevich, and the colonies in North America and Africa? What should be done there?"

“Your Majesty, this is also what I am concerned about. There needs to be a parliament in the colonies. We can convene tribal assemblies and colonial parliaments, and we need to give the local tribes certain rights so that our rule on the west coast of America can be stable.”

Nikolai knew this; several branches of the Muravyov family had gone to North America, where they were stationed in Seattlesk and Rosburg, and had cultivated good relationships with the locals.

Because there was simply no one in the royal family capable of being stationed in North America, the governors there were recommended by the reorganized Russo-American Company and selected by the Tsar himself after inspection.

Although it was a colony and far away, the Tsar was still able to effectively control it through personnel arrangements.

In addition, the officers that Solovyov had previously placed there are now also able to play a role, forming, along with the Muravyov family and the Decembrists exiled there, the three political forces in the North American territory.

Establishing a local parliament, with permanent representatives in the Privy Council and the State Duma, would also ensure the colony's loyalty.

At least they will have a sense of belonging, and what Russia needs right now are subjects who have a sense of belonging.

The problem with Britain is that they actually treat their colonies as blood banks, only willing to rule the local people if countries like France and Russia are involved in colonization. Russia, in particular, has given some political power to American tribes due to insufficient immigration.

As for France, when it was in North America, Louisiana, which was sold by Napoleon, only had French settlements in New Orleans in the south and a few large trading posts on the Mississippi River. The rest of the area was still the territory of Native American tribes.

Therefore, the French had very poor control over the Americas, which led to them losing Quebec first, and then Louisiana and New Orleans becoming burdens.

Russia's current colonial strategy can at least consolidate its local power, and its approach is even somewhat similar to that of the Qing Dynasty.

This tactic was mentioned by Long Ruyan in a letter to Solovyov when he was in St. Petersburg. The Qing Dynasty's rule in Taiwan involved granting official titles to the indigenous people and restricting Han Chinese settlement to a certain extent. They also had to pay money to the indigenous chiefs.

Solovyov's assignment to North America was to give these tribes the right to speak politically, so that they could organize tribal militias after returning home, and each tribe could choose to live a nomadic or settled life according to the boundaries of their respective territories as defined by the Seattlesk Council.

The advantage of settling there was that Russia would send officials and farmers who had migrated to North America to help them, providing them with improved breeds and livestock to help them clear land.

Part of the land belonged to the tribes, and part was Russian "official land" allocated to the farmers in North America.

North America offered many preferential policies to attract serfs and Irish people there. The most important of these was that once the reclaimed land was recognized by the government and local tribes, it would have a 25-year land protection period and be exempt from land tax for 30 years.

The former was one of Solovyov's reform measures, which aimed to curb land consolidation in Russia's homeland and colonies, and to distribute land to the emancipated peasants after the serfdom reforms in order to ensure their survival.

Thirty years of tax exemption is an old Russian practice; it used to include exemption from military service.

However, other taxes will not be reduced, because Russia is investing everywhere and needs to ensure that commercial taxes and various business taxes are collected. Otherwise, given Russia's financial situation, it will be difficult to sustain itself.

Even with the preferential treatment offered by the Qing Dynasty, Russia enjoyed the most favorable tariff treatment, so this "blood pack" wasn't used in this way.

The preferential treatment enjoyed by farmers in the colonies was because they were engaged in pioneering work, which also fostered a group of wealthy farmers and landowners, although none of them had noble status.

The situation differs between the North American territories and the Russian mainland.

“You are regulating the behavior of both nobles and peasants, which looks just like Mr. Speransky’s approach.”

Nikolai then thought that Speransky was also Solovyov's brother-in-law, and Adela was his adopted sister who had given him many children. This family also held the title of count, which placed Speransky among the high nobility.

It's inevitable that the two of them will influence each other.

Speransky's unfortunate deputy was exiled for his involvement in the Decembrists' activities. While he was in Siberia, he had already established the proper status for some foreigners and tribal people in Siberia.

Solovyov elaborated on these points because the number of nobles in Russia was also considerable. As the ruling class, and even because some small landowners with a few serfs had the status of lords, their group was quite large.

"It was indeed an idea he had in the past, but the overall design was never completed. These days at home, I have been doing what I did in Persia, defining the scope of responsibility for Russian nobles, peasants, and citizens."

"Nobles served as officers in the army or joined the court as civil servants. Citizens and peasants served in the army, and peasants also had to perform paid corvée labor in the local areas. Citizens had the right to engage in commerce. This was not much different from the time of Peter the Great."

"In fact, there is a difference, Your Majesty."

Solovyov opened his briefcase, inside which was a large, folded drawing, which was then unfolded on the Tsar's desk.

"Your Majesty, you should understand once you see this map. The taxes levied on high-ranking nobles who own large amounts of land are heavy, so they have to reduce their land holdings. During the land transfer process, we need to collect transaction taxes. Some plots can be subject to a symbolic transaction tax to ensure that the land is transferred to the hands of middle and lower nobles and third-class peasants."

Nicholas could see from this sketch that the land tax regulations for the great nobles were very strict, but the tax was initially reduced when they opened factories and engaged in commerce, mainly to encourage the great nobles to circulate their wealth so that money could generate more money.

Furthermore, there are regulations for small and medium-sized landowners. Their property tax rate is not as high, but the size of the land they own cannot be too large. Among the great nobles, there are two tiers. Once the size of their real estate exceeds the limit, it will be a huge burden for these nobles.

Comparatively speaking, because they own a limited amount of land, they actually have more freedom of choice and can still hire tenants to farm, which can be considered a form of compensation for this conservative circle.

Like the Orlov family, which originally owned more than 20,000 serfs and a large amount of land, they could appropriately transform their businesses. However, after the five brothers divided the family property, they each went into different industries. In addition, the state encouraged those who engaged in animal husbandry, so they were reduced to the second class among the great nobles, or even the first class among the middle nobles according to their land holdings.

What about the Solovyov family? Because their landholdings were scattered, and land was allocated during the emancipation of the serfs, their title meant that a prince of the highest rank would be second-class among the great nobles. However, since they were a family of unscrupulous merchants, they were not affected by this.

Another example is the Stroganov family, whose members were originally royal merchants, but the scale of their real estate is also shrinking.

During this period, among the great nobles, as long as they supported the Tsar's reforms, they were basically transferring their land to the peasants.

The nobles also had to protect the serfs they had released, guide their production, and prepare the necessary means of production.

The situation was much better for the lower and middle nobility. With limited financial resources, the middle nobility only needed to help the farmers prepare tools.

For minor nobles, being able to protect and manage their own peasants is sufficient; they won't make too many demands on them.

Although the patronage system still existed, serfs had become free peasants who provided labor for nobles. They were required to sign labor contracts, and renewals required the consent of both parties under the supervision of local officials.

The cyclical system within the nobility was somewhat complex, even Nicholas struggled to understand it. However, after the reforms, both nobles and peasants needed to remember their respective responsibilities and obligations; they only needed to manage the affairs of their own class.

Nobles have even more responsibilities, but there are benefits to them fulfilling those responsibilities.

The council of local nobles would score contributions, with tax bills and protection of peasants being key factors.

In this round of operations, rich peasants, middle peasants, and some poor peasants were separated from their personal dependency relationships. Those who remained on the nobles' lands were the tenant farmers who had been allocated barren lands.

The next phase of reforms will address the issue of these tenant farmers. If the land they hold, after a long period of rotation and recuperation, can become relatively good land, then the problem of some tenant farmers will be solved.

The only problem with Solovyov's system is that it is too intricately designed, but there's no other way. If the Russians aren't given clear instructions, they won't know what they're supposed to do.

The remaining issue concerns the farmers.

Nicholas could see that the kulaks were peasants who were already free, as well as serfs who had acquired considerable skills while serving the master and had been trained as technicians on the master's estate.

These people participated in the labor themselves, and their land holdings were more than enough to support themselves. During the busy farming season, they needed to hire poor farmers to help them. Moreover, they did not have noble status, so it was reasonable for them to be classified as rich farmers.

Solovyov also wanted to carry out land reform, but now he could only extort land through the Tsar's edict, encouraging nobles at all levels to invest in industry and commerce, and making them pay heavy taxes while holding huge amounts of land, so that the land would be transferred.

Therefore, the Tsar's prestige remained, and petitions could serve as a tool for the Tsar to mediate conflicts between nobles and commoners. As an arbitrator, Russia still needed such a person.

Whether it was Paul, with his eccentric temperament and hands-on approach, Alexander, who posed as the Messiah, or Nicholas, who believed he had a mission, they all played a role in maintaining balance among their subjects.

This system was tailor-made by Solovyov for his protégé, because his diligence was very similar to Paul's, which was perfect for coordinating various conflicts. He also delegated secretaries and civil servants at all levels to coordinate these conflicts, which effectively kept the Russian state machinery running.

Future monarchs, as long as they can ensure the stable operation of the state apparatus before the implementation of a constitutional monarchy, will be considered qualified.

Solovyov could hardly imagine a Nicholas II, because this system could be run smoothly by any monarch who wasn't too incompetent.

The real danger is that a monarch who lacks the ability and refuses to transition to any form of constitutional government, insisting on absolute monarchy, will paralyze the monarchical arbitration system created by Solovyov, which categorizes service by rank and assigns rights and obligations to each individual.

“I have seen these things, Mikhail Sergeyevich. These people who need to hire others to do their work have very clear responsibilities and obligations. Nobles must serve in the military or be officials, or at the very least, have duties in the court and local noble councils, while peasants must serve in the military, and those who perform well can be promoted to lower nobles.”

Furthermore, the system retains a narrow but stable upward channel.

Even poor peasants and tenant farmers, if they performed well during their service and became sergeants upon their discharge, could receive land as compensation when they returned to their hometowns.

Those who became officers could be considered nobles, because the privileges of officers had never changed.

Then he became a lord. His military merits were so simple and straightforward that no one could object to them. Civil officials had to reach the eighth rank to become hereditary nobles, and in general, only those who reached the fourth rank could guarantee that their descendants would be stable as hereditary nobles.

This provided a channel for middle and poor peasants, but many of them would not serve in the military because in Russia, local officials treated free peasants the same way lords treated serfs; they did not want to lose the region's best labor force.

However, farmers at these two levels generally do not hire laborers to help them during the busy farming season; they are all self-reliant.

If they don't serve in the military, their daily work consists of two things: paid corvée labor in the local area and farming.

Of course, farmers of all ranks could also engage in business, but in this case, most of them would set up stalls or be peddlers.

When Solovyov himself was introducing this piece, the melody of "Tetris" kept playing in his head.

Nikolai was quite satisfied with the situation on the land.

At least his teacher devised an effective, albeit somewhat complex, system for the transfer of aristocratic and peasant land, which, though complex, could operate stably as long as each party fulfilled its responsibilities.

However, population growth also presents a problem. Nikolai thought about how his teacher liked having children, and he himself liked having children. From top to bottom, Russia seemed to have a superstitious belief that more people meant more power, and it was common for families to have five or six children. If they were all raised, the distribution of children would still be a problem.

Nikolai even asked this question directly.

"What if there are too many people and not enough land to go around?"

“First, establish a civil code. As for the rest, Your Majesty, I do have some ideas, but I don’t know if you dare to use them. Although I mentioned nobles and peasants to Your Majesty, I didn’t talk about the bourgeoisie and urbanites.”

Solovyov himself wondered if Nikolai could comprehend or withstand the powerful move he had unleashed at this crucial moment, the most powerful technique he had ever learned in his life.

If the tailor's grandson and Zha Zha's great-grandson have the opportunity in the future, will they be able to make good use of this powerful move?

If the Tsar had this ultimate move, whether he practiced it forwards or backwards, it could extend the life of the Russian royal family.

If revolutionaries knew how to use this approach, it would be an unthinkable path for Solovyov, an arbitrator who was already a representative of the great nobility, landowners, and bourgeoisie, yet who, while not reactionary, preferred reform and was strict in enforcing the law, still possessed a touch of benevolence. (End of Chapter)