Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Tbilisi, winter of 1834.

When Nikolai first came to the Caucasus Mountains, he did not feel uncomfortable at all. On the contrary, he was satisfied with the warmth and simplicity of the people there.

Compared to the somewhat simple-minded Russian nobles and serfs under his nose, he felt much more comfortable in Tbilisi.

Even though an incident had occurred here two years ago that made him feel very uncomfortable—that Georgian nobles were plotting independence?—he later discovered that it was just an absurd chat among the nobles in the salon, and that most of the Georgian nobles still supported Russian rule.

The nobles in the Caucasus were well aware that they needed to rely on Russia in order to protect their wealth.

Even now, it's worth noting that the Russian army destroyed the Persian Empire and crippled the Ottoman Empire, which created Georgia's safe environment.

Nikolai himself was to meet with representatives from all sides in Tbilisi and announce his next phase of policy toward the Caucasus and Persia.

At this time, Russia had already swallowed up the entire Persian Empire, and in addition, it had divided Central Asia with the Qing Dynasty and made the Kingdom of Afghanistan its ally.

In Afghanistan, there is an independent country that, with Russian support, claims sovereignty over places like Peshawar. This could actually be helpful in the event of a future conflict with India.

Solovyov has been focused on the strategy of entering India. If he were to lead troops there now, he would be a suitable candidate, given that he is currently at the peak of his military career.

However, he no longer had much interest in war.

Moreover, when he was conquering Persia, he was already able to anticipate the difficulties of conquering India in the future.

While dealing with enemies is easy, controlling the area is difficult, unlike in Persia where he was able to personally shatter the order.

In India, it wasn't a matter of cleanliness and hygiene; he didn't have a good solution for that pre-ancient social structure.

The problem can probably only be solved when the vanguard arrives.

After all, the tailor's son and grandson still have a promising future.

While in St. Petersburg, the old tailor Nikolai Ulyanov had his eldest son write to him, mentioning the situation in Astrakhan. The eldest son was excelling in his studies, while the second son had already learned to read.

Solovyov was also pleased and wrote back to him, saying that his eldest son Vasily's syntax was very regular and that he was good material for a civil servant.

As for the fact that his youngest son was very clever, Solovyov probably believed that the old tailor was only able to open a small tailor shop to earn a little money because he was born a serf and was released by his master. He must be very talented.

Solovyov's sympathy for the working people was what set him apart from other nobles. Ordinary nobles were already quite progressive than reactionary landlords in their ability to treat serfs, liberated peasants, and workers with kindness and humility.

He even wrote a letter mentioning Vasily's excellent writing skills, his proficiency in drafting legal documents and petitions, and his ability to copy for others. He suggested that Vasily could become a civil servant or attend university after graduating from high school. He also mentioned Kazan University and Moscow University.

Of course, the old tailor was also very moved when he heard about it, as the prince was so concerned about him, a poor tailor.

As for him, he listened to his son reading the newspaper at home and learned that the prince and the emperor had gone to Tbilisi, so he thought of writing a letter to the prince's bearded groom.

The groom's level of education was far inferior, while the old tailor at least knew how to read. It's just that men's speech is inherently complex, and although he could understand it, he couldn't write much of it down.

Given Zaza's level of education, he couldn't understand Georgian, let alone Russian, meaning he could speak fluently and coherently, but this skill didn't work out for his son.

But Zaza's son, Vano, was literate and had some math skills. In addition, Zaza was a groom for the lord of St. Petersburg, who was also the emperor's teacher. The lord, who had a letter of introduction, arranged for the father and son to work in the village of Didi-Lilo, looking after a vineyard and a winery.

Just as Zaza returned home, Count Konovnitsen, Solovyov's son-in-law, returned to Gori for a while, packing his things to prepare for his new post in Tbilisi.

He also worked as a coachman for the master's son-in-law for a while, even though Gori wasn't a very long distance from Tbilisi.

He received the tailor's letter and was at a loss for what to do.

In short, the plan was to deliver this letter and the local petition to the master when he arrived in Tbilisi.

Compared to the Emperor, the bearded coachman trusted the master more. Such an approachable, kind, and intelligent master was extremely rare.

What Zaza didn't know was that the Emperor and the Master had run so fast that they had even come to Gori on their own initiative.

Because of its proximity to Tbilisi, some nobles from Ossetia and Abkhazia could also come here.

"Your Majesty, there are still quite a few people coming."

"It's been a long time since I've seen such a lively scene."

"Your Majesty, I have never seen anything like this in Moscow or St. Petersburg."

Some people were still boasting, but Solovyov stood aside without saying a word.

But this is also a fact: the nobles were in the inner circle, the citizens were in the outer circle, and the outermost circle consisted of the recently freed serfs.

"Your Majesty, this is a petition from the local nobles and commoners."

Nikolai saw the petition very clearly after the local civil servants handed it to him.

"The contents of this document... You're requesting the construction of a railway in Georgia? No problem. I'll have my secretary relay your opinions to the Finance Minister, since he's now in charge of allocating funds."

So it's just a formality. The Tsar himself agreed that as long as he returned to St. Petersburg and remembered this matter, it could be done.

Because Russia is essentially an autocratic country, the monarch possesses unlimited power.

"Your Majesty, wouldn't this put some strain on the finances? Especially in Georgia."

“Building a railway from Batumi to Tbilisi, not crossing the Caucasus Mountains, what do you say, Mikhail Sergeyevich?”

“Your Majesty, this also requires fundraising and planning and construction. But Georgia has more mountains and not so much flat land. On the plateau, locomotives will inevitably have some problems. We tried it before in the Urals, and the results were not good. We had to add water and coal and lay slag underneath.”

"You mean the mining train in the Ural Mountains, right?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. The trains we developed ourselves in the mines are still better than those from Moscow, or those imported from Britain. However, we have a hard time getting these locomotives to the Caucasus."

Nikolai also agreed with the facts pointed out by Solovyov, which had occurred many times in the past.

“Then we can ship the train parts to Batumi, or we can build a factory directly in Georgia.”

“That’s possible, but we’ll have to consider the local resources. As you know, the mountains of Georgia are different from Moscow or other places.” Nikolai knew that road construction required planning, and he finally made up his mind to complete a great project, connecting Murmansk all the way to Tbilisi and Baku, and in the future, this railway would also extend into Persia.

Unlike Solovyov, Nicholas believed that to facilitate the rule of Persia, even if a new Shah were given to the Persians in the future, he would be a humble ally who would be economically dependent on Russia.

After all, Nicholas would not call himself Padisha, "King of Kings," at this time; he would only refer to himself as the Tsar and the King.

A Shah, that's very un-Russian, even on a religious level.

When those elders in Qom, well-versed in Islamic law, arrived, they were able to accept Grand Prince Mikhail, Nikolai's brother, as regent in Isfahan, and the administrative bodies established by the Solovyovs. However, it was more difficult for the Shia elders to accept an Orthodox infidel as their ruler.

Because when reciting the Hutubai, the monarch to be praised is from another sect, it's just a matter of lineage.

It didn't matter if Tsar Nicholas was mentioned as a protector, but when it's the monarch, the nature of the matter changes.

The second group to be received were these Great Ayatollahs who had traveled all the way from Qom.

Nikolai respected these elders, and they also found that the teacher had a really good relationship with them.

They could even communicate briefly in Persian. Solovyov's Persian wasn't fluent enough to be a translator, but communication wasn't too difficult.

“Your Majesty, these religious leaders believe that you should be the protector of the Persian people, but not the King of Kings.”

“I myself do not like the Persian monarchical title, but I can act as a protector.”

After all, Nicholas himself had a problem with his religious piety, and he was unwilling to be labeled as a heretic, even though there were quite a few heretics among his subjects, especially among the Tatars and mountain people of the Caucasus.

Those Chechen "bandits," naturally, also offered their local specialties to the emperor to show their submission to the monarch, but they submitted as tribes, emirates, or pashas.

Nikolai was able to agree with these points, as he had put in a great deal of effort to understand the customs and culture of these people.

The knife and uniform they presented were familiar to Nikolai; the local Cossacks all wore them.

When the Tsar changed into a lambskin coat and a black overcoat, the people around him cheered.

As a monarch, Nicholas had done his best to be approachable to the people, following Solovyov's teachings to be sincere with his subjects.

(It can't be a performance like Alexander's; it has to be genuinely with his subjects.)
Therefore, the locals could still welcome him, but he was too controlling and had too many rules. The secret police had also been sent to various cities, which sometimes led to conflicts.

Seeing Nikolai's performance, Solovyov knew that he had at least absorbed what he had been taught, and even though their ideas differed, Nikolai was able to listen to his methods.

As for the petitions submitted by ordinary citizens, that's another matter entirely.

"Zhaza, what brings you here today?"

Towards the end of the meeting, Solovyov also saw the coachman he had met in Georgia.

"My lord, I've come to deliver a petition to the Emperor. I need to hand it over to you first so you can see if there's anything wrong with it. As you know, I was arrested by the garrison when I resisted the tax collection before."

"Mikhail Sergeyevich, is this your Georgian coachman?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

What's your last name?

“Your Majesty, my surname is Dzhugashvili, and this is my son Vano. We look after the vineyards and wineries for the master nearby, and we also do some small business ourselves.”

"What does it mean?"

"Our surname means 'son of a blacksmith' in Georgian."

Upon hearing this, Solovyov seemed to suddenly realize, "No wonder it's steel; there's this 'joint' in their own surname."

Even Solovyov himself didn't know before. He never asked strange questions, and he wasn't that curious about surnames. At most, he would ask about their origins.

"So you're a blacksmith?"

“Your Majesty, I used to work as a laborer and herd sheep, but I’ve never been a blacksmith. I have a son, just one son. He can read and do arithmetic, but he’s not as good as the tailor Astrakhan in the master’s household. His son is very promising; he’s always first in his class in middle school. My petition is that Your Majesty could open a school in our village in rural Georgia so that my son can go to school. It won’t do if he comes back to manage the yard without any education.”

“That’s fine, but if it’s to be built in Gori, I can’t approve it to be built in the village. Otherwise, the civil officials and the local lords will have nothing to do.”

Well, the Tsar's attitude still satisfied the local common people.

Solovyov never expected that old man Zaza would pull something like this.

"Zhaza, just tell me if you want to build a school."

"But if the Emperor comes, there will be a solution."

"That's true."

Solovyov could not have imagined that things would sometimes change because of his intervention, and that as his position rose higher, the history of many places would be shattered.

"Your Majesty, there is also a petition from the citizens of Tbilisi, requesting that we allocate funds for road and church repairs, with the local nobles in charge of the area outside the city."

"This can also be approved. Now that we have a school, we should also have some other facilities. What do you think?"

"We need more, but it would be difficult to fulfill all our promises at once. We need to find other ways. Like the Prussians, we can put schools in the villages, but that would cost a lot of money."

Nikolai understood what Solovyov meant.

There's an unspoken understanding between master and disciple, and between ruler and subject.

When money was needed, the Tsar could allocate funds himself, through the finance minister, and also rely on local nobles. They were capable of handling matters outside the city, and naturally, they were also needed for matters inside the city.

Education is also crucial; most importantly, it's about transforming people. (End of Chapter)