Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 132 Since there is a greenhouse, there must be overwintering tomatoes
Regardless of what the newlyweds were doing, on their way back to St. Petersburg from Gatchina they always had to pass through Pavlovsk, where greenhouses continued to grow crops even in the winter.

Solovyov received a salary as a Guards soldier, so he had a lot to work for.

He will cultivate overwintering tomatoes according to the production plan this winter.

It’s just that whenever he wants to do something new and interesting, there are always people following him to join in the fun.

"Maria, why are you here again?"

"I'll plant tomatoes with you, Mr. Major."

"It's still in the seedling stage. I reported this to the emperor in August. Your Highness, if you want to eat tomatoes, you have to wait until March next year."

"Does it take that long to wait?"

"Didn't you only eat the strawberries we planted in the spring this month?"

In fact, Maria was Solovyov's "nemesis", always pestering him to see all kinds of new things.

Fortunately, although she is nagging and troublesome, she is not so willful. All you need to do is to make her happy.

“I want to grow tomatoes, too.”

"Your Highness, you can't go. Her Highness the Queen didn't let you come here this time."

But there was no way to coax her back. This girl, whose face still had some faint marks left by smallpox, followed Solovyov, followed by her maid and nanny. It was expected that she did not want to return to the Winter Palace to receive education from a tutor these days, but instead tried to hide in Pavlovsk.

"You're going to reject me like this?"

"Your Highness, that's not the case. Please don't shed tears."

These little girls have a very high level of control over their tear glands. No wonder when they lose control, the tears of the "little fairies" flow like a dam opening.

After shedding a few tears, Solovyov was at a loss.

"Your Highness Maria, if you really want to go with me, it's just to see how the farmers work every day."

But this only happened in the imperial manor. If it were in the manor of the serf owners and nobles below, the situation might not be like this.

Maria followed Solovyov to the greenhouse again. She had actually missed the time for sowing and was now in the seedling raising stage.

"Misha, is this how you raise seedlings?"

"It's definitely right to put them in the seedling tray first, and then transplant them one by one. I didn't think of this when I was planting strawberries."

"I knew what it looked like when the seeds were buried in the soil, but I didn't expect the seedlings to be so small after germination."

"From being so small, it has grown into something very big, and it's like this everywhere."

"If I get married in the future, I will definitely build a greenhouse like this in my new home."

"You're going to plant flowers in it, or maybe strawberries?"

"No, I'm growing tomatoes."

Solovyov wanted to complain, Maria, if you grow vegetables, it’s probably not to “feed” Catherine, and you two will definitely not marry each other, so what are you doing here?
But he didn't say anything. He just directed the servants to start planting the tomato seedlings in the soil.

"We need to pay attention to the daily temperature changes. We need to put a thermometer here. The daily temperature difference is critical to growth. The seedlings that grew too high before had problems because the temperature was not controlled well. The standard operating temperature is already in this little book. What you need to do is to strictly record the collected temperature using the Celsius scale developed by the Swedes. If there is any problem, report it to the gardener and the palace attendant."

After all, he is only here to set the standards, not to operate directly, so he has to make things very clear.

"Major, if you say so, don't we peasants still need to learn to read?"

"In fact, you just need to be able to count and recognize numbers. If you want to grow crops well, you also need to be educated. After all, you are still free people. The serfs in the manor are not as good as you."

At this point, the huge number of serfs in Russia still needed to be liberated. Solovyov himself owned a village, and his family had an estate in Ryazan. The serfs in these places added up to several thousand people, and he could actually be considered a large serf owner. However, after Paul's edict was issued, his family would definitely follow the three-day decree.

Solovyov, on the other hand, wanted to go further. He did not rely on the income from the land to live a luxurious life. Obviously, he could get more profits from business and factories.

Liberating these serfs could increase the labor force, and at the same time, they could also acquire knowledge and at least improve their productivity in labor.

For example, the situation around Moscow is extremely bad.

But he didn't have much time to think about this, because Maria was a problematic baby and kept asking him a series of questions.

"Your manual says that manure used for fertilization must be fermented until it has no odor before it can be used. Why is that?"

"That's because there are parasites, worm eggs and bacteria in feces, not only from animals but also from humans."

I don’t know why she suddenly asked such a “interesting” question, but Solovyov’s answer was very straightforward.

"Ugh, that sounds a bit disgusting."

Maria is a very clean person, but when she turned around and thought about it, she still found some problems.

"If it has no smell, then it will look no different from soil, right?"

"Yes, Your Highness, there is a lot of black soil in the vast Russian land. It is formed by various substances accumulated over time and through long-term environmental changes."

"Then it's not disgusting, Misha, you should suggest it to your father."

"Your Majesty has too many things to worry about. If you are not careful and write a wrong name, you might even create an officer who does not exist. Sometimes, it is because you have a good idea that others will learn from you."

"For example, I ask you to copy music?"

When Solovyov heard this, he thought about how this girl exploited him on a daily basis.

"Probably, that is, maybe. Well, that's it."

She couldn't understand if he told her something too complicated, but Maria spent a day with him and learned how to grow tomatoes in the greenhouse.

The knowledge contained in it seems too complicated if you dig deeper. "I feel a little dizzy after listening to you talk so much."

It seems that after staying in the greenhouse for too long, even such a young and lively girl has become a little tired.

This time she was not wearing work clothes, but rather formal clothes, so it was no wonder that she fainted from the heat.

Fortunately, it was not far from the palace in Pavlovsk, so all we had to do was take her there.

Solovyov also has to pay attention to the situation in the greenhouse, but there are definitely differences between the production environment and the daily living environment.

When he wanted to grow tomatoes in the greenhouse in Pavlovsk, he had already started to build greenhouses in his own village and started to grow off-season fruits, which was still profitable.

In particular, he is very confident in his own planting method.

If he had not been an officer of the Guards, he might have been more interested in growing pineapples in greenhouses in St. Petersburg, just like the French.

At the same time, it is not to show luxury and wealth, but to carry out mass production so that competitors have no way out.

Of course, this is unlikely now, as he has to go back to the city in a few days.

Tsar Paul still had to live in the Winter Palace in the winter. Although the engineer's fortress had been completed, it was not suitable for living in winter, so the plans were put on hold.

At this time, we have to return to the Winter Palace.

However, many rumors have begun to spread in St. Petersburg.

Count Palen appears to have applied to the Tsar himself for permission to arrest important members of the court if necessary.

There are also rumors that the fortress in Arkhangelsk that once held Anton Ulrich and his children was recently reopened. As the officer on duty, Solovyov had seen the original text of this rumor, which is considered to be a more reliable one.

However, arresting the queen and her children may sound sensational, it would still have some effect on a court full of conspiracy.

There are countless other rumors. Now everyone can feel that the conspiracy in St. Petersburg is about to surface, but how to seize this opportunity?
However, considering Paul's preference for girls and the fact that Alexander and Constantine each had children, a careful analysis shows that this is unlikely.

But now that Tsar Paul had returned to the Winter Palace again, he often turned a blind eye to the fact that Alexander rarely appeared in his bedroom.

This was also very abnormal. When they were in Peterhof Palace and Tsarskoye Selo, Tsar Paul himself mentioned many times that he wanted Alexander and Louisa to hurry up and have more children, especially sons.

After all, Louisa was only 21 years old. If she recovered, Paul knew that his relative, the Prince of Baden, had many children. Although he raised only one son and most of them were girls, he also had an heir.

Paul would be angry if he didn't work hard in this regard, but after all, he has four sons. In the future, when Nikolai and Mikhail grow up, they will also have wives. According to the order, there is no need to worry too much.

If it weren't for the queen's health that made it impossible for her to continue to take on this task, he would have continued to work hard. The old couple originally had some affection for each other, but after they officially separated and went to their respective palaces, they became a little cold.

At this time, Count Kutaisov was also offering some suggestions to the Tsar himself.

This led to Madame Chevalier's plan to marry the Tsar himself and exile the Empress and all her children.

When Solovyov heard this in the salon, he did not publicly refute it, but just walked away as if nothing had happened.

After all, it had nothing to do with him, and even if Madame Chevalier or some other woman ended up occupying that position, it would be an extremely explosive scandal, and it would be so absurd that such a thing would hardly happen in such an abstract place as Russia.

If we openly refute it, there is actually only one thing: both Madame Chevalier and Princess Gagarina have a problem: they are not able to prove their strong maternal nature like the Queen.

The idea of ​​starting a new business sounds ridiculous in itself.

But he was more interested in the happy life of Prince Bagration.

"It is said that the prince's wife would kiss her husband goodbye every morning at the door of their new home in Italy Street, barefoot and in her pajamas."

"Oh! That's quite interesting. We thought it was another disaster!"

"That Prince 'Othello' is just feeling proud now. You know, the women in the Skavronsky family are all beauties. It's just that this young one is still young, so you can't tell anything."

What Solovyov could hear afterwards was probably the Countess, her new husband, and her eldest daughter Maria. It was indeed quite complicated.

However, the "little fairy" did seem to be somewhat happy after her marriage, and it can be said that she was very attached to her husband.

Moreover, the prince did pay more attention to dressing up every morning, making himself look more energetic, and also used high-end cologne. It seems that the "little fairy" would personally help him change clothes and dress up every morning. The smell of this brand is very similar to the high-end stuff used by Count Lita, and it is very likely the same style.

Maybe, little sister, you must also be lacking fatherly love!

The count had been dead for seven years, but judging by the portrait of this Count Skavronsky, he had always looked very young.

But if you really think about it, Prince Bagration has been in the army for many years, so it is inevitable that he got tanned, especially since he came from the Caucasus, where even white people generally have darker skin.

If this girl didn't despise the prince's face, but focused on the huge wealth she owns and the happiness of her life, perhaps it wouldn't be so bad.

However, Solovyov was very pessimistic about the family's performance.

However, there was something the prince said that made Solovyov laugh.

That is, Grand Duchess Catherine wrote him a letter. No one knew where this rumor came from. The child was only 12 years old, and he knew about writing a letter to the prince.

This was definitely not love, because when Paul asked him to check the letter, he saw what was written in it.

Perhaps he had some admiration for this hero, saying that he was a brave and great general. The prince was not sure how to respond now, so he could only hum and ha, and under the "guidance" of the "little fairy", he considered how to reply to this highness.

To Louisa, this kind of wording would make Catherine look like a little old lady, and after reading the content of the letter, she would forget her sweet and lovely face.

Compared to the game this girl played with Alexander on all-day correspondence, it was nothing. The relationship between the two siblings was almost better than that between two sisters who were married, but there was nothing that crossed the line.

According to historical facts, Solovyov is witnessing history now, and he will restore what he sees in the future. This is called "we are restoring history."

But Solovyov really has a file in his hand. For Russian weapons with poor tolerances, sometimes they really need to be carefully polished.

(End of this chapter)