Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 145 002 Some Gossip in the Palace

When Maria's health recovered a little, she began to worry about Catherine. Although her sister was young, she had her own ideas about relationship issues very early on.

However, these Russian princesses are not like those in Austria, where Maria Theresa can allow her favorite daughter Maria Christina to fall in love freely. In Russia, Catherine can choose to marry in the country, and the Dolgorukov family is the most suitable.

So she decided to take her sister to relax in the palace and go to her sister-in-law.

Louisa felt that her physical condition had improved a lot. When she looked in the mirror, she could see that her complexion was no longer that sickly pale color, but had a little bit of redness.

"Lisa, you look much better."

"Why are you two here at this time?"

"My brother has gone to Tsarskoye Selo. We are just bored. There is no ball at the Winter Palace at this time."

Louisa thought this was troublesome, as the Queen thought she was not proactive enough in hosting social events. She had always been ill, and although she had recovered somewhat recently, Alexander kept pestering her, so she could not participate in social activities and stayed in the palace by herself.

Then, she also thought that in order to regulate her body, she naturally had to take her two sisters-in-law to take a bath.

After all, she loves cleanliness too much. Recently, she wants to eat several meals a day and take several baths after that.

As for Maria and Catherine, they insisted on building a platform next to the pool and then jumped in to play with their maids.

"Maria, please don't do that. The splash is too big!"

Moreover, the "swimsuit" she was wearing was still made with extremely complicated tailoring work. At least it was not like in the past when she just wore a skirt to dive, which would have made more splashes.

The water splashed everywhere, even reaching Louisa who was resting with her eyes closed on the opposite side.

It's no mistake to look at Maria's figure. The mother of these sisters was tall and even a little fat. Even when she just got married, she was fuller than Alexandra, who had the most beautiful figure among the sisters. Maria also inherited some of it, especially when she stepped directly down from the board with her legs like this, and considering that her buttocks were also relatively full, the splash would definitely be quite large.

"Sorry, Lisa, I didn't expect the splash would fly directly to the ground." After saying that, she swam over by herself. Although Ekaterina behind her jumped down in the same posture, the splash she made was much smaller than hers.

"Maria, I'll tell you about a few people, and you can give your comments on them."

"Okay then, who are you going to mention first?"

Louisa didn't want to expose her target, so she would definitely name a lot of people, some of whom were married and some of whom were single.

"Let's talk about the generals and officers in the palace, such as Count Stroganov."

"Sister-in-law, if you talk about him, he is handsome and gentle, and always wears a beautiful coat, and there is his wife, Sister Sonya, and lovely children."

"And Prince Bagration?"

"He is black and strong. Although he is not tall, he is strong. Our Kadish wrote to him. His Kadish was well served by the prince."

"But that's like coaxing a child. I never thought that the 'Black Prince' could do this."

The same goes for this one at home. Catherine loves writing letters too much, and there are quite a few officers who correspond with her. This girl relies on the queen's favor and is indeed a bit reckless in many cases.

"I heard that Kadish is getting married?"

"Yeah, she eats a lot and has gained weight. I asked her to come to the palace a few days ago, and when I hugged her, I felt that she was very soft."

"Now that it's like this, isn't it a 'little fat cat'?"

"She is most afraid of getting fat. She is very worried about her sister-in-law's weight gain. It is very difficult to make her settle down."

Maria herself is not married yet, and now there are fewer people who write to her to propose marriage than Catherine. However, she is very thoughtful and can detect some clues.

She knew that before the "little fairy" got married, she had served her sister-in-law for a while. No wonder she was asked about the situation after she got married. Even the Countess and Countess Stroganov were Louisa's best friends, so their husbands were asked about it.

"Yeah, but there's nothing I can do about it. Most women have to face this problem. I can't feel the state yet, but Maria before Alexander, I haven't said anything yet, why are you blushing?"

"Sister-in-law, you are telling me this, I am not married yet!"

Maria is a little more reserved and she speaks more conservatively.

"Well, I won't talk about this. But you may become aunts again."

In fact, she did tell it to Maria. It was okay. Catherine always felt that it was better to be an older sister. She had some dignity and looked younger, especially in front of her younger sister Anna and two younger brothers.

God knows how she thought of this at the age of 12. If she knew a language spoken by people who lived a good life, and the written language was a combination of the writing style used by monks and women and Chinese characters, in this context, she would probably like it more.

"I want to comment on some other people, such as Lieutenant Marin of the Guards. What do you think, Maria?"

"That lousy satirist?"

The adjutant of the Guards was indeed a satirical poet on the side, but Alexandra had read his poems and didn't think they were very good.

Maria remembered what her elder sister had said, so she added the word "crappy" on purpose.

"Yes, his poems are not necessarily that great, but he still likes to write them so much."

"Sister-in-law, if you want to find a poet, wouldn't the one who has always been with our father be a good one? He also knows a little about music. I always ask him to copy songs."

Maria said so, and Luisa still pointed it out: "But he only translated poems, or improved other people's works. These were not his own creations. He can only be called a 'translator', not a poet."

"If you want a good one, I'll recommend that major to you. He treats people very well and is never in a hurry."

"That means you haven't seen his other side, right?" Louisa wanted to lead Maria to the point that Solovyov was a murderous officer, so as to avoid the topic being led to something that shouldn't be there.

"He is a soldier and an inventor. But for some reason, he likes to set fires, especially in father's training grounds."

"I don't know either. Girls shouldn't ask about military secrets. If you marry abroad in the future, you don't need to know these things."

"But I still don't know where to marry! Sister Alexandra marrying cousin William is finally a good destination. Although William is sometimes unfaithful, he still attaches great importance to promises. He will still keep in mind what the emperor said to him. But the truly happy one is Elena. Although her husband is stupid, he treats her well with all his heart."

If Frederick Ludwig were to be considered a good husband in the Holy Roman Empire, he would definitely be qualified, and Mecklenburg-Schwerin attached great importance to this marriage. After Elena arrived in Berlin, her whole family came from the principality and they all liked the new daughter-in-law very much, like a star among the crowd.

"It's not easy to find a good husband like Frederick Ludwig. If you really find one, don't let him down."

That also requires the Tsar and his wife to find a more suitable husband. Paul wanted to find a place for his favorite Maria to be the queen, while the queen wanted to make such an arrangement for Catherine. Although the couple agreed on this, their goals were different.

"That's natural."

After she finished speaking, she swam to the middle of the pool and used her good swimming ability to play with Ekaterina.

Meanwhile, on the small parade ground at the Winter Palace, Paul was about to review the troops.

The soldiers were lined up in an orderly manner. When Paul saw the officers who were good at training, he naturally wanted to promote them.

However, although Solovyov was born into a hereditary nobility, his status was not enough, otherwise he would be 20 years old soon and could be released to be a regiment commander or senior adjutant.

But he really doesn't have the qualifications. If the training of a battalion commander can have this effect, then the combat effectiveness of the Grenadiers and the Guards will be very strong.

It's just an old problem, the guns are still not fully equipped. The guns at the Tula Arsenal have been produced for such a long time, but the Guards have not yet been fully equipped. Not only is the production and processing progress slow, but the subsequent increase in ammunition supply has also brought a lot of problems.

"Your Majesty, we are currently using paper shell bullets. If we really use copper shell bullets in the future..."

"Tarezin, your regiment is well supplied. I think it's good as it is. The Guards should all use new equipment. At the same time, we must also consider the losses during training and combat, and replenish them quickly. In a few years, the Russian army will become the best-equipped modern army."

He actually wanted to replace Tarejin, but considering that he was the first officer of the Guards to come forward and swear allegiance when he was in the palace, and thinking of his past loyalty, he did not move this person away.

However, this was also quite fatal. After all, he held the daily command of the regiment, appointed officers and assigned them to various units. All new officers were under the charge of this lieutenant general of the Guards.

It was impossible for Paul to manage all the details of the army personally. As the leader of the Russian army, he could not go to the battlefield and could only supervise on the training ground. Moreover, there were political issues, so it was impossible for him to focus all his attention on the Guards.

Therefore, it is relatively easy to place personnel in, but transferring people in is easy, but transferring people out is always difficult.

Talezin was helpless against Solovyov. The boy only took vacation in winter, and he could not find any evidence against him during the rest of the time.

Although some things can always be known by careful investigation, Solovyov still took advantage of the defense loopholes he designed and was able to jump back and forth in the palace several times.

In other words, during the time he was away, he was spending time with Louisa. If he had come normally as a "quality inspector", he might have caused a lot of trouble.

Anyway, the position of regimental commander is almost gone, and there is a vacancy for the commander of the guards.

However, Solovyov himself did not think about it in this regard, and if he said it out loud, he would be exposed.

He is not a greedy fool like Tarejin, and he is on duty today and has to accompany Paul to the horse race.

Although Paul's personal fighting ability is not good, he is good at shooting, but his short stature is a disadvantage, but he has still learned how to ride a horse.

"Yes, that's right. If you were to gallop on the battlefield, you guys would be great, but here you have to practice dressage and the details of controlling a warhorse. Compared to me, you are still far behind!"

On this point, Paul himself is quite good at riding horses and he trains every day.

The ones he brought with him today were all unmarried guards officers, and there were some maids at the horse farm who came to comment on the young men, which was indeed quite strange.

Are you trying to find a new way to organize a blind date meeting today?

Solovyov himself thought that he looked better than these people, but these noble ladies didn't seem to buy into his "Frankenstein" + "great translator" setting. It might be that Russian girls were different from those in Western Europe.

He himself discovered that local girls still liked tall cavalry officers, and the more handsome ones were even better.

However, most of these noble ladies speak French.

Those who are deeply influenced by Western Europe, although their living habits have been aligned with Europe, many of them speak Russian and they also like his style.

Russia is a strange and divided country. This magical place always has something new to offer.

Especially those young ladies who were dressed up dazzlingly, they looked even more beautiful than at the palace ball. This was under natural light conditions, and they looked even brighter than the Winter Palace with candles lit on the lampstands.

But they were all looking at the cavalry officers in front of the Guards, while the infantry was not doing so well.

Of course, he knew which girls were suitable for him, and there was definitely no such thing as him here.

Previously, the "little fairy" wrote a love letter to her brother-in-law but it didn't work out in the end. She married a foreign prince who was twice her age and didn't become a joke in St. Petersburg. This was all the result of many people's matchmaking.

If Paul found two people who were attracted to each other at this time, it would not necessarily fail to bring them together. The key is that he should not act according to his own feelings.

He had heard a lot of gossip in the palace about these young people, so he always gave the young officers opportunities to perform.

However, he also didn't know that among these people, although many young people were loyal to him, some of them had joined the conspiracy group. He really didn't believe the gossip in this regard, so he made it seem like everyone was in the dark.

(End of this chapter)