Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 174 031 Alexander the Great and His Reform Designer

This afternoon, Alexander mainly focused on the current financial problems. The current way to save money is not on military spending. The expenses of hundreds of thousands of Russian troops are there, and there is no way to avoid it. After all, the family is large and the business is huge, so there is no way to save in this area.

"No matter what, a proper budget sheet should be provided."

Alexander was a little anxious. It was true that he lacked patience, and the Ministry of Finance also had to be established. His idea was good to unify the local budgets, but there were considerable difficulties in doing so.

Solovyov once thought about adopting the three-province and six-department system, and changing the content therein, and that would basically be all. You know, in terms of political system, China still has some system advantages only in the separation of departments and civil service examinations, but the content is becoming more and more rigid.

And Russia. In general, as far as the Russian Empire is concerned, it is all about the system. Russian legislation is characterized by "looseness" (the law does not regulate all important aspects of social relations and administrative procedures), which is compensated by administrative regulations, traditional and stable practices of bureaucratic relations, and informal connections.

There are so many things involved here, and in fact, an economic expert is needed. However, there are not many civil servants who understand economics, let alone those professionals.

Even if they have read Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations", they still have to adapt to it. Once they have adapted to the new economic system, Keynesianism will be around the corner.

Solovyov also had to thank Sir Desmond's outstanding performance in YM for this theoretical basis, which made him more familiar with this aspect.

Solovyov actually had an opportunity to stand out, which was to serve as Alexander's "external brain". After all, he knew a lot in this area and was not completely unable to handle the challenge.

It's like Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the two of them served as chief of staff for Blücher.

But he couldn't care less about so many things now. Solovyov knew that it would be a difficult job if he followed Alexander all day long. He remained silent, just like when Paul was there, waiting for orders, answering whatever was asked of him, and never doing anything beyond the scope of his duties.

Considering his father's limping appearance, Alexander was a bit hypocritical. Anyway, he didn't usually see Mr. Talleyrand with two Ls, so if there was a cripple in front of him, he wouldn't like it very much.

Moreover, Baron Sergei's ability is only to manage the family property. He is a typical manager. His ability in this regard lies in knowing various means. If Alexander needs a "property confiscation department", it may be of some use, but it is not very useful in other areas.

Count Stroganov was still quite worried about Alexander, both as a friend and as a minister. After all, Alexander had the problem of being ambitious and having a short-lived enthusiasm, which he had since childhood. If he were still the crown prince, he could have avoided some of these problems, but now he is the monarch of Russia and the leader of one of the few countries in the world with a large territorial size, so he needs to be more cautious in doing things.

Even whether the budget can be unified now requires attention to many issues.

After the first meeting of the secret committee, Alexander went to the Kurakin brothers, where Prince Alexei had to report the statistics of the confiscations.

"Misha, don't you want to go with His Majesty?"

"We go wherever the emperor tells us to go. This time he asked me to stay in the palace just to accompany you guys and see if we can come up with a set of rules. He also asked me to record them."

"If it's departmental reform, it's easy. Just change the brands first, but it's not that simple in financial terms."

After hearing what Stroganov said, Kochubey also said, "Taxation is also different in different regions. I remember that at the Imperial Council meeting, there were many debates about budget and taxation. Also, take a look at this report. I got it from a friend in Hanover when I was in Dresden."

“What report is this?”

"Adam, do you know that His Majesty is planning to use separate taxes and separate budgets for the territories of Poland and Lithuania?"

"I don't know yet. What is the emperor going to do?" Czartoryski was still more concerned about the situation in Poland.

"What I learned from Speranski is that Poland's taxation and budget are both based on separate tax rates. You have high taxes and high budgets, so you collect a lot, and you can use it, and you get a lot back."

"But this tax rate is much lower than that of an independent Poland. Your Majesty still has to keep his promise to me."

Czartoryski's goal was an independent Poland, at least in part, but Alexander himself was not very interested in this. He only promised to give Poland a great deal of autonomy, just as Paul mentioned in the edict, and now start investing in taxes and budgets. In this case, Poland can still gain a lot of benefits while being part of Russia.

But this was far from what the Polish prince thought. He still wanted an independent Poland, and Alexander actually verbally agreed to some things, but these people didn't know about it yet.

Czartoryski's goal was to become Russia's foreign minister, so that he would have some opportunities to sell his plans to Alexander in foreign policy.

But Solovyov didn't like this person. He had always coveted Louisa. It was true that she was his rival in love, but there was another serious problem, which was that the Poles always didn't know their own weight.
If Czartoryski had become foreign minister, he would have tried to sell his plan for Poland's independence.
At this time, the advantages of Maria Naryshkina can be seen. This Polish girl never asks for anything except Alexander's favor. Political issues are not something a woman of her status should care about. It must be mentioned that her status in both Poland and Russia is not low.

As for what Czartoryski was going to do, in fact, the other three official members of the committee and Speranski, who actually had the right to attend the meeting, were somewhat dissatisfied with his behavior of smuggling goods, but due to personal friendship and the Tsar's trust in him, they let it go and did not investigate further.

This "secret committee", which also included a 12-member standing committee, was still somewhat immature in terms of organization. After all, these people did not necessarily represent the will of the Tsar himself, and many of them represented the great nobles.

It seems that this has regressed to the middle period of the Queen's era. The people who can exert political influence have also changed from the Queen's lovers and good friends to Alexander's personal confidants and friends. The framework is very similar.

Solovyov did not act with Count Stroganov today, but was waiting for Speransky, who did not attend the first meeting. This Russian assistant secretary of state was just the son of a priest. His old father had served as the governor of the parish. He was able to study and come to Petersburg with the help of Prince Saltykov and Patriarch Samborski, and he was given the surname Speransky when he entered school.

Although Samborski liked the little boy, he liked Speranski's intelligence, so he sent him to the seminary and then came to St. Petersburg. However, the Orthodox seminaries at that time taught not only religion, but also science, philosophy, foreign languages, and many practical subjects.

He performed well here and was recommended by the metropolitan bishop to Prince Alexander Kurakin. The content of the interview was to quickly write letters to eleven people of different identities and departments. He completed this task smoothly and finished it all in one night. As a result, he officially became a secretary in the Russian civil service system instead of continuing to hold a church position.

Speransky's continued promotion and his outstanding performance as secretary to the Attorney General attracted the attention of Tsar Paul. However, because he was too young, he was not assigned to any department and remained as a personal secretary in the Attorney General's Office.

Solovyov knew that he was very loyal to Paul and Alexander, while also keeping a certain distance from many people. When Paul appointed him to a public office, he also gave him an annual salary increase of 1500 silver rubles. This favor was naturally particularly appreciated for a civil servant who was less than 30 years old and of humble origin.

His main task now was to prepare for Alexander's liberal reforms.

"It's a pity that you are late, but your Majesty has gone to see Prince Kuragin."

"That doesn't matter. I can wait here. I have to work 18 hours a day. Coming to the restaurant now is just a break. It's a good opportunity to sort out my thoughts before the emperor summons me."

Among Russian civil servants, it is quite rare to find someone who works so hard. No wonder he was only 29 years old and had always been receiving special allowances from the Tsar.

From an official perspective, given his background, he would soon become a state councilor and work beside Alexander on a daily basis.

"Soloviev, I remember you used to be the commander of the Guards. How come you are now serving as an aide-de-camp to His Majesty?"

“It’s all personnel arrangements, just like you left the attorney general’s office and are now the assistant secretary of state.”

"You are very suitable to be a civil servant. If you are promoted to colonel, it will be difficult to be a general. You can be a civil servant, either in the local government or in Petersburg. I think you can do well."

"As for being a civil servant, please spare me. What I fear most is red tape. The etiquette in the palace is better than the mountains of case files. And although I can work more than ten hours a day, I don't have the energy like you, who only rests four hours a day."

"It's not your fault. After all, you worked for the Grand Marshal and have never left the army since you were 13, right?"

"Yes, you checked my file?"

"Do you still remember the questioning of Korsakov? I remembered you then. Also, what did His Majesty say today?"

"It's mainly about finances. We haven't talked about anything else. When the emperor returns, he will summon you alone."

Speransky knew that the country's financial difficulties were also very serious. Paul's attitude before was relatively tough, which could be regarded as suppressing all the local nobles.

Alexander also wanted to promote liberalism, but his determination was not as strong as Paul's. He had known Paul when His Majesty was visiting the countryside. It was Prince Saltykov, the Grand Tutor, and Patriarch Samborsky who had noticed him and brought him to St. Petersburg.

So when it comes to loyalty, a person of his status and background is willing to do things according to the monarch's requirements. Moreover, although he does not come from a high-ranking family, he has very lofty ambitions. His wishes include liberating serfs, establishing a new constitution and implementing new policies.

Solovyov chatted with him for a while and found that since he was directly in charge of departmental affairs, he actually understood the situation better than the great nobles in St. Petersburg. In particular, he had studied the issues of the state system and knew where the resistance would appear.

Of course, Speransky also discovered that Solovyov had followed Paul on horseback to inspect the estate and the village several times, and he had a good understanding of the area.

"No matter what the villages granted by others are like, the villagers in my village are actually free, but only in the villages granted to me by the emperor. It's probably like what you said, 'state serfs' are only free when compared with 'landlord serfs'."

"I've actually thought about it. If the landlords themselves were to free the serfs, it would obviously be unlikely. The root cause is that the landlords rely on the manors to make a living, and they are unwilling to give up their interests. There are many cruel landlords like the Saltkova case. If the serfs are oppressed too much, with no food or place to live, they will always take risks."

The serfs' status was free, but they had no means of production. If the land was distributed, land annexation in Russia would not be alleviated, and it would also involve the buying and selling of serfs. It was only a few days ago that Alexander's new edict banned the buying and selling of serfs, which went a step further than Paul's ban on splitting up families to buy and sell serfs.

“There is still a lot that needs to be done to solve this problem.”

"Major, that's true. Do you have any ideas?"

"In Russia, it is impossible to do what the French did, because their republic is redistributing land and the old relationships are broken down. Russia cannot do it now because the resistance is too great, but it can use a certain amount of time to carry out the transformation." Of course, Solovyov would never mention surgery to remove the tumor. He could only prescribe medicine to solve the problem. The landlords in Russia were still very reactionary.

"You are right, but it is difficult for us to promote even the most basic three-day decree. The important thing is to improve the law during the legislative process. It is best to use written laws to restrict the behavior of landlords. The decree during the reign of His Majesty Paul is still not enough to restrict them."

But this road is very long. Considering Alexander's patience and his plan, it may be difficult to complete.

(End of this chapter)