Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 356 058 How can I not meet Goethe when I come to Weimar? (Part )

Maria gave birth to a son in September. The child is not even a hundred days old now. Now that her body has recovered a little after giving birth, she comes to take care of the child herself.

Speaking of which, her physical fitness is indeed good. She is the one who inherited the most from Queen Mother Maria.

Just when she had fed her child and coaxed him to sleep, a maid quietly came to the door of her bedroom.

Maria was afraid of waking the child, so she tiptoed to the door wearing her coat.

"Your Highness, there are two Russian officers in the palace. They appear to be dressed in the uniforms of the Guards you mentioned."

After hearing this, Maria knew from the recent news published in Weimar newspapers that the people must have been sent by the two imperial brothers.

"Have you found out who these two people are?"

"No, Your Highness. When I saw him outside the door, I only saw a short, handsome young colonel. The Cossack behind him was quite masculine."

"Sophia, you're being crazy again."

For Maria, when she came to Weimar, the maids arranged for her by the court were reliable and hardworking, and their diligence did not even seem like a group of noble ladies. However, there was a problem: they were too easily infatuated with men.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness, but it seems that the young colonel is here to take you back to Petersburg."

"Ah, that's not good."

When Maria heard this, she knew that her brother must have lost the battle, otherwise he would not have sent anyone over.

"Sophia, go get the nanny over. I'll get dressed. I'll also be summoning them later."

Maria went back to dress up, because she was not suitable to meet guests in this state, and she also had to meet the guests from her parents' home.

After all, Russia is a big country, and these small countries that have formed alliances with it are still counting on this big backer to protect them.

In addition, Maria's husband did not have a strong personality, which gave Maria a lot of say in the court.

Now that she has given birth to a legitimate son, her parents-in-law and husband take even better care of her. If it weren't for the limited size of the Weimar court, they would have prepared a grand ceremony for her.

Of course, the local cultural undertakings are extremely prosperous, with two outstanding poets, Goethe and Schiller. It's a pity that Schiller passed away a few months ago, and now only Goethe is here.

But with Wolfgang Goethe here, he can already overshadow everyone else in the German literary world.

Maria came to the right place. She and her second sister Elena were both enthusiastic patrons of cultural undertakings. Goethe admired her literature, music, painting and sculpture, and Maria herself maintained a long-term connection with the famous Russian poet Vasily Zhukovsky.

When she summoned the two officers, she also discovered that it was Solovyov who was walking in front.

"Misha, I can imagine that my brother sent you here."

However, Solovyov knew the temper of this little girl. Although she was easy to coax, she always squeezed his brain cells.

Seeing his embarrassed look, Bao Hong found it quite funny.

An officer of the Guards who was not afraid of even Napoleon and behaved properly even in front of the Emperor and Archduke Constantine was somewhat embarrassed in front of this prince.

Although Bao Hong was also a Cossack of the Guards, Solovyov had already gone abroad when he came to St. Petersburg, so it is unlikely that he knew that Solovyov was restrained by Maria in the palace.

"Your Highness, I am relieved to see that you look so well. I can then return to Petersburg and report to the Emperor."

"If you want to take me back, there's no need to be so anxious. Maybe peace will return soon."

Queen Mother Maria was passionate about politics and had a strong addiction to human beings, but the several daughters she raised were all different.

It is obvious that the three married daughters are not keen on politics and they all like art very much. As for leading troops to fight, they only play the "King's Game" on the map when playing in the palace, and they don't have much in-depth understanding of it.

Only Catherine, who had not yet married and always wanted to find a queen of a big country, was more enthusiastic about this. But her level was like her mother's, and she would not have the opportunity to accumulate experience in the palace.

Therefore, she did not have this sense of crisis.

"Yes, that's what His Royal Highness the Duke said. We need to wait for mediation."

"But since you are here, you can come and join my literary salon."

After all, Maria is not even 20 years old yet. She is actually just a teenage girl and naturally still a passionate and lively young lady.

Speaking of which, the way she named her child was really a patchwork, as she named her father, father-in-law, husband, and two brothers.

According to his previous experience of working illegally for this girl, if you refuse her, you have to be careful of her tears and temper, so Solovyov could not refuse.

As for how Solovyov discovered it, it was because he had seen her acting coquettishly in front of Tsar Paul when he was on duty. Paul favored his third daughter the most, and he doted on her even more after she was almost disfigured by smallpox.

Speaking of which, if the old emperor knew about the humiliating defeat of the Russian army, he would probably roll around in his coffin in anger.

And since Maria dressed up carefully, she did invite quite a few guests.

In addition to her husband, Duke Karl Frederick of Saxe-Weimar, there were Maria's sister-in-law Caroline Louise and brother-in-law Karl Bernhard.

The former is willing to play with his sister-in-law who is of similar age, but the latter prefers mathematics, especially geometry, and is not keen on these things in literary salons.

However, he had to come because of his sister-in-law's invitation.

However, he was not without companions. A young scholar who passed through Weimar from Brunswick also came here.

As for Solovyov, thank God his jaw was not dislocated when he introduced himself.

It is said that no matter what he does, he always ends up being the worst, and this time is no exception.

If steamships were to be built, there were experts in this field among the royalist exiles; if factories were to be established, many experts had already been recruited;

He wanted to build water conservancy projects in his hometown, and he met Bellzoni in Rome.

This time in the Weimar court, the host was Maria and the central figure was Goethe. Solovyov could play a supporting role because of his experience in translating poetry and novels and his identity as an Oriental scholar.

However, because the two families of Saxe-Weimar and Brunswick had some friendship, the Duke of Brunswick sent Gauss to Weimar to teach the young Duke.

Gauss was originally at the University of Göttingen, but later transferred to the University of Helmstedt in his hometown of Brunswick. The old Duke of Brunswick took good care of him, not only sponsoring his studies and research, but also arranging a tutor for him at the university in his hometown.
One of the issues Solovyov has been considering recently is the need to improve Russia's canal system in order to improve shipping, which also involves his own business.

This guy, who came from a family of profiteers, obtained the monopoly on the steamship patent, and now he also needs to cooperate with the water transportation network.

At the same time, water network transportation was also very important during the First Industrial Revolution.

If we want to improve the water transportation network, we need to dig new canals and improve the canal network that has been built in the past. This requires surveying and mapping, and of course, mathematicians. Moreover, the Russian Academy of Sciences really needs an outstanding mathematician to preside over the calculation of astronomical observations and the construction of the Department of Mathematics of the St. Petersburg Imperial University. After Euler's death, the Russian mathematics community really needed a mathematician from Western Europe to help develop the country's mathematics. You should know that Russia's level of mathematics, physics and chemistry was very strong during the imperial period, and it was also very strong during the Soviet period. But now, experts are also needed.

However, because of the training and care given to him by the Duke of Brunswick, Gauss also rejected the invitation from the Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg.

Such a mathematician is truly a talent. If we don't poach him, we will feel itchy and uncomfortable.

But when he was chatting with Gauss, Maria started coughing.

This is a literary salon, not an academy of sciences!
She was still quite cute when she was angry. Solovyov didn't realize that this girl was interested in him before she got married. His mind was all on Louisa.

Now, he also didn't notice it, and the people around him didn't notice it either.

As a literary master, Goethe was able to stay calm. Gauss's name as a child prodigy was known to the whole of Europe, and he was also a guest of the young Duke.

As for Baron Solovyov, he had heard of him when he went to St. Petersburg. Now it seems that he is a young man who is both talented in literature and martial arts. As for what he asked Gauss, it was a very interesting question.

Is there another planet besides Uranus?
Solovyov had a basic understanding of advanced mathematics, so he was not too embarrassed when asking questions.

Gauss's interest was also aroused. After all, Uranus' orbit was slightly offset, which was also a focus of astronomers' attention recently.

However, it is difficult to explain clearly at the moment.

"We can discuss this another day, Mr. Colonel."

"Perhaps you could consider conducting research in St. Petersburg. Russia is so large that observations can be made in several places at the same time. The calculated data should be more reliable."

He was always able to accurately grasp the pain points, but Gauss still politely declined the invitation.

"Thank you for your kindness, but His Royal Highness the Duke of Brunswick has been supporting me, and it is more convenient to conduct research in my hometown."

"Come to think of it, the old duke also gave me some advice before, but we are both soldiers, and our discussion was about military theory."

Although his approach seemed abrupt, his identity was clear. Gauss knew the relationship between Solovyov and the Duke of Brunswick and his son, and his attitude softened.

Solovyov grasped another key point. Prussia might be doomed next year. By then, the Duke of Brunswick's duchy would still be destroyed for several years. If the old duke was unlucky, he would die on the battlefield.
Although it was a bit fatalistic, it was indeed a cause for concern. If the Duchy of Brunswick was gone, the observatory that the old duke had promised to build for Gauss would definitely fail.

At that time, we will invite Gauss to St. Petersburg. Since he can transfer from Göttingen to his hometown to complete his doctoral thesis, the treatment between Göttingen and St. Petersburg can be made clear.

Of course, there is a small problem. Although Gauss has made great academic achievements, he extremely hates writing books and teaching, and hopes to focus most of his energy on academic research.

No wonder there is a joke that when his wife (his second wife) was critically ill, he was still working hard.
When it comes to this, Solovyov thinks it is not a problem and there will always be a way to solve it in the future.

As for the Cossack Bao Hong, he looked confused beside him. He couldn't understand mathematics, and he was not very good at poetry when it came to poetry.

If he had played the piano and sang, performing traditional Cossack lyric songs for Her Highness Maria and Mr. Goethe, he would have had no problem.

But whether it was mathematics, Cossacks, or cavalry, there were too many people who burned books and buried scholars alive among these military forces.

After being asked a lot of questions by Solovyov, Gauss felt that the literary salon was worthwhile.
However, when discussing science, apart from the two people who had just had a heated discussion, the little Duke Karl Bernhard, a hard-working child, was very interested.

You know, this little duke was not born in vain. He later made some achievements in geometry and even published papers on the construction of regular polygons.

It seems that he will be an artilleryman in the future. After all, the emperor of Corsica who likes cannons also has some achievements in geometry. If you want to be a good artilleryman, you must learn mathematics well and be proficient in measurement.

After some "extreme tug of war", Gauss could only agree to visit St. Petersburg for academic exchanges in the future, which was already a great success.

Of course, the observatories of many universities in Russia could be deployed to him, so it was still a very tempting offer.

As for what to do next, let’s get back to the topic.

After all, the literary salon organized by Maria mainly discussed literature rather than science.

Gauss spent the rest of his time answering questions from the little duke. It was not easy for such a famous teacher to come to Weimar.

What Goethe wanted to bring up were some topics that interested him very much, especially Solovyov's certain level of knowledge in "Oriental Studies".

When Goethe was young, "China fever" was still popular in Europe, but not many genuine products were seen. Even Mr. Voltaire was just a middleman.

What Solovyov had in his hands were directly from first-hand materials, which were translated by him personally, and were obviously closer to the original appearance of Chinese literature.

The distant East was still able to arouse the interest of this literary giant.

Of course, when he was in St. Petersburg, he had already come into contact with the picture book of Romance of the Three Kingdoms.

As for Solovyov, he has been updating his knowledge base all the time, and he also has some other content.

For example, some "dialogues" with oriental characteristics and the knowledge of Confucius from Shandong should be of interest to writers and philosophers.

(End of this chapter)