Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 359 001 Solovyov's marriage was shelved because of his low social status

When we passed through Dresden, it was already January 1806.

The Elector of Saxony also entertained them. Saxony itself was an actual vassal of Prussia. When it went to foreign wars, the princes of Saxony acted together with Prussia.

The information Solovyov obtained from them was obviously the latest version.

The King of Prussia was tempted by the issue of the ownership of the Hanoverian territory. After the mediation failed, he had some ideas about Hanover under French control. However, Napoleon had taken some measures, just like trying to tease a donkey with a carrot.

In the court, it is indeed necessary to pay attention to the fact that several branches of the Elector of Saxony are also making some moves at this time.

Since the plan to pick up the two princes was shelved, he just focused on what he saw and heard along the way and would report back to St. Petersburg.

"That's it, Misha. If you want to find out the news, this is all you can find out when you get to Dresden. Besides, we have to prepare to return home."

After leaving Naples, Vasily Vasilyevich did not take the route of the Balkan Peninsula or Vienna, but returned home from the south because the Ottoman Empire was not honest either, but he had a manor in Dresden.

Moreover, he did have something to ask Solovyov.

"Misha, there are officers missing from every unit in the Guards. Where can we send them?"

"Vassily Vasilyevich, why are you asking me that?"

"I have been abroad for many years, but Europe is not at peace now, and my family is preparing to return to St. Petersburg. My sons have been to Berlin to visit their aunt recently, so they are not here, but they will return to St. Petersburg to serve in the army."

"Then the Guards Cavalry is more suitable. Of course, it does not include the Cossacks. They have always recruited soldiers from the Black Sea Cossacks."

Vasily Dolgorukov smiled and shook his head: "But my family are all infantrymen, you know that."

What the retired lieutenant general said is also true.
After all, except for Mikhail, one of the three brothers of Prince Peter, who was in the hussars, most of the Dolgorukov family were from the infantry. Except for Prince Krimsky's line, there were very few people with real power to lead troops. Prince Vasily's father was even the commander-in-chief of the army.

If he had not offended Paul because of his faith and his father-in-law was suspected of murdering Peter III, he would not have been deported. Even if he wanted to return to his country now, he would need to be reintroduced into the upper class.

Of course, he was not familiar with the domestic situation. After all, telling him about the domestic military garrison in the letter would easily anger Paul and Alexander and would also easily lead to secret leaks.

But verbally speaking, there is no problem with this, and it also involves finding a job.

"Then the general regiment is better. There are more positions for officers in the four battalions. Apart from those of us who were transferred from outside, not many people are three years old."

He likes to speak half-heartedly, but everyone can understand once they hear this.

It's because Russian aristocrats would register their boys in the army to gain experience when they were still sucking on pacifiers.

Solovyov's promotion was slow, probably because he was already thirteen years old when he was registered. Obviously, in terms of qualifications, he was at a disadvantage, if you want to find an open reason.

If he hadn't had so many military merits, when Alexander was looking for someone to take the blame for the Battle of Austerlitz, he would have been ignored because of his military merits.

There will still be more bloody incidents involving seniority in the Russian army in the future.

Vasily Vasilyevich planned to arrange for his eldest son to join the Guards, while his second son Nicholas was going to be a diplomat.

After all, his son, unlike his brothers and old father, was accustomed to military life when he was young. At that time, Dolgorukov, the descendant of Rurik, was attacked by Empress Anna because his military merits were reduced and his life was hard.

In the next two generations, not many people were willing to join the army, and those who filled the officer positions were always the less well-off among the great nobles, as well as the small and medium-sized nobles.

And then there are those foreigners.

After this defeat, the performances of officers from various factions within the Russian army were actually quite shocking.

Never mind whether they are local aristocratic officers or German officers, these two big groups are not that good.

The only reliable officers were the guards of Grand Duke Constantine, and the young and middle-aged officers brought by Suvorov and Kutuzov respectively. This amount of manpower was indeed not enough. There were hundreds of regimental units in the Russian army, and the people who needed to be filled included the regimental commander, the company commander, and the flag-bearer. There were still many officers to be added.

Alexander's idea was indeed to recruit officers from among the children of aristocrats, but he did not relax the restriction on officers being hereditary aristocrats.

In the civil service system, one has to wait until the eighth grade of civil servants to obtain the status of hereditary nobles. But in the military service, as long as one reaches the fourteenth grade of second lieutenant, he is a hereditary noble.

Those soldiers who fight hard must also gain great merit to have a chance.

For example, by saving the cannon and the flag, or by capturing an enemy officer, as was done by Dolokhov.

However, when recruited as recruits from the nobility, these young people are often rather incompetent.

Prince Vasily was thinking of finding a familiar young man in the Guards who could help his son, but there was no other suitable person.

Because of Prince Krimsky's relationship, their family is considered a not-so-small faction in the Russian army, and they also have a close relationship with the Moscow garrison.

It would actually be very beneficial for Solovyov to get close to him.

But he didn't expect this, it was just that when the old prince was in the country, he took a lot of care of him because of his background.

"If Vasya joins the army in the future, he will need your help. You are young and can help him for a long time."

"It's just that the noble ladies nowadays don't like officers very much. I saw them a while ago. When they were arranging marriages, they deliberately didn't want officers, especially officers from the Royal Guards."

"That's because they look like daredevils, and you don't."

At this point, Solovyov also knew that his appearance in front of people was somewhat impressive. Those troublemakers in the Guards were all causing trouble, but he was just secretly meeting with his lover. He was very capable at work and never delayed his work, which made people feel praised.

But Vasily Vasilyevich had not yet considered the possibility of marriage in the future.

If he returns to his country, he has to maintain good relations with Prince Saltykov's family. After all, this prince is a tutor and has always had a high status in St. Petersburg, and his wife is the princess of the Dolgorukov family.

Although they came from different branches, and this person was the aunt of Vasily Yurievich who was going to introduce a wife to Solovyov last time.

And the daughter-in-law that Vasily Yurievich wanted to introduce to Solovyov happened to be Vasily Vasilyevich's eldest daughter Ekaterina.

Speaking of which, this single nobleman was very good at intelligence work. Although his intelligence on the enemy was not very good, he was very accurate in obtaining intelligence on the upper-class aristocrats.

But when he returned to St. Petersburg and stayed at his aunt's house, he mentioned these things.

"Vasya, you seldom come to my place."

"Aunt, you know. In a few days, when spring comes, we will have to return to the garrison. This expedition is not a pleasant one."

"Ah, I know about this. What have you been doing recently?"

"I plan to introduce wives to some talented noble sons, especially those who have made contributions on the battlefield."

"Ah, who do you like?"

Vasily Yurievich mentioned a few first, and his aunt also listened and found them all interesting.

"The girls you found for the Volkonsky boys are all good, but they have to go to Moscow to meet them. I think the Pushkins are okay."

"Also, I was thinking of Prince Krimsky's granddaughter, who will soon be 15 years old, and it's time for her to find a husband."

"Ah, that child is a well-educated and good girl, and she is also very pretty. When she was still a child, you could tell that she would be a beauty in the future. Now, I don't know what she looks like?"

In fact, the princess wanted to choose a suitable daughter-in-law for her youngest son Sergei. When she saw the small portrait brought by Vasily Yurievich, she was very satisfied.

Therefore, she also valued the Krimsky Prince's family, which had a higher status in the Dolgorukov family and was comparable to her own family. After all, when the old prince was still alive, he left a large number of estates near Moscow. Because his son Prince Mikhail had no son, all his property was left to Prince Vasily.

The inheritance was a lot of property, but also a lot of debts. However, a prince of this status could still bring a lot of dowry.

In Russia, it is difficult for girls to get married, mainly because of lack of property.

A typical example of this type is Sonya from the Rostov family. She had always lived in Count Rostov's house but ultimately failed to get married.

This is obviously different from the customs in the East, but in China, betrothal gifts and dowries both exist, and there is nothing to say about it.

Thinking of this, the princess was indeed quite curious.

How can she, her nephew, introduce him to this girl?

"Vasya, how did you arrange it?"

"If Prince Krimsky's granddaughter wants to get married, she must arrange for a young man with military merit. I have my eyes on two people. One is Colonel Solovyov, Prince Bagration's 'little follower'. Although he is young, he is very courageous. He has made many military achievements at the age of 24. He is the best among young officers. The other is Count Kamensky the Younger. He has a good status and is already a general."

These two arrangements involved the two most meritorious factions within the Russian army's native factions, the faction of Marshal Suvorov and the faction of Marshal Kamensky.

The former's son has married a girl from the Naryshkin family. He has many disciples, but the only ones who are not married are the charming middle-aged man Miloradovich and the last one to enter the sect, Solovyov.

But the first one was obviously not suitable, and he himself had no plans to get married. It was Vasily Yurievich who asked himself.

Solovyov was very young, and Vasily Yurievich's brother-in-law, Prince Gorchakov, was Suvorov's nephew. He once mentioned that his uncle's last disciple was very capable. When he was asked about the expedition, he had no objection, so naturally he wanted to arrange this marriage.

Then he continued: "But Count Kamensky seems to be very interested in the girl from the Orlov family, so I am considering this Solovyov. Misha is quite capable. He served as a guard in the Guards and even captured the flag."

"Although this boy is capable, his family background is too low, and he is the descendant of a smuggler. He only got to his position by clinging to the Menshikov family. No matter how capable he is, he is not worthy of little Katya."

Vasily Yurievich looked at his aunt and found it outrageous. He couldn't guess what she was trying to do.

But because it was her nephew who was here, the aunt did not hide anything.

"That boy embarrassed me at the salon with a bunch of half-understood words. Vasya, if you arrange a blind date for little Katya, your cousin Seryosha is also single."

"Aunt, this is not appropriate. I heard that Vasily Vasilyevich is very optimistic about Misha. Moreover, he is the emperor's aide-de-camp, and Grand Duke Constantine is also optimistic about him. If it were not for the emperor's personnel arrangement, I'm afraid he would have become the head of the Semyonovsky Regiment. His future is bright."

"Vasya, you must obey your aunt."

However, Vasily Yurievich was very good at making arrangements. He didn't want to argue with his aunt about this, nor did he want to let Solovyov down.

"Aunt, if you really want to make this arrangement, I can postpone talking to that young man about the marriage proposal. If you can make the arrangement, you can wait until Vasily Vasilyevich comes back. His family went from Naples to Lausanne, and they should be returning home via Dresden soon. By then, you can make your own arrangements according to what was agreed upon before. I made this arrangement because I saw that Solovyov had a good future, and I had the idea of ​​finding this young talent for my little cousin to marry."

This aunt is indeed very strong. Although the younger generation of women from the Dolgorukov family are all gentle and virtuous, these aunts are not easy to mess with.

This is how things are in Prince Saltykov's household. No wonder people say that the old prince is a tutor and can take charge of state affairs when Alexander is not in the palace, but when he returns home, he is just a wimp who can't even decide how many oysters to put on the plate.

He couldn't help either, so it all depended on Solovyov's luck, but the person involved didn't know that yet.

(End of this chapter)