Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 401 043 Do you two consider this a successful hand-holding?

The summer in St. Petersburg is easier to endure than in Moscow, as it is close to the sea and does not have an inland climate.

By August, everything seems to be normal. People are doing what they should do, whether it is work, life, love, or anything else, everything is proceeding step by step.

But at this time, Alexander was about to leave St. Petersburg and go to Berlin.

In July of the previous year, Frederick William III had already planned to declare war on France, but because the Hanover issue had never been resolved, Prussia, which always liked to take advantage of small gains, had not made up its mind.

It was Alexander who ultimately vetoed the new temporary peace agreement between France and Russia, and he finally made up his mind.

But France and Russia do not share a border, and the French army has not even taken control of the few remaining Russian territories in Germany, as well as Oldenburg, which has always had good relations with Russia. There is obviously no chance of an immediate opening fire between the two sides, and no neutral country will open its border at this time, so there is no good opportunity for Russia.

At this time, Alexander decided to visit Berlin to discuss the details of France policy with Frederick William III and Queen Louise, whether to use diplomatic means or direct force.

It seems that only the pressure from the outside world and the temptation of certain benefits can make Prussia give in. The queen's proposal is more courageous than the king's, and she does not want to take advantage in such a cowardly way. However, it is always the king who makes the final decision.

Now the Tsar himself set out for East Prussia, and there was a lot of discussion in various occasions in the city of St. Petersburg about whether to go to war with France again.

At least it seemed that the Russian army had recovered a lot from the defeat in the Battle of Austerlitz in 1805, and could accumulate strength to go to war with France, and the number of troops that could be dispatched once again exceeded .

But at this moment, the Ministry of War, the General Staff, and the Quartermaster General's Office were very quiet.

The plan had already been made, and we were just waiting for the order from the Tsar himself.

At this time, Solovyov had time to meet the Dolgorukov family in a villa near the Peterhof Summer Palace.

According to the rules, when a man and a woman go on a blind date, they always have to be in a separate room, and the parents of both parties have to be outside the door.

"Vassily Vasilyevich, our family is also taken care of by your family. When I was an adjutant to General Grushetsky, your sister Yevdokia Vasilyevna was also very familiar with our family. How should I put it?"

Baron Sergei was a bit long-winded. If you were to say he was trying to curry favor with the boss, it wouldn't be the case, after all, he already had connections. But when facing his old boss's brother-in-law, he couldn't help but be a little more long-winded.

"We are all familiar with each other now, Baron Sergei, thank you for helping us take care of the manor."

"I will do my best to solve the problems in the manor, but some debts still need time to be resolved and cannot be completed all at once."

"Yes, there is no way to solve it immediately. It is just that we both need to arrange for your son Mikhail and your daughter Ekaterina to meet here. If it is appropriate, with the grace of their highnesses the Emperor and the Empress, it will also further deepen our friendship."

Let the two families be closer.

Having said that, Baron Sergei's whole family is here, and Yulia seems to be very happy that her good sister may become her sister-in-law. She has a simple mind and does not think too much about it.

As for Prince Vasily's family, his two sons were on duty, so he only brought his wife and two daughters here.

As for the matchmaker, it was not Louisa herself. The Queen just made some suggestions. Then Alexander turned around and talked to Count Stroganov, and asked his wife Sophia to act as a matchmaker.

She also brought her children here, and the three parties had a close relationship for Solovyov.

If successful, the already close cooperative relationship would probably be transformed into a relationship of relatives. Such a marriage would be a good thing for the Solovyov family, which is of a lower status.

"Then we should give Misha and Katya some space, ask them to be alone together, and we can wait outside."

In the large reception room outside the villa, both families were sitting there, Solovyov's sisters were together with the Stroganov girls, as well as Sophia from the Dolgorukov family. The girls got along very happily, and they first surrounded the little count - the child's parents were both very beautiful, and naturally he was very popular with girls since he was a child.

Before entering the reception room, Solovyov looked over here and found it very interesting.

Anton is still too young, and to the older sisters, he is just a "pendant". If they want to play together, they have to rely on the little count as a playmate.

"Katya, we can go in and talk, maybe we can understand it more deeply."

"Okay."

Just like that, the two of them entered the small room inside.

But at this time, Solovyov suddenly thought of Pierre. It was true that he had married a beautiful woman under the foolish plan of Prince Kurakin, but the people of the Kurakin family would more or less covet other people's property.

This kind of thing is very common in the upper class society.

Pierre
Solovyov did not think about it any further, but just said: "We are already familiar with each other, but this time, I did not expect Her Majesty the Queen to arrange it this way."

"So what? Brother Mishka, you are also a frequent visitor to Her Majesty the Queen. You are either sent by Her Majesty or summoned."

To be honest, it was difficult for his personal maids to discover his secret actions.

"We can meet often in St. Petersburg, and in Dresden in the past. But I think that such a lifelong event must be agreed upon by both parties before a final decision can be made, and sufficient time must be given. If it is witnessed by God's humble and pious servants, there must always be time to prepare to complete the marriage vows. You are still young, if you don't mind my age."

"Compared to those sisters who married old men, I am still lucky. I was introduced to blind dates twice, one was a senior civil servant and the other was a promising military officer, and they were both acquaintances. Speaking of which, Prince Sergei... Given the rumors, he is indeed not suitable. Moreover, His Highness Nicholas is a child who speaks without restraint. He said..."

When little Katya mentioned this, she blushed a little, and her face started to feel hot.

"It doesn't matter to you, right?"

"It's okay, but although His Highness Nicholas is young, he is a little precocious and even said that he wanted to find a wife for his master."

Nicholas.
This boy is really interesting. He is tall and strong, and doesn't look like a 10-year-old child. He is also a bit precocious, and he wants to find a wife for his teacher.

It seems that he has put it into practice. He likes to be a matchmaker, which is very similar to Paul. However, he must not learn the strange behavior of the previous Tsar and the bad luck. He could not comment on Nicholas's behavior, but just smiled in return, and then slowly said: "This is inevitable, not only His Highness Nicholas in the palace, but also many precocious children nowadays."

"You mean the students of the Tsarskoye Selo Preparatory School?"

"yes."

While they were chatting inside, there were people outside listening.

"How is it now?"

Prince Vasily was more concerned about the progress, as it always involved his daughter's lifelong event.

"We were just chatting, Prince Vasily. As you know, they already knew each other, so it was natural for them to chat. It was just difficult for them to get to the point. But this was a good thing, at least they were more in agreement with each other."

"That's good. I also hope Katya's marriage will be happy, not like what the fortune-teller old Gypsy woman said."

"You are still like that. But not everyone is like my husband, who is always a bit rational. You know what he did in Paris."

Solovyov's progress was relatively smooth, but it was difficult to get to the point.

He thought about getting married, but not someone like little Katya, whose age was just above the age at which the gendarmerie would arrest him. A girl who was a little older might be more suitable.

"As for when we were in Paris, it wasn't that great. You know, the environment was not what we imagined. Katya, it was a good choice for you to live in the countryside. When the northeast wind blows over Paris, there will be a special smell. I think the drainage system should be rebuilt. Speaking of the drainage system, I want to build a manor of a suitable size on the land that His Majesty gave me."

"So, which style are you going to use?"

"Perhaps the Rococo style is more suitable. I want to use some fresh colors in the reception room, such as light green. Although it is more difficult to mix the colors, the effect will be very good."

"Like the color of the dress Madame de Pompadour wore?"

"That's true, Katya. But this color could easily be mistaken for a bed sheet or a curtain."

"If it were me, I would prefer sky blue."

"As far as the color is concerned, this color is not bad."

Solovyov also noticed that the clothes that little Katya wore today were indeed a sky blue empire dress, matched with a white shawl, which felt like clouds on her shoulders. As for her preference, it should be this kind of pleasant color.

“But it’s a bit difficult to use these colors in the glaze of porcelain.”

For example, the inventor of the Slender Gold style, Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty Zhao Ji, who is a traveler in Wuguocheng, had this glaze color in his Ru kiln. It was not until the end of the 20th century that it was successfully replicated. But is it the same material as the original?

But the mention of these bright colors obviously also attracted the attention of little Katya.

"Brother Mishka, you really know a lot. If you can get porcelain of this color."

"That requires researching the formula, and the Peterhof factory can't make this kind of porcelain. If you want to order it, you have to ask the factories in France and Italy. In short, we don't have the core technology in this area, and it's unlikely to find it in China."

"Yes."

"And we have to take into account that the French like to strike, while we Russians are more used to queues."

As for these jokes, he has told them many times.

As time went by, it became clear that little Katya was still a willing listener, at least what Solovyov said could still attract her.

From architecture to art, and also involving music, there are many similarities in the end.

This way, things went relatively smoothly, unlike Pierre, who spent a long time talking about "Sergey Kuzmich" but didn't know what to say.

The situation was going smoothly on both sides, and Prince Vasily was satisfied. After all, Solovyov was a promising officer, and he might even be promoted to general. According to the rule of promoting colonel to major general, he would probably be able to achieve that position soon.

For this old nobleman who had been promoted to lieutenant general in the army and later became a second-class civil servant, he was somewhat envious of these more capable young people who all had good futures.

If one becomes a general at the age of twenty-five or twenty-six, it is because of military merit. Since the time of Paul, such young and middle-aged generals have appeared in the Russian army, adding a lot of fresh blood.

He was a little anxious now. After chatting with Baron Sergei outside about the situation in the Moscow Manor, he roughly understood the situation.

But what about my daughter?
In terms of wealth, the Solovyov family is not bad. At least it has exceeded the wealth accumulated by the old baron when he was engaged in smuggling.

As Prince Vasily, the Dolgorukov family, a famous Rurik family, obviously did not care about the hundreds of thousands of rubles. Although they had debts outside, with their family's wealth, it was more than enough to prepare enough dowry.

After waiting for a while, Solovyov finally came out holding little Katya's hand.

He also had to take the little girl's feelings into consideration and only spoke to Countess Sophia and Prince Vasily alone.

"I am always worried that war will come, and during this period of time, I always have to give Katya some time to better understand what she needs and know me. This engagement must be carried out in secret. Count Tickenhausen died on the battlefield. He is Count Kutuzov's son-in-law and an acquaintance of mine among the aides-de-camp. How can I put it? If it is peacetime, I can generally do it to make Katya happy, but war may come at any time. If I am called to the front again, no matter whether I am in the staff or in the front-line troops, I will always face danger."

"I understand your thoughts, Misha. You are seriously considering my daughter."

"Therefore, even if we are going to get engaged, we have to keep it secret, which is good for Katya. Once she feels that it is not suitable, or if something happens to me, Katya is still free and can live the life she wants."

(End of this chapter)