Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The Russian army won, and Solovyov only captured two villages to give his army a place to stay.

As for other things, he had no time to think about them now.

But when he passed the Astrakhan Tatar Cavalry Regiment, he suddenly decided to stop here.

The Tatars saluted him on horseback.

In theory, conscripted cavalry regiments have been rarely used in Russia since the time of Queen Elizabeth, and the Seven Years' War was the last large-scale conscription. The Kalmyk cavalry archers were rarely conscripted afterwards because the Torghut tribe returned east during the time of the Queen.

The Crimean Tatars, who were conscripted even more often, may have been less loyal than Tatars elsewhere.

"Sir, it is an honor for you to come to our place. Please try our trivet."

"It looks really good, is it freshly made?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Can the brothers who were recruited also eat?"

"It's not something you can eat often. This is prepared for the leaders."

Solovyov thought about it and realized that there were some things he could not change.

"Your robe is well made. Who made it?"

"It's a tailor who is with the army here, Nikolay Ulyanin. He is a famous craftsman in Astrakhan."

If he was addressed like that, Solovyov would not realize who this person was. Even if he called the tailor, it would be the same. Apart from his bald head, you could not associate him with his mentor.

Although Solovyov had been here for a long time and was even familiar with the various forms of transcription, he did not have such a rich imagination and could not have thought that the surname could be transcribed.

"Are you Ulyainen?"

"Yes, sir."

"Have you always been in Astrakhan?"

"No, sir. I was in Nizhny Novgorod, and there I was freed from the landowner, Master Brekhov, and I first lived in a rented room there, and then I came to Astrakhan."

"It's always good to have a skill. Can you read?"

"It's still a bit difficult to read, sir. Besides, the officials in our government are always changing. Sometimes they can't speak Russian well, and I don't know any foreign language."

In his opinion, the way Kalmyks and Tatars speak is not considered a foreign language.

When Solovyov saw him, he thought that this man was honest, a little clever, and just a small craftsman who made a living by his skills. Naturally, he was more sympathetic to this kind of people.

When he thought about this, he realized that he had been with Paul for a long time, and would naturally be influenced by some of his former boss's habits. In addition, he was very sympathetic to civilians and serfs, but not the kind of condescending sympathy.

"That's fine, but if officials don't know Russian, they won't be able to understand the people's sentiments. They can only sit in the government office."

"Sir, you are right about that. The petitions we have there must be shown to you by the civil servants."

"Ah, that's inevitable. Being a soldier is different from being an official. Ulyanin, who are your family members?"

When asked about this, the leader of the Tatars nearby said, "This honest man is almost 40 years old and still hasn't married. With his ability, even if he made a little money, he should have married a wife a long time ago."

"But as for a wife, there will always be one. I see that you have good skills, so I want to ask you a favor."

"Sir, you are too polite to say that."

"After all, you are older than me, Nikolay. Besides, I am not a landowner from Nizhny Novgorod. My family is from Ryazan. The landlords there are generally very kind to others. We will show some respect to the elderly servants around us. What's more, you are a free man who lives on your own ability. If you were among the Tatars, you would be a 'Darahan'."

At this point, the Tatars nearby, hearing the word "Darahan", which means free man, all nodded more or less.

It would be a good thing if I could be a free craftsman.

"Uryanin, please follow me."

Since the young general was so polite, Ulyanin followed him and found a mule for him to ride.

When they arrived at their residence, Solovyov also motioned for the tailor to come in.

Although Ulyanin didn't know what the master meant specifically, he probably still needed to use his skills, so he began to think about some issues.

As for when he entered the room and saw the fabric, he probably understood.

"Sit down, Nicholas."

Solovyov didn't know the other party's patronymic, so he addressed him casually. If he had called him by his honorific title, it would have seemed that the young master was looking down on ordinary civilians and serfs too much.

"Master, what do you want me to do?"

"I got some good materials in Stockholm before, and I wanted to make a beautiful cloak for my wife. It was when I saw Noyan's robe that I thought of asking the tailor. Nikolai, I think you are honest and reliable, and your craftsmanship is not bad, so naturally I want to ask you to come and see how to make it."

"Master, these are all good materials. I am afraid my craftsmanship is..."

But he is not a chameleon. Solovyov also knows that small craftsmen are sometimes fearful and if they don't do things well for their master, they will be in trouble.

If we insist on saying that he belongs to Chekhov's system, he is probably a "small civil servant" type.

"It doesn't matter. I'm very rich, and you just do what you want. Leading troops to fight or being an official is the job of masters like us, but many people can't do it well. But for a craftsman like you who has a skill, don't be modest."

As for the deposit, although Solovyov was never willing to spend money on himself, he was still willing to pay for his wife and lover.

But his wife and lover, in terms of dowry and their own property, often did not require him to pay any money, which was quite outrageous.

This time, he used checks instead of a purse. "On the way back, you can go to a bank in St. Petersburg or Moscow to exchange for silver rubles. The paper ruble has depreciated too much recently, and silver coins are not convenient to carry. I just want you to give me a pattern first, so I can see how it goes."

"Sir, I haven't seen the lady. Fortunately, it is a cloak. If it is made into a suitable dress."

"Yes, but Katya is so tall that her chin is about at my shoulder. When I hug her, her hair is always at this position. Although we are married, she is still young. If..."

"Master, please tell me according to the size. I can read and count."

"That'll be easy!"

Solovyov then told the story again, this time based on Katya's figure. After all, he was more familiar with his wife.

".That's about it, Nikolai, what do you think?"

"These materials are enough. We can even make some clothes for you to wear in the future."

There are even more materials, and it is indeed more pleasant to do things with honest people.

"Well, I'll do it your way. You can follow me for a while after the pattern is made."

He himself doesn't even know that he can be quite destructive sometimes, especially after gaining some power.

However, Nikolay Ulyanin generally returned to Astrakhan to continue working as a tailor after following the Tatar Noyan on the expedition. Because of his honest character, he did not get married until he was in his fifties.

As for his youngest son, he will study at Kazan University in the future and become a senior civil servant with his own abilities.

Solovyov was still unaware of this. He always seemed to be looking at things from strange angles and had a strong affinity with some famous people.

In fact, his destructive power is so great that if Ulyainin was not so honest and could not get married until ten years later, the world line would have been broken by him.

Now, what he needs to consider is how to deal with the British.

But from the perspective of the tailor Ulyanin, this young master was sometimes quite strange. He was very polite to himself, and when it came to others, he was also very gentle in his dealings with others. He was very different from the local masters in Astrakhan.

He even had a strange impression that perhaps the masters in St. Petersburg and Moscow were all good people, but he didn't dare to say anything nonsense about these masters who came from below.

If Solovyov were in his position, he might even curse them as "dog officials" to feel satisfied.

In Russia, the generals are not bad, as long as they are not old and senile. This era is not the time when insects will roam everywhere and there will be more bastards than turtles in the Yongding River in a few decades.

As for those civil servants, there are really quite a lot of corrupt officials, which can be compared with the tax farmers in the past.

He chatted with Ulyanin in a haphazard manner about the situation of the civil servants in Astrakhan. He knew some of it before, but if he was asked to explain in detail, he could only shake his head.

If I were to go on, I'm afraid I'd end up entering the script of "The Inspector General". Anyway, this is the situation in the local area.

When he was in Ryazan, because he was a local, when he returned to his hometown, the local governor did not dare to hide anything.

If a master were to be made governor of Kazan or some other place, it would probably be a lot of fun.

Even the master who came down from the top would be fooled by the low-level masters below.

".It's really interesting to talk to you, but you are so honest that even if you really become a master, I'm afraid you will be a Sancho."

"And who is Sancho?"

"Don Quixote, a novel written by a Spanish master. You are the follower of the knight master. You are honest and smart, just like Sancho. You were given a place to be a master, but in the end you couldn't do anything."

"Master, I don't expect to be a master. If I get married and have a son in the future, it would be best if he can be successful and do a decent job. Being a master means you will be bothered by many things."

"If everyone were like you, there wouldn't be so many troubles in Russia, especially those officials. It's really pleasant to chat with you, Nikolay. We who are high up can hardly hear the voices from below. If you are a general, you can at least be with the soldiers and listen to what they say. If you are a governor, you will be fooled by the people below. Peasants are always the most numerous, but most of them are illiterate. If you want to write a petition, you can only find someone who can read and write, or the priest in the church, if the priest is a bad person."

It seemed like this formed a closed loop, but in the era of Alexander I, Russia had not yet developed to the outrageous level it would later develop, but the signs were already there. At least when he wrote to Moscow in the past, he often heard about some strange cases.

With his current status, he will probably become a garrison governor in the future, or be sent to a province to be the governor, and he will inevitably have to deal with the people below.

In fact, it is more comfortable to deal with civilians without so many conflicts of interest.

At night, he asked his adjutant to arrange a room for Ulyanin, and he sat in a chair to think. With a rocking chair, he was naturally thinking about the future while rocking.

However, there was always something to interrupt him, and soon an urgent letter arrived, which was the instructions of Grand Duke Constantine.

Naturally, he also had to convene a military meeting for this matter.

Von Essen in Jönköping sent a messenger to request a ceasefire between the Swedish and Russian armies.

This is actually a good thing. Normally, after the Russian army defeated the Swedish army in succession, they should have realized that the only way out was negotiation.

As for von Essen's letter, it mentioned that there was disagreement on the Swedish side and that the king himself did not want to cease fire at this time. However, he received new instructions through Count von Fersen and Queen Frederica.

Once von Essen opened the way to Jönköping, the Russian army could quickly send light cavalry to Gothenburg, thus controlling it and ending the war.

However, considering the command issue of the British army and the Swedish army in the southern region, the Swedish court made a 180-degree turn and the war ended quickly.

But the British are still here. In the near future, it is necessary to quickly deal with the British army led by Sir Moore and control the Kalmar Province and the Swedish Navy base, so that Gustav can accept the reality and Count von Fersen can complete a series of extreme operations to make Gustav IV abdicate and let the Crown Prince become the new monarch of Sweden.

The secret letter from Grand Duke Constantine was only shown to Solovyov, and even his close associates in the Guards were not allowed to know it.

We need to hold a military meeting or move further south. As long as the British suffer a decisive defeat, the matter will be considered a success.

However, it was not easy, and Sir Moore's squatting skills were not bad. He won the first battle by charging the Swedish army.

If they find a narrower battlefield later, the Russian army may not be able to play to its advantage. (End of this chapter)