Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

When we arrived in Karlsruhe, we saw the simple palace of the Grand Duchy of Baden. It looked quite large, but in some places, it was probably only at the earl level.

The old man didn't want to expand the palace too much, so it became like this.

In fact, there is not even a fence outside, but there is a forest, but few people come near it.

This made Solovyov, who had been working as a guard for a long time, feel unsafe.

However, the public security in Karlsruhe is indeed good.

When this group passed through Prussia, they could see the defeated Prussian soldiers passing by after the war, and the French army passing by like locusts. There were also many places that lost order and became bandit dens, and all industries became dire.

Karlsruhe, on the other hand, was a place where civilians could still survive unless Napoleon was surrounded and beaten to his doorstep.

Besides, the old man of the Grand Duchy of Baden is experienced and can protect the civilians under his rule to some extent with his rich experience, which can be regarded as a form of living and working in peace and contentment.

He has endured all these years, from the time he ascended the throne at the age of nine, and took power at the age of eighteen until now. So many years have passed.

There have been three wars of succession, plus the Seven Years' War and the many wars since the French Revolution. It is a blessing in disguise that the local area is only plundered by the passing French locusts.

He can now walk with a cane, but for convenience, he still met Ekaterina and her group in a wheelchair.

"Catherine, my granddaughter Louisa often writes with portraits of you and your sisters, from when you were old enough to hold onto the railing until, well, before the war. You are a grown-up girl now. How old are you this year? You must be eighteen, right? It's time for you to get married."

"Grandpa, Catherine is the same age as my little sister, and I am the same age as Maria who married in Weimar. Didn't I tell you that?"

Karl wanted to add something to the old man, but Solovyov couldn't be sure whether he really couldn't remember it or what was going on.

But it's just because he is too old, he is over 80 years old and can talk to people with a clear mind, so making mistakes in counting is not a big problem.

"Oh, that's what happened." He also saw Ekaterina greeting him, so he took her hand and continued talking.

"Your grandmother was a blessed person, but she also had many misfortunes. I corresponded with her at that time, and I didn't expect that she would agree to it so readily. That's how we got a marriage between a small country like ours and the Russian Empire. You are luckier than your sisters and can marry into a big country, but you still have to be careful everywhere. It doesn't matter for old guys like us, but you young people still have a long way to go."

But if the old man continues to talk like this, who knows what other things he will add.

But Karl didn't know what to say, so he just let the old man continue talking.

Catherine had to listen. Archduke Karl Frederick was originally just a feudal lord of the Baden branch. Because Baden-Baden had no heir, Baden was merged into a state again.

Since the small country had to go with the flow in recent years, he chose to rely on France, which was right at his doorstep. In his later years, he turned the Margrave of Baden into a Grand Duchy, and its strength was greatly improved compared to the original few small towns.

However, this is still far behind France, which is right next door.

Whether he was a vassal or a grand duke, he could only rely on powerful countries and maintain good relations with neighboring countries. This is why he asked his son to marry his granddaughters to suitable countries.

It was a pity that the eldest granddaughter was not good-looking. In addition, it happened that King FW of Prussia was getting married at that time, and the British prince who was attracted by Amalia's character was unable to come to propose marriage. This almost delayed the granddaughter's life-long event. Although the Polish prince was unreliable, he was still a close friend of the Tsar and had a high status.

As for the rest, it is relatively simple. Caroline married the King of Bavaria as his second wife, Louisa is the wife of the Russian Tsar, Frederica is now the Queen Mother of Sweden, and although the little granddaughter Wilhelmine does not live a happy life, she still has a high status.

Poor Mary, although her husband treated her the best, the special relationship between the Duke of Brunswick and Prussia almost led to the destruction of her family. The "Black Duke" had lost his fiefdom and was marching and fighting outside, so he might encounter an accident at any time, so he officially divorced Mary and gave her the right to choose her own future.

However, what was more embarrassing was that although Mary had the protection of her sisters in St. Petersburg, few people came to her for marriage proposals.

This is now the most worrying one among the few worries of the old man. After all, his granddaughter is too far away from him.

When he saw Catherine, he started chattering like this.

The old man's mind is quite clear. What he said, namely the numbers and ages, may have some deviations, but it is generally correct.

I even have the heart to tell jokes, and making people laugh is a skill.

In Solovyov's opinion, the old man is indeed an old artist. Not only did he live a long life, but he was also able to develop to this point as a vassal. At least the institutional reforms within the country were completed, and everything that should be done was done, so the civilians could survive.

However, it is hard to say what will happen after his death. However, it is easier to say given his prestige and the open-minded attitude of the Baden family.

Whenever Solovyov went to a palace, he did pay attention to the interpersonal relationships there.

The situation is different from that of the old Duke of Brunswick. At least here in Baden, everyone is normal and no one has abnormal intelligence.

But it should be noted that the old man's wife, the Countess Louise von Gelsberg, obviously did not have a good appearance. It is unknown how the old man found a future partner for himself.
According to Louisa's recollections of her childhood, the countess was not very friendly to Karl, but Karl Ludwig was still alive at that time, and Baden's in-laws were always chosen very well, so the countess of low status could not do anything.

Her covetousness was also due to the special family structure of the Zähringen family that ruled Baden.

Since Karl Ludwig was a "good father-in-law in Europe", there might be an embarrassing situation of not having enough sons.

Especially with his family structure, which is unusual, with one son and six daughters, if there was one more son, it might not arouse the ambition of the countess to fight for a status for her son.

To put it in a higher position, it is probably the position of a grand duchy, but the three previous dukes still have the order of succession. Even if Karl is moved away now, internal legislation of the grand duchy is needed.

But this also has problems, it seems unrealistic, because although Stephanie is only Napoleon's adopted daughter, France is right at the doorstep.

Moreover, relatives, no matter how close or distant, can interfere in Karlsruhe's affairs to some extent.

For example, Wilhelmina, who married into Hesse, was unhappy in her life, so her sisters would write to their brother-in-law Ludwig. Given the pressure from his sisters-in-law, the unfortunate Ludwig had no choice but to endure it.

As for Nicholas' son marrying a wife, some people would say that the daughter-in-law who married in was "impure blood", but that was because Ludwig was forced by his sisters-in-law to recognize the child. Although it sounds outrageous, it can be regarded as restoring history.

But Baden's family looks very subtle.

At the banquet, Solovyov also saw his father, stepmother, and younger brothers and sisters. The family reunited here and they stayed here for a while.

Count Sergei was very happy and took his daughter-in-law's hand to meet the old man in Baden.

"Your Highness, this is my daughter-in-law. She should be called Catherine. She is the granddaughter of Prince Klimsky of the Dolgorukov family."

"Ah, that's the commander-in-chief. I've heard of him, and he led troops to fight. It's amazing that such a strong man has such a lovely granddaughter. It's just that I'm curious that you have such a daughter-in-law, whose status is much higher than yours, the earl."

"Your Highness, this was the Queen's idea. At that time, Her Highness promised to find a marriage for Misha. I was also Her Highness's maid at the time, and that's how we got married."

"No wonder, my granddaughter's vision is not wrong. A girl of high status in the palace should find a good and promising young man."

But the old man looked at Katya, who was always paying attention to stroking her belly. Now that her figure had not yet been revealed, he had a general idea of ​​the situation.

"Count, your family is really prosperous. However, these three sons..."

"Don't worry, Your Highness, I have already made arrangements. Anton will learn to manage the family property from his relatives in the future. Mikhail is the eldest son, so naturally he will have his own career, and he is also my heir. The two younger sons will never be as promising as him. They are already lieutenant generals before they are thirty. As for the youngest son Vasily, I am not young anymore, and I will have to rely on my eldest son to take care of him in the future. As for whether he wants to join the army, do business, or become a civil servant, it will naturally depend on his interests."

"Yeah, that makes some sense. I really envy your 'new rich' families, it's so easy to arrange household affairs."

When he said this, the old man was some distance away from his current wife.

Although the three sons born to the Countess were fine, the elderly Grand Duke was still somewhat distracted by family affairs.

He also hoped that his family could be like the Solovyov family, but their family had a certain size of territory and also a considerable but not rich fortune.

However, although this wife takes good care of herself, it is still a problem whether she can take care of what he wants to do.

If the French forces behind my granddaughter-in-law collapsed, or if some other accident happened, it would be hard to say what would happen.

He can only take things one step at a time. His grandson Carl is very young, and his first wife's other two sons are still around, so he doesn't need to worry too much.

It's not that there is no solution to this problem. It's just that the third son Ludwig has no plans to marry a noble. It's not like he has no illegitimate children outside. Even if he marries a noble widow who has given birth to a child, this matter can be considered a solution and can put an end to the strange ambition of his current wife.

"You are so lucky. You always have your children around you. Although Mikhail is promising, he has been in the army since he was thirteen and has rarely been at home. When he was in Moscow, I could still send him to do some things. Later, he became an adjutant, then joined the Guards, and became a general. He has grown up. You know, birds always leave the nest."

"But this child looks like he can still do something."

The old man had heard about Solovyov in the letters from his granddaughters, and not only the positive comments from Louisa and Mary, but also the more neutral statements from Amalia and the things in Frederica's letters.

The last point is that the granddaughter's position as queen was taken away and she became the queen mother.
Putting aside those outrageous things, the ability is there.

As for his own affairs, he now saw Solovyov and Karl talking about something.

They knew each other in St. Petersburg and seemed to get along very well.

However, judging from the report given by the grenadiers who were sent out, Louisa must have been worried about her only brother, so she said a few words.

Solovyov spoke very quickly, and the grenadier officer did not hear clearly, and complained about Solovyov's outrageous Austrian accent, which was sometimes unclear.
As for the two of them, they naturally talked about this matter.

"Karl, I have to take care of this matter. However, if there is any hospitality, I may have to stay in Karlsruhe until the preparations in Strasbourg are completed."

"We're going to arrange concerts and hunting. I heard you like music?"

"I do have this hobby, but unlike the Emperor and my uncle, I not only like military music, but also have a wide range of hobbies. At least I am not uninterested in Paganini's performance."

"That's good. There are both hunting and concerts."

"What a shame! If only Mozart were still alive, I love his music."

As for Mozart's "resurrection"-like creations, new singles were still released more than 200 years later. Solovyov came early and was not completely clear about it. He just knew that music scores were often found from various strange places.

When Maria caught him once, she showed him a copy of Vivaldi's manuscript of the Four Seasons, but even the copy was a bit old.

"Since you like Mozart's music, you must be a lively person. But, can you play the piano?"

"My fingers may not be suitable for it, but other instruments are fine. For example, the accordion or the balalaika, they sound very Russian."

"No wonder the sisters all said you have a talent for music. We can discuss some music later. Stephanie also has a hobby in this area. You can talk to her about it then."

"Is this appropriate?"

"Michael, call your wife too. She used to be my sister's maid, so there won't be any problems."

Speaking of which, Karl did have some political ability and cleverness. The Countess's son was able to have the right of inheritance later, probably because he knew that his health might fail and the legislation was passed less than a year before his death.

Now, he has to help his friend, even though Solovyov has never seen this script. (End of this chapter)