Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Peter Vyazemsky is also eighteen years old this year. Although he is not a soldier, as a nobleman of prince level, he owns an estate in Moscow. It is just a matter of words for him to find a place to work.

So he decided to go to the Balkan front and go with Major General Komnenos.

This old major general, who is already in his sixties, was from Komnenos in Dalmatia, but this was the limit of his career in Russia.

But this is also the Komnenos family, the former Eastern Roman royal family that is currently doing the best, and its status among Russian Greeks is also good. However, compared with the bigwigs in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is always a little worse.

Vyazemsky was also quite curious along the way, and he asked the elderly general many questions.

".You are talking about something that happened a long time ago. My family later went to Italy. If you are talking about going to Greece, aren't there experts in this field in Moscow?"

"Yes, but Peter Petrovich has always lived in Tula and seldom comes to Moscow. I came out during this period to travel and broaden my horizons."

"Don't you want to volunteer for the army?"

"From the look of my eyes, the army probably won't want you, especially Count Solovyov, whom we're going to visit this time."

"I'm somewhat familiar with him. His sister is a good friend of several of my daughters of similar age. When we were traveling in Crimea, he and his wife also came on their honeymoon trip. Apart from marching and fighting, he is an elegant person. Compared with him, we soldiers are very rude."

Vyazemsky also knew that he had seen Solovyov on the tennis court as a child when he was a guards officer.

"He is indeed a wonderful man. If there had been no war, he would probably have been an interesting figure in St. Petersburg and Moscow, and even a scholar."

"But we have been at war for many years, so there is no such opportunity. He even dug a hole on Cape Khersones."

Solovyov's hobbies were indeed wide-ranging, and he was a man who could not sit still. Vyazemsky had written him a letter in advance before he hurried to see him.

He didn't like those guys from Moscow and St. Petersburg who were arrogant and came only to brush up their qualifications. Vyazemsky was a cultural person after all, and this time he came to the Balkans because he had commissioned an article for a Moscow newspaper and came to the front line as a special writer.

However, newspapers published in Russia are sometimes not much different from those in the UK.

The Russian army had won many victories before, and the newspapers did not need to learn the British way of writing stories. If it were in 1805, the reports would often be inaccurate.

Fortunately, St. Petersburg is far away, and the British second-hand information cannot reach here through the frozen Baltic Sea in winter. The news heard is mainly from the French.

The Russians have always been quite familiar with France, so they are not surprised by anything that happens, such as when someone in St. Petersburg boasted about the glorious military achievements of the French.

However, no one often talks about the Russians' own military achievements afterwards. Although sometimes Russian generals think that fighting the Germans is a shameful thing, and fighting the Turks is something that even lazy people know, there must be some publicity.

He went to the south, and in the salons in St. Petersburg, the latest topic was the great victories of Kamensky Jr. and Solovyov.

The political barometer of the Winter Palace is not just the salon of the head lady, other places are also useful.

Balls were rarely held at the Marble Palace, but Grand Duke Constantine had recently been arranging social appearances for his daughter Sophia.

Although she was still young, she had already announced her engagement to the young King of Sweden, and this time the other party had no objection, after all, Queen Mother Frederica was the younger sister of his sister-in-law.

Those who are convened for such occasions are all related to the military.

After Katya gave birth to another son for Solovyov, she also reappeared in the social scene.

Although she is generally considered to have a lively personality, she is not very active in participating in these activities, and is mostly gossipy when asked about her own affairs.

One is about her husband's recent situation outside, but marching and fighting are still serious matters.

Another thing is, what has her amorous husband been doing recently? Madame Récamier has gone to the Balkans with their illegitimate daughter Clara.

Although Solovyov's wives and mistresses usually had harmonious relationships, these things
When there were some rumors among outsiders, she was still very young after all, and was somewhat jealous.

Although Mishka treated her very well when they were together, and she was young, beautiful, and had a good family background and good upbringing, but now there are rumors
She can tolerate an older sister, but if she has a younger one, she will have to pay respects to the mistress in the future anyway (funny).

She attended the reception hosted by Grand Duke Constantine today, but she wanted to find a place to sit down quietly and had no intention of getting deeply involved in any events.

To this end, she also brought Maria Volkonskaya from Tula to her side.

She even discussed things in Moscow with her in a serious manner. They were all acquaintances, and Katya herself was also in the Moscow circle.

But it is unlikely for her to stay away from these things. Some people are more nosy, especially some gossipy people in the upper class.

"Maria, it's inevitable to hear these words, especially with Mishka's personality. If he wasn't like this, and was cold and indifferent like some people, he might not be so likable."

I'm probably talking about some guys who always abandon their lovers.

Katya would attract some attention when her husband went out, and Anatoly even had his eyes on her some time ago.

This was quite entertaining. Solovyov had always looked down upon those idle guys in the Guards. The infantry officers were his comrades, so he was somewhat forgiving of them. But when it came to the cavalry, even though these young officers of the Guards Cavalry had wives, they were still willing to make a fuss about many things.

But when Anatoly noticed that this was Solovyov's wife, he immediately shrank back.

He knew that among the several dueling masters in St. Petersburg, although the most aggressive might be Dolokhov or someone else, when it came to the one who liked to wipe out the roots, everyone knew it was Solovyov. It was outrageous for him to kill people at the first move.

Except for the first time when he hit the theater secretary's kidney, he didn't kill her immediately, but he hit her vital parts.

And everyone knew that Solovyov had close relations with the Tsar and the three grand dukes, so provoking him was more troublesome than provoking some famous families.

Although this person doesn't like to use too direct methods to kill people.

"That Anatole is really strange. He dares to ask you this even though he knows your identity." "He is just a playboy. If he sees you still unmarried, Maria, I think he will come after you too."

"I've heard about what's going on in Smolensk, too. Katya, did you know that Anatoly is married?"

"I don't know about that. My husband has been more willing to stay by my side since we got married. But my brother Vasily is getting engaged to Gagarin's Varvara, and he's so restless outside."

"Things will get better. If you're worried about your brother, why aren't you worried about your husband?"

"He's fine. He wrote to me even when he was on the battlefield. This letter says that he's still worried about the children at home. When he saw Clara had a fever, he was also worried about whether the children at home would get sick."

"Does he want you to write him back?"

"Of course, but not as often as his letters. It's too far to send a courier from Petersburg to Sofia."

"Sometimes I envy you. Although Mikhail's heart is not completely with you, he is a man of good character, otherwise my father would not have recommended him to the Grenadiers."

"Well, speaking of this, I have to thank your father. If it weren't for him, no matter how capable Misha was, it would be difficult for him to command a legion like his uncle, the emperor, before he was 30."

"This is really a strange encounter. But I also heard that he is over there."

"That doesn't matter. Adela is just being raised as a younger sister. I've seen it before."

Her jealousy is probably that kind of "little vixen" that cannot be confirmed, but Mihrima doesn't look like a fox. Instead, her husband has a pair of fox eyes. That's what makes it interesting.

"Are you really not worried?"

"I'm not worried. I'm more concerned about whether you can find a suitable husband."

Girls around 20 were still very popular if they wanted to get married in that era. Both Marias lived in an estate in the countryside. The one in front of them even came to St. Petersburg, while the one in Tongshan usually stayed in the estate and only occasionally accompanied the old prince to Moscow.

"If I want a husband, it's really interesting. Someone wrote me a few lines of poetry. It's about a lovely boy who looks like a Pushkin child."

"Isn't it the curly-haired kid from Tsarskoye Selo? He's such an interesting little guy, with a mouth full of honey. I've seen a poem he wrote for Grand Duke Nicholas, which looks like a gift to his friends. Mishka's poetry is probably just a little worse. If you're willing, I can show you his manuscript next time you come to my house."

As for Katya, even though she is ten years younger than her husband, she has a doting look on her face.

This is no wonder. After she had a child, her maternal love was overflowing, and the same was true for her husband.

"You just like those words. If he could write his own poems instead of some translated works, he might be another darling of the social circle."

"But he has his own ambitions, and we can't confine him to such a small circle. You know, Mishka is the last person to attend a dance, even though he dances and sings very well."

"And it's interesting, really interesting. You two, as a couple, are actually worried about each other, but he is so sentimental, which is a bit troublesome."

Katya also sighed, that was indeed the case.

But now, while they were chatting here, someone in the hall was talking loudly about Solovyov's glorious victory in Bulgaria.

When she heard about these military achievements, Katya hoped that her husband would come back soon.

Although fighting the Turks was not such a dangerous task, Solovyov had complained in his past letters that bullets and shells always whizzed past him when he was in Italy, Germany, Poland and Sweden.

When they arrived in Türkiye, except for an unlucky artillery director who was killed by a stray bullet, he seemed to stay away from bullets and even thought it was not a good sign.

It would be better if I could come back.

Katya thought that her father was not proud of his two sons, but was more proud of his son-in-law. Prince Vasily's health had not been good recently, and he hoped that his two sons and son-in-law would come back. Since the eldest son was already getting engaged, he also had to come back to prepare for the wedding.

But the war is still going on, and the Russian army is still advancing from Sofia to Skopje. The news has not yet reached St. Petersburg, and the topic of discussion in St. Petersburg is just like the war in Italy.

The further you go in the war, the more likely it is that people at home will worry.

"I just hope he comes back soon. The longer he stays away, the more worried I am about him. Sometimes I envy you. You are very free now, without anyone to restrict you."

"But you also know that the people I was engaged to before all suffered some misfortune."

"This may be a kind of destiny. You have to be patient."

It has always been like this in St. Petersburg. Various things are discussed in the salons, but the main focus is on social issues and finding people a partner.
Also, there are family matters.

What Katya was most worried about was probably the deteriorating health of her father and father-in-law. Count Sergei was fine, but her own father's health was getting worse and worse. After he recently suffered from edema, he had difficulty moving.

He felt that he didn't have much time left, and his family was involved in endless family property lawsuits, so he also hoped that his son and son-in-law would come back.

It seems that for fathers all over the world, the same thing happens: if they have a promising son-in-law to look after the family, things will naturally be better when their sons get married.

Even so, this kind of family is already considered noble in Russia, and they would still have this feeling.

At this time, Solovyov roughly learned about these things from the letters he received from home. It was his stepmother who told him, but she also reminded him not to worry about home, as someone would take care of it.

Solovyov calculated the time and judged from the information in the letters that his father-in-law's serious illness would only last for two or three years. As for his old father, he probably wouldn't be able to work as well as before, and it would probably not be convenient for the whole family to travel to Europe or further places in the future.

Time always slowly comes when they, the young people, are needed to be the pillars of the family, whether in the inner house or outside. (End of this chapter)