Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

To be honest, Solovyov brought Katya over because he really missed his wife and children. He is a sentimental person and there is nothing he can do about it.

While waiting for them in Thessaloniki, Solovyov arranged his schedule and sent Kunev and Uvarov to Lamia.

The Russian army simply turned on the easy mode in Thessaly. Although the Greeks had some opinions about the fact that Russia only signed a peace treaty in Jassy in the last war and finally withdrew its troops, when the Russian army really arrived in Thessaly, the Cossacks didn't have to plunder along the way - the local Greek fellows had already delivered all the supplies they needed.

That is to say, there are many bearded men in the Russian army, which is really not very attractive. However, some girls heard that the general coming from the Russian army this time is still relatively young.

But really, in comparison, Arkady is the younger one, and Solovyov is almost thirty years old.

He waited until December, and Katya had passed through a series of war zones and reunited with Madame Recamier in Sofia, and brought the children with her. They would soon come to Thessaloniki, and Solovyov could finally relax a little. During this time, he also conducted inspections in Macedonia, handling petitions and managing local administrative affairs, just as he had done in Stockholm and Sofia in the past.

In short, he couldn't rest. Although he needed a wife, he didn't need donkey meat now, and he was not lame.

As for the local siltation, he also went to the port of Thessaloniki with Euler to inspect it.

"That's it, Alexander. Your grandfather was a great mathematician and also made some achievements in surveying and mapping. What I'm worried about now is how much engineering work is needed and how long it will take to clear the port."

"The siltation is too serious. If we want to build a port, it's better to find a new location. But the key is to dredge the river. If we frequently clear the silt, the port will not last long, unless the river network and waterway here are also changed."

"This is not something we can control. The Turks are really amazing. They just left such a good port in ruins."

"Although the Turks control this place, you are familiar with history and you should know that they rule a multi-ethnic country and they do not have the upper hand in many places."

“Not only do they not have an advantage, but those who now call themselves Turks are actually locals, right?”

"We can't rule out this possibility. After all, if we see a Greek and a Turk standing together, if they wear the same clothes, we probably won't be able to tell them apart."

"That's right. So we still have a lot to do here, but I don't know what the emperor has decided."

"It's hard to guess, and I, a colonel, may not know what you don't know."

"Yes, if I were to ask you, I might as well ask some division commanders, who are all in this circle in Petersburg."

Then he used his horsewhip to probe the depth of the silt here, but it was a pity that he didn't have a Luoyang shovel, otherwise he would have had an idea by looking at the structure of the soil underneath.

"It's still too thick. This won't do. If we send engineers here, we probably won't have to complete the repair work on the road from Thessaloniki to Lamia. Road traffic is more important than this port now."

"So what are you going to do?"

"The majority of people here are Jews. We need to ask the merchants among them to come forward and let the city govern itself for a while. Let them spend more money, otherwise they won't be able to do business in the future. They should be aware of this."

When Solovyov said this, he also realized that the local Jews were more greedy for money than anything else he saw later, and this was also their common trait.

However, as a newly-minted general from a family of profiteers, he knew all too well the problems of the Jews. They had to weigh the choice between money and life, and whether they would be cleaned out by the nearby Greek fellows or the Cossacks under his command.

Later, the Jews here were almost completely massacred by the kimchi, and in the end there were only about a thousand people left. Even when they were expelled from Spain, their number was much smaller.

Finally, under the dual effects of carrots and sticks, the Russian army quickly asked Jewish businessmen to start investing in repairing the city.

Of course, there are rewards. If they are willing to take a ship to the Russian port to do business in the future, they can still take the certificates to negotiate tariff preferences with the Duke of Richelieu. Some unscrupulous businessmen in other places do not have this treatment.

In this case, locals are also very welcome.

When Solovyov announced in the square that local businessmen would contribute funds to repair the port, many local people, including those who paid, cheered.

Finally, a reliable master came. Although he is Russian, he is much more reliable than the Baiyi masters.

Moreover, these orders were made into notices in Turkish and Greek and posted in the city.

It seemed that the Russian army would be stationed here for a long time. Solovyov had received a letter from Kamensky the Younger, not only transferring Langeron's column from Sofia to Thessaloniki, but also telling him a good news, that is, the policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs included the autonomy and even independence of Greece and Serbia, and because of his victories in Lom and Philippopolis, he would be awarded the First Class Order of St. Anna.

In this way, since Paul first awarded him the Third Class Order of Saint Anna, he now has a complete set of medals.

If we were fighting the French, we would probably even get the first-class St. George.

The medal is good, but in comparison, what is perhaps more important is how to solve Greece’s problems after Thessaloniki.

The Greeks are not only in this part of Greece in Europe. There are also Pontic Greeks around Trabzon, Greeks in Russia, and Greeks in many places, including Asia Minor, which seems to be the core territory of Turkey. It was also a Hellenized region in history.

In fact, the Turks always seem to be outrageous, but their hundreds of years of rule here have indeed made the locals forget who their ancestors were.

But after Solovyov arrived, because he was so reliable, even though he was only temporarily serving as governor of Thessaloniki, he managed the city in an orderly manner. New orders from him could be seen almost every day. In addition, his patrols in and outside the city of Thessaloniki were also done very well.

He would not stay here for a long time, but he was very serious and responsible. He would discuss the affairs of Thessaly in Larissa with Trubetskoy who had stationed troops in Larissa. In this way, he also solved many things quickly. As for the days of judging cases and being a master, it might be more lively if he opened a government office.

To be honest, he entered the territory of the sick man of West Asia, and he was truly in line with Dai Qing, and he started solving cases all day long.
But because he judged the case very fairly and did not blindly favor Christians, and even invited officers in the army who understood the law to form a court to conduct the trial, no one could say anything. The only problem was that some local Muslim imams felt that he did not judge the case according to Islamic law.

But there was no place to complain, after all, many Orthodox Christians still benefited from it. If the Burkes were in charge, they would have to bribe them.

But Solovyov, in the eyes of the locals, was a general and a count, so he was naturally a noble man, and he also had soldiers.
Among Lord Bek and Master Baiyi, such people are generally more greedy for money. However, Solovyov does not want the money, and he is not short of money. After all, his family has the business run by his old father and his own wealth, so he does not need the money.

The main thing to do is to sort out the affairs of Thessaloniki. To put it bluntly, it is no different from the Black Vine. It is necessary to win the hearts of the locals. The only difference is that the Russian army entered the Ottoman Empire and brought the domestic system here. Compared with the original rule of the Ottoman Empire, it was all about doing justice for the people.

They are the serfs of Russia. Although an American black slave who comes here and buys a few serfs can be considered a master, but in Turkey, it may be even worse than the feudal serfdom.

After all, the Russian serfdom also included a tradition of the lord protecting his own land. Although there was also the sale of serfs, this was also the serfdom that developed from the old village community that collapsed after Ivan the Terrible and Godunov. Under the repeated decrees of Paul and Alexander, the family unit of serfs could not be split up and sold. However, the slave trade in the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire...
Those queens dowagers, if you ask them you will know where they came from, many of them came from the slave trade of the Ottoman Empire.

Solovyov now also considered that the local slavery would probably be abolished soon as it was separated from the Ottoman Empire, and the Turks were so immoral that, in addition to harming the girls in the village, they also bought and sold people.

The Russian army obviously performed much better. Although Solovyov could not restrain them from fetching water for widows and working for the elderly, some of the nosy Cossacks
They could also fetch water for the young widow for other purposes.

For the local villagers, this was already pretty good. After all, although these Russian soldiers did not have much money on them, they still paid, so the officers were easier to talk to.

It's really a contrast. Compared with the Turks who burn villages at every turn, even the French who like to rob may perform much better here.

That's it. Wherever the Russian army goes, the people welcome them wholeheartedly. This scene of vibrant life and flourishing things is right before our eyes. Some people would probably curse after seeing it.

During the time he was waiting for his family, Solovyov had solved many of Thessaloniki's long-standing problems, and he also elected a mayor and representatives to the citizens' assembly from among the citizens. He was finally able to solve the problem in a more reliable way.

If you look closely, you will find that Solovyov used the plan of his future brother-in-law Speransky. Although it would be opposed in Russia, it would obviously be much better in Greece.

Even because of the previous Baiji's immorality, there was apparently no obstruction after the order was issued.

Solovyov, who hated the tax farmer system, wanted to rebuild the tax system after all the local tax farmers ran away, and he even wrote a letter to Gauss for this purpose.

As for mathematicians, they are still more practical at this time, especially since Gauss, like Newton, is an investment expert, and he also understands some economics.

Solovyov actually knew what was going on, but he just wanted to find an excuse. He couldn't just say everything himself. It would be better if he had some theoretical basis, or an order from the commander-in-chief, so that it wouldn't seem so abrupt.

In such an environment, everything went smoothly. Even when he went outside the city of Thessaloniki to pick up his family, his carriage was welcomed.

After seeing it, Katya and Madame Recamier were also amazed. They didn't expect Mishka/Michel to be so popular here.

Moreover, the locals didn't seem to have any objection to him bringing his wife and mistress along.

This has to be taken into account that Turkish people traditionally have several wives.

Historically, polygamy was a common practice among the Greeks.

So much so that there were some minor incidents at the welcome banquet.

Madame Recamier liked to hold salons wherever she went, and the room that Solovyov vacated for her in the local Governor's Mansion became the place where she held her salons.

Since there is a salon, it is natural to hold a banquet.

Solovyov discovered this, and they were somewhat surprised that the younger Katya was his wife and Madame Recamier was only a mistress.

But to be honest, Madame Recamier seemed to treat Solovyov as her lover. After all, she was older and had money, and she was not the kind of mistress who was kept as a concubine.

Even at this point, there are still people who can make mistakes when paying tribute.

That is, the two of them brought along Mihrima, who also changed into a white empire dress and was carefully dressed up by Madame Récamier.

Katya also liked her. After all, she was her husband's maid, so it was no problem for her to come. This dress was the one she wore when she was a maid.

Well, this girl is really good, but she was wrapped too tightly before. Look at her white shoulders, she is really good.

And think about it, she is still growing, so there is something to look forward to in the future.

Some people even mistakenly believed that Mihlima was actually Solovyov's sister or daughter because of the family's strange behavior.

It feels like it has gone completely off track. (End of this chapter)