Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The beginning of this winter seems to be no different from usual ones. Life is probably just like that.

But Anatoly didn't find a suitable entry point to seduce Natasha. After all, the girl was not engaged yet and didn't have any crazy thoughts about some things, so naturally there was no opportunity for him to take advantage of her.

Besides, he was married to a Polish woman, which was not a good thing.

If anything happened, the bastard Dolokhov would actually give him some advice.

But for people like this who are tempted by beauty, the final outcome will probably be that they will be abandoned after having sex with the woman, which is very troublesome.

If he could not walk when he saw the lively Natasha, he would have fallen into a state of madness, so what else could he plan?

Today Dolokhov came to visit Solovyov's house, and Solovyov saw his Gypsy lover. Although she was not good-looking, she was still quite hot.

And so, this strange and wonderful couple also stared at Mihrima, and even Dolokhov stared at the little girl for a while.

"Misha, you are really interesting. You have such a beautiful little maid, but you don't recognize her as your sister?"

By the way, Dolokhov used to be a member of the Semenovsky Regiment, and in the distant past he had some relationship with his father-in-law, old Prince Vasily.

Solovyov didn't seem to mind teasing his friend, even if he was a villain in normal times.

"It's not like every foreign maid in my house will be recognized as a sister in the end, but this girl is a little special."

"Sir, I am willing to serve the master forever. This is an agreement. Other things."

She felt a little embarrassed when she said this.

"This girl is quite interesting, and she is somewhat exotic."

"You may get into other troubles later, Dolohov. After returning from Persia, you are still the same, except that you are calmer than before."

"There's nothing we can do about it. You always say that we are born as guards officers, and ultimately it's hard to change our nature."

"How long ago was that?"

Solovyov was also curious why Dolokhov still cared about these things and seemed to want to involve himself.

"You were still in the Grenadiers, that's early enough."

"But I later joined the Guards. Does that mean I am one of your gang?"

"No, you are different from us. After all, you were just a lieutenant from the countryside."

"It seems that if it weren't for the military merit, it would still be a very troublesome matter."

"We are not like you, who was chosen by the emperor right away. How much trouble did you have to walk? At least we are not like you, who are smart and relatively obedient, and always perform well and almost never make mistakes."

"If there is a mistake, it is probably that I left His Majesty Paul's side, but it was an official transfer."

"Why? Are you interested in discussing politics with an officer like me?"

"No, but if the French really come to attack us, we will fight them."

"Of course, even if your stepmother is French, your lover is French, and your adopted sister is French. There are rumors that the Minister of Police wants to do something to Mr. Speransky. I know that Speransky is a good bureaucrat. The emperor has great use for keeping him around, but he has always been targeted."

"But this is politics, Fyodor. Where will you go in the future? To your uncle? The Izyum Hussar Regiment is in great need of officers. Although you are a member of the Guards Infantry, your adventures often require riding horses. You will be a good officer."

"I don't want to go to the old guy. He always wants to control me. But I won't go to you either. You are too strict. Fyodor from the Tolstoy family is not as crazy as me. He always listens to you. That's why he can perform well under you. This time he should be able to command several squadrons of cavalry."

"It looks like you want to find a place to be a ranger."

"I can do whatever I want, especially attacking the enemy's rear, which is a specialty of light cavalry. Just wait and see. If the French come, I will teach them a lesson."

"Sometimes I really need people like you and Denisov, but Denisov is much more down-to-earth than you."

Dolokhov looked at Solovyov. This guy's circle was like a gathering. People from all walks of life gathered here. As he came from a rather special family of profiteers, it was natural that he had some interactions with these people.

Once you become more familiar with it, you will naturally come up with some stories.

"It is like this after all. Different people will go to different positions."

"Fyodor, are you still in touch with Anatole?"

"We are together all the time. Don't you always hate those people in Prince Vasili's family?"

"Of course I hate them, the whole family, you know."

"Come on, everyone knows you're a six-shot quick-shooter, you're not afraid of this kind of person."

"But I have a wife and children, so I can't go to a duel easily. Besides this, His Highness Nicholas always needs me."

Solovyov's attitude was also very clear. When he said this to Dolokhov, he was actually reminding him.

"But we have been together as friends for such a long time that it is difficult to separate. But your friends..."

"Andrei is still in Smolensk, and Pierre is fine, but time has passed so quickly, it's still a bit emotional. We are all people who have experienced a lot on the battlefield, and we may have to face a new war."

"Where do you think the French will come from?"

"The road to Petersburg is not easy to travel. In fact, if we want to destroy Russia's economy, we must ensure our own strength. If the French want to attack us, they will directly seek a major battle. If we adopt the strategy of clearing the countryside, they will have no way to deal with us. If we start from Ruthenia and go east, there will be no results. The population there is dense, which is more likely to cause a war."

Ukraine is not the focus of this war, we still have to head straight to Moscow.

What Napoleon was trying to do now was beyond the limits of this era, and nothing was impossible was just his way of saying it.

The logistics alone are enough to deal with.

As for Solovyov himself, he has not yet received an official appointment. He is still a general of the palace. His main task in the palace is to supervise the study of the two Grand Dukes Nicholas and Mikhail. At this time, he actually wanted to return to the army.

However, a letter from Kaluga prevented him from staying in St. Petersburg this winter.

His old patron, Prince Dmitri Volkonsky, uncle of Prince Pyotr Volkonsky, had been in poor health lately.

Prince Dmitri had no children, so he designated his nephew as his heir.

Actually, both Peter Volkonsky and Solovyov were people Dmitry wanted to see, but in the current situation, as a former member of the Military Committee and a retired major general at home, he also took this opportunity to arrange his own funeral.

After seeing Dolokhov off, Solovyov hurried home. Katya saw him calling the servants to pack up his things and knew that he was going out.

It was not surprising that Prince Dmitri's health had deteriorated.

In fact, both the Volkonsky and Dolgorukov families are descendants of Rurik's paternal line, from the Chernigov family, and the two families have frequent interactions, so they are quite real relatives.

Katya was also paying attention to the situation, so she came to give some instructions as well.

"Mishka, after all, Prince Dmitri is your great benefactor. When you go to him, you must do what he asks you to do and take good care of him."

"I know what you mean, but Katya."

Solovyov's hands were not honest and he touched Katya's abdomen directly.

"Mishka, what are you doing?"

"It looks like we're 'accidentally' going to have another child."

"You are such a bad guy. You said you wanted me to rest for a while, but you couldn't hold back."

"If I go away for a few years, you can relax a little. But when we are away, I am afraid you will worry about us. Father, stepmother, brothers and sisters all need you to take care of them. Yulia and the children are the same. After all, Christian and I are both soldiers, and Christian has been in the army and has not returned."

"I know, but you have to be careful. You've been quite adventurous in the past. I heard you were shot on the way to Greece."

"Don't worry about that, but I hope it's a girl."

"You have some resentment about Lisa not being close to you, right?"

"But with her green eyes and black hair, you and I can tell at a glance that she is my daughter. I like girls with beautiful black hair like you better than girls with blonde hair. It's a pity that she and I are not as close as my sons and Clara."

"If it's a girl, what are you going to name it this time?"

"If it's a girl, and she has blonde hair when she's born, then she'll be called Yevgeniya. Zhenya or Ranka are also fine. If she has dark hair like you, then you can call her whatever you want."

"What if it's a son?"

"If it's a son, we'll name him Constantine. Your Highness has taken great care of me, so we don't have to name our family after our father or me. If there is peace in the future, and you're still young, we should have many more children, so there's still plenty of opportunity."

"Well, when you go to Kaluga this time, you must also visit dad."

"I know."

What Katya was most worried about was her father's health. When she was living at home in Moscow, she found that old Prince Vasily's health was getting worse and worse, and he had severe edema.

As a daughter, her parents have always doted on her. In order to prevent her from being too sad and affecting her physical condition, the Princess's wife probably would not let her return to Moscow with a bulging belly.

Therefore, as a son-in-law, he should take this opportunity to move around more.

I’m afraid that in the future, my two uncles will need my help to support them, and my father-in-law’s life may be coming to an end.

It seems that the winter from 1811 to 1812 was not a very good time.

Solovyov went to his old boss's house. He hadn't been there for more than ten years. From there, he accompanied his superior to St. Petersburg as an adjutant. It was also the first time he appeared in front of the great nobles in the Russian capital.

A lot has happened to him in the past ten years or so. He went from being a minor officer and an inconspicuous son of a small or medium-sized noble to a lieutenant general of infantry and a count with his own honorary title. He was also the lover of two queens and had many ambiguous relationships in the court.

However, despite his personal life being like this, he still has a good reputation. This is because he treats people well on a daily basis, and he has military achievements, so he is nice to both his superiors and subordinates.

The people that Balashov has been targeting recently are all with Speransky, so he is still safe here.

But in these few months, it must be said that the final showdown between liberals and conservatives is approaching.

If he had been out of town for some time and not in St. Petersburg when the conflict broke out, although he would not be able to grasp the situation and might not be able to help his brother-in-law, he would be outside the center of the storm.

The year 1812 was approaching in a strange atmosphere.

After all, a lot of changes have taken place. Anatoly naturally did not seduce Natasha, but his sister Helen seemed to be terminally ill because of her dissolute and unrestrained life and her disregard for doctor's advice.

From what he heard in St. Petersburg, Solovyov was glad that Pierre would probably be free, finally getting rid of this woman and starting a new life.

However, Natasha's situation was probably not what was expected. Without experiencing setbacks, the Rostov family members would have a more casual personality, and would even be somewhat willful.

To be honest, maybe only Petya is more reliable, but what will be his fate?
When Solovyov got on the carriage, he was thinking about the problem in his mind. The coming year will not be peaceful after all, whether it is inside or outside, at home or outside, it seems that there will be no stability.

At home, two factions were fighting over reform, outside was Napoleon, at home, Katya's aunt was in court with her father-in-law over the distribution of property, and the families of friends outside probably had some troubles of their own.

Unfortunately, he was involved in all these things.

Even a few days before departure, when Bagration returned from the 2nd Army headquarters to visit his mother-in-law and daughters, he mentioned Solovyov's appointment.

If possible, you can go to the 2nd Western Army and serve as his deputy.

Solovyov still agreed. After all, this position did not require him to participate in the organization and construction of the army - although the 2nd Grenadier Division under him was commanded by Christian, and it was also a unit he had led in the Balkans.

This gives us some time to complete some things that need to be done while we are still in a peaceful period. (End of this chapter)