Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Relatively speaking, after crossing the Dnieper River, the road conditions in these places were not good, but because there was no longer any pursuit from the French army, the 2nd Army's march here was relatively smooth.

Moreover, the supply situation has improved a lot. Many young people from Bryansk and some nearby places have volunteered to join the army. Some young nobles are familiar with riding and hunting at home, so at least the training is relatively easy.

Many of them even came with their trusted followers.

The relationship between serfs in Russia was indeed very strange, and even Solovyov found it a bit abstract after reading it.

Like his own family, in fact, the serfs have been released one after another over the years, but they are unwilling to leave their masters. In fact, they are still dependent on their own manors. Only some of them who have done business in the past and made some money do not live too far away and always come to ask for protection from the master and the eldest son.

After all, he now has some connections, and because of his personal abilities, his status will always rise.

But in some places, the relationship between the master and the serfs is as good as that of brothers.

Alexander's coachman used to be a personal servant of a naval officer, but the two had a good relationship, so his master let him go.

Later, this officer was killed in a naval battle, and his former servant went to mourn him painfully. The relationship between master and servant was very good.

But more likely, the traditional kind-hearted landlords and local tyrants have always existed, and some even often abused serfs.

Therefore, serf rebellions were not uncommon in Russia and even occurred every year.

It was just that Emperor Paul had issued a three-day decree, and many serfs still felt a little hope. The prince, who had ascended the throne as the emperor, was still as sympathetic to them as he had been before, even though he had a bad temper, and even some serfs and freemen in the countryside knew it, but he was finally an emperor who cared about all the citizens, from masters to serfs.

And then, he was gone.

Alexander also had a very good reputation in the local area. It was not only because of the prestige and fame accumulated by the Queen and Paul, but also because he really made a difference.

It's just that Alexander's actions were more or less to maintain his rule. When he was still the Grand Duke, he might really want to introduce some advanced systems to Russia, including formulating a constitution and convening the State Duma. But as he held power for longer and longer, he turned into an autocratic person who would use the power when it was beneficial to him and would avoid any opposition.

But the peasants didn't know what the emperor was thinking. Speransky was born in the countryside and knew a little about the sufferings of the people. When he was Secretary of State, he was regarded as a great savior by the peasants. He was only exiled because he was framed by treacherous officials and deceived the emperor.

Therefore, there were always some farmers willing to submit petitions. Even if they asked literate gentlemen in the manor or village to write them, they would still be stopped at the intersection. Perhaps one day an imperial envoy would come, and if he was a good official, the emperor might know about it.

This superstition about the emperor did not begin to be broken until the bloody incident in 1905.

In fact, Russian peasants have very low demands. They just want a good emperor who cares about them. They don't even need him to do anything or say anything.
Therefore, in their opinion, Peter the Great was probably a good person. Although Paul's martial arts were far inferior to those of the Great, he was the first emperor who openly gave the power to the peasants. Naturally, his son was also good, after all, he appointed many good officials.

Solovyov had heard about it. When he returned home from Moscow, he heard that the peasants near Gatchina were saying that Balashov was a traitor.

Given the speed at which news spreads in the Russian countryside, probably all the gentlemen in St. Petersburg have to be ranked as good or bad.

He was not worried about his reputation. After all, he still held the title of Attendant General and was considered a close aide to the Tsar.

In addition to his famous love of invention and tinkering, he also freed his own serfs. His brother-in-law was Speransky and his master was Field Marshal Suvorov, both of whom were loyal ministers and generals in the eyes of the serfs. He was also educating Grand Duke Nicholas and Grand Duke Mikhail.

The Emperor has no sons, only daughters, and the same is true for Grand Duke Constantine.

Although he was always at war, he did have a strange position in the eyes of the peasants.

Even when the army was marching on the road, they could see serfs kneeling down to submit petitions, but they would ignore lower-ranking generals and officers.

It was not until Bagration and Solovyov, who were riding and discussing military affairs, reached a crossroads that they were stopped.

It seems that these two are the ones who submitted the petition this time.

"Please, my Lord Prince and Lord Count, decide for us!"

Bagration had never been a local official and had always been leading troops. He was a little confused when he saw this scene.

Solovyov's situation was better. After all, he had served as the Governor of Odessa for the Duke of Richelieu for a period of time, so he had some experience in handling civil affairs.

"Peter Ivanovich, it looks like someone has submitted a petition. This is a common occurrence."

After hearing this, Bagration, because of his higher status, naturally came over to accept the lawsuit.

"But old man, how did you recognize us?"

"It is said that the emperor has a prince from Georgia who looks very powerful and always rides a tall horse. As for the Count, we country folk also know that Count Solovyov is a handsome young general who rides a white horse. The reputations of the two gentlemen are also known to us in the countryside."

"Old man, I'm 31 years old. I'm afraid what you heard was something that happened ten years ago."

The old man looked up at the two of them and felt that he was right. "It's true, sir, you look very young, not your age."

After all, Bagration's long face and big nose, as well as his special hairstyle, are both powerful and "ugly" to a certain extent, and he is very recognizable. Solovyov, even though he is already thirty years old, is still a "young general" in the eyes of the peasants in the countryside. In addition, his green eyes and face make him look very handsome.
All in all, they both seemed hopeless in this respect.

It was considered a rule to accept the petition, after all, both of them had a highly tied relationship with the royal family.

Solovyov was worried that his reputation might change. When he was in Petersburg, he was a general who raised children, but when he went to the countryside, he might have to treat Nikolai as a child.
If it's better, he can be used as a foil to Duke Huan of Qi. If it's worse, he might be A Dou. If it's even worse, it might be the story of the King of Chu and Fan Zeng.

As for the content of the petition, of course the serfs all hope to live freely, and in the worst case scenario they should be freed in accordance with the spirit of the Three Days' Edict.

However, the local landlords are probably unwilling to do so.

Solovyov is different from Bagration. His senior brother is a prince from Georgia, and he spent a long time in the Caucasus during his teenage years. He certainly doesn't know as much about the situation in mainland Russia as he does, who often deals with all kinds of people.

Especially the lower class people. Solovyov knew that Katya's aunt was greedy for property, and he had also seen the Arakcheev family's self-proclaimed "tolerance" and "kindness" to the serfs. It was not uncommon for his own family and those enlightened nobles to free the serfs.

Because I have seen so many things, and because I received such a petition at the critical moment of the French invasion, I naturally felt that the matter was not simple.

You know, when the country was in crisis, some lords did not even have the determination to free their serfs and organize militia to fight against France, and they still wanted to guard their own property.

If it were some patriotic but conservative landlords, they would at least make some promises to their serfs.

Any master who caused trouble for himself, if unfortunately his property was in an area where the French army passed by, might have been captured by serfs and given to the French as a gift in exchange for his freedom in the next few months.

If the French had not handled the situation so poorly, making it look like a swarm of locusts passing through their borders, they would not have attracted a large number of spontaneous guerrilla forces to resist.

That would be a difficult problem to solve, but the French emperor had come and wanted to liberate the Russian serfs, and there were people who thought so.

"Old man, Prince Bagration still has to lead his army to resist the French, and his mind is on military affairs. As for this petition, if you mention the Three Days' Edict, I will definitely present it to the emperor, but what is the name of your landlord?"

"Sir, this master of my family was also an officer in the past. I heard that he even served in the army. His name is Pavel Ivanovich Engelhardt."

When he heard this surname, Solovyov could think of Potemkin's nieces, but there were too many Germans with the surname Engelhardt, so he was probably thinking of the Engelhardts who were from the same family five hundred years ago.

"Andrei seems to have mentioned this man to me before, but I can't remember clearly. He seems to be a landowner in western Smolensk. Which department of the Military Commission did he work in? That's all I remember."

Bagration was amazed at Solovyov's good memory. After all, old Duke Nicholas was a famous local nobleman in Smolensk and had some reputation in the Smolensk province.

Through his real estate operations in Smolensk and Ryazan, Andrei had come into contact with these local nobles. Solovyov had visited his home several times, so naturally he had some understanding of the situation.

"Mishka, please remember this clearly and don't wrongly accuse a good person. My mother-in-law's maiden name is also Engelhardt, and there are many registered German nobles with this surname."

If Bagration were no longer in the army one day and became a military governor in the local area, it would be quite intimidating.

After all, he appears to be a strong and fair person, and he treats everyone equally.

No matter which side he is on, Bagration is still very reasonable except when gambling. Only when playing cards does he often lose his mind and lose a lot of money.

"My Lord Prince, what the Lord Earl said is true. My Lord was indeed an officer of considerable stature, but he was not a general."

Afterwards, Solovyov continued to look at the petition. He was obviously much more enthusiastic about this kind of thing than Bagration. He wanted to stand up for the civilians and fight for justice. Since he now had the status of a third-class military officer, such as Lieutenant General of the Army, which was equivalent to the civilian acting governor or deputy governor of some places, it was not impossible for him to stand up for these oppressed peasants, slightly improve their lives, or even uphold justice by punishing some landlords who had committed serious crimes.

"You are not only asking for the Three Days' Edict, but also at this time of the French invasion, you do not want to be confined to the manor. If young people want to go out to fight and join the army, fortunately, you are kind people who always hope to petition according to the rules. But you also need to meet good officials. Your place is a little far from Porechiski. If the master does not come here, he can't control you. If there are young men willing to join the army, we welcome them too."

Solovyov knew these nobles too well. When recruiting soldiers, they would never provide the best young men with the best physical fitness. Now that the army was passing through, if there were people in the manors and villages in these places who were willing to join the army, it would be better to take them with them.

Bagration looked at his fellow apprentice and knew what he was thinking, but he did not stop him.

After all, they were all generals, and in St. Petersburg, although Solovyov did not like to make too many friends, he was willing to make friends with capable men.

When Andre mentioned Engelhardt, he also mentioned that this person had performed very well during his service and had received commendations. However, because his service unit was the Army Military Commission, he did not get the opportunity to serve in the front-line troops, so he chose to retire and return home at the age of thirty-something.

Andre also mentioned at the time that it was a pity for this man's military qualities. If he had been sent to be the commander of a cavalry regiment, he would definitely have been able to do the job.

But this man had one bad side: he was too harsh on his own serfs.

Solovyov was able to remember some of what Andrei mentioned by slowly recalling it, but he had indeed forgotten the complete conversation.

However, he was unlikely to know that Pavel Engelhardt was the victim in the engraving who was shot by the French while blocking his dog.
He is also a guerrilla leader!
But a person's deeds must always be viewed from two perspectives.

Solovyov took the initiative to call on the serfs who were willing to follow the army in the manors along the way. Although these nobles were dissatisfied, Solovyov was a lieutenant general at a young age, he was also a person close to the emperor, and even the reason was very legitimate. Any young man who was willing to join the army could follow them. If they did not resist the French, they would be like the landlords and civilians in Italy and Germany in the future, and their homes would be robbed.
This was no joke at all. The French army was looting all the way. Solovyov had fought with the French for a long time and was very familiar with them. This was all his own experience.

Therefore, there are indeed many young men joining the army in the southern part of Smolensk, and many of them even have some experience and can be directly added to the light cavalry and chasseurs. (End of this chapter)