Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 210 022 Hello, Brother Mishka

Dresden is the capital and largest city of Saxony, but after passing so many places along the way, Solovyov himself had a headache.

After all, these places in Saxony are very fragmented due to various historical reasons, which is much more complicated than the situation of only two families in Mecklenburg.

In Thuringia and Saxony, many places belong to several principalities with Saxony in their name, and Dresden is the largest among these principalities, and the one discussing the marriage with Maria is Saxony-Weimar.

It is estimated that if Qin Shihuang came to Germany, he would die suddenly on the spot. After all, the degree of intertwining of the territories of the various parties was to a whole new level, and it was beyond the realm of possibility, especially in the western region of Saxony.

But they are all descendants of the electors of Saxony. Depending on the period, this kind of territory is divided into fine details, and it continues to change due to various reasons.

Of course, the issue of Maria's marriage was only being discussed in Petersburg at the moment and was not put on the agenda. Solovyov still heard some details while holding Louisa in bed.

The focus now was on Dresden, where he had come to visit Vasily Vasilyevich and also to the suburbs in search of his residence.

Many Russian nobles like to buy properties abroad. The properties transferred by Prince Menshikov in the Netherlands and London were still handled by Solovyov's grandfather. Now these nobles each have their own property. channel.

Solovyov once asked the nearby Baron Sergey, but he only mentioned that if the property is transferred abroad, there is no suitable manager locally, and these gentlemen do not go to Europe to settle on their own, and the property is easily misappropriated. Just like the case at Tavrid Palace.

But Vasily Vasilyevich does not fall into this category, because he often goes abroad, and he owns his own property in Dresden, but when he wants to live elsewhere, he always rents a certain place. as an official residence.

This is also what Russian nobles often did in the next hundred years. If they could have a foothold abroad, they often purchased real estate in France, Italy and Switzerland in advance, so that they could still have a place to live.

When arriving at the prince's residence, Solovyov even saw his servants. Even after traveling from Petersburg to Dresden, the master seemed to prefer to use more familiar people.

"Hello, I am Major Mikhail Solovyov of the Guards from Petersburg. I want to see Prince Vasily Vasilyevich Dolgorukov, your master. ”

He is also a retired lieutenant general and a retired current member of the Privy Council, which is a second-class senior civil servant position.

"Master, the master is not at home now. The two young masters have gone to France to study. Only the madam and the young lady are at home."

"Ah, then I might as well come back another day."

"You are an officer in the uniform of the Guards, and you are also a gentleman. Our wife said that the gentleman will be back tomorrow. You come all the way from Petersburg, so you can stay here. What's more, you are coming all the way from Petersburg. , Madam heard that it is you, so she will stay at the house. If anything happens, we will wait until the master comes back. "

This family has always been very hospitable to guests, and they are also a kind family among the nobles. The prince himself is a famous good person. When he was wandering around the Royal Village, he could meet their family out hunting.

In addition, her sister Yulia always corresponds with the eldest daughter of the family, Ekaterina. The two children communicate over such a long distance as Petersburg and Dresden, even if they only write once a quarter. , there is no postal system, and the postage is still there.

These two children, when they met in Petersburg, had almost completely opposite personalities. One was lively and the other was well-behaved, but they became very good friends. It was also very interesting.

After entering the mansion, Solovyov also met the prince's wife, who was the only daughter of Marshal Prince Baryatinsky.

"It's Misha from the Solovyov family. Come and sit down. What can I say? Old Vasya also asked your father to help take care of some property, and my daughter Katish always corresponds with your sister. Although the two families are far apart, they are still familiar. How is your family? "

"Everything is fine, ma'am, and thank you for hosting me to stay here."

"Even when our family was in Petersburg and in the manor, we often had guests staying over, especially acquaintances. Your father also wrote a letter explaining the manor near Moscow. After letting him take over the manor, he discovered the debt. There's a lot of debt Well, it’s almost two hundred thousand rubles, which is not a small sum. But you are working as an aide-de-camp with the emperor, so it’s useless to tell you this. You want to be successful on the battlefield, and your father is the one who wants to make a difference. This kind of professional manager is different.”

Speaking of which, their family still has an ancestral "profiteer" craft, which means they can only stay in this business for a long time by relying on good reputation. What's more, the four brothers Feodor has always been Prince Menshikov. A loyal butler, even now, Prince Sergei Menshikov, a member of the Privy Council, also helps take care of some properties. In this way, the reputation in the industry is pretty good. However, although the prince's family has now regained some power, they are not familiar with their family. They only know that they have moved to the countryside.

But I also know that even such a noble family has a lot of debts. Although the number of serfs in their family is also quite astonishing, Prince Vasily always clamors to liberate some serfs. But with this debt, I am afraid that if the serfs are liberated, they will also go bankrupt.

Soloviev would not talk about the things of those manors, but the princess's wife invited the servants to come over and served coffee, bacon, bread and fruit.

"I think you are in a hurry and you are hungry?"

"That's not the case. I ate some dry bread on the way here."

The princess's wife is very hospitable and looks noble and elegant. She is only 32 years old now.

There are many outrageous rumors in St. Petersburg, but the situation of the couple who are 17 years apart in age is also quite interesting. Even the one-eyed Potemkin appeared in it.

Speaking of which, the "little fairy"'s love for handsome young officers may be somewhat similar to her uncle. After all, Prince Potemkin himself was not so easy to satisfy even with his beautiful niece beside him, apart from his love affairs with the empress.

However, the more this situation is, the easier it is to get the opposite result. After Prince Bagration married her, this pair was even more exaggerated than the "Black Duke" and Mary.

After all, the "fierce Zhang Fei" in Brunswick removed his beard and looked really good.

Looking back at the princess's wife, she is indeed very beautiful, but this is what Mrs. Le Brun and Julie said. Women love gossip, especially the picky painter mother and daughter who always like to comment on the appearance of their customers. Among men, they only heard that they praised Count Stroganov and Alexander, and women were praised more.

There is indeed a replica here, and the composition looks like Mrs. Le Brun's work, but the details don't seem to be so fine.

"Misha, are you looking at that portrait?"

"Yes, madam, I think this painting was hung in your house on Bolshaya Moskva Street. I heard my father mention that your favorite portrait was that of Madame Lebrun."

"Mrs. Lebrun's painting skills are indeed excellent. I heard that she left St. Petersburg."

"Because now there is peace, the French people miss home, and she is one of the exiles who was pardoned and naturally wants to go back. Well, her daughter Julie, son-in-law Mr. Guerin and two granddaughters, the whole family will return to Paris."

"God bless, this should be her wish. After all, she has lived in Paris for the past few decades. A series of unfortunate events made her run so far from Italy to St. Petersburg."

"Isn't that great?"

Just as Soloviev was chatting with the princess, two little girls appeared on the stairs.

The older girl, Soloviev knew it was Ekaterina, Yulia's good friend, who was now 11 years old. Although she was still young, her figure was really very beautiful. The one she led was the prince's youngest daughter, 4-year-old Sophia.

There was also a boy named Alexander, but he died a few months after birth.

"Sonia has grown up so big, thanks to you."

"Hey? Why me?"

"Many ladies in Petersburg know that the herbs and donkey-hide glue sold by Count Bobulinsky were all your inventions."

What the princess's wife said was a bit incoherent, but one thing was clear, that is, the health regulations that Solovyov wrote anonymously to Paul must have played a role. In addition, the donkey-hide gelatin and... that bunch of tonics, the princess's wife must have used, and they played a role in protecting the fetus.

He himself didn't know the positioning of this "friend of women".

After all, Solovyov rarely attended social occasions in recent years. He was always in the barracks or by the side of the Tsar. Officers rarely went to social occasions, and civil servants and eunuchs went more, so he ignored some rumors.

No one talked about this in front of him, but it was only a matter of time before he was discovered. After all, some anonymous things would be exposed.

As for Ekaterina, when she greeted him, she spoke very interestingly.

"Bonjour, monsieur chatte de chat."

Although it was the same as what the little gray mouse said, it was completely French.

"Catherine, why am I 'Mr. Cat'?"

"Because of the way you walk, Brother Mishka, how is Yulia recently?"

Speaking of which, Solovyov's walking posture is indeed more like Tom carrying a rapier, probably because of this image in the illustration that Yulia mailed to her.

"She went to the girls' school in Smolny Palace. Probably because she saw your letter, written in fluent French. In order to avoid having her family read the letters for her, she asked me to send her to the girls' school. She also told me that in the future, she must not lose to Katya in order to become an outstanding graduate of Smolny Palace Girls' School."

"It sounds like something that Yulia would say. She writes letters like she speaks, writing whatever comes to mind. And she always misspells French. But I just like her because she is lively, straightforward, and sincere. We will always be good friends."

Her character is also very simple. As a girl from such a family, she is well-educated. She walks like a dancer, with some hoe feet, but this is inevitable. It can be seen that she has practiced, and her neck is stretched out like a little swan.

"Katya, why do you walk like this?"

"I just came down from the dance class. Sonya has started this class now. Brother Mishka, you have a sister Polina. Has she started to learn dance?"

"No, Polina is too young. Let her play happily first."

Although Ekaterina was a little disappointed, she was still a little envious. After all, the atmosphere in the Solovyov family is more relaxed and free than here, and she can even do some things she likes.

At this time, the princess took over the conversation.

"I am proud of my daughter. The tutor said that she can become an excellent dancer. Even a talented child would not practice as hard as she does, especially from a family like ours. Even the hardworking girls in the theater did not practice as long as she did."

"But you should also pay attention to your health. Children of this age are growing up. When my sister was sent to the academy, she was much taller than other girls. That's because she had enough nutrition."

Speaking of which, Solovyov's own height was a little bit off.

Paul always kept him around because he was not tall enough, and Alexander had the same reason. The former did not want to appear too short, and the latter wanted to highlight his tall stature.

"I was not getting enough nutrition at that age. Especially your current figure, although it is beautiful, it is too slim."

"I heard that Her Majesty the Queen has a very beautiful figure. I hope I can be like her."

Good guy, there is still a comparison object.

If this family were in St. Petersburg now, little Catherine might have been on the waiting list for a maid in the palace. After she turned 15, she would be approved to become a maid and then enter the palace. After that, it would be marriage. Young men from famous families would start proposing to the girls.

It is unknown which lucky boy would be able to marry such a girl with a good figure, good upbringing and good family background in the future.