Chapter 10 Since we are in Saltykov's residence, all the big shots in Petersburg are here

Chapter 10 010 Since it is at Saltykov’s residence, all the big shots in Petersburg are here

Mikhail Dolgorukov also thought Solovyov was interesting. He himself was attracted by the petite girl wrapped in white silk clothes. He had seen this guy in Moscow and he had politely rejected her. If Countess Skafronskaya flirted with him, the prince believed that he would not be able to control himself. After all, such a charming little goblin was almost at the age when nobles got engaged, and she was also the one that the emperor had appointed to arrange a good marriage for. Who knew who would be so lucky to be declared the most outstanding young man by the emperor?

It is just that the “young man” that Tsar Paul mentioned was in scope, and young Prince Mikhail may have put the age range lower, but he ignored the context of the Tsar’s own words.

Solovyov didn't know who would be so lucky as to marry such a "troublesome little enchantress" whose charm was almost engraved in her bones. At least that's what Mademoiselle de Riviera said to him when she came to him after she left him.

"It is a great pleasure to be with the Countess, but in Russia your surname is so difficult to remember, just like our full names. If she grows up a little and chooses a groom who suits her, that person will be very happy." (It is a great pleasure to be with the Countess, but in Russia your surname is so difficult to remember, just like our full names. If she grows up a little and chooses a groom who suits her, that person will be very happy.)
Yes, everyone said so, this cheerful and charming angel, the two Mikhails greeted Commander-in-Chief Bolkonsky when he passed by, and just after that time, the countess accidentally exposed part of her shoulder, and the waiter beside her was stunned, it was difficult to find such shoulders and collarbones in all of Petersburg.
"Mademoiselle de Rivery, thank you for your help today, but I just have a small question: what should I call you after you marry my father?" (Mademoiselle de Rivery, thank you for your help today, but I just have a small question: what should I call you after you marry my father?)

"It's up to you, Mikhail. Apart from this relationship, we would be good friends and partners." (It's up to you, Mikhail. Apart from this relationship, we would be good friends and partners.)
The ball was kicked back, and there were probably only a few possible situations: (1) I call you mom and you call me brother; (2) I call you sister and you call me son; or it is possible that they really recognize each other as mother and son or sister and brother. Solovyov would be a little embarrassed in the first three situations, but the last one would not embarrass either of them. Only old Baron Sergei would be embarrassed.

Miss de Rivery was from the West Indies and according to her own account, she was captured by pirates between 1788 and 1790. However, because she was too young, she was not sold to the Ottoman court or any other Pasha's house and was almost crushed in the hands of pirates. She was just raised to be of some value and was about to be sold to Murad Bey, but then the Russians came.

As we all know, when the Russians rescue hostages, they usually prepare heavy weapons, and their navy is invincible when they go ashore and fight land battles.

The pirates ran away, leaving behind Mademoiselle de Rivery and the captured women. All the non-French people whose families could be found were sent back home, or handed over to the embassies of various countries in Naples and the Vatican when General Ushakov returned. The only exception was the women from France, because before they set off they had received a secret edict from the Queen, preparing to fight against France, but they had to maintain an attitude of nonchalance, and the ambassador of the French Directory was not very friendly to the Russian general, which led to a series of embarrassing events.

Her story, because she was captured by pirates for several years, attracted the attention of noble ladies in the salon. These unmarried girls expressed great sympathy for the bizarre experience of this sister, and also wished her a happy marriage in the future. After all, it is not easy for a girl who has been captured by pirates to find a suitable husband, even if the other party is older.

But that's not entirely true. Prince Alexander Kurakin, the wealthy "Diamond Duke", has not been able to find a suitable girl to marry because of his personal hesitation and various reasons. However, he is one of the top three playboys in St. Petersburg. It is said that he has dozens of illegitimate children, but he has been unable to make up his mind to get married. It is said that he has had close contacts with the Orlov family recently, and he and several important representatives of their family can be seen appearing in social scenes.

Alexei Kurakin is the brother of Alexander Kurakin. The two of them grew up with Tsar Paul and were favored in Paul's court. He was the Attorney General of the Russian Empire, responsible for receiving all appeals. He was also the chief director of the State Distribution Bank and actually held Russia's supervisory power and currency issuance rights. Behind him was Duke Vasily Kurakin, who looked similar to him. This man was Ippolit's father and was considered a top figure in Moscow's salons. However, unlike his cousins ​​who openly made money with the power granted by Emperor Paul, his way of making money was always to calculate other people's property.

His most recent official position is prosecutor, and he hopes that no rich family will be caught by him.

As for the State Distribution Bank, its establishment itself had a lot to do with the suggestions of the Attorney General during the reign of Elizabeth Petrovna. If the two were combined, if the work was done well, the bank could continue to rise rapidly and remain as stable as a rock. However, if something went wrong, given Tsar Paul's narrow-mindedness and impatient temper, that would be trouble. However, he would not lose his life or be exiled to Siberia. After all, although the emperor was narrow-minded, he was unwilling to kill, and he was also an abolitionist in the late 18th century. Even for those who murdered his father and the favorites who embarrassed him at the end of his mother's reign, he did not kill them all. He even sent them back home and no longer employed them, which showed the emperor's kindness after he ascended the throne.

"Misha, do you know what a national allocation bank means?"

"Why do you ask me this question?"

"Misha, we must do business together. You know that all the ladies in Petersburg, Moscow, and even all over Russia are looking at you. They will approve of your little things!"

Although Prince Dolgorukov was only 17 years old, he was quite good at "fooling" people with words and was also good at giving inspirational speeches. However, he obviously did not know much about economic affairs. After all, a soldier did not have so much energy to take care of this, especially since he was a light cavalry guard. As an adjutant, he believed that he should be able to do the math. Especially since Solovyov had mentioned the approximate investment required, even the baron's own family could grit their teeth and come up with 2 rubles a year through real estate, loans and bond income. However, the scale was too small and they could only buy a cheap piece of land near Pskov to open a factory, and the output would only be enough to cope with St. Petersburg alone.

These boastful young men, with higher titles, had more far-fetched ideas. The two Dolgorukovs, Peter and Mikhail, thought that they should at least take out 4 rubles, which was the annual income of the Solovyov family. His family's annual income last year was 43210 rubles. You should know that the several estates of Marshal Suvorov's family were roughly at this level, but their efficiency was definitely not as good as that of the Solovyov family, and much of it was ineffective labor.
Solovyov could only agree reluctantly, and what he was more concerned about was that more and more nobles came to the scene today. When the empress was alive, she rewarded the Saltykov family with a huge mansion in front of the palace embankment to entertain respectable people from all over St. Petersburg, but it was being renovated now. Because the princess's wife was always a mean lady and kept giving orders on everything, the progress was not fast, which delayed the construction period. So they could only stay here. This was a reward from Tsar Paul to the Saltykov family.

Among the people he saw, there were nobles in St. Petersburg who never had to go anywhere, a group of generals headed by Kutuzov, some young nobles, Tsar Paul's close ministers represented by Kurakin, and a few "favorites". It can be seen that Paul had carried out drastic reforms in the court after the death of Catherine II, and his own people had replaced many places, but as for what the effect would be in the future, there are only two words - hard to say!
"But I also roughly know that the role of the state-allocated bank is to purchase copper for export abroad, and to issue banknotes and mint gold and silver coins. However, the emperor has recently destroyed some unredeemable banknotes in the Winter Palace Square. In fact, the problem is that our country has a vast territory, a large population, and very backward production, which leads to poor circulation of goods and currency. The territory is larger than theirs. Some of the things that Britain, France and Austria can do are difficult for us to do. We also have to consider how many countries are there in the shortest distance from France to our country by land, and how many tariffs are there? How much tax will the governors in our country collect?"

Mikhail Dolgorukov was a little confused after hearing this, but he also understood why Russia's exports were always shipped by sea. With these states in the middle, the tariffs they collected were enough to make exporters bear the consequences.

"That would be good for England, Misha."

"Yes, it is good for Britain. You should also note that many of our nobles still rely on trade with the British for their livelihood. As for the Netherlands? It is close to the land. If someone wants to take it over, the trade center will no longer exist. A trade center needs a safe perimeter and strong military protection."

“That sounds like it.”

Dolgorukov also saw his second brother Peter, who was serving as the commander of the Moscow garrison at the time. He was only 20 years old, but was valued by Tsar Paul and had just been promoted to colonel. He himself happened to be a captain of the Moscow Grenadiers when he joined the Russian army in 1792.

"So, my brother is Misha, and you are also Misha. You two have the same name day, but one year apart. It's interesting. On this occasion, we two brothers, and you, sit down here. You brought these things, which are very attractive to girls, and my brother insisted that we should work together to build a factory to produce them. As for what are those things?"

Prince Peter was obviously more interested in pencils and crayons. The colored ones also had military uses and were convenient to use. They could be used to mark on the map. After all, he was also an officer, but he was young and inexperienced, and was easily deceived when he was excited. "It's a pencil with a similar manufacturing process to the French, but this batch of materials still uses graphite rods imported from England. My home is at No. 4 Laundry Lane, and there is no place to make it according to French or Prussian technology."

"Prussian pencil workmanship is not good, but don't let the Emperor hear of it."

Prince Peter spoke in a somewhat witty manner. He had just been received by Tsar Paul two days ago and was promoted to a higher military rank. Everyone knew that the emperor did not like others to point out Prussia's shortcomings. Moreover, he himself wore a black Prussian military uniform on a daily basis, and even let his two sons, Crown Prince Alexander and Grand Duke Constantine, wear it. If he met the King of Prussia, it would be a strange picture, and it would even be painted by painters.

"That is true. I believe the Emperor will notice it. And if the products we produce with Russian technology are better than those produced by France and Prussia, I believe His Majesty will be very happy. And we also have an original design. The wooden cover of the pencil is made into a hexagonal shape, which is convenient for storage."

"How did you come up with this idea? It's a good idea."

They were really pampered children. No matter how brave they were, how well they performed on the battlefield, or how glamorous they were in social occasions, they had never participated in much labor. In this respect, Paul, the Tsar, was much better than them. Although he followed the Prussian system in Gatchina, he went out many times to imitate Frederick the Great's inspections. At least he knew a lot about the conditions of crops and the breeding of livestock, and perhaps he also knew what a beehive looked like.

"It's bees. If you've ever paid attention to a beehive, you'll see that it's hexagonal, and that's where the bee larvae are raised."

"Perhaps we could use bees as a trademark for your business idea, Baron Soloviev."

"But, brother, we need to find other people to partner with us. The three of us alone are not enough."

Prince Mikhail raised this question, and Peter obviously had more considerations. There were many old noble leaders in front of him, but in the opinion of his father, Pyotr Petrovich Dolgorukov, it was not a good idea to be with these people. Before the old man in the family went to Tula to serve as the director of the Tula Arsenal, he taught his three sons in letters to make more friends, and at the same time, if they really wanted to do some business, they should not deal too much with those old men.

Regarding this, the eldest of the three brothers is currently being held in custody for investigation. The reason was that four colonels including Nikolai Raevsky and Vladimir Dolgorukov "violated orders" and were therefore charged and investigated. It turned out to be a wrongful case, but so far none of the offending officers have been released.

They had provoked the wrong person. Valerian, the brother of Count Zubov, who was in favor at the time, was not punished, so there was always someone else to be the scapegoat. Tsar Paul had not yet paid attention to this case on his agenda, so naturally he remained in prison.

Peter and Mikhail were well aware of the hardships their eldest brother had gone through, so they decided to find some companions of similar age, naturally from good family backgrounds, but not those playboys.

As for the friends and relatives he found, Prince Peter Dolgorukov thought of the Privy Councilor, Lieutenant General Prince Vasily. After all, they were all relatives. Among the older family members, this one was relatively loyal and reliable. However, Prince Vasily was under great pressure from family expenses. After hearing about it, he was willing to pay 5000 rubles, but only in banknotes. According to the exchange rate, it would depreciate in the end, which showed that Prince Vasily was under great financial pressure.

The first person Mikhail thought of was Count Fyodor Tolstoy, but Count Fyodor Tolstoy was still a student at the Naval Academy and was even younger. However, Mikhail had to call him "uncle" based on seniority. Mainly because Mikhail had just returned from the Caucasus, all he thought of were those adventurous friends around him. Although this guy had not yet graduated from the military academy, he was incredibly courageous and was proficient in shooting and fencing. Prince Peter and Solovyov didn't understand why the first person he thought of was a poor relative who was too young and aggressive.

"But it's always a good thing to be adventurous. Let's not cause trouble for the cadet for now. He may be useful in the future. What we are looking for now is a partner, not a bodyguard. Misha, do you understand?"

Peter just smiled at his brother's confusion, but he was right, the list of companions should always be longer, and he was already a colonel, so he naturally had more experience than his brother. He even felt that Solovyov, who was the adjutant to the general, could also list some reliable people. He just didn't expect this guy to actually write a long list with a quill pen.

"Are you listing the local nobles of Ryazan Province?"

"Not really. Look, there are notes at the end. For example, Count Ilya Rostov. Although his family is only a local noble, they have always been very generous to various causes. For example, this one... Is there any problem if I include my father's old boss? Not everyone we are looking for may agree. How many people did you list?"

"It's the same as yours. Don't worry about Misha. This guy wrote a list, but in the end, it seems that he is looking for salesmen and bodyguards. There are even some military cadets and young officers who have just started their service. I don't know what will happen if I ask their families for help."

Prince Peter sighed and put down his quill. The list they wrote included some reliable people from their circle. If it was someone like Prince Saltykov, who was controlled by his wife at home and obeyed the emperor's orders in the palace, and was also an overly noble figure, they really didn't dare to look for him.

As for the people on this list, it will be Peter Dolgorukov who will solve the problem in the end. After all, he has time to deal with the relevant issues, and Mikhail Dolgorukov has to return to his regiment to serve.

Solovyov had not noticed the name of Prince Mikhail's regiment before. He just said it was the "Guards Light Cavalry Regiment", but did not explain that this was a regiment that would produce many funny people in the future, nor did he explain that he was a hussar - he usually wore a formal dragoon uniform when attending events, not the blue hussar uniform.

There was a guy named Rzhevsky in his regiment. There would be many absurd stories about him in the future, and he would become a national joke in Russia, similar to the story of a certain flag captain.

(End of this chapter)