Chapter 21 021 Prince Bagration loses badly at the British club

Chapter 21 021 Prince Bagration loses badly at the British club

Chapter 21 021 Prince Bagration loses badly at the British club
Solovyov did not go to test the gun. He had some time these days, so he went to see the British Club, a place only for men, in St. Petersburg.

However, the people who go there are always of higher rank. Even an eighth-rank civil servant, who is already considered a hereditary noble, seems a little insignificant here. There are dozens of people sitting on a long table from beginning to end, and then there are four more long tables. It looks like Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Of course, the Ministry of Magic, if it exists, is British.

And this club, the current gathering place, has not started in Prince Gagarin's palace, but in Gallenaya Street, a more important place in the Admiralty. It is also convenient for all the gentlemen to come to the club to dine and enjoy life. The British food here tastes good, at least much better than those places in the UK.

In addition, the British Club strictly prohibits ladies from entering. It is a typical British-style "gentleman's club", but sometimes you can bring your entourage in and out. The local official members are all dignitaries and Russian gentlemen. It is an honor to be a member of the British Club. Of course, there are some unlucky ones who died during the secret ballot to recommend new members and were unable to enjoy this glorious status.

For a young Russian nobleman, there were three main ambitions: to join the Guards, to get married, and to join an English club.

Depending on its business situation, sometimes non-member dignitaries and some upper-class children are allowed to enter. However, the current Russian Tsar Paul always dislikes this club and plans to close all clubs outside St. Petersburg. This thing is too British, and Paul himself has always had a bad relationship with the British ambassador. For Paul, who is not very close to Britain and has long admired France and Prussia, although he does not like salons, ladies can hold various activities there. At the same time, men, as long as they are still serving, must return to the barracks.

These gentlemen always talk a lot when they are in the British Club. Although there are waiters here, sometimes they are willing to bring their own followers. As for who the director of the Imperial Theater is, Solovyov doesn't care. Anyway, he is very sure that your secretary is a playboy.

Julie asked him to keep it a secret, but how could such a thing be kept secret? If he had taken a calmer approach, he would have been like a strong man wearing glasses, and quietly settled the matter. However, to be honest, in an event that might not happen in the future, the parties involved were all related, so it was indeed easier for this situation to develop.

After carefully analyzing the ins and outs of the matter, Solovyov discovered that the other party actually had no power in St. Petersburg except serving the theater director. If you knew that the chief painter during Napoleon's time in Toulon also did something in the theater, you should know that this is a more honorary position, and is less important than powerful generals, governors, senior officials, or members of the Privy Council.

Although the current Imperial Theatre has the position of director, it is actually managed by a "board of directors" headed by Prince Nikolai Yusupov. Speaking of which, his wife is the aunt of that clingy little goblin and also Potemkin's niece. No matter how you look at it, this seems like a family affair, unless it is an exaggeration. Solovyov is a guest of the Skavronsky family, and what about Mr. Nigris?

In fact, his identity is indeed not that eye-catching, and the same is true for Solovyov.

In the club, there are always some men who share some interesting things about their daily lives. The most frequently mentioned topics are always political issues and personal anecdotes. Of course, there are also some people who prefer secret operations.

Anyway, this is always a good place to exchange information, but the meal fee is too high for ordinary people. The entrance fee is not as high as 100 rubles later, but it is also not affordable for ordinary noble children.

Being able to come to the British Club is already a respectable thing in the upper class. Old Solovyov is still waiting for the members to approve the official membership of the Moscow Club by secret ballot. However, given Paul's temper, he still wants to close all the clubs outside of St. Petersburg recently.

After entering the club, Solovyov also knew the status of aristocratic men in the social scene. Among the attendants here, the lowest he could recognize was a eunuch above level five on the rank table, and there was no civil servant below level six. The only ones who were more lenient were the officers. On the open day, quite a few young officers entered the public area here. Few ordinary troops came here, and most of them were guards, cavalry officers and grenadiers.

And he also saw a celebrity today who was quite conspicuous in appearance, Peter Bagration, Prince of Georgia, now the colonel commander of the 6th Jager Regiment.

Given his lifestyle, it was not surprising that he came here, especially since he particularly liked playing cards and was an old gambler, and he also possessed courage that most people did not have.

The situation was not optimistic when he was playing cards today. When Solovyov entered the club, it was not yet time for dinner, so he wanted to play for a while. However, playing cards requires gambling and fines, which is not friendly to non-members, even in the public area.

Dolokhov thought Solovyov was not one of them, but he promised to give him a pair of good guns and the two Mikhails helped him out in social situations and taught Solovyov some tricks to cheat at cards.

So far, he has only taught this method to a few people, including Count Fedor Tolstoy. However, he taught it to Solovyov, who was obviously not one of the "bastards" in the Guards, because there was a special need. This is a method needed in reconnaissance work. Dolokhov heard that people in the Imperial Theater like to cheat when playing cards.

If you go to the British Club, you will probably not order this thing, or you will suffer the consequences. The prince had bad luck with cards today, but his card skills were not that bad. It was not like Kutuzov who deliberately lost cards when playing cards with the Tsar in the palace. He simply lost 5000 rubles at a card table. This amount was not a large sum for a master of his level, but losing too much would not be optimistic.

As for his opponent, Solovyov saw the magnificent Imperial Theatre logo. Wow, he had been considering waiting a while to gather intelligence, but he didn't expect that this guy was actually here. Moreover, there were four people sitting at this table, and three of them were plotting against the prince. According to the scoreboard, he would probably lose all day.

Although some gentlemen do cheating, they usually won't point it out at the table, especially in the open area. However, judging from Solovyov's performance, he just blurted it out accidentally.

"Monsieur, votre diamant J est tombé." (Sir, your Jack of Diamonds has fallen.)
The gentleman sitting opposite Bagration was obviously not very careful, and Solovyov did not notice that a Jack of Diamonds had just been played in the game. Sometimes some low-level techniques and card sequences are exposed due to unintentional mistakes.

This is a very embarrassing thing, especially in British clubs. If you are caught cheating, if you are a member, you will be fined at the least, or handed over to the committee for judgment. If you are not a member, the outcome will probably be expulsion from the club. This is a big scandal in St. Petersburg. Everyone is a respectable person, and life will not be easy in the future. After all, for many people, entering this high-end "gentleman's club" and becoming a member is an honor. Even the waiters here are voted by the committee. What matters is face.

The gentleman's face turned purple. This was too embarrassing. He turned around and left, but was grabbed by Bagration.

"Ne partez pas précipitamment, monsieur." (Don't be in a hurry to leave, sir.)
These civilian officials were rather afraid of these military officers. As for the current state of these people, it was obvious that they were not as calm as before.

"I think this should be recorded in the diary of our gentlemen's club."
Bagration turned to a waiter and said that in the British Club in Petersburg, although French was often used in conversation, German was always used in the club's logbook. Russian records were not used until after 1815. This saved Bagration from a card-playing routine, but Solovyov's unintentional words also separated him from his target and brought him to Bagration.

The prince is 32 years old and has a sharp gaze. His most obvious identifying features are his famous sideburns and big nose, but that's because he takes care of his face regularly, so it looks that way. Also, his skin color is a little dark due to his long military life, and he looks very capable.

"Lieutenant, thank you for accidentally 'seeing through' this little trick, but you have to know that this kind of thing is too common at the poker table."

"I am only passing through, Your Highness."

"You know me?"

In fact, this was the first time Solovyov had met Bagration, and he had never even heard any description of him before. However, when he spoke like this, there were actually some old men whom he had met before and to whom he could attribute this statement.

"How famous you are! I heard about you from Prince Volkonsky. I mean Nikolai Sergeevich, and I am an adjutant to Dmitri Petrovich. Mikhail Solovyov, a native of Ryazan, my father, Sergei Osipovich, was an adjutant to General Grushetsky."

At this time, it is actually most appropriate to use these two to take the blame. If it was Kutuzov, it might be a little inappropriate. He had only met Kutuzov twice and only spoke to him once, so it would be easy to be exposed.

However, the Volkonsky Prince family has always had a good reputation and held many important positions. Solovyov served as adjutant to the younger of the two, so the matter could be resolved.

"No wonder. I came from the Caucasus Mountains. My features are very different from those of the nobles in Petersburg and Moscow."

He touched his temples and spoke slowly, but he also noticed that after he finished speaking, Solovyov looked at the three people who had just made a fool of themselves, as if something was wrong.

"Lieutenant, it seems that you are not only helping me to find someone cheating at cards, but also doing something else, right?"

There are four people at Bagration's card table. The other three are foreigners. Only he is Russian. However, he is still a Georgian. Speaking Russian is a language barrier. Even with a Caucasian accent, he can still communicate with Solovyov from Ryazan.

"Yes, but this is a personal matter. I came to the club to investigate it."

"Isn't the adjutant supposed to pass on orders? Why are you doing reconnaissance work? You look smart, why don't you join the Chasseurs as an officer?"

Speaking of which, the jaegers were a good match for the rifles he had invented, and they were very useful in skirmishes. Moreover, the jaegers were responsible for many surveillance and reconnaissance tasks. Although he did not mean to imply something, Solovyov was indeed very good at taking advantage of the situation.

"It's all very well to go to the Jagers, but among the infantry, besides the Guards, there are the Grenadiers, as you know."

Bagration also thought of this problem. Grenadiers were always called "warriors", and many chasseur regiments were formed later, and there were always chasseur units among the grenadiers.

Moreover, the other party was Dmitri Volkonsky's adjutant, and his family background should be good, so it was not easy to get him. Moreover, in the Chasseur Regiment, they would fire their guns in the front and then be chased and hacked by the cavalry, so it was not surprising that they were unwilling to come.

Of course, there is one thing to note. When Tsar Paul saw such an outstanding officer, he liked him very much. Although his family background was not as good as other princes, he was still one of the best in Georgia. Yet, he is still a bachelor.

Of course, the Tsar himself agreed. If he made great achievements in the future, he would choose a noble lady with suitable family background and wealth as his wife between St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Although the emperor's image gives people a feeling that is hard to describe, he has unique evaluation standards for appearance, and he prefers warriors with beautiful women. However, his ability to match people up at random may always lead to bad results with good intentions at times.

"That's great. Whatever you want to do, with your cleverness, you will have great potential in the future. Someday in the future, we may fight side by side on the battlefield!"

The prince held out his hand as a token of friendship, and Solovyov politely accepted his offer, showing great respect for the difference in rank and grade, and for the warrior.

However, he could not have imagined that he would spend a considerable amount of time with the prince during his subsequent military career, and that they would often cross paths, all the way to Borodino.

(End of this chapter)