Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

When Anton arrived in Beijing to meet the Daoguang Emperor, Nikolai was preparing to send Pushkin, who always needed friends to mediate his duels, to China to complete a mission: to obtain Buddhist scriptures.

Pushkin was initially dissatisfied with the task, and he complained bitterly at a salon hosted by Solovyov.

"Mikhail Sergeyevich, His Majesty has assigned me this task. What do you think?"

"If you're asking me this, it's probably because you're unhappy about it."

Solovyov knew very well that Pushkin's questions meant he was dissatisfied, so he became clever and would secretly add a few lines when writing poetry, so no one would notice.

Even if Solovyov's eldest son married the Tsar's niece in the salon, there would still be people watching, and even if there were no people watching, there would still be gossip.

“Going to China is a very interesting thing, even though I am not going as a member of an official mission.”

"Shall we treat it as an adventure?"

"When you go there, you will pass through Siberia and have a lot to see and hear. Moreover, His Majesty is here to seek Buddhist scriptures."

Although Pushkin had some rebellious spirit, he didn't have the keen insight of Monkey King.

However, Pushkin was famous as a court poet, which was actually known to the Qing Dynasty long ago. If we were to restore history, it was twenty years later that Nikolai sought Buddhist scriptures and exchanged 332 books for 800 volumes of Buddhist scriptures, which included Pushkin's poems.

This time, the real people were sent there. Because the Qing Dynasty officials who were sent on missions had a very good impression of the elderly Goethe and the young Pushkin, Solovyov even organized people to help them translate the works of the two men. As a result, for the first time, foreigners' articles appeared in the capital in a semi-vernacular form.

However, Russian names are too long, so they don't spread as far as "The Sorrows of Young Werther".

And another problem is that the moralists will criticize the married man, but fortunately Yevgeny Onegin has not yet finished.

Solovyov had to give him some advice before Pushkin finally gave up.

"As for you, where are you going? Even the sharpest sword will rust if it stays in its sheath for too long."

"That's not your concern. The task of fighting the Persians is too simple. Paskovich can take the lads and go. Our mission is to repel them, not to annihilate them."

Solovyov himself is going to take action, which means that a decisive battle of annihilation must be fought, or there must be objectives such as complete conquest and capture of the enemy's capital.

He doesn't need to claim such credit; Paskovic's performance on the front line has been outstanding.

After Griboyedov held Tbilisi, the Russian Caucasian Legion defeated the Persian army at Elizabethville. Subsequently, Paskovich defeated a Persian army of 4 with only 7 men. However, the enemy was too numerous, and the pursuit in the mountains was inconvenient. The Russian army also lacked cavalry at this time, so it was unable to further expand its gains.

Solovyov could even see these battle reports while sitting at home.

Although he wasn't the Minister of War, important military intelligence was still sent to him.

Nikolai still needs his mentor as an advisor, and when it's time to go to war, he will naturally set off.

More importantly, on the Turkish side, Solovyov is prepared to make a big splash in the Balkans this time, if possible.

They will only take action when the Turks feel that Russian intervention is inevitable and they declare war.

The Ottoman Sultan was struggling in northern Greece at this time because of the support given to the Greek rebels by Britain, France, and Russia.

After the start of the war in 1812, the Ottoman Sultan launched an attack on Serbia and Greece. The Serbian side, with the army that Solovyov had trained, managed to defeat the Ottoman army's attack.

The Ottoman army was defeated in Niš and was unable to advance any further.

However, on the Greek front, the Turkish army briefly entered the Peloponnese peninsula, only to be driven out by the Greeks after 1815.

The Greek army did not undergo the same transformation as the Serbian army under Solovyov and Kutuzov, and there was not enough time at the time, so it also paid a considerable price. The confrontation between the two armies mostly took place in the Larissa area.

If things continue like this, Greece will probably remain as it is.

Nicholas was also planning to try to get one of his relatives to become the King of Greece, and given his temperament, he would also consider sending troops.

But his straightforward temper always had to be kept in check.

While Alexander was still alive, it was Solovyov who was anxious because the Tsar himself was slow to start the war.

When it came to Nikolai, Solovyov was worried that Nikolai was too impatient.

His plan was to use a sting operation to get the Turks to act on their own and to demonstrate the weakness of the allies at this time.

The only problem is that the capitals of the Sultan and the Shah are too far from St. Petersburg, so news of the declaration of war will reach St. Petersburg very late.

Solovyov also had to find a solution. He planned to develop wired telegraphs and, if possible, recruit talented people from Europe with high salaries.

He can't really get it done on his own, but as the client, he only needs to invest and set the general direction, so he can probably produce something.

However, there is also a problem: as the technology of wired telegraph matures, the cost of laying it also depends on the cost, and cables are not a small issue.

His previous tinkering with optical communications was also for use in communication between different legions on the battlefield.

Electricity was still in its developmental stage at that time, and he could only watch helplessly as it failed to develop.

After all, he doesn't have that much ability; it would be good enough if he could make some achievements in mathematics and engineering.

If we really want to test our skills in electricity, we'll have to find Ohm and others.

In Russia, those who can currently show talent are probably still in chemistry, but that's in the future.

To this end, Solovyov first wrote to Gauss, and then through Louisa to Svetlana, intending to invite some scholars to St. Petersburg as visiting scholars, preferably with high salaries and a more comfortable research environment for them.

Doing scientific research is not like writing articles. Theoretical research requires a stable environment; it's not something that intellectuals can unleash their fighting spirit when they're poor to a certain extent.

Solovyov could glean some insight from Mrs. Rykamir's letter. Clara was also approaching engagement age, and Solovyov was somewhat biased towards his daughters. Moreover, he also hoped to visit Paris once.

However, this trip to Europe was to gauge the attitudes of various European countries. Austria is probably firmly opposed to Russian intervention in the Balkans; their only direction of expansion in Europe is this region, and if Russia cuts off their access, they might not even be able to enter the Eastern Mediterranean.

Therefore, it is even more necessary to unite with Prussia to suppress Austria when Britain, France, and Russia are united on the Greek issue.

Besides, the Austrian army's actual combat strength was such that even if Radetzky had come, he would not have been a match for the Russian army.

The two sides' levels of preparedness were not on the same level. In other words, Russia had always maintained a friendly attitude within the Holy Alliance and did not intend to take action against Austria.

And, Solovyov feels somewhat disgusted by the Galicia region.

The future war will mainly involve attacks from two directions. Ideally, we should deal with the Persians first before facing the Turks.

However, Solovyov was overthinking things. As winter approached, once the Russian fleet joined forces with the British and French fleets, they would be able to unleash their full potential and deliver a crushing blow to the Ottoman fleet, which was of considerable size but whose combat capabilities were unclear.

This also included the battleship "Azov," which, after delivering the latest weapons to the Russian forces in Georgia, turned and sailed along the southern coast of the Black Sea past Constantinople, eventually reaching the Corfu area to join the British and French fleets.

The war came even more urgently. The combined British, French, and Russian fleet, led by the Royal Navy, was preparing to fight the Ottoman Empire and its affiliated Egyptian navy. Although the Allied forces had the advantage in the number of battleships, they were no match for the large number of small and dilapidated ships on the other side.

However, the intelligence had not yet reached St. Petersburg due to the long distance.

The intelligence that Solovyov saw was mostly about various directions on land.

After the salon ended and everyone left, he locked himself in his study to think.

It had been a long time since anyone had bothered him like this.

Katya and Mihrima each had to take care of the children, and they were both in their rooms.

"Sir, would you like to add some more candles? You're still working tonight."

"Add some more to the candlesticks. Sometimes it's good to be a servant. You are happy, but you also have to meet a master like me."

"Sir, what are you saying?"

"Valodya, your grandfather followed the Grand Marshal for most of his life, and you've been with me for fourteen years. Time really flies."

"Sir, you are still young."

"Yes, compared to other generals, I am younger, but I am 45 years old. When you get to this age, you see things more clearly. But now there are many things that confuse me, and I don't know why."

"Sir, you are very learned! Even though I can read, I don't know what you are thinking."

"If it were a war, you've been following me all this time, so you probably know how to deploy troops, what infantry, cavalry, and artillery are. Actually, you're better than some people. Soldiers just need to know how to obey orders, but there are always some people who make you feel very uneasy."

Solovyov sitting here inevitably felt a little strange.

He studied the map for a while longer before deciding to write a letter to General Langeron to inquire about the situation in Odessa, also in order to obtain some reliable intelligence.

If wired telegraphy were successfully developed, the Morse code already used in optical communication could also be applied to wired telegraphy.

He naturally knew about current, voltage, and resistance, but Ohm was a rather difficult person to find. Around 1826 was the time when Mr. Ohm was at his lowest point.

He had a doctorate from the University of Erlangen and some connections with Heidelberg. At that time, he was probably teaching in Cologne or Berlin.

Therefore, he not only wrote letters to his friends and daughter, but also to the bearded lawyer.

A while ago, the bearded lawyer wrote a letter mentioning the current situation of his 8-year-old son.

Solovyov then wrote back to him, mentioning some of his recent ideas that required talent in physics and engineering, and hoping that his old friend could help him inquire in the Rhine region.

The main reason was that Solovyov ultimately wanted to keep his ideas a secret and not let the Prussians know what kind of talent he had accurately identified.

Ohm just embarrassed himself in the academic community last year because of the erroneous data in his paper, but there was nothing wrong with his research; it was just that the paper had not been carefully polished.

It is conceivable that even General Solovyov, who has always sponsored outstanding scholars in academia, may have made mistakes in his assessments. This may be the view of some scholars in the German region.

Solovyov had been friends with Gauss in the past, sponsored his research, had many connections with scholars from various fields, and had also made some achievements in optical applications. He also played a significant role in Carnot's research.

While this gave him an advantage due to the information gap, it also gave him a reputation as a sponsor.

Whether they are scientists or engineers, many people have received his help in various ways, regardless of whether he is a scholar with formal academic training or an engineer who, like the three brothers who refined oil in the Caucasus, came from a serf background.

Solovyov's interest in Ohm went unnoticed by others because his paper was a failure, which was somewhat fortunate.

As for the bearded lawyer, he quickly found Ohm, who was planning to go to Berlin to teach, and mentioned the invitation from St. Petersburg.

Solovyov was also clever; he arranged a teaching position for the doctor at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, not at a university or anywhere else, which even served a certain purpose of concealment.

When Ohm and other scholars arrived in St. Petersburg, he would also put forward his own ideas to improve the telegraph concept that had already appeared in the early 19th century. If it could be completed within one or two years, it would enable telegraphs to be used in key areas between Odessa and Bucharest, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kharkiv and Kiev, with relay stations and optical telegraphs in between, forming a comprehensive communication network.

Any intelligence received can be transmitted quickly and can address the urgent needs of the front lines.

However, Solovyov forgot one thing: at present, it would be good enough to transmit the technology within 20 kilometers; being too advanced in technology will inevitably have some consequences.

Even if he gathers all the necessary talent, it will be the same.

But if telegraphs had existed in the 30s, he probably would have been able to stay in the rear and wouldn't have had to go to the front lines every time there was a battle.

At this time, Russia's vast territory, which used to be an advantage, has become a major problem in terms of infrastructure.

Thousands of kilometers of roads and telegraph lines, along with supporting infrastructure—this is no joke.

Besides searching for people, Solovyov also wrote a memorandum for Nikolai, intending to take it out when he went to the Winter Palace. (End of Chapter)