Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

"Your Majesty, this is Stonehenge."

The lord was still pointing at the pile of rocks, but Alexander looked confused.

“When was this pile of stones built?”

"What we know is that around 1130, missionaries passed by and saw this pile of stones. However, because of the traces of processing on its surface, we can judge that it existed before the missionaries entered England."

But Lord Castlereagh was not a professional, he just knew the general idea.

"Soloviev, you've read a lot of books, tell me what's going on."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Solovyov was still reluctant to give up his "child-raising general" way of doing things, but now at the Tsar's request, he had to come out from the children's table.

"This kind of sacrificial stone should be a form of Druidism. In ancient times, the people living here were all Celts, especially the Britons. Maybe it has something to do with Britannia, but not all British people are locals, just like not all French people are Gauls. Those in Brittany are more like Celts, and many places in France have Franks and Alemanni. There are also Greeks and Romans in the south. For example, Marseille was formerly called Masseria."

"Count, you seem to know a lot."

"I always read books in my spare time. I also like Edward Gibbon's The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Although some of the content in it needs to be discussed before it can be finally confirmed, it is still an independent and effective point of view."

Fortunately, both parties spoke in French, otherwise Lord Castlereagh would have doubted his life.

Solovyov spoke in a very organized way, and although he had only met the Regent before, it was heard that he always liked to lengthen his sentences when he spoke.

In that case, they would be the people who came from the two schools in the Appleby constituency, which these lords are most familiar with.

Although there are no permanent secretaries in the British government at present, this type of civil servant does exist.

It’s just that the civil servants now have their own political stances in a sense, even the King, the Regent, and Princess Charlotte each have their own.

The lord would probably feel that if Solovyov were not a soldier, he might be more difficult to deal with.

After all, once he starts talking, he won't stop.

"You are also very familiar with British history."

"Speaking of which, I have also heard of Boudica's rebellion against Roman rule. But the Britons are probably closer to the Irish and the Scots, then the Welsh, and finally the English."

"After all, many people have come to England. You should know this, Earl."

Alexander just needs to watch the show from the side. Solovyov is very knowledgeable, no wonder his wife has a good relationship with him and his wife.

Of course, the children born to his wife and another man are also his.

Alexander might have had his doubts, but because Solovyov was so useful and he had stopped, he let go of this doubt.

Now that he is here, the Tsar actually understands what he says.

This was a bargain with Lord Castlereagh, except that it had nothing to do with what he was going to say.

Nesselrode, who had not had a chance to speak today, watched his friend talk about the history of Britain and Rome.

I knew before that although he was a soldier, his education level was self-taught + private tutoring, but I didn't expect that he had read so much.

Sometimes, among those who are tutored or self-taught, there are always one or two big demons.

Although these statements are correct, we must also take the actual situation into consideration.

Lord Castlereagh could actually hear the meaning of the words, and for a person of this level, it was not a waste of time.

After 1812, the issue of Catholicism was no longer discussed, and Lord Liverpool was still pursuing a policy of reconciliation between Catholics and Protestants, allowing Catholics to hold some public offices.

Speaking of Catholics, many of them are in Ireland and Scotland. After Henry VIII did so many things in order to marry a wife and have a son, the Church in England is now the Catholic Church of England and has nothing to do with the Catholic Church.

However, since the Hanoverian dynasty, many problems have arisen, mainly the conflict between the two religions.

During the reign of George III, his attitude became tougher.

Although it is said that during the reign of this mad king, Britain seemed very powerful.

However, it has always faced challenges from France and also lost the thirteen North American states.

Although it marked the beginning of the British Empire's prosperity, there were also some other problems.

George III's tough attitude towards Catholics and his tough taxation on the thirteen states of North America planted huge landmines.

Once it is detonated, the UK may not even allow Ireland, which is closest to it, to become its own territory, and there may even be disunity within the United Kingdom.

The subject of the Irish was brought up, and Lord Castlereagh actually knew what it meant.

So he was still listening and didn't express his opinion.

"What else do you want to say?"

"Nothing, I just want to marvel at this miracle of engineering in the classical era of mankind. Even if there are such sacrificial stones in other places, they probably won't be so spectacular. But now with manpower, it should be relatively easy to build one. But if we calculate it in ancient times, it is not easy either. After all, not every place is like the pyramids in Egypt."

He kept talking in a roundabout way, but some people were willing to listen.

Catherine noticed that not only was Nicholas listening attentively, but so was her eldest son.

My younger brother admires Solovyov because he is a good fighter and secondly because he is knowledgeable.

And the son was probably having fun playing with him.

In addition, the French nanny hired by Catherine at home did provide the child with enlightenment education, so the brain of the future Napoleon II (regardless of whether he could succeed to the throne) developed very rapidly.

Sometimes you can’t imagine how much potential a child has at the age of 3.

This "parenting type" is okay in green clothes, and he's a thin guy.

If it was blue clothes and the person was fat, that would be a different story.

But the more he talked, the less happy Lord Castlereagh became.

What he had to do now was to send an aide to Wimbledon in advance during the trip and write a note to the Prime Minister and the Regent. This was to show that the Russians were not friendly and that the Russians seemed to be very familiar with the British situation.

Given the great distance, Downing Street and Buckingham Palace may not necessarily get intelligence much faster than the Winter Palace. This may become a British tradition.

But Solovyov was also smart; he just picked the more obvious Irish issues to talk about.

He did not bring up some of the more serious issues, such as food prices in the UK, the workers' movement, and the dire conditions in the slums.

He would also be curious that the problems existing in Russia also exist in Britain and France.

Why did Prince Sergei and his group of Decembrists end up causing such a big trouble?
Some people are always preparing for the next sentence, Solovyov is a typical example.

When they got back to the carriage, Alexander was still praising him.

"Misha, you said it very well. I was also wondering if you should come to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs?"

"Your Majesty, what you said makes sense. You should come to our department."

"I am afraid of red tape. Although I am good at speaking and can talk endlessly, it is still very scary for me to do these things."

"You are a soldier after all, so you are willing to do military things. Sergei, you should learn from him. Although he has this talent, he always focuses on some things. As for family."

Sergei Volkonsky, he and Solovyov are also very close.

His sister was Katya's predecessor in the palace maidenhood, and his brother-in-law, Prince Peter Volkonsky, had always been the leader of the young team among the generals of the apron, and the adjutants were always under his command.

In addition, Peter's uncle Dmitry is Solovyov's old superior, so he is one of them no matter how you look at it.

But it is he who will be among the Decembrists in the future.

In fact, Alexander knew him very well, and because his sister and brother-in-law were his and his wife's confidants, and he was brave in battle, although his personality was impulsive, he was also very popular.

Even the Tsar, knowing that he had entered Paris, tended to take some radical positions.

When the Tsar himself was young, he also called himself a Jacobin and wanted to bring a constitution to the people.

Now he also discovered that it seemed that being an absolute monarch was not a bad thing.

Although I am not yet 40 years old, there are still many things to consider.

Meeting the British Regent is also a problem.

Now the regent, the current crown prince and future emperor, is not beating you with a whip, but is discussing some issues with Lord Liverpool.

"Your Highness, I think the Russians should want some benefits at this time."

"What do they want? We give them enough aid already, we can't give them £1000 million a year, that would be too much, and just support them on military spending."

"I think they didn't say it explicitly, but they gave the problem. Although they said it was a problem with the Irish, it could point to something else."

"For example?"

"If we talk about the Irish and Catholic issues, it may be related to some places, such as some of our colonies, or some territorial divisions. If we talk about some places that Britain already controls..."

"Thank you, Mr. Bathurst, that's about it."

The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies gave an answer, and the Prime Minister agreed.

"So what are we going to do? I think the Russians also want to do what Bonaparte probably did in the past, and they probably understand it very well."

"Although Lord Castlereagh only left a note, we can imagine the problem. It is nothing more than exerting pressure. When the time comes, the Tsar will not have to come out for negotiations. He only needs to send his foreign minister and court attendants to solve the problem."

"Will they do that?"

"Your Highness, the current Tsar is not willing to take the initiative to do anything. He is always willing to act as an arbitrator behind the scenes. It's just that his purpose is difficult to guess, and we don't know which side he will lean towards in the end. But if his subordinates have clearly expressed an attitude, then it means a possible tendency. But now if it involves the issue of territorial division, we also have to consider several aspects. Just like what they published in the Paris newspaper before, it was also a test. In more serious cases, it is a declaration."

"So how should we respond?"

"If the current Russian ambassador is still Count Vorontsov, we can ask him to mediate. After all, he is a traditionally friendly person towards Britain. What I am more worried about is that the Tsar himself has always admired French culture, as did Tsar Paul before him. The attitude they will adopt in Europe in the future may not be very friendly to Britain."

"Prime Minister, you should also add that the Tsar has people around him who are very familiar with us."

"I know that, Count Solovyov. He has visited here before. His English accent is quite familiar, just like my tutor. Of course, he is also very young. He is still a general now, but he was just an aide-de-camp behind Count Vorontsov at that time."

"Your Highness, this is obviously the problem. You seem to have mentioned that he wrote a booklet for you?"

"Yes, but Charlotte took the pamphlet, and she said the jokes in it were very amusing."

Obviously, he did not take the secret book that Solovyov gave to Crown Prince George seriously.

This little notebook fell into the hands of Princess Charlotte and was treated as a collection of jokes, so Lord Liverpool had no way of knowing its contents.

If he knew, he would also take a deep breath.

These weapons of mass destruction are aimed at the more vulnerable parts of the British government.

On the other hand, the British probably had few ways to improve on this basis. After all, what Solovyov saw was the complete civil service system of the 20th century, not the later one that was dismantled, and the previous one that was imperfect.

But Solovyov's version is also outdated. In 2025, civil servants seem to have made a comeback and the glory days are back.

And there is another thing, that is, the Tories/Conservatives are not friendly to the civil service system, and the Whig Party and the later Labour Party are the ones that use more civil servants.

"So how should we arrange this?"

"Your Highness, in my opinion, we should invite the Russian Tsar to watch a football match. In the box, we can discuss these issues. You only need to attend the ceremony with the Tsar, and the specific matters will be discussed by the cabinet and the Russian Foreign Minister."

Prince George also agrees with this point, he still prefers entertainment. He is smart and lazy, entertainment is more important than work, which is his characteristic.

"Let's do it, Robert."

"Yes, Regent." (End of this chapter)