Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 132 032 Since there is a greenhouse, there must be overwintering tomatoes

No matter what the newlyweds were doing, when they returned to Petersburg from Gatchina, they always had to pass through Pavlovsk, where planting activities continued in the greenhouses during the winter.

And Solovyov received a salary of the Guards, so he worked hard for a long time.

He wants to cultivate overwintering tomatoes in accordance with the production plan this winter.

It's just that if he wants something new and novel, there will always be someone following him to join in the fun.

"Maria, why are you here again?"

"Follow you to plant tomatoes, Mr. Major."

"It is still in the seedling breeding stage. I reported to the Emperor in August. Your Highness, if you want to eat tomatoes, you have to wait until March next year."

"How long does it take to wait?"

"Didn't you eat the strawberries we planted in the spring only this month?"

Speaking of which, Maria is Solovyov's "nemesis", always pestering him to see all kinds of novel things.

Fortunately, although she is nagging and troublesome, she is not so willful. Just make her happy.

"I'm going to grow tomatoes too."

"Your Highness, you can't go. Her Royal Highness the Queen did not let you come here this time."

But there was no way to coax her back. This girl, who still had some faint marks from smallpox on her face, followed Solovyov, followed by the maid and nanny. It was expected that she did not want to go back these days. He went to the Hermitage to receive education from a tutor, but he found a way to hide in Pavlovsk.

"You want to reject me like this?"

"Your Highness, that's not the case. Don't shed tears."

These little girls have a very high level of control over their tear glands. It’s no wonder that when they lose control, their tears will be like a dam opening.

After shedding a few tears, Solovyov had no choice.

"Your Highness Maria, if you really want to go with me, you are just here to see how farmers work every day."

But this is only in the imperial manor. If it were in the manor of the serf-owning nobles below, the situation might not be like this.

Maria followed Solovyov to the greenhouse again. She had actually missed the planting time and was now in the stage of raising seedlings.

"Misha, is this how you raise seedlings?"

"It's definitely not wrong to put them in the seedling tray first, then transplant them one by one. I didn't think of this when I was planting strawberries."

"I knew what it looked like when seeds were buried in the soil, but I didn't expect that the seedlings that emerged after germination would be so small."

"From being so small, to becoming very big, it's like this everywhere."

"If I get married in the future, I will definitely get a greenhouse like this in my new home."

“Are you going to plant flowers in there, or maybe strawberries?”

"No, it's about growing tomatoes."

Solovyov wanted to complain, Maria, if you grow vegetables, they are probably not used to "raise" Yekaterina. You will definitely not marry together, so what are you doing here?

But he didn't say anything, and just ordered the servants to plant the tomato seedlings in the soil.

"We should pay attention to the daily temperature changes. We should put a thermometer here. The daily temperature difference is very critical for growth. Those seedlings that grew too high before had problems because the temperature was not controlled well. Standard operating temperatures are all It’s already in this little book, and all you need to do is to record it strictly according to the collected temperatures, using the Swedish scale of degrees Celsius. If there are any problems, report them to the gardener and the palace attendants.”

After all, he is only here to formulate the specifications, not directly operate them, so he must make it very clear.

"Major, if you want to put it this way, don't we peasants still need to be able to read?"

"Actually, you can count and recognize the numbers. If you can cultivate good land, you also need to be educated. After all, you are still free people. The serfs in the manor are not as good as you."

Speaking of which, the huge number of serfs in Russia still need to be liberated. Solovyov has a village in his own name, and his family has a manor in Ryazan. There are thousands of serfs in these places. In fact, he can be regarded as a big serf owner. However, after Paul's edict was issued, their family It must be done according to the three-day edict.

Solovyov, on the other hand, wants to go further. He does not expect the income from the ground to live a luxurious life. The profits he can get from doing business and factories are obviously more.

Freeing these serfs can increase the labor force, and at the same time allow them to have knowledge, which can at least improve production efficiency in labor.

For example, the situation around Moscow is extremely bad.

But he didn't have much time to think about this. Maria was a problem baby and was still asking him a series of questions.

"Your manual says that the manure used for fertilization must be fermented until it has no smell before it can be used. Why is that?"

"That's because there are parasites, eggs and bacteria in feces, not only from animals, but also from humans."

I don’t know why she suddenly asked such a “spicy” question, but Solovyov’s answer was straightforward.

"Ugh, that sounds a little disgusting."

Maria loves to be clean, but she turned her head and thought about it, and found some problems.

"There's no smell, so doesn't it look like soil?"

"Yes, Your Highness, in the vast land of Russia, there is a lot of black soil, which is formed by the accumulation of various substances over a long period of environmental changes."

"Then it's not disgusting, Misha, you should suggest this to my father."

"Your Majesty has too many things to do. If you are not careful and write the wrong name, you may create a non-existent officer. Sometimes, it is you who have a good idea, and others will learn from it."

"For example, I want you to copy music scores?"

After hearing this, Solovyov thought of how his aunt exploited him on a daily basis.

"Probably, just, maybe. Well, that's it."

He told her that it was too complicated and she couldn't understand it. Maria stayed with him for a day and learned how to grow tomatoes in a greenhouse.

The knowledge inside seems too complicated if you dig into it.

"I feel a little dizzy after hearing you talk so much."

It seems that after being in the greenhouse for a long time, even such a young and lively girl is already a little tired.

This time she came not in work clothes, but in very formal clothes, so it wouldn't be surprising if she fainted from the heat.

Fortunately, it's not far from the palace in Pavlovsk. All we have to do is take her there.

Solovyov also needs to pay attention to the situation in the greenhouse, but there are definitely differences between the production environment and the daily environment.

When he was about to grow tomatoes in the greenhouse in Pavlovsk, he had already started building a greenhouse in his village and started growing off-season fruits, which was still profitable.

In particular, he is very confident in his own planting method.

If he hadn't been a Guards officer, he might have been more interested in growing pineapples in a greenhouse in Petersburg, like the French.

At the same time, it is not to show luxury and wealth, but to carry out mass production so that opponents have no way to go.

Of course, this is unlikely now. He will return to the city in a few days.

Tsar Paul still wanted to stay in the Winter Palace in the winter. Although the engineer's fortress had been completed, it was not suitable for staying in the winter, so the plans were shelved.

At this time, it is time to return to the Winter Palace.

However, many rumors have begun to spread in Petersburg.

Count Paron seems to have applied to the Tsar himself to have important members of the court arrested if necessary.

There are also rumors that the fortress in Arkhangelsk where Anton Ulrich and his children were imprisoned has recently been reopened. As an officer on duty, Solovyov once read the original text, This is one of the more reliable rumors.

But arresting the queen and her children may sound sensational, but it will still have some effect on the palace full of intrigues.

There are countless other rumors. Now everyone can feel that the conspiracy in Petersburg is about to surface. But how to seize this opportunity?

However, considering Paul's preference for girls, and Alexander and Constantine each having children, careful analysis shows that it is still unlikely.

But now that Tsar Paul has returned to the Winter Palace again, he often turns a blind eye to Alexander's rare appearance in his palace.

This is also very abnormal. When he was in Peterhof and Tsarskoe Selo, Tsar Paul himself mentioned many times that he wanted Alexander and Louisa to hurry up and add more children, especially a son.

After all, Louisa is only 21 years old. If she takes good care of her body, Paul knows that his in-laws, the Baden Crown Prince, have many children. Although they have raised one son and more are girls, this also means they have an heir.

If you don't work hard in this area, Paul will be angry. But after all, he has four sons. In the future, when Nikolai and Mikhail grow up, they will also marry wives. According to the order, it does not need to be too much. worry.

If it weren't for the queen's health, she really couldn't continue to take on this business, and he would have to continue to work hard. The old couple originally had a bit of love, but after the two officially separated and went to their respective palaces, they became a little cold.

At this time, Count Kutaisov also offered some solutions to the Tsar himself.

This also led to Madame Chevalier's plan to marry the Tsar himself and exile the Queen and all her children.

When Solovyov heard this statement in the salon, he did not refute it publicly, but just walked away pretending to be nonchalant.

After all, it has nothing to do with him, and if Mrs. Chevalier or some other woman finally occupied this position, it would be an extremely explosive scandal, and it would be so ridiculous that it would be difficult for such a thing to happen in such an abstract place as Russia.

If there is a public rebuttal, there is actually only one problem. Whether it is Madame Chevalier or Princess Gagarina, they all have a problem. They do not have a motherly nature that can prove their strongness like the queen.

The idea of ​​starting a new business originally sounded ridiculous.

But what he was more interested in was the happy life of Prince Bagration.

"It is said that the prince's princess kissed her husband good-bye every morning at the door of her new home in the Rue d'Italia, barefoot and in her nightgown."

"Gee! That's kind of interesting, we thought it was another disaster!"

"That Prince 'Othello' is just proud of himself now. You know, the women of the Skavronsky family are all great beauties. At this young age, you can't tell much."

Then Soloviev could hear about the countess and her new husband, as well as their eldest daughter Maria. It was indeed quite complicated.

However, the "little fairy" was indeed a little happy after her marriage, and it can be said that she was very attached to her husband.

And the prince did pay more attention to dressing up every morning, making himself more energetic, and also used high-end cologne. It seemed that the "little fairy" would personally help him change clothes and dress up every morning. The smell of this brand is very similar to the high-end goods used by Count Lita, and it is likely to be the same style.

Maybe, little sister, you must also lack fatherly love!

The count has been dead for seven years, but judging from the portrait of this Count Skavronsky, he has always looked very young.

But if you really look into it, Prince Bagration has been in the army for many years, and it is inevitable that he has tanned himself, especially since he is from the Caucasus, and even white people generally have darker skin.

If this girl didn't despise the prince's face, but focused on her huge wealth and happy life, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

However, Soloviev was very pessimistic about the performance of that family.

But there was one thing about the prince that made Soloviev laugh.

That is, Grand Duchess Catherine wrote to him. It was not known where the rumor came from. The child was only 12 years old, and he knew about writing to the prince.

This is definitely not love, because when Paul asked him to check the letter, he saw what was written in it.

Maybe it was some admiration for this hero, indicating that he was a brave and great general. The prince was not easy to reply now, he could only hum and ha, and under the "guidance" of the "little fairy", he considered how to reply to this highness.

For Louisa, this kind of wording, Catherine is a little old lady, and she will forget her sweet and lovely face after seeing the content of the letter.

Compared with the game that this girl played with Alexander all day, it was nothing. The relationship between the two siblings was almost better than that between two sisters who were married, but it was not beyond the line.

According to historical facts, Solovyov is witnessing history now, and he will restore it later. This is called "we are restoring history."

However, Solovyov really has a file in his hand. For Russian weapons with poor tolerances, sometimes they really need to be polished carefully.