Struggle in Russia

Li Xiao was not in a hurry to launch an investigation. After all, he couldn't figure out the origin of Count Kleinmicher. Everyone knew that he was the tsar's military attache. Alexander II couldn't have sent him here for tourism. He must have Had a secret mission.

Li Xiao felt that this person probably had a secret mission and was also responsible for monitoring him, so naturally he needed to avoid him. After all, his relationship with Dmitri is a bit special, and it would be extremely detrimental to Dmitri if it were exposed.

But he was not idle either. The trigger for Dmitry's big move was Tolstoy. He was not very familiar with this literary giant, so he could just go to him and ask him about the situation.

"You mean, the reason is really just two serfs?"

Li Xiao was surprised after hearing Tolstoy explain what happened, because before leaving St. Petersburg, he guessed that the serfs might just be an excuse, at least not the key reason.

But now that I heard it, it was really caused by the beating of two serfs. This made Li Xiao a little...how should I put it? A bit disappointed?

Tolstoy spread his hands and said: "I only know so much. I really can't stand what those guys do to their ears. They simply don't treat people as human beings. What a bastard!"

Li Xiao glanced at him. To be honest, Tolstoy was very successful as a literary giant, but if you want to say how great his thoughts were, it wasn't necessarily true. He has always been a great nobleman, even though he may not agree with Russia's so-called tradition and does not like the serfdom system.

But if you ask him to take a clear-cut stand against the serfdom system and show his complete progressiveness, that is impossible!

People are complicated, and Tolstoy is a stitching monster where various thoughts are mixed together in the alternation between the old and the new. He has an enlightened side but can also be stubborn and conservative. In short, he is not a complete revolutionary or reformer. Sometimes he will advocate advancement, but after a while, he will also be entangled and fall into self-doubt. .

In fact, people born in Russia in the 19th century all have this kind of duality, swinging from left to right and sometimes from radical to conservative, which is difficult to characterize.

But Tolstoy's tone just now was very firm. This time he stood firmly on Dmitri's side. It seems that this time some people's actions shocked him!

Tolstoy didn't notice what Li Xiao was thinking. He was very angry and said to himself: "You haven't seen how arrogant those guys are. They want to besiege the headquarters and force the count to make concessions. It's so audacious!"

Li Xiao wanted to say haha, are you brave? He thought that was all. When this group of conservative nobles worked together, they would even dare to kill the Tsar. What was the point of besieging Dmitri's headquarters?

"Where are the two serfs?" Li Xiao suddenly asked.

Tolstoy was stunned. He was making an impassioned speech against the conservative nobles for being unreasonable. Why did Li Xiao suddenly ask about the serfs? In his opinion, although the two serfs were the cause of this incident, it actually had little to do with them. Isn't the most important thing to focus on right now how to combat the arrogance of this conservative group?

Li Xiao sighed. Just now, he felt that Tolstoy had changed and began to really understand the sufferings of the people. But now it seems that he is still like that. Maybe he does sympathize with the two unfortunate serfs, but his sympathy is still the pity of the superior for the inferior, not the kind of empathy of breathing the same fate.

His anger stemmed from Alexander Vasilyevich's outrageous behavior, which he considered excessive. In other words, if the root cause of the mistake is not that Alexander Vasilyevich galloped around and then beat people randomly with "the evil ones complain first", if it was really that the two serfs did not give way in time or had other impolite behaviors towards the gentlemen, , then even if Alexander Vasilyevich beat them to death, Tolstoy might just feel that it was a bit excessive, and would not be as angry as he is now.

In other words, the reason for his anger was that Alexander Vasilyevich did not follow the rules, rather than spurning the backward serfdom system.

This also determines that his anger is more directed at Alexander Vasilyevich and his friends, rather than at the serfdom system!

Li Xiao sighed. He didn't intend to instill truth into Tolstoy, because even if he told people, they might not listen. This person is already an adult and has his own thoughts and ideas. Nothing can be changed by a few words!

Tolstoy thought for a while and replied: "I remember that the count compensated them for their medical expenses and sent them home."

Li Xiao sighed and thought to himself: I knew it was like this. As expected, Dmitri was still a pure soldier and did not realize the significance of these two serfs.

After thinking for a while he asked: "You know where they live, right?"

Tolstoy wondered: "What do you want to do? There is no need to disturb their lives, right? After all, they are already very frightened!"

Li Xiao shook his head and said: "It is precisely because they were greatly frightened that they need more attention and care. What problem can be solved by paying some money? Otherwise it will only bring them huge trouble!"

After a short pause, he said: "Well, you come with me and go see them."

Tolstoy couldn't understand what the problem would be. After all, he was just a young aristocratic young man who had not seen the darkness of officialdom and society. He didn't know how pathetic the little people could be!

Lucca Village is not too far away. It takes about two and a half hours to walk on horseback. In addition, Li Xiao has to dismount from his horse every now and then to take a look, so the journey will naturally take longer.

After walking for a full afternoon, they arrived at Lucca Village. Tolstoy took Li Xiao to Master Bulganin's house with familiar routes.

The sadness on Bulganin's face became more intense after not seeing him for a while. When he saw Tolstoy, he subconsciously wanted to hide, but after seeing clearly that it was Tolstoy, he forced out a smile and came up. meet.

"Welcome, Earl, why did you come suddenly? You didn't even notify me in advance so that I could be prepared!"

Tolstoy did not hear the meaning behind his words, but Li Xiao was not a young boy like him, and he could see through Bulganin's disgust at a glance.

It’s interesting, how could such a wealthy country gentleman not welcome a great man like Tolstoy?

Based on Li Xiao's understanding of this type of squire, most of them, like Boris's father, are looking forward to currying favor with the great nobles and bringing glory to their families. What made Bulganin look at Tolstoy "differently"?

After a few pleasantries, Bulganin asked cautiously: "Count, are you here because of the case? In fact, I would say that these are all trivial matters and misunderstandings. There is no need to make a fuss about it, right..."