Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 174 031  Alexander and his reform designer

This afternoon, Alexander mainly focused on the current financial problems. The way to save money is not on military spending. The expenses of hundreds of thousands of Russian troops are there. This cannot be avoided. After all, the family is big and the business is big, and this aspect cannot be saved.

"No matter what, a suitable budget sheet should be produced."

Alexander was a little anxious. It was true that he lacked patience, and the Ministry of Finance had to be established. His idea was very good to unify the local budgets, but there were also considerable difficulties in unifying them.

Solovyov once wanted to say that we should have a three-province six-department system, and change the content in it, and it would basically be complete. You know, in terms of political system, China still has some system advantages only in the separation of departments and civil service examinations, but the content is becoming more and more rigid.

And Russia. Generally speaking, as far as the Russian Empire is concerned, all of this is a system problem. The characteristic of Russian legislation is "looseness" (the law does not regulate all important aspects of social relations and administrative procedures), which is compensated by administrative regulations, traditional and stable practices of bureaucratic relations, and informal connections.

There are too many things involved, and in fact, an economic expert is more needed, but there are not many civil servants who understand economics, and those professionals.

Even if they have read Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations", they have to adapt to it. When they adapt to the new economic system, Keynesianism will soon come.

For this theoretical basis, Solovyov has to thank Sir Desmond for his outstanding performance in YM, which made him more familiar with this aspect.

Solovyov actually has an opportunity to stand out, that is, to be an "external brain" for Alexander. After all, he knows a lot about this and is not completely unable to take it.

Just like Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the two of them served as chiefs of staff for Blücher.

But now he couldn't care so much. Solovyov knew that if he stayed with Alexander all day, it would be a difficult job. He remained silent, just like when Paul was there, waiting for orders. He would answer whatever he was asked, and never do anything beyond his duties.

Considering his father's limping appearance, Alexander was a bit double-standard. Anyway, he didn't usually see Mr. Talleyrand with two Ls. If there was a cripple in front of him, he wouldn't like it too much.

Moreover, Baron Sergei's ability was only to manage the family property for the big family. He was a typical manager. His ability in this regard was to know various means. If Alexander needed a "confiscation department", it might be useful, but it was not so good in other places.

Count Stroganov was still quite worried about Alexander, both as a friend and a minister. After all, he had the problem of being ambitious and short-lived, which he had since childhood. If he were still the crown prince, he could have avoided some of these problems, but now he is the monarch of Russia, the leader of one of the few countries in the world with a large territory, and he needs to be more cautious in doing things.

Even whether the budget can be unified now requires attention to many issues.

After the first meeting of the secret committee, Alexander went to the Kurakin brothers, and Prince Alexei had to report to him the statistics of the confiscation of property.

"Misha, don't you want to go with His Majesty?"

"We go wherever His Majesty tells us to go. This time he kept me in the palace just to accompany you guys and see if we can come up with a set of rules, and asked me to record them."

"If it's departmental reform, it's easy. Just change the signs first, but it's not that simple in finance."

After hearing what Stroganov said, Kochubey also said, "Taxation is also different in different regions. I remember that there were many debates about budget and taxation at the Imperial Council meeting. And... take a look at this report. I got it from a friend in Hanover when I was in Dresden."

"What is this report?"

"Adam. Do you know that His Majesty is going to use separate taxes and separate budgets for the territories in Poland and Lithuania?"

"I don't know yet. What is the emperor going to do?" Czartoryski was still more concerned about the situation in Poland.

"What I learned from Speranski is that Poland's taxation and budget are all based on separate tax rates. You have high taxes and high budgets, and you collect a lot, and you can use it, and you get a lot back."

"But this tax rate is much lower than the tax rate of independent Poland. The emperor still has to fulfill his promise to me."

Czartoryski's goal is an independent Poland, at least in part, and Alexander himself is not very interested in this. He just promised to give Poland a lot of autonomy, just like Paul mentioned in the edict. Now start investing in taxes and budgets. In this case, Poland can still get a lot of benefits when it is part of Russia.

But this is far from the idea of ​​the Polish prince. He still wants an independent Poland, and. Alexander actually verbally agreed to some things, which these people don't know yet.

Czartoryski's goal is still to become the Russian Foreign Minister, so that in foreign policy, there will be some opportunities to sell his plan to Alexander.

But Solovyov didn't like this person. He had always coveted Louisa, who was indeed his love rival. There was also a serious problem, that is, the Poles were always confused about how much they weighed.

If Czartoryski becomes foreign minister, he will definitely find a way to sell his plan to make Poland independent.

At this time, we can see the benefits of Maria Naryshkina. This Polish girl never asks for anything. Apart from Alexander's favor, political issues are not what a woman of her status should care about. It must also be mentioned that her status in Poland and Russia is not low.

As for Czartoryski, what is he going to do? In fact, the other three official members of the committee, as well as Speransky, who actually has the right to attend, are somewhat dissatisfied with his behavior of selling private goods, but due to personal friendship , and the Tsar had great trust in him, so he let it go and did not go into details.

This "secret committee", which also includes the 12-member standing committee, is still somewhat immature in structure. After all, these people do not necessarily represent the will of the tsar himself, and many of them represent the great nobles.

It seems that this has regressed to the middle of the Queen's era. People who can exert political influence have also changed from the Queen's lover and friend to Alexander's personal confidants and friends. The framework is very close.

Solovyov did not act with Count Stroganov today, but was waiting for Speransky, who did not attend the first meeting.

This Russian Assistant Secretary of State is just the son of a priest. His old father once served as a parish rector. He was able to study and come to Petersburg. He was also the tutor of Prince Saltykov and Patriarch Samborsky. After taking care of him, he was given the surname Speransky when he entered school.

Although Samborsky liked little boys, he liked Speransky's intelligence and sent him to the seminary to study, and then came to Petersburg. However, the Orthodox theological seminary in this era taught more than just religion. There are also sciences, philosophy and foreign languages, as well as many practical subjects.

He did well here and was recommended by the metropolitan to Prince Alexander Kuragin. The content of the interview was to write quick letters to eleven people with different identities and departments. He successfully completed this task, all in one night. Completed, and therefore officially became a secretary in the Russian civil service system, rather than continuing to hold a church position.

Speransky's continued promotion was due to his outstanding performance as secretary to the prosecutor general, which attracted the attention of Tsar Paul. However, because he was too young, he was not assigned to any department and has always been a personal employee in the prosecutor general's office. secretary.

Solovyov knew that he was loyal to both Paul and Alexander, and at the same time kept a certain distance from many people. When Paul appointed him to public office, he also received an annual salary increase of 1,500 silver rubles. This Favor is naturally particularly appreciated for a civil servant who is less than 30 years old and has a low background.

His main task now is to prepare for Alexander's liberal reforms.

"What a pity. Your Majesty went to see Prince Kuragin. You came a little late."

"It doesn't matter. I can wait here. I have to work 18 hours every day. When I come to the restaurant, I think it's a break. I just want to collect my thoughts before the emperor summons me."

Among Russian civil servants, it is relatively rare to work so hard. It is no wonder that he is only 29 years old and has always received a special allowance from the Tsar.

From an official perspective, given his background, he would soon become a State Councilor and work beside Alexander on a daily basis.

"Solovyov, I remember that you used to be the Guards battalion commander. Why are you now working for His Majesty as an aide-de-camp?"

"It's all personnel stuff, it's like you left the attorney general's office and now you're the assistant secretary of state."

"You are quite suitable to be a civil servant. If you are promoted to colonel, and if becoming a general is not that easy, you can become a civil servant, a local civil servant or in Petersburg. I think you can do well."

"If you want to be a civil servant, please spare me. What I fear most is red tape. The etiquette in the palace is better than the piles of case files. And although I can work more than ten hours a day, I am not like you. Energy, only four hours of rest a day.”

"I don't blame you. After all, you worked for the Generalissimo and you haven't left the army since you were 13, right?"

"Yes, you checked my file?"

"You still remember that question about Korsakov, right? I remembered you at that time. Also, what did His Majesty say today?"

"The main thing is financial. We haven't talked about anything else. When the emperor comes back, he will summon you alone."

Speransky knew that the country's financial difficulties were also great. Paul's attitude had been relatively tough before, and he had suppressed the local nobles.

Alexander also wanted to promote liberalism, but he was not as determined as Paul. He had known his majesty when he went to the countryside to play - at that time, Prince Saltykov and Patriarch San Boesky took a fancy to him and took him to Petersburg.

Therefore, in terms of loyalty, a person of his birth status is willing to do things according to the monarch's requirements. Moreover, he is not of high birth, but his ambition is very lofty. The liberation of serfs, the new constitution and the implementation of the New Deal are all his wishes.

Soloviev chatted with him for a while and found that since he was directly responsible for departmental affairs, he actually understood the situation better than the nobles in Petersburg, especially because he had studied the state system and knew where resistance would appear.

Of course, Speransky also found that Solovyov had followed Paul on horseback to the manor and village several times to inspect, and his understanding of the situation was also good.

"No matter what the villages granted by others are like, the villagers in my village are actually free, but only in the villages granted to me by the emperor. It's probably like what you said, 'state serfs' are only free when compared with 'landlord serfs'."

"I actually thought about it. If the landlords themselves were to free the serfs, it would obviously be unlikely. The root problem is that the landlords rely on the manor to live, and they are unwilling to give up their interests. There are also many cruel landlords like the Saltkova case. If the serfs are oppressed, have no food, and no place to live, they will always take risks."

Relying on the freedom of the serfs' identity, they have no means of production. If the fields are distributed, Russia's land annexation will not be light, and it also involves the buying and selling of serfs. It was Alexander's new edict a few days ago that banned the buying and selling of serfs, which is a step further from Paul's prohibition of splitting up families to buy and sell serfs.

"To solve this problem, there are still many things to do."

"Major, that's true. Do you have any ideas?"

"In Russia, it's impossible to do what the French did, because their republic is redistributing land, and the old relationship has been broken. Russia can't do it now, the resistance is too great, but it can take a certain amount of time to reform." Of course, Solovyov never mentioned surgery to remove the tumor, and could only prescribe medicine to solve the problem. Russian landlords are still very reactionary.

"You are right, but it is difficult for us to promote even the most basic three-day decree. The important thing is to improve the law in the process of legislation. It is best to use written law to restrain the behavior of landlords. The decree during the reign of His Majesty Paul is still not enough to restrain them."

But this road is very long. Thinking about Alexander's patience, he is also a model, I am afraid it will be difficult to complete.