Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Griboyedov's trip to Persia as ambassador was approved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

After the war ended, although the Russian government took a tough stance toward Persia, it did not go too far. Therefore, it only demanded reparations and annexed a few disputed territories. No further action was taken.

Griboyedov's trip to Tehran was also for the sake of friendly relations between the two countries, and we shouldn't make things too rigid now.

To restore history, Nicholas did not send Russian troops south again after the end of the Russo-Polish War. Persia itself also weakened due to domestic problems and was no longer a threat to the south of Russia. It eventually became a sphere of influence shared by Britain and Tsarist Russia.

After he left, Nina stayed in Tbilisi. Griboyedov promised her that after he left office, the two of them would live together at his estate. Nina especially wanted to leave her hometown in the Caucasus and visit St. Petersburg and Moscow.

Especially after she and Lisa became friends, Lisa moved in as well, out of concern for her health, which also made it easier for her to take care of her child.

"If you had a daughter, Nina, would you like to be my son's wife?"

"How could you have such an idea?"

"It was probably my father, my brother, who married Princess Nastya. It was arranged by the late Elizabeth Alexeyevna. My father was the Emperor's adjutant at the time, and my mother was Princess Nastya's maid. Their marriage was arranged by the Emperor."

"You can do the same. But it also depends on whether your Xiaomisha likes it or not. If she doesn't like it, it won't work."

“My husband’s future is probably beyond saving, but he insisted on participating in that secret activity.”

"Georgia also has similar organizations, but their purposes are different from those in St. Petersburg."

Even though Nina was young, she saw it very clearly: Georgia, being part of Russia, actually offered its nobles and civil and military officials considerable opportunities for advancement. If they were confined to Georgia alone, they would still face the threat of the Turks.

Even Lisa's father, with a single brick, had left the Turks reeling. This time, another brick nearly killed them. A gentle touch would have been enough to bring down the Ottoman Empire, which had stood for over six hundred years.

Georgia is still too weak, not to mention surrounded by powerful enemies, which makes Georgia even more dependent on Russia.

As for Prince Bagration, as the ruling family of the three Georgian families, most of them also showed a pro-Russian stance.

There's no point in making things work out of this; it doesn't even have the kind of conspiracy and cohesion that the Northern Association has. In the end, it'll probably just be a disorganized mess.

However, some people do want Georgia to become independent, but the two neighboring countries are not to be trifled with.

Nina was worried about her husband, but she didn't say much, after all, going to Tehran was his mission.

He also brought a secretary, an assistant, and a guard of forty men.

Servants and attendants can be hired in Tehran, and Griboyedov also needs to maintain good relations with the Armenian chief eunuchs in the Shah's court. If possible, these people can either instigate them to put pressure on the Shah or maintain a long-term friendly cooperative relationship.

However, as soon as Griboyedov arrived in Tehran, many Armenians came seeking asylum.

He had not yet realized the seriousness of the situation, but he also did not immediately take any measures to provoke the Shah.

“I understand your petition, but I am a Russian diplomat, the ambassador to Tehran, not His Majesty the Shah’s Grand Vizier.”

"You can't just abandon us Christians!"

"With the diplomatic agreement between our Emperor and His Majesty the Shah, we will surely give everyone an explanation."

After saying this, Griboyedov returned to the embassy, ​​as he couldn't make a decision on his own.

Although diplomatic correspondence could be sent, he couldn't be sure what the Shah's men would do.

The Persians have never been very law-abiding, and according to the agreement between Russia and Persia, Russia does have an obligation to protect these Armenians.

But doing this from the beginning would obviously not improve relations with the Persian side.

He will then travel to Tabriz to meet with the Shah in person and finalize some of the contents of the diplomatic agreement.

Meanwhile, in Constantinople, Solovyov also met with some of the Ottoman nobles who remained there. He wanted to know about the various wars between the Ottoman Empire and Persia on its eastern border, which required finding the archives.

His Majesty the Sultan himself went to Bursa. There are still many things left in Constantinople. When Solovyov sat there looking at the documents, he needed to find a translator because he did not understand the languages ​​of these Middle Eastern countries.

Incidentally, he also needs to learn one himself, so that he can go deep into the local area when needed in the future.

He soon noticed that there were a large number of Kurds in this area on the border between the Ottoman and Persian Empires.

This isn't the first time; the Kurds have caused considerable trouble in this area, and sometimes they don't even deserve sympathy.

The Kurds are the only major ethnic group in the Middle East that does not have its own independent state, which can be considered as lacking roots.

The Persian Empire even sent some Kurds to guard against the Uzbeks, although they are no longer needed now.

The Transoxiana region has been gradually eroded by Russia, and it is imminent that the Emir of Bukhara and the Khan of Khiva will also surrender. In the future, Persia will face the threat of Russia from two directions.

Solovyov himself was well aware of the Persians' fickle nature, a fact he had known since he was a junior officer.

Therefore, he had a lot of preparations to make, and he also needed to maintain communication with Greg in Crimea.

While he was in Constantinople, his identity reverted to that of the Grand Governor of Crimea.

"Brother, that's it, the situation is bad. It's not stable in Persia. Judging from the intelligence provided by the Turks, are you even listening to me?"

Prince Mikhail Gorchakov, Alexander Gorchakov's cousin, was the last commander to be replaced in the Crimean War, but it was all too late.

He is now the Chief of Staff of the 3rd Army, and he performed outstandingly in previous wars.

Solovyov's way of speaking was unlike his own; it sounded more like Marshal Shaposhnikov, the Chief of the General Staff of the Soviet Army more than a hundred years later.

But as he was assigning tasks with seriousness and deliberation, he realized the problem. "Sir, you mentioned intelligence about the Turks."

"The Kurds are a destabilizing factor, and we don't know which side they will side with. Although when I was the Grand Governor, I managed to keep the Chechens obedient and gave them certain benefits, the Kurds are far more numerous, and it's impossible to resolve this through concessions."

So what are you going to do?

"Like Alexander the Great in Central Asia, Caesar in Gaul, Hannibal in New Carthage, and as for Napoleon, he always took the initiative and I never saw him manage any particular place."

Destroying or completely conquering a people is no easy task.

"so."

“I know you’re thinking it’s difficult, but that’s exactly what we’re going to do next. The subjects of the Persian Empire aren’t all Persians; their rulers are Azerbaijanis, a pan-Turkic people. I think there are also some conflicts between the various ethnic groups within the Persian Empire. We have something to do among them.”

Solovyov was no stranger to the tactic of pulling one faction against another, but he had little experience in putting it into practice.

"So, what do you plan to do?"

"The British created a divided Europe, and we will divide Persia, breaking it into pieces. Historically, the Persian Empire has always been a patchwork. And this is only considering ethnicity, not religious beliefs. There are many issues to be addressed regarding religious beliefs within their borders, even if it's just sectarianism, not different religions. If possible, I suggest you come to my staff. Trubetskoy himself didn't understand the situation, participated in the rebellion in Senate Square, and ended up in Tashkent."

“But, sir. I’m going to a new post soon, perhaps later.”

"Don't rush, Gorchakov. The General Staff I'm going to build will be completely new and different from the past. As you probably know, my previous Chief of Staff was a Prussian who later returned to Berlin. The position of Chief of Staff is often filled by someone temporarily."

In other words, Solovyov was only in his forties, and like his teacher in his later years, he did not have a fixed staff.

However, his situation was due to personnel arrangements, unlike Suvorov's traditional Russian practice of training followers and adjutants.

Suvorov was still most comfortable using those Austrian staff officers, such as Verose, who had been dead for many years, or Schmidt, who had initially worked with Kutuzov.

Solovyov also hoped to have foreign staff officers accompany him, but Yomini was useful to Nikolai.

Therefore, Solovyov never had a fixed chief of staff, and he couldn't bring Trubetskoy back.

This was a huge mistake. It wiped out the elite mid-level officers and some of the junior officers' reserves. Even if those who were demoted to soldiers could come back, they probably wouldn't become generals in the future; at most, they would only reach the rank of colonel.

How much skill would it take to get them all back?

And their own ability to return to officer status
"But you should consider that dealing with Persia probably doesn't require someone like you who defeated Napoleon."

“I think it would be more appropriate for me to go. It would be best if Griboyedov could complete his mission. My daughter wrote to me mentioning that he got married, which is an ominous sign. Although I don’t believe in this, when he’s on a mission to Persia, the Shah is not the Sultan, nor is he Muhammad Ali Pasha. If he doesn’t follow the rules, someone has to deal with him.”

Gorchakov was somewhat skeptical. Solovyov was too lenient. His way of emphasizing discipline was to have soldiers dig, and the army of the "Third Rome" generally learned the civil engineering skills of the 14th Legion.

When he ruled in local areas, he emphasized order and the rule of law more than violence, so the locals respected him wherever he went.

Is he going to give Shah Akhoh a gift?
Gorchakov didn't quite believe it, because this prince, a field marshal, although he had dueled and killed people and commanded troops to eliminate hundreds of thousands of Turkish soldiers on the battlefield, had never done the things he claimed to have done.

He has never done anything like this before.

"If you don't believe me, you should know that I have a very good relationship with the Tatars."

"You're probably going to use this method?"

Solovyov was able to control the Tatars, and both the Tatars and Kalmyks under his command were disciplined armies.

Even the Kalmyks joked that this was the first time since the great Genghis Khan that they had been so obedient.

Speaking of which, although Lao Tie's army is always playing Candy Crush, they have rules like the Wheel Rule, the Craftsman Rule, and the Old, Weak, Women and Children Rule, unlike Timur, who would even twist off the heads of children and women to build a Jing Guan (a mound of skulls).

However, the idea that Solovyov would go on a killing spree even if the Tatars were brought out to intimidate people sounds highly unlikely.

He was never the kind of person who was portrayed as decisive and ruthless in online novels.

He thought about too many things. Rather than living for a fleeting moment, he considered many things, even things decades into the future.

Therefore, he is cautious when fighting, acts prudently when ruling as governor, and works methodically as Minister of War. Now, when considering his methods of governance, he must also be fully prepared.

With everything laid out before him, his final decision was crucial.

Decisive and ruthless? Not at all. When it came to politics, Humphrey said that politicians and civil servants think differently. Solovyov could rewrite the entire YPM based on his memory and his interactions with the British.

He still prefers to act cautiously and avoid causing trouble.

He's now somewhat superstitious about his daughter's letters.

Boyedov won't get into any trouble in the cell. Although the Persians are barbaric, I've never seen them actually attack a diplomat.

But such things are not impossible; Solovyov still remembers the incident involving the Turkish gunman and the Russian diplomat.

However, he was unaware of Griboyedov's fate, or the later murder of a Russian military attaché in Constantinople.

When the Persians get reckless, it's not as simple as an elite warrior Iai ambushing two British Marines; they come in droves.

This was also the daily routine in West Asia after Timur's death, and the locals had become accustomed to it.

However, the Russians had no such experience at this time, and they were about to encounter this troublesome situation. (End of Chapter)