Count Rostovtsev was too familiar with these methods of Nicholas I. They were nothing more than checks and balances, deliberately creating conflicts, and using both kindness and power. These were not uncommon. He had followed Nicholas I for more than 20 years.
I've seen it too many times.
After seeing it a lot, he would naturally know what kind of medicine was sold in the gourd just by smelling it. Anyway, after listening to Dmitri's narration, Rostovtsev immediately knew what Crown Prince Alexander wanted to do.
This man must have come back to his senses and realized that Baryatinsky and Pobedonostsev had tricked him before, but these two are his most trusted ministers, and no one has been able to replace them yet.
. He was afraid of hurting the feelings of both parties by giving him a harsh lesson, but if he didn't teach him a lesson, he was worried that these two guys would become more and more unscrupulous. So he thought of using Dmitri to beat those two people.
I have to say that the emperor's family is different. This trick should be said to be very effective. Looking at the feelings of Baryatinsky and Pobedonostsev in front, they have obviously realized the threat of Dmitri.
, knowing that if Crown Prince Alexander leaves, they will not be useless to anyone. Presumably, they will restrain themselves a lot in the future, and they will not dare to let Crown Prince Alexander be taken advantage of again.
Dmitri couldn't help but feel a little solemn after hearing Count Rostovtsev's analysis. Although he had been aware of it before, he still felt a little sad after Count Rostovtsev made it clear.
As a true nobleman, as a nobleman who is full of feelings for Russia and the Romanov family, although Dmitri is a reformist, he has never thought about subverting the rule of the Romanov family. What he wants is a constitutional monarchy, which is
Let the Romanov family become as respected and bound as the British royal family.
So he is really willing to be loyal to the Romanov family and serve Crown Prince Alexander. But after today's incident, he can't help but start to doubt whether this family is really willing to establish a constitutional monarchy and become an enlightened monarch.
Look, for such a simple thing, they have to use scheming, ambush, and divide and conquer. This fully shows that their desire for power has been soaked into their bones. Such a family is really willing to become an enlightened monarch.
Limit your own privileges?
Obviously this is impossible. They will do whatever it takes to get power. As long as there is a slight chance to continue to hold power, they will not let it go!
When he thought of this, Dmitri felt very depressed and felt that there was a huge gap between his ideal and reality.
Count Rostovtsev knew Dmitri very well, and he could tell what the boy was thinking by looking at his expression, but he had no feeling about it because it was Dmitri's ideal, not his.
Count Rostovtsev has never thought about making Russia a constitutional monarchy like the United Kingdom and having a false monarch. He feels that such an approach is not suitable for Russia. If you follow a cat like a tiger, the result will be ugly, and it may even plunge Russia into catastrophe.
situation.
Count Rostovtsev knew that although Russia had been learning from the West since Peter the Great and tried hard to move closer to the West, this move towards the West was strange in its core. In other words, Russia had only learned superficially from the West, but at its core, Russia
It is still an Eastern model country that advocates authority.
Count Rostovtsev knew that Russia's territory was too vast, and there were many ethnic groups and all kinds of conflicts were very acute. Without a strong centralized government to govern everything, the country would fall apart in minutes.
Therefore, the existence of a strong tsar is very necessary. Without this strong tsar, the country will be divided into political chaos. Look at the periods when Russia was strong in history. Which one was Peter the Great or Catherine the Great?
Not a powerful tsar. Even if we don’t talk about them, let’s talk about Nicholas I. Although this tsar had no vision, he could be considered a powerful tsar in terms of the strength of his rule.
Only under the rule of these powerful czars can Russia be stable and stable. Once the czars cannot control the situation, look at the mess after the death of Peter the Great and see why the incompetent Paul I was killed by his ministers.
Therefore, to ensure the prosperity and stability of Russia, a strong ruling core is very important. However, Count Rostovtsev believes that such a ruling core is not so good. After studying historical documents from the time of Peter the Great, he concluded
We came to a conclusion that the ruling core must indeed be very powerful, but at the same time it must be able to correctly accept the opinions of ministers and cannot completely put personal authority over the country. Looking at the absurdity of Peter the Great in his later years, such incidents are actually not common in Russia.
It’s not surprising that every great tsar almost without exception ended up in absurdity, and every greatness was followed by nothing but chicken feathers.
After long-term research, Count Rostovtsev discovered that if Russia wants to maintain prosperity, it must have a strong tsar, but if it wants to maintain stability after the death of a strong tsar, the tsar needs to be rational enough.
To be honest, after experiencing these years of official career, Count Rostovtsev knew that this was simply contradictory, just like requiring a person to be strong enough to intimidate everyone, but also requiring him not to have a bad temper.
Count Rostovtsev once thought that this was almost impossible to achieve, until he read the biography of Frederick the Great. The enlightened autocracy immediately attracted him, and he felt that there was no system more suitable for Russia's national conditions.
Sufficient autocracy and enough enlightenment will surely create a glorious future for Russia. From that moment on, he has been constantly studying how to achieve enlightened autocracy in Russia. Yes, Count Rostovtsev is not an idiot. He knows the general enlightened autocracy.
It is not suitable for Russia. For example, Emperor Catherine the Great was considered enlightened and authoritarian, right? But as soon as she died, Russia immediately fell into turmoil.
This shows that enlightened autocracy in the traditional sense is not suitable for Russia. Count Rostovtsev believes that the reason for this situation is that autocracy is guaranteed in Russia, and even the stupidest czar has enough autocracy.
Means, but enlightenment is not necessarily the case.
In his opinion, even Catherine the Great was not enlightened enough. If we could not find a way to ensure the enlightenment of the Tsar and enable enlightenment to compete with the tyranny, then everything would be in vain.
So how can we ensure enlightenment?
This problem has troubled Count Rostovtsev for many years, and he has never had a good solution...