Maiden Sophia in Stettin, and from Stettin to Russia
In the 18th century, when the German princes were divided, all parts of the country and all levels of society were filled with obscure, poor and stingy nobles. Prince Christian August of the Principality of Anhalt Zerbst was no different from these people.
.
There's nothing special about Christian, but he's not a worrying villain either.
In fact, he inherited the real qualities of the Junker class——
Absolutely obedient, self-disciplined, upright, frugal, and pious. And he is unmoved by other people's right and wrong, romantic affairs, and all kinds of information in printed matter.
Generally speaking, he is indifferent to the world outside his own life.
Christian was born in 1690 and became a professional soldier while serving in the army of King Frederick William I of Prussia.
Christian had performed his duties faithfully during the battles against Sweden, France and Austria, but he had not accomplished many feats on the battlefield. He never rose to great heights, but he never stood still either.
The king once called his loyal commander "Zerbst's Idiot". Despite this, after the war, the king promoted him to the commander of the infantry regiment and garrisoned Stettin, which was the newly conquered city of Prussia from Sweden.
A piece of land captured by the kingdom.
At that time, Sweden controlled the area of Pomerania on the Baltic Sea coast.
Prince Christian, who was stationed in Stettin, remained a bachelor, but in 1727, at the age of 37, he still listened to his family's advice and decided to marry and have children.
He put on the most exquisite blue uniform, hung up Cheng Liang's sword, and married Princess Johanna Elisabeth, who was only 15 years old at the time.
Before the marriage, the prince knew almost nothing about the princess of the Duchy of Holstein-Gottorp. Their union was completely arranged by the parents of both parties.
This marriage made the prince's family very happy. Firstly, the marriage could ensure that the Anhalt-Zerbst family would have a successor. Secondly, judging from their family status, the prince's family was clearly in a high position.
But the age difference between the couple caused many problems.
Generally speaking, the marriage between a young woman and an almost middle-aged man is always due to various comprehensive factors.
Johanna's family background is good and she is not considered wealthy, but she is still a well-to-do wealthy family.
As soon as Johanna's childhood was over, her parents chose a respectable man to be her husband without her consent, leaving Johanna with no choice.
What's even more discouraging is that the couple's personalities and temperaments are almost completely opposite to each other.
Christian August is simple and frank, serious and dull, and does not like socializing or extravagance. But Johanna is a complex-minded, lively and active person who likes fun and a luxurious life.
She is a recognized beauty, with a pair of curved eyebrows, golden curly hair, full of charm, and she is always eager to please everyone, all of which makes her easily capture everyone's attention.
As long as there are people around her, Johanna feels that everyone should fall in love with her.
However, as she grows older, she has to put in more and more efforts, because her shortcomings are quickly exposed.
Her endless chatter betrayed her shallowness, and once she was struck, her charm disappeared and was replaced by an angry look on her face, and her fiery temper soon erupted.
Johanna has always known that the reason why she is like this is simply because her marriage is a terrible mistake, and there is no way for her to escape from this marriage.
Johanna realized this the first time she saw the mansion her new husband bought for her in Stettin.
Throughout her teenage years, Johanna lived a life of luxury.
Their family is a less prominent branch of the Holstein family. Her father is the Lutheran bishop in the Lübeck area. The family has a total of 12 children. Johanna was adopted to her godmother - none of them.
He was raised one by one by the Duchess of Brunswick.
In the most luxurious court in northern Germany, Johanna had long been accustomed to gorgeous gifts, numerous servants, balls, operas, concerts, fireworks displays, collective hunting, and endless gossip.
Johanna's new husband, Christian August, a professional soldier, barely survives on his meager military salary and cannot sustain any of Johanna's hobbies. The most he can do is try his best to ensure that he has a decent bluestone building.
house.
The house is located in a cobbled alley that is exposed to wind and rain all year round.
Stettin is a fortress town surrounded by city walls. To the north you can see a desolate sea. The whole town is full of a rigid military atmosphere. You can't find much fun in this place, nor can you enjoy wealth.
a comfortable life,
The lives of the officers' wives in the town were even more ordinary.
A young woman full of vigor, who was previously immersed in the luxury and various pastimes of the Brunswick court, suddenly had to live on her husband's meager income under the arrangements of others.
The puritanical husband devotes himself wholeheartedly to military life, loves the life of poverty, is good at giving orders, but cannot communicate normally with others. In addition, he also longs for his wife to realize his hope for this marriage.
He gave birth to a boy and a half girl.
Johanna tried her best. Although she was unhappy, she still fulfilled her duties as a wife. But deep down in her heart, she always longed to regain her freedom, stay away from her boring husband, get rid of poverty, and escape from the narrow and vulgar Sri Lanka.
Deding, she always believed that she deserved a better life.
Later, she became pregnant.
Johanna was not ready to be a mother yet, so she just retreated into her daydreams when facing this pregnancy.
She longed that this child would continue her past life, that they would eventually be able to move to a big city, and that she would wander on the wide avenues so that her long-cherished wishes in the past could come true.
In her daydreams, Johanna took it for granted that the child she was pregnant with this time, that is, her first-born child, would definitely be a boy. This child would inherit his father's title. More importantly, this child would be handsome and extraordinary.
Under Johanna's guidance, he will have a brilliant career, and Johanna will share his glory with him.
At half past two in the morning on April 21, 1729, at the gray and cold dawn of the Baltic Sea, Johanna gave birth, but the little one turned out to be a girl.
Faced with this reality, Christian August was not as negative as Johanna.
Johanna reluctantly and her husband named the child Sophia August Frederica.
However, she showed no maternal love to the child from the beginning.
Johanna never nursed or caressed her young daughter, never even looked after the cradle or held her.
In fact, she hastily left the child with the servants and wet nurses.
Some say this was because the separation process nearly cost Johanna her life, as her underage mother was still bedridden 19 weeks after Sophia was born.
Others say that Johanna was still young at the time, and she still had a lot of dazzling ambitions for life, but the day when her dreams came true was far away.
However, the real reason is because it's a girl, not a boy.
If a boy is born that Johanna is looking forward to, and that boy grows up, he will inherit his father's title and become Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst.
Eighteen months after the birth of her eldest daughter, Johanna gave birth to another child, and she was devoted to this child.
Johanna became even more fond of her second child, William Christian, when she discovered that he had serious physical defects.
Johanna was fascinated by the boy who suffered from rickets. She doted on him, pampered him blindly, and stared at him almost all the time. She devoted all the love she had never given to her daughter to this son.
Sofia knew very well that her birth had disappointed her mother, and now she witnessed her mother's meticulous love for her brother. The gentle kisses and caresses and the whispers in the ear were all given to the boy, and she could only...
Watching from the sidelines.
For Johanna, if one of her children has a disability or a chronic disease, then it is not too much to spend a little more effort on this child. It is also very difficult for other children in the family to resent the mother's unbalanced love.
normal.
However, Johanna's rejection of Sophia existed long before William Christian was born.
The birth of her younger brother made her mother's rejection of her even stronger. Her mother's partiality left a wound in Sophia's heart that could never be healed.
In families where parents have preferences for their children, most children who are rejected or neglected will be more or less like Sophia. In order to avoid being hurt, she does not reveal her true feelings to others, and she gets nothing.
Her family has no expectations for her either.
Because of William's illness, Johanna's family searched for the most famous doctors in Germany over the course of more than ten years.
These doctors recommended that William be sent to Baden and Carlsbad to soak in the hot springs, but every time he came back, he was still walking as before.
As his height increased, William's legs became longer and thinner. William died of spotted fever when he was 12 years old.
Sophia was 13 years old at this time.
William's death made Johanna heartbroken, and the whole family had to accompany her in pain.
The harm caused by Johanna's unbridled favoritism to the young Sophia left a deep mark on Sophia's character.
The rejection she suffered in her childhood made Sophia constantly seek what she once lacked, which was the most basic warmth between people.
Just as the younger brother received the warmth from his mother that she had never received before.
At this time, Germany was divided into pieces, and even the monarchs of the small principalities were striving to show their identity and status in carriages, clothing, and other aspects.
Children from aristocratic families are surrounded by nannies, female governesses, male teachers, and various instructors to take care of them, teach them music, dance, riding, religion, etc., and train them to ensure their appearance.
, behavior and beliefs can meet the standards of the European court.
The first thing to learn is etiquette. Young students practice bowing and curtseying until they can perform the most standard movements without thinking.
Language learning is a top priority. Young princes and princesses must have the ability to speak, read, and write in French, a common language for the entire European intellectual community.
At this time, the German nobility generally believed that German was too vulgar.
And Sophia welcomed her governess Elizabeth Babette Caddell.
Babette was French and a Huguenot believer. She believed that Protestant Germany was safer and more suitable to her temper than Catholic France.
Babette soon realized that the reason for her student's frequent conflicts with others was because she was suffering from loneliness. The little girl longed for encouragement and warmth from others.
Babette satisfied Sophia, and she also tried her best to cultivate Sophia's love for French with its logic, subtlety, and the wit and vividness of the language.
Sophia's love for the language has never disappeared.
The French class progressed from the original "La Fontaine's Fables" to the works of French playwrights Corneille, Racine and Molière, although Sophia felt that most of the time she was just memorizing them by rote.
Because of this, some people noticed that she had a good memory and had been suffering from recitation.
Sofia always had a German version of the Bible at hand. In that Bible, all the chapters that she had to memorize at that time were underlined in red.
Compared with the pastor, Babette's educational methods are already very gentle.
Sophia's father was a fervent Lutheran, and he chose Wagner, a pedantic military chaplain, to be his daughter's religion, geography and history teacher.
Wagner's teaching methods were very rigid. He only knew how to make students memorize textbooks. As a result, his students learned almost nothing.
In Wagner's description, Sophia is a "smart fool" who always asks embarrassing questions:
For example, why did a great sage like Marcus Aurelius suffer endless curses because he did not know the salvation of Christ, and he himself could not be saved?
Wagner replied that this was God's will.
Regarding the question of what the universe was like before creation, Wagner's answer was a chaotic world.
Sophia asked the teacher to tell her about the chaotic world at the beginning, and Wagner was speechless.
When Wagner mentioned the word "circumcision", another question naturally arose.
What does this word mean?
Wagner was so frightened in that position that he refused to answer the question.
While explaining in detail the horrific scenes of the Doomsday Judgment and the difficulties of salvation, Wagner frightened Sophia so much that she had to go to the window and cry every evening.
But Sophia will fight back against the teacher the next day——
How does God’s infinite mercy reconcile with the horrors of the Last Judgment?
While Wagner was shouting that there was no reasonable explanation for this kind of problem, everything he taught Sofia must be accepted without any doubt, while waving his cane to frighten the students.
Babette intervened to interrupt their argument.
Therefore, Sophia secretly said that Mr. Wagner was a piece of cake, and she was convinced of this.
Then she added, "In this life, I have always been willing to give in to gentleness and reason. Oppression will only make me rise up to resist."
However, neither tenderness nor suppression by Sophia's music teacher, Mr. Luo Lin, had any effect on Sophia.
In a later letter to a friend, Sophia wrote:
"Mr. Rolling always brought a man with a drake's voice, and he let him sing in my room. I listened to that man's singing and thought he sounded like a bull.
But as soon as the drake opens his voice, Mr. Rowling is always happy to be by his side."
Sophia lacked the ability to appreciate the art of harmony, and she wrote deeply in her diary:
"I am eager to listen to music and enjoy the beauty of music, but all my efforts are in vain. To me, it is just noise."
Among the three teachers, Sofia loved Babette the most because Sofia believed that she had a noble soul, was well-educated, and had a heart like gold.
Babette was patient, gentle, cheerful, fair and consistent.
In short, Sophia wanted all children to have such a governess.
As she grew older, Sophia began to become independent.
But the more independent she appeared, the more Johanna worried about her.
Johanna decided that this girl was arrogant and difficult to control. In order to marry her off, these defects in her must be eliminated.
For the princesses of the small principality, marriage is their only way out, and Johanna is determined to drive "the ghost of pride away from her".
Johanna always told her daughter that she was ugly and rude.
Unless someone spoke to Sophia first, Sophia was not allowed to say a word, nor was she allowed to express her opinions to adults. She was also forced to kneel down to every female guest who came and kiss the hem of their skirts.
Sophia did not disobey her mother's orders.
Although she did not receive love and recognition, Sophia still respected her mother and always remained silent in front of her mother.
Obey the mother's will and hide her own thoughts.
At some point, Sophia has become accustomed to covering up her inner pride with humility as a prudent and effective way to deal with crises and threats.
Under threat, Sophia wrapped herself in docility, submission, and temporary surrender. Babette Caddell also set an example for Sophia in this regard.
This noble-born woman accepted her low status as a governess, but still managed to maintain her self-respect, dignity, and pride. These qualities made the governess more worthy of her respect in Sophia's eyes than her mother.
On the surface, Sophia is always in high spirits, partly because of the endless curiosity in her head, but also because of her abundant energy.
Sophia needed a lot of exercise and a walk in the park with Babette Caddell was not enough, so her parents allowed her to play with the other children in the town.
It didn't take much effort for Sophia to become the king of children. It wasn't just her status as a princess that played a role.
It was the games she designed with her own imagination that won the love of all the children.
Finally, Christian August, a border commander, was promoted to ruler of the town of Stettin, and with this promotion he moved into the wing of the granite castle in the central square of Stettin.
Living in the castle still failed to make Johanna change. She still looked depressed, and she still couldn't accept the arrangement of fate for her——
She is married!
She once dreamed of a glorious life, but now she is just a country bumpkin in a border town.
After the first two births, she gave birth to two more children, a son and a daughter, but these two children also did not bring much happiness to Johanna.
Johanna was eager to escape from all this, and remembering that she still had some powerful relatives, she planned to ask them for help.
From a bloodline point of view, Johanna is a member of one of the most important families in Germany, the Duke of Holstein.
She firmly believes that with her family's status, coupled with her intelligence, charm and energy, she still has a chance to climb to a higher position.
She began to spend a lot of time frequently writing letters to relatives and visiting them at home to maintain the contact between herself and her relatives.
She often visited the Duke of Brunswick's house, and her girlhood was spent in this splendid palace decorated with paintings by Rembrandt and Van Dyck.
In addition, every February, during the party season, she went to Berlin to pay her respects to the King of Prussia.
Johanna was full of enthusiasm for things like intrigue, and even the conspiracies that took place in the small principalities of Germany could attract her attention. She felt excited when she heard such rumors.
She always felt that she could shine in political intrigues.
However, no matter where she went, Johanna always clearly realized that she was just a poor relative of her prominent relatives, a little girl with a good family background but bleak prospects for married life.
When Sophia was eight years old, Johanna started taking her out with her.
It was Johanna's bounden duty to find a suitable in-law for her daughter, and it would not cause any harm to do it when her daughter was still young. She had to let the outside world know that there was a little princess in Stettin who was growing mature.
Sophia has never been averse to traveling with her mother, on the contrary she loves going out.
As she grew older, not only did she understand more and more clearly the purpose of these visits to relatives and friends, but she also enjoyed it with great joy.
Marriage is not only the best way for her to escape from her mother and family, but she has already witnessed another terrible future——
The lives of aunts who never married.
The surplus women from the small aristocratic families in northern Germany were either sent to live in the farthest wing of the family castle, or permanently placed in a remote Catholic convent.
Sophia's mother had more than one sister in such a miserable condition, and Sophia visited one of them.
The aunt raised 16 pugs. The dogs lived and ate in the same room as the mistress and were completely uninhibited.
Moreover, there were many large parrots living in that room, and there was an indescribable smell that enveloped the room.
Although Sophia herself longed to get married, her chances of finding a good marriage were slim.
Every year, a new batch of young and marriageable princesses are born in Europe. For the ruling royal family and aristocratic families, the conditions offered by most of them are far higher than those of the insignificant Zerbst family. Much more generous.
And in the eyes of others, including Sophia herself, they think she is ugly.
Despite her bleak future and "mediocre appearance", Sophia still followed her mother throughout northern Germany.
Traveling further enriched her studies, and she learned about the family origins of most of Europe's royal families through the gossips told by adults.
But as time went by, this ugly monster became more and more beautiful.
When she was 13 years old, she became a slender girl with satin-like dark chestnut hair, a full forehead, a pair of shining dark blue eyes, and lips that were raised like buds.
The originally sharp jaw was no longer so obvious, and she gradually attracted everyone's attention in other aspects.
Sophia is not only smart, but also very responsive. Some people begin to realize that she is definitely not an insignificant little girl.
The Swedish diplomat Count Henning Ulenberg met Sofia at her grandmother's house in Hamburg, and she left a deep impression on him.
He said to Johanna in front of Sophia:
"Madam, you don't know this child well. I dare say you underestimate her intelligence and character, so I implore you to pay more attention to your daughter. She deserves your attention anyway."
However, Johanna was not impressed.
However, when they returned to Stettin, a letter from Russia surprised everyone in the Zerbst family.
What the letter mentioned was exactly what Johanna had always dreamed of.
While this ambitious mother led her daughter to visit various minor nobles in northern Germany, she was also busy trying to use her noble relatives to realize her dream.
For a long time, Johanna's family, the Holstein family, has maintained an in-law relationship with the Romanov dynasty that ruled Tsarist Russia.
When Sophia was 12 years old, Peter the Great's youngest daughter, Elizabeth, seized the Russian throne in a midnight coup in November.
There was a strong emotional bond between the newly crowned empress and the Holstein family.
First, Elizabeth's beloved sister, Anna, the eldest daughter of Peter the Great, married Johanna's cousin, Duke Carl Friedrich of Holstein.
The product of this marriage was Karl Peter Ulrich!
According to the paternal genealogy, Peter is the grandnephew of King Carl XII of Sweden, and he will inherit Sweden. According to the maternal genealogy, he is the grandson of Peter the Great of Russia.
Anna died three months after Peter was born.
Elizabeth herself had an even closer relationship with the Holstein family.
At the age of 17, she was engaged to Johanna's brother Charles August.
In 1726, the prince of Holstein went to St. Petersburg to marry Elizabeth.
However, just a few weeks before the wedding day, the prince contracted smallpox in the Russian capital and died before returning home.
Therefore, with the relationship between her sister and Peter, and this pending marriage, in Elizabeth's mind the Holstein family is basically equivalent to her own family.
Now, when she suddenly heard that it was Elizabeth who had sat on the throne of the Russian Czar overnight, Johanna immediately sent a congratulatory letter to the empress who had almost become her sister-in-law.
Elizabeth's reply was kind and cordial, and the letter was filled with affection, and the relationship between the two families would become even closer.
Johanna kept a portrait of Elizabeth's deceased sister Anna, and the Queen wanted to get this portrait.
Elizabeth wrote to Johanna asking if the portrait could be returned to Russia, and Johanna happily agreed.
Not long after, a Russian minister in Berlin came to Stettin. He sent Johanna a miniature portrait of Elizabeth, which was embedded in a brilliant diamond frame.
The photo frame alone is worth 18,000 rubles.
Seeing that her relationship with the Russian royal family was promising, Johanna set out to strengthen the ties between the two families.
At the end of the year, Johanna gave birth to her fifth child, her second daughter and Sophia's only sister.
As soon as the gender of the baby was determined, Johanna immediately sent a letter to the Queen, in which she announced that the child would be named "Elizabeth" and asked the Queen to be the child's godmother.
Elizabeth not only agreed to Johanna's request, but soon another portrait of the empress was sent to Stettin.
This portrait is also set in a diamond frame.
At the same time, a series of things happened that also satisfied Johanna.
Peter of the Holstein family suddenly disappeared in Kiev and then reappeared in St. Petersburg.
The boy, whose parents were dead, was adopted by his aunt Elizabeth and declared heir to the throne of Tsarist Russia.
Then something good happened that surprised Johanna.
Since Peter Ulrich became the heir to the Russian throne, the Prince of Holstein renounced his right to the Swedish throne.
According to the agreement between Russia and Sweden, Queen Elizabeth had the right to choose a successor for her nephew.
The Queen selected Johanna's brother, Prince Bishop of Lübeck, Peter's guardian, Adolf Frederick, to succeed Peter and become the heir to the Swedish throne.
Once the announcement was made, the inheritance rights were handed over, and other changes were finalized one by one, Johanna suddenly found herself surrounded by good luck.
Her luck is even surprising.
Due to smallpox, she lost her brother who could have become the husband of the new Empress of Russia. However, now she has a relative who will one day become the Tsar, and her living brother will also become the King of Sweden.
Johanna tried every means to promote the family's contacts with St. Petersburg, accompanying her daughter to the principalities in northern Germany, while her husband and father, Prince Christian August, stayed at home.
The 54-year-old prince still adheres to his simple lifestyle. He has witnessed his rank and status being promoted again and again.
Later, the new King of Prussia, Frederick II, promoted him to field marshal of the Prussian army.
Then, the prince and his brother jointly inherited the rule of Anhalt-Zerbst, a small principality located southwest of Berlin.
Christian August resigned from his original military post and left Stettin. He moved his family to Zerbst and worked wholeheartedly for the benefit of his 20,000 subjects.
Now, Johanna is somewhat satisfied. She has become the princess of a small principality in Germany, which is as big as a sesame and a mung bean. She has the power to rule this principality and lives in a Baroque style palace that is also as big as a sesame and a mung bean.
Although she maintained correspondence with the Russian Empress and often visited relatives who had been promoted to official positions, it wasn't long before she began to worry that her life would pass away quietly.
One day in 1744, just after the family had finished praying in the castle chapel and just sat down to enjoy the New Year's dinner, a messenger sent Johanna a secret letter.
Johanna opened the letter immediately.
The letter comes from St. Petersburg, and the sender is Vorontsov, the Russian Minister of General Affairs. The content of the letter is as follows:
"In view of Her Majesty the Queen's express orders, I have to inform you, Madam, that the Queen hopes that your eldest daughter, Her Royal Highness, will leave for Russia as soon as possible accompanied by you, Princess, and rush to the seat of the palace without delay.
Her Royal Highness the Princess is extremely intelligent and cannot fail to understand the Queen’s true intention of summoning you and your daughter.
It is said that your daughter is very cute...
At the same time, our incomparable monarch also explicitly asked me to inform Her Royal Highness the Princess that the prince cannot accompany you under any circumstances.
Her Majesty the Queen has her own reasons for this matter.
I believe that a word from Her Royal Highness can satisfy our extraordinary Queen."
Vorontsov made several other demands in his letter.
He asked Johanna to use a pseudonym all the way to Riga on the Russian border.
In order to ensure the expenses of Johanna's trip, Vorontsov also enclosed a money order worth ten thousand rubles drawn from a bank in Berlin.
This letter did not specify the true purpose of the Queen's summons, but a few hours later, another messenger arrived in a letter that explained everything.
The second letter was sent by Frederick.
Frederick II's letter reads:
"I will no longer conceal my long-standing respect for you and your daughter, the little Princess Sophia, and I can also tell you that I have always hoped to bring the latter unusual good fortune.
I suddenly realized that it might be possible to marry her to the Russian Crown Prince Peter.
…
"
In the letter from Russia, Vorontsov explicitly excluded Prince Christian August from the Empress's invitation list.
Frederick's special letter to Johanna also made the nominal head of the family lose face.
The wording of both letters makes it clear that everyone involved believed that whatever reasons Prince Christian August might have raised to protest his rejection and otherwise deny the potential marriage,
His wife will try to overturn the objections of her dull-witted husband.
In order to marry the future Tsar, the German princess would be required to give up her Protestant beliefs and convert to the Orthodox Church, and the fear was that the prince would intervene mainly on this issue.
Prince Christian August was a devout Lutheran, and all parties involved in Sophia's marriage knew that he would not allow his daughter to leave her faith behind.
For Johanna, this is a glorious day.
After fifteen frustrating years of marriage, a queen and a king paved the way for her to realize her exciting dreams and adventures.
She will become a big shot, show off her talents on the world stage, and those valuable qualities that she once lost will be used.
Johanna immediately became elated.
As time passed, Russia and Berlin continued to send letters to Zerbst, urging Johanna to leave as soon as possible.
In St. Petersburg, Vorontsov was under constant pressure from Empress Elizabeth, who was very restless.
Because the other princesses have already set off.
Vorontsov told Empress Elisabeth that Johanna wrote back that "it is just that she lacks a pair of wings, otherwise she would fly to Russia."
There is nothing wrong in saying that. In just 10 days, Johanna was ready to set off.
Sophia's mother savored the peak moments of her life with relish, while her father locked himself in the study.
This old soldier always knew how to fight, but now he was at a loss.
He was annoyed that Qian was excluded from the whole thing, but he still hoped that he could give his daughter some help.
He hated the fact that his daughter would be forced to change her religion, and he felt uneasy at the thought of being sent to a country so far away from home and as politically unstable as Russia, where repeated coups had taken place.
In the end, despite all his worries and concerns, the good old soldier realized that he had no choice. He must obey his wife and obey King Frederick's orders.
He locked the door to his study and gave his daughter some warnings on how to behave in the Russian court:
"Besides respecting Her Majesty the Queen, above all else you should have the same respect for your future husband as you would your Master, your father and your Lord.
However, you must also do your best to care about him and obey his instructions to win his trust and love for you.
Your Lord and His will love all pleasures and treasures in the world, and nothing will happen against His will.”
It only took three days for Johanna to reply to Paitlie:
"The prince, my husband, has given his approval.
Traveling during this time of year can become extremely dangerous, but I have nothing to fear about this trip.
I have made my decision, and I firmly believe that whatever is going to happen is God's will."
It was not only Prince Christian's role in the Zerbst family that was unmistakably diminished in this monumental task.
While Johanna was reading letters from various parties, making replies, giving orders, and choosing clothes, Sophia was also ignored by everyone.
The money received was used to replenish the mother's wardrobe, and the daughter did not receive a penny.
Sophia's luggage, which was supposed to be her trousseau, contained only three old dresses, a dozen underwear, several pairs of stockings and a few handkerchiefs.
The sheets and pillowcases prepared for the wedding were made from my mother's old sheets.
In total, these things only filled a small suitcase like the one a local girl brought when she married into a neighboring village.
Sophia had already realized what was going to happen. She took a look at Vorontsov's letter and saw that the letter came from Russia.
And when my mother opened the letter, she read aloud:
"...Take the princess, her eldest daughter."
In addition, the look of her mother out of breath, and the look of her parents ducking aside in a hurry and mumbling, made Sophia even more convinced that the letter involved her future.
Sophia knows the meaning of marriage.
Finally, Sophia could no longer restrain her curiosity and found her mother.
Johanna confessed the contents of the letter to Sophia, and she also confirmed things that the other party had not clearly stated.
Johanna told Sofia that there was great risk in this matter due to the unrest in that country.
And Sofia said to Johanna:
"If this is God's will, then He will make everything calm down, and my courage allows me to face this risk, and my heart tells me that everything will be fine."
What distressed Sophia's father was that she was not distressed by the fact that Sophia had to convert to Christianity.
As Pastor Wagner learned, Sophia had a very practical approach to religious belief.
In the last week of getting along with Teacher Babette, despite her reluctance and sadness, Sophia kept silent about everything that was going to happen.
Sofia's parents did not allow her to let the news out, claiming that they and their daughter had left Zerbst only to complete their annual visit to Berlin.
Babette, who has a strong connection with her students, realizes that everyone is not telling the truth to her.
Even when Sophia said goodbye to her beloved teacher with tears in her eyes, her students still did not tell her the truth.
In 1744, the family boarded a carriage for Berlin, where they would meet King Fattre.
Sophia said goodbye to her nine-year-old brother Frederick, and kissed her newborn sister Elizabeth.
Then, the carriage passed through the city gate and drove onto the road. This time, Sophia left without looking back.
Sophia set off for Berlin with her parents.
The Prussia that Frederick inherited from his father was only a small country with a small area, sparse population, and limited natural resources, and its territory was scattered in pieces along the Rhine River to the Baltic Sea.
The electorate of Brandenburg is located in the center of Prussia, with Berlin as its capital.
To the east of the Kingdom, a long and narrow territory of the Kingdom of Poland lies between the province of East Prussia and the Kingdom.
To the west, there are a series of isolated territories along the Rhine, Westphalia, East Frisia, and the North Sea coast.
Although this country has the disadvantage of scattered territory, Frederick II possesses powerful weapons——
The Prussian army was an elite force composed of elite soldiers and generals.
This force has 83,000 well-trained and experienced soldiers, a group of outstanding commanders, and advanced weapons and equipment.
Frederick II intended to rely on Prussia's powerful military to solve its territorial distribution problems.
Soon he got his chance.
Five months after he succeeded to the throne, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Charles VI of Austria, died suddenly, and the throne of Austria fell into the hands of Charles VI's 23-year-old eldest daughter Maria Theresa.
Frederick immediately summoned his generals and decided to incorporate Silesia, one of the richest regions under the Habsburg dynasty, into his territory.
Silesia is on the doorstep, agriculture and industry are very developed, and the large number of Protestants among the residents will be a beneficial supplement to his small country.
However, Frederick, who was so confident before the war, did not expect a situation.
Maria Theresa, the princess of Austria and the queen of Hungary, had a pair of blue eyes and golden hair. Her doll-like beauty was extremely beguiling.
Under the heavy burden, she tried her best to show an unusual calmness, and some onlookers even concluded that she was a little stupid.
However, these people were wrong.
This woman is not only smart, but also brave and tenacious.
When Frederick launched an offensive and occupied Silesia, everyone in Vienna was stunned with fear. Only Maria Theresa was not frightened.
Even though the breakup was approaching, Maria Theresa still reacted with the strength of a rage.
She raised funds, mobilized the army, boosted the morale of her subjects, and at the same time gave birth to Joseph.
Frederick was shocked by the young woman's tenacious resistance and determination not to give up her country. She was not at all the frail and frail little girl he had known before.
What surprised him even more was that in April, an Austrian army crossed the mountains of Bohemia and invaded Silesia again.
The Prussians once again repulsed the Austrian army.
During the brief period of peace that followed, Frederick controlled Silesia's 1.4 million miles of fertile agricultural areas, rich mineral deposits, prosperous towns, and a population of up to 1.5 million people.
Most of the new population were Germans who believed in Protestantism. Together with the original population in the country when Frederick succeeded to the throne, the population of the Kingdom of Prussia reached 4 million.
However, Frederick's plundering also cost him a huge price.
Maria Theresa believed that she had a sacred duty to the Habsburg dynasty she inherited. Frederick's war of aggression aroused Maria Theresa's strong hatred for him, which plunged Prussia and Austria into a long period of hostility.
state.
And Frederick also put himself in a dangerous situation.
Prussia has always been a small country, its territory is fragmented, and its growing national power makes its powerful neighbors feel uneasy.
The two empires, which were larger in territory than Prussia and whose actual national power was stronger than Prussia, were both likely to become its enemies.
The two countries were Austria, ruled by the furious Maria Theresa, and Russia, whose territory stretched as far as the eye could see east and north of Prussia.
The ruler of this empire was Queen Elizabeth.
Faced with this situation, the most important thing for Frederick was to seek Russia's friendship, or at least let it remain neutral.
Frederick remembered a principle his father reminded him to remember when he was dying -
"If we go to war with Russia, we will lose more than we gain."
At the moment, Frederick is still not sure what choice Queen Elizabeth will make.
Because not long after she came to the throne, Queen Elizabeth appointed Count Alexey Bestudev Lyumin, who was hostile to Prussia, as the new Deputy Prime Minister of the Privy Council, and he was in charge of state affairs together with Vorontsov.
Frederick was well aware of Bestudev's attitude. He believed that the only obstacle in his diplomatic mediation with Queen Elizabeth was the deputy prime minister.
This obstacle had to be removed.
After careful consideration, Frederick concluded that if he could assist the Russian Empress in choosing a bride for her nephew, then many of the thorny diplomatic problems between the two countries would be solved.
A year ago, the Prussian ambassador in St. Petersburg reported to him that Bestutev was suggesting to Elizabeth that she choose Princess Marianne, the daughter of August III, the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland.
If this plan comes to fruition, the marriage will become a vital pawn in the Deputy Chancellor's foreign policy in building an anti-Prussian alliance.
Frederick wanted to prevent Elizabeth from marrying the Elector of Saxony, but at this moment, Queen Elizabeth chose Sophia to run for the crown princess, which undoubtedly made Frederick ecstatic.
Frederick did not want to leave the Empress with a moment's hesitation.
He was eager to meet the Zerbst family from Anhalt in order to make some small arrangements.
Upon arriving in Berlin, Johanna went to the palace alone because her daughter did not have decent clothes.
After some secret conversations, Johanna followed Frederick's plan to serve as Prussia's unofficial envoy in St. Petersburg.
Frederick explained to Johanna in detail Bestudev's personality and the policies he implemented.
He particularly emphasized that as a sworn enemy of Prussia, the Privy Councilor would use his power to try every means to obstruct the marriage between Sophia and Peter.
The King of Prussia also declared that Johanna should work to weaken Bestudev out of self-interest, if for no other reason.
He easily aroused Johanna's enthusiasm, and the secret mission made Johanna extremely excited.
She became a central figure in a crucial diplomatic campaign aimed at overthrowing the Russian Empire's deputy prime minister.
Her sincere but pedantic husband had warned her not to get involved in politics, but now Johanna forgot all about it.
She even forgot that the real mission of the trip was to escort her daughter to Russia.
On Friday, Sophia and her parents left Berlin in a light convoy of four carriages and headed for Russia.
(According to the text, what follows is the second half of Chapter 66, but there are too many rigid descriptions. Later, more than 10,000 words were deleted. Now that I think about it, maybe there are people who are interested, so I will put it in the author-related section.