Catherine and the Black Emperor

060. Boost the economy

8 month.

"Gleb, I was so close to beating you!"

"Not at all; the last question is the hardest."

Two young men are having a contest of arithmetic skills, but clearly, the young man named "George" has lost.

"Sergei, tell me, do I still have a chance to catch up?"

Georgie brought over the arithmetic paper, but Sergei shrugged, looking like he couldn't help.

"Showing me this is killing me. I'd rather have some voluptuous women to admire."

Georgie put his arm around his shoulder: "What are you saying? You're already married, so if there are women around, it's me admiring them for you. I'll take good care of every lady!"

The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.

The young man named "Gleb" glanced at Georgy, who was arm in arm with Sergei, and shook his head helplessly.

Although they were all quite good friends, Georgie was still somewhat carefree. Sergei was now the vice chairman of the secret council, someone who could arrest and interrogate nobles at any time, including his father and Georgie's grandfather.

"My mathematical abilities are clearly excellent, but unfortunately I have no opportunity to use them. I believe that one day I will become the real Euler of Russia (a Swiss mathematician who worked at the Russian Academy of Sciences before leaving)." Georgy looked regretful that his talents could not be put to use.

Sergei smiled, then asked, "And you, Gleb?"

Gleb looked up: "Me? I hope I can do my job well."

Georgie scoffed, "You don't even have a proper job yet!"

"Mathematics is my profession," Gleb replied, leaving Georgieri with no room for argument.

Sergei said slowly, "Sometimes, mathematics is not just mathematics, because numbers connect many things, such as the economy, politics, people's livelihood, and so on. Of course, I think the most important thing is finance."

"Finance?" Gleb's eyes showed curiosity for the first time.

Sergei smiled and said nothing more, while his servant Pimen brought out several French books on philosophy from the library.

"Send it to the Grand Duchess," Sergei ordered.

Pimen nodded and left.

"Grand Duchess?" Georgie asked.

Sergei nodded: "Ekaterina's father passed away last month. She immersed herself in books and knowledge to find relief from her grief. I heard she's recently become very interested in French philosophy."

"You seem to care a lot about the Grand Duchess; how did you even hear about that?"

Gleb warned, "Georgei, what nonsense are you talking about? Sergei is a friend of the Grand Duke, so he must have known this from the Grand Duke. It's only right that he did so. That's why you haven't been able to become friends with the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess. You've never been as attentive as Sergei."

"Alright, Gleb, when did you start liking to flatter people? In my eyes, Sergei is just a friend, not some vice chairman."

Seeing the two of them bickering, Sergei left.

Catherine learned of her father's death the very next day, and it took her a month to recover from this painful event. It was a difficult time for Catherine.

But she didn't give up entirely; learning helped her regain her composure, and knowledge helped her to get back on her feet.

But Sergei was very worried about one thing.

Because the time of death of Catherine's father, Christian Augustus, does not match history!

In fact, this is not the first time he has discovered that the course of history has deviated.

Lestoker was executed early, Peter contracted smallpox, and the timing of his philandering duke's wedding was all wrong.

Under normal circumstances, this is the most normal thing to do.

His appearance is bound to change history.

However, there is one problem: his mastery of Russian history. It is precisely because of this that he has the upper hand, can strategize in every situation, and can strike first and win unexpectedly when necessary.

If history were to change, he would lose these advantages.

This is undoubtedly a contradiction.

"The trajectory is unshakeable!"

Sergei's gaze was resolute.

He wants to change history, and history will change because of him, but he must ensure that the overall direction is correct. Otherwise, given the unpredictable nature of history, even if he holds great power in the future, he may still lose his head by making a single careless move.

Louis XVI could never have imagined that one day he would be sent to the guillotine he himself had designed.

He was not afraid of death, nor was he afraid of being infamous for eternity. He was afraid that history would forget him, and even more afraid that history would make him a laughingstock!

"Your Highness, we've finally found you! Her Majesty the Empress is looking for you. Please hurry over!" A courtier rushed over.

"Walk."

Sergei thought to himself, "They've come so quickly."

He had already anticipated that the other party would contact him.

Elizabeth's office.

The Russian empress was in a terrible predicament. Before her were proposals from members of the Privy Council to boost the Russian economy, all of which she rejected.

"These old geezers, they're all only concerned with their own selfish desires, they don't put Russia first at all!" Elizabeth was furious.

"Your Majesty, my dear little mother, perhaps you should reconsider my uncle's suggestion," Ivan Shuvalov pleaded.

It must be said that because his nephew became the new male favorite of the Russian Empress, Alexander Shuvalov's position was consolidated again during this period, and he regained his former power to intimidate the courtiers.

Razumovsky stood aside without saying a word, seemingly not feeling much rejection or resentment towards the young man who was vying for his favor.

Elizabeth refused, saying, "Don't talk to me about this anymore. I won't allow you to interfere in politics. Besides, your uncle is good at gathering secrets, but he's completely useless when it comes to economics."

Ivan Shuvalov stopped talking.

"Where's Saltykov? Why hasn't he come yet?" Elizabeth asked.

During this period, in an effort to boost the Russian economy, she consulted the Privy Council, Parliament, the Ministry of Finance, and even the Holy Council (the leading organization of the Orthodox Church), but failed to obtain a satisfactory answer.

Of these, Bestudev's method was undoubtedly the best, but it was too slow, and the other party only mentioned the best-case scenario without mentioning any bad scenarios, so she didn't have time to verify its feasibility.

Her objection to Besdudev was: the cost of time is too high.

The reason she sought out Sergei was because she remembered that during a brief chat with him that day, he had given her the inspiration for the census. The census would be of such great help to Russia that even she, the ruler of Russia, had not anticipated.

If Sergei can no longer provide her with inspiration, then she will have to consider having the people around her talk to her one by one; she must solve the pressing problem of finances.

When it comes to choosing who to talk to, let's start with Ekaterina.

"They've arrived." Razumovsky's words brought Elizabeth back to reality.

Sergei walked in and bowed to Elizabeth.

"His Majesty."