Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

In front of the children of the Smolny Girls' School, his behavior was just like that. Solovyov knew that this kind of thing often happened to the officers of the Guards.

If there are cadets in the future, they and the students from the girls' school will often dance together. This is considered a daily routine in Petersburg.

All morning Solovyov was busy with these things.

But in the afternoon, Louisa suddenly proposed to take the children to the shooting range.

"Why do you want to go to the shooting range? I know you never like it there."

"Nothing, I just mentioned that when I was chatting with my sister, I mentioned that at the time of Louis XV, duels were popular among French ladies, although it was just a showpiece and they fired guns randomly into the sky. This always aroused a little interest. .Maybe you can teach the girls how to use weapons."

"That's what you actually think?"

"Yeah, there's no one else I can turn to here, so I think it's best to find you."

"Okay then, I'll do it."

When something happened, he had to be there. There were always some barriers between other officers because of their status. Because he was always in the palace, he was able to let go.

More importantly, both Louisa and Ekaterina trusted him.

In this way, a target was set up in the garden of the Tafrid Palace, making it look very serious.

Seeing Ekaterina, Solovyov roughly knew that it must be her idea.

Although Alexander allowed her to ride a horse, she was not allowed to touch a gun in the past, and flying props were somewhat dangerous.

This girl controls

Recently, the restraint on Ekaterina has been relaxed. Alexander himself is still concerned about how to deal with Napoleon. As for his sister, he naturally leaves it to Louisa.

Louisa couldn't control Catherine, and it was indeed her instigation to set up a target in the Tafrid Palace this time.

"Is this okay?"

"Of course, Mr. Lieutenant Colonel. It's just that although you are also a commander, everyone else is a general, and you are the only one who is a lieutenant colonel."

"Your Highness, that's because of seniority issues, and the Chasseur Regiment is indeed the smallest regiment in the Guards."

"But your regiment has the best guns, and it also has this."

Solovyov knew it as soon as he saw the box that Ekaterina asked the servant to bring over.

Alexander really doted on his sister. When the initial gun bidding was held, Solovyov asked the gunsmith to make a pair. This gun was later decorated with a lot of decorations. At a glance, he knew it was Paul. The one I used.

Unlike Alexander who often took it with him when hunting, Paul kept the breech-loading gun in the palace after receiving it.

So far, it has only been used once in public display, and it is in much better condition than Alexander's gun.

The fact that Ekaterina was able to get this gun also proves that Alexander is indeed very partial to her.

"And this gun is still the one that can fire copper-cased bullets when I was bidding."

By the way, Prime is now hiring experts from the UK to prepare mercury fulminate, which has solved the ongoing production capacity problem.

This kind of gun was originally designed to be reloaded with bullets, but if it is fired too many times, it will still cause some problems.

For example, blow up the barrel.

But for this gun, it has been well maintained and does not have this problem.

Ekaterina also called Solovyov's friend Prince Mikhail Dolgorukov, and the two of them seemed to be interesting at first sight.

In the past, Ekaterina may still have some ignorant feelings. Now, apart from not cuddling each other to sleep, their previous interactions have been very public, but they can't do anything too outrageous.

This was again in front of Ekaterina's sister-in-law. Queen Mother Maria seemed not to object to Ekaterina marrying a noble in the country. After all, this daughter was her favorite.

Something went wrong, and Ekaterina wanted to put a gun there, so she specially asked Prince Mikhail to help.

Just looking at it made people shake their heads, and Louisa was not idle either.

"Your Majesty allows the two older children to have access to weapons, but it still makes people feel uneasy when firing. Misha, I think you should."

"There are two Misha today, Your Highness."

"You two are still very good friends, I know that."

"I can't show it. If you need someone to help you stabilize when aiming, you can put a stand or a sandbag under the rifle, but not the pistol. If you hold the gun like this, at least for children, this gun You can’t pick it up and hit it.”

As Solovyov spoke, he helped Louisa and pointed the pistol in her hand at the target.

"Louisa, are you really going to fire at the target?"

"Of course, don't be like others and think that I am as delicate as I show."

But when there were people around, he couldn't whisper like this, so he could only hold Louisa's arm.

"His Majesty has taken me to the shooting range before. Speaking of which, he still cares about me very much recently."

But while they were talking, Ekaterina had already fired a shot at the target. Her courage was indeed different from ordinary girls.

The maids were a little shocked. Sometimes fear is also an instinct. Although this is in Russia, the disassembly and assembly of light weapons and shooting subjects have not been popularized in schools.

Therefore, it is not strange for some of the delicate ladies in the palace to be frightened.

After all, Alexander is not like Paul. Sometimes he would let his female relatives go to the training ground with him.

This batch of maids should have undergone a significant personnel change compared to a few years ago. Many girls have married and some have been added.

Louisa is relatively calm because she has experienced a lot of troubles, but she rarely holds a gun in her hand and points it at the target.

"Misha, you can let go of my arm. I think it should be no problem to aim by myself."

Then, she pulled the trigger, but she didn't control the shot well and shot it directly.

It's not surprising. Baturu, the last one in the Qing Dynasty, used a bow for archery. It's a bit unreasonable.

"It seems that I'm still not very good at this."

Louisa knew that she really didn't have any interest in this aspect.

But after firing a shot like this, and then pulling the hammer to load the next bullet, she still hoped to hit it.

"Your Highness, don't aim for too long like you did just now. You want the bullet to hit the target, not to be very accurate. Just pull the trigger when it is level with the target."

Ekaterina fired a few shots and seemed to be tired of playing. She was chatting with Prince Mikhail, and her attention was on this handsome guy, and she didn't notice the movements of her sister-in-law.

Well, she was very generous, and even thought that it was not strange for the third sister and Solovyov to have something happen, but it was unlikely for her sister-in-law.

This can only be said to be an incorrect answer.

"I think you can do this, holding my arm."

"The basic posture is not wrong, Your Highness. Just like this, your shooting posture is still very standard. You need to adapt to the weight of this pistol. It is not that heavy, and the recoil is not that great. This gun is not quite the same as the pistol used by officers."

The loaded paper shell bullet is itself a reduced version, so the power is not that great.

Luisa first adjusted her breathing, then aimed at the target again, and this time the shot hit.

The daughters were still watching. Although they were all young and smart, they didn't pay much attention to it. They just focused on the fact that their mother's shot had indeed hit the target.

"That's it, Your Highness."

Speaking of which, Solovyov really made Alexander quite relieved.

He was also careful enough in the Tavrid Palace and paid attention to keeping a distance.

But this time, he was so close.

"Louisa, I still like you very much."

"I know, but you have to be careful too."

"Yes, you have to be careful."

Louisa also put the pistol on the table and walked to Ekaterina.

Solovyov went to find Prince Mikhail at this time. The two of them had a very familiar relationship and had close contacts.

"That's about it. I see you and Her Highness. She is very interested in you."

"It's just that the little girl has grown up a little, and she still loves to play."

"But there are some changes in feelings. Her Highness the Queen just said that Her Highness Catherine has a very good relationship with you."

"But there is a gap in status, and..."

"Are you worried about His Majesty?"

Although Alexander and Catherine have such an ambiguous relationship, he also knows that his sister will always get married, and he is also looking for a suitable groom for her.

"Princesses in our country will still maintain marriages with foreign countries, if the Queen Mother."

Soloviev knew through the adjutant intelligence network and the coachman intelligence network that the Queen Mother was actually very satisfied with Prince Mikhail. He had a good family background, and they were the confidants of Paul and Alexander. This might be a sure thing.

However, he couldn't intervene. If it wasn't for Louisa's need today, he wouldn't get so close in public.

To outsiders, it seemed very polite.

Louisa recently brought all the children to the Tavrid Palace, and the tutor was also invited here, so there are still many people coming and going here, and there are always people.

Unless, in the summer, at Peterhof Palace.

But now Soloviev has been busy with serious matters, and his work has become more intense. Moreover, he is not one of those reckless people in the Guards, and he still has a sense of propriety.

Therefore, when he sat with Prince Mikhail, he still had to talk to him about weapons and equipment.

I thought about putting the Parker gun on the carriage, so that it would be called a "gun card"?

"Are you sure this thing is useful?"

"I think it can still be taken out after overcoming the design defects, but this kind of gun still needs special care."

He didn't have enough confidence to make the hand-cranked Gatling and the "coffee grinder", so he proposed this thing first.

"If it can be mounted on a carriage, it may be of some benefit to our cavalry. Or, if it can be carried with the army like a cavalry cannon, I think it is also possible."

The weapons of this era are more or less new concepts, but few can be put into practice.

The Congreve rocket was invented when the British were fighting with the Sultan Tipu, inspired by the rockets used by the Indians.

But the actual effect is still greatly discounted.

Solovyov mentioned that the technical level of rockets in 1805 should be far away from that of Laiyang Steel Pipe Factory.

Moreover, his previous idea of ​​a blasting tube still needed to be verified by people who liked explosions in the arsenal.

The more feasible solution is actually the explosive package. You can even use a very traditional method, lengthen the fuse and use a trebuchet to blow it out.

Speaking of which, the name of the tsar himself comes more from Alexander Nevsky. What the Grand Duke did back then was exactly the same as Lao Tie's work as a "Zawudhuri" under the Jin Dynasty.

It can be said that the orthodoxy of the Golden Horde can be considered here. When someone proposed to use explosive bags, it was not surprising that they would use a trebuchet to hit them out.

You know, many Russian leaders have Tatar blood. The Tatar blood brought from the mother of Peter the Great is nothing.

For example, the royal families of Georgia are more or less related by marriage to the Golden Horde and Ilkhanate. It is not surprising that the Bagration family has Mongolian ancestry.

Not to mention Vladimir Ilyich. If food cannot be obtained, he will simply and brutally shoot the speculators. This method is very Mongolian.

Solovyov even recalled that during the last period of Paul's reign, he also did a major thing, which was to register all the tribes of the Kazakh Khanate who had surrendered to Russia, and rearranged the tribal forms, and even Now in Kazakhstan, Big Yuz, Middle Yuz and Xiao Yuz close to Russia are relatively stable. That is to say, the relations between these khanates and the Khiva Khanate, Bukhara Emirate and Kokand Khanate are not very good. If no one restrains them, they will It's like fighting with knives.

He knew that there was a huge gap in the quality of the Russian cavalry. Some were very elite, while others were very weak.

In addition to the Kalmyk cavalry, Solovyov also thought that the cavalry combat effectiveness of the Kazakh Khanate opposite the Orenburg Military Governorate was not weak.

The last khan of the Kazakh Khanate struggled for more than ten years in Nicholas's era, and was finally defeated by the Kyrgyz tribe who were close to Tsarist Russia, and finally failed.

Of course, this is purely due to the stupidity of Nicholas's policy towards nomadic tribes in his time.

If these khanates became little khans themselves and asked Alexander to be their "Iskander Khan", Solovyov would think it would be a bit worthwhile.