Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 547 059 Gustav also ran away

The population of Uppsala in the 21st century is less than 300,000. It may not be enough for a standard county town in the northeast. At this time, the population is less than 40,000. It barely meets the standard if it is placed in the Greater Khingan Range. However, it has a university and is the old capital of the Kingdom of Sweden.

More importantly, it is only about 65 kilometers away from Stockholm according to the shortest distance. Even if it is a slow march, two to three days is enough to reach the Swedish capital.

The loss of such a place is obviously a huge blow to the Kingdom of Sweden.

When von Fersen received the news of Uppsala's defeat in the court, he had some associations because of his close relationship with the Queen of France.

At this time, it is likely that the royal family members need to leave Stockholm to avoid being surrounded by the Russians.

If all the royal family members are trapped in Stockholm, then as the war progresses, the arrival of the follow-up Russian troops will only completely block the city in winter.

This terrible situation of being at the gates of a city, the earl worked more often in the court and the diplomatic department, and he understood one thing, that is, the situation where the head of state was completely controlled.

This had already happened once in France, and at least before the final negotiations, it was necessary to ensure that one of the king, the crown prince, and the Duke of Southmanland was safe.

Therefore, he entered the royal palace in Stockholm at this time and suggested that the royal family leave.

However, at this time, Gustav was definitely incompetent in other aspects, but there was still something in his stubbornness and refusal to surrender.

"Count, I understand what you mean, but I don't want to leave here. The war cannot fail like this. I think we should concentrate our forces to defend Stockholm."

"But your majesty, delaying at this time means failure."

"Your majesty, you should really consider it."

Although the forces behind the Duke of Södermanland have always planned to overthrow Gustav IV, this uncle did initially fight for a lot for his nephew, such as marrying a Russian wife to avoid being hostile to his cousins, and someone was plotting behind the scenes, and he was also seeking an adopted status for his nephew, Crown Prince Gustav, to try to keep the throne in the hands of his family.

His advice at this time was also well thought out.

"Delay is suicide. The Russian army will surely advance very quickly. If we want to delay time, we can consider releasing the people in the Russian embassy. This is also a goodwill gesture, in exchange for their delay of action. We can take this opportunity to go to Kalmar first, and then to Gothenburg or Malmö."

"What the Duke said makes sense. Moreover, Baron von Essen is gathering soldiers in the south and retraining militias. We can still take out tens of thousands of people to fight the Russians. There are more than 10,000 British people there. At least we can strive for an acceptable condition with support."

Politicians from various factions in Sweden, who have been fighting among themselves, also expressed their opinions afterwards.

Gustav IV still didn't want to run away. As a king, he had to take responsibility no matter what, and he was so stubborn.

But his subordinates who were still loyal to him reminded him that he would not be afraid of running out of firewood if he kept the green mountains. Those who were not so loyal actually wanted to take advantage of this time to end the war quickly, otherwise the losses would only be greater.

In the summer, when Gotland and Aland Islands were not yet fully under his control, Alexander hurriedly announced that Finland, Aland Islands and Gotland would be ceded to Russia.

With this situation, the situation is very bad for Sweden now. It can even be said that the loss can be smaller if the war ends earlier.

At this time, von Fersen also realized the trouble. He took advantage of the king and the ministers arguing and went to the back room to seek the support of Queen Frederica.

Gustav was very lustful before marriage, but after marriage, he began to favor the queen. Even if the queen was pregnant with an heir, the king often tried to have some intimate activities with the queen.

As for the need to have more children after giving birth, there is no ambiguity

Although these princesses from Baden, when they go to any country to become the spouse of the monarch, are mainly responsible for managing the family, their personality traits are somewhat different.

After all, Frederica was once a candidate for the Grand Duchess. When she was a child, she went to St. Petersburg with her sister and saw the world together. Although she may be the least concerned about politics among the sisters, she is the most opinionated one.

"Count, what is the situation now? Is my husband willing to leave?"

"Your Majesty, I think at this time, only you can persuade His Majesty to leave Stockholm. The Russian army is coming very quickly, and it is too late to destroy the ice. What's more, it is too late for our reinforcements to arrive here."

"You don't need to say those words, Count, just tell me what to do."

"Your Highness, it is to persuade His Majesty to leave. We can also delay time through negotiations. I think the Russian commander in Uppsala should still be a reasonable person."

"Yes, Count Soloviev was my sister's guard. Although there is no evidence, the two of them are like siblings, and may even be closer. I think if I write the letter, the general should have contacted and negotiated with us for my sister's sake."

Count von Fersen did not expect that there would be an unexpected gain. He knew that the queen's sister was the Russian queen, and he also knew about Soloviev, the attendant general, but the more explosive news was here, that is, there was no evidence.

Moreover, after Soloviev and Louisa gave birth to their second child, although their feelings were still deep, they took the initiative to stay away from each other.

But this route now seems to be the only channel that can delay time.

Sometimes, there are some strange monarchs, and the wives they marry are still very virtuous.

It is also natural that Frederica promised von Fersen to blow pillow wind to her husband at night, and this is related to the survival of Sweden.

Solovyov was still unaware of the situation in Stockholm at this time. He sent the Tatars to pursue for 20 versts. Because he was worried that the Swedish army would come to support him, he only annihilated some Swedish infantrymen who had looted a lot of supplies on the road.

After all, the art of war says that you should not pursue a desperate enemy.

And for the Swedes, no matter how great the results he achieved, that was all.

The Russian army has now divided its troops into two groups. Bagration has sent a Cossack detachment to land near Stockholm. It was already late January.

This was the time when the ice was the strongest. Even after Kunev changed his non-slip horseshoes, he led his cavalry detachment to quickly cross the ice, which was considered a successful landing.

After landing, the Russian cavalry also advanced quickly, looking for the Finnish division that was scheduled to be close to Stockholm in the plan.

However, Kunev's search was somewhat overactive. If Solovyov led a reinforced main division in a place like Central Europe, he would probably be very active.

However, considering that the troops he led had been fighting alone since crossing the sea, they had to be cautious.

Therefore, Kunev searched for a long time before finding the vanguard of the Finnish Division in Knifstadt, and Solovyov himself was surveying the terrain here.

"It's not easy for you to come here, and you have to walk so far after landing."

"I brought you an order, Misha. Prince Bagration received an order not to negotiate a general ceasefire with the Swedes, but it can be done in local areas."

"For example, Stockholm?"

"Smart! People say you have many ideas, quick reactions, and think a lot. In Stockholm, we really can't act too hastily, but I heard that there are many treasures in the Swedish royal palace."

"That's just what I heard, Yakov Petrovich, and when Her Majesty the Queen came to Sweden to visit relatives, the palace she lived in only had artworks of high value."

"That's boring."

If Kunev's men were to plunder, they would still be a little worse at artworks.

What's more, there is another fatal thing, that is, the King of Sweden and His Majesty the Emperor are relatives, and he married the sister's brother-in-law. If the emperor turns his face and doesn't recognize him, it will be a lot of fun.

There can't be any large-scale activities in Stockholm.

Kunev also knew that Solovyov was Suvorov's disciple. Although he had not been with him for a long time, he was the best at disciplining soldiers.

Although there were no Cossacks in his division, there were Tatars. These people had been very well behaved so far, and it could be seen that he had a way of leading soldiers.

Therefore, the cavalrymen under him and the Cossacks who followed up needed to be more cautious to avoid being caught in the crossfire - after all, this was also part of the offensive strategy against Sweden.

It was precisely because of the huge contrast that the Swedish military and civilians only supported the infantry and cavalry from the "peasant soldiers" and were not very friendly to recruiting soldiers.

Solovyov looked at Kunev and knew that he had some ideas.

However, he always needed to appease him. This cavalry general was still a very good squad commander.

"I have a letter here from the Swedish court marshal Count von Fersen. This count has a high status and was also famous in Paris in the past. He was once an ambassador to France and is said to have had close contacts with the queen at the time. At the same time, his letter also brought some goodwill news. King Gustav, persuaded by his queen, agreed to release the detained embassy personnel on the condition of a one-week ceasefire."

"What do you think we should do?"

"Of course I don't want to stop, but this kind of thing is an obvious plot, You can't hide. Moreover, even if the Swedes are given a week, they can't strengthen the defense of Stockholm, which will be beneficial for our troops in the Aland Islands to come here. "

"You are still very smart, so what should we do?"

"My idea is to take back the detained embassy personnel, and the army must be reunited. You should send an envoy back to Peter Ivanovich and tell him to act quickly. Our 40,000 troops will reunite here, and Stockholm will be within reach."

"Really?"

"If I am not wrong, the King of Sweden may run away. Count von Fersen managed to meet Louis XVI and his wife three times when they were detained. He must be an expert in this regard. And if the king runs away, it will be good for us to take over the city."

Kunev also thought it made sense, but a series of questions seemed to be unclear.

Soloviev had a deeper understanding of Sweden through his own experience in Sweden and the information given to him by Foreign Minister Badberg.

In short, after the King of Sweden ran away, his already poor prestige has not returned to zero, but it is almost there. Now the Royal Party and the Duke Party hope that the Crown Prince and the Duke of Southmanland will inherit this position respectively.

Even if Gustav can still draw support through his relationship with Britain, it will only delay the time for him to step down.

What's more, staying in Stockholm can only mean that he will be finished faster, and whether he can keep the throne afterwards is also a question.

"But, Misha, what about the reply?"

"Since we can negotiate temporarily at the front, and there is no rush to enter Stockholm, this city will be ours sooner or later. At the same time, we can also learn about the latest situation there through reconnaissance and the diplomats who have been released."

The opponent has an open plot, and he can only bear it, but it is still easy to defeat the Swedes, even if the defenders in the city have gone to the south, and Sanders, who was isolated in the north, was stuck by Barclay and Shuvalov, and the variable was probably the British in southern Sweden.

Soloviev was not sure how many British troops there were. According to intelligence, there were reports ranging from 12,000 to 25,000, so the Russian army could not rush to attack at this time.

We need to find out the situation and take further action after the two armies on the southern front meet.

The Russian army is increasing its troops at this time, because Bagration is making rapid progress on the southern front, and naturally it also needs to replenish its troops to move forward. Alexander asked Grand Duke Constantine to send the Semenovsky Regiment and the Guards Chasseur Regiment of the Guards to the rear of Abo, but they did not move forward.

However, the infantry and cavalry units drawn from other places also enriched Bagration's corps. In addition to a division and several cavalry units under his direct command, he also had Solovyov's Finnish Division and three conscripted cavalry regiments, as well as an infantry regiment and Finnish dragoon regiment stationed in Gävle. The total force was still considerable.

Alexander was naturally full of confidence. He expressed his hope to see Bagration achieve further brilliant victories in Sweden.

However, at this time, the Swedish royal family, in addition to the negotiations for a week-long truce, also fled south from the Swedish capital to take refuge in Söderköping, which belongs to East Götland. This was an expected but somewhat deviant episode.