Cutting 1719

Chapter 591 St. Petersburg Coup
When the little butterfly in Nanjing vibrated its wings, a hurricane formed in St. Petersburg, thousands of miles away, making history take another big turn here.

In the original history, Marshal Menshikov, who held the power alone, did not do any major things after his debut. He just let Peter II marry his daughter Maria, and a few months later fell ill, and then completely lost control of the Guards, and then under the conspiracy of Duke Dolgoruky and others, Menshikov was directly arrested and accused of committing multiple crimes, so that the entire were exiled to Siberia.

Behind this incident, there are naturally young Peter II's hands and feet. He has long been dissatisfied with the regent standing in front of him, so he united with the conservatives to overthrow Menshikov in one fell swoop, and announced that the palace will be moved back to the Moscow, and this incident also marks the comeback of conservatives in Russian politics, and conservative forces such as the Dolgoruky family, the Naryshkin family, and the Repnin family have also regained high positions.

Of course, in the history that has been changed now, all this is naturally no longer the same.

Ever since the butterfly Ning Yu came into existence, and under his secret planning, Marshal Menshikov had sensed the crisis early on, so he didn't fall ill for no reason, and quietly cleaned out the conservative forces in the Guards. And in the middle of the night on March [-]th, he led the army to raid the mansion of Duke Dolgoruki, killing the conservative tycoon directly in the mansion.

Then, Marshal Menshikov led people directly into the summer palace, and put the sleeping little emperor Peter II under house arrest. All the servants around the emperor were killed by him in the palace, and then all Putting on his confidants, and under the guise of the emperor, sent a large number of troops into St. Petersburg to cleanse the conservative forces in St. Petersburg.

In the middle of the night, gunshots rang out outside the city of St. Petersburg. Hundreds of conservative officials and even their family members were escorted outside the city and executed by shooting. I was extremely terrified in my heart, for fear that this catastrophe would be implicated on my own head.

St. Petersburg has been full of bloody storms in the past ten years. The successive coups have made the people vigilant. They know that if they are lucky enough, there will always be a result at dawn, but if they are unlucky Well, then I'm afraid the city will be marked for several days.

And often at this time, the unarmed people will always be the group of people who suffer the most.

However, when the people of St. Petersburg were in panic, Marshal Menshikov, who had already moved into the summer palace, seemed very satisfied at this time. This Moscow version of Lord Wei, naturally no longer reconciled to being just a courtier. , he decided to be Tsar!

After decades of ups and downs in political struggles, the 55-year-old Marshal Menshikov has deeply understood the truth. Only by truly becoming an emperor can he preserve himself and his entire family.

If it was an ordinary time, Menshikov would not dare to covet the emperor's position even if he staged a coup d'état and held great power. Just like after the death of Peter the Great, Menshikov's coup only helped the empress to the position of emperor In general, they don't dare to really seek the big position.

But it is different now, because the young Peter II has not yet given birth, and he is the only one left in the male lineage of the Romanov family. If he dies again, the males of the huge Romanov family will be completely extinct At that time, Menshikov will be able to find a good opportunity.

In fact, this is also a problem left by Peter the Great. The reason is that he killed the eldest son in his prime, and most of the other heirs died young, leaving only one daughter, Elizabeth Petrovna, and This daughter is only 19 years old now.

In other words, if little Peter dies, then this princess Elizabeth will become the last heir of Peter the Great, and this will provide Menshikov with an opportunity. As long as the little princess is killed again, then Peter The descendants of the great emperor are equivalent to completely extinct, and then Menshikov can logically become the new emperor.

Thinking of the situation that the wise and mighty Peter the Great fell into after his death, Menshikov couldn't help feeling a little bit pleased.

"God-sent opportunity, Lord Marshal will make a decision. If Peter and Elizabeth are killed, Lord Marshal will be able to ascend the throne smoothly!"

The Minister of the Supreme Privy Council, Apraksin, shouted excitedly. He was originally from the new bureaucratic aristocratic class, and he can be regarded as the full support of Menshikov. At the beginning, it was Menshikov, Tolstoy and others. It was through the planning of Apraksin and others that Ekaterina Alexeyevna became emperor.

Now that the conservatives are plotting a coup and want to regain power, they undoubtedly want the lives of the new bureaucrats and nobles, so they will naturally unite closely with Menshikov, hoping to completely eliminate these rebels and make Menshikov a new emperor.

As for the fledgling Peter II, all he had to do was report his illness and death to the outside world. Anyway, an emperor who had no prestige at all could not get the support of the nobles at all.

When Menshikov heard Apraksin's remonstrance, he couldn't help being a little moved, but he was still a little worried in his heart, and said softly: "Dear Apraksin, we have indeed mastered St. Petersburg right now, but you should Understand, the real problem now is not only St. Petersburg, but Moscow. Although we killed Duke Dolgoruky, Duke Golitsin and Ostelman are still outside."

After all, the power of the conservatives is too strong. Even after decades of suppression by Peter the Great, they still cannot completely suppress the conservatives.

As mentioned in the previous article, the reason why Peter the Great chose to build St. Petersburg was to avoid the powerful conservative nobles in Moscow. If Menshikov only took St. Petersburg and chose to succeed, I am afraid that the conservatives in Moscow They will also support an emperor to come out, and they will become very passive by then.

Apraksin frowned slightly, and then said: "Master Marshal, I can immediately lead the guards to take over Moscow, and then I can take the opportunity to completely eradicate the foundation of conservatives, so that even if one or two of them hide outside, it will not affect the overall situation." It’s useless to say the least.”

"Okay, Apraksin, I'll leave it to you this time, so hurry up and set off with my warrant. By the way, please say hello to Flova instead of me!"

Menshikov was overjoyed. He stepped forward to hug Apraksin gently, and patted him on the shoulder affectionately, with a slight smile on his face.

"Di-di-di-di-"

Before the night sky was completely lit up, groups of guards began to gather. These soldiers from the emerging aristocratic class had never been a truly reliable force in the hands of the royal family. The strength of the faction, and in the process of each coup, the Guards are also the protagonists involved.

Apraksin led the two regiments that had assembled and completed the Guards system in high spirits, with a total of more than [-] people, heading towards Moscow. The leather boots they wore were extremely shiny, and they carried muskets on their shoulders. Starting from the direction of the port, they will take a boat to Moscow, and they will arrive in six days at the latest.

After the guards set off, Menshikov did not rest, but continued to arrange quickly, because before the coup, he had already arranged for his confidants to go to other provinces of the Russian Empire, preparing to take advantage of the news of the coup. It has not yet been reported that other important conservative ministers will be assassinated, so if there are no accidents, assassinations in other places are already taking place, and what he has to do is to re-arrange officials to replace those assassinated ministers.

Among them, Duke Golitsin, the commander of the Ukrainian garrison, is a very important target, so Menshikov did not hesitate to send his confidant Earl Golovin in the army. At that time, he will show the emperor's order to stabilize the situation.

After finishing all this, Menshikov sat quietly on the chair, with a trace of deep fear and a little excitement on his face, but only a moment later, he returned to his former tranquility.

He knew in his heart that when he walked to this moment, he was destined to never turn back.

When the coup was staged in St. Petersburg, as the important person in charge of Shadow in Russia, old Ivan was looking out of the window with a serious face at this time, as if admiring some beautiful scenery, but he never said a word.And Antonov sat beside him, also silent.

"Have you heard that? That's the sound of the collapse of the empire!"

Old Ivan took a deep breath, but his tone was full of enthusiasm, "I can already feel that it is gradually falling under the flames, and the glory of Romanov will no longer exist, and we are here It played a very important role in it!"

"Yeah, we played a key role!"

Antonov's face was a little excited. Ever since he arrived in St. Petersburg, he never expected that the situation would progress so quickly. In just a few months, such a big matter had already been settled——in the conservative At the critical moment of preparing to attack Menshikov, a spy who broke into Menshikov's side quickly informed Menshikov of all this, which gave Menshikov the opportunity to attack in advance.

As the black hands behind the scenes, they can naturally watch Menshikov cleanse the conservatives with thunderous means, re-consolidate his authority in the Guards, and launch the extermination of the conservatives in advance, even Peter II Shidu was completely put under house arrest by Menshikov, and it seemed that he had completely won.

"Menshikov thought he had won, but the game was not over."

With a sneer on his face, old Ivan snorted softly: "Peter II has no chance at all, he will leave this game table, and new players will join in soon, and they will become Menshikov new enemy."

"They? Is there more than one person?"

Antonov was a little dazed. He looked at old Ivan but felt that the other party became more and more mysterious. This spy, who was personally mastered by His Majesty the current emperor, seemed to have obtained many secrets that outsiders could never know.

Old Ivan nodded quickly, and said with a smile: "In accordance with the order of succession, after Peter II, only Peter the Great's third daughter, our Princess Elizabeth, is the most qualified to become emperor. It is only a legal inheritance, but in reality she cannot become the new female czar."

"Because she's a reformist."

Antonov quickly understood that he was no stranger to the famous Princess Elizabeth, because this 19-year-old Russian princess was almost hailed as the pearl of the entire European royal family, and it can be said that she did not know that there was How many nobles bowed down under her pomegranate skirt, hoping only to be favored by the princess.

When Elizabeth was just born, it happened that Peter I was triumphant from the Battle of Poltava, and to celebrate this victory, Moscow held a grand triumphant entry ceremony for Peter I, so this victory brought Elizabeth's birth. The halo of the first floor also made the emperor directly order to change the banquet celebrating the victory to celebrating the birth of the princess.

Later, as Elizabeth grew up, her beauty became uncontrollable. Almost all foreign envoys who came to Russia for a visit had noticed the princess's alluring appearance, especially at a banquet, Elizabeth wore Wearing a court dress from Spain almost turned the whole of Europe upside down.

However, no matter how charming Princess Elizabeth is, it is obvious that she will not get the support of conservatives, because her reformist stance has made her have no way out, and the shocking changes in St. Petersburg have made her almost dead.

Old Ivan couldn't help but sighed softly, wondering if he was feeling sorry for Elizabeth's fate, and then said softly: "According to our information, at present, another person is more likely to become the target of the support of conservatives, that is, Elizabeth my cousin, Anna Ivanovna."

Speaking of this, old Ivan also had a weird look on his face, and said in a low voice: "This Anna Ivanovna is almost the opposite of Elizabeth. She is an ugly and cruel woman. She was originally the cowardly and incompetent woman. Ivan’s daughter, but right now she is very likely to be used by the conservatives—”

Antonov's heart moved, he quickly thought of the emperor's previous entrustment, and seemed to have mentioned this person. It seems that this person may indeed become the new female czar, but if she joins, will it be worth it? Will it make the game more complicated?
"Old Ivan, what should we do?"

"It's very simple, help Anna become the empress, and let the conservatives fight Menshikov dog-eat-dogs—as for our little princess Elizabeth, there may be a chance to take her to the Far East."

Old Ivan stroked the palm lines in his hand, and the smile on his face became brighter and brighter.

(End of this chapter)