Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 114 014 There is still a conspiracy after the funeral

Tsar Paul also learned about Suvorov's critical illness in the palace. According to the rules of the Russian court, when visiting meritorious old ministers, a prince or an important minister is usually sent.

As for the funeral, starting from the superstitious Elizabeth Petrovna, no Russian tsar has ever appeared at the funerals of these meritorious ministers, even the empress did not attend the funeral of Prince Potemkin.

"Such an obituary should be prepared in advance, but this document can be said to be still suitable."

Although Prince Saltykov is in the Diplomatic Academy, he still has to draft an obituary, which is also for envoys from various countries to see.

As for this format, it is very suitable for Solovyov to write when he was tested on official documents.

However, it seems that it is "Russian great military strategist, Grand Marshal. Due to illness, treatment is ineffective", so this format should be able to be used.

Suvorov spent his last day in a coma. When he exhaled his last breath, he was called by God to meet the old friends he had always talked about.

However, he always said that Hannibal, Caesar and others were his old friends, and I don’t know what kind of statement this is.

After intense discussions in the palace, the arrangement of the funeral process was actually very clear. First, the bells of various churches rang to inform the citizens of Petersburg, but when it was read, the Tsar’s notice could only be posted in each block, and the body would be kept at No. 23 Kryukov Canal for mourning, and officially buried in the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Monastery on May 24 (May 12 in the Russian calendar).

There is a problem. After the death of the Grand Marshal, the palace has always asked Tsar Paul not to attend the funeral.

Whether it is historical facts or the decision he has to make now, the Tsar himself will go to the Annunciation Church to attend the funeral. This has no precedent in the Russian royal family since moving to Petersburg.

This rule did not form during the reign of Peter the Great. It was mainly during the period when several empresses came to power. Empress Anna Ivanovna herself had the taste of a rich local tycoon in Courland, and she was more concerned about her own enjoyment. Later, Elizabeth and Catherine II did not attend. Paul himself wanted to go, and his ministers could not stop him.

There was only one problem, that is, there was no problem with the coffin being placed at No. 23 Kryukov Canal, but the entrance was too narrow.

When the coffin was brought in, it could be turned sideways, but when it was moved out, it became a huge problem.

The solution was to put the coffin on the second floor. On the first night, Solovyov called the engineers of the Guards and made a set of pulleys to hang the coffin down from here.

There were many soldiers attending the funeral. On the morning of the funeral, the generals who participated in the Italian and Swiss expeditions, in addition to the generals who stayed behind in the corps led by General Rosenberg, Grand Duke Constantine, Prince Bagration, Count Nikolai Kamensky, General Miloradovich and others all came.

Suvorov had promoted many people in the army, and he had gained great prestige among the army and civilians because of his repeated victories. Many people came to attend the funeral from the Kryukov Canal Embankment to the Alexander Nevsky Monastery at the confluence of the Neva River.

Tsar Paul himself planned to go directly to the monastery. He set out with a guards unit in the morning, but after arriving at the monastery, he became impatient.

The coffin was kept on the first floor, and then it was carried to the second floor, where the coffin was put down and carried by veterans selected from the grenadiers.

The funeral procession was mainly composed of soldiers, and there was also a military band.

They had obtained the music scores during this week and practiced together in advance.

What they got was the "Soldier's Narrative Song", which was often used at funerals. It was used once at Kryukov 23 and once more at the burial.

A lot of time was wasted here. In short, Paul finally decided to ride a horse to the mainland to greet the funeral procession, which was an exception for the Tsar.

There were so many people buried here that they could list a list. Paul also saw that his daughter Olga, who died young, had a marble column as a tombstone, which was placed there.

The Russian royal family was later buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

After he returned all the way, because the funeral procession was moving very slowly, he rode a horse to the intersection of Little Sadovaya Street and Nevsky Avenue, where the procession had just arrived.

The Tsar himself was also seen in the crowd. It was rumored that Tsar Paul had a bad relationship with the Grand Marshal, but he actually made an exception and came here, which can be said to have shattered some false rumors.

Moreover, the attendants clearly saw that Tsar Paul took out a handkerchief and wiped his tears.

In this way, only he knew what was going on.

There was another person crying even harder, Major Zaitsev, a staff officer who followed Suvorov to participate in the expedition. He was the Tsar's attendant today. His crying triggered a chain reaction among the attendants and the crowd.

The funeral procession finally arrived at the Church of the Annunciation, which is also the final resting place of many people.

It is strange that after Tsar Paul cried bitterly on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt, he returned directly to the Winter Palace. Why he did this is unknown.

On the other hand, the remaining mourners came to the church and watched Suvorov's coffin being slowly hoisted into the tomb, followed by shoveling the earth and sealing the lid.

As he wished, it was engraved with "Here lies Suvorov" instead of a complicated list of titles.

And one thing is that Suvorov always claimed to be born in 1730, but his birthday was actually November 24, 1729 (November 13 in the Russian calendar), because Peter II died during this time Acute illness, the date at that time was somewhat adjusted.

The one who cried the most was Suvorov's old servant, but now the master has given him freedom and he can choose to go anywhere.

However, Uncle Proshka was worried about the young master Arkady, and still asked to stay in Petersburg and stay with the young master for a while.

"The master was always thinking about the young master at that time. Sergeyev and I made an agreement to accompany the young master until the young master marries a wife and has children. Sergeyev is young and can spend time with the young master. As long as I grow up, old man, I will go to the manor in the countryside to visit the nursing home."

He was still very loyal to his master. Even after he was relieved of his obligations, he still wanted to look after the master's house.

That's probably how the funeral ended quickly.

For the people of Petersburg, life goes on, and what they have to do has not stopped.

The Tsar himself went to the Gatchina training ground twice for drills between April and May. This kind of review exercise was of some use, but the Tsar himself came to a conclusion that seemed correct but was actually wrong. conclusion.

After all, the conclusion he reached was on the training ground, and it was very mechanical. It was not the truth that could be seen on the battlefield.

It was on this basis that Count Peter von Palen and Count Panin had the opportunity to seek allies in the army.

Among them were General Bennigsen, who was dismissed from his post when he was serving in the Izyum Hussars. Moreover, he was of German descent from Hanover, plus one of the four Zubov brothers. Three people.

If anyone saw their plot, they could only say that these people had some interests with the British.

Admiral de Ribas held an important position in the Navy, and his father-in-law was the Queen's secretary. The British provided training to the Russian Navy for a long time before 1793, and the exchanges between the two sides were very frequent.

Count Panin was at the Diplomatic Academy, and he mainly served as an instigator. Count von Paren would choose the candidates, and he would do the persuasion work.

They are ready to do anything at any time and by any means to end the rule of the "tyrant".

But what is strange is that in fact, Tsar Paul treated the common people quite well. The real unlucky ones were the nobility. He raised taxes at every turn. Although they were within the acceptable range, the nobility felt that their own interests were greatly affected. damage.

In fact, the Tsar and the Empress have already seen this account. According to the legal provisions, it is still legal. If audited, the nobles would not suffer much loss of profits.

The irony is that the people who want to kill Paul are not the nobles whose interests have been harmed more, but the people around Paul.

When they met at the house of Count von Palen, they had to avoid the count's family. His son was very trusted by Paul and spent the whole day in the Guards as commander of the cuirassiers. Many of my family members didn’t know what they were doing by inviting so many people.

"Now the tyrant is frequently punishing officers, which has caused widespread anger. What we have to do is to gather more people and use daggers and poison at the right time."

"As for poison, that's something only women use!"

After the admiral said a few words, he was told about his plan, and it would be easy to get it wrong when told to this group of unlearned and unskilled Guards officers.

They felt that the emperor's treatment of officers had become worse, and at the same time, the treatment of soldiers had become better. Soldiers could even get medals, and the barber Kutaisov could be made a count and serve as secretary of state.

If Solovyov sees these people, he can only say that they are a group of keyboard warriors from 1800, but they want to be serious officers from the Semyonovsky Guards Regiment, the General Regiment Headquarters and the Third The officers of the fourth battalion, some hussars and officers of the Ismailov Guards, all wanted to vent their dissatisfaction.

The duties required by the Tsar himself prevented them from socializing in Petersburg as much as they wanted, drinking wine, playing with women, throwing policemen into the Moika Canal, and tying them to bears. They did many illegal things. The wife of a married woman provokes a duel and beats her husband to death.

Although Dolokhov has done this kind of bastard thing, he didn't know why, and he was not drawn into the rebel group of the Guards. Many people here thought they were people with ideals. , or people who usually perform well.

Even one of the five Tuchkov brothers, the surviving Pavel Tuchkov, joined the conspiracy as an artillery commander.

"We need to find a way to get the most loyal soldiers and officers around the tyrant to leave, so that he can be dealt with."

Von Paalen said this, and many people nodded in agreement.

Among the four brothers of Count Zubov, one did not attend. The eldest brother Nikolai did not attend the meeting because of his big mouth and his wife's inability to hide any information.

"The first battalion is the most difficult. The officers there are all promoted by the tyrant from the lower-level officers, and these people are very strict in discipline. There is also the second battalion. These two battalions often have night guards."

In 1799, the Winter Palace and Pavlovsk had two warnings successively. Paul knew that there was a conspiracy group in Petersburg, but a coup of this scale was really boring.

In addition, Alexander and Constantine did not join in, and von Palen was also analyzing other things one by one.

"Remove the officers he is familiar with, and then we don't have to replace them with our people. Just let the guards rotate, that's enough. These soldiers will only mechanically obey orders, and they will think it's a rotation, and they don't know what they are going to do."

"Yes, they won't move unless they are told what the purpose of the coup is! On the contrary, these lowly country bumpkins will pierce the person who said this with a bayonet!"

When it came to this, some officers of the Guards began to laugh wildly. They also looked down on those serfs. Even the elite in the Guards were supplemented by serfs and civilians.

And the officers, regardless of their rank, were all nobles, and there was a natural gap between them.

They also knew that they couldn't tell the soldiers what to do. In this case, as long as the outer defense problem was solved, they could enter the palace and implement their plan.

However, Count von Palen also knew that he had to alienate the relationship between Paul and his son, so that at least Alexander would acquiesce to what they were going to do.

Then, Lieutenant General Tarezin did not have the power to mobilize any officers, and he had to find a way to transfer all the loyal officers of the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Putin Regiment, whether to promote them or transfer them horizontally. In short, he had to find some way.

In addition to these, he also had to rely on the help of the British.

In the past, Empress Elizabeth Petrovna was able to obtain the support of the Guards and the support of France for her coup.

The same is true for Count von Palen. His conspiracy group must have a good relationship with Lord Whitworth.

The Zubov brothers and their sister Olga are Lord Whitworth's mistress. This matter is too convenient, just a matter of two snaps.