Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 161 018 Petersburg Unlimited Fighting Tournament (II)

When Maria heard that Mrs. Liven wanted her to take her younger brother and sister to the Royal Stables, she was a little panicked. She was just a yellow-haired girl in various senses. When she was asked to make a decision, she certainly had never thought about what would happen.

However, she slapped her buttocks and calmed down. She pulled Nicholas herself, asked Ekaterina to lead Anna, and the nanny to hold Mikhail, and came to the Royal Stables from the secret stairs.

"Your Highness, where are you going at this time?"

"Prepare the carriage, we are going to the Winter Palace!"

As a groom, he didn't care so much. The carriage was prepared at night. After all, there were many times to travel at night. Besides, going to the Winter Palace was just a normal arrangement. Moreover, it was so chaotic outside. It had been chaotic since nightfall. Going to the Winter Palace was also their responsibility as grooms.

After these children got on the car, they saw their cousin Eugene from Württemberg riding out on a horse, and they knew that something big must have happened today.

Anna and Nicholas were sensible. Mikhail didn't know what had happened, but with the nanny here, there wouldn't be any accidents.

The carriage quickly passed the Pavlovsk Regiment's base. The sentries standing guard there at night saw that it was a royal carriage coming and saluted with their guns.

It was still a little distance from the Mikhailovsky Palace. If the soldiers on duty left their posts and looked at the Ares Square, there was also a mess over there.

"Who are running away?"

"Governor, it's the unmarried Grand Duchess and two young Grand Dukes who are running away. Three royal carriages have been arranged. They are heading for the Winter Palace."

"So that's it. It seems that I missed it."

Bennigsen was still commenting on Count von Palen's performance today. He wanted to find an opportunity to run away. Although the coup was partially successful and he contributed to it, it was obviously a life of suicide.

"What should we do?"

"We must do it once and for all. We must first rush to the Marble Palace and control Grand Duke Constantine, and then go to the Winter Palace to meet His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!"

That was all he could think of, but in the panic, the number of guards that could be mobilized was not very large, only three battalions. You must know that a fully staffed guard regiment consists of four battalions.

At the same time, Davydov had already brought people to the Winter Palace, and the carriage came in quickly from Million Street.

When Agapeyev saw Alexander, he knelt on the ground and cried bitterly: "The emperor was murdered by someone!"

When Alexander heard this, he also collapsed in his chair. The result of the coup was directly regicide, which made him a little panicked now.

Count Pavel was still relatively calm, and he was still asking Agapeev: "What happened?"

"Everything was fine in the first half of the night. I was standing guard at the door of the emperor's bedroom with the hussar Kirillov, and then I heard the night alarm sound, and then the guards outside were changing shifts. There was nothing wrong at first. I saw a group of drunken officers coming up the stairs. I was about to warn them to stop, but I don't know which bastard hit me on the back of the head from behind. When I woke up, I saw that the two doors of the bedroom were all open. Not only were the hussars inside knocked unconscious, but the servants were nowhere to be found. When I entered the palace to see, the emperor was lying straight on the bed, his face covered in blood, and there was a red mark on his neck. He must have been murdered!"

Although the back of his head was cut, he was not stupid, and he still remembered the incident clearly.

"Okay, you did the right thing. Can you see clearly what the drunken officers look like?"

"I can't see clearly. Some of them are wearing cavalry uniforms and guards uniforms. It's hard to say what they look like."

"You should leave and find a doctor to see him."

Count Stroganov is very calm now. He and his wife are here, and the countess is still inside with the crown princess.

"Your Highness, we should mobilize the troops now and tell the general on duty to take action."

"Okay, Solovyov, go find Prince Bagration and ask him to take action according to the plan we agreed on before."

Bagration is still dragging these three guys to play mahjong. He has lost 40,000 rubles on the table, but his luck is not bad at this time. He won two rounds in a row, and one of them was a self-drawn hand.

Although the Russians have just introduced mahjong, they are very lively when playing it, and the main point is an abstraction.

After Solovyov came in and whispered a few words to Bagration, the prince suddenly looked fierce and shouted: "Come here, take down these three traitors!"

When Bagration entered the palace, he brought the soldiers of the Guards Chasseur Regiment with him. They had been hiding behind the door, waiting to take action.

"What are you doing?"

"Humph! What are you doing? You are participating in a conspiracy group, trying to use the Guards to plot a despicable plan to overthrow the regime. Do you really think I don't know anything about it?"

Bagration didn't talk about the regicide, but the core officers of the Semenovsky Regiment were actually involved in the rebellion. It is impossible to guarantee which faction they are loyal to. Here they must be taken down on the spot.

This also avoids interfering with the command of the army, and then Bagration went to Alexander's bedroom to ask for instructions.

When he came over, he saw that Alexander and Louisa were already dressed and waiting there.

"Peter Ivanovich, you should pass down the order now to mobilize the Petersburg Guards and Garrison, especially the Guards Cavalry, and block all the passages in and out of the city. If you encounter any suspicious persons, arrest them all!"

At this time, Alexander's voice was still a little trembling. On the one hand, he was performing, and on the other hand, it was a bit difficult to keep his emotions stable under the influence of many factors.

Louisa was very calm, which was different from her usual appearance.

After Bagration received the order, he asked Solovyov to take the order to the Pavlovsk Regiment's barracks, which was the closest barracks to the Mikhailovsky Palace. He also had to go to the Marble Palace at No. 5 Million Street to ask Grand Duke Constantine to mobilize troops.

"What did you say?"

Constantine couldn't believe that such a conspiracy of treason could actually happen in Petersburg, and now it has succeeded.

"Your Highness, no one could have imagined such a thing. His Highness wants you to lead two regiments of troops to line up at the Ares Square, but do not launch an attack."

"I know that my mother should still be in the palace now, and we really can't act rashly."

As for the matter of mobilizing troops, Constantine quickly mobilized a battalion of the Izmailov Regiment in the Marble Palace, and sent his adjutant to the Winter Palace to report, and then went to the Guards' garrison to ask the other three battalions of the Guards to gather immediately and go to Nevsky Avenue to block the rebels' path to the south.

Soloviev then went to the Pavlovsk Regiment. Many people in this regiment came from the Moscow Grenadiers, so it was easy to mobilize them.

"How is the emperor now?"

"According to the guards guarding the palace, it is..."

Before Soloviev finished speaking, these old officers knew.

"No need to say more. You come to convey the orders of the two princes. We also know the general idea. You are the one who used the Jager Company. There is no use for them to stay here. You take this team of soldiers to the princes. As for how to arrange it, it depends on you!"

At the same time, Alexander's adjutants were also rushing to the garrisons of various troops, mainly the guards cavalry.

Count von Palen now found that although he had completed the task of getting rid of Paul, the front roads were blocked.

"The Pavlovsk Regiment came out of the barracks and they were lined up on the north side of the square."

"Are there cannons in the palace?"

"No, in the previous military reform, the cannons directly under the Guards were all returned to the Guards Artillery Battalion."

"At this time, we still need artillery. You go and convey my order to the 1st Artillery Regiment and the Cavalry Artillery Company of the St. Petersburg Garrison to come to the Ares Square to deal with the rebellious Guards!"

When the Zubov brothers heard this, they knew that they were being dragged into the water this time.

Count von Palen is the governor of St. Petersburg, so he has the power to mobilize general troops. In addition, he can also come out to forge the imperial edict now. After all, he thinks that not many people in the outside world know whether Paul is alive or dead.

After all, those who went out from the front were just a few young members of the royal family. They didn't know what was going on. It was just that Mrs. Liven arranged for the children to leave the place of trouble. As for Agapeyev's affairs, many people did not notice them. Therefore, Count von Palen is now considering mobilizing troops to deal with the Pavlovsk Regiment on the Mars Square.

However, this idea is not so easy to realize. The messengers sent out all rode out on horseback, but the guards cavalry had already begun to block all major intersections, and in the end, only a few people actually passed on the order.

That night, the Russian hussars stationed in St. Petersburg were all arresting people.

Von Palen's plan could not be guaranteed to succeed in this way, and Count Tickenhausen, who was responsible for conveying the order to the guards artillery, also found the gate of the guards artillery at this time.

"By order of His Royal Highness, the entire Guards Artillery Battalion will be dispatched, bring all the artillery and all the shells that can be found, and assemble at the Palace Embankment Road!"

The artillery of this regiment is well equipped, including 6-pound guns, 12-pound guns, cavalry guns and unicorn guns, a total of 36 guns.

The Russian unicorn guns are generally divided into two types, which are 10-pound unicorn guns and 20-pound unicorn guns. They can be fired with grenades, solid bullets and grapeshot, and their firepower is very strong.

This kind of cannon was invented as early as 1757. It was not until the end of the Empress's reign that it was promoted in this way by forced orders after Tsar Paul ascended the throne.

The performance of the grenade is actually still very unreliable, especially the misfire rate is extremely touching, often turning into time bombs and solid bullets, and sometimes being hit back by the opponent.

However, there are no cannons in the palace. If the Guards Artillery comes out now and wants to fire cannons, they can still crush unilaterally.

The only person who was clearly wooed by the conspiracy group was Tuchkov, the commander of the 1st Artillery Regiment. The regiment did not receive any orders that night, but an adjutant sent by Prince Bagration informed him that there was an order from the crown prince, and all the garrisons in Petersburg had to be mobilized.

And Count Tickenhausen, as Kutuzov's son-in-law, had to go to his father-in-law's house.

Kutuzov had already gone to bed by now, because he was not fighting on the front line, and he didn't open one eye when he slept.

When Count Tickenhausen got off his horse and knocked on the door, the housekeeper was confused when he saw him.

"Uncle, what are you doing here at this time? Both the master and his wife are asleep!"

"Something happened, I didn't have time to tell you, please let me in!"

Seeing that it was an emergency, the old housekeeper did not stop him, but took him to Kutuzov's bedroom.

The old man was wearing pajamas and sleeping soundly in bed. He didn't expect that his son-in-law would touch him.

However, the old man's psychological quality was very strong. After he sat up and looked at his panicked son-in-law, he still sat there very calmly.

"What happened? You came home in the middle of the night. Did Lizanka treat you badly?"

"No, something happened in the palace."

"oh?"

Kutuzov thought about what the Tsar himself told him, and felt strange. Although there were many strange signs, such a thing would not happen.

But he didn't have time to think about it, so he could only listen to the third son-in-law's report of the changes in the palace and the crown prince's orders.

"Let's do this, I will make arrangements. When you go back and report to His Highness, tell me, Kutuzov, that I will send people to Vyborg to mobilize troops now. Go back, my child, and return to His Highness!"

However, if Kutuzov wants to send people to Vyborg to mobilize the garrison, it will take some time. Only a Cossack unit near Petersburg can mobilize quickly.

This can't be controlled so much. Now that Kutuzov has replied, Alexander, who was still trembling before, now has some confidence. It can be said to be a medical miracle.

"Your Highness, the adjutant and the messenger have all reported. At present, we have 3 Guards Infantry Regiments, 1 Grenadier Regiment, and 3 Guards Cavalry Regiments that can be mobilized. What is hateful is that there seem to be 2 Guards Cavalry Regiments. The regiment leader went to the rebel side."

"Don't worry about them. The troops mobilized now are commanded by Konstantin and Bagration. They have surrounded the Mikhailovsky Palace first. Don't act rashly. We still have to talk about the gang inside. The situation of rebels!"

Alexander's mentality was that he still didn't want to cause too much trouble. After all, Queen Maria should still be in the palace at this time, and some of the female family members and civil servants were also there. They couldn't fight directly. It would be best if negotiations could persuade them to surrender.

However, he somewhat underestimated how Count von Palen would struggle in this situation.