Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 318 020 Hidden Concerns in the Training of the Guards

The representatives sent by Alexander are now arguing with the British side mainly on the issue of Malta.

If Alexander is a little lazy in domestic affairs, but the direction is correct, but he is not as diligent as his father Paul. In terms of military affairs, his IQ was poor at the beginning, but he learned to delegate power and made progress later. There are also some remarkable points in strategy.

As for diplomacy, it is his own strength. In addition to external factors, it is also because he has always been an actor and has a good popularity among men and women.

For example, after the representative sent by Napoleon to Württemberg mentioned Alexandra's appearance, the emperor himself felt that the appearance of the Russian royal family should not be bad.

Paul had a serious illness when he was young, and then he began to grow crooked, but his 11 surviving children have no problem with appearance.

Well, this also includes the two girls that Solovyov took away from the palace. Both children were secretly placed in the manor recently purchased by his old father.

As for Alexander himself, he is indeed fascinating. Soloviev had heard of the letter Napoleon wrote to him before.

It feels like Alexander of Russia is mistaken for Alexander of Macedonia.

This tone is not good, and Alexander's hobby is still women, preferably those with strong and fit bodies.

Speaking of which, the Polish girl is very strong and can pick up Louisa and spin around. If others know about it, they will drop their jaws.

Moreover, Alexander is also good at getting intelligence from women. When young ladies meet him, it is difficult to refuse him, except for the one at No. 17 Nevsky Avenue.

For young wives, it is the kind of killer.

Speaking of which, Alexander is also prepared to solve the problem without fighting. In any case, he hopes to solve a series of problems as an arbitrator in Europe. He even offered the British a condition of exchanging Malta for France's withdrawal from Hanover and other territories, but the British held on to this important stronghold in the Mediterranean.

Therefore, not only did the signing not take place, but even this time the anti-French alliance could easily fall apart in the deal between the rich man Britain and the thug Russia.

But the training had to continue. Before Soloviev took office, the Semenovsky Regiment had conducted skirmish training under the guidance of the officers of the Guards Chasseurs.

But the time was not enough, and there were also many problems in the Russian army.

On the viewing platform of the exercise field, there stood a group of main commanders of the Russian army, including Grand Duke Constantine, Count Kamensky the Younger, and General Langeron. These people were all at the same level, plus the two fierce generals Bagration and Miloradovich trained by Suvorov. Except for Barclay de Tolly, basically all the capable and loyal ones were here.

The reason for this is that Bennigsen is still in the Caucasus, and this Hanoverian is somewhat disloyal.

What they are seeing now is another shooting exercise of the Guards.

"Who is leading the Guards Jager Regiment now? This is really fast, even faster than the Jager Battalion in the past."

Langeron looked down with a telescope. Although he was always reluctant to praise others, he spared no effort in complaining, which was considered a great "praise" for the officers below.

"It's Soloviev, isn't he very familiar with you?"

Grand Duke Constantine also knew that Langeron could speak Russian, but his accent was strange. He wanted to complain about another colleague's poor French, but was laughed at by Soloviev - but this did not affect the relationship between the two. It is said that many of Langeron's recent inspirations for complaining came from Soloviev.

"This kid is really unkind! He dared to make fun of me behind my back!"

"Count, who told you to criticize others? You say too much, and you admire this kid very much."

Count Kamensky was very familiar with Solovyov when he was at Ghost Gate Bridge. He had a good relationship with everyone. He could unexpectedly act as a mediator and peacemaker in various factions and circles.

You know, his father and elder brother, although they were strict in military discipline, were extremely cruel to their subordinates. This youngest son was not like his father and brother. While he was strict with his subordinates, he was also very strict with himself.

"Well, he is quite capable. He speaks beautifully and does things properly. He has many advantages."

When Langgeron spoke, he always wanted to praise first, but when he spoke, the Guards Artillery Battalion was shooting at targets with Unicorn Cannons, and the position was relatively close to them, so he didn't hear much of what he said later.

Of course, the Unicorn Cannon is quite powerful, especially the quality of the grenade fuses used today. After the grenade explodes in the middle of the target, the visual effect is still very good.

"Your Highness, the performance of the five Guards Regiments today is good, and the advancement speed is very fast."

However, there is one thing that Constantine heard before the troops entered the exercise field.

It mainly came from the First Battalion of the Putin Regiment and the Guards Chasseur Regiment, which must have something to do with Solovyov.

This kid is really capable and low-key, but some things are really not good to do this way.

For example, the remarks spread among officers and soldiers are all aimed at the current training subjects.

Therefore, Constantine still has to call the officers on the exercise field.

However, the commanders of the three major Guards Regiments and the Guards Grenadiers Regiment are all generals, but the commander of the Guards Jager Regiment is a colonel. This means that the battalion commanders of the five regiments must be called here, and the purpose is very clear.

"Today at the exercise field, everyone in command of the troops performed very well, but recently I heard some voices about the current training problems of the Guards."

Konstantin said this, in fact, everyone knew that before Solovyov came back, the Guards Jagers assisted the Semenovsky Regiment in a training, and then the Semenovsky Regiment popularized the skirmish training to the various regiments of the garrison.

However, this kind of training has obviously changed in the Guards.

After Solovyov came back, he felt this problem in the Russian army.

"Your Highness, I discovered this matter. I had some questions before, so I'll talk about it here."

Konstantin looked at Solovyov. This kid came out very quickly today.

"Go ahead, Soloviev, I think you should have some ideas."

"Our grenadiers are tall and strong, and their bayonet skills are excellent. During the Italian campaign, as long as we launched a bayonet attack, the French would retreat and reorganize. But there is one thing that was not obvious at the time. It was only after I came back from abroad that I first had some problems in the newly formed Selenge Regiment and now in the Guards Chasseurs. I think it's a problem with our training. The enemy will not easily give us the opportunity to fight with bayonets. If there is a group of damn French in the bushes, I am afraid it will cause us huge casualties."

Hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement. After all, after this kid led the Guards Chasseurs, he had turned this unit into a mysterious hunter.

However, everyone knows that "Sextus" in Latin is 6, but they don't know what Soloviev's "Old Six" means.

In their opinion, it may still be the more devilish 666.

"So, how should we solve this problem?"

"I noticed three points on the training ground. One is that our soldiers pay too much attention to bayonet attacks, which is the case in any environment. Now there is still time for the Guards to adjust; the second is our shooting training. This was even mentioned in the emperor's edict at the beginning of the year, requiring each regiment to strengthen live-fire shooting training. The third is..."

Before he could say the third, someone else said it first.

"Yes, the shooting training of the Guards Jagers is the most comprehensive, and each Jager regiment has also increased the amount of shooting training, but what about the line infantry?"

"This is the more important of the second point. Our soldiers should not do that kind of ineffective free shooting. At least the accuracy of the first few rounds of shooting must be guaranteed. After the initial command is issued, the accuracy of the first few rounds of shooting is very critical."

"Is that so, Solovyov, and there is a third one?"

Grand Duke Constantine asked this, and Solovyov continued to speak.

"Your Highness, our soldiers are prone to fatigue after a long-distance charge. This is not like our hard-working Russian army in the past. Can I tell you about the Battle of Pharsalus?"

Russia regards Moscow as the "Third Rome". The country is even more Roman-savvy, and there are even descendants of the Komnenos dynasty of the Eastern Roman Empire and the descendants of the Bagration royal family of Georgia, an important ally of the Eastern Roman Empire. They are very familiar with the first Rome.

"The Battle of Pharsalus, wasn't that the decisive battle between Caesar and Pompey?"

"There are two problems. One is that Caesar's troops in Gaul have been marching on the battlefield all the time, fighting against the elusive Gauls."

Well, the Gauls and the Franks together are the French today. This is true. When dealing with the French, there is nothing wrong with giving such an example.

"So what will happen?"

"It is precisely because of such long-term fighting that Caesar's veteran legions still have strong endurance, because they always have to make long-distance maneuvers on the battlefield. It was the same when we fought the French in Italy. Starting from the march to Verona, the troops were in a highly tense state for a long time, and they did not relax until the Battle of Trebia River. At that time, although there were only a few guards in our troops, their impact on the battlefield was still very strong."

"But now, if we charge down a long distance and reach the enemy, we will inevitably feel a little tired, especially if the fast pace of the charge starts too early, which will also cause problems."

If you want to say it, the problem on the training ground just now was the 1st Battalion of the Putin Regiment led by Solovyov. The charge in the front was very fierce.

The Jager Regiment launched the charge much later, and the performance of the Izmailov Regiment in the charge also seemed better.

"If there is no training accumulation, this problem is easy to occur."

"Yes, there are two critical time points. One is the count. Can you understand it?"

The little Count Kamensky did not forget the joke of Kailang Relon. This guy often pretended that he did not understand Russian. In fact, he could understand it. Even if his accent was strange and he was ridiculed many times, he could still be understood by others.

"That's no problem!"

He also crossed his arms and looked very confident.

Seeing this, the little Count Kamensky continued to speak.

"Two moments are critical. One is the time to give the order to start shooting after the queue is in place. The other is the time to launch a bayonet attack. If it is too early, when we are close to the enemy, we are likely to suffer huge losses. The same is true if we start shooting too late, except that the enemy's scattered soldiers or volleys in front of us cause casualties, and the latter may be the enemy's artillery."

Grand Duke Constantine saw the expressions of the officers and knew that there were still problems today.

"We can do this and discuss the problems that have arisen more. Before the final decision to go to war, there is still a lot of time for training. Even if we don't go to Europe to fight the French, we may have to fight those Turks in a few years, so we must always be prepared."

This is true. Since the Grand Duke has spoken, everyone knows what they are going to do.

However, in this way, problems can be found in training and summarized. With the efficiency of the Russian army, it is already a blessing to be able to find problems.

This army still relies on blood and courage to fight the enemy. Although there are also cunning places, that kind of strategy depends on the commander and soldiers to take the initiative.

When Solovyov thought of this, he recalled that when he was in Prussia, when he went to the home of the Duke of Brunswick, the old commander who had retired for many years was worried about the rigid tactics of the Prussian army, although he himself was not much better.

Speaking of which, he was the nephew of King Frederick the Great, but he retired because of the conflicts in the Prussian court. In that court, people were still somewhat intoxicated by the martial arts of the Prussian army in those days, and even boasted that even the Russians were learning from us.

On the other hand, when it came to Suvorov, he despised many practices of the Prussian army and believed that the Russian army should fight like a "galloping hare", with fast speed, accurate shooting, fierce bayonet, and flexible action.

However, the current Russian army has thrown away a lot of these things, which makes people feel a little helpless.

When selecting officers and soldiers, the guards in front of the Tsar always choose the better ones, but there are still some problems in training.

What's even more ridiculous is that this problem did not mainly occur during Paul's administration. Instead, it occurred after Potemkin's death and before Paul's reforms, when Count Zubov was favored, and after Alexander came to power, Paul's strict requirements for discipline were relaxed, and problems began to arise.

As for the hidden dangers that have not been discovered, it is still unknown how many there are. If they are discovered during training, it would be fine.

If it is on the battlefield, then you have to pay the tuition with blood.