Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

The current trains can only pretend to be able to carry passengers, and they are still far from being practical.

However, if they only carry a group of accompanying personnel, there should be no problem.

In essence, the development of steam locomotives still requires the construction of railways to improve the transportation efficiency within Russia, but things cannot go as expected.

The first problem to be solved is the attitude of the royal family towards these new things.

If Paul is still there, there is no need for any attitude. You can tell him that as long as it can be verified to be successful, it can be promoted naturally. Regardless of the efficiency, it is still easy to do with the endorsement of the Tsar.

The situation facing Alexander now is obviously not enough to support this approach, and there are definitely voices of opposition in Russia, and more of them are fighting for power.

As for him, he is definitely not so decisive. Among so many Russian tsars, he is the only one who acts on the stage.

As for Queen Mother Maria, she has been addicted to pleasure since she became a widow. It is always good to be exposed to some new things.

At her 50th birthday celebration, it was natural to make it look presentable.

The tests of the locomotive and the vehicle had been completed, and everything went smoothly.

Compared with Trevithick's crushing of the rails in the UK, which caused many factory owners to complain, the preparations on the Russian side were obviously very sufficient.

After all, when Solovyov first submitted the steam locomotive principle to Paul, he had already explained the significance of the entire project. As for the line system and sand table model made for the royal family in the later period, they were also made very clear.

With the affirmation of Queen Mother Maria, the project in the Imperial Village must continue. The funds allocated mainly come from the royal family's expenses, in fact, from the expenses of the Tsar and his wife.

This is also a gesture. Although Alexander may have some opinions about the Queen Mother in recent years, it is mainly because she interferes in the affairs of the nobles in Petersburg. Even frequently summoning nobles is not a big problem. The royal family's official duties also include summoning these nobles.

Overall, it is still necessary to show a peaceful and stable atmosphere, especially for the French.

After the trial run, Alexander will indeed invite guests to board the train during the celebration of Queen Mother Maria's birthday.

The participants included Alexander and his wife, Empress Dowager Maria, Grand Duke Constantine and Grand Duchess Catherine, as well as the maids, attendant generals and adjutants who were accompanying them in the car. The guest was Mr. Caulaincourt, the French ambassador to Russia.

Of course, Caulaincourt now has his own title, Duke of Vicenza, which is a separate branch of his family's original noble lineage.

"Armand, this is Russia's latest masterpiece. Although the engineers are all British, the craftsmen and the main planners are all from Russia."

Alexander actually called Caulaincourt by his name, which made outsiders feel a little strange.

However, the Russian royal family always has some surprises. For example, the princess who got married felt that Western and Central European countries were "strictly hierarchical" and the atmosphere was not so relaxed compared to Russia.

It is indeed rare for Alexander to call the French ambassador by his name.

However, judging from the history of the Luo family always making some trouble, there is no problem.

Caulaincourt could only follow Huacha and walk down: "Your Majesty, this is indeed a masterpiece."

"If I want, I can let the railway in Petersburg reach Moscow and Königsberg, so that if we face some external enemies together, Russia and France can join forces to defeat these enemies, just like this time with Austria."

This conversation in the carriage was only transferred from Caulaincourt to Napoleon's ears intact.

It's just that Napoleon's reaction may not be so strong, but he will have a certain curiosity about the railway.

But the wind in this sentence reveals that Ruai is not only transporting troops to Moscow and Königsberg, but also laying railways to many places in the future.

Among them, if France and Russia fight, they will naturally quickly mobilize troops from the hinterland of Russia.

With Prussia's strength and the relationship between Russia and Prussia, it is obvious that the Russian army's Baltic route is not for Prussia.

In the words, there is actually a threat to France and a display of its own strength.

Russia looks strong, but I don't know what the emperor thinks.

Thinking this way, Caulaincourt continued to say polite words to Alexander.

Their actions in the first carriage may have nothing to do with what happened in the next carriage.

However, Maria took the opportunity to be alone with Soloviev temporarily and took his arm again, in the third carriage.

"Martha, this is not good. There will be passengers coming up later, and this is the aide-general's box."

"What's wrong with this? You are the aide-general on duty today, and I am your passenger. You are also responsible for protecting me."

This girl has been acting more and more strange recently. Soloviev even thought that her husband should take her back to Weimar as soon as possible while Austria and France are negotiating.

Otherwise, if she takes the initiative now, someone will die sooner or later.

I just don't know whether I will be hit by lead bullets, or Maria's stomach will be in trouble, or Katya will take out a kitchen knife or something like that.

Although Katya's temper should be fine, she should be more restrained outside.

"Martha, you have to be obedient. When someone comes to this carriage later, I'm afraid someone will gossip about you."

"It's okay. I'm just here as a friend to see how you are doing. It won't be a problem."

Indeed, her expression changes very quickly.

An attendant adjutant came in from outside, and she sat opposite him almost instantly.

This skill of a cartoon character is really outrageous, and no one outside noticed this.

"Look, that's it. Mishchika, you have to listen to me, otherwise."

"Okay, but when Her Majesty the Queen Mother summons you later, you have to keep your manners, not like now."

It is estimated that Maria's biggest killer move is Her Majesty the Queen Mother. She and Catherine were naughty when they were young, and they were often severely educated by their mother.

Think about the Queen Mother's figure. Even in the 21st century, she is a tall and strong woman.

When they were doing farm work, Maria and Ekaterina got themselves covered in mud and made a lot of jokes, although the main problem was with Ekaterina.

But Maria was also unlucky, after all, the two of them had lived together since childhood.

This made her restrain herself a little and return to the carriage over there.

Solovyov's side was finally quiet. He had to wait for the train to start. The whole journey was not long, and it was even a very slow sightseeing speed. It was still relatively rare.

The speed of this train was mainly for display. In fact, it could run faster, but it didn't need to be designed.

He took out his notes, which was also the focus of the next period of time.

Going to France was to send the bride. After Alexander agreed, Napoleon should have grand preparations in Paris, but all this was not so friendly to Josephine.

But she should still be able to keep her position as queen, and there was Malmaison. When she visited her relatives, she would formally meet this aunt for the first time.

And the future was to go to Odessa.

Alexander was still very dissatisfied with the war in the Balkans, so he was going to deploy troops and let Bagration and Kamensky lead their troops.

This time, Solovyov did not have any combat missions in Odessa. He was just in the reserve army of the Danube Corps, responsible for the transportation work in the rear. For the war of the Ottoman Empire, the focus was still on sufficient supplies, which could keep the front-line troops in high morale and excellent combat effectiveness.

In addition, the position of military governor of Odessa was also represented by him because the Duke of Richelieu was going to Crimea.

This was regarded as Alexander using his confidants to gather power in key areas, although it was unspeakable to be loyal.

But such a useful brick, as a time-tested feudal fighter, Solovyov had to accept Alexander's appointment and take office in Odessa, although he had always been an undercover with liberal ideas.

For Katya, her plan of speculating in land may not go smoothly. After all, the Duke of Richelieu's living conditions there are good, and Odessa looks like a French city. A large number of French royalists have fled here. If they don't want to return to their country or never betray their hometown, they will be here.

And Solovyov also has a plan for the future arrangements. Even if he is only acting as the governor of Odessa, it is probably a special product under the military district system.

The rank of lieutenant general is enough. Although the first level of governor is generally a second-class civil servant or a future position, can you consider serving in the local area?

That's all. When the train started, he was also writing some content, mainly to investigate the local situation.

According to his idea, Kutuzov didn't even need to take action in the future. As long as the Russian army was willing to take action, the British fleet should not dare to challenge the Russian navy easily after the failure of Karlskrona.

You know, the Black Sea Fleet's combat readiness is far better than that of the Baltic Fleet, and it has been in-depth exchanges with the Ottoman Empire on the front line for a long time. Even if the current governor of Sevastopol and the commander of the Black Sea Fleet are both French, it is not a problem.

The key is how to deal with the Ottoman Empire. The light cavalry of this army still has combat effectiveness, but considering its strange infantry configuration, some local infantry even use a large number of cold weapons.

It looks strange, but it is also daily.

Solovyov has not been in contact with people with turbans on their heads before, and their combat effectiveness has become the most important weapon for Russian generals to score points.

It was in the Battle of Remnik that Suvorov got the opportunity to add a battle title in front of his count title for the first time.

Solovyov already has his own battle title, but he also hopes to go further.

Although he has already walked to the front among those generals who "want to make progress too much", he can't be active now.

He was already a lieutenant general at the age of 28, which means that he may have an important position in a certain direction in the next few years, but his military rank cannot be promoted for a while.

The missing parts can still be made up with medals.

But he is not as good as some people. Balashov has always been the commander of the garrison and has almost never experienced a real war.

This person did not have a very good impression of Solovyov, but they were in a state of out of sight, out of mind.

The close ministers around Alexander were changing. Except for Novolisitsev who was still serving in the court, Stroganov went to the army, Kochubey went to the Privy Council, and Czartoryski returned to his fiefdom in Lithuania.

That is Speransky, who has been promoted from Secretary of State.

But now the atmosphere of freedom in Alexander's court is not as good as when he just ascended the throne.

With some "traditional" Russian nobles entering the court as attendants, there are some "order" factors in the court.

Unlike Paul's practice of still wanting to make some changes, these people hope that Alexander will not change anything.

The Tsar himself also has a problem. After experiencing the benefits of being an autocratic monarch, he began to indulge in the game of power struggle and was not as concerned about reform as before.

Although he still wants to find a wife for Speransky, the atmosphere is obviously not as good as in the past two years. Once something happens, Alexander may also turn to the reactionary nobles.

Compared with the Paul period, it may be more reactionary, because Paul has a bad temper. If anyone does not listen to him, it is not a 25-dollar fine like Emperor Norton, but going back to his own manor to farm.

"It's difficult."

The train is still moving forward. This grand celebration and reception should be said to be very successful.

It was the first time for Queen Mother Maria to take a train. She was very satisfied with this new thing. The only problem was that the speed was not fast - considering that this time it was a sightseeing train, it was not a big deal.

Then there was a grand reception held in the Imperial Village, and there was a fireworks show. It was still very lively at this time.

But there were other things. After the celebration, Catherine was also going to France. This time was the farthest marriage of the Russian royal family so far.

The future marriage record will probably be broken in the UK, but whether there is such an opportunity is indeed a question.

Maria originally wanted to send her sister, but considering the impact, she had to return to Weimar first, and wait until the official wedding was held before going to Paris.

Except for Anna, this was probably the first time that the four older sisters who often got together reunited, and the members were all present. (End of this chapter)