Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Ruan Yuan was most concerned about coastal defense. As the Governor-General of Guangdong and Guangxi, he was not only responsible for civil administration; governors-general and governors always had this function.

He then mentioned several important forts and invited Solovyov to conduct a survey of them before leaving Guangzhou.

Solovyov was able to agree to this.

Later, a Russian general will probably be sent to the Qing Dynasty to serve as the chief instructor, and he will probably be given a rank of second grade or something similar.

It's clear that, given the price offered by the Qing Dynasty, those heavily indebted Russian generals would probably consider this a cushy job. They'd be far from debt collectors, the Qing Dynasty would not only pay them a salary but also provide various subsidies, and they'd even be entertained by local authorities when they traveled.
However, Solovyov believed that doing this work would require a great deal of effort, including improving the defenses of several important coastal outposts of the Qing Dynasty and strengthening the Qing army's combat capabilities.

Even if he himself came, he would be paralyzed, let alone in terms of strategic planning, there is no one whose level is comparable to his except Barclays.

However, Barclay's health deteriorated after 1815, and his lifespan was probably nearing its end.

Those who arrive in Beijing in the future will likely be Cossacks who have been transferred to the Qing emperors and will be able to play an immediate role.

He himself is now going to inspect the situation at the Humen Forts and conduct on-site measurements.

He also invited Nguyen Nguyen to ride on his flagship, the "Grace," to carefully examine the waters.

"The focus of the defense should be on the Humen Fort, which should have a complete defense system. We can first place 32-pound fortified guns here, and even larger ones in the future, to ensure that we can blockade this sea area. The fort itself should also be reinforced, the cannons should be adequately protected, and the ammunition depots should be placed in the blind spots of the British warships' guns."

He stood on the boat, pointing the land with his whip, and also drew the range of firepower that the fortresses could cover on the map with a pencil.

"The general's deployment must have a deeper meaning."

"British naval guns range from one to five miles, which is still too far for the Celestial Empire's forts. If these forts are to be reinforced, in addition to the heavy artillery, horse-drawn infantry guns are also needed to prevent enemy landings. When the British engage the forts, they will naturally have to send infantry to capture them in order to establish a foothold and ensure the unimpeded movement of their navy. This is the case here at Shajiao, and on the opposite bank at Dajiao, the four forts guarding Guangzhou Prefecture, and the defenses at various points along the Pearl River Estuary all require heavy artillery deployment. If their forces are few, they cannot be moved; if their forces are many, it will take time to capture the forts."

"This governor wants to strengthen the fortifications. If General Suo's words are true, then the court will be fortunate and the people will be protected."

“Governor, I have been entrusted by His Majesty to serve as an envoy to the Celestial Empire, and naturally I am here to reconcile our two countries. Now that I have come to Humen for inspection, I will certainly do my best to make plans.”

Although the head instructor position will eventually belong to someone else, he initiated it, so naturally he should manage it well.

Next, a small boat was lowered from the "Grace" ship, and Solovyov and Nguyen Nguyen boarded the boat and went ashore.

Solovyov was naturally used to this military life, and his boots were waterproof enough that he could walk a few steps without any problems.

However, Ruan Yuan's official robes, at least the rank badge, would get wet, and his shoes wouldn't be of any use either.

As for Solovyov himself, after inspecting the fort, he carefully measured every step.

"Here, we need to place 12 cannons, and three standard battalions behind them. The infantry should have soldiers who dare to fight and never retreat, along with two or three hundred musketeers, to block the enemy troops coming ashore behind the stone wall."

When it comes to his professional skills, he is indeed more reassuring.

After all, he started out playing light infantry, so he's familiar with that area.

"Here on the shore, we should deploy many deer antlers. If the enemy soldiers come and land here, we should clear the obstacles in front and follow behind. We should have gunners at several key points to provide support. If the enemy soldiers come, we should fire our guns."

As he walked to the mudflats, he made a point of checking the distance from the coastline to his planned position.

"This place will be guarded by 6-pound cannons. If the enemy doesn't come, they will ambush behind the boulders. If the enemy does come, they will be pushed out here and shot at with grapeshot. The enemy cannot advance within a hundred feet. If they want to advance, they will have to drive the artillery away."

The core issue is actually artillery.

The biggest problem with the Qing army's artillery was probably that they had absolutely no accuracy. All their skill points were spent on reloading, and even these veteran artillerymen were not very skilled.

To bring them to the level of modern European artillery, we really need someone skilled in artillery to serve as the chief instructor.

Solovyov's first thought was actually of Drouot, who followed Napoleon in Santo Domingo to fight the Haitians, which was really like using a cannon to kill a mosquito.

Moreover, only Napoleon himself chose to exile himself to the Caribbean to become an island tycoon; the others could have returned along the way if they wanted.

It's just unknown what progress Napoleon was making in Santo Domingo at this time, and he even sent Polish troops to his former adjutant, Bolívar.

The biggest problem of this era is indeed the vast distances and the inadequacy of communication and transportation tools.

If Drouot were willing to come, then even if the Qing army's artillerymen were all fools firing their cannons, he wouldn't have to worry about them.

After all, Solovyov is an infantry player, and he only learned artillery later on.

Basic artillery training can be handed over to ordinary artillery officers.

Russia has many artillery officers; I'll have to discuss this with Arakcheyev when I get back.

Organizing a group to swindle the British was arguably Solovyov's most successful strategic plan.

We need to do things right from the beginning, and we also need to think things through now regarding possible personnel arrangements in the future.

Moreover, Drouot lived a long life; Solovyov didn't even know he lived until 1847, and he didn't go blind until 1835.

Such a general should be able to play a role at this time, bringing the Qing Dynasty a master artilleryman who can serve in his position for more than ten years. If he can train artillerymen, he will be able to give the British a hard time.

As for the entire system, after Solovyov inspected it, he decided to give the Humen Fort on the Shajiao side a comprehensive upgrade.

The fortified artillery, along with mobile artillery, was deployed here, along with rock-built gun emplacements and roofs to protect against exploding shells.

The cost would certainly be considerable, but with Ruan Yuan here, he would naturally have a solution.

He was also a top talent personally appointed by Emperor Qianlong after he turned eighty, which can be considered as official certification.

Solovyov was also worried about the cost of building the fortifications and wanted to be more cautious.

Little did they know that Ruan Yuan had already set his sights on the Wu family.

What is the general thinking about?

"If my current estimate is correct, the cost of building the forts will not be low. In addition, we will need six escort ships and more than a thousand skilled sailors. If the British come in small boats, we will attack them at sea. If they come in large ships, the small boats will go out to sea to resupply in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Siam, and attack passing British merchant ships and resupply. Naval warfare is not our forte. The governor needs to select a loyal and brave general to command the navy, otherwise we will have to ask foreigners to take charge of the ships, which is not a good idea."

The Qing Dynasty had some concerns about this. If they hired military officers as instructors or naturalized mercenaries, it wouldn't be a problem.

If the warships were commanded by foreigners, that would be a different story.

If a foreign official is willing to naturalize, then it's not so bad.

After all, there were some precedents in this regard in the Qing and Ming dynasties, but the positions were not suitable.

Ruan Yuan did have a solution to this problem; he suggested opening a school. "However, that would cost even more."

"Then we can let the merchants from all over Guangzhou make donations, and the Emperor will have his say."

Speaking of which, Ruan Yuan was from Jiangsu, specifically Yangzhou. He had seen Yangzhou salt merchants before, and naturally knew how to deal with similar merchants like those from Guangzhou.

"And what about the places where donations are made?"

"When I was in Zhejiang, I asked merchants to donate money for flood relief. It is not difficult to do the same in Guangzhou."

Moreover, Ruan Yuan knew that the Pan family would definitely pay up. It was just that only Pan Youdu's branch of the family was still engaged in business and had already embarked on a path of combining official and commercial interests. However, if anything happened in Guangzhou, the Pan family would definitely step in.

As for Wu Bingjian, who has an ambiguous relationship with foreigners, there will be plenty of ways to deal with him when the time comes.

Solovyov doesn't need to worry about these things.

Ruan Yuan had many methods; he was even more lenient with the local people as long as they didn't rebel.

But he wasn't so polite to unscrupulous merchants.

When he told Solovyov about the method, Solovyov couldn't help but laugh.

"General, what is the reason for this?"

"The governor is indeed skilled. If my grandfather had been born in the Celestial Empire and been a merchant, even with a fortune of ten thousand taels of silver, he would probably have had to hand it over to the court instead of suffering imprisonment."

Russians are not too concerned about this. Pushkin once said that his ancestors were tax farmers and servants of the Grand Duke, and Solovyov's family were just smugglers and unscrupulous merchants for generations. It doesn't matter if they say it out loud.

Ruan Yuan laughed heartily after hearing the explanation.

"I didn't expect that the general's family also came from a merchant background."

"However, they are still far inferior to the imperial merchants. If the governor is like this, he will surely not lack funds for supervising coastal defense and reorganizing the navy."

Although Solovyov wanted to help the Qing Dynasty standardize its currency, economics was a secondary concern for him, so he wouldn't get too involved.

Let's talk about that when the Qing Dynasty decides to establish a customs office; it's impossible for it to be a nanny agency everywhere it goes.

Ruan Yuan's methods were somewhat effective in dealing with internal problems.

Moreover, if the foreigners vouched by Wu Bingjian are caught smuggling opium, the fines will be there for them.

If someone has leverage over you, can't you just do whatever you want with them?

As for the defense system that needs to be established in Humen, Solovyov doesn't just want to develop these kinds of things.

He also planned to lay mines in front of the ship, and if possible, even to equip the British with the prototype torpedoes from 1840.

If they go back and develop their technology, Russia can also benefit from it, and they will definitely have a share of large arms deals in the future.

At this time, the British were completely unaware of the Qing Dynasty's efforts to strengthen its coastal fortifications.

If it weren't for the accompanying officers, Bystrom would have been a general in the Guards, and Solovyov would probably have left an advisor with Nguyen Nguyen.

However, Russian officials who later came to the Qing Dynasty to serve as instructors would inevitably spend a lot of time in Guangzhou.

By then, the British will know that this version of the Qing Dynasty will hire Russian and French military instructors to strengthen its army.

In fact, although Solovyov and Napoleon were related by blood through the children Polina bore him and Polina's son getting his daughter pregnant out of wedlock before marriage, their ways of thinking were quite similar.

Napoleon also believed that if the Chinese emperor was willing to strengthen the military and invite European instructors, the Qing army's mobility, demonstrated when crossing the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, would make it a formidable and elite force.

Although Solovyov saw the reality that the Qing army was indeed declining, he was still very confident in crushing the weak in East Asia.

With advisors, enhanced military training, and the support of Irish barbarians and Cossacks incorporated into the Eight Banners, it would be a very powerful army.

If the British dare to come, they'll be in for a world of trouble.

Solovyov finally got to inspect the entire deployment of the Humen Fort.

Next, we need to return to Guangzhou, strengthen the Sifang Fort, and control the main traffic routes.

In Guangzhou, Solovyov also saw some strange things, such as the matchlock guns that were widely used by the Qing army in the south.

When Solovyov was in Tianjin, he didn't see many of the elite Eight Banners troops using this thing.

However, for the pro-independence camp, it can be considered an effective close-to-medium range support weapon.

If you even load it with iron shot, you can use it as a shotgun; its close-range lethality against enemies is considerable.

When Solovyov saw this thing, he also thought that in mountain warfare, some auxiliary weapons are always needed.

It's like when the great lecherous Marshal Saxe fell ill, he had a wonderful idea.

But that thing was clearly not like the Qing dynasty's musket, which could be carried by a few infantrymen and moved around, and could even be disassembled if necessary.

If things had developed well, the Qing army would probably have been able to use breech-loading, powerful matchlock guns by the end of this century.

If the technology is insufficient, then it can only be used as an infantry support unit.

If the manufacturing process is good enough, with this length and enough power, it could even be used as an anti-tank rifle.

Solovyov saw this and wanted to make improvements, so he purchased two from the Qing army.

Perhaps this thing will come in handy in future battles in the Caucasus and the Balkans.

Moreover, line infantry was still the main form of combat during the Opium War, although it was already in its final stages.

In combat, the slingshot can still play a role, and it even has better mobility in complex terrain, which may give it an advantage over the British cannons.

Based on the terrain and landforms he saw along the way, Solovyov probably didn't have much time to be intimate with his wives and concubines, and he would have had less time to play with his children on his way back.

He also needed to consider the situation in the coastal areas of the Qing Dynasty, and provide Zhao Lian and the others with advice on how to strengthen the Qing Dynasty's coastal defenses when they returned home. (End of Chapter)