Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 162 019 Petersburg Unlimited Fighting Tournament (Part )

It was still night time. According to von Paalen's original plan, he only wanted Paul to sign the abdication decree. Given the Tsar's temper, he would eventually use physical means to make him stop resisting. No matter what, the final result would basically end in regicide.

Paul had left behind a succession law during his lifetime. In the absence of a clear edict, Alexander would now be the heir and become the new Emperor of All Russia.

However, sometimes unexpected situations would happen. For example, Queen Maria was still in the palace. After Mrs. Leven had just sent the children away, she still found an opportunity to enter the Queen's bedroom.

The chaotic environment outside surprised the queen herself. She left her bedroom and saw from the window the chaos on the review ground in the palace. Some guards were lined up there, and no one knew what they were doing.

"How is this going?"

"Your Highness, this is a conspiracy against His Majesty. There are two officers guarding the door to the bedroom. It seems that no one is allowed to enter."

"How to do this?"

"I have sent the children away. They should be at the Winter Palace by now."

"You did the right thing, but what should we do here now?"

"Your Highness, this is up to you to decide. I am just your tutor."

Queen Maria also had her ambitions. Since Peter the Great, there have been four empresses and one female regent. It is not surprising that you come to Russia without any purpose, or that you are infected with some inappropriate ideas in the local area without any purpose.

In contrast, Louisa's presence was very weak, which was a very strange thing in the Russian court.

But today, on this extremely exciting night of the coup, she was the calmest with her baby in her belly. Alexander, an emotional political animal, was making plans, but it was difficult to conceal his inner uneasiness; Constantine was lined up on the north side of the Forum of Mars, waiting for his brother's order to attack. At this time, he was extremely angry and only wanted to avenge his father; Queen Maria, following the example of her mother-in-law, the Empress, wanted to be Empress Wei - but she didn't know who Empress Wei was, but the problems she showed now were surprisingly similar.

What is more strange is that these soldiers of the 1st Battalion of the Putin Regiment are currently lined up in an orderly manner on the Place de Mars. They have not entered the palace, nor have they joined the troops of Grand Duke Constantine on the north side of the Place de Mars.

"What happened?"

They lined up here, waiting for Paul's morning inspection the next morning. Some soldiers were yawning because of their night duty.

The coup had little to do with them in essence, but in form, such a serious incident did occur, and the attitude of the Guards at this time was also crucial.

However, Count von Paalen could not think of any way to win them over. After all, in addition to the training before Solovyov, this battalion also received ideological education of "loving the Tsar, loving the country, and loving the people". It would be somewhat redundant to ask them to join the rebels.

Count von Paalen had very few soldiers at his disposal, but he still decided to fight to the death. After all, he could find some cronies in the city who could disrupt the situation.

But there were some things he didn't dare to do, such as killing the queen with another knife.

Queen Maria already knew the situation, and she came to the center of the guards.

"What did you do?"

However, the scope of the queen's speech was a little smaller. There was only a small team of soldiers at the main entrance of the Champ de Mars, not even enough for a company.

"On a night like this, you murdered the monarch and then sit here as if nothing happened?"

Count von Paalen realized that the situation was not good. If Queen Maria, who had lost control, continued to speak, the fortress would be breached from the inside.

After all, most of the Guards soldiers didn't know what was going on. They just thought they were here to change shifts.

"Your Highness, we are only on duty here and we are not aware of the murder you mentioned. Besides, we have not seen the Emperor either."

A soldier stepped forward to answer, and Queen Maria knew that soldiers would not lie to her. What they said was correct. They were on duty here and were not at the murder scene.

Count von Paalen knew that something was going to happen, so he arranged for a doctor to go to Paul's bedroom to tidy up the appearance of the late Tsar, who had a hideous death and was still fighting hard before his death, so that it would at least look like normal.

However, considering the brutality of the officers who murdered Paul, it is a miracle that Paul's skull is still intact.

The count who murdered the Tsar now wanted to calm the situation quickly and get the Queen to stop.

And the method he thought of was indeed a more suitable one.

"His Majesty has indeed passed away. The cause of death was a stroke. Because it was a sudden death, Her Majesty the Queen is very sad. She has some mental problems. Why don't you send Her Majesty back to the palace to rest?"

What this means is that the queen was greatly shocked and went crazy.

The Governor-General of St. Petersburg and the regicide, still walking in his official gait, with his official belly sticking out and showing off his official authority, gathered all the soldiers and asked them to assemble in a room.

"Don't spread any false news unless you are crazy!"

At the same time, the two sides in the confrontation were getting closer and closer to dawn.

At this time, Solovyov came to the Marble Palace. All the royal family members had also come here. It was safer to have the Izmailov Regiment, which was not involved, guarding here.

Alexander was still a little nervous. He put his fingers between his belt and tried to remain calm, but his eyes betrayed him.

"Your Highness, you still need to remain calm."

Louisa grabbed his right hand and asked him to touch her belly. "Think about Tonya and little Martha, and think about the whole family, all here. You are the center of this family, Apollo, Helios, you can't do this."

Compared to her mother-in-law, Louisa was much calmer when faced with such a major political turmoil, which was in stark contrast to her usual image of a delicate princess who hid in her bedroom and cried and lamented her fate.

"What should we do? Lisa, right now, the Queen Mother is still in the Mikhailovsky Palace."

"Let me go. You send me guards. I will go to the Champ de Mars and gather the soldiers there. We will have other options later."

"You're still pregnant. I can't let you go. I can't let you go. If I let you take risks at this time, and something goes wrong, I'll live in pain for the rest of my life."

"But Russia still needs you, Alexander. If you go, it is inevitable that some of them will take risks, stick out their guns from the darkness, and shoot deadly and vicious bullets. As for the others, Constantine still needs to help you command the army, and Juliana's status is not important enough. At this time, if you want to rescue my mother, I have to rely on you. You can't let Maria go, right?"

Louisa was very strong and she directly offered to go herself.

Alexander was somewhat afraid of losing his wife. Although he had been unfaithful before, the Queen had established a status for Louisa when she was alive. He also knew that it was very rare for such a virtuous wife to stand up and help him at a time like this.

"I should be uneasy if you were to go out into the square, Louisa."

"Don't worry, my identity is not important. Even if you become the emperor, I am just the queen. To those gamblers, I am not worth much. If they dare to kidnap me, you can just tell the archbishop to dissolve this marriage and choose an unmarried woman you like as your heir in the next life. But in that case, you need to treat our child well."

She spoke close to Alexander's ear, and because the two of them were hugging each other tightly and the others kept some distance, no third person could hear this threatening whisper.

Alexander felt that his wife was a bit dark by nature. Although her delicate appearance always made her look lovable under the light or moonlight, he did not expect that she could say such decisive and cruel words.

Of course, this can also be considered an exchange. Louisa's status had been repeatedly confirmed by the Queen and Paul, and in the social circles of St. Petersburg, public opinion was very sympathetic to this virtuous and weak girl. Unless Alexander was so obsessed with lust that he lost his mind, or had other intentions, he would not abolish Louisa's status.

"Okay, you can go. I'm going to send you a few of my most loyal officers and a team of cavalry guards to ensure your safety."

If Alexander went to the square in person, he would indeed be at risk of being sniped. Count von Paalen now also had the desperate idea of ​​creating as much chaos as possible. He didn't care who would eventually ascend the throne. Anyway, it would be a ridiculous effect like "Lord Whitworth, His Majesty the King of England, my mission is accomplished."

"Tickenhausen, Solovyov, you two have been running around to deliver messages to several troops tonight, which is a bit tiring. But I will give you two a mission now, which is to lead a team of guards cavalry each to protect the personal safety of my wife, the Russian Crown Princess Elizabeth Alexeevna. If anything happens to her, you two will go to Siberia to cut trees!"

Count Tickenhausen was a family man, but he married Kutuzov's third daughter, the most famous of the old fat general's five daughters, so he certainly wouldn't have any thoughts about it.

But Solovyov was the youngest among the middle-level officers of the Guards. If he had not been exposed by several young girls before that he seemed to have no interest in women, he might not have been always assigned such jobs that would make him fall into trouble.

Then it was Louisa, supported by Solovyov and Natalia, who boarded the carriage, with a squad of Guards Hussars behind Count Tickenhausen and a squad of Guards Cavalry behind Solovyov.

There was another reason why he wanted to go, and that was that the group of soldiers sitting stupidly in the Ares Square were all from the ordinary regiment.

"Your Highness Elizabeth, these soldiers on the Champ de Mars are all from the 1st Battalion. Please don't move rashly. I will just go over and tell them."

"No, Solovyov, I want to get off the car. You help me get over there. At this time, although you can convince them with your emotions, your status is not enough."

The young wife seemed like a different person today. Although she still looked weak and frail, she wore an otter skin coat to keep warm at night. On her head she wore an otter skin hat that the Queen gave her when she got married. Her dress was white.

To be honest, a gust of cold air blew in from Siberia that night, and it was indeed quite cold. Solovyov and Count Tickenhausen were each wearing a coat and the adjutants' signature bear-skin hats. The two of them stood beside each other. Although one of them was not tall enough to be majestic, their imposing manner was enough.

Natalia opened the car door. She was wearing a white fur coat and looked very beautiful. If the veterans of the First Battalion had not seen this distinguished maid, they would have mistaken her for the Crown Princess.

She helped Louisa down, and the two temporary captains of the guards dismounted from their horses to help her.

However, Count Tickenhausen knew that the 1st Battalion was a unit that Solovyov had led for a long time and had only recently been transferred, and they had a deep relationship.

"Lisa, I beg you not to take this risk."

"It's okay, Misha. Just help me walk among them. These are the soldiers you once led. Wouldn't it be safer if they surrounded us?"

"Well, I'm worried there's a gunman at the window, aiming right here."

"You're so careful."

At least Louisa knew that the people she relied on and the people she currently loved were very worried about her. At times like this, this actually gave her more confidence.

"Soldiers, my name is Elizabeth Alexeevna. You all know me. I am the wife of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Alexander. His Royal Highness is not in the square. He is here to coordinate the troops coming to Petersburg so as not to cause more chaos. Just a few hours ago, a tragedy occurred in the palace. A loyal soldier among you, Agapeev, came to the Winter Palace and reported such a sad news to my husband."

The voice was as sweet as a silver bell, but what was talked about today were all extremely sinister things.

".Our beloved emperor, His Majesty Pavel, the Emperor of all Russia, was murdered in his bedroom by villains! On behalf of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, I now order you to remain silent, line up neatly, and join His Royal Highness Constantine's team. Your young battalion commander is also here, as you can see, he came here on the orders of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."

However, Louisa had always been in poor health. She braved the cold wind and fell into Solovyov's arms after saying a few more words. At this time, the major had no choice but to continue speaking.

"Brothers, you have heard that Her Highness Elizabeth has given you orders. Now I order all soldiers, except the 1st Company, to line up! Stand in line to the right! Look forward! Turn right! March in step!"

As for the 1st Company, it was now forming up on either side of the two cavalry squads and, after Solovyov and Natalya had helped Louisa into the carriage, was to continue its march towards the Mikhailovsky Palace.

(End of this chapter)