Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 289 056 Canning still requires steam power

Lanenburg is located at the southernmost part of the entire Ryazan Province, closer to Lipetsk and Tambov.

In fact, it is closer to the production area of ​​raw materials. The climate here is warmer than that of Moscow. Of course, it is also an important agricultural area. In this era, Russia's existing industries are still relatively scattered. That is, Russia is too large. When they built factories, the barbaric operations were visibly visible to the naked eye.

Before the Yakovlev family in the Urals took over the factories established with the approval of Peter the Great, they were thankful that they could produce qualified cannons.

Solovyov had heard this from old Prince Pyotr Dolgorukov, and he actually heard it when he visited his Tula estate, now retired.

"Misha, when I was in charge of the Tula Arsenal, you only caused me minor troubles."

"Why do you say I am a 'little trouble'?"

"Those rifles of yours are rifled, but it's easy to modify them. As long as the barrel and the breech loading device are completed, the main part of the gun will be complete. But the task that the emperor gave to the Tula Arsenal is to make people really have four arms. I'm afraid it will be difficult to complete."

However, the gap came from the fact that the Russian army's weapons were not standardized. Fortunately, when the line infantry using smoothbore rifles used projectiles to shoot, it was just like that. Sometimes they had to issue lead blocks to make them themselves.

If all the British, French, Austrian, Prussian, and even Spanish-made rifles in the hands of hundreds of thousands of Russian troops were to be replaced with Russia's own standard weapons, and the old guns that had been made previously would be eliminated at the same time, the project would be too huge. Even though the four of them, father and son, were highly regarded by two generations of tsars, they still could not do the job.

"Are you talking about the replacement plan for the Tula rifle?"

"Yes, the new director of the Tula Arsenal will probably have a headache about this matter."

At this point, old Prince Peter relaxed and started to make tea.

"You won't spend the winter in Lannenberg, will you? My son Peter wrote to me saying that you will take up your post in Smolensk and work under Apraksin."

"Yes, you are right."

"It's a good job to be there. Compared with his father, this Apraksin is very lenient to his subordinates. You can be very diligent in front of Emperor Paul, so I'm sure you won't have any problems working for him."

"But I have a lot of things to do when I return to Lannenberg. I have already prepared a factory for military supplies there. I am going to submit a memorial to the Emperor through the high official Shishkov and the noble representative Count Ilya Rostov."

"Are you using your own venue?"

"No, it's the land of the former Prince Menshikov's estate. It's state-owned land, and we need to send people from St. Petersburg or Moscow to manage it directly."

"Ah, that's good. But you don't want me to leave, do you? I'm old and my energy can't keep up. The future belongs to you young people."

When he said this, old Prince Peter probably didn't have a wrench or anything in his pocket, and although his facial expression was serious, there were some changes.

"Not really. You can certainly enjoy your retirement life in peace and finish your memoirs of your youthful campaigns in Greece."

"Yes, I went to the Peloponnese as a volunteer at that time and fought for several years. I couldn't do anything for my old Greek friends. Most of them are still under the rule of the Turks, but my old friends still remember me. When they see my son Mishka, they can still recall the time when we fought side by side. I think I can't let them down. I can't do anything for them anymore, so I wrote down our experience of fighting together."

"Your memories may still be valuable."

"Does the emperor intend to take action against the Turks?"

A great noble like old Prince Peter was somewhat idealistic, otherwise when he was young, he would not have gone to Greece with some young nobles and volunteers to fight.

"There is no accurate information at the moment. When I traveled abroad as a staff officer and served as a military attaché, I also traveled through Northern Europe. What is more dangerous now is the dispute between France and Britain, which may involve us."

"Well, you have to select a site for the munitions factory in Lannenberg. Once it's built, I'm afraid it won't be put into production until next summer."

"Therefore, I thought that the can factory should follow the example of the Tula Arsenal and use steam power."

"Ah, that's a good idea, but what are you going to do with it?"

"We can make tin cans. If it's glass bottles, we can put them somewhere else. This way, we can form an assembly line and bring in raw materials from two directions. Grain, fruit and meat come from Tambov, Voronezh and Lipetsk, and glass jars come from Penza, plus tin cans produced by local canning factories."

Solovyov laid out his plan in full, and it was obvious that he was going to follow this line northwards to the transportation hub of Moscow, and then transport the goods to the garrisons in various places along the Smolensk Road and the St. Petersburg Road.

As for transportation to the south, supplies can be sent along the Volga River to Tsaritsyn, and then along the canal to the Sea of ​​Azov, and then directly to Kerch.

In this way, after being transported by the Black Sea Fleet, it can be quickly delivered to the west side of the Caucasus Mountains, where the Russian garrison will engage in a long-term battle with the army of the Persian Empire.

Small-scale conflicts had already broken out in 1803, and now the Russian army had begun to move some combat troops to the Caucasus Mountains.

However, the war was fragmented, without many large-scale battles, and it was difficult for both sides to deploy their troops in the Caucasus Mountains.

After ten years of war, the final results were not very significant.

You have to know that Russia's national policy in the past has always been to move southward.

This was what happened during the reigns of Peter the Great and the Empress. Fighting war with European countries is a thankless task.

If we fight against the Qing Dynasty, the distance is too far and the supply line is also long.

Before Muravyov took action, few people knew the real strength of this opponent, and the land investment was far greater than the output, which has always been a huge problem.

The war against Persia required supplies the most, and the Shah of Persia acted somewhat without considering the consequences, which led to Russia wanting to take action against its neighbor several times. In the end, if attention had not been attracted by other battlefields, an Aryan "Iran-Russia" might have emerged.

In fact, in the history of Central Asia and India, the Scythians took advantage of opportunities many times and established many countries.

Although Russia actually developed from the Slavs near the Vistula River, they are always said to be descendants of the Scythians.

After all, the land beneath their feet was originally the territory of the Scythians. And if Russia went south, there would actually be fewer obstacles in this area.

The reason was that British ships could enter the Persian Gulf but could not go ashore.

This is why Russia has always maintained a certain influence on the northern region of Persia, even after its strength declined.

But the situation in Europe has turned everyone's attention here.

For Russia, it is indeed necessary to prepare for war in peacetime, and their logistics system needs to be upgraded even more than their weapons system.

What Solovyov established was just a canning factory for military supplies. In addition to this factory, Alexander's edict also mentioned that Russia's military industry needed to be comprehensively upgraded, especially the upgrading of industries, and the large-scale introduction of steam power into mines.

It had been nearly 40 years since the first steam engine in Russia's mine was put into operation, but so many factories and mines in Russia still often operated according to very backward production methods.

Serfs were still used during mining, so you can imagine that this was what European and American countries promoted as "catching people in coal mines and digging coal." In a period when the world was generally more civilized, only the Japanese would capture, cheat, and launch a surprise attack, and then do unspeakable evil things.

After meeting old Prince Peter, Solovyov met Count Bobulinsky again at another estate in Tula.

That's right, he had his own mines and estates in Tula and Ryazan, and in order to respond to his nephew's call, he also began to prepare to widely use steam power in his mines and factories.

He did have the money. The property he inherited from his biological father, Count Grigory Orlov, was enough for him to replace a set of equipment for the factories and mines under his name, and then buy another set as a backup.

It can be imagined how rich the five Orlov brothers were when they came to power. The scale of their wealth just from the rewards from the empress was already astonishing.

"How does it feel to be home?"

"Very good, but if you want to lay rails in the coal mine, you can only use horse-drawn carriages for transportation now. Our steam locomotives are not ready yet. Those Scottish engineers are currently in Lisichansk and Donetsk. The mines there are obviously of better quality."

"But our need for steam engines is obviously more urgent. Many mines are still mining in the same way as before."

"Are you anxious too?"

"I have rubles now, but I can't spend them."

Indeed, he was already rich enough even before anyone gave him rubles.

"But you also have to consider that the factories around Lugansk, especially the iron foundries and mines, are all run by the British. Count Vorontsov has a good relationship with the British, and most of these engineers were hired directly from there."

Moreover, at this time, Count Bobulinski could not put on the airs of the "imperial uncle". He had always been low-key and would not cause trouble to his brothers and nephews. This was also the reason why his family had been able to remain rich.

Count Vorontsov was indeed pro-British, and he had arranged to live in England after his retirement instead of returning to Russia.

It's like some people go to Europe when they've made enough money. This always happens in Russia.

As for land relations, they don't care either. Many nobles are like this.

When Count Bobulinsky was young, he had enough of playing in Europe and he became more nostalgic for the land of Russia. The climate here is actually not bad, but the winter is so suffocating that it makes people feel suffocated.

After all, you have to find a place to spend the winter, and not being able to hunt in winter would be quite a headache.

"Your idea is great, Misha, but can you get some help?"

"I can't do anything," Solovyov shrugged helplessly after hearing the count's question. "When I was about to take London, Britain declared war on France and blocked the English Channel. I had no way to contact Count Vorontsov directly when I was in Paris. When I came back from the West Indies, most of the British engineers and skilled workers had already left. But if your coal mine needs to introduce a steam engine, I think Mr. Gascoigne should be able to help. The biggest advantage of making friends with you is that the emperor will know your every move."

Although Count Bobulinsky was absurd when he was young, he behaved himself well after returning to his country, which earned him a good reputation. As for his wife, she was also very popular in St. Petersburg, which made up for his early reputation.

"This is a good thing, but also a bad thing. Misha, I don't like the British either, but unlike you, they really destroyed the peace in Europe when they declared war at that time."

"But the King of England only thinks this is a 'peace experiment'. Although he often goes crazy, few British people are truly willing to make peace."

George III did not believe that peace would last, and the cabinet's approach was to make relations between Britain and France extremely bad and eventually out of control.

"Ah, war can sometimes make a man rich."

"But the expenses are also huge. If the soldiers can't even get paid, morale will be low."

"During your time in Tula, is there anyone you haven't visited?"

Count Bobulinsky brought the topic back, and Solovyov remembered that he had not visited Prince Nikolai Volkonsky yet. As for his family's estate, Yasnaya Polyana, it was Tolstoy's home in the future, where he was born and his final destination.

And it was indeed a great coincidence that Solovyov's own home was near his final station.

"I think I should go there. Without Prince Nicholas's letter of recommendation, I would not have taken this fast track."

"You rely more on your own abilities, Misha. If I gave this recommendation to someone else, he might still be working as an adjutant now."

The adjutant has recently been considered to have no future.

"But I was still serving as an adjutant half of the time."

"You, the adjutant, are a little different from other adjutants."

When the count said this, both of them laughed. If someone else were in Solovyov's position, he would not only fail in his serious work, but would also do a lot of ridiculous things, even more than he had already done.

(End of this chapter)