Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 300 002 A good shooter is fed by bullets

As we know from the German name of jaegers, or the name in French, this type of light infantry are actually hunters.

This can be seen in the selection of soldiers, who are often residents living in mountainous and forested areas, preferably those from forest ranger and hunter families. They have had contact with muskets in the past and tend to be more accurate in shooting.

In order to facilitate concealment, those who are short and strong are often chosen. Even the "light infantry" in Napoleon's old guard will not be taller than the "grenadiers" in the same legion during selection.

The "vaulters" in the French army were even shorter in stature, and they were often selected from the most agile and flexible soldiers.

Hunters are often the first to come into contact with the enemy on the battlefield. If they are not vigilant and their fighting capacity is not strong, they will suffer.

Therefore, versatile troops such as chasseurs and hussars, as well as lancers who require comprehensive skills, usually have training subjects far beyond those of other troops.

To this end, Solovyov also specifically applied for live-fire shooting training every month in the first half of the year.

"Fortunately, this is only special ammunition used by your regiment, so you can afford this consumption. If the four infantry regiments of the Guards and the Grenadiers of the Guards were to go for shooting training together, the quartermaster would scold them first. Even if Grand Duke Constantine could approve this consumption, the Minister of War would be furious if he saw it."

Indeed, a lot of military spending in these days is spent on ammunition and uniforms, but there is still a lot of money that no one knows where it goes, which is a heavy burden for governments.

Even a relatively tolerant man like Sergei Kuzmich would be surprised.

"But our ammunition is special, and the production of paper shell bullets and projectiles is so limited that even if we expand our regiment into four battalions and train every week, we still won't be able to finish the fighting."

Bagration knew that he was right to call Solovyov back. This boy was familiar with all the affairs of the regiment and could also manage daily affairs for him.

This way he could concentrate on his work as the general's attendant, saving a lot of energy, and even have time to go home and take care of the baby.
He is not the only one like this in Georgia.

"Well, arrange the live-fire shooting training. The emperor will come to watch it then."

Alexander also attached great importance to new weapons, especially the Unicorn Cannon. After all, his military branch was artillery, and he was very familiar with this aspect.

As for the weapons used by the chasseurs, they can only be tried out by the Guards first, and will later be extended to the elite grenadier regiments and the main regiments of each military governor's district. However, this equipment replacement work cannot be done quickly.

The Tula Factory really does not have the production capacity. Their current production tasks also include the three models of the "Tula Rifle" series, 1798, 1800 and 1803. If they want to meet the needs of the majority of infantry regiments and eliminate backward weapons, in fact, Solovyov's rifle is not applicable at this stage.

He was also able to deploy them to the elite troops. The only weapon that became common in the soldiers' hands was probably the black powder grenade made by traditional methods. Every soldier could receive several of them when going to the battlefield.

There are so many forests from west to east in Russia, and the thing that is least lacking is wood. There is no shortage of raw materials such as wooden-handled grenades, wooden gun bodies and stocks for rifles.

Moreover, the quality of these woods is quite good, and the effect is very obvious when used.

Although it was only January 1805 and the days in St. Petersburg were still very short, training was not delayed.

Alexander himself watched the shooting training of the Guards Chasseurs at the shooting range. This was actually a signal of his personal emphasis on the army, even if it was the Guards formed from his father Paul's Gatchina troops.

"Your Majesty, the Royal Guards are ready. Can we begin?"

"Let's start like this, Sergei Kuzmich. I would like to see such a shooting training with my own eyes."

Last time, the two-row shooting training of the Guards Jager Regiment had left a deep impression on the generals present, and the training even reached the ears of the Tsar himself.

He also appeared here with his sister Catherine and second daughter Maria. Obviously, there were always brave ones among the female family members, especially his fourth sister.

It was none of her business, but she insisted on coming to watch. Alexander doted on this sister more than his other four sisters, so he could not resist her begging.

Maria Pavlovna, the aunt who always made Solovyov work illegally, was recently on her way back to Weimar with her husband.

As for today's shooting training, it is also called "test shooting". The purpose is to let the officers of the Guards understand the accuracy of the weapons in their hands. Therefore, it is not only the Guards Chasseur Regiment that appears here.

Also present at the shooting range today are the Izmailov Guards Regiment, and they are also testing the accuracy of their flintlock rifles at various distances.

But they will proceed later, and the first to appear will be the Guards Chasseurs.

Solovyov asked the second battalion to stand out. After they were lined up, they shot at the metal targets with precise aiming. This time, they even made human-shaped targets so that they could have an intuitive feeling.

Of course, there were no Turkish or French portraits on the targets, but rather they just went about shooting, reloading, and shooting again.

At this time, the sound of the bullet hitting the metal target is quite pleasant to hear.

"If you shoot according to the rhythm, I'm afraid you can also play a piece of music."

When Alexander said this, Solovyov was standing below the viewing stand and could hear it very clearly.

If using guns alone is not enough, Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture also uses cannons! In addition to the cannons recorded on stage, there are also real cannons firing blanks. The use of real cannons during the performance is a consensus reached by the orchestra playing this piece.

Of course, he is no longer an aide-de-camp, but the commander of the hunting corps.

In this case, he requested that targets be set up at the shooting range according to metric distances, which was also in line with France.

The Russian nobles in St. Petersburg are all very Francophile, and many of them blindly worship French fashion and science.

Therefore it is not a problem, and it seems very convenient to use it this way.

In Russia, only the navy has been using the British system for a long time, but one day they will change.

"Your Majesty, the current shooting is at a distance of 200 meters, which is less than 300 arcs. For ordinary smoothbore rifles, the accuracy has dropped significantly, but for this 1800-model breech-loading rifle, it can still guarantee a very high accuracy." "That's good, Solovyov. During the time you have been back, these soldiers have been trained very well."

If Alexander attributed it to the weapons, it was Solovyov who did it, and no amount of praise could escape him.

"It's just that if the copper-cased bullets you originally made could be popularized to ordinary infantry regiments, our Russian army would have an advantage over other countries in terms of infantry equipment."

"Your Majesty, the same is true for artillery, but the level of cavalry in each country is still very close. However, generals of other countries will envy our Cossacks and hussars."

At times like this, flattery should also be paid to the Tsar and his army.

"But we don't have time to wait for weapons to be replaced for each regiment. This would be too costly."

Not to mention that a lot of the royal expenses saved by Alexander and Louisa were given to Queen Mother Maria, there was also the dowry of her sisters and the jewels that Paul left for the girls. As a brother, he could not be vague either.

Moreover, a lot of financial appropriations are also used in public facilities and palaces. It is true that the Royal Zoo and the Royal Aquarium can make profits, but you also need to invest in them and increase maintenance efforts to get a return.

This was one of the rare occasions when the Tsar was able to enjoy himself with the people. The money he collected from the pockets of nobles and wealthy merchants by selling peripheral products could not cover the huge military expenditures.

"But the Guards Chasseurs will be excellent, your majesty."

"According to your training outline, we will definitely be able to do it well! Solovyov, after the shooting test is over, you must report the shooting results of the Jagers and Izmailov Regiments to Sergei Kuzmich."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Alexander was very satisfied with the Guards Chasseurs after seeing the soldiers' performance and the target results of five rounds of shooting.

This set of drill manuals was created by Solovyov in the Pavlovsk Grenadiers Regiment in the past, but there were relatively few shooting tests at different distances, and in the past people only knew that the hunters' rifles were accurate.

Now, according to the target reporting at 200 meters and 300 meters, although the accuracy has decreased, it is still much higher than the flintlock rifles commonly equipped in the troops.

The Izmailov Regiment's shooting training had a much lower hit rate, but the Guards' shooting training was obviously more than that of ordinary troops.

Alexander was quite satisfied with the troops in front of him, but he didn't know what the current level of the Russian garrison troops scattered across the country was.

According to the infantry inspectors and military governors who reported to St. Petersburg, many infantry regiments had not received adequate shooting training in the past, and only the Moscow garrison and some more elite troops were able to guarantee shooting training.

The general troops were also trained with weapons, similar to the Prussian army, but much better than the fancy Prussian army. After all, they still couldn't forget the bayonet, while the Prussian army always used a rifle cleaning rod to pull the barrel.
According to the report on shooting training, Alexander also required each legion to conduct sufficient shooting training during the spring training.

This time, it was because after the negotiations between Britain and Russia were concluded, the Russian army was preparing to go abroad to fight in Austria and Prussia, and also to go by sea, with the assistance of the British, to northern Germany and the lowlands, as well as Naples.
After Solovyov returned to St. Petersburg, he had no time to attend those salons. After all, he was still leading troops and was the actual commander of the troops. It was impossible for him to go to parties and drink like the reckless lieutenants of the Guards.

But he was aware of one thing: the blind self-confidence in St. Petersburg, as if the Russian army was invincible. If he said anything bad about it, he might be refuted by the people around him.

This was not the first time he had encountered such a thing, but in St. Petersburg he would not show such a strong attitude. Instead, many young officers hoped to earn military merits in the war.

There are still many desperadoes, which is also a characteristic of militarism.

To some extent, everyone was affected by this problem in the early 19th century, and it is still the same 200 years later. Many people cannot accept even the slightest failure, and after a major setback, they turn into defeatist counselors and fail to look at the problem objectively.

In the upcoming war, facing Napoleon would be a huge challenge.

Solovyov even recalled the standard configuration of online novels, and it has to be said that many male protagonists rely on tricks to fight, and it is rare to see a few who fight head-on.

There are also many people who can't play without history.

Of course, his current situation has not yet affected the main historical process, but the fate of some people has been affected.

In fact, he did not expect to really face Napoleon's army at Austerlitz as a regiment commander. Perhaps that man had moved to another place as his strategic center.

As for the war criminal-level behavior among the coalition forces, the only people he could influence were probably the adjutants in the headquarters.

If we get together with these guys, we can try to make some impact.

But Alexander is someone who will not change the decisions he makes and has mysterious self-confidence, which is not easy to solve.

Of course, it is also a question whether Solovyov’s own friends will fall into the trap in that environment at that time.

Therefore, Solovyov decided that if a chef does not read the recipe, he must read the tactics.

In addition to the battle examples that can be seen in Europe, there is also Sun Tzu's Art of War, which is still very useful as a military theory if translated.

After all, when he was in Italy, he had seen the French increase their numbers and reduce their troops, so it wouldn't sound strange to see them increase their troops and reduce their numbers.

We still need to be on guard in this regard, so Solovyov is preparing to start a new topic.

But Alexander should not destroy the Great Wall himself. Whether it is the Thirty-Six Stratagems or Sun Tzu's Art of War, these strategies are still very practical.

Of course, Solovyov was also thinking about which strategy his colleagues, superiors and predecessors were best at.
There is no doubt that Kutuzov is best at running away.

As for how to arrange this story, Solovyov will do it in his spare time, but it will only be announced internally. He will have to wait and see before making it public.

The pamphlet Frederick had distributed to his generals was also seized by chance, and then discovered by the "three skirts" who opposed Prussia, and then printed on a large scale.
(End of this chapter)