Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 492 004 Sevastopol Fortification Plan
The discovery of Chersonesus is not uncommon. After all, the Greeks on the Crimean Peninsula have existed for a very long time. It was only during the reign of the Crimean Khanate that their importance was overshadowed because the Khanate was located on the peninsula.

Even when this place was still a large city-state and a kingdom, nomadic peoples were generally in the northern part of the peninsula, so the remains must have been very rich.

We can't conduct excavations as a hobby, nor should we learn from the German who actually dug out Troy, or from Belzoni, the hydraulic engineer of the Solovyov family, who made great contributions and also caused great destructive power.

Therefore, Solovyov was quite careful when using a shovel, especially after he dug out a pillar and discovered traces of color, which required even more attention.

During the early restoration of ancient Greek and Roman buildings, Western European countries forcibly changed the white marble parts back to their original color, but forcibly ignored one point, that is, the ancient Mediterranean civilization still had to paint the surface of their buildings.

The profession of plasterer is very ancient, but modern Europeans restored it to the original color of white marble.

It may look grand, but it cannot restore history.

"General, this place looks perfect for building a fort."

"That's right, but we must pay attention to one thing when building defense facilities. Our most powerful heavy artillery can be pointed at the sea and fired at the enemy's warships, but we must also pay attention that the landing enemy will not foolishly come over from the beach head-on. Therefore, our positions must take into account the protection of the flanks. If the port areas of Sevastopol or Odessa are fortified, then there must be mobile forces to protect the flanks."

Solovyov asked the Governor of Sevastopol for several retired officers and veterans and began the survey.

"Why does it have to be like this?"

"You should know that our Grand Marshal Alexander Vasilyevich defeated the Turks who landed at the Kinben Sand Spit. What if an opponent other than the Turks comes? The most typical example is the British. They are likely to send a fleet to contain us, and then land from the flank to launch an attack."

As for these old guys, when they mentioned Suvorov, some of them had served under the Grand Marshal, but not in the battle of Jinbenshasui.

Solovyov is now a well-known figure in the Russian army. In previous wars, he was one of the generals who rarely suffered losses at the hands of the French.

What’s even more rare is that they were able to win the battle. Although defeating the French army did not affect the overall situation, it did save a lot of face.

As for the fact that he was the last disciple personally taught by Suvorov, this was somewhat of a halo added to his head.

"You are right, but we have never fought with the British. How do they fight?"

"Come to think of it, I've never fought against the British. I've fought against the French before. Even our former opponents, the Germans, we were allies on the battlefield over the years, and we've never seen any record of fighting them."

However, Solovyov himself was not sure what level he would be at when facing opponents other than the French.

Now he was in Sevastopol, 1807 had not yet passed, and the distance between Sevastopol and St. Petersburg was so great that he didn't even know what was happening there.

Simply put, Alexander made a final diplomatic effort against the suicidal Gustav IV, suggesting that Sweden should not stand on the side of Britain in the next war, and that its attitude could be to join an alliance with France or remain neutral.

This was already very considerate of the Swedes' thinking. The two sides were cousins ​​and brothers-in-law. In the previous marriage turmoil, starting with Paul, Russia's attitude had always been relatively moderate. The one who was most serious about this issue was Queen Mother Maria, after all, it was her eldest daughter who had been wronged.

However, the goodwill fully expressed by Alexander did not receive an effective response from Gustav IV. The King of Sweden rejected Russia's request and was also planning to join the British side to do something.

King Gustav's target was his western neighbors. At that time, Denmark was not only the territory seen on the current map, but also included Norway and Iceland.

The Swedish king's idea was simple, which was to place the main force of the Swedish army in the southwest of the country in order to seize some benefits from Denmark.

The two sides have always had a certain degree of hostility since before the Thirty Years' War. If they could occupy the entire Scandinavian Peninsula, that would naturally be a good thing.

Moreover, the British actively supported his idea. Since France and Russia signed the Treaty of Tilsit, the British also felt the pressure from the continental blockade. This kind of internal friction between the two sides means that the British can still maintain the advantage at sea, otherwise they will suffer serious consequences.

At the cabinet hearings, both the House of Lords Botanical Garden, which still has some real power, and the bustling House of Commons Zoo, advocated giving Russia a taste of its own medicine from both sides.

In the past, they just did it secretly, supporting from the outside and trying to murder a czar or something like that.

Now, it is blatant and aggressive. In the past, it wanted to win over Russia to fight against the Ottoman Empire, and now it wants to win over the Ottoman Empire to fight against Russia. At the same time, it also wants to help Sweden in Northern Europe. Apart from Portugal, it is currently the only remaining European ally of Britain.

In the last Russo-Swedish War, although Sweden was at a disadvantage for a time, Gustav III and the main forces of the navy and army were blocked in Vyborg, and almost staged a Nordic version of the Battle of Huang Tian Dang, but in the end they learned from Jin Wushu's backward experience through convergent evolution and successfully broke through.

The difference is that Han encountered a traitor, while the Swedes were killed by weather factors and the Russian Navy itself.

In this atmosphere, the Swedes actually thought they could do it.

This also formed the British view. They thought that they could benefit from tying down Russia on both wings. The idea was indeed a good one. Moreover, considering the current level of General Buckholden, the Governor-General of Vyborg, Russia, he did not seem to be very smart.

At that time, the British army dispatched troops led by Sir Moore from the mainland to Sweden to support King Gustav's battle.

As for the French? France's attention is now in the southwest. After all, Northern Europe is not far away, but the cost is not low. I am afraid that the "benefits" in Spain are greater. Solovyov reminded Caulaincourt when they got married. Caulaincourt is loyal, easy to talk to, and reliable. He will definitely convey the truth.

But Napoleon only ever accepted the opinions he wanted to hear.

This is the problem. Ever since the Battle of Lodi and Arcole, Napoleon has been quite conceited and he would not care too much about the problems in Spain.

It is definitely impossible to control it. In Spain, we can only hope to improve the sanitary conditions in hospitals and military camps and reduce a certain degree of non-combat casualties. In this regard, the attitudes of the old French military doctors are highly consistent with those of the Russians.

On the Russian side, Solovyov still has to consider his own situation more.

When he saw the defense zone of Sevastopol, he knew very well that if the British landed from the front, they would not attack the harbor directly even if the Russians were unprepared. Even if they built temporary artillery batteries on both sides according to the standards of Toulon, it would be enough to cause great damage to the attacking fleet.

In fact, during the Crimean War, the British and French forces had the upper hand on this main battlefield. Be it the naval advance into the Gulf of Finland, the capture of the Aland Peninsula, the fruitless battle of the monastery in the Arctic Ocean, or the humiliating defeat in Kamchatka, they did not do anything to Russia.

Nikolai, who is so cute now, must not go down the path of a bad disciple in the future. He is close to villains and stays away from wise ministers. This is why when Solovyov received the letter sent by the Empress Dowager to Sevastopol, asking for recommendations on extracurricular reading materials.

Solovyov started the translation project without hesitation, and suggested giving Nicholas a complete hardcover French illustrated version of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as well as some already translated books and Greek and Roman classics.

The Queen Mother was very satisfied, but poor Nicholas would probably be strictly disciplined by his tutor, Mrs. Leven, during the winter vacation.

As for whether he will develop into a bad disciple, I will definitely discipline him strictly when I return.

Now, it is crucial to strengthen the defense of Sevastopol. If the British enter the Black Sea, the Black Sea Fleet can naturally deal with them if there are only a few of them, but it will be difficult to deal with if there are too many of them.

Judging from the coastline around Sevastopol, there are many places that need to be strengthened. If we consider improving the front-line supply of the Danube Corps, it is still feasible to control the ports on the west coast of the Black Sea and then set out from here to provide supplies for the army.

After all, in the coming year of 1808, the Black Sea is still relatively peaceful, and the British will not deliberately come here to cause trouble. If they want to help the Ottoman Empire, they have to provide equipment and assistance secretly instead of taking direct action.

After their investigation of the key areas, Solovyov immediately wrote a letter to Petersburg, stating his plan to strengthen the fortifications of Sevastopol, Yevpatoria, Feodosia and Kerch on the Crimean Peninsula, improve the transportation on the peninsula, establish a transportation hub in Simferopol, and ensure the transportation line of the Isthmus of Perekop.
After this series of operations, the governor of Tavrid Province was very happy. After all, Count Solovyov was a close minister that the emperor trusted. Although he was not as capable as Count Zubov, the favorite of the Empress during her early years, and Count Kutaisov, the favorite of Paul, he still had some personal abilities.

What's more, with the large-scale construction going on here, the local masters will be able to get even more benefits.

But this was a national-level engineering project, and the Governor-General was unaware of it. Solovyov's memorial clearly stated that a budget had to be made for the entire project and that an audit had to be carried out along the way.

In this case, there is an even greater need for digital management, including large-scale statistical work.

When writing down the suggestions on "statistics", Solovyov was more or less thinking of Ryazanov's comedy film "The Office Story". The meaning is not that statistics are always important, even if they cannot be formed on a large scale, there must be a certain processing capacity, especially the budget for Crimea-related projects.

Apart from here, the entire Black Sea northern coast system he planned is relatively complete. The first thing to consider is the transportation line. Fortifications can be built slowly in peacetime, and these strongholds are sufficient in wartime.

Given the British's level, they should be thankful that they could mobilize 20,000 to 30,000 troops from the country for the expedition.

At present, the Russian army can quickly mobilize a 4-strong army to Crimea, whether it is from the Danube Corps or troops from other places to arrange garrisons. There is no problem in this regard.

The Crimean War, after all, was caused by Napoleon III. He brought in a large number of French troops, as well as the British fleet at sea. In addition, Russia's own system was backward and it faced stupid commanders. That's it.

Solovyov believes that the problem still needs to be solved in advance, which naturally means creating a favorable external environment or patching it up in the next few decades.

Among his suggestions, there is another important one, which is that in addition to the military warehouses built in Kerch and Feodosia, the sea transportation routes in the Sea of ​​Azov should be improved, and an experimental railway should be built from the Isthmus of Perekop to Sevastopol and the northern coastline of the Sea of ​​Azov.
After all, it costs money, and Alexander must be under a lot of pressure on this point. The railway in Tsarskoye Selo has always been run by horse-drawn carriages because there are no suitable steam locomotives. It can be said that something is better than nothing.

There is nothing we can do about the nobles in the palace, as they really deserve the title of lucky ministers.

In other words, Arakcheev, whom Solovyov had always disagreed with, saw the benefit of this issue. Although his stance was reactionary, he was still quite efficient.

Sometimes, you need some people with ruthless hearts and ruthless hands to do the job. Except for strengthening the artillery, Arakcheev's military reforms in other aspects were relatively inefficient, probably because he himself came from the artillery and was more familiar with firing artillery.

But the railway was a key project to celebrate the Empress Dowager's 50th birthday, so Arakcheev was very concerned about it. If the railway in Tsarskoye Selo could be built well, then the Isthmian railway would also have some corresponding experience.

The entire project period is expected to be five years. Since transportation in the Crimean Peninsula has always relied on water transportation on the Sea of ​​Azov, it does not matter if this road is closed for a period of time.

And he can also benefit from budgeting and auditing.

If Solovyov knew Arakcheev's idea, would he have a sense of déjà vu, and a particularly funny one?

(End of this chapter)