Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 508 020 The Russian Empire is so big that it can’t even build a railway
The railway experiment in Tsarskoye Selo was also very successful. When the train stopped at Tsarskoye Selo Station, Alexander stepped forward and awarded Richard Trevithick the Order of St. Vladimir, and also the position of a fifth-class civil servant as a court eunuch.

Solovyov watched from the side with a normal expression. He had won so many medals that he was not even surprised by them. Moreover, given his status, he was currently a major general of infantry of the fourth rank. To be promoted to lieutenant general, he still needed some experience because of his background.

When Alexander walked up to him, he also took out a third-class Order of St. Vladimir - Solovyov had already won the fourth-class Order because of his previous military exploits.

"Your Majesty, I think"

"You don't need to think about anything, Solovyov. You've done everything well. I just hope you can come to the palace to talk. We can consider what we should do next."

"Very well, your majesty."

When Alexander was in the Imperial Village, he often lived in the Alexander Palace built specifically for him by the Empress. Especially recently, he began to favor Louisa again, obviously in order to create an heir, but this would always take some time.

Therefore, he now turned his attention back to the military, and naturally paid attention to military logistics because of Finland's problems.

Arakcheev didn't care about the ownership of the railway. Although he was annoying, he was not that ugly when it came to making profits. He didn't have the technology in this area, and the planning was still based on the advice Paul had left to Solovyov. The guy only had time to complete a steamship with relatively mature technology that could be put into operation. The steam locomotive was not demonstrated publicly for the first time until 1808 in Tsarskoye Selo.

After seeing this, Alexander was indeed very satisfied. At least Solovyov was very down-to-earth and had been able to present a preliminary railway system to him. This was much more reliable than those nobles who were only concerned with bragging all day long.

As for going to the palace to chat, this was not the first time. Alexander always liked to discuss in a more relaxed atmosphere, not to mention that the toys the children were playing with at home caught his attention.

Although it is just the shell of a toy train, a prop used by Uncle Alexei to extort money from women and children, the appearance is still very exquisite, and it is definitely different from the trains currently running on the tracks.

This was Solovyov's work. Alexander has always been smart, so he naturally knows where it came from.

The only difference is that the toys given to girls were not dolls but train toys, probably because these toys were very novel.

The princesses, like ordinary girls, quarreled over new toys. The twins were not so bad, but the older two girls and Constantine's daughter Sophia often fought each other.
It has to be said that these girls from the Russian royal family have always been tougher, which makes Alexander feel that the two older sisters and the youngest sister Anna are too well-behaved.

In fact, he didn't know that Anna was also a hot-tempered girl behind the scenes, but she rarely got angry.

This was not the first time he had come into the Alexander Palace. The furnishings here had basically not changed, but the number of residents inside had been increasing. In addition to Alexander and his wife, there were also his sisters who had returned from abroad and their children.

As a result, this place, like the Tauride Palace, often became a large nursery for the royal family and the nobility.

Soon after entering the gate, he saw Polina and Svetlana. When the twins saw that it was him, they grabbed him one by one.

"I've got you, uncle General with medals."

"What are you two doing here, Your Highness?"

"We were playing hide and seek with Paul, we just didn't know where he had gone."

This Paul could only be Elena's son, but he couldn't get involved in the children's play as he had official duties at the moment.

And the one with green eyes looks just like the portrait of Louisa when she was a child, and she is her own daughter.

He squatted down to look at the two children and said, "His Majesty has to summon me again, so I can't play with you here. But if you want to find Paul, you have to look in the greenhouse. It's the easiest place to hide people, especially children like you."

"Well, our cousin can always hide, so we won't bother you anymore."

"Okay, kids. I wonder if your mother, Her Majesty the Queen, lets you eat candy?"

"What would happen then? Sveta, tell me."

Polina obviously couldn't remember the word for "tooth decay", but Svetlana couldn't remember it either. She could only say: "If you eat too much sugar, your teeth will decay."

"You two really smart kids. Since your mother said so, I won't give you any candy either."

What's more, this kind of toothache can cause infection if not treated properly, which can be fatal. Children's teeth are relatively fragile. If I give candy to the children secretly, Louisa will definitely be angry.

But the way she looks when she loses her temper is really not intimidating at all.

Although the two children were a little disappointed, they were well-educated and were able to suppress their desire for candy.

But not every family is like this one, where the education of children is good. In some places, even princes or princesses are a bit arrogant.

Solovyov knew Louisa's sister Frederica. Although his son was well educated, the eldest daughter developed an arrogant temper.

This is still considered safe. If they were like those pigs in Spain, beating and scolding their servants at will, it would seem that this family is doomed.

You know, the brainless Queen of Cake has always been trying to correct her eldest daughter because she is too arrogant, but the Spanish Bourbon didn't even have this thought.

As for some other ridiculous characters, children’s education is actually very important.

When Solovyov walked in, he also found Alexander teasing the child. Maria and her niece Sonya had a dispute over toys, and now he was here to mediate.

"Your Majesty, Soloviev has come by order."

"Why did you insist on Uncle Alexei making a limited edition toy, causing these kids to twist each other's ears over a locomotive?"

"Your Majesty, that's because this kind of train model toy is really troublesome to make. The one in the palace was specially made, and it was even based on the blueprints I drew before my last expedition." "You are still a profiteer. The British engineer deserves credit for the railway project, and you and Count Vorontsov also have contributions. You must get the reward."

Since his retirement, Count Vorontsov has moved to England with his daughter. Only his son is serving in the Caucasus Army. Besides, his family is a prestigious and prestigious one and has no shortage of money.

However, after he got married, his unscrupulous businessman habits did not change. He has younger brothers and sisters at home, his wife is young, and he doesn't know how many children he will have in the future. In short, he still wants to save more money for the family.

The single bounty promised by Alexander was generally 5 silver rubles.

Even if they already had some wealth, it would still be hard to refuse this money. However, the Solovyov family had never had any debts. If one imagines that some people could spend 1000 million rubles in more than ten years, then one really has no idea where the money went.

"Your Majesty, you need to think carefully before you give out bonuses. If you run trains on such a short stretch of railway, the bonuses will be much higher than the cost."

After hearing this, Alexander also understood what was going on.

"That's perfect. I'm planning to build a railway. We can build railways in places with good roads across the country."

Just listening to what Alexander said and thinking about his birth and death dates, you couldn't be considering that when the Louisa sisters came to St. Petersburg for a blind date, one was a girl and the other was even a loli, so they couldn't have had some similarities with a certain pioneer, right?
The problem is, this is a game for the Railway Connect fans, and this won’t work.

"Your Majesty, I think this is too expensive. Not all places are suitable for building railways. And there is a problem with our train. If it weren't for the high strength of the railway design in Tsarskoye Selo, Trevithick's train would not be able to pass through."

"Then how should we arrange it?"

"In Moscow, we can build in the direction of Ryazan, Tula and Smolensk. If we are in St. Petersburg, we can extend the railway to Novgorod and Vyborg."

"And what about Finland?"

"The terrain in Finland is not that suitable, especially since it is full of swamps and forests. I'm afraid the ground we pass through will also need to be reinforced. With our current construction capabilities, I don't think it's possible."

Alexander was in high spirits just now, but after hearing what Solovyov said, his mood dropped two levels in a row. But when he thought about it, what he said was true. After all, they were playing the game of railway connection all over the country at once. Although Russia was a large country, the places suitable for building railways were limited, and there were large amounts of swamps in many places.

If it is a small country, this approach may be possible, but the environment must also be considered.

"That's it. I think we should build a railway to Novgorod and Vyborg first. As for Moscow, I think we can build a railway to Ryazan, and then extend it to the south."

It is true that Solovyov was from Ryazan, but the construction of the railway to this side was due to Alexander's consideration of controlling the land in the south, especially during the wars in the Caucasus and Persia, which required material supplies.

As for other places, we really have to let them go now.

It is indeed possible to build a railway network extending from Ryazan in several directions in the future. More importantly, many of Russia's military supplies are currently produced in Ryazan and around Kazan. Military canned food, food and ammunition can be gathered in Moscow and then transported to various garrisons on the border via the Smolensk Highway.

The Russian troops in the south could be transported from Voronezh to Belgorod, then to Kharkov, and then transported to the garrison near the border via the southern road.

In short, it was beneficial to Alexander's rule. Russia's biggest problem was probably its grain production, but its circulation capacity was so poor that grain often rotted on the spot.

As for famine, there have been frequent famines in Russian history, and they occur in cycles, about once every ten years or so.

Alexander had a lot to consider. Of course, the railway still needed coal, and using firewood would definitely not be efficient.

As for the coal mines, when it comes to production safety, the mine owners who own a large number of serfs will not care about the lives of the serfs. However, their behavior may be even better than that of the black-hearted mine owners in Wales.

Historically, when Nicholas wanted to build a railway, someone told him that Russia was a country short of coal.

If Russia is short of coal, then what is going on in the Donetsk region?
As for the serfs in the mine, there were even technicians among them.

"Speaking of which, Solovyov, during the collection of steam locomotives, a mine owner in the Ural Mountains said that they could produce similar products with their steam engines, but the road was too far away, and the collection plan was not approved, so it was shelved."

"If it's in the Urals, there are a lot of minerals there, but coal mines. If the railway is built with horse-drawn carriages, it's fine. But if it's built with steam locomotives, it must rely on coal mines."

"Come to think of it, someone told me that there is a shortage of coal mines in Russia. I don't like to read, but I know that there is a report from a hundred years ago in the royal archives in St. Petersburg that there is still a lot of coal in Donbass. If the supply is to be increased, we need to connect the railway to this place in the future, such as Taganrog."

Solovyov didn't pay attention to the place called Taganrog. To be honest, in history, Alexander died suddenly while living here. To put it another way, he secretly ran away to Siberia and called himself Fyodor Kuzmich.

Alexander was still very interested in the Sea of ​​Azov. He had some ideas about the long-standing disputes between the Black Sea and the Ottoman Empire, and even wanted to put an end to them.

As for the order for railway construction, after announcing that Finland belonged to Russia, he convened a royal meeting and prepared to start bidding for the railway from St. Petersburg to Novgorod. In addition to building the railway, he also solicited new designs for steam locomotives.

Trevithick's locomotive was just a demonstration product, and it looked quite funny, with a locomotive in the front and a bunch of open train carriages converted from horse-drawn carriages in the back.

To build a real railway, there must be trains running. In fact, Alexander also paid attention to children's toys.

“Is it okay to design it according to this?”

"Your Majesty, no problem. We just need to solve the processing technology. In addition, we need to make the transmission structure more reliable, the boiler power must be sufficient, and the coal must burn fully in the furnace. More importantly, we need to pay attention to safety."

"Well, let the Englishman improve his design."

(End of this chapter)