Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 527 039 The Finnish Division is finally fully staffed and well-equipped
When these young ladies come, we can't leave them outside. We still have to entertain them at the headquarters, and even have the cooks prepare meals for them. Of course, they have to have a good meal.

"It's just that we are in a military camp here, so we can't eat anything very good. There are no French cooks, only military cooks."

"It doesn't matter. My sister and I also suffered when we were fleeing on the road."

Maria was very good at giving people a way out. Of course, she didn't want to make too big a fuss about this ambiguous relationship, so she sat on the other side with her sisters.

After all, she had never found a chance to succeed, and now she probably has let it go. After all, Solovyov is their sisters' "special best friend". Before she got married, she often asked him to be a guard and to work illegally in a small dark room, and the wages were paid by the second sister.

No matter what happens in the future, we will still be good friends. I am here to help today, in the name of sharing my brother's worries.

After all, my mother sponsored education at home, my sister-in-law sponsored girls' schools, and she also established a women's mutual aid association to take care of the families of officers and soldiers on the front line, and the ladies also donated generously.

Even though they are already married, they cannot be vague. Although the younger sister is forced to study at home, she also has a sponsorship group.

This regiment is actually a dragoon regiment. It seems that the sisters are ranked according to their appearance.

Fortunately, there is no bearded man commenting that Prussian women are "dragoons" or something like that, otherwise the three of them might have to go elsewhere to seek sponsorship.

"Even if you've suffered, the post stations in the countryside will still give you good food, unlike here. If you want soup, it's still a mixture of canned food and vegetables, and the beef may be a little salty, which is to increase the shelf life."

When saying this, Solovyov was also trying to persuade them in a kind way. After all, these girls had a good relationship with him. Elena was his benefactor. Maria and he were very ambiguous, but when it came to dating, they still maintained it at the friendship level. Maria's actions were all unilateral. As for Ekaterina, as far as he knew, she was the fiancée of his good friend, so naturally he had to take care of her.

But seeing that the three of them were still looking forward to it, Solovyov knew that he couldn't get rid of it. He still had to host the party today and they would just do the side jobs, just like when they went to their Uncle Alexei's store.

Even though they are already married, Elena and Maria's personalities are not much different from the past. The former is doted on by her parents-in-law and husband, while the latter is actually still quite free because of her family's power.

Moreover, they don't have any dietary restrictions. When Katya was a maid in the palace, she heard that these three girls had very good teeth.
Even the dishes served today were relatively salty. After they started eating, although they looked like royal ladies, their appetite was still quite good.

It's not surprising. After all, the Queen Mother gave birth to tall and strong children, so naturally her children have good appetites. Think about this kid Nicholas, he is almost taller than himself. If he were in a more affluent aristocratic family, the way he eats might make his father go bankrupt. It's not surprising that these sisters have good appetites.

Maria, in particular, probably because she was still breastfeeding, accepted even the greasy canned beef soup.

"Your Highness, you should at least pay attention to your eating manners."

In order to save Maria's face, Solovyov stood up and whispered to her.

"It doesn't matter. The food here is pretty good. Please continue serving. And I have to reward the chef!"

"This is why?"

"You know, Misha, isn't Katya like this at home?"

Well, come to think of it, Katya is also a noble lady with a heart for food, but she is not as outrageous as Maria.

And it was probably because of the exquisite diet in the palace that Maria also complained a little, and always went to Queen Louise, who ate more simply and paid more attention to nutrition.

This is really a question of "real man, cute big breasts". No wonder that after Queen Louise recovered, she not only had no problem feeding her own children, but could even help take care of other people's children in an emergency.

As for the food in the military camp, it was quite palatable, which was in line with the Queen's evaluation of her granddaughter, "It's a pity that it's not a boy." She was strong and easy to raise, and the smallpox only left her with some disfigurement, and there were always faint pockmarks on her face.

Although Ekaterina is lively and bold, she is far behind her third sister in this aspect and is not as tough as her sister.

Of course, she hasn't married yet. Considering the food in the military camp, she will try to keep her brother Misha in a better place in the future, instead of serving in a difficult place like Count Palen.

Compared to Maria, this is quite a bit worse.

"Thank you for your hospitality today, Earl. We also want to see how you train your troops."

"Training is nothing more than the training method left by the Grand Marshal. We adjust it according to the actual situation."

Maria was the one in charge today. It looked like this was instigated by her two younger sisters, who then pulled Elena out to endorse her, which made the Queen Mother agree.

She just wanted to ask some questions about leading troops. Indeed, judging from the sisters, their hobbies were not in this area. They just put on such an acceptance posture today.
"Well, we have to take a look. Since the four of us sisters have sponsored four cavalry regiments, and there are two cavalry regiments transferred here, we have to see how you, as the division commander, train the soldiers."

The other two cavalry regiments that were mobilized were the Alexander Nevsky Hussar Regiment and the Izyum Hussar Regiment. The latter's commander was Lieutenant General Dolokhov. The troublemaker Dolokhov had such a general uncle.

As for the regiment Anna sponsored, the Kargopol Dragoons, this regiment may not be very well known now.

But in the future, what about this dragoon regiment? Solovyov's Polish friend, his great-grandson made his debut in this regiment and won all the soldier honors except the First Class St. George Medal.

And everyone is familiar with this driver. He was the one who launched the Bagration operation.

After looking at the list, Solovyov felt relieved.

"This is great. Three dragoon regiments and three hussar regiments. Although not all regiments have strong combat effectiveness, they can work together well. We can make adjustments while training the troops. The cavalry regiments with stronger combat effectiveness can naturally lead the new dragoon regiments."

He had already begun to think about infantry and cavalry tactics in his mind. Cavalry officers would depend largely on their bravery and their ability to engage in combat at critical moments.

Solovyov himself is not as good as professionals in using cavalry, so these cavalry regiments still need someone to serve as the cavalry commander. If these nearly 6,000 cavalry are used well, they can naturally play an outstanding role on the battlefield.

In fact, by this time, the Finnish division had already been fully organized, and Solovyov had to thank these young ladies for their sponsorship, which made up for the combat power.

The Finnish Infantry Division itself has 6 infantry regiments, including 18 infantry battalions (after the military reform in 1802, the Grenadiers also became a three-battalion system), in addition to 6 cavalry regiments, 2 cavalry artillery companies, 3 artillery companies, and a half-putt Unicorn Artillery Company, with 1 artillery pieces. Together with the baggage troops, the total force has exceeded 72, and they are well-equipped. Although in the reserve, such combat power can indeed serve as a major assault force in future battles.

But Solovyov couldn't smile now. After all, it was a winter battle and he had a lot of issues to consider.

However, I also need to show the young ladies how the infantry are arranged in battle array.

So he stood on the high platform, and with this excellent viewing angle, he began to dispatch the troops one after another using optical signals and signal flags.

Although Paul had often taken these girls to the training ground to watch live-fire shooting in the past, they had never been as aggressive as they are today.

In fact, they are "honorary captains" and as sponsors, they can also be considered "female generals".

There is just one small problem, that is, they are all wearing skirts
But they don't have to take action personally. Now they just need to watch Solovyov make the arrangements.

"Send the signal to the Pavlovsk Regiment to march in column and deploy first."

The adjutant in charge of giving orders waved the signal flag and sent out optical signals. After confirming that everything was correct, the Pavlovsk Regiment took action.

After all, it was an honorary unit certified by Alexander himself, so the regiment's marching column was neat and uniform. Accompanied by the beats of drums and the playing of flutes, the three battalions of the Grenadier Regiment each began to move.

"Change the columns into horizontal formations and deploy! Also, send a signal to the other four infantry regiments to deploy in columns as well."

On the training ground, the main purpose was to show off, but for these four infantry regiments, the officers had seen the royal carriage carrying the Grand Duchess arriving at the Vyborg training ground for several days, so they naturally wanted to do something to gain face, and so they worked extra hard.

"All troops advance. Karl, signal the Finnish dragoons to begin charging the infantry in squadrons."

"Yes!"

Clausewitz was also responsible for sending signals to the dragoon regiment on the opposite side of the exercise and the supporting local cavalry.

By the time the dragoons rushed over, it was obvious that the infantry formed a formation very quickly. The commanders of each regiment organized their infantry regiments into a battalion formation without Solovyov's order, but according to their different habits, they formed two completely different formations.

"Misha, why is the formation of the infantry different?"

Maria was obviously more curious about this and noticed the problem at first glance.

Although everyone says that Elena is the smartest, but considering that she is more concerned about her family, this time she came out to solicit sponsorship for Solovyov's Finnish division and to stand up for her sisters. She joined in herself, but did not ask too many questions.

Maria asked this, and Solovyov had no choice but to respond.

"The square ones are traditional infantry phalanxes, while the rectangular ones are a new type of phalanx that appeared in the last war. As for the Selenge Regiment, they are deploying a relatively new solid phalanx."

However, it should also be noted that this was Leb's order under Solovyov, and he has recently been studying how to form this solid square formation. In fact, the Selenge Regiment is more accustomed to the new type of square formation, which is more conducive to exerting firepower.

Even as the infantry formations were completed, Finnish dragoons, local cavalry and conscripted Cossacks could be seen passing through the squares in squadrons.

"This is not bad. When the Tafred Grenadiers arrive, our formation will be almost ready. We can also delegate command authority to lower levels, so that each regiment can make decisions on its own."

"Why do you practice like this?"

"We still need to let the troops get to know each other. Maria, you should pay more attention to music and children, battlefields and training grounds."

Maria became excited when he said that.

"But I also like being in the military camp. My grandmother said if I wasn't a girl..."

"I know this, too. Even Her Majesty the Queen delegates the army to her subordinates, and she won't command it herself. I appreciate your kindness, but the war still requires you to stay away from it all, at least for now."

What's more, the military level of the Luo family, except for the current Grand Duke Constantine and several future Grand Dukes, is quite poor, and the female members of the family don't have to take care of these matters.

According to Solovyov, it was enough that they were willing to sponsor some new regiments.

Of course, he found what was even more troubling was that Maria still seemed to admire him very much.

"Except for Brother Konstantin and Brother-in-law Bagration, I have never seen anyone mobilize the army so skillfully!"

Well, Maria has seen relatively little. She has only seen Grand Duke Constantine mobilizing the Guards, heard of Bagration's reputation, and good trainers like Solovyov. The other commanders are all sleepy old General Deng, who are not as diligent as these backbone and young generals.

But there was nothing he could do about his starry eyes. After all, these girls were the most stable and capable of the guards officers he had met in the palace. Solovyov himself also had the temperament of a literary youth.

Since he could translate poetry, occasionally produce his own works, and "collect folk songs" on a daily basis, Maria would naturally like him very much.

It seems that training troops in front of the young ladies can not only gain points in the palace, but also help boost the morale of the Finnish division.

But Maria Solovyov immediately sensed the trouble. He tried not to go to St. Petersburg during this period of time. It was more important to integrate the troops here.

Otherwise, given Maria's current "wolf-like and tiger-like" posture, it is really hard to say what will happen.

(End of this chapter)