Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 547 Gustav also ran away

The city of Uppsala had a population of less than 21 in the 4st century, which might not even be enough to form a standard county town in the Northeast. At this time, its population is less than , which would barely meet the standard if placed in the Greater Khingan Range. However, it has a university and is the old capital of the Kingdom of Sweden.

What’s more important is that the shortest distance from here to Stockholm is only about 65 kilometers. Even with a slow march, two to three days is enough to reach the Swedish capital.

The loss of such a place was obviously a huge blow to the Kingdom of Sweden.

When von Fersen received the news of Uppsala's defeat in the court, he had some associations because of his close relationship with the Queen of France.

At this point, it would probably be necessary for the royal family to leave Stockholm in order to avoid being surrounded by the Russians.

If all members of the royal family were trapped in Stockholm, then as the war progressed, the arrival of follow-up Russian troops would only completely blockade the city in winter.

The count, who had worked in the court and diplomatic departments more often, understood one thing about this terrible situation where the enemy was at the gates, and that was a situation where the head of state was under complete control.

The French side has already appeared once. At least before the final negotiations, it is necessary to ensure that one of the king, the crown prince and the Duke of Southmanland is safe.

Therefore, he entered the royal palace in Stockholm at this time and advised the royal family to leave.

However, at this time, although Gustav was certainly incompetent in other aspects, he still had something in him, that is, stubbornness and unwillingness to surrender.

"Count, I understand what you mean, but I don't want to leave here. The war cannot be lost like this. I think we should concentrate our forces to defend Stockholm."

"But your majesty, delay at a time like this means failure."

"Your Majesty, you should indeed consider this."

Although the forces behind the Duke of Södermanland had always planned to overthrow Gustav IV, the uncle initially managed to gain a lot for his nephew, such as marrying him to a Russian wife to avoid enmity with his cousins. Also, when someone was plotting behind the scenes, he was also seeking an adopted status for his nephew, Crown Prince Gustav, to try to keep the throne in the hands of his family.

His advice at this time was also well thought out.

"Delay is tantamount to suicide. The Russian army will surely advance very quickly. If we want to delay time, we can consider releasing the people in the Russian embassy. This can be considered as expressing goodwill in exchange for their delay of action. We can take this opportunity to go to Kalmar first, and then to Gothenburg or Malmö."

"What the Duke said makes sense. Moreover, Baron von Essen is gathering soldiers in the south and retraining the militia. We can still spare tens of thousands of people to fight the Russians. There are more than 10,000 British people there. At least we can strive for acceptable conditions with support."

Swedish politicians from various factions, who have been fighting among themselves, also expressed their opinions afterwards.

Gustav IV still didn't want to run away. As a king, he had to take responsibility no matter what, and he was so stubborn.

However, his subordinates who are still loyal to him all remind him that there is always hope while there is life. Those who are not so loyal actually want to take advantage of this time to end the war quickly, otherwise the losses will only be greater.

In the summer, when Gotland and Aland Islands were not yet fully under his control, Alexander hastily announced that Finland, Aland Islands and Gotland would be ceded to Russia.
Judging from this situation, the situation is very bad for Sweden. It can even be said that if the war ends earlier, the losses can be smaller.

At this time, von Fersen also realized the trouble. While the king was arguing with his ministers, he went to the back room to seek the support of Queen Frederica.

Gustav was a very lustful man before he got married, but after marriage he began to favor the queen. Even when the queen was pregnant with an heir, the king often attempted to have some intimate activities with the queen.

As for the need to have more children after giving birth, there is no ambiguity.
Although these princesses from Baden, when they go to become spouses of monarchs in different countries, are mainly responsible for managing the household, their personality traits are somewhat different.

After all, Frederica was once a candidate for the Grand Duchess. When she was a child, she went to St. Petersburg with her sister to see the world. Although she may be the least concerned about politics among the sisters, she is the most independent-minded one.

"Count, what is the situation now? Is my husband willing to leave?"

"Your Majesty, I think at this time, only you can persuade His Majesty to leave Stockholm. The Russian army is coming very quickly, and it will be too late to break the ice. Moreover, it will be too late for our reinforcements to arrive here."

"You need not say those words, Count; only tell me what to do."

"Your Highness, we need to persuade His Majesty the King to leave. We can also delay time through negotiations. I think the Russian commander in Uppsala should be a reasonable person."

"Yes, Count Solovyov was my sister's bodyguard. Although there is no evidence, the two of them are like siblings, or even closer. I think if I wrote the letter, the general would have contacted us for negotiations for the sake of my sister."

Count von Fersen did not expect that there would be an unexpected gain. He knew that the queen's sister was the Russian empress, and he also knew about the affairs of Solovyov, the attendant general. However, the more explosive news was here, that is, there was no evidence.

Moreover, after Solovyov and Louisa gave birth to their second child, although their relationship was still very strong, they took the initiative to distance themselves from each other.

But this route now seems to be the only channel that can delay time.

Sometimes, there are some strange monarchs who marry virtuous wives.

It was only natural that Frederica agreed to give von Fersen some pillow talk to her husband at night, and it was related to the survival of Sweden.

Solovyov was still unclear about the situation in Stockholm at this time. He sent the Tatars to pursue for 20 versts. However, because he was worried that the Swedish army would provide support, he only annihilated some Swedish infantrymen who had looted a lot of supplies on the road.

After all, the military strategy says that you should not pursue a desperate enemy.

And for the Swedes, no matter how great the results they achieve, that's all.

The Russian army has now been divided into two groups. Bagration has sent a Cossack detachment to land near Stockholm. It is already late January.

This was the time when the ice was the solidest. Even after Kunev changed into non-slip horseshoes, he led his cavalry unit to quickly cross the ice, which was considered a successful landing.

After landing, the Russian cavalry also advanced rapidly, looking for the Finnish division that was scheduled to be near Stockholm. However, Kunev's search was somewhat overly active. If Solovyov had led a reinforced main division in a place like Central Europe, he would probably have been very active.

However, we have to consider that the troops he led have been fighting alone since crossing from the sea, so they have to be cautious.

Therefore, Kunev searched for a long time before he found the vanguard of the Finnish Division in Knifstadt, and Solovyov himself was surveying the terrain here.

"It's not easy for you to get here, and you still have to walk such a long way after landing."

"I have orders for you, Misha. Prince Bagration has been ordered not to negotiate a general armistice with the Swedes, but to negotiate local ones."

“Like Stockholm?”

"Smart! They say you have a lot of clever ideas, quick reactions, and a lot of thoughts. We really can't act too rashly here in Stockholm, but I heard there are a lot of treasures in the Swedish royal palace."

"That's just what I heard, Yakov Petrovich. And when Her Majesty the Queen came to Sweden to visit her relatives, the only things in the palace she stayed in were the artworks of relatively high value."

"This is no longer interesting."

If Kunev's men were to carry out plunder, they would be less careful when it comes to artworks.

What's more, there is a fatal thing, that is, the King of Sweden and His Majesty the Emperor are relatives, and he married the sister's brother-in-law. If the emperor turns against him, it will be a big trouble.

There can be no large-scale events in Stockholm.

Kunev also knew that Solovyov was Suvorov's disciple. Although he had not been under his tutelage for long, he was the best at enforcing discipline for his soldiers.

Although there were no Cossacks in his division, there were Tatars. These people have been very well behaved so far, and it can be seen that he has some skills in leading troops.

Therefore, the cavalry under his command, as well as the Cossacks who followed up, needed to be more cautious to avoid being caught in the crossfire - after all, this was also part of the offensive strategy against Sweden.

Precisely because of the huge contrast, the Swedish military and civilians only supported the infantry and cavalry from the "farmers" and were not very friendly to recruiting soldiers.

Solovyov looked at Kunev and knew that he had some ideas.

However, some reassurance is always needed, and this cavalry general is still a very outstanding squad commander.

"Here is a letter from the Swedish court marshal, Count von Fersen. This Count is of high status and was also famous in Paris in the past. He was once an ambassador to France and was said to have had close contacts with the queen at the time. At the same time, his letter also brought some goodwill news about the release of the embassy personnel. Under the persuasion of his queen, King Gustav agreed to release the detained embassy personnel on the condition of a one-week ceasefire."

"What do you think we should do?"

"Of course I don't want to stop, but this is an obvious plot, and you can't hide from it. Moreover, even if we give the Swedes a week, they won't be able to consolidate the defense of Stockholm. On the contrary, it will be more convenient for our troops in the Åland Islands to come here."

"You are still very smart, so what should we do?"

"My idea is to bring back the detained embassy personnel. In addition, the army must reunite. You should send an envoy back to Peter Ivanovich and tell him to act quickly. Our 40,000 troops will reunite here, and Stockholm will be within reach."

"Really?"

"If I'm not wrong, the King of Sweden may run away. Count von Fersen managed to meet Louis XVI and his wife three times when they were detained. He must be an expert in this area. And if the King runs away, it will be beneficial for us to capture the city."

Kunev thought what he heard made sense, but after asking a series of questions, he still felt it was not very impressive.

Solovyov had a deeper understanding of Sweden through his own experiences in Sweden and the information given to him by Foreign Minister Badberg.

In short, after the King of Sweden ran away, his already poor prestige has not yet returned to zero, but it is almost there. Now the Royal Party and the Duke Party respectively hope that the Crown Prince and the Duke of Southmanland will inherit the position.

Even if Gustav could still gain support through his relationship with Britain, it would only delay his resignation.

What's more, staying in Stockholm would only mean a faster end, and it would also be a question whether he could keep the throne afterwards.

"But, Misha, what about replying to the letter?"

"Since we can temporarily negotiate at the front, and there is no rush to enter Stockholm, this city will be ours sooner or later. At the same time, we can also learn about the latest situation there through reconnaissance and the diplomats who have been released."

The opponent had an open conspiracy, and he could only endure it. However, it was still easy to defeat the Swedes. Even if the defenders in the city went to the south, Sanders, who was isolated in the north, was stuck by Barclay and Shuvalov. The variable was probably the British in southern Sweden.

Solovyov was not sure how many British troops there were. According to intelligence, the estimates ranged from 12,000 to 25,000. Therefore, it was impossible for the Russian army to rush to attack at this time.

We need to understand the situation clearly and launch further actions after the two armies on the southern front have joined forces.

The Russian army was reinforcing its troops at this time, because Bagration was making rapid progress on the southern front, and naturally needed to replenish its troops to move forward. Alexander asked Grand Duke Constantine to send the Semenovsky Regiment and the Guards Chasseur Regiment of the Guards to the rear of Abo, but they did not continue to advance.

But infantry and cavalry units drawn from other places also enriched Bagration's corps. In addition to the division and several cavalry units under his direct command, he also had Solovyov's Finnish Division and three conscripted cavalry regiments, as well as an infantry regiment and Finnish dragoon regiment stationed in Gävle. The total strength was still considerable.

Alexander was naturally full of confidence and expressed his hope to see Bagration achieve further brilliant victories in Sweden.

However, at this time, the Swedish royal family, in addition to negotiating a week-long ceasefire, also fled south from the Swedish capital to seek refuge in Söderköping, which belongs to Östergötland. This was an expected but somewhat unusual episode.

(End of this chapter)