Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 548 060 Stockholm Becomes an Undefended City

For the Swedish royal family, moving to Söderköping is probably just the beginning.

Even if Gustav's brain was not working well, he knew roughly what situation he was in now. When this war was over, the crown on his head would fall to the ground.

The only difference is, whether it was taken away by the group of people behind Uncle Wang, or it fell on his own son's head.

What's even funnier is that if Alexander caught him now, the crown might belong to Crown Prince Gustav.

However, the king himself did not accept this result, and also opposed the marriage proposal previously put forward by the Russians, so that Grand Duchess Sofia Konstantinovna, the only daughter of Grand Duke Constantine, and Crown Prince Gustav could be engaged.

Although this was the preparation stage for a daily child marriage in Russia, it was just one of Alexander's smoke screens.

He is now surrounded by his wife and mistress, and is looking at the children playing on the blanket.

It was a pity that there were no boys, except for the girls born to Louisa's maids, who were adopted to keep company with her own girls of all ages.

Louisa was watching her little daughter in the cradle with a loving mother's smile on her face. She also watched the twins twisting each other's ears for a doll.
It can be seen that sister Polina is like her father. The little child is very strong, much stronger than girls of the same age, and also very smart.

As for her younger sister, she was always cute. Louisa probably knew it, but her wit seemed to be taken away by her elder sister. She was more good at pleasing her parents, and...
With a cute girl like her, it's hard to tell which father she looks like.

Louisa thought that whether it was Sasha or Mishka, they both liked to please others and didn't want to ruin relationships, so it was not surprising that the child looked like anyone. The only recognizable thing was the green eyes.

Seeing this, she lifted her skirt and walked over to separate the two of them.

Normally, the two children don't even sleep separately, but today it was strange that they started fighting over a doll, and they were a little...
Perhaps they learned it from the old guardsmen who cursed at each other on the training ground, and were more or less influenced by the spirit of Zaun.

Louisa looked at them, feeling somewhat helpless, but she pinched the two children's noses as a punishment, and then picked them both up.

"Lisa, this looks like something I would do."

As for the Polish girl, she also came to help. Since having more children, Louisa has become plumper and her physical fitness has improved a bit. She doesn't look as frail as before.

She had to discipline her children herself, so she naturally politely rejected Mrs. Maria Naryshkina's kindness.

At this time, a court attendant came in with a hussar corps, saying that they were messengers from the front.

It was a rare opportunity for Alexander to gather his two most important women and their children together today. It was a perfect time to enjoy family happiness. However, work came up and as the Emperor of All Russia, commonly known as the Tsar, he still had to take care of it first.

"Your Majesty, it's good news. Count Soloviev, who crossed the sea, won victories in Gävle and Uppsala. This is an urgent message forwarded from General Bennigsen's headquarters."

"Misha has lived up to my expectations. So what is the situation on the front line now?"

"Your Majesty, our army is now approaching Stockholm. When I set out, General Kunev had already arrived at our division commander's headquarters, and the two sides have already established contact."

"Very good, but the distance is too far. It would be great if there was a radio line in Finland. The radios used by the army are not very useful in bad weather."

"Your Majesty, the Earl has already thought about this question. This is his private letter, which will be delivered to the Royal Society."

"Your division commander has too many distractions besides being a soldier. The Grand Marshal was very worried about this problem when he was alive."

"Your Majesty, our division commander is very capable, and he has also sent a message that he is confident that he can defeat the British reinforcements as well."

"Ah, very good."

If Alexander had listened to what others said, he might have thought it was bragging. Solovyov's way of speaking was not as abstract as that of the Marshal. Instead, it was always very practical.

When he opened the letter, the contents were very clear.

Solovyov said that Sweden has already asked for a ceasefire. At this time, the royal family members may flee south, but they cannot be intercepted. However, when the main force of the Russian army arrives in Sweden one after another, they can launch a decisive battle with the Swedish-British coalition forces.

Alexander did not say anything, but capturing the Swedish king was obviously not of much benefit to him.

You have to know that a forced melon is not sweet. The problem can only be solved by making the opponent feel desperate when he is at the end of his rope. It is impossible to hold Gustav down and ask him to agree to all the conditions.

Moreover, if the King of Sweden really ran away, then the parliament would probably also make a decision, and by then, no matter whether it was the Royal Party or the Duke Party, no one would accept this result.

Therefore, Alexander's attitude was to fish. He was not in a hurry to make a decision, but wanted to hand over all power to the generals on the front line.

The old man Bennigsen was really lucky. Because of General Nolin's disobedience, he became the commander-in-chief of the Finnish Army. It just so happened that Bagration and Barclay had similar qualifications, and it was impossible to tell who was better.

He was able to be reinstated in this way. In fact, Alexander still acknowledged that he was the biggest beneficiary of his father's murder. After all, no matter which route he took, the conspiracy group would be disintegrated by him.

As for the situation on the front line, Alexander doesn't care too much about it now. Bennigsen feels that all the credit now belongs to Bagration and Solovyov. That is because of their seniority and age, and they always take the overall situation into consideration and will not mess with him. Otherwise, he must go to Stockholm himself.

After all, Bennigsen has a bad habit of competing for credit with others and telling tales behind their backs. This was not very obvious when he was in power.

As for Stockholm, the Russian army was getting closer and closer to the city. During the armistice, Swedish troops could still be seen moving around in and outside the city, but everyone knew that many people must be trying to escape at this moment.

It was rather strange that there were many people who were willing to stay. Many of them advocated stopping the war, and they were also local nobles in Stockholm.

".It's so strange, so dead silent."

"It's still peacetime, and there are still two days left. Karl, do you think the Swedes will take their troops away?"

"Of course they will. You said that they will return the detained diplomats during the armistice negotiations. It's an obvious plan, and we can't refuse it."

"If they are willing to continue fighting with us, this war will end faster. We go south to fight the British. The most important thing is to destroy Karlskrona, the last important naval base on the eastern coast of Sweden. If we destroy it, the British will have no base to use to interfere in the situation in the Baltic Sea."

"Your idea is good. After we go south and gather our troops together, we will not let you command them. The commander-in-chief should come in person."

"That's exactly what I'm worried about, Carl. It's actually quite dangerous for us to go out alone without guards." "But it's safe to talk like this, and sometimes what we say isn't suitable for outsiders to hear."

Seeing that Clausewitz was so sensible, Solovyov felt relieved.

"It's a pity that there is no place to hunt here, in winter. Otherwise we could go to the woods to hunt foxes or deer. It's exciting but not dangerous enough. It would be dangerous if there were guerrillas here."

"Don't talk nonsense. I know you have some predictive abilities."

Seeing the other party say this, Solovyov couldn't stop laughing.

"Hahaha, I knew you would say that. Don't worry, there are very few people around here. Next, we should talk about Bennigsen. He has always been a very opportunistic person. If he is the commander-in-chief, if he is greedy for merit and reckless on the battlefield, we will suffer."

"you sure?"

"Of course I am sure that this old guy is indeed talented, but he is better at political struggles and intrigues. I hope his edema will become more serious recently so that he can't command the army at the front line."

"As long as you let Prince Bagration or Barclay take command, you can play your role, right?"

"correct!"

Just when he said this, Solovyov also discovered that they had arrived near the armistice line on horseback.

"Karl, we can't go any further."

"Well, we can go back the same way, but with Stockholm in this state, I'm afraid it's already undefended."

"We have to wait until the truce ends before we enter the city. Don't be so anxious."

Bagration would not compete with his junior fellow apprentice for the credit of entering Stockholm. Barclay and Shuvalov were still fighting sporadic battles with the Swedes on the northern front.

"Let's wait until night time. I don't think the city will be brightly lit."

Especially with the recent economic downturn, Sweden is located in the north, where maritime trade is completely cut off in winter, and it is not on the main trade routes by land.

When Solovyov saw the city again at night, all he saw was dim lights. The illumination from the burning lights was not enough, and with the Swedish royal family and a large number of officials having fled, there was no sign of excitement at all.

"Only now, I have to take snuff, otherwise it's hard to stimulate my spirit."

"Do you like to put a snuff bottle on your chest?"

"No, there's always a mirror or a pocket watch with a portrait of my wife in it."

If it were in the past, it would have belonged to Louisa, but now they are married, and he has always been willing to keep it a secret.

"Do you miss home?"

"My wife is young, beautiful and lovely. She has given birth to a child for me. We live in a manor gifted by His Majesty, a new house built by ourselves. How can I not want to go back?"

"Yes. My wife wrote to say that Her Majesty the Queen is still living in Petersburg recently, and the princesses need to be taken care of, so she is helping there."

"That's not bad. Queen Louise has always been very fond of you. Perhaps you will have a successful career in the future."

"Not necessarily. I still prefer theoretical research, and staff work is also a part of it. You have to know that a person's abilities will always find a suitable position for him."

"In my opinion, this is a mathematical model, and it's roughly like this, but there will be some deviations from the center line based on the sampling criteria."

As for the curve drawn by Solovyov on the ground, it is the normal distribution, which is probably the famous "Peter Principle" in management science.

The normal distribution is also called Gaussian distribution because the law was summarized by Gauss.

Solovyov's private letter to the Royal Society was written to Gauss, in which he mentioned some of his doubts. Although they were statistical issues, some standards could also be seen.

Gauss's method is obviously a formal mathematical research. His seeking advice on this problem is also a preparation for management science, and from the perspective of education.
Solovyov also always hopes to seize the time and produce something.

As for when Gauss would reply to him, no one knew. After all, this great man liked to do research, but did not like to attend thesis defenses and teach. However, he was still happy to answer practical problems.

Apart from this, he probably wanted to relocate all the faculty and staff of Uppsala University to Finland, but this plan would definitely be rejected.

Excavator, that's not what he does, and he is a soldier, so if a military academy is being built, naturally there will be a place for him to work.

If he really wanted to poach a famous and established university in Sweden, he would probably not be given this opportunity during the armistice negotiations.

After he told Clausewitz about this "experience", he, as the chief of staff, quickly put forward his own views.

"Even when we are training, there are always excellent soldiers and relatively poor soldiers, but most people are in the middle, just like the height of the soldiers."

"Well, it's a good application. When this war is over, I suggest you talk to those generals about it."

"This requires the improvement of the entire theoretical system. This kind of content related to mathematics always requires us to find a mathematician to explain it to us. Professor Gauss is also very familiar to you. It was you who strongly recommended him to come to St. Petersburg."

"In fact, he has been doing relevant research. Let's not talk about this. There shouldn't be anything today. Let's just go back and rest. After the armistice agreement is over, we should also go into the city."

As for those who could actually run in Stockholm, they were basically trying to find ways to escape.

When Bagration arrived, the Russian army did see an undefended city.

(End of this chapter)