Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The Russian army was also making intensive preparations on its position. Although the soldiers could not understand why the launch pad was in the shape of the letter H, the artillery officers were still curious.

For example, Major Tushin's artillery position was right on the flank. In front of him was a group of engineers digging pits, and on the side were the new artillerymen, whose weapons were pulled from the rear by horse-drawn carriages.

"What is this? Are you also artillerymen?"

"Yes, Herr Major, we are siege artillerymen coming from Petersburg."

"Siege artillery? There should be big ones there. Are these weapons of yours going to be fired on iron pipes?"

"You are obviously an old artilleryman. You must know something about our stuff."

"I'm a little curious. I wonder how good your artillery is. Can this thing hit the target accurately?"

"Come to think of it, don't laugh at us. These are all made according to the structure of fireworks."

"Now I understand what you said. When the gunpowder explodes, the explosion will cause the rocket to fly up to the enemy's position."

Tushin was, after all, one of the few honest officers who was fully versed in artillery business, and he understood after a few words, but he became even more excited, holding his pipe in his hand.

"I'm just worried about one thing. Your thing looks good, but it's not accurate, and the range is unclear. If it flies up and falls into the sea, it will be useless."

"this."

The artillery officer in charge of this type of rocket knew very well that he should change the subject when he heard the honest little artillery major say this.

However, Major Tushen knew the commander-in-chief of this battle, so if he had any doubts, he had channels.

What's more, Solovyov himself rode a horse from the headquarters to the artillery position on Tushin's side. After all, rocket launchers were also arranged at the front line here.

"Sir, I am Major Samsonov, commander of the 1st Special Artillery Battalion. I have been ordered to carry out military operations at the front with new weapons."

"Great, this thing is finally here, but I don't know if my wife has any objection to naming it after her."

"You mean the Countess?"

"Yes, Katya's nickname is 'Katyusha'. Although this word is not used much by girls now, it will be used more in the future."

By the way, the empress also had this name, and unmarried young girls were called this name. Because of the two empresses, many nobles would choose the name Catherine when naming their daughters.

It can be said that it became popular in an instant.

As for the "Katyusha" rocket launcher, it is really a restoration of history. It's just that Solovyov didn't have much confidence in this iron tube "Kasan rocket". He just heard that the arsenals in Luhansk and Tula improved the processing technology when manufacturing this thing.

Since the project was completed in 1807, it is the first time that large quantities of rockets have been available. In terms of rockets, the Russian army can already compete with the British Army's Congreve rocket.

In fact, although the rockets used by the Russian army have impressive accuracy, their performance, whether in terms of ballistic stability or explosive power, is better than that of the British.

In this day and age, the Congreve rocket is only used for its destructive effect, and the British navy was the first to use it, while the Russian army gave priority to supplying it to the army.

If the British rockets were really useful, they would not have appeared only in a few battles. Wellington even believed that this thing posed less threat to the enemy than to his own people.

As for the Russian version, the launcher is of a later style. If necessary, they can also find a few horses to pull a trailer and make a mule-and-horse version of the BM-13 rocket launcher, but the ammunition performance is definitely not as good as that of 130 years later.

What is more distinctive is that after Solovyov talked about his wife, an additional letter K was added as a mark of the weapon.

However, if this new weapon were to be mentioned, some young girls and wives might have misunderstandings, but Katya, the person involved, did not feel anything.

Now, Tushen still had some problems, and he finally came here on his own initiative.

"Ah, Tushin, it's you again. How are the artillery positions arranged? Do you have the confidence to give them a good shot this time?"

"Sir, for the first shot, I can ensure that this half-Pute Unicorn can deliver the shell into the gap."

Tushin pointed his pipe at a stone fortress in front of him. Indeed, due to the past wars, there was a gap in it, and it was difficult for ordinary artillery to penetrate it with a single shot.

"You can try it. It would be a good sign if you hit it."

"If there is no battle, will you fire first?"

Tushin still strictly abided by the combat regulations, so he always had some concerns.

Solovyov didn't care whether Tushin was bragging or not, but his performance had always been outstanding, and this was the time to show off his artillery skills to everyone.

With the accuracy of the Unicorn gun and considering the location of the No. 1 gun position, Solovyov noticed that Tushin had reinforced the gun position, which should allow for higher stability during the first firing.

"Fight if I ask you to, Tushin. It's a good chance to boost the morale of our brothers."

"OK then!"

Then Tushin put down his pipe and organized the artillery of Unicorn No. 1 to come over.

"Major, why are you here at this hour? General, why are you here?"

Solovyov has always had a good relationship with these soldiers. Among these old artillerymen, there was also Dyrenstein who followed Tushin, so naturally he knew Solovyov.

We even know his experience, from being the adjutant of Emperor Paul and Field Marshal Suvorov, to today's Aide-de-camp General and Commander of the Finnish Division. In short, he fought his way to the top by relying on hard work. There is nothing to say about it.

"Be serious!"

"That's all right, Tushin. You have some old men under your command, and they've known me for years."

"Yes, sir, we have watched you grow from an officer to a general, and you may even be promoted higher in the future!"

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. I've already given orders to your battalion commander, Major Tushin, to use the Unicorn cannon at your No. 1 gun position to hit the gap. If you succeed, I'll give you a reward. If you live to spend it, you can use it to buy some wine and some good food."

"Master, don't worry about this. The major has always been very accurate in shooting, and we have been practicing for such a long time, so of course we can't make mistakes."

"OK then!"

Solovyov's idea was to really give TND a shot.

Then these old artillerymen were only thinking about the reward money, which they could use to buy wine and pay for an extra dish in the evening.

Tushin was still thinking about how to fire the cannon accurately. After the shells were loaded, it was time to fire.

Tushin was operating the gun himself, and he raised the muzzle of his half-Pood Unicorn a little, and after making sure the calculations were correct, he fired.

As for the effect of the shells, since the Unicorn cannon fired grenades, the effect was still very obvious. At least after the shells exploded inside, sparks really flew out.

"Good fight!"

Solovyov couldn't help but admire, and the rocket artillery soldiers next to him were also stunned.

"What an accurate gun!"

As for the British army, they were nervous for a while. They didn't expect that the Russian army would suddenly fire artillery. They even thought that the Russian army was about to launch an attack.

But in fact no, as to what the Russians are going to do.
After all, abstraction is more common in Russia and France, especially in Russia.

The Russian army fired a shot, and both camps fell silent again.

Tushin was still quite curious, so he started asking about rockets.

"Sir, I have to say that this kind of rocket may not be very accurate and is not safe."

"You are right, Tushin. You are a professional artilleryman. It is very unsafe. I got this design idea from Austria. Something really went wrong at that time."

This is about Archduke Alexander Leopold, the only one among the Habsburg Grand Dukes who loved inventions and then blew himself up with rockets. He died because of the power of fireworks, but if the entire design was adjusted, he could still get an unreliable rocket powered by black powder.

The main problem with this thing is that it's not very accurate, so the safety factor has been greatly improved.

Now, we just have to wait for the siege to begin and concentrate our firepower on the British.

As for Sir Moore, the situation was indeed quite tense.

He considered a lot and decided to personally inspect the situation in the northern defense zone. The Russian army's sudden artillery firing and correcting the trajectory made the British very nervous.

Fortunately, neither side fired a sniper shot, otherwise there would be no peace for either side.

At times like this, Sir Moore arrived at the front line to inspect, and with the British bureaucracy, there would always be some movement.

So much so that Samsonov and Tushin also had some ideas after their superior left.

"Tushin, I see the British are making some moves. Do you want to fire a few shots?"

"It's no use firing a few shots. My gun has a range of just over a mile, and it won't be powerful enough if it's farther away."

"That doesn't matter. I still have these rockets! Even though they're not accurate, they're huge in quantity."

"How can you fire at will without orders?"

"It doesn't matter. We have too many rockets and we can fire them at random. We can fire more and see what happens later."

This Samsonov was quite clever. After all, when Solovyov left, he left instructions for him and Tushin to act accordingly.

As for firing dozens of rockets, there is no problem at all. After all, special artillery can carry out a special military operation without any problem.

Moore didn't feel any danger. After all, this position was still far away from the artillery's range, but it was already within the range of the rocket.

Samsonov prepared a sufficient amount of rockets. He asked the artillery in his battalion to get at least 50 rockets and prepare to launch them.

Ferguson, the famous inventor of the breech-loading rifle, would probably cry if he heard about such an unethical act. He was so rich that he could do such a thing, and yet he shamelessly launched the "stealing" act.

As for the knight himself, he was still on the street, chatting with some officers. Due to the obstruction of his vision, he did not notice that a large number of rockets were launched into the air from the Russian position.

When these "fireworks" began to fall, which were not too fast, an officer noticed and pushed Sir Moore into the next room.

The explosions were one after another. The British army, because they used Congreve rockets, knew that the Royal Navy had this equipment and had bombed Copenhagen before. However, how effective it was was another matter.

But this time it was the army who suffered the bombing, so they could be said to have experienced it firsthand.

The effect of these dozens of rockets was not very obvious, only causing about twenty British soldiers to be killed or injured, and Sir Moore himself was hit by shrapnel from the explosion.

"Damn it, it seems that Arthur is right, I have bad luck."

And he thought about himself. Because of his tall stature, he was too obvious a target.

"Sir, are you okay?"

"Kenneth, I'm not going to die yet. But the Russians always like to try new tricks. Their commander must be Solovyov. Among all the Russian generals I know, this young man is the only one who likes to do this."

"I heard that he is also a friend of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales and it was his idea to establish the Football Association."

"What a pity! If it were peacetime, or if we were not enemies, this person might have become our friend."

"Sir, what should we do now?"

"We just need to be careful. This thing probably isn't very accurate. It's just the sawdust and shrapnel that injured us. If the Russians fire a few dozen more, it might not be good."

Samsonov naturally didn't know that his salvo almost sent Sir John Moore to a place with abundant grass and water, but he was still very satisfied with the effect of the bombardment.

"If only you could hit it more accurately!"

"Be more accurate. Your rockets cannot replace artillery. If they hit the fortress, it will just tickle it."

After seeing the power of these rockets, Tushin had a clear understanding that they were probably used by the division commander to deal with enemy infantry and cavalry, or to shoot farther to threaten the British artillery exposed outside.

If it is really used during an attack, the effect may not be very good.

As for the report reaching Solovyov, he didn't care. After all, he was a veteran and had seen a lot of this kind of cold guns and cold cannons. He would not be surprised when one day the sergeants of the Guards used long-barreled rifles with higher accuracy to snipe at British officers.

After all, the British also have similar habits, such as the green jackets, but fortunately they were not deployed to Sweden.

The siege of Karlskrona is about to begin. (End of this chapter)