Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Preparations for the tribute also had to be made before Queen Mother Maria's 50th birthday.

The highlight at that time will be the railway construction that Paul saved money and strongly advocated after seeing Solovyov's design.

After nine years, Russia's first railway was finally officially opened in Tsarskoye Selo, and the vehicles for operation were also being carefully selected.

Stevenson was also called over from Luhansk. Britain and Russia were still at war, but many Scottish engineers and skilled workers, in order to make a living, accepted Russia's high salaries and the promise of becoming "masters" and obtaining noble status. They came to Russia to build factories, lay railways, and allow trains to run on the ground.

In fact, the biggest problem for them was probably that Solovyov's 4-4-0 structure and some other structures were too complicated, so that the current steam locomotive power was not enough to allow these locomotives to drive the number of carriages required by the design.

But there was no way. The money given by the Russians was too much. After the last design was approved, all engineers who participated in the bidding received a bounty, but the reward levels were different, which also indicated who the final winner was.

Now, with such a huge reward, there will surely be brave men willing to come up with new designs. In addition, a new locomotive factory has been built in St. Petersburg, and high-quality coal has begun to be stored there.

Solovyov has been changing his mind during these days in the palace. Now he has to do serious work, and the most important issue is the railway.

Although it will not be possible to connect Moscow and St. Petersburg within three years, the horse-drawn railway from St. Petersburg to Novgorod and some other areas can still improve transportation efficiency.

Russia is so big that transportation and storage have always been problems. Even with a bumper grain harvest, I'm afraid a lot of it cannot be transported out and is stored in warehouses, where it gets eaten by rats, or it rots directly, or it may be taken away by local officials.

Railways are definitely useful, but their main role is probably in transportation and mobilization. If you want to achieve your goal in one step and develop Tetra Pak and disinfection technology for milk, come back in 150 years.

What is important now is that all railway engineers can come up with a suitable plan.

"The rules we are using now are fine, but it's just the carriage. Sir, you really helped a lot before."

"It's nothing, you just need to do your job well. Richard, your plan is actually not bad, but it's still quite challenging for the driver to connect the two car heads together."

"There is no other way. The power is not enough. Our high-pressure boilers cannot provide the required power. Unless we reduce the original four to six carriage formation to three carriage formations and shorten the length of the carriages, that will be enough."

"Good idea, but this will reduce comfort. I can try to get it for you, but it seems..."

Solovyov thought that there seemed to be no other way unless he persuaded Ekaterina to act coquettishly with her mother.

Or it could be Maria, who was unable to return home because Weimar was too close to the war zone, so the Queen Mother let her continue to live here, but her persuasiveness was obviously not as strong as Catherine's.

And when I'm with her, something ambiguous always happens. A few times before, she sat close to me, almost like she was about to fall into my arms, and at the same time, she was "touching porcelain".
If we look for her, someone might die, and then we will be in a lot of trouble.

But it is the Empress Dowager's birthday, so the celebration cannot be vague. I have already proposed this during the meeting and the number of originally planned luxury carriages should be significantly reduced, and further adjustments should be made.

This middle-aged woman still likes to enjoy herself. If she gets angry, she won't feel very comfortable even though she has her sons to protect her.

It sounds like Russia is more like the Qing Dynasty, except that Queen Maria was famous for being partial to her children. After all, she gave birth to 10 children and raised 9 of them.

If Olga hadn’t died of a fever and convulsions, and if Anna had had a companion, she might not have looked so “sixth”, although she was indeed the sixth princess.

Since he couldn't be careless about this matter, Solovyov looked to Stevenson. After all, his design was considered a real train.

"George, what do you think?"

"How about we make a completely new boiler system at the locomotive factory? We used this method in Lugansk, sir, what do you think?"

"Is it the boiler of the detachable steam engine in the coal mine?"

"Yes. If we improve the design and have the locomotive factory remake a new one, it should be able to improve the power. Then we can focus on Mr. Trevithick's design."

Trevithick also nodded. After all, Stevenson still had some admiration for his abilities. Through mutual communication, the two did collaborate on a lot of designs.

As for why he abandoned his own design, it was probably because the initial plan was too conservative.

"But there are still some problems with the transmission."

"It doesn't matter. I still have a way. You will know after looking at this set of models."

Solovyov still used the old method. Although the children's toys he made often did not have a power system due to limited conditions, the transmission part could still be made.

It looked like a strange-looking "steam car" that was made into a model, but it was not recognized. Solovyov himself felt that its safety and practicality were not very good.

But what Trevithick was shown was a relatively mature new walking system.

"how about this?"

"Good, that looks good."

"This is a toy I made for my son. When he grows up, he can grab it and play with it by himself. But if we want to expand the walking structure, can we..."

Before he could finish, Stevenson answered.

“No problem, we can make it.”

Trevithick also knew that he had to lengthen the front of the car, but if he did that, it would have to be here this summer.

But success also brings great returns. In the future, these engineers may even be able to make some profit from the first transport railway from St. Petersburg to Novgorod.

A simplified design is the 2-2-2 type. The model made by Solovyov is more like the design used by George Stevenson's son Robert in Italy, and has a relatively simple structure.

This is also a conservative plan. If the Queen Mother saw it, she might not be satisfied.

In Russia, if they want to show off their style, they might have to make something bigger, so they can't be vague, and it's even more impossible for them to make a Thomas the Tank Engine or something like that.

But when it comes to a big guy, Solovyov's impression is probably still "The Iron-hearted Trainman", in which the two minions of the "Dark Legion" are
If this model is produced, it will definitely be correct.

But Solovyov overlooked a problem. The transformed form and the locomotive form of the Trainman he saw were not the same concept. Maybe he did not fully understand how long the big nose of the Japanese National Railways C55 and D51 trains was.

It's not like the "Messenger of Darkness" or the "Careless Demon". If there are deviations in the reporting, you have to be responsible.

Of course, he had no chance to visit this kind of locomotive on Japanese railways, let alone take materials, so it was really a bit far-fetched.

However, Stevenson still came up with a plan to shorten the nose, which allowed the design to pass. Time was very tight, but fortunately they had an advantage, that is, the overall design of the locomotive was designed and manufactured based on relatively stable early standard components. The raw materials had already been taken out, and it should not be a problem to complete the design, production and commissioning within a few months.

Fortunately, the Empress Dowager’s birthday is October 10th, so we can still make it if we postpone it.

As for how to make it, considering the level of cast iron and steelmaking, it would not be too difficult for someone to travel back to the pre-industrial age in the early 19th century.

That's how Trevithick quickly completed the general plan, but the detailed drawings had to be made and stacked up, which took up a lot of space.

Seeing this, what Solovyov was most worried about was the strength of the boiler. After all, it was only 1809, not the period around 1850 when high-pressure boilers were relatively mature.

However, if it is replaced with Watt's steam engine, there is no need to consider future power upgrades. In fact, it is just a technological breakthrough and there is not much room for growth.

Even if you want to be more precise, it is still behind the technology they are using now.

After talking with the engineers, Solovyov took his toy kit to Gatchina to report again.

He doesn't have any actual duties now, but he is running errands for the Queen Mother's 50th birthday celebration, which makes him relax.

They were too tired before, no wonder some generals chose to take a break after a war. No matter how strong a man is, he will sometimes fail under high-intensity work.

When he entered the palace, he also saw the Swedish royal family visiting here, and the atmosphere was quite relaxed.

He waited in the reception room for a while and then received a summons from the Queen Mother.

What was more unexpected was that Queen Mother Maria, who had always been bullying Louisa because Frederica had taken the position that was originally occupied by her eldest daughter, now got along very well with this little lady who had become the Queen Mother of Sweden.

"Soloviev, you and Frederica are also very familiar with each other. If you count it, you are the son-in-law of the Dolgorukov family, so you are not an outsider."

He is not a big outsider, he has accumulated too many military merits. As the one with the highest military merit among the young generals of the Russian army, he will naturally be valued.

Therefore, the Queen Mother changed the way she addressed foreign guests when she received them.

"Your Majesty, I came here with the key engineering drawings for your 50th birthday celebration. This is also considered a top secret. Even though Her Majesty Queen Mother Frederica is the younger sister of Her Majesty the Queen and a distinguished guest of our country, it is not appropriate for her to come here."

"It doesn't matter. Frederica knows all about what you have done. Sit down, Misha. The rails and steam locomotives you have worked on were designed by engineers from England. Stockholm has known about them for a long time."

This old lady seems to be very familiar with things like the Official Secrets Act, and knows that many things cannot be kept secret.

However, in comparison, the confidentiality work on the Russian side was better. After all, the blueprints of British and Spanish warships were often easily stolen by Russian spies.

Since the time of Alexander I, there have been very few leaks from Russia.

That is a different story, and the parties involved are unaware that the British media is still discrediting the designs of these Scottish engineers, making it seem as if they received £9 and 15 pence from Watt.

Since the Queen Mother said so, Solovyov did not hesitate. He took out the complete set of reassembled models and placed them on a sand table along the track for demonstration.

There's just no power, it's all manual, and it's just to figure out the situation.

"According to the latest design, our engineers have made new adjustments so that the power can meet the requirements of the traction carriage."

"Count, this can still be moved."

Frederica noticed the model in Solovyov's hand, the mechanical structure was complete.

"Yes, this train model is scaled down, so the structure inside is intact. It's just a pity that, unlike the small steamships in the past, the structure inside this one is too delicate and smaller in size, so it's impossible to demonstrate the power in the tank."

"That's great, I'm looking forward to your first successful operation."

Since the Queen Mother had spoken, the plan was successfully passed.

The Goncharov family was even busier, making carriages, while the Scottish engineers were busy at the locomotive factory producing Russia's first standard locomotive.

However, considering the track gauge issue, Solovyov also noticed that the Russian wide-gauge railway appeared earlier in order to be more historically accurate.

If this type of railway is promoted, the universality of the standard gauge will be greatly reduced.

If Napoleon had dared to launch an armed march to Moscow in 1812, the final result would have been his failure.

Then Russia and Britain will inevitably engage in comprehensive competition in many areas, and the era of "big game" will probably come ahead of schedule.

This seems to not solve the problem, but will exacerbate the crisis between Britain and Russia in the future.

Some spectators, who might be more appropriately called hangers-on, would rather see rivers of blood.

Solovyov himself still hopes to enter the next stage of competition in a stable situation.

Although he was a general, he didn't like fighting.

He used to have a lover and had a child with her, and he was always like this.

Now that I am married and have children with my wife, I am relatively lacking in ambition.

It can be said that he now has good overall abilities, but his ambition is far less than his strength.

Fortunately, he is not in an important position like the top leader or the Minister of War, and his ambition has not been aroused.

But things will not be as he expected. Although the cute Nicholas now changes into girls' clothes and has long hair that he deliberately kept, he looks no different from a beautiful girl.

Moreover, he listens to his teacher very much. However, what will he become in the future?

Anyway, after his second brother gave up, Alexander placed the issue of training an heir on his third brother.

It sounds outrageous. (End of this chapter)