Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The French no longer looked so invincible, and the Prussians seemed to think they were again.

So, just like the past demonstration at the French Embassy in Berlin, some young officers are once again eager to try.

But this time they were obviously much calmer. The last time they were defeated by the French, they did not find suitable helpers.

Even when the Russian army was still preparing at home, the Prussians had already begun to deliver lives in Fulda.

A series of failures, that was a clean one.

Today, the Prussians also have their own ideas, but because of the painful failures and setbacks in the past, they have been educated and are now smarter.

It was not until the Russian army began to approach the Oder River that Prussia took more actions.

However, some Russian guerrillas, led by German officers, dared to advance boldly.

The situation changed quickly, as the citizens of Berlin had already heard about what was happening outside.

The French defeat in Russia had truly proved that they were not as invincible as they had been believed.

Hundreds of thousands of troops went to Russia, but only a few returned. When the officials of East Prussia were recording, they also found that although each army had personnel withdrawn, it was already a serious shortage.

Some infantry regiments, or even entire regiments, were left on Russian soil, either completely wiped out or disappeared in the snow. Perhaps in the spring, large numbers of corpses could still be found on the sides of the muddy roads.

During the retreat from the Berezina River, the 126th Infantry Regiment became the first regiment to be annihilated as a whole in the war, rather than surrendering with cannons and military flags as in the past.

Although this regiment was destroyed again in 1940, it reappeared in 1944 and has even continued to exist until now.

However, it was probably not the first time that the French army was wiped out many times.

The French are trying to withdraw their manpower, which is actually exploiting the manpower of the entire France. There will always be a day when they can no longer hold on.

When it comes to conscription, the total number of conscriptions in France has exceeded 300 million. From 1792 to 1812, France itself has been at war, and the actual manpower consumption is also astonishing.

This is unlike other countries, which still have some time to rest.

The loss of young and middle-aged labor during the war, coupled with Napoleon's own policies, meant that the French were actually unable to fight economically and faced a serious manpower crisis.

Although there was still worship of the emperor, this force itself was being weakened due to the nature of the war and the fact that the French themselves found it difficult to accept a failed monarch.

If Napoleon experienced more failures, his halo would fade away, and his cohesion would be affected.

It goes without saying that when the French faced defeat, they formed a new habit starting in 1814: if someone really broke into Paris, the war would probably be over.

The problem Napoleon now faced was to avoid being captured by the Allied forces and to achieve a decisive victory outside France.

Let these coalition forces sit down at the negotiating table again and finally sign a favorable peace treaty.

Therefore, he was preparing for war, preparing to expand his army to its original size, adding members of the Rhine Confederation and soldiers recruited from Italy. He planned to deploy a large-scale army on the battlefield, just like the great legions in the past.

The coalition forces cannot take this lightly.

The first news was that Britain, Russia and Sweden had reached an agreement. In accordance with the request made by the Swedish regent, the Duke of Södermanland, Britain supported Sweden's territorial claims against Norway.

In addition, the compensation given to Sweden at this time also included territory in Pomerania and even some French overseas colonies.

However, even the little king who was still receiving education from a private tutor in the palace knew that the French colonial islands in the Caribbean were too far away. In addition, his mother, Queen Mother Frederica of Sweden, was the sister of the Russian Queen and belonged to the royal family of Baden. She was also very clear about the activities of France and Russia in the Atlantic at that time.

Those colonial plantation owners, the slaves on the plantations, and the free people... In short, this place looks very prosperous, a colonial island flowing with honey, but at the same time there are also many problems.

The rebellion in Saint-Domingue alone, where the French deceived Haitian leaders and restored plantations in the colony, and the resulting war, had disastrous consequences.

The Swedes had previously had activities in North America, but they soon lost their colonies.

Even not long ago, the Swedish East India Company was completely closed down.

Therefore, this is just some good news for Sweden.

But Sweden decided to join the war and sent an army commanded by General von Essen, who had been defeated by Solovyov before. If the anti-French alliance could be formed this time, they would first be able to tie down the Danish army.

In addition, in some cities in northern Germany, French rule is no longer as strong as before. Their heavy taxation for the war and their devastating blow to local industries have left many people facing unemployment.

Nothing happened in Italy, simply because Italy became the supplier of raw materials for some French high-end products and was also able to supply a large amount of food. Italians always have work to do, so it seems that they are more supportive of France now.

In Germany, the situation is very different.

Even the local French garrison commander mentioned the current poor conditions in Hamburg, Lübeck, Kiel and Bremen in his letters to his superiors in the rear and his relatives. French people walking on the streets might feel the hostility from the locals.

As for the guerrillas, which had been suppressed by the Prussians themselves, they were now becoming active again.

In the past, King FW was worried that the activities of these guerrillas would make Napoleon angry at his rule and that he would not even be able to retain Silesia, so he beheaded several guerrilla commanders and sent the heads to the French.

Now it is still for his rule, otherwise the king has been a dog for the French in the past few years, and has ruined his relationship with the virtuous queen, and the two even began to live separately. There are always rumors that the last little princess born is different from the previous little Princess Louise. Maybe she is really the child of a lover outside after the queen was disappointed with the king's behavior.

However, the queen's status in Prussia was unexpectedly high. Although she was a foreign daughter-in-law, she received more support. It was also her "sacrifice" for the country. The king was indeed much less courageous. In addition, his military and diplomatic abilities were disastrous. Perhaps only domestic affairs were acceptable, but this was probably just the last decision he made.

In this way, the prestige of the Prussian royal family would have been ruined if it had not been for the legacy of the previous king. They would have been thankful that they had not been pinned to the stake and beheaded like Frederick the Great's friends.

Now the king always wanted to make a presence for himself, so he hired a jewelry designer to make a medal.

Then the brother-in-law was involved and some silver borders were added to the outside according to his design. This plan designed by Karl Friedrich Schinkel was taken out after some modifications.

But after seeing this medal, Solovyov always had a bad feeling.

It's not because of anyone else, but because he speaks German with an Austrian accent, and wearing something like this would be very funny.

Besides, he had already won the Red Eagle Medal and the Blue Max, so he could never get interested in this piece of iron.

But the person sent by Prussia to award him the medal was Prince William, the one who would grow a beard in the future. Now the old Emperor William has not returned, so he might still be a prince. And because Solovyov led him astray in the Jelgava Palace, he always carries a suona with him.

Well, when this thing goes off, it might bring back some not-so-good memories for those Austrians who were once afraid of the Turks.

As for whether all the Turks will move to Germany in the future, that is probably another issue.

"Your Excellency, I am here to present you with this Iron Cross by order of my mother."

What Solovyov knew was that the medal should have appeared in March, but it was only the end of February, because of his past contributions to the Kingdom of Prussia, rescuing some Prussians from danger and forming an excellent staff team - in the end, it was Scharnhorst who got the advantage. Clausewitz made rapid progress during the time he and Solovyov were together, and he also had a complete staff team composed mainly of Prussians and Central European Germans serving in Russia. The Prussian army's efficiency in transmitting orders, at least, had been greatly improved.

Moreover, the communication system brought by Clausewitz also included optical telegraphy, but the Prussian army abused it after mastering it.

However, this is also an innovation. After seeing the performance of the new Prussian military staff, King FW was very satisfied.

But it was the Queen who arranged for Clausewitz to go to Russia to find a job.

The king knew that he was not capable enough, and even some of his arrangements were made by his estranged queen. Perhaps the two of them had become a political partnership, and the king himself had rarely had the opportunity to go to the queen's palace to be alone with her in recent years.

After all, the queen always raises her youngest daughter herself. The child has beautiful eyes, like the queen's, but her pupils are green, which is somewhat different from the pupil color of the Hohenzollern family in general.

But the child looks exactly like the queen, so maybe that's okay.

This time the demonstration was carried out at the Queen's place, and the King himself was probably just a mascot now. If Prussia did not have the tradition of a Queen Mother ruling the country, and if it were not for the fact that there were no truly "barbaric" coups like Russia at that time, which eventually deposed several tsars, King FW would probably have been sent there by now, and then given a mistress and allowed to live in a castle in a remote part of Prussia.

No matter big or small, everything has to go through King Putin himself.

Under the Salic Law of Succession, Queen Maria Theresa was probably the only one with this precedent. However, she was the legitimate descendant of the Habsburgs. It was even unimaginable for a daughter-in-law to come to power in Germany.

"Your Highness, you are coming to Warsaw this time."

"That's nothing. My mother asked my brother and I to act separately to avoid any trouble. If anything unexpected happens to my father or my brother, we won't be in trouble at the same time."

"Is this because of what happened to the Spanish royal family?"

"That's right, but my mother has already sent my sisters to Königsberg. She will probably come to Warsaw in a while. After all, the Emperor of Russia will be back here in a few days. My mother has a good relationship with His Majesty, and the alliance between our two countries should be signed in the end."

"We have to fight the French again. Your Highness, have you ever thought about what it would take to enter Paris one day?"

"I didn't think about it."

William was still a teenager at that time, and he would never have thought that decades later, when he was already an old man, he would complete the unification of Germany in France.

Of course, Solovyov's idea probably would not give him this opportunity. The delicate balance maintained by Austria and Prussia in Europe should not be broken.

“You can imagine it.”

"Perhaps we can let Luo Qin and His Royal Highness Nicholas get married there. I heard that the Palace of Versailles is very beautiful, and the French emperor even opened some areas to the public in recent years."

Well, that doesn't stray too far from the possible theme.

But she also supported Charlotte and Nicholas' marriage. The harmony among their brothers and sisters was maintained by a strong yet gentle mother.

It is no wonder that Queen Louise seemed to be elevated to an overly high status in Germany and was simply the representative of dedicated women.

"I've been there too. At that time, Her Royal Highness Catherine went to Paris to be the Queen. But I don't know what's going on now."

"In the past, our family was related to the Habsburgs, especially King Frederick the Great. The late king was also the godson of the Habsburg monarch. The relationship between our two families was..."

"That's because of Silesia. Without Silesia, Prussia probably wouldn't have become a powerful country. But the textile workers there are not treated very well."

Solovyov was trying to test her, but William was different from his mother. Louise was sympathetic to the citizens, workers and farmers, and that was why she was quite popular.

But if it comes to male members of the Prussian royal family, that’s another matter.

Obviously, except for William II, the Prussian monarchs did not have much good feelings towards workers.

Especially this prince, his next words always made Solovyov feel uncomfortable. (End of this chapter)