Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 158 015 The Tower of Bitter Falls in Petersburg (Part 1)

General Bennigsen, whose full name is Levin August von Bennigsen, was the former commander of the Izyum Hussar Regiment. When you see the word von, you know he came from the German princes.

He came from Hanover, and when he served in Russia, he was already a lieutenant colonel, and Hanover is the same boss as Britain.

Looking at the Zubov brothers who have always had a relationship with the British, and some other officers, it looks like a pro-British conference in Russia.

In the past coups in Russia, members of the royal family would more or less join in with a sense of mission, but this time Alexander and Constantine were actually outsiders, and their participation was discounted.

Bennigsen did not expect that there were not many people conspiring in General Tarezin's apartment at the time. Today, so many people can come to Count Zubov's house.

"General Bennigsen, our action was originally divided into two teams. We must allocate the action teams here today and announce the plan."

When Count von Paalen gathered these people, he prepared a lot of champagne. They were drinking while listening to the plan.

Alcohol makes cowards brave. If they don't have a few cups of wine in their stomachs, no matter how many donkeys they eat, they don't have the courage to enter the emperor's palace to launch a coup.

"Our specific action is to first transfer the guards of the 1st Battalion of the Preobrazhensky Regiment in the Mikhailovsky Palace and use the 4th Battalion and the 3rd Battalion of the Semenovsky Regiment to replace them. The reason is that His Majesty will summon them for the review the next morning."

"This should be easy. The commander and the herald adjutant are our people. It should be easy to mobilize them."

General Bennigsen is experienced in combat after all. Compared with these guards who have never been on the battlefield, he naturally has to raise questions.

"But we need to mobilize the Semenovsky Regiment. Where is their commander?"

"General Bennigsen, the general on duty at the Winter Palace today is Prince Bagration. He insisted on dragging several officers to play cards, and they were all left at the Winter Palace."

"This Bagration has always been addicted to gambling. It is best to hold him back and not mobilize the Guards Chasseurs."

"Next, we will explain the arrangements for entering the palace. Count von Paalen will lead one team and General Bennigsen will lead another team. After triggering the alarm in the palace, we need adjutants to gather all the Guards soldiers. The soldiers of these two battalions and some officers do not know the specific purpose of our action this time."

Even Count von Paalen is still hiding that his ultimate goal is to kill the king.

"Sounding the alarm will attract the attention of the guards. But there is another problem, which is how to deal with the soldiers at the door of the palace? If they start to move, everyone in the palace will know."

"This is also simple. Among the palaces at night, only the emperor and the queen's palaces have the same rotation. The stables and the young prince's palaces also need to rotate."

General Bennigsen instinctively noticed that there were too many problems in this plan. If the leader finally gave up, the coup plan would fail. It still depends on the commander's determination.

"As for the alarm in the palace, Marin and Boltoratsky, as adjutants of this regiment, you must give appropriate explanations to the officers and soldiers on duty, and leave enough time for the two action teams to reach the bedroom. In addition, the secret passage from the bedroom to Princess Gagarina must be blocked to prevent her from escaping."

At this time, Count Platon Zubov stood up and said a few words: "Ladies and gentlemen, when our great Queen was in power, she once told me in person that when her soul went to God, she would pass the throne to Alexander, the current Crown Prince. Your Highness. Not long ago, we already knew that Your Highness supported our action. At this time, no matter what, there should be a new monarch in the end, that is, the current Crown Prince Alexander! "

"Count, what should we do with the one sitting on the throne?"

"I think he should go to the fortress on Lake Ladoga, which is also convenient for management."

Count Zubov did not want to take the responsibility of regicide until now, and Count von Palen himself, as the mastermind behind the whole conspiracy, obviously did not agree with the ideas of others at this time.

"We want to eat an omelet, and we have to break the eggs first."

It was not clear, but Count von Palen said this, which meant that regicide was likely to be the final result.

These people wore ribbons representing their participation in the action, and they carried weapons. Many people drank a lot of champagne. After the alcohol came up, they began to march towards the Mikhailovsky Palace.

Before the conspiracy and banquet on their side ended, Paul had just finished the dinner and returned to the palace. He will spend an hour with Princess Gagarina in her room today, but the prince and his wife are there, and they are just chatting there.

Paul wrote a note here, and the outside world does not know the specific content.

"Well, I should go back too, and you should rest early too."

Then Paul went up the stairs and returned to his bedroom, ready to lie down and rest.

At this time, he saw himself in the mirror, the same as he had seen when he passed by here before, because of the angle of light and shadow, his appearance was distorted.

When chatting with General Kutuzov, he also mentioned possible death.

"Going to another world is not sewing a backpack."

He still had a premonition, but what was going to happen, whether there would be a coup, no one would know until the real action was launched.

At the same time, Count von Palen's arrangement was random and chaotic. Although it was to be divided into two groups, the personnel arrangement was very random. General Bennigsen believed that the organization of these thirty people was too chaotic and could not accomplish anything.

In other words, he drank a few less glasses to keep his mind clear throughout the incident and not be led into the ditch by these guys.

The two adjutants did not drink much either. They had to keep their minds clear so that they could lift the alarm.

Under the order of General Tarejin, the 1st Battalion received an order that His Majesty the Emperor would see them on the review ground the next morning, and they had to prepare early and rotate with the Guards troops who came to replace them.

In this way, the 1st Battalion was transferred, but the sentries at several key positions responsible for internal security did not move.

Agapiev stood guard at Paul's door. This was also the reward he received for his loyalty to duty. He was on guard at the Tsar's door.

He also noticed the transfer outside, but even if someone really asked him to change his post here, he would not leave.

He remembered that the major told him that when on duty, he should stay by the emperor's side and not leave at all that night!

There was also a guard hussar behind the door, but the new battalion commander of the 1st Battalion did not like to use secret sentries, so he removed the secret sentry post at the door. That position was hidden diagonally opposite to Agapiev's position.

Count von Palen, Count Nikolai and Count Platon Zubov, and General Bennigsen led these officers to enter the castle of Mikhailovsky Palace. The only thing they were worried about now was that there was a general on duty next to Paul, and that lieutenant general was absolutely loyal to Paul.

But he also has Major General Kutuzov by his side, who is responsible for taking action in the office of the general on duty, and has a heavy responsibility.

Anyway, no one could have imagined that the Tsar's own attendant general would directly participate in the conspiracy group, so this position is still very critical.

The team led by Count von Palen was to carry out the arrest, especially those who were loyal to Paul. He was the governor of Petersburg and had the right to do so. After that, he had to try to get in touch with the two grand dukes-but Alexander and Constantine had returned to the palace. Alexander would normally accompany Louisa at this time every day. Although he was fickle, he still took good care of his spouse when his wife was pregnant.

And Grand Duke Constantine, after returning to the palace tonight, he was just preparing to go to bed. He was often depressed after quarreling with his wife.

This configuration was still a headache for Count von Palen. After all, except for a few officers, the Izmailov Regiment had almost no chance to infiltrate. At the same time, the Pavlovsk Regiment was stationed in the northwest corner of the Ares Square. If any action was taken, it would inevitably alarm the grenadiers.

As for Alexander, since he was in the Winter Palace, it was not easy for him to deliver the news immediately.

And he didn't know that Alexander's acting skills deceived everyone. He didn't make any statement, but had to make a decision at the end.

Under the leadership of Captain Algamakov, General Bennigsen and the Zubov brothers entered from the side door on Nevsky Avenue, while Count von Palen went through the main door.

The Guards had just completed the change of guard. Some people drank too much and started singing as they walked into the palace gate, which naturally caused chaos.

The alarm sounded, and the messengers of the two regiments arranged before had already arrived at the alarm location. Seeing that the Guards soldiers gathered because of the "fire alarm", they also knew that this would always buy time for both action teams.

And most of the officers of the two battalions stationed tonight still supported the coup.

Agapeyev heard the fire alarm, he opened the door and looked at the hussar Kirillov inside.

"What's going on, brother?"

"I don't know, brother. We are both on guard for the emperor. We should stay at our posts. If there is an assassin or a fire, we brothers will have to protect the emperor!"

After they finished talking, they also guarded the door, one inside and one outside.

Nicholas Zubov was different from his brother. He walked in front carelessly, but Count Platon retreated a little, after all, he heard the alarm.

"Let's go, we are afraid we are doomed!"

"We are here, Count, aren't you ashamed? You have made such a conspiracy and brought us all into the palace. Can the bullets you fired be taken back? If you go back now, you will definitely die. If the operation fails, you will also be hanged! We can only move forward now!"

By the way, General Bennigsen cursed in his heart. What had blinded him to participate in a coup with such a loser, a pretty boy, and a bootlicker?

Their action team came to the floor where Paul's bedroom was located. There was also patrol officer Arsenyev on the side of the corridor. They did not intend to alarm this guy.

After the patrol officers went to the sentry post of the Putin regiment, they were frightened by Count von Palen. After all, the count held several important positions beside Paul, and was asked to wait in a certain room.

The Zubov brothers and Bennigsen continued to lead people to the door of Paul's bedroom. Agapeyev saw someone in the corridor. He first wanted to raise the bayonet of his rifle, but he didn't expect that the tall Count Nikolai Zubov behind him would hit him on the head, knocking him unconscious temporarily and bleeding all over the floor.

Kirillov inside heard the noise, and he didn't know what happened.

"Brother, what's going on outside?"

But he was even more useless than Agapeyev. The man standing guard at the door suffered from the long gun in his hand and was attacked from behind by Count Nikolai, otherwise he would have opened fire long ago.

Kirillov took out the pistol from his waist and loaded it, but when he opened the door, he gave away his head, and Count Nikolai made a double kill.

Although his attacks looked ruthless, none of them were fatal. They just broke their heads and bled a lot. The scene was scary.

At this moment, the sentries at the two gates were knocked down. The last line of defense was the door to the inner room of the Tsar's bedroom, which was guarded by two servants.

As an adjutant who could walk freely in the palace, Algamakov had an obvious advantage at this time.

When the male servants inside asked questions, he could make up lies with his eyes open.

"Who is it? Making a noise at this time of night?"

"It's me, Algamakov, the major adjutant of the parade ground."

His position was very important and he had the right to report to Paul at any time.

"Isn't it too early for you to come in at this time?"

"It's almost six o'clock!"

"You are talking nonsense! It's just past midnight!" The servant was still a little alert. He looked at the self-ringing clock and then at the pocket watch to confirm that the time was correct.

"Damn it, your watch is broken! If I am punished by the emperor because of your stupidity, can you bear it? Damn it, will you open the door?"

The servants knew that they were of low status and could not afford to offend these officials, so they finally opened the door.

Then, these dozen people entered Paul's bedroom, but after they came in, they found that the bed was empty.

Count Platon panicked again: "The bird has flown away"

It was Bennigsen again, he touched the bed, it was still warm.

"The nest is warm, the bird has not flown far."