Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 24 024 A good gun that cannot be mass-produced, but there are many rewards (Part 1)

Tsar Paul has always been a bit moody, and often changes his schedule suddenly, but one thing has rarely changed, that is, at the training ground in Gatchina, regardless of whether it is a drill or an exercise, This is always done on time.

Now that he has decided to collect new guns, after the deadline for the collection of plans arrives, those drawings collected and those that can be produced as finished products must be seen on the shooting range.

This is his characteristic. As long as he decides to do something, he always acts resolutely. He also summoned senior generals, nobles, and even some female relatives in Petersburg to the royal parade in Gatchina.

On weekdays, those on duty on site are always the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment or the Semyonovsky Guards Regiment, but this time Tsar Paul used a new unit trained by Pavlovsky The Grenadier Regiment even wears the latest uniforms. They even imitate the Prussian grenadiers. Not only do they have bishop's hats on their heads, their uniforms and military appearance have also been changed.

Solovyov was lucky that he became an adjutant and was taken with him by his superior. Otherwise, he would just keep his pigtails and apply powder. It doesn’t matter if he keeps his pigtails, but wearing powder on the parade ground is really effeminate. I don’t know. They thought it was the French army, but this was not the Prussian army. King Frederick's statement was certainly correct.

He knew about Frederick's "Crown Prince Paul's baguette theory", or he heard it from Prince Nikolai Volkonsky, who was once the ambassador to Berlin, probably from the Prussian officers in Berlin. At the banquet, someone deliberately spread the news to the Russian ambassador and attachés. Can this matter be discussed openly in Petersburg?

It is actually possible, because this was said by the person Paul admired most, and what Frederick originally said was "love French culture." Considering that King Frederick himself was also a literary young man in his early years, there is nothing wrong with this statement.

And he wanted to carry out military reforms, which were all-round. Although Marshal Suvorov had a series of dissatisfactions, they were mainly aimed at Prussianization reforms, which completely overturned many systems of military reforms during the Potemkin period.

However, in terms of training, service, uniforms and weapons, the reform of the Russian army is still necessary, especially the addition of a "Pavlovsk" military coat to the uniforms, which is distributed by each legion or purchased by itself. These warmer clothing may be worn with permission of the officer. At the same time, woolen coats and felt boots are essential winter duty supplies, especially when performing guard duties. Each unit needs to keep the maximum number of these coats and felt boots.

The reforms in other aspects are also very clear. The passed military reform strictly stipulates that officers are not allowed to owe debts, and the money owed will not be deducted from military pay. If it is not enough, the officer will be suspended from duty until all debts are repaid. Able to return to active duty. The annual rest days for officers are set at 30 days. At the same time, officers are responsible for the lives of subordinate officers and soldiers in the regiment. Soldiers are prohibited from working on the manor during their service, and they are prohibited from engaging in work unrelated to military service, and Soldiers may protest mistreatment by officers to the commander of their regiment.

In terms of service time, the maximum service limit for Russian soldiers is 25 years. Those who have "perfect service" for more than 20 years will be awarded medals and bonuses, and will be exempted from corporal punishment. After retiring from the army, soldiers can receive pensions like officers, and disabled soldiers also need to be accommodated.

All in all, these are improvements, but the new weapons are a worry for the Tsar himself.

When Catherine II was still on the throne, the Pugachev Uprising broke out. This uprising had a devastating blow to the industrial areas of the Urals. While the serfs in factories and mines were liberated, many technologies Both personnel and managers were executed by Pugachev. Although this uprising liberated the serfs, it also caused huge damage. To this day, factories in Izhevsk and some places in the Urals have not been restored.

Although the Tula Arsenal itself can produce a large number of flintlock muskets, the quantity is far from enough for the huge scale of the Russian army. The weapons used by the Russian army themselves are extremely complex. Now some soldiers stationed in the south The troops still use a large number of British-made flintlocks captured from Turkey, and some rifles obtained from Austria and France during peacetime are also installed.

That's why there was a collection of new guns and a gun test at the review site. There were also a lot of people participating in this selection.

But for Solovyov, his rifled gun appears very late, and spending a lot of time in the waiting area is actually a waste of time.

In this way, he applied that he could walk around without carrying weapons, but he had to stay within the prescribed area. Although Gatchina was not a small place, and Paul, the tsar, had a bad temper, his behavior towards his subjects was The lower the class, the more tolerant he is, and the more noble he is, the more he wants to kick this person in the butt.

It’s no wonder that less than half a year has passed since his coronation ceremony, and less than a year has passed since he took the throne. His reputation among citizens, free people and serfs is very good. The Cossack groups from Hetman on down can be said to be loyal to him. Dead-set.

So, within the prescribed range, you can choose to rest, and there is even a place to provide food. Here, separated by a company of grenadiers, you can see the Tsar himself and Crown Prince Alexander behind, seemingly talking about something.

It is probably because the guy in front is too bad at shooting, and because the barrel is lengthened, there is a bayonet directly underneath, and the rifle cleaning rod is also awkward to use, which caused the discussion between the father and son.

And you can also notice that Alexander has been listening with one ear. It seems that he was deaf in one ear when he fired the cannon in the artillery before. But these are all minor problems. For a Tsar's heir, it's okay to be deaf in the ears but not blind in the eyes. Perhaps more importantly, he has many children, and Paul's wife is very fertile, so he is not too worried about this problem, and there is Nicholas sitting on his knees.

From this point of view, this seems to be a small theater with three generations of Tsars in the same frame. Grand Duke Constantine is on duty. He was ordered to bring soldiers from the Izmailovsky Guards Regiment, and he has been standing behind the Tsar. He is still highly alert.

From his personal perspective, there are indeed more military elements, which has a great impact on his younger brothers and sisters.

In fact, the female family members don’t like to participate in this kind of activity. Of course, there are some exceptions, such as Grand Duchess Catherine. Although she is only 9 years old, she is really brave. She is not afraid of the sound of guns and cannons. She even waved her hands and seemed quite excited.

This girl is indeed the most daring one among the children born to Paul and his queen. She also likes this kind of exercise of dancing with guns and sticks. She even stood on the marble fence to watch the artillerymen firing in the distance.

In Gatchina, if there are some places under the steps, there are no bushes. If the Grand Duchess slipped and fell down, she would really jump down. This time, Constantine, who turned around and glanced at it, was scared out of his wits, but he also saw a blue figure flashing quickly, and he took his naughty fourth sister in his arms, and she was not hurt at all.

Soloviev could see clearly from his angle that this blue uniform belonged to the regiment of his old friend Prince Mikhail, who was already familiar with him. However, why did this action always give people the feeling of heroically rescuing drowning cats and dogs?

When he had this thought, he saw Mikhail himself standing up, and he made himself look dirty. However, although the Grand Duchess was young and looked a bit lawless and willful, she was still very polite. When she mumbled a lot of words, merci (thank you) was definitely indispensable.

It can be seen that Grand Duchess Catherine liked all young officers in officer uniforms. Soloviev knew that she was also a famous brother control, but he didn't know why. He definitely couldn't get through this distance because of the guards with their backs to the fence. Prince Mikhail was there purely because he was one of the guards cavalry officers on duty and happened to pass by.

It was not until he saw the Grand Duchess's smiling face and "starry eyes" that Solovyov guessed that the reason for her "brother control" was probably because both of her brothers wore the uniforms of the Guards or the Prussian black uniforms designated by Tsar Paul on a daily basis. The root of the problem was here.

However, for him, this period of watching the fun was about to pass, as one after another, the gunmen were fiddling with rifle cleaning rods and biting open paper bags to fill gunpowder and bullets to compete in the "human body outlining competition" against the target.

Tsar Paul was already very impatient, and now he was tapping the ground with his cane. His daughter almost fell and was injured before, but fortunately a good hussar boy jumped in and rescued her, and she was also unharmed. He also heard that it was the younger brother of Prince Peter the Younger, whom he had promoted a few months ago, and the youngest son of his trusted lieutenant general Prince Peter Dolgorukov. He was overjoyed and directly rewarded him with a silver pocket watch. The fact that the Grand Duchess did not get hurt was only a small part of the reason. The key point was that the Tsar himself, who was not very good-looking, liked those heroic young men very much, as long as they were capable, handsome, and hardworking, even if they had no other advantages but were devout in their faith. Although the Tsar was a bit stingy with himself and liked to find fault with the nobles and the British, he always gave his subjects and civilians rewards, from 1 silver ruble to some jewelry and other small things, and he was always generous.

A large part of his unhappiness today came from the pile of broken guns on the shooting range, and even one of the guns had exploded. When he arrived at Solovyov, it was almost noon. The climate in Gatchina has always been good, and there was a slight breeze at this time. For Solovyov, who has always been able to shoot with both hands, he likes this environment the most.

The previous duel, although it was against the secretary of a big shot, but thanks to the Countess's activities to find Prince Yusupov's sister to marry, it did not reach the ears of His Majesty the Tsar.

If he used the pistol on his waist, he might become famous. After all, this thing is a handmade six-shot revolver, which is much lighter than the 9-shot "revolver cannon" of the British in the past.

But the focus is still on the gun in his hand. The Danish gunsmith also came today. The two of them tested it at the shooting range. The gun performed very well. The entire processing technology, from the barrel to the bullet, has already consumed a lot of man-hours. Although there was no such concept in 1797, the technological penalties during processing were already quite obvious.

He now has such a rifle in his hand, and can load it with handmade bullets. The deviation is so small, which is the credit of Mr. Madson.

"Vielen Dank, Herr Madson, Ihre Bemühungen werden auf jeden Fall belohnt." (Thank you, Mr. Madson, your efforts will definitely be rewarded.)

He said this before going on stage.

Tsar Paul has been bored for a whole morning. Any stupid trial rifle now seems to him to be a waste of time. It is better to do something else with this time.

At this time, Solovyov went into battle. The engineers and gunsmiths shown before all asked officers and soldiers to shoot, but this time it was the designer himself who took part - although the main work was done by the hardworking Mr. Madsen, who made such a rifle by hand, even the bullets were made by hand.

In order to avoid the embarrassing bullet tolerance problem, when designing the weapon, Solovyov had to consider that the bullet specifications of this black powder breech-loading rifle were a little smaller, even if it meant sacrificing some accuracy. If he was a well-trained soldier, he could still achieve good results with a smoothbore rifle with touching accuracy.

You have to know that when shooting, due to the limitations of weapons, ammunition and the shooter's personal level in this era, in fact, on the battlefield, the more you shoot, the less accurate you are. It is no wonder that the Russian army is sometimes not active in shooting when fighting. Even Marshal Suvorov wrote to the gentlemen every day to remind their regiments to train more. Many musketeer regiments can shoot a few shots a year, which is good enough to be worthy of the emperor. They will not be like the disciples brought by the old marshal, such as the 6th Chasseur Regiment commanded by the famous gambler Prince Bagration, who must shoot at least dozens of shots a year according to the requirements of the old marshal.

It is such an army that Paul is really worried about. He is now seeing a young grenadier officer standing there, and he is indeed a little curious. After all, this child is not tall. He looks like a dwarf among the selected Pavlovsky grenadiers. He is a little short even among ordinary grenadiers. He looks a little bit like a woman, just like his brother Count Bobulinsky. But he probably doesn't know that sometimes being beautiful may also be more powerful.

"This is the rifle selected by the Moscow Grenadiers, Your Majesty. It was recommended by the regiment's commander, Major General Dmitri Volkonsky. But it's not surprising, the young man is his adjutant."

It was Tsar Paul's favorite Kutasov who came out to explain that he was not a commentator. It was purely because Prince Mikhail Dolgorukov asked his brother to entrust Major General Arakcheev to give him a bond before coming to perform his duties in order to make him speak well of his friend.

But what Kutasov said was mainly to raise Prince Dmitri Volkonsky. The reputation of this general would always attract the emperor's attention more than a little adjutant from Ryazan.

Paul saw clearly that the young man opened the chamber from the back and stuffed a bullet into it.

"Well, is he going to get a hunting rifle?"

You know, until the end of the 18th century and the beginning of the 19th century, breech-loading firearms were mainly hunting rifles, and they were generally accurate. The only practical weapons that were breech-loading were probably the "Flange" cannon.

So, although Tsar Paul himself did not go to the battlefield, he was quite knowledgeable about guns and cannons. If he had not carefully observed that Solovyov was wearing a saddlebag with some copper-cased bullets hanging on it, he would not have been interested. At most, he would have thought that this thing was just a hunting rifle.