Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796

Chapter 508 020 Russia is so big that it can’t even build a railway.

The railway experiment in Tsarskoye Selo was also very successful. When the train stopped at Tsarskoye Selo Station, Alexander came forward to award Richard Trevithick the Order of St. Vladimir and the fifth-class civil servant position of a palace eunuch.

Soloviev watched from the side with a normal expression. He had won too many medals and was not surprised at all. Moreover, with this status, he was currently a major general of infantry at the fourth-class officer level. When he was promoted to lieutenant general, he still needed some experience because of his background.

When Alexander walked up to him, he also took out a third-class Order of St. Vladimir - Soloviev had won the fourth-class Order because of his previous military exploits.

"Your Majesty, I think..."

"You don't need to think about anything, Soloviev, you've done a good job, but I hope you can come to the palace to talk, and we can consider what we should do next."

"Okay, Your Majesty."

When Alexander was in the Imperial Village, he often lived in the Alexander Palace built by the Queen for him. Especially recently, he began to favor Louisa again, obviously to create an heir, but this would take some time.

Therefore, he now turned his attention back to the military, and naturally paid attention to military logistics because of the Finnish problem.

Arakcheev didn't care about the ownership of the railway. Although he was annoying, he didn't look so ugly when he was grabbing profits. He didn't have any technology in this area. The planning was still the advice that Paul left to Soloviev. This kid only had time to complete the steamship with relatively mature technology that could be put into operation. The steam locomotive was not publicly demonstrated in the Imperial Village for the first time until 1808.

After seeing it, Alexander was indeed very satisfied. At least Solovyov was very down-to-earth and had been able to present a preliminary railway system to him, which was much more reliable than those nobles who only cared about bragging all day long.

As for going to the palace to chat, this was not the first time. Alexander always liked to discuss in a more relaxed atmosphere, not to mention that the toys that the children played at home caught his attention.

Although it was just the shell of a train toy, it was a prop that Uncle Alexei used to make money from women and children, but the appearance was still very exquisite, and it was definitely different from the trains currently running on the track.

This was Solovyov's handiwork. Alexander was always smart, so he naturally knew where it came from.

It's just that the girls were not playing with dolls, but train toys, probably because these toys were very novel.

The princesses, like girls from ordinary families, had quarreled over new toys. The twins were not so bad, but the two older girls and Constantine's daughter Sophia often fought each other.

It must be said that these girls from the Russian royal family were always tougher, which made Alexander feel that the two older sisters and the younger sister Anna were too well-behaved.

In fact, he didn't know that Anna was also a hot-tempered little pepper behind her back. She just rarely got angry.

It was not the first time he came to the Alexander Palace. The furnishings here basically did not change, but the residents inside were increasing. In addition to Alexander and his wife, there were also sisters who came back from abroad and their children.

So this place, like the Tavrid Palace, often became a large nursery for the royal family and nobles.

Soon after entering the gate, he saw Polina and Svetlana. The twins saw that he was coming, and they grabbed him one by one.

"We caught you, uncle General with medals."

"What are you two doing here?"

"We are playing hide-and-seek with Paul, but we don't know where he ran off to."

This Paul can only be Elena's son, but he can't get involved in the children's play because he has official duties now.

And the one with green eyes looks like the portrait of Luisa when she was a child, and she is his daughter.

He squatted down to look at the two children and said, "His Majesty is going to summon me again, so I can't play with you here. But if you want to find Paul, you have to look at the greenhouse. It's the easiest place to hide people, especially children like you."

"Okay, our cousin can always hide, so we won't bother you."

"Okay, children. I wonder if your mother, the Queen, lets you eat candy?"

"What will happen? Sveta, you tell me."

Polina obviously couldn't remember the word "tooth decay", but Svetlana couldn't remember it either. She could only say, "If you eat too much candy, your teeth will get bad."

"You two smart kids, since your mother said so, I won't give you candy either."

What's more, this kind of toothache can sometimes cause infection if not handled properly, which is fatal. Children's teeth are relatively fragile. If I secretly give candy to the children, Louisa will definitely be angry.

But her temper is really not intimidating.

Although the two children were a little disappointed, they were well-educated and could still suppress their desire for candy.

But not every family is like this one, where the education of children is good. In some places, even princes or princesses are a little arrogant.

Soloviev knew Louisa's sister Frederica. Although her son was well educated, her eldest daughter developed an arrogant temper.

This was still good. If she was like those pigs in Spain, who beat and scolded the servants wantonly, it would seem that this family was doomed.

You know, the headless cake queen always tried to correct her eldest daughter because she was too arrogant, but the Spanish Bourbon didn't even have this thought.

As for some other ridiculous characters, the education of children is actually very important.

When Soloviev walked in, he also found that Alexander was teasing the child. Before, Maria and his niece Sonya had a dispute over toys, and now he was here to persuade them.

"Your Majesty, Solovyov has been ordered to come here."

"Why did you insist on Uncle Alexei making limited edition toys, causing these children to twist their ears for a locomotive!"

"Your Majesty, that's because this kind of train model toy is indeed more troublesome to make. The ones in the palace are also specially made, and even the drawings I made before the last expedition."

"You, you still have the nature of a profiteer. The British engineer has made contributions to the railway, and you and Count Vorontsov have also made contributions. This bounty must be there."

After retiring, Count Vorontsov has moved to the UK with his daughter. Only his son serves in the Caucasus Army. In addition, his family is a well-known family with a high status and is not short of money.

However, after getting married, his profiteer habits have not changed. He has younger brothers and sisters at home, his wife is young, and he doesn't know how many children he will have in the future. In short, he still wants to save more money.

The single bounty promised by Alexander is generally 50,000 silver rubles.

Even if they already have some family wealth, it is still difficult to refuse this money. However, the Solovyov family has never had any debts. If some people can spend 10 million rubles in more than ten years, I really don’t know where the money has gone.

"Your Majesty, you need to think about the bonus. If you want to run a train on such a short section of railway, the bonus will be much higher than the cost."

Alexander heard it and knew it.

"That's right, I am planning the construction of railways. Railways can be laid in places with better roads in the country."

But after listening to Alexander's words, thinking about his birth and death dates, you can't consider that when the Louisa sisters came to St. Petersburg for a blind date, one was a girl and the other was simply a lolita. They can't be like-minded with a pioneer, right?

The problem is that this is a like-minded person who plays the railway match-up game, which is not possible.

"Your Majesty, I think this is too expensive. Moreover, not all places are suitable for building railways. Moreover, there is a problem with our train. If the railway design strength of the Imperial Village is not relatively high, the train of Trevithick is unlikely to pass through."

"Then how should it be arranged?"

"In Moscow, it can be built in the direction of Ryazan, Tula and Smolensk. If it is in St. Petersburg, the railway can be extended to Novgorod and Vyborg."

"What about Finland?"

"The terrain of Finland is not so suitable, especially here is full of swamps and forests. I am afraid that the ground passing through the border will also need to be reinforced. With our current construction capabilities, I don't think it is possible."

Alexander was just in high spirits, and now Solovyov said this, which lowered his interest by two levels in a row. But think about it, it is not wrong. After all, the whole country is playing the railway connection game at once. Although Russia is a large country, the places suitable for building railways are limited, and there are still a lot of swamps in many places.

If it is a small country, this approach may be possible, but the environment must also be considered.

"That's it. I think we should build the railway to Novgorod and Vyborg first. As for Moscow, I think we can build a railway to Ryazan, and then extend it to the south."

It is true that Solovyov is from Ryazan. Building the railway here is because Alexander considers controlling the land in the south, especially in the wars in the Caucasus and Persia, which still requires material supplies.

As for other places, they can only be put aside now.

Extending from Ryazan in several directions, a railway network can indeed be built in the future. More importantly, many of Russia's military supplies in the country are currently produced around Ryazan and Kazan. Military canned food, food and ammunition can be gathered in Moscow and then transported to various garrisons on the border through the Smolensk Road.

And the Russian troops in the south can be transported to Kharkov from Voronezh to Belgorod, and then transported to the garrisons near the border through the southern roads.

In short, it is beneficial to Alexander's rule. The biggest problem in Russia is probably that the food produced has a very poor circulation capacity, and it often rots on the spot.

As for famine, famine often occurred in Russian history, and there is a cycle, which occurs about once every ten years.

Alexander also has a lot of considerations. Of course, this railway still needs coal, and using firewood is definitely not efficient.

As for the coal mine, in terms of production safety, those mine owners who have a large number of serfs will not care about the lives of serfs, but their performance may be even better than the black-hearted mine owners in Wales.

In history, when Nicholas wanted to build a railway, someone told him that Russia was a country short of coal.

If Russia is short of coal, then what is going on in Donetsk?

As for the serfs in the mine, there are even technicians among them.

"Speaking of which, Solovyov, during the collection of steam locomotives, there were also mine owners in the Ural region who said that their steam engines could produce similar products, but the road was too far away, and the collection plan was not passed, so it was shelved."

"If it was in the Ural region, there would be a lot of minerals there, but coal mines. The construction of this railway would be fine if it used horse-drawn carriages, but if it used steam locomotives, it would definitely rely on coal mines."

"Speaking of which, someone told me that there is a lack of coal mines in Russia. I just don't like to read, but I know that there is a report from a hundred years ago in the royal archives of Petersburg that there is still a lot of coal in the Donbass. If the supply is up, it will be necessary to connect the railway to this place in the future, such as Taganrog."

Soloviev didn't even pay attention to Taganrog. If you want to say it, Alexander died suddenly while living here in history. Another way of saying it is that he secretly ran away from here to Siberia and called himself Fyodor Kuzmich.

Alexander was still very interested in the Sea of ​​Azov. He had some ideas about the dispute between the Black Sea and the Ottoman Empire, and even wanted to put an end to it.

As for the order for railway construction, after announcing that Finland belonged to Russia, he convened a royal meeting and prepared to start bidding for the railway from Petersburg to Novgorod. In addition to building the railway, he also solicited new designs for steam locomotives.

Trevithick's locomotive was just a verification product. It looked quite funny. There was a front engine in front and a bunch of open-top train carriages converted from carriages in the back.

To make a real railway, there must be trains running. In fact, Alexander also paid attention to children's toys.

"Is it okay to design it according to this?"

"Your Majesty, no problem. It's just that we have to solve the processing technology. In addition, we have to make the transmission structure more reliable, the boiler power must be sufficient, and the coal must burn fully in the furnace. What's more important is safety."

"Well, let the British improve his design."