Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Alexander is coming to inspect the troops, and this time it will finally be at the Royal Parade Ground. The Tsar himself is quite looking forward to seeing what tricks Solovyov will pull.

After all, this grand review was conducted by troops selected from the 3rd Army and the Danube Corps, as well as veteran grenadiers from the Caucasus. Among the two grenadier regiments of Georgia, the 14th Grenadier Regiment was as old as the Moscow Grenadier Regiment, and it was not until the capture of Yerevan that it got its own garrison name.

After the army's inspection, there was also the navy's inspection, as well as live-fire drills. Both sides participated, making it quite a lively event.

When the Tsar himself arrived, it was already autumn. He first went to Taganrog to visit Louisa, and the monarch was quite relaxed as he left the palace.

Fortunately, the Tsar didn't understand Chinese very well, otherwise he would have been familiar with puns.

Alexander did not oppose constitutional monarchy in principle, but he simply did not push for it. He ultimately did not approve Novolisitsev's British-style constitutional system. In Russia, even after the end of this system, the Tsars maintained autocracy, and it was still difficult to get them to relinquish power.

Solovyov took a roundabout approach, trying to patch up the problems as much as possible without weakening the Tsar's autocratic power, otherwise it would be difficult to manage.

When the Tsar himself arrived, the soldiers in the parade ground saw the Tsar's carriage, and then Alexander himself appeared, mounted a white horse, and heard cheers from both sides: "Hurrah! Hurrah! Our little father, Alexander Pavlovich! Hurrah! Hurrah!" He listened with great satisfaction, turning his body to the side.

Solovyov usually rides a white horse, but considering that the protagonist is Alexander himself, he rode a chestnut Don horse.

"Your Majesty, it is an honor for all our southern soldiers and the people of Tafrid Province to have you come to Sevastopol."

"Alright, enough with the formalities, Solovyov, what are the plans for this time?"

"Your Majesty, you will be receiving representatives of the local nobility, as well as attending a military parade and a naval review, followed by live-fire exercises to demonstrate the power of Russia's latest weapons."

“That’s great, let’s start by meeting with the representatives.”

Solovyov stated in order that he should have met the noble representatives in Simferopol or Bakhchisarai, but since both the army and navy were in Sevastopol, he changed the meeting location to here.

Local nobles rarely had the opportunity to meet the Tsar in person, so many of them came this time. They were all local nobles, but Solovyov had made arrangements, and they all knew what to say and what not to say.

The petition process has also been arranged. Solovyov has also applied to award medals or noble status to some inventors, which Alexander is aware of.

Now, Nikolai has made great progress in his knowledge after being taught by a group of famous teachers at Tsarskoye Selo, and he is also easier to guide.

Alexander was never like that; he never revealed his true thoughts.

This person is sometimes like a mystery, and Solovyov has to play a guessing game with him.

However, the results Solovyov brought this time surprised even the Tsar himself.

“You usually come with the latest machines, why this today? I know about your business in Mozdok.”

"Your Majesty, this oil is the result of the fractionation device invented by the Dubinin brothers. The fact that we can now separate kerosene is already a great advancement. In the future, we may be able to separate other things, such as natural gas. Ancient Chinese books mention the artesian wells in Sichuan, where gas was collected in leather bags and could be ignited. I think it should be similar to coal gas. Russia has a vast territory, and there should be oil underground. If we make proper use of it, it will be a great energy source, as proposed by the Frenchman Carnot."

"You mean that Cano's son?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. I think his theory of heat engines is very valuable; the combustion efficiency of steam engines is still too low."

“That’s interesting. I will issue an edict to officially award the Dubining brothers medals and grant them noble status. Their patron has always sponsored these activities and also provided rewards.”

Alexander's goal was to encourage nobles to make their serfs work. After the Dubinin brothers received their medals, at least they themselves had non-hereditary noble status.

At that time in Alexander, it was still possible for eighth-rank civil officials to directly become hereditary nobles. Fifty years later, although the regulations still existed, those who could inherit the title were generally fourth-rank or above.

But the Tsar only praised these things; he did little actual work, and this became increasingly true as he aged.

Solovyov could only do the work based on his tacit agreement; if it were Nikolai, he would have rolled up his sleeves and come himself long ago.

He did indeed hope that his apprentice could become the Tsar as soon as possible, so that he, as the "Imperial Tutor," would have more room to maneuver.

But even if he had this idea, he wouldn't put it into practice. Alexander had already given him a lot of authority. In the past, no one in Russia had been able to control all the main forces in the south, or even mobilize the Cossacks.

The Don Cossacks and Kuban Cossacks, because there were many guards and veteran Cossacks from past expeditions, were easy for Solovyov to mobilize.

In addition, Solovyov has now obtained the princely status in the velvet register of nobility, becoming a duke, on par with many hereditary noble families.

However, Alexander did not grant him the title of Prince of the First Rank because he had not achieved any noteworthy military exploits in the past ten years.

He'll have to fight for it himself to get it later; it's like feeding the eagles—not feeding them enough.

If this were another online novel, he would probably be a special-grade prince by the age of thirty, and would be a marshal by the age of twenty-five.

The path from colonel to major general is a hurdle, as is the path from general to marshal.

Solovyov had already acquired a fairly complete set of medals. He had received all of them except for the Polish Order, which was being prepared for inclusion in the Russian Order of Merit system. He was only missing the highest rank and peerage.

When asked about it, he said that his life was limited to military achievements, and that his career would end when he became a Field Marshal and a Prince of the First Rank.

The position of Grand Marshal is one that is easy to lose control of.

His performance in the Napoleonic Wars was outstanding. Currently, there are only five generals and marshals in Russia who hold the full Order of St. George.

As is widely known, there are usually five of the Four Heavenly Kings.

Solovyov received a full range of medals, making him a true Order of the Russian Empire. After all, he wasn't the Tsar, nor was he the first-ranked member of the Presidium; titles like "Your Order of the Empire" had nothing to do with him.

Alexander clearly intended to use these two highest honors of status and position to whet the appetite of Solovyov during a future major war, or to leave them as a sword for the next Tsar.

After all, no one had ever lived past 70 to become Tsar. Even more absurdly, no one in the Luo family had ever outlived Patriarch Fyodor, the father of their first Tsar, Michael I. Alexander was in good health, and at that time, no one could have imagined how fate would play tricks on him.

Solovyov was very concerned about the epidemic prevention work in Crimea. His sanitation campaigns were aimed at the southern provinces, where outbreaks of hemorrhagic fever and malaria frequently occurred.

In addition, ports always bring plagues from other places; the plague has also caused minor outbreaks in border areas a few times.

He has been emphasizing the importance of epidemic prevention and safety ever since Paul was still alive.

Therefore, at this point, the south seemed safe, and the accommodations arranged by Solovyov were clean.

When Alexander arrived at the reviewing stand, he witnessed the military bearing of the Russian army in the south. Solovyov was indeed skilled in military management, able to lead an orderly and disciplined force. The way they marched by was impressive.

Even the military band was well-arranged, and they even sang a song at the end.

However, changing the phrase "We are the people's army" risks disrupting the rhyme scheme.
But the lyrics have a good background. In Borodino, in 1812 and 1941, people said, "Moscow is behind us, we have nowhere to retreat."

Moreover, even if he just uses the original lyrics, Alexander probably won't say anything, since he just likes to play the messiah.

Solovyov racked his brains and changed it to "We are the army of the motherland," and managed to squeeze the Tsar into it, but in short, nothing went wrong.

Then, Alexander stood on the reviewing stand and said this to Solovyov.

"Solovyov, this is good, but it might be even better if it were placed on Borodino's anniversary."

"Yes, Your Majesty. 1827 marked the 15th anniversary of the Patriotic War. We drove the French out of the Berezina River crossing at the end of the year, and Napoleon fled back to France from Smolgun."

What are we going to look at next?

"The naval review, Your Majesty. And the live-fire exercise. Our latest shells can effectively destroy enemy warships. Those wooden warships will be no match for us in the future."

"But our ship is also a wooden ship, Solovyov."

"First, there's the power system; in the future, there will be armor. If possible, our ships could even be steel warships, but not now."

“I look forward to that day, but based on the research speed of the weapons you recommended in the past, you can produce them quickly if they are only for soldiers. But things used on ships will take some time.”

"Yes, Your Majesty. Now, please come aboard the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet to see our latest achievements."

In addition to the Sevastopol batteries, the battleship "Azov" was also on the firing range. The warship, commanded by Mikhail Lazarev, was serving as a naval exercise vessel, responsible for attacking a battleship that was nearing the end of its service life.

Coastal artillery of that era still had a significant advantage over naval vessels; whenever artillery battles were to be fought, a large weapon could always be placed on the coastal artillery platform.

Solovyov has considered developing torpedoes, but even making a simple torpedo presents some technical challenges.

Therefore, he still thought of improving the naval guns so that they could fire powerful new shells to kill enemy ships.

By bringing out two decommissioned battleships and demonstrating them to the Tsar, the problem was revealed.

Greg was aware that when he joined the Naval Commission in 1802, Alexander was more focused on the army, and the navy was a secondary focus during the Napoleonic Wars, mainly to support the army's operations and to safeguard Russia's interests in the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea.

When the hypothetical enemy changed from France to a maritime power like Britain, coupled with the Ottoman Empire sitting between the two straits, the importance of the navy became apparent.

If one day in the future the Russian army approaches Constantinople, the navy will still need to cooperate with the army to stop the "cattle crossing".

Now the Azov is ordered to fire shells at the target ship, and the Tsar, a veteran artilleryman, is watching the distant firing effect through his binoculars.

"Well done. This Lazarev, is he one of those three brothers from the naval cadet corps?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"He went to China with you, participated in Antarctic expeditions and two round-the-world voyages. One day he will become a naval admiral."

Clearly, the Tsar was satisfied with the shelling, because Lazarev's firing range was relatively long, and a large number of shells hit directly, burning the first target ship to a blaze, which was a very good performance.

Alexander also met with each of the officers on board the ship.

Solovyov had no idea how many outstanding captains and admirals this ship could produce; at most, he had only discovered two who were relatively well-known and were nuclear-powered.

Greg was also very satisfied with the Azov's combat readiness. He even hoped that one day when war broke out, the Black Sea Fleet would be able to defeat the Ottoman fleet and then support the Russian army's operations from the coast.

As for Solovyov's strategic plans, the navy still has a lot to play. Some old ships will be converted into troop transport ships and hospital ships, which was also his idea, and Greg agreed.

After watching the demonstration, the Tsar was very satisfied and gave instructions to the Minister of the Navy to arrange the construction of the new base for the Black Sea Fleet, and to add two third-class ships and more heavy frigates there.

The Ottoman Empire didn't have many large ships, and the British didn't come to the Black Sea often, so these heavy frigates were enough, and they could even go toe-to-toe with fourth-class ships.

After the inspection, there was a reception hosted by local nobles, which pleased Alexander greatly.

He will continue his inspection tour in Crimea and will return to Taganrog in a few days.

Solovyov knew this might be the Tsar's last journey, but he never expected it to be so dramatic, and that he would have to witness it firsthand.

He didn't quite believe that Alexander was shirking responsibility, which was the kind of claim made by Fyodor Kuzmich.

Furthermore, the coffin in Siberia has not been opened; without opening it, nothing is known, and everything is assumed that the Tsar is indeed dead. (End of Chapter)