Chapter 24 024 A good gun that cannot be mass-produced, but with a high reward

Chapter 24 024 A good gun that cannot be mass-produced, but with a high reward (Part )

Tsar Paul was always in a moody mood and often changed his schedule suddenly, but there was one thing that rarely changed: on the training ground in Gatchina, no matter whether it was drills or exercises, it was always carried out on time.

Since he has decided to collect new guns, after the deadline for collecting proposals, he will have to put those collected drawings that can be turned into finished products to the test on the shooting range.

This was his characteristic; once he decided to do something, he would always act decisively. He also summoned senior generals, nobles, and even some women in St. Petersburg to the royal review ground in Gatchina.

Normally, the Preobrazhensky Guards Regiment or the Semenovsky Guards Regiment were on duty at the scene, but this time Tsar Paul used a newly organized unit, the Pavlovsky Grenadiers Regiment. Even the uniforms they wore were the latest, and they were even imitating the Prussian grenadiers. Not only did they wear bishops' hats on their heads, but their uniforms and military appearance were also changed.

Solovyov was glad that he became an adjutant and was kept by his superior, otherwise he would have kept his braids and powdered his hair. It didn't matter if he had braids, but powdering his hair on the parade ground was really effeminate. If you didn't know, you would think it was a French army. This was not a Prussian army. What Frederick the Great said was definitely correct.

He knew about Frederick's "Crown Prince Paul's Baguette Theory" from Prince Nikolai Volkonsky, who was once the ambassador to Berlin. Probably, someone deliberately spread the theory to the Russian ambassador and his entourage at a banquet for Prussian officers in Berlin. But could this matter be discussed openly in St. Petersburg?
It is actually possible, because this was said by the person Paul admired the most, and Frederick's original words were "love for French culture". Considering that Frederick the Great himself was also a literary youth in his early years, there is nothing wrong with this statement.

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

However, the reform of the Russian army in terms of training, service, uniforms and weapons is still necessary, especially the addition of a "Pavlovsk" military coat to the uniform, which is issued by the corps and purchased by the corps. With the permission of the officers, these warmer clothes can be worn. At the same time, wool coats and felt boots are necessary winter duty supplies, especially when performing guard duties, and each unit needs to keep enough coats and felt boots.

The reforms in other aspects are also very clear. After the military reform was passed, it was strictly stipulated that officers were not allowed to be in debt. If they owed money, it would be deducted from their military pay. If it was not enough, the officer would be suspended and could only return to active service after repaying all debts. The officers' annual rest days were set at 30 days. At the same time, the officers in the corps were responsible for the lives of the subordinate officers and soldiers. Soldiers were prohibited from working on the estate during their service, and they were prohibited from doing work unrelated to military service. Soldiers could protest to the commander of the regiment against the abuse of officers.

In terms of service time, the Russian army's maximum service time is 25 years. Those who have served for more than 20 years will be awarded medals and bonuses and will be exempted from corporal punishment. Soldiers can receive pensions like officers after retirement, and disabled soldiers also need to be resettled.

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

When Catherine II was still in power, the Pugachev Uprising broke out. This uprising dealt a devastating blow to the industrial areas of the Urals. While the serfs in the factories and mines were liberated, many technicians and managers were executed by Pugachev. This uprising certainly liberated the serfs, but it also brought great damage. Until now, the factories in Izhevsk and some places in the Urals have not been restored.

Although the Tula Arsenal itself was capable of producing a large number of flintlock rifles, the quantity was far from enough for an army as large as the Russian one. The weapons used by the Russian army itself were of extremely complex types. Some troops stationed in the south were still using a large number of British-made flintlock rifles seized from Turkey, and some rifles obtained from Austria and France in peacetime were also in service.

That's why there was this activity of collecting new guns and testing them on the review field, and quite a few people participated in this selection.

But for Solovyov, his rifle appeared very late in the order of appearance, and if he had to spend a lot of time in the waiting area, it was actually a waste of time.

In this way, he applied to be allowed to walk around without carrying weapons, but he had to stay within the designated area. Although Gatchina was not a small place and Tsar Paul had a bad temper, he was more tolerant towards his subjects, the lower their rank, and the higher the nobles, the more he wanted to kick them in the ass.

It is no wonder that less than half a year after his coronation and less than a year after his accession to the throne, he had a very good reputation among the citizens, free men and serfs. The Cossack group, from the Hetman on down, was loyal to him.

Therefore, within the prescribed range, you can choose to rest, and there is even a place that provides food. Here, across a company of grenadiers, you can see the Tsar himself and Crown Prince Alexander behind them, seemingly talking about something.

It was probably because the guy in front was not a very good shooter, and because the barrel was lengthened and a bayonet was directly mounted underneath, the rifle cleaning rod was also awkward to use, which caused a discussion between the father and son.

It can also be noticed that Alexander has been listening with one ear. It seems that he lost his hearing in one ear when firing artillery. But these are minor problems. For a tsar's heir, it is enough to be deaf but not blind. Perhaps more importantly, he has many children. Paul's wife is very fertile, so he is not too worried about this problem. There is also Nicholas sitting on his knees.

From this perspective, this seems to be a small theater with three generations of tsars in the same frame. It was Grand Duke Constantine who was on duty. He was ordered to bring soldiers from the Izmailovsky Guards Regiment and he stood behind the tsar all the time. He was still highly vigilant.

From his personal perspective, he does have more military elements, which has a great impact on his younger brothers and sisters.

In fact, the female family members did not like to participate in this kind of activities. Of course, there were some exceptions, such as Grand Duchess Catherine. Although she was only 9 years old, she was really brave. She was not afraid of the sound of gunfire and even waved her hands, seeming quite excited.

This girl was indeed the most daring of all the children born to Paul and his queen. She even liked this kind of gun and stick exercise more and even stood on the marble fence to watch the artillerymen firing in the distance.

In Gatchina, there are some places where there are no bushes under the steps. If the Grand Duchess slipped and fell, she would actually jump down. This time, Konstantin, who turned around and took a glance, was frightened and broke into a cold sweat, but he also saw a blue figure flashing by quickly and holding his naughty fourth sister in his arms, and she was not hurt at all. Solovyov could see clearly from his angle that this blue uniform was from the regiment of his old friend Prince Mikhail, who was already very familiar with him. But why did this action always give people a feeling of heroically rescuing a kitten or a puppy from the water?
When he had this thought, he saw Mikhail standing up, and he made a mess of himself. 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, she would definitely say "merci" (thank you).

It can be seen that Grand Duchess Catherine likes all young officers in officer uniforms. Solovyov knows that she is also a famous brother-con, but he doesn't know why. He definitely can't get through this distance because of the guards with their backs to the fence. Prince Mikhail is there purely because he is 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 she was "brother-complex" was probably because her two brothers wore Guards uniforms on a daily basis, or the Prussian black military uniforms designated by Tsar Paul. The root of the problem lay 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, biting open paper packages to load gunpowder and bullets, and engaging in a "human body outlining competition" at the target.

Tsar Paul was already very impatient, and now he was tapping the ground with his cane. His daughter had almost fallen and injured herself, but fortunately a good hussar boy jumped in and saved her, and she was unharmed. He also heard that it was the younger brother of Prince Peter, 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 her with a silver pocket watch. The fact that the Grand Duchess did not fall and injured herself 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 this Tsar was a bit stingy with himself and liked to find fault with the nobles and the British, he always rewarded his subjects and civilians with money, from 1 silver ruble to some jewelry.

A big part of his unhappiness today was due to the pile of broken guns on the shooting range, and even a gun that had exploded. When Solovyov arrived, it was almost noon. The weather in Gatchina has always been good, and there was a slight breeze at this moment. For Solovyov, who could shoot with both hands, he liked this kind of environment the most.

Although the duel in the previous duel was between a big shot's secretary, thanks to the Countess's efforts to marry Prince Yusupov's sister, the news never reached the ears of His Majesty the Tsar.

If he had used the pistol on his waist, he might have become famous. After all, this thing was a hand-made six-shot revolver, which was much lighter than the nine-shot "revolver cannon" used by the British in the past.

But the focus is still the gun in his hand. The Danish gunsmith also came today. The two of them tested the gun at the shooting range. The gun performed very well, but the entire processing technology, from the barrel to the bullet, was quite time-consuming. Although this concept did not exist in 1797, the technological penalties were already quite obvious during the processing.

He now has such a rifle in his hand and can load it with handmade bullets, with such a small deviation, all thanks to Mr. Madsen.

"Thank you, Mr. Madson. Your efforts will definitely be rewarded." (Thank you, Mr. Madson. Your efforts will definitely be rewarded.)
He said this before going on stage.

Tsar Paul had been bored for the whole morning, and any stupid trial rifle seemed to him a waste of time. He might as well do something else with this time.

At this time, it was Solovyov who took the lead. The engineers and gunsmiths shown before all asked officers and soldiers to shoot, but this time it was the designer himself who took the lead - 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 embarrassing bullet tolerance problems, when designing weapons, Solovyov had to consider that the bullet specifications of this black powder breech-loading rifle were slightly smaller, even if it meant sacrificing some accuracy. If a soldier was really well-trained, he could use a smoothbore rifle with impressive accuracy and still achieve good results.

You have to know that when actually shooting, due to the limitations of weapons, ammunition and the personal level of the shooter in this era, on the battlefield, the more you shoot, the less accurate you become. No wonder the Russian army was sometimes not active in practicing shooting during the war. Even Marshal Suvorov wrote to the gentlemen on a daily basis, reminding their regiments to train more. Many musketeer regiments could only fire a few shots a year, which was good enough to be worthy of the emperor. They would not be like the disciples brought up by the old marshal, such as the 6th Chasseur Regiment commanded by the famous gambler Prince Bagration, who had to fire at least dozens of shots a year according to the old marshal's requirements.

It was this kind of army that Paul was really worried about. Seeing a young grenadier officer standing there, he was indeed a little curious. After all, the boy was not tall, and looked like a dwarf among the carefully selected Pavlovsky grenadiers. Even among the ordinary grenadiers, he was a little short. He even looked a bit feminine, just like his brother Count Bobulinsky. But he probably didn't know that sometimes being beautiful might mean having stronger fighting power.

"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, since 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 wanted him to speak well of his friend that he asked his brother to entrust Major General Arakcheev to give him a bond before he came to perform his duties.

But what Kutasov said was mainly to praise Prince Dmitri Volkonsky, a general whose reputation would always attract the emperor's attention more than that of a small adjutant from the Ryazan countryside.

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

"Well, is he going to get a shotgun?"

You have to know that 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 very accurate. The only breech-loading weapons that were still practical were probably the "Flange" cannon.

Therefore, although Tsar Paul himself did not go to the battlefield, he was quite knowledgeable about handling guns and cannons. If he had not carefully observed that Solovyov was wearing a sack 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.

(End of this chapter)