Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

While Nicholas was leaving the Winter Palace, something did indeed happen at the Guards Moscow Regiment.

Of the 1800 officers and soldiers in the regiment, half were taken out of the barracks at this time.

The situation was not so unexpected, partly because there were too many officers in the regiment who were Northern Association members and sympathizers.

The previous failed operations of the Imperial Guard engineers and mounted artillery were a different story for them.

Because neither of the two guard regiments made any move, Nikolai was somewhat wary. He wasn't surprised by the secret gathering, but he was still astonished that these people would start a rebellion and bring out an army. Even though the guards and his second brother Constantine were very close, he was still surprised to see them here.

Even the Northern Association members were surprised.

Alexander Bestuzhev served in the Guards Dragoon Regiment and had previously served as adjutant to the Tsar's uncle, the Prince of Württemberg who almost succeeded Bagration.

He was always brave and bold, and his actions were very decisive. He came to the Guards Moscow Regiment to make contact with the officers there.

Moreover, he knew from the fact that Ivan Konovnitsyn and others were able to escape that the artillery had failed, and that the Prussian regiment had beaten up the officers who went there and thrown them into the Semyonovsky regiment's solitary confinement cell.

If he fails here, then all his efforts will be in vain.

He wasn't entirely confident, but he boldly went ahead with the plan. After all, his brother Misha was an officer there, so at least he had someone to support him.

At the same time, he couldn't be sure whether the few officers who had temporarily joined the Northern Association without even formal membership could participate.

It should be noted that some senior members were unwilling to participate in the operation, and even Prince Trubetskoy was pessimistic about it.

He himself said that if there weren't enough men, he wouldn't take command of the insurgent forces; instead, he might negotiate with Nikolai in the square.

This wavering actually reflects his foresight of the pessimistic prospects of this operation.

At this time, only the Moscow Regiment took action. When Alexander Besturzhev arrived at the camp, Prince Sepin-Rostovsky, who had temporarily joined the regiment, took action with his 6th Company.

Mikhail's 3rd Company also quickly followed suit. Almost as soon as Alexander Besturzhev arrived at the camp, the 6th Company quickly took control of the regimental headquarters and brought out the Guards regiment's flag.

Two grenadiers from the grenadier company tried to stop them, but they were also wounded.

After capturing the regimental flag, many soldiers who were unaware of the situation followed suit. Soldiers always followed their officers and advanced towards the location of the regimental flag.

They obeyed orders in the same way when they were in the original Guards, and they fought many tough battles during the expedition.

The Bestuzhev brothers were pleasantly surprised to see this, as they had managed to bring out half of the soldiers, which was the first step in the success of this operation.

However, just as the troops left the camp, Major General Shin Shin, the commander of the Imperial Guard Brigade, rode up on horseback and blocked the soldiers' advance.

"Brothers, what are you doing? Seizing the military flag is a violation of discipline. Go back now, and even if this didn't happen, no one will punish you!"

Although he is usually quite trustworthy, considering the Semyonovsky Group's experience, which only resulted in the restoration of his original senior guard status two years ago, this matter cannot be taken too seriously.

It should be noted that Arakcheyev's military reforms were quite severe in terms of punishment.

Among the soldiers of the Guards Moscow Regiment, several of their company commanders advocated for the abolition of corporal punishment and had the support of the soldiers.

"Brothers, stop! Get back to the camp!"

But his words were superfluous; instead, Sepin-Rostovsky pulled him down and swung his sword at his head.

It was only because the hat was quite durable that it managed to cut the general's face until he was covered in blood and passed out. After that, they continued on their way.

It's more convenient to have an undercover agent in the regiment, especially since these company commanders have actually abolished corporal punishment, and the soldiers support them.

At this moment, the Bestuzhev brothers also rode over on horseback to announce their position.

"Brothers, the Russian people have suffered too much. Only a constitutional monarchy is the right path. We are here in Senate Square hoping that Konstantin Pavlovich will be our emperor. We are all officers of the Guards, and we will suggest that the emperor shorten his service period from twenty-five years to fifteen years, so that you brothers can go home sooner and reunite with your families."

This argument is quite tempting. Soldiers trust their company commanders, and even though they have overthrown the brigade commander, they feel there are no problems following them now.

They've already come out, and the military flag is in front of them.

Then the regimental commander arrived, but Major General Frederick also ordered them to return. He was then slashed by that reckless company commander, and a colonel who tried to stop them was also hit with a rifle butt.

Now things are really messed up; there's no stopping it now. But the Moscow delegation hasn't reported anything regarding intelligence, which means there's a problem.

They wanted to win over the Imperial Guards Jäger, but the short men in black had the camp gates tightly shut, and the Moscow regiment couldn't do anything about it.

It's understandable that they couldn't be persuaded. Solovyov had been a regimental commander here before, and he had done a lot of ideological education. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to lead their most elite First Battalion across half the globe to China.

Solovyov had a firm grasp on the concepts of patriotism, love for the Tsar, love for the people, and obedience to orders. Moreover, since the passing of Tsar Paul, the Imperial Guards had almost never used corporal punishment. The punishments were mainly manual labor and running laps, especially digging earthworks in the training grounds, which were much more effective as punishments than corporal punishment.

Even when the Bestuzhev brothers loudly proclaimed outside that they wanted to shorten military service and abolish corporal punishment, they remained unmoved.

The main reason is that during the period of service, the families of the officers and soldiers live not far from the station and have the opportunity to visit their relatives every year. In other words, the officers and soldiers do not usually live at home.

In addition, the group did not use corporal punishment.

One of the guards on duty didn't forget to shout to the Bestuzhev brothers outside: "Sir, what you say makes sense, but we have a very happy time during our service. The regimental commander has been very good to us. Corporal punishment has been gone since Prince Bagration became our regimental commander. Moreover, the nephew of our former regimental commander, Prince Solovyov, is on duty here. Do you want to say a few words to him?"

The Solovyov family was a truly bizarre political spectrum, a large extended family of relatives with close blood ties yet holding three different ranks of nobility. Some relatives didn't even have official certificates, while others, though registered nobles, didn't even have titles. The very famous Solovyov himself was a general and a prince, while his father and brother were counts, and the rest of his relatives were barons.

As for political leanings, although there are many open-minded people in their family, and the prince himself has always been open-minded, he would even do it himself on his territory if he could. However, he doesn't do things that would mess things up, which has earned him the unanimous respect of the association members.

However, Vselovod Solovyov, who was in this group, was Vinyamin's younger brother, who was a member of the Southern Association but a supporter of the monarchy.

Even Alexander Besturzhev was afraid of getting hit by the Solovyov family's signature six-shot close-range attack when talking to him; the officers in that family were all of impeccable personal qualities.

In order not to make a fool of themselves and waste time, the Bestuzhev brothers led the soldiers of the Guards Moscow Regiment to continue their advance toward Senate Square.

Nikolai also spotted the guards coming from the Fontanka River embankment from afar; there were at least half a regiment of them.

He was also very worried, and even arranged for his adjutant to prepare a carriage for his family in St. Petersburg. If anything unexpected happened, his mother, wife, children, pregnant sister-in-law, and nieces should run to Tsarskoye Selo first. There were only two men at home, and he and Mikhail would stay here to hold things off.

In case of any further unforeseen circumstances, Solovyov is too far from St. Petersburg, so he will have Dibich issue an order to mobilize the garrisons in St. Petersburg and Vyborg to counter the Guards' rebellion.

But he was overthinking things. At that moment, Mikhail was riding his horse towards the Moscow Regiment's camp, and even stopped the remaining soldiers there, making them complete their oath in the camp.

Of course, when Mikhail arrived, he found that they were only refusing to take the oath, so he patiently persuaded them again and promised to cancel the corporal punishment. As the leader of the group, and no matter who became the Tsar, he was still the Grand Duke and had some influence.

Everyone knows that the nine siblings have a much better relationship than other imperial families. Mikhail has always been doted on by his three older brothers and five older sisters, and he has no claim to the throne, plus his nephew is ahead of him.

And he brought up Solovyov, the veterans of the Guards Moscow Regiment, who were all from the 2nd Battalion of the Prussian Regiment. Although the most senior among the current recruits was Solovyov when he was the battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the Prussian Regiment, he had heard about how the 1st Battalion commander operated in the regiment back then.

In addition, he was the hero who defeated Napoleon. No matter which of these guys became emperor, they would definitely use him to lead the army. Even the little prince was raised on his wife's milk.

In short, Mikhail's persuasion was successful, and after half of the brothers returned and took their oaths, they stayed in the barracks.

Fearing something might happen, he took his entourage to Senate Square to see if he could bring back the remaining soldiers from his regiment.

When he rode his horse to the square, he saw the soldiers lined up there.

His entire regiment was here, but some of the men were holding guns and watching the crowd outside the square warily.

Mikhail saw Nikolai's entourage approaching on horseback from afar and stopped the man.

"Valodya, what are you going to do?"

"Your Highness, by order of the Emperor, go to see the Governor of St. Petersburg."

Miloradovich visited a favorite actress, 21-year-old Miss Treseva, this morning, bringing flowers and gifts.

Although he knew that some people were plotting, he only dealt with a small number of them. In fact, when he left home that morning, he had no idea how big of a problem had occurred with the Imperial Guard.

The commander of the Imperial Guard reported directly to the Tsar. Just as he arrived at Miss Treseva's house in his carriage and sat down, the messenger arrived.

"My lord, His Majesty requests your presence at Senate Square. There are soldiers from the Moscow Guards Regiment gathered there. They refuse to swear an oath to His Majesty and have some other demands."

After hearing this, Miloradovich thought it was just like the Semyonovsky Group, making some demands. He decided to do things the same way as last time, and if things didn't escalate, he would persuade his brothers to go back. At this point, these experienced generals who had fought in battles could still exert influence to pardon the soldiers.

Moreover, the Guards should be able to listen to what he says. In terms of winning over the hearts and minds of the soldiers, Solovyov has done so much that he is on par with him.

"Girl, it looks like we won't be able to enjoy a long chat today. I'll come over again if I have time."

Even though he's 54, he still dresses impeccably. From young girls to old ladies, everyone likes him. Although he has a bit of a temper, he's always a gentle and handsome middle-aged man towards his wife and the girls.

He then opted not to take the carriage, but instead rode a horse to the square.

He trusted his brothers and believed that as long as he persuaded them properly, nothing would happen.

Nikolai was also somewhat nervous. Major General Nedgart, the Chief of Staff of the Guards, had already obtained information about several Guards regiments that had been making no moves and had reported it to him.

“Your Majesty, you should not go to the square now. The half-regiment that was pulled out is still unknown to us. However, there are officers in the Guards Grenadier Regiment who are disrupting the oath-taking ceremony, and in the Guards Finnish Regiment, the commander and his subordinate officers are arguing about the validity of their loyalty. I do not think it is safe to do so at this time. You should order the reliable Guards to come here to protect you.”

“If that’s the case, then send the brothers from the First Battalion. They are the most reliable right now. Pasha, go and relay the order. You are the flag bearer, you know what to do.”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Pasha rode off to deliver the order. Nikolai was still a little nervous. Before Pasha could turn his horse around, he whispered something to his master's son.

"You are responsible for relaying orders: if the number of rebels is too large and a fierce battle breaks out, escort the women away from here."

“But Your Majesty, to put you in such danger is not the conduct of a proper Imperial Guard officer. Loyalty is the most important quality of the Imperial Guard. I will return and stay by your side forever.”

“Good Pasha, your parents raised you well, but this place is dangerous, and it’s not a battlefield. But since you’re willing to come back, Lieutenant, then you must fulfill your duty as a soldier.”

The main reason was that Nikolai himself was unsure of his safety. He didn't want anything to happen to his master's son and niece's fiancé at this time, so he still cared about his family and kinship.

He couldn't guarantee which regiment was absolutely loyal; probably only two old regiments were truly loyal, but they couldn't all be mobilized immediately.

He was relieved when a messenger from the Jägerdü came on horseback to say that the Jägerdü were all in their barracks and had not been incited by the officers who had taken the Moscow Regiment to the square.

At least four veteran regiments and Pavlovsky regiments were on his side, and others were riding in from the direction of the rebels. (End of Chapter)