Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

The bullet was fired, but Kakhovsky was too excited to know much about the performance of the latest revolver.

Because he was a poor nobleman, the pistol he used in the army was always an older model, which required him to press the muzzle down or raise it slightly before aiming. Therefore, he chose the method that he was more used to.

Even while serving in the cuirassiers, he hadn't been able to get himself a good gun. This time, Ryliev gave him the latest Model 1825 revolver, with smaller bullets that were easier to carry and could be easily concealed inside his coat.

If it were done by submitting a petition, shooting Nikolai at extremely close range would almost certainly succeed.

But his shot hit Miloradovich in the shoulder, startling Oberensky who was standing next to him.

"What are you doing!"

Then another shot hit Miloradovich in the back.

But with such a small bullet, if it doesn't hit a vital organ and cause a pneumothorax, it's hard to say whether it will kill him.

It's important to know that, historically speaking, Miloradovich was unlucky because the bullets fired by Kakhovsky were homemade metal pellets.

It is well known that the more homemade a weapon is, the more powerful it is, such as the "Japanese server's one-shot gun".

Now that we've used standardized methods, we might not be able to kill him.

He was still complaining when Miloradovich fell off his horse.

“God, Obolensky, look, even if someone shoots in the back, I’m going to suffer twice as much. But it’s all for the best, it wasn’t the brothers who fired the shot, and it wasn’t you who fired the shot.”

As for Kakhovsky firing again, even his companions couldn't bear to watch any longer.

"That's enough, Kakhovsky, that's enough."

The Bestuzhev brothers stopped him and turned him aside.

Miloradovich's adjutant ordered the general's coachman to bring the carriage over; they were going to the guards cavalry barracks, where there was a doctor on duty who was very experienced in treating injuries from bullets and falls from horses.

He had fought so many battles in his life, and he had walked around the French lines like his own backyard without ever being hit by a single bullet. But in this place, he was shot twice, which was incredibly unlucky.

But the governor's being shot changed the situation all at once.

The Finnish regiment was on the other side of the river, blocked by one of their own platoons near the bridge. This was because many of the young officers in the regiment still supported those in Senate Square, which made their movements slow and hesitant.

But Miloradovich being shot in the square made the regimental and battalion commanders restless.

"Damn it, which bastard did this?!"

Several corps that had been mobilized but were not very enthusiastic, and who might even have joined them, are now either halted or awaiting orders from the Tsar himself.

Nikolai also heard the gunshots, followed by chaos on the edge of the square. He himself was surprised when he heard the news.

Then he turned to Mikhail and said, “It’s a miracle we weren’t shot this morning.”

As for the current situation, it is obviously even more uncontrollable. With some of the Guard Grenadiers joining the people in Senate Square, the opposing force has now assembled.

Nikolai was still hesitant. He wanted to send his cavalry forward, but remained cautious and did not take any action.

He was waiting for the artillery and all the other troops to arrive.

At least the First Battalion of the Prussian Regiment arrived quickly. They lined up around the Tsar, but they were all infantrymen and could not provide any protection for the Tsar, who was on horseback.

"Your Majesty, the 1st Battalion of the Preobrazhensky Group has been dispatched to await your instructions."

"You can just line up here."

"To avoid misunderstandings, many of us did not bring bullets."

"That's all. You just need to line up."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The officers of the Imperial Guard, in particular, did not want their own men to fight each other.

Nicholas then sent men over, including the local metropolitan and the patriarch of St. Petersburg, to persuade the soldiers, but they refused.

Seeing this situation, Nikolai also began to mobilize his troops. Although he was very patient, he knew that if the other side continued to delay, the situation would become very bad.

But avoiding violence is also one of his principles.

If bloodshed occurs, it is inherently difficult to manage, and this is something politicians should be aware of.

Unfortunately, the people in the square probably weren't buying it.

Now, something even stranger has happened: they haven't seen Trubetskoy yet, so they're electing a new leader on the spot.

But Nikolai Besturzhev, being a stubborn navy man, retorted.

“Although we Imperial Guards infantry are infantrymen, I am a naval officer and it is not easy for me to command the army.”

He refused, and Alexander and Mikhail, seeing their elder brother like this, could do nothing about it.

Of the officers present, only Oberensky, who was originally slated to serve as Trubetskoy's deputy and chief of staff, was qualified, but the wrangling and nomination process would take some time.

At this moment, Pasha hurriedly rode back on horseback.

"His Majesty."

"Didn't I tell you to prepare the carriage? Why are you back again?"

“It was Maria Feodorovna, Her Majesty the Queen Mother, who sent me back. The carriage was arranged by someone.”

Nikolai recalled his childhood, when he and his younger brother were taken from the palace by their nanny and fled with his sisters.

Come to think of it, the Empress Dowager has been through this process before. She didn't run away last time, but she's experienced this time.

"Now that you're back, go and see how the artillery preparations are going."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Aren't you going to insist on waiting for the oath?"

“Your Majesty, you have gone to the Senate and have been granted allegiance to us as our emperor. The process is completely legal. It’s just that there is no time to publish newspapers and post notices now.”

“That makes sense. Don’t go to the artillery. Go to your uncle Speransky and have him draft a formal document that pardons the officers and soldiers in Senate Square if they are willing to disband and return to their barracks to complete their oaths.”

Just as Pasha was about to turn his horse around, Mikhail spoke up again. "Brother, when I went to the Moscow Regiment, some officers and soldiers of the Guards were wounded, and now Miloradovich has also been attacked. Even after the pardon, there will probably still be an investigation."

"That's true. Pasha, what would your father do?"

Since he is the Tsar, the title has to be changed. Now that Pasha is here, we should test him.

"If it were my father, he would probably pardon the soldier and then investigate the officer who committed the assault. If the circumstances were serious, he would probably send him to a military court."

“That’s a good idea. We should still pardon them. What about that Yakubovich? Why haven’t we made a move yet? Durnovo, go to the square and see what’s going on.”

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Brother, I'll go take a look later too."

Mikhail believed that the Tsar's adjutant was probably no different from air in the eyes of these people, since he was just conveying orders. They would think that this person had no effect and that someone with a certain status was needed.

At this time, a squad of Guards grenadiers attempted to go to the Winter Palace, but the Pavlovsk Regiment, which had sworn allegiance to the palace, came out from Millennium Street and, together with the Guards engineers, controlled the perimeter of the Winter Palace. They even built barricades with sandbags, turning St. Petersburg into Paris, so the guards did not act rashly.

Upon seeing them, the grenadiers on both sides could only stare at each other. When a squadron of Imperial Guard cavalry passed by, the grenadier companies didn't dare to move. They were afraid of being surrounded, and without clear instructions, they simply headed towards the square.

As a result, both sides' forces, along with onlookers, were all gathered around Senate Square.

When Nikolai's adjutant arrived at the destination, he found that the trip had been in vain.

The Tsar's pardon had not been conveyed at all, and some soldiers, feeling "deceived" by Nicholas, raised their guns in a threatening gesture, preventing Durnovo from getting close. So they rode back to Nicholas.

This time, Nikolai was bound to get angry, just like his father, easily angered when deceived. But even so, he did not give the order to attack immediately, but only ordered the Imperial Guard cavalry to approach the vicinity of the square, especially the side of the Neva River.

Meanwhile, the Finnish Guards regiment finally calmed down and prepared to line up and join in to support Nikolai's Guards cavalry.

As the division commander of the Imperial Guard, Mikhail believed that most of the soldiers gathered in Senate Square were his own men. He felt obligated to persuade them to return to their barracks, so he personally rode up to the front of the column.

However, in the ranks of the Imperial Guards infantry, civilian officer Wilhelm von Kuhlbek attempted to shoot Mikhail with a pistol.

He was the commander of the Imperial Guard and the brother of Constantine and Nicholas; his words could easily shake the soldiers.

Then, just as he raised his gun, a bearded veteran among the sailors, Dorofeev, stopped him.

"Master, what are you trying to do? You're trying to shoot His Highness? You're insane!"

Then the pistols were fired into the air. Seeing this, Mikhail could only shout from a distance, but the Imperial Guard infantry had to get close to the formation to have any effect.

So, this attempt also failed.

Nicholas was getting impatient, but he believed that there should be no bloodshed on his first day of coronation, so he remained patient. As for the cannons being deployed near the square, he even ordered that the first firing should not be live ammunition, but rather as a deterrent.

If the soldiers in the square are still considered "rebels," then there's nothing more to say; they'll have to be hit with artillery shells.

It wasn't until Generals Vasilychkov and Tor arrived at the scene and suggested that a crackdown be carried out that Nikolai made up his mind to open fire on the soldiers in the square, but he still reserved one last effort to persuade them to surrender.

But this time it failed again. Colonel von Steerle, commander of the Guards Grenadier Regiment, was among the troops. He was the only commander of the mutinous regiment who was with his soldiers at this time. However, what this Swiss man was trying to do was to bring his soldiers back.

However, his awkward Russian did not achieve the desired effect.

Now that he had regained his freedom of movement, Kakhovsky saw Stuhller under the statue of Peter the Great and asked him a question.

"Colonel, which side are you on?"

"I swear allegiance to Nikolai Pavlovich and remain loyal to him."

Then he was shot, and an officer next to him said that.

"Brothers, stab him!"

Then the unfortunate Stuhrler fell in a pool of blood, was dragged away from the square by his orderly, and taken to the nearby mansion of Prince Lobanov-Rostovsky, where he died the next day.

By this time, Nikolai's patience had reached its limit; if things dragged on until dark, it would be even more troublesome.

"Fire a blank round first as a warning. If they don't lay down their weapons and return to their camp, then those who resist will be shot."

The cannon was dragged to the edge of the square, but the people in the square remained unmoved; they stayed there.

They believed that the guardsmen wouldn't actually fire on them; if they were, they would have acted long ago after the Tsar gave the order.

Mikhail also tried to approach the group a second time, but someone fired again, and bullets hit his carriage. Seeing this, the coachman, prioritizing the prince's safety, forced the carriage to stop and then turned around.

Turning the carriage around was not easy, and the last attempt to persuade them failed.

In this situation, Nicholas ordered the cavalry to move one more time before the artillery opened fire.

However, the effect was not very good. The soldiers in the square formed a hollow square formation and raised their gun barrels to fire.

The Imperial Guard's cavalry were also well-trained, so they naturally wouldn't charge directly at these hollow square formations. Moreover, even if they wanted to, they would have to consider that horses are timid.

So when this attack failed, Nikolai ordered the artillery to fire.

However, the first round of firing was merely a warning shot; all four cannons fired, but no shells were fired.

At this point, the onlookers in the square began to panic, and some stampedes occurred, resulting in some deaths and injuries among the nearby citizens who were watching the commotion.

When the death toll was later tallied, it was discovered that many civilians had been killed or injured, including 9 women and 19 children.

Some died from being trampled to death, while others were unlucky enough to be hit by stray bullets.

But the artillery fire was mainly aimed at those in the square who were now considered rebels; the shotgun shells might hit someone.

Now, those people in the square realized that the Tsar was serious.

Some began to fight back against the approaching guards, but most chose to flee.

However, the Moscow regiment still had a certain degree of organization. The officers of the Northern Association were mainly concentrated here, and even the two Bestuzhev brothers in the army were planning to bring their men to the Peter and Paul Fortress.

Even though they went, there weren't many people there.

The situation was this: the rebel army from the north crossed the river, and the royal army still had two companies left.

Clearly, there's no chance anymore. (End of Chapter)