Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Neither Yermolov nor Paskovich had any impact on Griboyedov after their arrival. In fact, Paskovich was closer to Griboyedov and married his cousin Lisa.

The problem Paskovich is facing is that the Persians have surged across the border, attacking Elizabethville on one side and Tbilisi on the other. Armenians and other Christians have fled into the mountains, while Azerbaijanis, Kurds, and other groups whose faiths are closer to the Shah's have come out to support the Shah's army, which appears to number as many as 100,000.

Of the militias organized by Russia in the border region, only the Armenians are still on their side.

Paskovich was initially worried that the mountain people of Dagestan would also cause trouble, but to his surprise, Solovyov had previously visited the area, mediated and adjudicated the case, allocated land, and established new living rules. Not only did these most troublesome fellows not cause any trouble, but after the Persian Shah's envoys arrived, they said that they were doing very well here and did not need the Shah to come again.

There was no way around it; Solovyov was too fair in his dealings, even essentially exempting these mountain people from taxes. They only needed to pay taxes at the market when they went to the fair, and the tax rate was uniformly reduced.

Solovyov believed that the way to make money in these places was to allow the mountain people to move down from the mountains and then grant them a tax exemption for another twenty to thirty years; he had a long-term vision.

Shah was furious and decided to send a cavalry unit across the Karabakh front to attack the Russian rear and teach these mountain people a lesson.

However, the mountain people spontaneously organized an armed force to resist the Shah's Persian army and defeated their vanguard.

Paskovic therefore didn't need to worry too much about his backing; he now had a militia of four or five thousand infidels, unlike the unreliable guys in front of him.

Therefore, the eastern front was stabilized. However, the situation in Tbilisi was different. There were fewer troops there, with most of the regular army in the east, only naval infantry from the Black Sea Fleet and some troops that had previously been stationed in Tbilisi.

The defenses there are not adequate, and Paskovich is somewhat worried because only a fifth-rank civilian, Griboyedov, is there. He is even higher in rank than the colonels and lieutenant colonels, and is acting as the governor of Tbilisi.

Therefore, he wrote to Griboyedov reminding him to recruit more militia to strengthen the defenses of Tbilisi.

The Persians not only launched a war without declaring war, but also burned Armenian villages along the way because the Armenians were fleeing Shah rule and seeking refuge with the Russians.

Therefore, many refugees came to Tbilisi. Paskovich knew that the Persians wouldn't think of planting spies among the Armenians, but he still demanded that Griboyedov drive them all out.

However, Griboyedov did not do so. He wrote a letter to Mr. Hoven, telling him that he was prepared to settle a group of refugees in Tbilisi and Gori, and then mobilize the army to fight.

The Persians lingered on the road, and coming from the east of Georgia, they also had to traverse mountainous terrain, so their progress was not fast.

Armenians, in particular, were so afraid of the Persians that they either fled into the mountains, sought out underground cities on the outskirts of towns, or went to Georgia.

At least the Russians were Christians; even if they came to impose heavy taxes, at least they wouldn't kill anyone.

The Turks and Persians, they really killed people.

For the Persians, supplies were scarce, so the Persian army had to transport supplies from the rear, as there were very few supplies available to be requisitioned from the front.

On the Russian side, Griboyedov was a fifth-rank civil servant, equivalent to a colonel, but his connections in the Caucasus were extremely strong. He was the secretary of the two military commanders above him and a relative of the next one, and he also had a good relationship with Solovyov, the governor who had returned to St. Petersburg.

It was this relationship, coupled with his generally good manners, that made these colonels and lieutenant colonels willing to listen to him.

Some people were willing to obey the orders he gave.

However, the naval infantry and naval artillery also came here on a mission.

The battleship "Azov" encountered the frigates that had been recalling them en route. They had just been deployed in Greek waters and were returning to escort naval infantry and the Crimean governor's artillery.

"Sir, Lieutenant Nakhimov reports to you."

"Lieutenant, what have you brought? I see cannons."

"This isn't a cannon; it's new equipment for Lieutenant Colonel Tushin of the experimental artillery unit, arranged by General Solovyov."

How do they use them?

"You'll understand when you get to the battlefield. You'll just need to prepare more gunpowder and lead bullets. The lead bullets should be of regular shape. Also, you'll need to clean up the equipment."

Seeing these dozens of gun barrels assembled into a single "cannon," Griboyedov understood.

"This thing is pretty good. Is it for volley fire?"

"It is launched continuously and is highly reliable."

PS: The reason why the 28-shot repeating weapon from the Qing Dynasty couldn't be widely adopted was because early repeating weapons were too unreliable. If it were truly useful, Emperor Kangxi would probably have given it to the Divine Machine Battalion. The Qing rulers weren't blind; they always understood which weapons were effective.

Moreover, if it weren't for the officer leading the team, the commander would probably have thought this thing was a cannon.

It was after the Self-Strengthening Movement in the Qing Dynasty that this thing was also called "mountain-splitting cannon". It was a continuous-fire cannon that was loaded with projectiles.

A well-trained marksman can achieve a maximum rate of fire of 400 rounds per minute.

For an average marksman, being able to fire 200 shots is considered good, but that's more than enough for the front lines.

The only drawback at present is that, due to its shape, turning and shooting are not very convenient.

Those comical Pakor machine guns were fine in that respect, but because of their reliability, Tushin only brought this one.

He had been an artilleryman for forty years, but because of his background, he could only reach the rank of lieutenant colonel. Solovyov promised him that before he retired, he would at least make him a colonel so that he could go home with medals and a decent pension.

If there were another war, he could even retire as a general, despite his humble origins.

He decided to do a good job, so he stayed in the experimental artillery unit. Last time in Sweden, he had seen Russian rockets, and Solovyov reportedly named one after his wife.

The machine gun was named after a woman, Princess Golitsyna, whose nickname was "Queen of Spades," after her.

"Place two guns here to block the road ahead, and two more on the hills to protect the artillery flanks. These two artillery positions must be well secured."

How many new weapons did you bring?

"There are eight in total, deployed on both flanks of the artillery positions, either to block the roads. In addition, we also have some matchlock guns, which look like extended versions of heavy muskets. In the mountains, two or three people can carry these things, and they can be used as 3-pound cannons. Their power is still not a problem."

Griboyedov, having participated in duels, understood the importance of firearms and agreed with Tushin's plan to use these machine guns to cover the artillery's flanks and block roads. In addition, the army in Tbilisi consisted more of light cavalry and elite cavalry, all skilled in mobile and flexible warfare.

According to the plan discussed by the diplomat and officers, the Tbilisi militia would be mobilized to defend the city and fill the gaps left by the guerrillas who went out to fight.

The guerrillas defended the front lines and the core artillery positions, which were the most critical areas.

The only senior officer was Nina's father, but he wasn't on active duty. He attended military conferences and participated in deployments, but those officers might not have been so obedient to a Georgian.

This was mainly due to his previous relationship with several regimental commanders, but he was the one who organized the militia.

Everyone was waiting for the Persians to arrive, but they didn't arrive for four days.

When the Persian army arrived outside Tbilisi, they first encountered a detachment of Terek Cossack cavalry. They attempted to use the superiority of their own Sipahi cavalry to annihilate the enemy, but were instead met with a hail of bullets.

"The Russians are playing their old tricks again, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

“You used to be one of them, and a cavalryman at that.”

Samson Khan's original name was Samson Magintsev. He was a sergeant in the Russian army. After fleeing to Persia, he gathered Russian deserters and formed the Bahadur Legion, which generally served as the personal guard of the Shah or the crown prince. Although their fighting strength was not as good as the Russian army, it was still quite strong.

More importantly, he was familiar with the situation of the Russian army in the Caucasus, and had provided the Persian side with a large amount of reliable intelligence over the past two decades.

It was on this expedition to Tbilisi that he brought his troops, and although they did not want to fight the Russian army, they still had to provide some advice to the leaders of the Persian army.

Moreover, he was a deserter from the Nizhny Novgorod Cavalry Regiment, a group of Russian deserters he had gathered. Many of them had already started families here, and as Griboyedov sarcastically remarked, it was indeed difficult for them to resist such temptation.

These deserters brought with them a lot of intelligence, including news of Solovyov's inspection of the Caucasus. After all, there were deserters in the Russian army every year. Serfdom was one factor, but even though Solovyov greatly improved the service system and the environment of military settlements, and planned to shorten the service period, deserters always existed.

This tradition still plays out today in camps on the right bank of the Dnieper River; desertion is a Slavic tradition, especially among poor people who are conscripted.

Yermolov's tough stance was to capture them one by one and hang them.

But after Nicholas came to power, he instructed Paskovich to recruit these deserters. If they were willing to return, they could be incorporated into the active-duty army, their families could be settled in the south, and their military service would even include those who had served in Persia.

Retirement is a very promising prospect; in fact, Nikolai himself has already started using psychological tactics even before Solovyov has taught them.

However, this only shows tolerance and fails to grasp the core issue.

If bringing back important intelligence is rewarded, it would be very useful for spying on the situation inside Persia.

These guards knew a little about the Persian language, and their presence around the camp was enough for them to gather information.

Moreover, they were not proactive in fighting the Russian army, but they were much better at fighting the Turks.

They weren't very enthusiastic today, and the Crown Prince also knew that the Bahadur Legion was an elite force and shouldn't be wasted on such a place.

According to the Persian tradition of more than two thousand years, the first wave of infantry were sent as cannon fodder, while other troops were placed in the rear.

The infantry's formation was loose, but this position was perfect for the Russian artillery.

The enemy's preemptive firing had little effect on the Russian guerrillas hiding behind their fortifications.

They then encountered attacks from the hunters at long range, and their losses were significantly greater than in previous battles.

This is also an experience that the Russian army's snipers have repeatedly learned from the Russo-Turkish War: effective firepower output to inflict more casualties on the enemy.

Seeing this, the Persian cavalry also moved out, coming from the flank of the infantry in an attempt to outflank the Russian artillery positions and outmaneuver them to the rear.

This tactic would have worked fine in the past, especially since the Russian army now had more militia in the city and not enough regular troops.

But machine guns hidden behind the flanks appeared, ready to strike them.

The Persians, relying on the mobility of their cavalry, were not afraid of these "artillerymen." They could rush over and break through the Russian lines in the intervals between rounds of shrapnel fire.

This time, however, they were met with a cacophony of gunfire.

They saw the "cannons" constantly spitting out flames and smoke, and were even somewhat frightened.

Instead of attacking, the cavalry turned their horses around and returned to their own side.

After their cavalry attack failed, the Persians attempted another one, but this time the situation also turned unfavorable.

The loaded Russian machine gun fired dozens more rounds before quickly reloading.

Even weapons that failed to fire successfully in this era would always fire several bullets together under the impact of the gunpowder explosion, eliminating even the most worrying problem of barrel explosion.

In other words, during lulls in combat, we should take more time to maintain our weapons. Many weapons of this era are still not reliable enough, especially newer ones.

When the power of the new weapon was demonstrated, the Russian troops cheered unanimously.

However, many officers still regarded machine guns as "artillery," and that's how they appeared to be. They inflicted huge casualties on the Persians, even more so than artillery.

"But it can't be used to engage in artillery duels, as there's a significant difference in range."

Upon hearing this, Griboyedov understood why they were deployed to block the road or on the flanks of the artillery positions.

As for the Persians, they left behind the corpses of several hundred men in front of the machine gun positions, and dared not launch any further attacks.

Even the battle in Tbilisi entered garbage time as soon as it began. (End of Chapter)