Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 126 Tennis courts in France are prone to duels
There are quite a few people coming to play, but there are bound to be some disputes on the field.

For example, Solovyov and Vasily from the Vyazemsky family have very good cooperation in doubles, but based on their physiques, they play two completely incompatible styles of tennis.

The tall and strong Vyazemsky plays serve-and-volley tennis, while Solovyov, who is not big enough, is always at the baseline, which is really inconsistent.

Logically speaking, the body shapes and playing styles of these two players should be opposite.

But in this era, Solovyov's playing style is quite unconventional. The strength of the racket nowadays makes it easy to break when playing.

He hit the ball with a powerful forehand, breaking the racket and causing the ball to hit a dead corner.

"40-15, two set points!" If we only play one set, the score would have been 5:2, which means we're about to win, but we can't play without a racket.

But at this moment, the two opponents were not willing to accept the fact that there was no winner.

The reason is simple. After all, they haven't lost yet, although they are on the verge of losing at any time.

"What, this still needs to be played alone?"

Vyazemsky also found it ridiculous, but he did not intend to argue with them, while the two cavalry officers were still not giving in.

"We didn't lose either, so we still have to decide the winner!"

"Yes, it's a best-of-three match. I want to play singles. I don't want to play with you. I want this major."

Solovyov didn't understand. He just wanted to help play today, and victory was in sight. He was not keen on tennis. This was the first time he had seen someone looking for trouble. Regardless of whether he would refuse or not, the conflict might lead to a duel.

Such a troublemaker came to him, which made him highly alert.

His entire mind was filled with the scene in Kurosawa Akira's film "Seven Samurai" where Kyuzo competed with his opponent. It was quite funny to encounter such a thing on the tennis court.

And he always needs to overcome his serving problem.

It was Vyazemsky who was there to tell him what to do.
"There's something wrong with your throwing gesture. It needs to go from your fingertips and be quicker."

After Solovyov realized where his problem lay, he began to practice a few.

The other party was not in a hurry and asked him to practice a few times.

"This major has great power and a fast ball speed, but the other aspects are lacking. There are still some gaps on both the forehand and backhand. I will hit it that way when the time comes."

Solovyov hits the ball with both hands for both forehand and backhand, and it seems to be the case, but if he hits the ball with one arm, the situation is different.

After the game started, there were some people watching the fun on the small stands on one side, and even some women. It was a place for young officers to show off their talents while playing basketball.

Solovyov glanced at the stands and saw a few young girls. Although he was not very familiar with them, the way they were dressed showed that they must be from high-class families.

The other side was from Prince Mikhail's regiment. In fact, Solovyov was not too reassured. If a duel really broke out and a mediator was needed, he asked Vyazemsky to leave first and go find Prince Peter.

But at this moment, Peter Dolgorukov has not arrived yet, and two young girls have appeared here today.

"Misha, why are you playing tennis again?"

"Your Highness, it's just a competition."

Maria asked him, and he had to answer. Whenever he developed a new business, this most honest among the five sisters would come to make trouble, and even ask him to work illegally. There were too many stories about him just from copying music scores and hearing them!

"When you have time, you must play tennis with us sisters!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she immediately stuffed these words in with an innocent smile, which was actually a little more "scary" than the mischievous Ekaterina behind her.

If a little girl of this age asks you for something, it's really hard to refuse.

But he didn't say anything, and the first game was still his serve.

But he made a double fault at the start.

"0 to 15!"

"This 'idiot' usually looks very smart, why does he use so much force to serve the ball?"

"Yeah, isn't it good to just lightly flick the ball over? That's the move. I've seen my sister-in-law play basketball. Even though she can't hit it very far, it looks really good."

Ekaterina was still trying to show her skills, but Louisa was in poor health and had been focusing all her attention on her children, so she seldom came to the tennis court recently.

As she gestured, Solovyov served a very fast ball, but the opponent couldn't receive it.

"15 flat!"

This involves a great risk in pursuit of lethality, but the effect is quite good.

The guy on the opposite side now felt that it was a bit difficult for him to receive the serve, and he missed the third ball.

However, Solovyov always made mistakes with this style of play, and he was not always accurate in his serve. When the score was 40 to 30, he himself felt troubled, and the ball landed within the bounds, which enabled him to win the first game.

In the second game, the opponent wanted to use Solovyov's two angles to play. At the beginning, he actually took advantage of the forehand, but when it came to adjusting the backhand, he didn't expect that this guy could hit the ball with one arm.

The ball was hit with the left hand, and the action looked very cool.

"'Idiot' also hit the ball beautifully."

Maria's eyes were sparkling with excitement, but it was just admiration. After all, she had extracted all kinds of knowledge from Solovyov and even asked him to write short scripts for her.

"Sister, then he is not a 'dummy'."

This backhand ball hit the blind corner and tied the score.

Seeing this, Solovyov could feel that if he played ball, the opponent would probably not be his match. He just had to try not to hit the ball too hard when catching it, lest he hurt himself.

After all, the speed of his shots, as long as he controlled it better and didn't pursue too much power and speed, would be acceptable, at least it would be hard to receive. In this way, the game basically fell into a one-sided situation. Although the first set was not beaten 6-0, the 6-1 was still pretty ugly.

It can be seen that the opponent was still a little unconvinced, but he did not expect that after Solovyov became familiar with the court environment and batting methods, he would be so lethal. He was so angry that he kept smashing his racket.

Solovyov knew that there was a tennis player in Russia who liked to smash his racket to vent his anger. Maybe all Russians with bad tempers are like this.

Then he scored 6-2 and Solovyov quickly won the game.

However, the other party was still somewhat unwilling to accept and was clearly looking to cause trouble.

"Why, you lost the game, what do you want to do?"

They seemed to be ready for a duel, but before it even started, someone came up to mediate.

"Asshole, you want to be embarrassed after losing a game, right?"

Prince Mikhail arrived. He was an officer of the Pavlograd Regiment and a higher rank than the hussar. His shout put an end to any possible dispute.

"I'm sorry, but you know there are always some troublemakers among the Hussars. If you don't take the initiative to provoke him, he will still cause trouble for you."

"I understand. We are friends after all."

Of course, Mikhail also saw Ekaterina sitting in the stands, and the girl stood up and waved her hands to her.

Although she is still young, this girl is actually very precocious. However, because she is always with her second brother Konstantin, she particularly likes those in uniforms, especially Prince Mikhail who saved her.

"Your Highness, what's wrong with you?"

"I sprained my foot a few days ago, and it still hurts a little. Do you want me to take a look?"

She was quite proactive, and it could be seen that she was wearing a long skirt today, but no socks on her feet. The mules she wore were also loose and the size was obviously larger, for the convenience of applying medicine on her small feet.

She just lifted her skirt slightly to show Prince Mikhail that there was indeed ointment on her ankle, and her right ankle was still a little swollen.

"Your Highness, then you should rest in the palace."

"I can't stay idle. If I stay indoors, I'll suffocate to death!"

Solovyov found it quite funny. This girl didn't take the initiative to tease him now, but she was like this at such a young age. She would be extraordinary in the future. Among you named Ekaterina, only Prince Vasily Dolgorukov's daughter was quite well-behaved, but that girl was even younger and went to Dresden with her parents and the whole family.

"Your Highness, you probably forgot what I told you to do. You should get more rest. If you're careless again, you might sprain your other foot and you won't be able to walk anymore!"

"In that case, Prince Mikhail, come and hold me."

Ekaterina didn't want to bother with Solovyov. After all, this guy always put safety first. She wanted something exciting.

She might not even understand where her fondness for the Hussar Colonel came from, and she also heard some news that shocked her a little.

"But, Your Highness, I have just received an order to go to Paris."

Solovyov knew about it; after all, it was an order signed by Tsar Paul himself, and he was serving as an aide-de-camp in a delegation heading to Paris.

"If you go to Paris, I heard there are many interesting places there. Please tell me about them when you come back."

Generally speaking, Catherine is not as good at expressing her emotions as her three sisters. Although the four sisters are often together, there are always some differences between them, more or less.

This is a "deal" that must be made. The Hussar colonel will be in Paris for at least a year on this official business trip.

According to common sense, this is a normal transfer, but given his family background, he usually doesn't have to travel so far to brush up his qualifications, and there is still a secret negotiation mission between Russia and France.

From this point of view, the Tsar's own will should be to negotiate with France, but it has not yet escalated to the point of declaring war on Britain. Maintaining "armed neutrality" is still Paul's established policy, which is also a headache for the British.

"You're going to Paris this time. Forget it. For this kind of thing, I'd better ask it myself. Asking on the streets of Paris: 'Who is my friend's stepmother's cousin?' sounds stupid. If there really is an idiot, I'd better do it myself!"

Hearing this, everyone started laughing, including Solovyov himself.

"But you are not stupid at all. In fact, you are very smart. My two brothers have also been assigned tasks."

Mikhail said that his eldest brother Vladimir had to go out to lead troops, and his second brother had to go to Dresden to do business, and the three brothers would not be in St. Petersburg for some time.

Although it did not cause any conflict and did not seem to be suspicious, many officers loyal to Paul and Alexander's confidants were out on business, which did leave the power around Paul empty.

However, Count von Paalen still did not dare to take action now. After all, there were still many loyal officers around Paul.

These people who plotted rebellion were generally strong on the outside but weak on the inside, forgetting their lives when they saw small gains and cherishing their bodies when they did big things. Many of them were just waiting to pick up the ready-made ones, and they were just a makeshift team no matter how you looked at it.

Moreover, the British support for them did not deepen with the changes in Russian policies. In the decision-making of this era, due to the backwardness of communication technology and the distance between the capitals of various countries, the speed of information dissemination must have been relatively slow.

In fact, they were still waiting for support from all sides. After all, the attack on the Crown Prince's bedroom had led to the transfer of most of the Guards officers of the Semenovsky Guards Regiment (now also the Crown Prince's Guards Regiment). It was indeed not feasible to carry out any form of military coup.

Although the defenses at Peterhof Palace seemed lax, it was actually a loose exterior but tight interior. Not to mention that the reckless Guards officer was beaten to death, this also tested the reaction speed of the Palace Guards.

With the current level of alert, even pest control may be difficult.

In fact, Solovyov himself had also imagined the possibility of these coups, and he had even considered the occasions when Paul would summon some officers to dinner.

However, the Tsar himself did not have the habit of "big" or "small" celebrations, which was quite reassuring.

As for the weapons that can be brought to the scene, they must be strictly checked. As the commander of the first battalion, his salary is not that of a white-collar worker. The inspection of ladies may be more relaxed, and the women around Paul are relatively fixed. However, men will be checked to see if they have daggers or muskets on them.

But when it comes to things like poison, it’s really hard to check, and there’s no need to do so.

Because the conspiracy group's methods of using daggers and poison have now been rejected, they themselves don't even know what they want to do, which also confuses the outside world.

Without a clear goal and no reasonable means proposed, no one can predict what kind of conspiracy they are going to carry out.

(End of this chapter)