Solovyov in Tsarist Russia 1796.

Chapter 139 039 Admiral Deribas suddenly died

Models of steamships were brought into the palace and displayed in cabinets.

But Tsar Paul was not satisfied with this invention. He was always imaginative and believed that ships that could not carry cannons were not good warships. So he was somewhat fond of Solovyov's previous idea of ​​a fast sailing ship.

However, after such a long time, the keels have only just been laid at the Goncharov shipyard and the Admiralty shipyard, and the progress is not that fast.

This was still the 1800s. Was Russian shipbuilding so advanced?

The people on the navy side are always involved in conspiracies, and their procrastination also caused Paul's dissatisfaction.

"Your Majesty, this is because the supply of wood has not kept up."

The man sent by the Naval Committee explained this, causing Paul to look at Admiral de Ribas again.

"What do you think of this matter?"

"Your Majesty, I think the main reason for the shortage of wood is that our country has a vast territory. A lot of wood is shipped from the interior to Petersburg. The wood shipped in winter is still in good condition, but if it is shipped in summer, the quality of these boards is obviously problematic."

"But we can't be like the Danes, who have foresters constantly checking their woodlands in Norway and Denmark. As far as I know, their timber supply is also very tight because of the war in Europe."

"Your Majesty, at least we still have vast forests inland. The situation over there in the Black Sea Fleet is not so bad. Their supplies can be independent from St. Petersburg and they can rely solely on Donbass and Crimea for supplies."

"If we want to improve transportation, horse-drawn carriages are obviously not enough. If we need to build large warships, this amount of transportation capacity for some wood is probably not enough."

Paul, holding his cane, thought for a moment and suddenly issued an order asking Admiral de Ribas to act as chairman of the Naval Committee.

"During this period, you will be in charge of this position, Osip Mihajlovich. I believe that with your experience in the navy, you will be able to coordinate this issue."

De Ribas' mentality changed at this moment. He had been deeply involved in the conspiracy of this palace coup. However, although the Tsar himself dismissed him from several positions in a "humiliating" manner, his responses were quite appropriate when dealing with key issues. He was favored by the Tsar himself, which was a sign that he would be re-employed.

If the acting official does a good job, he will soon be in power. This does not mean that a major official will have to act as an acting official after going abroad. The current person in charge has been "ill" recently, which is a sign that he will be reused.

As for De Ribas himself, his mentality has indeed relaxed, and he is now grateful to the Tsar for re-employing him.

Although he was a core member of the conspiracy group, his attitude had always been wavering, especially after his proposal was rejected.

After he returned to his residence at 1 Million Street, he began to think about this problem.

If these people were to confess, in fact, given the Tsar's narrow-mindedness but magnanimous attitude towards dealing with criminals, they would just return to their own estates. After all, no crime of treason had occurred, and if he confessed, he could still get away with it.

The families of these members of the conspiracy group will not be affected too much. After all, it is not popular in Russia to eradicate the criminals completely. This is a superficial show of mercy - in fact, some methods are to mentally torture these criminals. Their rebellion has not been put into action, and it will not bring harm to their families.

He thought of the verdict on a serial murder case during the Empress's time. A local serf owner, Madame Daria Saltykova, murdered 75 serf women and girls using various tortures on her estate. She was prosecuted for attempted murder of a land surveyor and his wife who worked for her and was sentenced to death according to the traditional Russian art of hanging.

However, the Queen, the head of the serf owners, adopted a punishment that was worse than death for the nobles: she announced the pardon of the lady's death sentence and changed it to life imprisonment without bail. However, while depriving her of her noble status, she was paraded in front of the gallows in front of local gentry and civilians, with a sign hanging around her neck that read "perverted murderer" and hung on an iron chain for a day. Then she was imprisoned in a dark dungeon, where she could only see the light when eating. She was also forced to have unspeakable things with the lowly guards and was not allowed to communicate with the outside world. This kind of life was worse than death - as far as the admiral himself knew, this person seemed to have lived for a long time, but what he didn't know was that the old lady had lived to this day (died in 1801).

No matter how tragic it is, it probably won't be like this. After all, none of their rebellions are as outrageous as this perverted old woman's.

His loosened attitude was noticed by Count von Paalen simply by observing his words and expressions.

To this end, he went back to find the Zubov brothers and managed to meet Lord Whitworth. The conspiracy was carried out at the home of Olga, the Zubov brothers' sister, who was also Lord Whitworth's mistress.

"The Spaniard seems to have softened his attitude. Now the tyrant has begun to favor him and let him resume his position."

"What do you want to say, count? Is he going to betray us?"

"I see signs of this, so he should be given a suitable ending."

However, Count von Paalen also had his own ideas. That is, De Ribas knew many details of their initial plan. If this person's attitude became loose and betrayed their whereabouts to Paul, it would be a disaster for these conspirators in St. Petersburg.

And the "appropriate ending" was naturally poison, and pretending that the admiral had died "suddenly" seemed like a verification of a trick.

De Ribas himself is now claiming illness and is also thinking about what he needs to do in the future. If he can reveal everything about these people, he can at least prove his loyalty. Running away is shameful but useful.

Paul's actions actually showed that he understood the truth better than Count von Pahlen, who had been the Tsar's confidant for many years. He was unwilling to kill people and preferred to demonstrate the Tsar's mercy through the method of "humiliating" and then re-employing people in the Russian court, while also maintaining the subjects' awe of the monarch.

As for the young people he promoted, they were not yet old enough to receive such punishment. Only Count Panin was dismissed because of his important position.

The case of Kochubey, the Deputy Prime Minister of the Empire, was even more special. He refused the Tsar's arranged marriage, and the punishment was just a transfer, which was very different from Count Panin's dismissal.

After getting familiar with this system, he also began to write a confession at his home at 1 Million Street, but he did not expect that Count von Palen would come to his home at this time. "What are you doing here?"

"Osip, I heard you were ill."

"I'm Spanish. I've been in Russia for so many years, and I'm not used to the climate there. I just seem to be used to the Black Sea environment. After I came back from there, you know, I always get sick during the change of seasons in recent years."

"But from your condition, I think you might be suffering from some other disease."

When De Ribas heard this, he remained silent. He had been discovered before he could even start to elaborate.

"What are you doing here?"

"The tyrant must die. Do you think he is still as magnanimous as he showed before? We all believe he has gone crazy! Changing foreign policy is a small matter, but this tyrant actually openly stands with the peasants, just like Caesar did in the past. We, the 'senators', should stand up, at least as you said, use daggers and poison."

"what do you want to do?"

"De Ribas, do you really think that all the servants in your house are loyal to you?"

With these words, the Admiral understood that his symptoms over the past two days looked like the onset of a chronic poison, but with the current dosage, he would not die, but would be relatively weak.

In the morning, the old prince of the Saltykov family, as a senior official, came here to visit the patient, exchanged a few words with him, and also conveyed the Tsar's own opinion, that is, after he recovers, given Kuleshev's physical condition, it is only a matter of time before he becomes the new chairman of the Naval Committee.

After all, even though he was sick, his condition was better than Kuleshev's. At least his mind was clear, and he also put forward some suggestions based on the navy's problems, including the application of new ships.

De Ribas believed that the Russian Navy could consider using steamships for canal transportation, and could also use and transform Russia's existing inland vessels. In the future, there might be no need for track haulers on the Volga River, and soldiers returning home would no longer need to wear government-issued leather boots to do such hard work. They could all be incorporated into the new transport fleet to do decent work.

Everyone knew that Paul had better relations with soldiers, peasants and small citizens, and his prestige among these people was much better than that among the nobles who were dealt with by him every day.

What is even more ironic is that the nobles who were dissatisfied with the Tsar himself were mainly in St. Petersburg and Moscow. The nobles outside these two places also believed that the Tsar’s policy program was not too harsh, and that the emperor was far away and could not control many things.

The people he offended were mainly the great nobles in St. Petersburg.

"I see, you are a venomous snake who cannot bear to see others triumphant! Moreover, although the emperor has put you in 'humiliation', he has not stopped rewarding you and will reappoint you! In the conspiracy, everyone is like a chameleon, a wanton socialite in the social arena, constantly changing the chips! The emperor has dismissed you from your post as governor, but he will definitely reappoint you in the future. Although he knows that someone is trying to murder him, he doesn't know that it is his closest people who are doing it to him!"

"I don't care. I am doing this for the benefit of Russia. We cannot allow the tyrant to continue to toss around like crazy!"

"You? An Alemanni? Representing Russian interests? I am a Spaniard, and I know what a venomous snake you are. The British have long been in collusion with you. They will seek to avoid bloodshed, and you are such a slippery ghost, double-dealing in the conspiracy. I am afraid that you are not as resolute as I am!"

Having said this, he struggled to get up and threw something at the head of the bed at the count, but not only did it miss, it also fell on the carpet, apparently without causing any sound.

What was even more strange was that he suddenly felt dizzy at this moment, as if he had a real stroke. He began to feel dizzy and fell on the bed.

"You are a Spanish venomous snake, but you deserve it. You became like this before the medicine took effect."

When the servants von Paaren had colluded with came into the house, they understood the current situation.

"Your master is ill now. I need to confirm that you can find a doctor. It seems that he has had a 'stroke'."

"Yes, sir."

However, Count von Paalen also had an arrangement, that is, the servant would be taken out and captured by people he sent in some inconspicuous place, and then killed and the body would be thrown into a nearby swamp. No one would know what had happened, and they would only know that Admiral de Ribas was critically ill and that one of his servants had suddenly disappeared.

The death of a master is big news, but without a servant, even if the servant knows many secrets, his status will be insignificant, and others may not even know his name.

The count could even pretend nothing had happened, and stay by the bed with the victim's wife, and even persuade the lady to go back to the bedroom to rest - just like a close friend coming to keep watch and visit the patient, and it would not arouse anyone's suspicion.

After confirming that he would not wake up for a while, Count von Paalen decided to use a method to speed up the process. In order to avoid any more nightmares at night, he simply covered the bed with a pillow when there was no one around.

De Ribas didn't have much time to live in the first place, and even more slow-acting poison stuffed into his mouth couldn't confirm his death, but his pillow could. With an unpleasant stench coming from the quilt and the man's horrific face turning purple as he died, it all ended.

At least until now, the conspiracy to assassinate Paul has not been leaked too much. The tight security in the palace has made it difficult for the conspiracy group to act.

De Ribas died in the early morning of December 12 (2), which was even late at night in a high-latitude area like St. Petersburg. When the news came out, Paul did not visit him in person. The Marshal's serious illness and funeral were the monarch's tribute to the old general who had always been at odds with him.

He just felt it was a pity. After all, the admiral was not too old. He was only 49 years old when he died. Even in such an era with a low average life expectancy, he was still in the prime of life.

(End of this chapter)