Battlefield Priest's Diary

Chapter 96 On the Front Lines
The priest in black robes slowly entered the Winter Palace, his sleeves rolled up.

After passing through the main gate, there should be a checkpoint where visitors would normally be required to undergo inspection and hand over their weapons.

However, at this time, the place was deserted. The guards had concentrated their limited forces in front of the main gate, and as far as the eye could see, there were only two trembling attendants standing on either side of the gate in front of the Marshal's Hall.

The next path offers two options: turn at the Marshal's Hall entrance to reach the inner courtyard chapel, then follow the Confessor's Staircase to the Queen's Prayer Room, which is also his usual route.

But today, the priest in black robes made a different choice.

He stepped into the Marshal's Hall, then passed through the corridors and the Amber Room, finally entering Nicholas II's study directly from the Golden Corridor—a route taken only by the most powerful figures in Russia at that time.

He had deliberately avoided this passage in the past, so this was the first time he had appeared here.

The servants at the door were momentarily stunned, then respectfully pushed open the doors on both sides.

The priest in black robes slowly walked in.

Queen Alexandra had been waiting there for a while. She stood on the high steps and looked at the gate, her face filled with panic.

Head maid Anna wanted to step forward and say some polite words to set the tone, but Alexandra had already hurriedly walked down the steps.

"Father! My Father! What do we do now?! I never imagined things would turn out like this!" the Queen said anxiously, tugging at the sleeve of the man before her.

The head maid frowned. Her best friend was really not suited for politics; even now, she couldn't see that the man in front of her didn't share the same stance as her.

The more wounded a beast is, the more it needs to feign its strength. The queen's behavior was tantamount to directly telling the other party that she was extremely weak.

This is almost equivalent to revealing your hole cards at the poker table and telling your opponent: "Hey, I have a pair of 3s, you'll see."

Sure enough, the priest in black robes shook his head and slowly said, "Your Majesty, I remember giving you very clear advice. If you had done as I asked, things wouldn't be like this today."

“Father Pugin! Please be mindful of your status. You should not speak to His Majesty in a questioning tone,” the head maid said, stepping forward.

Unexpectedly, the other party completely changed their humble attitude and retorted forcefully, "Miss Anna, if you think what I said was inappropriate, I can leave immediately. Or, if your little tricks can solve the problems outside, I'll leave right away too!"

"You..." The head maid was caught off guard. There were thousands of rebel soldiers outside, while the palace guards numbered no more than three hundred. If the guy in front of her just left like that, the Winter Palace could be torn down by the rebel soldiers.

“Alright, Anna, this is my responsibility.” Alexandra shielded her close friend behind her. “Father Putin, I beg you to guide me.”

"What do you plan to do?" The priest in black robes did not answer, but instead turned around and asked the question.

"Several grand dukes have already expressed their support," the Empress said urgently, stepping forward. "The nobles of St. Petersburg will soon launch another large-scale donation drive, and Prince Yusupov has stated that the total amount donated this time will definitely not be less than 500 million rubles!"

"Furthermore, hoarders like Lazowelt, Strogano, and Vorenzov have expressed their willingness to hand over all their stockpiled goods and half of their family fortunes..."

"It's too late, far too late," the black-robed priest interrupted the queen.

“Your Majesty, if these measures had been implemented a month ago, this riot would never have happened.”

"If this had been implemented two weeks ago, there might have only been a minor disturbance in St. Petersburg."

"Even if it had been done three days ago, the Winter Palace would at least be safe today."

"But now, it's all too late."

The priest in black robes walked over and opened the window of the room, instantly letting in the clamor of slogans from the square. Then he uttered a sentence that made everyone in the room stop in their tracks.
"The only solution to this situation is to rely on the blood of nobles."

“Razowelt, Strogano, and Vorenzov are already deeply resentful of the people. To appease the soldiers, they cannot live; they must be publicly executed. Also…” The black-robed priest handed over a note.

“These are guys who openly defy your orders; these people should be dealt with as well.”

The Queen took the note and opened it with trembling hands. The head maid beside her cried out after seeing the name on it, "This is impossible! This will make all the nobles oppose the Queen."

"Is that so? But if we don't kill a batch, once things fall into complete chaos today, no noble in St. Petersburg will survive."

“Your Majesty, this was never a choice. They have no choice but to accept it, unless they intend to take everyone down with them!” The black-robed priest was surprisingly firm.

“But…” Alexandra looked at the note in horror. “His Majesty the Tsar is not here. I have no authority to deal with some of the people here.”

The priest in black robes walked over, picked up the note, looked at it, and finally tore off a two-finger-width piece from the edge of the list.

"Your Majesty, this is the final concession. Even if I lose one more person, I still cannot appease these soldiers."

The head maid clenched her fists so tightly that her fingernails dug into her palms.

"Damn it! What do you mean by resisting the Empress's orders?! Everyone knows that the Empress's orders were issued at your behest! How many nobles do those soldiers know?! What difference would one more or one less make?! This is clearly an opportunity to eliminate the nobles who previously outwardly obeyed him but inwardly defied him!"

But here, the head maid found herself unable to utter a single word in her defense. Ultimately, the royal family had squandered almost all its leverage over the past few years, leaving them with no grounds for negotiation.

Alexandria was still hesitating, sweat beading on her forehead, when a servant rushed in from outside the door in a panic.

"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened outside!"

"What's going on?! Why are you all so flustered?! Could it be that some soldiers have stormed in?!" The head maid scolded, trying to maintain the authority of the royal family that had just been almost trampled underfoot.

"Miss Anna, outside...outside..."

The head maid frowned, walked to the porch, opened the window, and looked out at the square.

The scene outside made her heart start racing!
In the center of the square, a soldier pushed out a gleaming field cannon, its dark muzzle pointed directly at the main gate of the Winter Palace.

It's a dead end! Once the cannon fires, everything will be beyond repair.

The head maid sighed, turned and went back to the room, whispering a few words to the queen.

Then, Alexandra, her face ashen, took out purple ink, signed an order, and stamped it with sealing wax bearing the image of a double-headed eagle. To signify that she was temporarily assuming royal authority, she also specially noted, "This is His Majesty's will."

“Your Majesty, please step aside. Your orders need to be issued in front of the soldiers to truly appease them.” The priest in black robes stepped aside to make way.

"What! You!" The head maid was about to argue when the Queen stopped her.

“It doesn’t matter anymore. As long as things can be calmed down, I don’t care what happens to me.” Alexandra shook her head, lifted her palace dress, and walked towards the door with utter desolation.

"Rest assured, I will ensure His Majesty's safety." The priest in black robes followed from behind.

The doors of the golden corridor slowly opened, and the Queen and the priest beside her walked through the hall, one in front of the other. They were supposed to follow the etiquette of not walking alongside the most distinguished, but in the eyes of the head maid, it looked as if they were being escorted.

The servants prostrated themselves on the ground, but no one knew who they were afraid of.

A deafening roar of cheers erupted outside. The head maid turned her back and silently removed her glasses, unable to bear witnessing her master's humiliation.
-
In the summer of 1915, a riot broke out in St. Petersburg by wounded soldiers, involving tens of thousands of soldiers.

The Empress herself appeared in Palace Square and assured the soldiers that all supplies would be distributed to them within two days. She also announced that the incident was caused by German spies and internal corruption, and that the "patriotic soldiers" who participated in the operation would not be held accountable.

A long list was read out, and the Ministry of the Interior arrested a large number of middle-ranking nobles that evening.

Interestingly, if the Empress had forcibly pushed through such a large-scale arrest order, it would most likely have caused the nobles of St. Petersburg to band together in resistance, and perhaps a few would have even rebelled on the spot.

But things went surprisingly smoothly after the chaos of war.

Those noble groups who should have fought to the death showed extraordinary restraint when faced with knives pointed at them. Apart from a few who committed suicide out of fear of punishment, the vast majority chose to surrender.

The promised supplies were delivered in full without any discount.

They may not fear the weakened monarchy, but they dread the deafening roar of slogans in the square.

The gallows were raised high, and the firing squad raised their rifles.

After the gunshot, the cawing of crows echoed throughout the Champ de Mars in St. Petersburg.

The soldiers cheered and shouted the same name.

With this, the soldiers, now appeased, returned to their camps, officially ending the three-day riot.

But the soldiers will not be grateful to the royal family because it is obvious to everyone that the lords' compromise was a victory won through struggle on their behalf.

The nobles also showed no reverence for the royal family, because they knew that those orders were issued almost when someone had no other choice but to force them to sign them.

Whether it was love or hate, people only remembered a guy in a black robe.

In August of the same year, the Holy Episcopal Church of Petrograd awarded a priest the Order of the Golden Cross for “major merit” and issued him a purple robe with gold trim.

This was the highest honor below sainthood, but it was directly refused by the other party. The man still walked the streets and alleys wearing a black robe he had brought back from the battlefield, and the citizens considered it an honor to receive a piece of his holy bread.

Some of the injured he treated eventually recovered, and the linen he used was then enshrined and worshipped.

Later generations have compiled statistics showing that the recovery rate of wounded patients bandaged with hemp cloth by him was 50% higher than that under normal circumstances.

Some people idolize him, some people deeply revere him, and some people are like venomous snakes, ready to bare their fangs at him in the shadows.

(End of this chapter)