Struggle in Russia

The small actions of Count Rostovtsev and Count Kleinmicher did not attract the attention of Alexander II. His main focus was entirely on the longitudinal horse. .

Since he ascended the throne, he has never had the opportunity to have such unbridled fun. Every day he is either sitting in the Winter Palace having meetings to deal with documents or inspecting here and there to participate in ceremonies.

As an emperor, he had almost no time of his own. Most of the time, the only thing he could use for recreation was to find women.

To be honest, this is really boring and boring. After all, no matter how beautiful a woman is, she will get bored playing with her every day. He can't just rely on the little things under his body to entertain himself every day, right?

But now, riding a horse can make him forget all the troubles. He feels so free and happy.

The only thing that made him a little unhappy was that the courtiers around him would talk about it. These people would be worried about him falling off his horse, worried about someone assassinating him on the road, and worried about all these little problems. Really annoying!

But Alexander II also had a way to get rid of it, and that was to whip the horse's butt hard to make the horse run faster. At this time, those annoying guys would have no chance to open their mouths to annoy him.

However, this kind of happiness was still only temporary, and soon the disturbing news came to the door: "Your Majesty, there is a rebellion in Kharkov. The rebels defeated the local garrison and are marching towards the city."

Alexander II was stunned. Kharkiv was not close to St. Petersburg, which meant that the news was a few days ago at the earliest.

If the rebels were marching towards Kharkiv a few days ago, have they already invaded the city now?

"What's going on?!" He asked sharply: "How many rebels are there, who is the leader, and what is the situation on the ground?"

These questions are difficult to answer, because the mayor of Kharkiv who reported the news did not know exactly how many rebels there were. He only knew that of the more than 2,000 people sent to counter the rebellion, less than 200 returned. , the others were either killed or captured by the rebels.

As for the leader of the rebels, how could he know who the leader was without even seeing the rebels?

As for the local situation, it is definitely in chaos. A large number of nobles and wealthy people are busy fleeing, and the municipal system has been completely paralyzed.

It's just that he would definitely not foolishly tell Alexander II about these situations. This would make him appear too incompetent, and the mayor might end up doing his job.

"Your Majesty, the current situation is not clear. Maybe this is just a misunderstanding, or maybe the rebels are just a small group of rioters. You know, those guys below like to make a fuss the most!" Old Adlerberg quickly consoled him. .

Alexander II remained calm and silent. Although he hoped that what the old Adlerberg said was true, his reason told him that this possibility was unlikely. If the situation was so ordinary, the guys below should just pretend that nothing happened.

After all, they are best at reporting good news and not bad news, and now he is even more worried that the situation is worse than what appears on paper.

He ignored old Adlerberg, turned to Dmitry Milyutin and asked: "How many troops are stationed around Kharkov?"

Dmitri quickly replied: "The garrison around Kharkov is relatively weak. Apart from a small number of garrison troops, there is only one cavalry brigade."

Alexander II muttered: "A cavalry brigade?"

According to his understanding, a cavalry brigade of four to five thousand should have a good chance of winning against the poorly equipped rebels. After all, the impact of the cavalry is there.

Suddenly he relaxed a little and ordered: "Then let this brigade take action quickly to destroy these rebels and restore order as soon as possible!"

Dmitri sighed in his heart. He knew that Alexander II did not pay attention to this rebellion and miscalculated the strength of the cavalry brigade.

He carefully reminded: "Your Majesty, I think it is difficult to quickly quell the rebellion with that cavalry brigade alone. It is best to dispatch more troops to support."

Alexander II looked at him, obviously a little surprised, but he knew Dmitry's character and knew that he would not make a mistake, so he immediately asked: "Do you think the rebels have a lot of momentum?"

Dmitri nodded and replied: "Yes, according to past experience, most of these rebels only dare to operate in the countryside and have never attacked a city... But this time they dared to attack a large city like Kharkov." City, it is enough to show that their momentum will not be small!"

Alexander II was stunned and recalled the history that he knew well. Most of the serf rebels were mud-legged. It was not a big problem to bully the rich people in the countryside, but they would have to stop in minutes when they encountered the regular army.

And this time they not only defeated the regular army that went to counter the rebellion, but also tried to attack Kharkov. Their strength was extraordinary!

He immediately realized that the situation in Kharkov was probably very serious, and the bureaucrats in Ukraine and Kharkov must have lied about the losses again!

Suddenly he became even more irritable. He paced back and forth for a long time before giving serious instructions: "Tell the Army Department to dispatch at least one or two divisions from the surrounding areas to counter the rebellion. In addition, let the Third Department of Ukraine quickly find out what the local area is." Whatever the situation is, I want to see the most authentic information!"

It’s just that Alexander II didn’t know that the third part of Ukraine was actually on hold because the serf uprising this time was beyond imagination. Kharkov is the worst city in Ukraine, but other parts of Ukraine are better than Kharko. The situation is not much better. Lvov, Sumy, and Chernihiv are all plunged into the vast sea of ​​people's war.

A large number of serfs rose up and defeated the local garrison. There were even cases where the army participated in the rebellion. A small number of troops who had just participated in the Crimean War and suffered heavy losses mutinied.

In fact, it is not difficult to imagine that most of the soldiers in the mutinous units in Ukraine were newly recruited serfs in the Crimean War. They were already angry about this war and had great sympathy for the revolting serfs. In addition, due to financial reasons The treatment of the nervous army is very poor. Many soldiers have not received military pay for more than half a year.

So as long as the fuse is lit, this group of people will naturally explode immediately!

In other words, Alexander II expected to rely on the local Ukrainian army to quell the rebellion. That was really a luxury!

Thank God that the current Ukrainian troops can stabilize themselves without further unrest. Expecting them to counter the rebellion is as unreliable as expecting a weasel to look after the chicken coop.

Dmitri probably knew a little bit of the truth. He felt that Alexander II's new order still could not solve the problem, but he had no evidence, so he gave Count Rostovtsev a wink, meaning that Rostovtsev would take action. The Earl Husband would like to give you some more advice...