When the little butterfly in Nanjing fluttered its wings, a hurricane formed in St. Petersburg, thousands of miles away, making history turn another big bend here.

In the original history, after the powerful Marshal Menshikov appeared, he did not do anything big, just let Peter II marry his daughter Maria, and after a few months, he fell ill, and then completely lost control of the Guards, and then under the conspiracy of Duke Dolgoruki and others, he directly arrested Menshikov and accused him of committing a number of crimes, so that the whole family was exiled to Siberia.

Behind this incident, of course, there were also the hands and feet of the young Peter II, who was dissatisfied with the regent in front of him early on, so he united with the conservatives to overthrow Menshikov in one fell swoop, and announced that the palace would be moved back to Moscow, and this incident also marked the comeback of the conservatives in Russian politics, and conservative forces such as the Dolgoruky family, the Naryshkin family, and the Lepnin family also returned to high positions.

Of course, in the history that has now been changed, all this is naturally different.

Since the butterfly Ning Yu was born, and under his secret planning, Marshal Menshikov sensed the crisis early, and did not fall ill inexplicably, and quietly purged the conservative forces in the Guard, and led the army to raid the palace of Duke Dolgoruky in the middle of the night on March 7, killing the conservative boss directly in the mansion.

Then, Marshal Menshikov also directly led people into the summer palace, and put the sleeping little emperor Peter II under house arrest, like all the close attendants around the emperor were killed in the palace, and then all of them were replaced with their own henchmen, and in the name of the emperor, sent a large number of troops into St. Petersburg, and launched a purge of conservative forces in St. Petersburg.

In the middle of the night, hundreds of conservative officials and their families were escorted outside the city to be shot, while the people inside the city listened to the gunfire outside the city, and everyone was extremely terrified that this catastrophe would implicate them.

In the past ten years, St. Petersburg has been full of bloody storms, and the coups have made the people a lot more vigilant, they know that if they are lucky enough, they will always be able to divide the result at dawn, but if they are unlucky, then the city may have to fight for several days.

And often at this time? The unarmed people will always be the ones who will be hurt the most.

But when the people of St. Petersburg were terrified? Marshal Menshikov, who had already moved into the summer palace office, seemed very complacent at this time? This Moscow version of Lord Wei? Naturally, he was no longer willing to be just a courtier, and he decided to be a tsar!

After decades of ups and downs of political struggle? Marshal Menshikov, who has reached the age of fifty-five, has already deeply understood a truth, if he just keeps being a courtier? So after all, I can't get rid of the fate of being a fish and a man? Only by truly becoming an emperor can he protect himself and his entire family.

In ordinary times, even if Menshikov staged a coup d'état and held power, he would not dare to covet the emperor's throne at all? Like after the death of Peter the Great? Menshikov's coup d'état only put the empress on the throne of emperor, and he did not dare to really seek the throne.

But now it is different, because now the young Peter II has not yet given birth, and he is the only one left in the male spectrum of the Romanov family, if he dies again? Then the men of the huge Romanov family will be completely extinct, and then he Menshikov will be able to find a good opportunity.

As a matter of fact? This is also a question that Peter the Great left behind, because he killed his eldest son in the prime of life? And most of the other children have died young, leaving only one daughter, Elizabeth Petrovna? And this daughter is only nineteen years old now.

Other words? What if Little Peter dies after? Then this princess Elizabeth became the last heir of Peter the Great, and this provided Menshikov with an opportunity, as long as the little princess was killed again, then the descendants of Peter the Great would be completely extinct, and Menshikov would naturally become the new emperor.

Thinking of the situation in which the wise and powerful Peter the Great ended up after his death, Menshikov's heart couldn't help but feel a little happy.

"Heaven gives you a good opportunity, the marshal should make a decision, if Peter and Elizabeth are killed, then the marshal will be able to ascend the throne smoothly!"

The Supreme Privy Council Minister Apraksin said excitedly, he was originally from the new bureaucratic aristocracy, and it can be regarded as Menshikov's strong support, and it was Menshikov, Tolstoy, Apraksin and others who planned to support Ekaterina Alekseevna as emperor.

Now that the conservatives are plotting a coup d'état to regain power, they undoubtedly want the lives of the new bureaucratic aristocracy, so it is only natural that they will rally closely around Menshikov, hoping to completely eliminate these rebels and make Menshikov the new emperor.

As for the milky Peter II, he only needed to report to the outside world that he had died of illness, and anyway, an emperor who had no prestige at all could not get the support of the nobles at all.

Menshikov couldn't help but feel a little moved when he heard Apraksin's advice, but he was still a little worried in his heart, and said softly: "Dear Apraksin, we have indeed mastered St. Petersburg at the moment, but you should understand that the real problem now is not just St. Petersburg, but Moscow. We killed Duke Dolgoruki, but Duke Golitsyn and Osterman are still outside......"

In the final analysis, the power of the conservatives is too deep, even after decades of suppression by Peter the Great, it still cannot completely suppress the conservatives.

As mentioned above, the reason why Peter the Great chose to build St. Petersburg was to avoid the powerful conservative aristocracy in Moscow, and if Menshikov only held St. Petersburg and chose to succeed to the throne, he was afraid that the conservatives in Moscow would also support an emperor, and they would become very passive at that time.

Apraksin frowned slightly, and then said: "Lord Marshal, I can immediately lead the Guards to take over Moscow, and then I can take the opportunity to completely eradicate the conservative base, so that even if one or two of them hide outside, it will not help the overall situation......"

"Okay, Apraksin, I'll leave with you this time, then hurry up and leave with my warrant, by the way, please say hello to Flova instead of me!"

Menshikov was overjoyed, and he stepped forward and gently hugged Apraksin and patted him affectionately on the shoulder, with a faint smile on his face.

"Tick-tick-tick-"

Before the night sky was fully lit, hordes of guards began to be assembled, these soldiers from the new aristocratic class, who were never really trustworthy in the hands of the royal family, they were almost full of factional forces, and in the process of each coup, the guards were also the protagonists involved.

Apraksin marched in the direction of Moscow with two regiments of more than 8,000 men assembled to complete the Guards system, wearing shiny leather boots and carrying muskets on their shoulders, and set out in the direction of the port, where they would arrive by ship to Moscow in six days at the latest.

After the departure of the Guards, Menshikov did not rest, but continued to hurry up the arrangement, because before the coup, he had already arranged for his henchmen to go to other provinces of the Russian Empire, preparing to assassinate other conservative ministers while the news of the coup d'état had not yet come out, so at the moment, if there were no accidents, assassinations were already being staged in other places, and what he had to do was to rearrange officials to replace the assassinated ministers.

Among them, Duke Golitsyn, the commander of the Ukrainian garrison, was a very important target, so Menshikov did not hesitate to send his confidant in the army, Count Golovin, to show the emperor's order to stabilize the situation.

It was only when he had done all this that Menshikov sat quietly in his chair, a deep trepidation on his face, and a slight look of excitement, but after only a few moments, he returned to his former tranquility.

He knew in his heart that when he walked into this moment, he was destined to never turn back.

......

When the coup d'état was staged in St. Petersburg, as an important person in charge of the shadow in Russia, the old Ivan looked out of the window with a deep face at this time, as if he was enjoying some beautiful scenery, but he never said a word. And Antonov sat next to him, equally silent.

"Do you hear that? That's the sound of the fall of the Empire! ”

Old Ivan took a deep breath, but there was incomparable fanaticism in his tone, "I can already feel that it is gradually falling under the flames, and the glory of Romanlov will cease to exist, and we have played an incomparably crucial role in this!" ”

"Yes, we played a key role!"

Antonov's face was a little excited, since he arrived in St. Petersburg, he never expected that the situation would progress so quickly, and in just a few months, such a big thing had already been sat down - at the critical moment when the conservatives were preparing to attack Menshikov, a spy who had infiltrated Menshikov's side quickly informed Menshikov of all this, which gave Menshikov a chance to attack in advance.

And as the masterminds behind the scenes, they can naturally quietly watch Menshikov purge the conservatives with a thunderous hand, reconsolidate his authority in the Guards, and launch the extermination of the conservatives in advance, and even Peter II was completely placed under house arrest by Menshikov, and it seems that he has completely won.

"Menshikov thought he had won, but the game was not over."

With a sneer on his face, Old Ivan snorted softly: "Peter II has no chance at all, he will leave this game table, and new players will soon join, and they will become Menshikov's new enemies at that time." ”

"They? Is there more than one person? ”

Antonov was a little dazed, he looked at old Ivan but felt that the other party was becoming more and more mysterious, this secret agent personally controlled by His Majesty the Emperor of the present day, seemed to have obtained many secrets that outsiders could not know at all.

Old Ivan quickly nodded and said with a smile: "If you follow the order of succession, after Peter II, the only person who is most qualified to become emperor is Peter the Great's third daughter, that is, our Princess Elizabeth, but this is only a de jure inheritance, in fact, she cannot become a new female tsar." ”

"Because she's a reformist."

Antonov soon understood that he was no stranger to the famous Princess Elizabeth, because this nineteen-year-old Russian princess was almost known as the pearl of the entire European royal family, and it can be said that I don't know how many nobles fell under her pomegranate dress, hoping to get the favor of this princess.

When Elizabeth was just born, it coincided with the triumph of Peter I from the Battle of Poltava, and in order to celebrate this victory, Moscow held a grand triumphal entrance ceremony for Peter I, so this victory brought a halo to Elizabeth's birth, and also made the emperor directly decree that the banquet celebrating the victory was changed to celebrate the birth of the princess.

Later, as Elizabeth grew up, her beauty became out of control, and almost all foreign envoys who came to Russia for a visit noticed the princess's alluring appearance, especially at a banquet, Elizabeth wore a court dress from Spain, which almost turned the whole of Europe upside down.

However, no matter how charming Princess Elizabeth is, it is clear that she will not be supported by conservatives, because her reformist stance has left her with no way out, and the shock in St. Petersburg has brought her to a near end.

Old Ivan couldn't help but sigh softly, and didn't know if he was regretting Elizabeth's fate, and then said softly: "According to our information, there is another person who is more likely to be the target of conservative support at the moment, that is, Elizabeth's cousin Anna Ivanovna." ”

Speaking of this, old Ivan's expression was also a little weird, and he said in a low voice: "This Anna Ivanovna is almost the opposite of Elizabeth, she is an ugly and cruel woman, she was originally the daughter of the cowardly and incompetent Ivan, but now it is very likely to become the target of conservatives——"

Antonov's heart moved, he quickly thought of the emperor's request before this, and it seemed that this person had also been mentioned, it seems that this person may indeed become the new female tsar, but her accession, will it make the chess game complicated?

"Old Ivan, what should we do?"

"It's simple, help Anna become empress, let the conservatives eat the dog with Menshikov - and as for our little princess Elizabeth, maybe there will be a chance to take her to the Far East."

Old Ivan scrubbed the palm prints in his hands, and the smile on his face became brighter and brighter.