Every time winter comes, the cold winds in Petersburg seem to never end. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Because of its open terrain, the Winter Palace was particularly windy, with howling cold winds rushing across the Neva River into the empty squares, and then sweeping towards the palace's arched iron doors and surrounding colonnades, isolating the royal palace from the hustle and bustle of the world.

It was already dark, and the streets became more and more crowded with pedestrians, and as they expected, snowflakes the size of fingertips slowly fell from the gloomy sky to the accompaniment of the wind, and a new light snow of early spring slowly lowered the night over Petersburg.

Snowflakes fell one after another on the ground, accumulating little by little on the walls of the houses, whether it was the luxurious palaces where the natural nobles lived, or the cold streets and alleys where the ordinary people lived, it was soon carefully and indiscriminately covered with a thin white blanket - if it was still snowing tonight, then tomorrow the city would be a white world.

It is not surprising that this was a regular repertoire at this time of year in Petersburg, but in this difficult year, it will bring a new sigh.

Snowflakes bring beautiful views, but they also bring cooling, which is not a problem for the wealthy, who can sit by the fireplace in the warm hall and enjoy the snowy nights, which means another expense for ordinary people who are struggling to make ends meet.

Winter fuel was never an easy expense for the inhabitants of St. Petersburg, and in these years of high prices due to the war, it turned into a painful ordeal that overwhelmed the people.

This pressure of life naturally made the city even more depressing, so that at night, except for the sporadic fires, the whole city fell into darkness, as if all the vitality had been taken away by the god of war.

It was in this dim and gloomy light that the scene of a large group of uniformed soldiers marching in unison towards the Winter Palace seemed more and more abrupt, each of them with a serious expression, and a nervousness in their determined steps. The cold wind mixed with snowflakes blew on them, coating their uniforms with a thin layer of white powder, which also made the army look even more eerie.

It was getting darker, and the dim lights replaced the light as the main source of light in the city, and the city was eerily quiet, except for the rustling footsteps of the army as it marched through the snowflakes.

Most of the people in the streets they passed were indifferent to the actions of this army, after all, in this war year, the movement of troops was quite normal; Although a small number of people felt that something was wrong, they just watched from the sidelines, after all, who dared to stop the army's actions?

As they moved, the alleys they walked through grew wider and wider, and at last the troops reached the square in front of the Winter Palace.

This wide square, which separates the Hermitage from ordinary residential quarters, is also one of the most important meeting places in St. Petersburg, where the Tsar or other members of the royal family would appear to be cheered and worshiped during the great festivals, but in this year of national distress, such scenes can only be remembered in the past.

Looking ahead from the square, the Winter Palace, where the Tsar lived, was in front of you. Compared with the ordinary residential area, this well-designed palace is gorgeous and elegant, and the Neva River flows quietly next to it, adding a bit of beauty to it, even on this dreary and gloomy night, it is still decorated with glorious lights, as if it existed in another world

In the silent silence, the group of troops entered the edge of the square, and when they came to this empty field, their originally tight formation suddenly became loose, and in the wide square this group of soldiers marched in a horizontal formation, their uniforms standing out in the light, like foxes rolling in the snow.

Soon, this sudden group of troops fell into the eyes of the palace guards.

They looked around in amazement and asked each other if they had heard of the transfer of troops to the palace, but none of them had never heard of such a thing.

"Stop! Stop me! A guard officer hurriedly shouted at the group of soldiers, and then led several of his subordinates to meet them and prepare to intercept the group of soldiers, "This is a forbidden place in the palace, no trespass is allowed!" What unit are you from? Hurry back! ”

However, to their greater consternation, the group of soldiers did not stop their steps, but quickened their pace and strode across the square towards the palace.

At this moment, everyone felt that the situation was wrong, and the eyes looking at this group of soldiers changed from doubt to fear.

The guards immediately raised their guns, then retreated in horror, preparing to retreat behind the iron fence of the gate.

"You're rebelling! Hurry up and lay down your arms! Frightened, the officer's voice trembled, "Stop now!" ”

While saying that, he immediately ordered the subordinates next to him loudly to ask them to go to the palace to call the police.

In the midst of the tumult, the army seemed to be unaware of it, and was already approaching the palace, and everyone's expressions were still as serious as before, and their steps were unhurried, as if they had made up their minds.

"Bang!" The guards, unable to withstand the pressure, opened fire on the rushing troops.

The army immediately returned fire, and with the fierce exchange of gunfire on both sides, the silence of the night in Petersburg was shattered.

"Bang!"

The incessant sound of gunfire passed through the corridors and alleys of the palace and reached the deepest forbidden places.

Even the conference room where His Majesty the Tsar and the important ministers discussed important matters was suddenly full of noise, which made the meeting between His Majesty and the important ministers suddenly interrupted.

"What's going on?" His Majesty the Tsar went to the window in astonishment, and when he saw the flames in the square not far away, he was speechless for a while, and the important ministers were also shocked, and everyone's faces immediately lost their blood.

The gunfire was so loud that none of them could fool themselves.

It was clearly a rebellion, but it was not known how big it was, but judging by the intensity of the gunfire, the number of rebels attacking the Winter Palace would not be less than a thousand.

At that moment, a uniformed officer staggered to the door of the conference room and shouted at the clerks at the door.

"There are unknown rebels attacking the palace, let Your Majesty go to a safe place!"

His voice was so poignant that before the clerk could reply, the astonishing news had reached the conference room, making the oppressive atmosphere even more suffocating.

All eyes were instantly focused on His Majesty the Tsar, anxious, indignant, and afraid, while His Majesty himself instantly flushed and his breathing became heavy, and it was clear that the anger had reached its extreme.

Because of the defeat in the war, he imagined that there would be unstable turmoil in the country, but he did not expect that what happened was actually a rebellion directly against the palace.

The astonishing defeat of foreign wars, the rebellion on a huge scale...... What kind of assessment will this leave on him in history?

"Bastard! Cheeky rebel ...... Wicked traitor! The great anger immediately overwhelmed His Majesty's sanity, and he cried out almost without figurativeness, "Shameless rebellion! I'm going to hang these traitors one by one!! ”

His Majesty, who was furious, made the ministers present speechless, and everyone panicked.

"Your Majesty! Please calm down! The elderly Foreign Minister Neschel Rodie hurriedly walked up to His Majesty the Tsar and helped him by the hand, "Now you go to a safe place first......

Then, he turned to look at the rest of his colleagues, "The meeting is over, let's do it together!" ”

As he spoke, he dragged His Majesty the Tsar out the door, and the other ministers hurriedly followed.

A group of guards immediately gathered around His Majesty the Tsar and protected him, but in the current environment, they could not bring His Majesty much peace of mind.

The sound of gunfire was still unrelenting, and the sound of bullets hitting the brick walls through the air everywhere, combined with the overwhelming shouts of killing, combined with the muzzles of guns that could not be glittered in the air, made everyone extremely uneasy.

"How many rebels are there?" He asked the officer next to him directly, "Which unit are they?" ”

"Your Majesty...... Presently...... It is unclear how many of them there are. The officer replied tremblingly, "The number of the troops is also unknown." ”

"Bastard!" Seeing that the other party still didn't know anything at this time, the tsar couldn't help but scold again.

"Can you hold on?" The Foreign Secretary asked directly. "You must hold out until reinforcements arrive!"

"We will fight for His Majesty the Tsar to the last man, Your Excellency!" The officer hurriedly assured him, "However, we are under a lot of pressure right now, and we need reinforcements from the outside world to come over as soon as possible!" ”

The Foreign Secretary stopped in astonishment.

From the officer's mouth, he already felt the danger he was facing, and he was not confident that he would be able to hold out until reinforcements arrived.

Since they dared to attack the palace directly, then this rebel army must have nothing to fear, so the situation may be even worse than expected.

In the more than 200 years since the founding of the Romanov Dynasty, several tsars have died, and conspiracies against tsars have long been common, but the scene of such an army charging the palace with open fire is still terrifying.

But, one way or another, now he had to calm people's hearts.

"Your Majesty, now that the sound of gunfire has spread throughout Petersburg, there will soon be troops coming to suppress the rebellion, we just need to continue to hold out for a while." He turned his head again to look at His Majesty the Tsar, "Now you'd better not go to the front in person, we can't let you stay in a dangerous place." ”

"Nope! I'm going to go and see what kind of shameless traitors dare to shoot at their father, at their Tsar's Majesty! His Majesty the Tsar was still angry, and he raised his leg to get out, "God will surely let this group of traitors doom!" ”

"Your Majesty!" The guard officer next to him hurriedly grabbed him, "Please don't risk your life, you wait for the army in the city to come over and quell the chaos!" ”

Then he and a few of his guards grabbed His Majesty the Tsar, who was still in a rage, and dragged him to a nearby room.

"Quick! Gather the troops from outside the city into the city and destroy the rebellion! ”

Although the impulsiveness was stopped by the guards, His Majesty the Tsar remained angry, shouting at the ministers, "Don't let a traitor go!" ”

However, the ministers did not respond to him, but only looked at each other in a dull manner, and at the moment when the palace was attacked, they had no way to cross the streets where the fire was being exchanged to find troops to suppress the rebellion.

It is clear that these traitors have picked a good time, and now His Majesty the Tsar and several important ministers have gathered in the Winter Palace for a meeting, so that just attacking the Winter Palace can paralyze the nerve centers of the entire imperial capital.

Was this time chosen by the traitors' luck, or was it because they had been planning for a long time?

The answer is self-explanatory.

The thought of this makes the enemy behind the scenes even more terrifying, he seems to know everything about the Imperial government, while his own side does not even know the leader of the rebels. No one could say exactly what was going on, so no one could speak, and the uncertainty added to the deep fear.

On this dark night, the fierce exchange of fire on the banks of the Neman River did not stop, and the guards of the Winter Palace resisted the attack from outside with great courage, waiting for reinforcements to arrive.

To their dismay, and to their horror, a steady stream of new troops came from other streets, converging into the square, and becoming part of their attackers.

The huge and disparity in strength made it more and more difficult for these defenders, and they could only resist desperately with full loyalty to the royal family.

At this moment, the other troops, who had already heard the exchange of fire in the city, began to assemble in confusion and tried to drive towards the Winter Palace to rescue His Majesty the Tsar there, but the scattered troops were slow to move because of the lack of unified command, and they did not even know what was happening now.

And just as the rescue troops arrived in the city, they found that there were suddenly more improvised barricades in many of the streets, and there were people who kept firing at them.

There were not many people who opened fire, but it caused complete confusion, and the troops immediately tried to return fire, but suddenly some soldiers in the middle of them opened fire on them, and a new chaos was created.

In the presence of these disorganized troops, a well-prepared rebellion unfolded, and the darkness covered up too much and confused too much.

Under the unsuspecting attack, the various forces trying to rescue the palace were sluggish and fell into chaos, and the Winter Palace, which was waiting for their rescue, became more and more precarious.

In the midst of a dense burst of gunfire, a group of soldiers braved the rain of bullets and rushed into the front of the arched iron gate, ignoring the fallen comrades around them, opened fire directly, and rushed into the palace with the corpses of the guards.

The statue of the Atlas Giants, which had originally stood at the entrance, had been turned beyond recognition by the fierce firefight, and there were fragments of masonry everywhere, lying on the ground along with the groaning wounded soldiers.

The sky was still snowing, and the snow did not slow down because of the hustle and bustle of the world, but still fell slowly at its original rhythm, as if it was not moved by the world at all.

Snowflakes fell mercilessly on gravel, walkways, and corpses, evenly spreading a white blanket of velvet on the ground.

It was getting late, and the guards guarding the Winter Palace were still struggling to hold on, their numbers were getting smaller and smaller, and their mood was becoming more and more desperate, their front had been compressed, the rebels had rushed to the palace, and the time they had delayed by desperate resistance had not been exchanged for the waiting counterinsurgency army.

As time passed, their last resistance weakened, and the rebels who attacked the palace continued their attack without relentless, keeping the entire palace under their control.

They cleaned up room by room, and gathered all the palace servants who had been frightened into the courtyard, and the royal officials who had been arrogant were already trembling at this time, and they no longer had their usual arrogance.

In the wee hours of the morning, with the last gunshot fired, the Hermitage fell silent again, as if it had returned to its previous tranquility.

It's just that it has temporarily changed owners.

"Ulla!"

Amid the cheers of the tide, a large crowd gathered into the Winter Palace, and then walked up the corridor to the upper floor.

The man at the head of them was none other than the dying Count Bezukhov.

At this time, although the earl's expression was very calm, his steps were brisk, and he looked radiant.

Yes, it was the most important moment of his life, and for the time being, he had the upper hand—the leader of one of his conspirators, who, after careful planning and long preparations, had finally created an opportunity to start a rebellion, and had seized it without mercy.

However, he knew in his heart that this was just the beginning, not even the beginning.

Control of the palace did not mean control of Petersburg, let alone the whole of Russia.

"Quick, get the news out that the Winter Palace has been captured!" He shouted an order to the people next to him, "Let the troops who tried to get over return to the camp on the spot and wait for the reorganization of the new government!" Otherwise, they will be ruthlessly wiped out! ”

The Count knew that as soon as the news of the capture of the Winter Palace and the fall of the Tsar and his ministers into his hands spread, the vast majority of the troops who were hesitant to wait and see would lose the will to resist, and they would either have reservations to join the Provisional Government he had established and accept the reorganization of the army that supported him, or they would take up arms and leave St. Petersburg and scatter into the surrounding countryside, and whichever course they chose, the first step of his coup plan would have been successful. St. Petersburg will fall into his hands.

However, this is only the first step.