The wind was cold, the waves were swaying, and a yacht was moving forward quickly with the sudden sound of a motor, less than a few thousand meters away from the opposite shore. On the deck paved with precious cedar wood, several rifle-carrying Guards soldiers were still gasping for breath, for whom the previous battle had almost been a round trip in front of the gates of Hell.

"Your Highness, ahead is the Kronstadt base." Russian Major Sergei wiped the sweat mixed with dust on his face and said to Queen Alexandra in the cabin, "In order to prevent the Germans from launching a landing offensive here, Kronstadt not only has complete fortifications including dozens of large-caliber shore guns with a 360-degree rotation firing range, but also more than 2,400 officers and soldiers of the 18th Fortress Regiment are stationed all year round, and it is impossible for the rebels to capture this island fortress under any circumstances." Her Royal Highnesses the Empress and Princess can take refuge here in peace and wait until the situation in St. Petersburg calms down before returning. ”

Alexandra nodded with difficulty, and finally a look of relief finally appeared on her face that had been tense. She looked at the officer in front of her, and there was a little more gentleness in her words that was rare for the lower-class figures: "Major, the Romanov royal family will not forget the bravery and loyalty you have shown today in times of crisis. When His Majesty recaptures the capital, he will at least give you a noble marquis from a lord! And your soldiers will also be richly rewarded, and I, the Romanov royal family, will never treat anyone who has merit badly. ”

Hearing the queen's words, the major's originally depressed and cold heart finally regained a little heat. During the three-hour breakout battle, some of his soldiers were annihilated by the workers' armed forces, and many more surrendered and disarmed in the surging and angry crowd. Became a member of the revolutionary ranks. After all, when I saw that the general trend was gone. Not everyone has the consciousness to do their duty; Not to mention that these rebels are their compatriots. These soldiers were inherently weaker in their will to fight than when they resisted foreign enemies. As a junior officer, the major is well aware of the mentality of the soldiers who disarmed halfway: our family opened fire on the insurrectionary crowd with a clear conscience and resisted for so long, which is already enough to be worthy of the salary paid by the Romanov government, and now it is impossible to think about it if we want to sacrifice our lives for the government for this money!

Before the rebel army poured into the streets of the capital, the Major had nearly 500 men at his disposal, but by the time they managed to break through to the western edge of the city, the soldiers behind the Major were less than a platoon in size. The people who were in a hurry no longer disregarded the etiquette. In this way, the noble queen and princesses were pulled out of the tin chariot, and immediately launched the royal yacht moored on the shore and fled. If it weren't for the huge attrition of one in ten, it would not have been easy for this yacht with a displacement of only 40 tons to fit all the soldiers! After more than an hour of wild sailing, the Kronstadt base in the Gulf of Finland is finally in sight; Compared with St. Petersburg, which has become a fortress of the revolution, this military port hanging overseas is undoubtedly the most ideal paradise for them to take refuge at present.

Seeing that her goal was imminent, Alexandra couldn't help but go into the living room and start a meticulous grooming process. On her previous escape, she and her four daughters had been forced to huddle in the small, oil-stained cabin of the chariot, and had long since lost her royal appearance; This landing and entry into the port inevitably meant that the local garrison officers had to be comforted. There must be no more loss of the dignity of the heavenly family. The major, on the other hand, did not stay in the cabin any longer, and went to the deck. He began to quietly look at the base port that he had never been to before.

The buildings stretch and the lighthouses are towering. There was a faint drift of ice floating on the sea, and there was hardly any cargo on the boom-lined docks – in addition to the effects of the war, the freezing of much of the Baltic Sea during winter was the most important constraint on Russian shipping. A patrol boat has appeared in the sea not far from it, and has begun to use light signals to guide the yacht towards the depths of the harbor. Since the original crew on board the yacht was present, nothing went wrong in this case. After a short time, a battleship with chimneys and guns sticking out appeared in the eyes of everyone on the yacht: the Russian Baltic Fleet, including the Rurik battlecruiser with a standing displacement of 18,500 tons and equipped with eight 305 mm guns, the 13,200-ton Glorious ex-dreadnought, and two 12,000-ton Bayan-class armored cruisers, were neatly moored in the harbor.

However, after two historic changes, the defeat of the war against Japan and the beginning of the dreadnought era in Britain and Germany, the strength of the Russian navy fell from the peak to the bottom in just a year and a half, and fell to a miserable point where even the weakened Ottoman Empire was inferior in the field of capital ships. Although the Russian Duma, which was belted with its belts, launched a drastic naval revival plan in 1910, pushing 4 Gangut-class and 3 Queen Maria-class super-dreadnoughts onto the slipway in two consecutive years, because the foundation of China's heavy industry is far weaker than that of Britain and Germany and even Austria-Hungary, these behemoths have only completed the hull construction project so far, and it will take at least two years before the actual completion (historically, the Gangut-class in Russia took 5 and a half years to complete)!

Under these circumstances, the German Navy, with only a detachment of former dreadnoughts, pressed the Russian fleet, which lacked enterprising spirit, to the point that it did not even dare to go out. The sailors were guarding the battleship rusting in the harbor, and the resentment in their hearts was indescribable. And with the continuous news of the defeat of the front-line army, the morale of the officers and men of the Russian Baltic Fleet, who had always been trapped in the port, plummeted; Almost all of them have no hope for the current prospects for war, and see peace talks with the Allies as the only way out of the quagmire for Russia at the moment.

"Your Highness, the defenders of Kronstadt seem to be lining up to welcome us!" When the Major saw the neat black figure on the dock, he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and then ran back to the cabin to tell Alexandra. Alexandra, who had stopped dressing up, was also shocked when she heard this, and the corners of her mouth showed the first smile since she fled. She nodded slightly, called her daughters to her side, and in a flash of her gaze, she had regained the grace and majesty of the whole country in the palm of her hand.

Ten minutes later, the yacht finally docked at the berth in Kronstadt with a slow deceleration. A wide landing plank was erected, and Alexandra landed on the coast with her daughters and a narrowly escaped Guard. As far as the eye could see, a large number of fortress guards and naval sailors armed with rifles stood in dense formations, not to mention thousands of them; A bearded man dressed in a naval cadet uniform was standing at the front of the queue, waiting for Alexandra's arrival.

"I, Captain Razvotsov, captain of the Rurik, on behalf of all the seamen of the Baltic Fleet and the soldiers of the Kronstadt garrison, welcome the arrival of Her Royal Highness the Empress and the princesses." When Alexandra and her party approached, the bearded man gave him a military salute and said with a smile on his face, "I am aware of the unrest in St. Petersburg. Compared to the turbulent capital, this place can guarantee the absolute safety of Her Royal Highness. ”

"Colonel, there are riots in St. Petersburg, and the lonely family has no choice but to take refuge here. How can your loyalty to the Romanovs today not be seen by His Majesty? ......" Alexandra spoke in a calm tone, and the picture cake she had just promised to the Guards Major was revealed several times to the person in front of her. She paused, and then added, "On the way here, the lonely family saw a large number of warships anchored in the harbor; Please ask the colonel to organize a garrison garrison and use battleships to cover their landing in St. Petersburg to quell the rebellion......" Speaking of this, Alexandra suddenly felt that something was wrong, and said: "Colonel, what about the commander of the Baltic Fleet, Admiral Andrei, and the chief of staff, Major General Ivan?" Why didn't they come to greet the lonely family? ”

"Down with the tsars! Long live the proletarian revolution! An extremely abrupt cry rang out in the cold wind. Razvotsov shrugged his shoulders, then slowly took out a pistol from his coat pocket and held it in front of Alexandra, and said, "Your Highness, this is what you see. The two generals, Andrei and Ivan, tried in vain to suppress the revolution, and we have taken it down. I regret to inform you, Empress, that the port of Kronstadt and the Baltic Fleet have revolted, and you have been arrested by the revolution! Of course, the promise I made is still valid, and the personal safety of you and your family will be absolutely safe until the revolutionary trial. ”

As Razvozov drew his guns, the thousands of soldiers around him instantly raised their rifles flat to their shoulders: the countless glowing black muzzles made everyone under his aim feel a sense of horror. Alexandra's pupils widened, her face turned pale, her thin red lips twitched a few times, and then her body fell to the cold concrete floor as if she had lost all her strength. There was a cry of her daughters breaking down in her ears, and she didn't even realize it; After falling into the hands of the revolutionaries, what disastrous fate awaits him?

Razvotsov raised his head slightly, and looked at the group of Guards soldiers in the rear; The major at the head smiled bitterly, threw the gun in his hand into the open space more than ten meters away, and slowly raised his hands. Now luck is stronger than people, and the major who had been escorting Alexandra before no longer resisted uselessly. At the moment when he threw down the pistol, Major Sergei suddenly felt a relief in his heart: he no longer worked for this woman, it seemed to be more in line with his own heart, right? (To be continued......)

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