Chapter 1010: Armament Preparation

Arkhangelsk is a Russian coastal city in the far north, very close to the Arctic Circle. Before 1703, it was the only outlet to the sea in Russia, and it was frozen for half of the year. Therefore, the opening of St. Petersburg caused this important seaport city to decline rapidly.

But now, this coastal city is exuding endless vitality.

Because of Denmark's harassment in the Baltic Sea - they received support from the French. Although they could not defeat the British fleet on the sea, they could harass the British merchant ships and transport fleets. In order to ensure reinforcements for Russia, the British would bypass the Scandinavian Peninsula in the summer and enter the White Sea from the Arctic Ocean. The latter is like a heavy dumbbell, and its southernmost end goes directly into the northwest inland of Russia.

Arkhangelsk has regained its vitality.

The logging and animal husbandry industries here have ushered in a new life. The British need these woods, and they also need Russian dairy products, meat products and grains.

At the same time, the serfs here also had a new disaster - they were required to serve in the military.

Arkhangelsk Oblast, where Arkhangelsk is located, is a very remote place in Russia. The glory of more than a hundred years ago has long become a thing of the past, just like Kaifeng in China in the 21st century. The glory of Tokyo Bianliang a thousand years ago can only be recorded in history forever.

Now, while the prosperity has made the income of the residents and the government here higher, they must also contribute more soldiers to Russia.

In August or September of each year, a conscription decree issued by the Tsar will be sent to local officials in Russia. Then the citizens and official representatives will jointly set up a conscription committee and start conscription work under the leadership of the conscription officer. Usually the conscription decree will clearly state how many people need to be recruited. For example, a serf district of 500 people needs to recruit 1 to 8 people.

Of course, this is not certain. When Russia was fighting the Sixth Russo-Turkish War, it once recruited soldiers three times in a year, which was equivalent to recruiting 10 to 20 people in a serf district of 500 people. The reason was that the country was in the middle of a war and the conscription system must be changed. But this change has been going on for several years, and the conscription rate is still increasing year by year. This year, Russia will also have more conscriptions in a year. It's only April, and the first conscription has already started.

The Russian conscription committee plans conscription based on the head tax and the population of local residents and farmers. Vagrants, criminals and servants (sent by their masters) are often sent to serve in the army as a punishment. There are also many unlucky people who are dragged to join the army by their parents who support conscription, and more families must choose a member to serve in the army with great difficulty. Usually, the person chosen must be the least important one in the family. In addition, the conscription committee will also be very careful, because Russia still needs serfs to pay taxes and cultivate the fields, so it will not easily destroy a family. For example, if there are two or more adult males in a family, then the family will choose one of these people to cope with military service. And in sparsely populated places like Siberia, the less conscription can be made, the less it will destroy the local population.

The taxes that need to be paid can also be replaced by military service, and military service can also be avoided by bribery. Rich farmers will "buy" a poorer person to replace the service. This behavior has been recorded in many provinces of Russia, and the price has stabilized at 360~500 rubles.

The total population of Arkhangelsk Oblast is only more than 100,000 people. Although it is large in area, it is sparsely populated. In previous years, it was neglected by St. Petersburg, just like Siberia. But this year is not possible. With a population of more than 100,000, two regiments can be drawn out with care. Russia must now do everything possible to recruit enough soldiers.

They will not be allowed to go to the battlefield immediately, but they also need to seize the time to train as Russia's general reserve. Who let Russia have a bigger enemy, Ottoman and Chen Han, in addition to the dangerous enemy Napoleon.

The salary of Russian soldiers is very low, and the British lobster soldiers are at least ten times more than them, but this allows Russia to maintain a large number of active troops at a very low cost.

Not all Russian serfs and ordinary people supported the Tsar, and every conscription was a disaster for a family.

Every family hopes to freely choose a "unimportant" person to serve in the army, but the reality is not always satisfactory. In the Azov Infantry Regiment, 50% of the conscripts were married, and now this proportion has risen to 60%. It is good to be able to freely choose someone to serve in the army, but not everyone can join the army. The height and age must meet the requirements. After the Seven Years' War, the minimum height standard for Russian soldiers was 1.6 meters, and the age was between 17 and 35 years old. After the Sixth Russo-Turkish War, the minimum age rose to 19 years old; but now Russia's minimum height standard has been reduced to 1.5 meters, and people between 15 and 40 years old are eligible.

15 years old, that's still a child.

So in some big cities in Russia, some people even published advertisements for "substitute service" in newspapers. For example, the "St. Petersburg Gazette" published such an advertisement in 1793: "Half-sale, half-giveaway, 22-year-old adult males, trained women's tailors, can also serve in place of others." It is also common to resell substitutes. Merchants buy farmers from landlords and then resell them to people who have a headache about military service. However, in order to suppress this behavior, merchants can only buy one farmer at a time (not an illegal household), and Russia also stipulates that no slaves or farmers can be bought and sold within three months after the conscription decree is issued.

At a pasture at the foot of the mountain, a small town with crude houses has been built in the original wild grass and fertile land. It looks no different from any new town, but the wooden fences around the town and the teams of soldiers patrolling back and forth show the difference of this town.

This is a garrison infantry battalion in Russia, a garrison relatively close to Arkhangelsk. Not far from this military town, a real town stands by a small river, with a total of 700 to 800 people living here. And within the jurisdiction of the entire city of Arkhangelsk, there are only less than 30,000 people and 4,000 to 5,000 households.

Outside a house in the town, a man wearing a gray coat, a felt hat, and long leather boots, who looks like a soldier, is speaking in a stern tone to a woman leaning against the door with her head down.

"Lilia, you are a smart person. Sergei meets the conscription specifications and his name has been written on the list. Although your father is sick and your brother is dead, everyone sympathizes with your family's experience. But this is suffering given by God, and you should not complain."

The conscription committee is a good job. Not only can you get a lot of rubles, but you can also take the opportunity to take revenge.

The Ivanov family and the head of the committee, Govorov, did not have any hatred, but there was a beautiful lily in Ivanov's house. [Lilya means lily in Russian]

"That's Commander Govorov after all. No matter how unwilling you are, you can only surrender, otherwise what will be the fate of your family?" The man in the gray coat continued.

"Gorbachev is just a poor boy. What good life will you have with him? Commander Govorov is the conscription officer in the town. If you follow him, you will soon be able to move to Arkhangelsk, and even to St. Petersburg. Commander Govorov really loves you."

The gray coat's words were both threatening and frightening, and Lilya, a young girl, was already at a loss.

The gray coat did not say anything harsh, and Govorov, who instructed him, did not let the thugs who were standing in the distance rob people directly. Because Govorov believed that he could make his prey surrender with his own power.

No matter how important the lover is, can it be as important as her own brother? Is it important to have her family? Even the most stubborn people will bow down to reality.

Who made the Ivanov family suffer a disaster? They encountered wild wolves while hunting deer. They were lucky, although one was disabled and the other was crippled. But it was better than being buried in the wolf's mouth, right?

A few days later, the commotion in the whole town subsided. The six people left the town under the leadership of the conscription officer Govorov. Each of them had their hair and beard shaved off their foreheads, and they had to maintain this image for the next six months.

At the beginning, the recruits were only issued a set of recruit uniforms, including: a gray or white soldier's coat, trousers, a military cap, a black scarf, a pair of painted boots, and finally a backpack for their personal belongings. But it should be noted that these uniforms are not free, including the expenses on the road, and the 1.5 rubles that each soldier will be issued on the way to report, all come from the taxes paid by the soldiers' villages and towns.

This treatment is much better than before. The original Russian recruits only had a set of peasant long-sleeved tops, pants and a pair of shoes, and they had to wear these clothes until they were issued formal uniforms. After that, they would be shackled (to prevent them from escaping) and handed over to the guards to escort eight to ten people until they arrived at their infantry group to report; members of the same squad would also take care of each other on the way (training had already begun on the way).

But with the popularity of new rifles, the Russian army also began to improve the treatment of recruits.

Perhaps St. Petersburg believes that precious guns should be owned by more "noble" soldiers.

Under the gaze of hundreds of people, the six recruits walked out of the town step by step, and together with the guards, they headed west to Arkhangelsk.

There was a sobbing sound in the crowd of people who saw them off, and many people had red eyes, and they shouted the names of their loved ones one by one. Everyone knew that Russia was about to go to war, and it was a war, and this trip was likely to be a farewell forever...

Another ten days.

More than two thousand recruits gathered in Arkhangelsk.

Such scenes are still happening frequently in many places in Russia.