Chapter 55: The beginning of love
The sport that best represents the Russian character is not wrestling or boxing, but slapping.
For people in most countries, slapping is not considered a sport at all.
But it is this game originating from Russian folk that can stimulate the enthusiasm of the Guards boys to the greatest extent.
The slapping contest is indeed cruel. Killing one thousand enemies and damaging eight hundred to oneself is not enough to describe it.
We have to die together.
But for the boys of the Guards, the slap competition is the most exciting game.
The most exciting?
Hehe, George really wants to play Russian roulette.
Think about it and forget it. This thing is more cruel than a duel. Just slap him in the face for entertainment.
Compared to Russian roulette, slapping is really just entertainment.
Winter is not suitable for outdoor activities, so most activities are moved indoors.
The indoor training ground where George used to practice boxing became the venue for the slap contest.
Rebrov from the Crimea was a regular participant in the slap contest, and he and Sergey from the Urals dominated this entertainment, taking turns winning St. Louis as the title from George.
After Rebrov won the slapping contest for the fourth time, George decided to change the event.
Sergey and Rebrov probably reached some kind of agreement. The two took turns winning the championship. It gave George the impression that these two guys were working together to cheat George out of him.
It’s just a matter of cheating and drinking. The key is that people often get hurt when slapping each other. This is the real reason why George stopped the competition.
"Tomorrow we will have a shooting competition, and I will participate -" George's purpose was really not to entertain, but to stimulate the enthusiasm of the Guards.
George only now knew that the Guards did not have high requirements for shooting, and the training intensity was very low. The soldiers could not even fire a few rounds of bullets every month, and the intensity was not even as good as fighting with a bayonet.
The Guards emphasize courage and loyalty, and the requirements for discipline and skills are not strict.
George didn't know if artillery, which required relatively high professional skills, was the same as cavalry.
If it is the same, the future——
There is no future.
"I bet that the Duke will win in the end. Does anyone want to participate?" Major Alex from Moscow is the head of the George Guards and a noble official.
In 1724, Peter I promulgated the "Official Ranks List", which officially divided Russian nobles into hereditary nobles and lifelong nobles based on their origins and merits. It stipulated that officers of the 14th grade and civil servants of the eighth grade and above could obtain the title of hereditary nobles.
This means that in the Russian Empire, as long as you become an official, you will automatically become a member of the aristocracy and gain a class jump.
Alex was born into a noble family and did not need to perform military service.
Many members of aristocratic families who do not have inheritance rights, or whose inheritance rights are relatively low, regard joining the army as the best way to get promoted.
"Xu——"
Boos immediately broke out all around. If George wanted to participate, then don't compete.
"You can come and compete for the second place -" George has become involved with the Guards during this period. Except that he still has no beard on his face, George is already a qualified Cossack.
It is easy to have a good relationship with the Guards. If you can drink, 80% of the problems will be solved.
The Guardsmen had many different ways of drinking. They arranged the wine glasses as long as the elbow joint to the tip of the middle finger, and then drank them all in one go, which is called drinking a cubit.
Place a glass of wine on each step of the stairs, and have a drink as soon as you go up one step. People who are poor drinkers usually get drunk before they finish climbing the stairs.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich invented a way to drink champagne. He stood naked outdoors in the cold winter and drank all the champagne from a basin. A howling sound like a wolf. George was not opposed to drinking, but he was opposed to alcoholism. The Guardsmen did not drink only on major holidays, but drank every day, until they were drunk every time.
No wonder Russia is so large but has so few people.
George and Major Alex have communicated this issue, hoping that Major Alex can restrain his men, at least not to drink while on duty.
"What does it matter? No matter how much they drank the night before, as long as they can still ride on the horse the next day." Major Alex disagreed. These Cossacks were indeed good at riding.
Since Alex said so, George stopped talking nonsense.
It's useless to say it. Even the Tsar, let alone George, can't change the habits developed by the Guards over hundreds of years.
Drinking is not a bad habit only for the Guards.
Ye Luoxin said that during the coldest winter, St. Petersburg used horse-drawn carriages to pull corpses out of the city every day. These corpses were all drunk and fell on the streets. They were not discovered in time and froze to death. .
At most, hundreds of people would freeze to death in one night.
If it happens during a major festival, more people will freeze to death.
None of this has anything to do with George. George can only guarantee that no one will freeze to death in his manor.
The snow fell so hard that it crushed a tenant's house.
Ye Luoxin brought people to help and settled the tenant family in Yuri's house. It didn't take long for the tenant to decide to marry his daughter to Yuri.
Yuri's current job is still George's coachman. He has income, a pension, a house, and land. Most people think he is a good marriage partner.
As for Yuri's body, that's not a problem at all. Russian women don't expect Russian men to work at all.
George asked Ye Luoxin to send a hundred rubles as a congratulatory gift, but he did not participate because after the snow cleared, George had to continue to Gatchina Palace.
To George's regret, Nikolai's interest in boxing, like his other hobbies, did not last long.
Georgi’s interest was not very high to begin with. His and Nikolai’s hobbies had shifted from boxing to ballet.
George's mission has now been changed from training to watching.
During the period around Christmas, the major theaters in St. Petersburg are full. As long as there is a new play, Nikolai and Georgi will never miss a show.
Perhaps because the assassin had not taken action during this period, Yasan and the queen did not restrain Nikolai and Georgi.
George has a headache.
Nicola is 15 years old and is no longer a child who doesn’t understand anything. His purpose in watching ballet is not simple. His eyes often stay on the graceful figures of the dancers.
After watching the ballet "Giselle", Nikolai met Malinka Slagowska, a dancer from Poland.
Malinka graduated from the Royal Academy of Dance. She was young, beautiful and full of charm, and Nicholas was deeply attracted.
For three consecutive days, Nicholas asked Georgi and George to accompany him to watch "Giselle", and asked George to buy flowers for Malinka.
George sees things through but doesn’t tell them, Georgi watches the fun without taking it too seriously, and encourages Nikolai to pursue Malinka.
This kind of thing is normal. The men of the Romanov family almost all started to know women from the theater.
George was in a dilemma.
Should we report this matter to the Tsar?
(End of this chapter)