It is summer of 1735. “Bironavshchina” is a terrible time for the country. People disappear at night; the rack and the executioner’s red-hot pincers in the Secret Chancellery know no rest. A turbulent period right before the Russo-Turkish War—when a clever and enterprising man with a sword and a pistol can drastically change both his fate and that of the country. The Courland baron Dietrich von Goffen, who decided to try his luck in “barbaric and savage Muscovy,” is ready to risk his life and pass any test in order to prevent a palace coup by “the daughter of Peter”—the wayward Elizabeth. Here and now, on the muddy shores of the young imperial capital, in the light of smoldering lamps, in the ballroom halls of palaces and in stuffy taverns, a new future of Russia—and of the whole world—is forged. If you are a true guardsman and don’t know how to retreat—take fate by the throat and turn the gears of history!