"The city will be founded here!" - this historical phrase of Peter I was still far away: it was necessary to defeat the Swedes in the war, to advance the Russian border to the Baltic... These events are the subject of the historical adventure story of V. P. Avenarius, which opens the second volume of his Collected Works. There is also a historical duology “Under the German Yoke”, consisting of the novels “Bironovschina” and “Two Regency”. They tell the story of the short reign of the temporary Duke Ernst Johann Biron.