I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 177 Insufficient Greed
  Vasily is still very happy in the Oak Group. Even George's occasional suppression is actually helping Vasily integrate into the Oak Group.

Vasily was not a direct descendant of George. During the Guards period, Vasily was even George's opponent.

So when Vasily joined the Oak Group, Demet and Andrei were slightly hostile to Vasily.

How could this work? George needed a group that worked together and could not engage in mountaineering, so George used many methods to help Vasily integrate into the Oak Group.

The effect is still very good, Demeter and Andrei have now completely accepted Vasily.

Only Vasily dared to speak out frankly about George's dishonesty.

Demeter and Andre never questioned George's decision. Even if George ran away for half a year, Demeter and Andre had no complaints.

"Am I being lazy? I'm giving you a chance to train yourself. You can't always be a battalion commander in the future. Don't you want to be a general or a marshal?" George was lazy and confident. He relied on George for everything. What do you want us for?
  "Duke, when can we go to Vladivostok?" Andrei regarded himself as George's retainer. Wherever George went, Andrei would go.

Both Yeroshin and Dalia went to Vladivostok, Anna went to France, Peter ran around with George, and only Andrei himself was left in St. Petersburg.

Andrei also wanted to go to Vladivostok. He had correspondence with Yeroshin and Dalia and knew the situation in Vladivostok.

Isn't it funny that there is only one legion in the governor-general's area of ​​hundreds of thousands of square kilometers?

Vladivostok will definitely expand in the next few years. If Andrei goes to Vladivostok now, there will be many opportunities.

As long as it expands, George will definitely give priority to his own people.

"There are no military exercises in Vladivostok -" George still hopes that the Oak Corps officer corps can be further trained through the Rivno exercise.

"The Rivne military exercise has no effect on us." Demit also began to feel tired of the content of the Rivne exercise.

There is a saying in the chess world that when you play chess with a stinky chess basket, the more you play, the stinker becomes.

The same goes for military exercises.

For the first Rivne exercise, the Oak Regiment attached great importance to it and went to Rivne early to prepare. In order to accumulate advantages, George even bought the Rivne train station and renovated the entire town of Rivne.

As a result, many of the preparations were not used, and the rubber group's opponents were completely defeated.

Victory is certainly satisfying, but an unchallenging victory can even affect the combat effectiveness of the troops.

Such a bad opponent is not worth the hard training we endure.

After such a mentality is formed, once a war breaks out, the rubber group will suffer a big loss.

"That's it -" George really didn't expect that it would be bad if the troops were too powerful.

George had many acquaintances in the Guards. As George's cousin and business partner, little Nicholas invited George to dinner because George had helped him make a lot of money in the past two years.

Indeed, he had made a lot of money. Little Nicholas already had his own mansion on the banks of the Neva River, which was as large and luxurious as the Yekaterin Palace.

This is the main house.

It is estimated that there are countless foreign residences out there.

"Can you be more careful, can you get involved in everything?" George reminded little Nicholas not to get carried away.

Little Nicholas has been very proud of himself in the past few years. He has risen from a mere commander of a regional army to the commander of the Guards. Together with Volya (commander of the St. Petersburg Military District) and Sergei, he has become the most powerful person in the Russian Empire.

Although George is a super duke, his military position is only the commander of the legion, and he cannot be compared with these people.

Of course, this is mainly because George is not an adult yet.

When George comes of age and Nicholas succeeds to the throne, George will start to exert his strength.

"I didn't know the situation was so serious. I thought it was just -" Little Nicholas also regretted it. No matter what the situation, he should not have sent that telegram.

"I have sent Sayesva to Vladivostok. It's up to you to deal with it." Little Nicholas posed a big problem for George.

"No, I can't control this matter. You can handle it yourself." If George doesn't do this kind of favor, he can kill or chop her as you please. It's up to you to take care of your woman.

"If you don't care, I will sell her to the United States!" Little Nicholas was cruel and ruthless, and the kindness of a couple for a night and a hundred nights did not exist at all with these Russian princes.

"I don't care if you chop her into pieces and feed her to the dogs." George didn't want to wipe little Nicholas's butt.

Since George was resolute, little Nicholas stopped forcing and started talking about their business.

"Can your arsenal produce magazine-type rifles?" Nicholas Jr. was very dissatisfied with the performance of the three major Russian companies.

Little Nicholas is now the commander of the Guards, and when considering issues, he must consider everything from the perspective of the Guards.

The Tsar was indeed very kind to his younger brothers. Regardless of their abilities, he entrusted them all with important responsibilities.

The work of replacing the magazine-type rifles has been going on for two years, but now even the Guards have not completed the replacement. It is still far away from completing the entire replacement work.

In order to improve its military industrial capabilities, the Empire acquired the Obukhov Steel Works.

But the Obukhov Steel Plant produces artillery, and it is still of no help for rifles.

"Theoretically it's possible, but who will produce it and sell it to?" George couldn't get the order from the military department because the price at the Vladivostok Arsenal was too high. There are many reasons why the Big Three are inefficient.

One of the very important reasons is that the three major companies lack profits and cannot upgrade their equipment. Many decades-old equipment is still in use, and its accuracy has seriously declined. If you want to replace parts, you must first apply for a report and go through the procedures. It takes many months.

"Oh, sell it to whoever you want -" Little Nicholas' words shocked George. Could it be that the production of military weapons has also been liberalized?
  Didn't let go.

The Russian Empire still has very strict control over military weapons.

George had been in the Far East all winter and didn't know much about the situation in Europe.

Last winter, French troops began to change their uniforms.

France is a democratic country, and the process is slower than that of Russia.

Moreover, the rifles that the French army replaced were not magazine-type rifles. They were still single-shot rifles. They just changed the propellant from black powder to smokeless powder.

Germany is not slow either.

And it is also equipped with a magazine-type rifle like Russia.

Compared with Russian military factories, German military factories are much more efficient.

Although the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire have not yet begun to change their uniforms, they have similar plans.

So it is no secret now that magazine-type rifles can make a difference. Even if they cannot get orders from the military, they can still make profits by producing them and selling them to others.

George had nothing to say.

When smokeless gunpowder was first stabilized, George warned the Tsar.

As a result, due to the conservatism of the tsar and his ministers, the empire missed a valuable window period and did not gain any leading advantage.

Now that the major European countries have caught up, Russia not only has no advantage, but is actually struggling.

George didn't know what to say.

"Who can I sell it to? If I sell it to the Japanese and the Qing Empire in East Asia, then I will no longer be an enemy!" George didn't give the black boys who like to complain a chance.

Wrong, it's Xiao Heizi.

"Is your judgment of Japan intentional?" Little Nicholas doubted George's starting point.

George advocated the Japanese threat theory, and the biggest beneficiary was obviously the Amur Military District.

If Japan becomes the empire's biggest threat in the Far East, then it must strengthen the Amur Military District.

Reminiscent of George's talk of going south last year, the ministers in St. Petersburg had to worry that George had ulterior motives.

"Yes, I deliberately exaggerated Japan's threat so that the empire could divert more resources to my fiefdom." George broke the pot. Anyway, I have already said this. Believe it or not.

"Speaking of fiefdoms, how did you do it? Tell me about your experience -" Little Nicholas didn't hear the sarcasm in George's words, and turned to discuss with George how to manage fiefdoms.

The Little Nicholas family also has a fiefdom, although the fiefdom is currently managed by Grand Duke Nikolayevich, and Little Nicholas has no way to get involved.

But one day, little Nicholas, as the eldest son, will inherit the title and fief.

"What's there to introduce? It's not like you have a mouth and can manage it." George was annoyed. You can't learn it even if he teaches you.

What George did in Vladivostok was not hidden from anyone. The Tsar knew everything about it, and the princes also knew it.

Is it difficult to treat workers and farmers well?
  Don’t the princes have the money to invest in infrastructure development?
  George does not have all the power in Amur, there is another governor.

Sergei shouldered the responsibility of being the governor of Moscow and the commander of the military region, concentrating all power into one person, but Sergei did not achieve any success.

"George, you have also seen that I am spending more and more money now, and I can barely afford champagne. Are you so cruel?" Little Nicholas said miserably.

"Tell me, what do you want to do?" George didn't pity little Nicholas. If he couldn't afford champagne, he could drink vodka. The money he spent on raising his young wife would be enough to support an army of Cossacks.

"Do you still need investment in your cosmetics business in France?" Little Nicholas's eyes widened. Everyone in St. Petersburg knew that cosmetics were extremely profitable.

"I have to ask Nicky and Georgi for their opinions." George supported the crown prince.

The so-called investment is definitely an excuse. The profits of cosmetics are so high that there is no need to invest at all. You can’t spend all the money you make.

If you want to share the money, go to Nikolai and Georgi. All shareholders must agree to this.

Nicholas Jr. originally had a stake in the cosmetics business in Russia. Although he did not earn as much as George, it was still easy to earn hundreds of thousands of rubles a year.

The business in France has nothing to do with shareholders like Nicholas Jr. and Sergey.

George also didn’t expect that little Nicholas’s hand would actually want to reach so far.

(End of this chapter)