I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 302 New Governor

Alex does have a lot of problems, she is not even willing to convert to Orthodox Christianity, so both Asan and Queen Maria do not agree with Nicholas marrying Alex.

Nicholas is only 25 years old this year. Under normal circumstances, if he delays it for a few more years, it will be no problem to get married when he is 28 or 9 years old. It is not urgent.

Everything has changed since Yasan's health deteriorated drastically last year.

Sergey's wife Ella, Alex's sister, is also not optimistic about this relationship.

Sergey and Ella were married in 1884, nearly ten years ago.

Strangely, Sergey and Ella had no children.

Ella, like Alex, carries the hemophilia gene, so Sergey and Ella adopted the son and daughter of their younger brother Paul Alexandrovich and Princess Alexandra of Denmark.

Alexandra died at the age of 21 after giving birth to her son Dmitry.

Before coming to Sigmaringen, Sergey and Nikolai had a long talk. Sergey confessed that it was because of his worries about hemophilia that he and Ella did not have children.

Because of this reason, the relationship between Hilgay and Ella was very bad, and their relationship had already been broken.

Like the Russian Empire, Germany is also eyeing the Far East, but Germany's expansion in the Far East has seriously lagged behind.

This tiara is a Kokoshnik that George specially asked Fabergé to make for Anne.

George and Anne received William II's blessing before leaving for the Crimea.

The Kokoshnik that George gave to Anne was a crown-shaped wedding crown. The diamonds on it were fixed with a spring-like structure, so when Anne walked around, the diamonds on it would shake and become more dazzling.

However, this kind of behavior that may lead to serious diplomatic disputes is normal for William II.

After the Sultan of Johor signed a peace agreement with the United Kingdom, William II publicly sent a congratulatory message to the Sultan of Johor, triggering strong dissatisfaction in the British Parliament.

By the time Wilhelm II straightened out Germany's domestic relations and took complete control of power, East Asia had been turned upside down.

Kokoshnik is a traditional Russian folk headdress that is popular among both Russian and European royal families.

It doesn't matter to Anne, she has converted to Orthodox Christianity, and the issue of faith cannot stop her and George from going in both directions.

Germany also has one emperor and one courtier. After William II succeeded to the throne, Germany also inevitably faced a large-scale change of power.

When William II succeeded to the throne in 1888, the Qing-French War had ended and Annan became a French colony.

Although Catherine has stated that her collection will belong to Anne in the future, George still brought Anne a complete set of jewelry including tiaras, necklaces, brooches, bracelets, and rings.

William II was very excited and praised George's actions in East Asia, saying that George was a representative who was not afraid of power and resisted the ruling order of the old world.

According to the schedule, George and Anne will first go to Crimea to receive the blessings of the Tsar and Queen, and then return to St. Petersburg to complete the wedding.

George did not respond to William II's provocation. After accepting William II's blessing, the group set off for Crimea.

Everything else is easy to say, but the tiara uses too many diamonds and weighs up to 1.5 kilograms, which makes Anne very uncomfortable.

After Anne returns to St. Petersburg, she will stay at George's Yekaterin Palace in St. Petersburg. After completing the wedding at the Winter Palace, George and Anne will return to George's estate on the outskirts of St. Petersburg.

George was a little embarrassed because the British Minister to Germany was also present. This was not a compliment to George, it was clearly a slap in the face of Britain in public.

Otherwise, Alex wouldn't be unwilling to change her beliefs.

On the train to Crimea, Sergey and Carol I agreed that the security situation in Europe was deteriorating.

Alex must also know about this situation, so Alex is not as enthusiastic about this marriage as Nicholas imagined.

The source of the deterioration is still Britain.

Three years ago, British Prime Minister Salisbury, faced with the expansion of the Russian and French fleets, proposed the "two-power standard", that is, the Royal Navy's battleships and battlecruisers should be equal to the total number of French and Russian warships.

To this end, the Salisbury Cabinet allocated £2150 million to build 10 battleships and standardize the design of battleships and battlecruisers.

So the problem is thrown to France and Russia.

Because of its unique geographical advantage, Britain can concentrate all its efforts on developing its navy.

France and the Russian Empire had both land defense and offensive needs, and had to take into account both the army and the navy, so they began to lag behind in the development of the navy.

The Russian Empire issued 1.1 million bonds last year to build new ships for this reason.

1.1 million rubles sounds like a lot, which is equivalent to about 1150 million pounds, and it cannot be fully invested in the navy. The army's replacement has not yet been completed.

George reminded Sergei and Carol I to be wary of falling into the British arms race trap.

"The British would like us to spend more energy on the navy, but we are a country with traditional land power. We would rather spend the funds on building warships than upgrading the forts."

George was an opponent of the Treatise of Sea Power from the beginning.

For an island country like Britain, the Treatise on Sea Power is undoubtedly correct.

Although the Royal Navy is powerful, does it dare to attack Vladivostok?

If the Royal Navy really dares to come, the submarine and the fort can defeat Xiang for you! "You have already reached out to East India, don't you need warships to protect the safety of the waterway?"

Sergey disagreed with George's judgment.

In the past, the Russian Empire was indeed a land power.

However, after expanding its sphere of influence to the East Indies, the Russian Empire's need for the navy reached a new level. This situation was caused by none other than George.

"Who dares to threaten the safety of my waterway?"

George is really not afraid.

The only countries in East Asia that have the ability to threaten the security of the Vladivostok waterway are Britain and France. Japan is not the only one for the time being.

In March and May of this year, the Russian Empire and France respectively confirmed the Russo-French alliance. France and the Russian Empire officially became allies. The French fleet will not only not threaten the Vladivostok waterway, but will also help maintain the safety of the waterway.

Through the Malay Peninsula, Britain has learned enough lessons.

If Britain dares to threaten the safety of the Vladivostok waterway, George will dare to go to India to cause trouble, and who will be hurt then?

As for Japan——

Busan is much closer to mainland Japan than East India.

George can build a complete defense system for Vladivostok, and then Busan's defense system will be upgraded.

If the Japanese dare to land, think about the Malay Peninsula first.

After Goryeo and the Russian Empire revised the treaty, Emperor Gaozong formally proposed to Amur that he hoped to build a railway between Vladivostok and Seoul.

George did have plans to use railways to connect Vladivostok to Korea.

But it was not directly through Goryeo, but through the Qing Empire.

In February of this year, Russian scholar Badmaev suggested to Witte that the Siberian Railway should not only be built to Vladivostok, but also go south from Baikal to the Qing Empire and reach the interior of the Qing Empire.

Witte did not adopt Badmayev's suggestion, but proposed to build a direct railway from Vladivostok to Chita, so that the entire northeastern part of the Qing Empire would become the sphere of influence of the Russian Empire.

"Are you not worried about the threat from Japan now?"

Sergey's words made Carol I laugh.

"Well, you're right."

George stopped resisting, it was too difficult to change a person.

If it were Andre, George could just scold Andre bloody and force Andre to follow George's wishes.

Sergei is George's brother. The Moscow Military District's status in the Russian Empire is far higher than that of the Amur Military District. Sergei also serves as the governor of the Moscow Governor-General. He has monopolized power and has not become willful. Thank God.

Compared with East Asia, Europe is now a mess. The situation among countries is changing, and the situation may change completely overnight.

In 1889, Germany invited Britain to join the German-Austrian Alliance.

Salisbury weighed the pros and cons and finally rejected Germany's invitation, otherwise the Russian Empire would face a more serious situation.

After Germany failed to win over Britain, it roped in Italy and at the same time began to expand its navy, so the "two powers standard" came into being.

After the war on the Malay Peninsula subsided, Britain once again provided additional assistance to Japan and supported Japan in building more warships.

At the same time, calls for an alliance between Britain and Japan are gradually rising, which is obviously aimed at Russia.

While aiding Japan, Britain was also aiding the Ottoman Empire and helping the Ottoman Empire improve its military strength.

Since the Russian Empire and France began to change their uniforms, almost all major countries in Europe have begun to change their uniforms. Only the Ottoman Empire was severely weakened in the 10th Russo-Turkish War and was unable to do so.

British assistance came at the right time. The Ottoman Empire not only began to upgrade its army equipment, but also began to build new armored ships. The threat to the Russian Empire was rising sharply.

Germany is not willing to be alone, and is in frequent contact with the Ottoman Empire, hoping to draw the Ottoman Empire into the German-Austrian-Italian alliance.

The Russian Empire's countermeasures were to draw the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Kingdom of Serbia into the Russo-French Alliance, forming a three-sided siege on the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Now more and more knowledgeable people are worried that if another war breaks out in Europe, all countries may be involved, and no one can stay out of it.

No matter how hard Europe tries, running Amur well is his only mission.

Compared with previous years, Amur's status in the Russian Empire was rapidly improving. Taking into account Milyutin's increasing age, Yasan chose a new governor for Amur.

The new governor was Pobedonostsev, Yasan's teacher.

In the early days of Yasan's succession, Pobedonostsev had a great influence on Yasan. Many policies of Yasan were influenced by Pobedonostsev.

George did not like the new governor very much. After Asan came to the throne, he abolished most of the reform measures of Asan II, including Pobedonostsev's factors.

(End of this chapter)