I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 317 Garbled Code
A few days ago, the empress and Werther had a conversation about Nicholas's character. The empress told Werther that Nicholas's character was not suitable for becoming a tsar.

"You want to say that His Highness does not have the qualities to become a Tsar?"

Witte couldn't believe it. Nicholas had been trained as the heir to the empire from birth, and no one could replace Nicholas's position.

"It's true, you know that in this situation, Misha should replace Nikki because Nikki lacks willpower and strength of character."

The Empress was more inclined to make Mikhail the Tsar.

This is just the queen's wishful thinking.

Although Mikhail is also a prince, his education is completely different from that of Nicholas. Nicholas was trained as a tsar since he was a child. Mikhail, like Georgi, is just a grand duke.

Georgi had been recuperating in Vladivostok and was on his way back to Crimea. His physical condition did not even allow him to get married, completely losing the possibility of becoming a tsar.

Mikhail, like Nicholas, had already begun serving in the Guards.

However, there is no other George by Mikhail's side at all times, so Mikhail's performance is completely different from that of Nicholas.

After arriving in Crimea, Nicholas stayed at the Livadia Palace where the Tsar lived.

Last year, Ya San was seriously ill and felt that her time was running out, so she had no choice but to agree to Xenia's marriage to Alexander.

George and Anne lived in the Yusupov Palace, not far from the Livadia Palace.

The three major fleets of the empire, the Black Sea Fleet and the Baltic Fleet are closely related, with complex relationships and intertwined interests.

George's confidence is extremely strong.

Think about how St. Petersburg treated Catherine after the assassination of Ya Er——

Although this matter was suppressed by little Nicholas, it had already caused a stir in the army and became one of the countless tidbits of the Grand Duke of St. Petersburg.

Alexander's qualifications are not outstanding in the Black Sea Fleet, and it is difficult to get ahead, and his royal status is not easy to use in the Black Sea Fleet.

George's scalp was numb. The grand dukes of the Romanov family really know how to do things. They are so promising when they are only 16 years old. When they grow up, they will be able to do it.

"Don't worry about that, only Nikki will become the Imperial Tsar, no other possibility."

So Alexander wanted to be transferred to the Far East and work in the Siberian Fleet.

Mikhail, who is just 16 years old this year, is said to have had a heated fight with the wife of a lieutenant colonel in the Guards. After the lieutenant colonel found out, he took a gun and wanted to duel Mikhail.

Once the tsar dies and the queen is promoted to empress dowager, she will fade out of the center of power.

It was the collective decision of these 37 people to ensure that Nicholas succeeded to the throne, and the queen was unable to compete.

"The Siberian fleet doesn't even have a decent warship, are you sure?"

Alexander served in the Black Sea Fleet, and he came to George because of the Siberian Fleet.

Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, who had married Xenia last year, came to visit George.

When the Tsar was alive, there were still people willing to listen to what the Queen had to say.

As of 1894, there were 37 direct male members of the Romanov family.

Xenia was deeply in love with Alexander and would not marry him except Alexander.

The relationship between Alexander and Xenia dates back to the time of Nicholas I. Since Alexander was Xenia's cousin, Asan and the empress did not agree with their marriage at first.

George was surprised that there were still people thinking about the Siberian Fleet!

"With you in Amur, after the Trans-Siberian Railway is opened, the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet will be there, and the Siberian Fleet will sooner or later."

All Alexander's confidence in the Siberian fleet originated from George.

"Then I wish you all your wishes come true."

George was reluctant to let Alexander go to the Far East.

Alexeyev is very sensible and never goes to Vladivostok when he has nothing to do. He almost forgets the home port of Vladivostok and is on the same page with George.

It would be hard to say if it were Alexander.

George didn't know much about Alexander.

But just by doing this, Alexander was not doing very smartly.

Isn't it better to be your grand duke? Why should you go to the army to achieve a career?

George did not stay in Crimea for long. Just three days later, George and Sergey accompanied Nikolai to London.

This time I went to get engaged with Alex.

On the train to the Netherlands, Nikolai was beaming and in high spirits, completely missing the confusion he felt when he came to Crimea.

"Uncles, how am I doing?"

Nicholas wore a dark green colonel's uniform, hoping to look his best in front of Alex.

Both George and Sergey said that it didn't matter what Nikolai wore. Even if he showed up naked in London, he would be warmly welcomed by London.

"Is the gift I prepared for Sani too shabby?"

Nicholas couldn't wait to give Alex all the best things in the world.

The gift Nicholas prepared for Alex was a set of jewelry including a crown.

The royal family of the Russian Empire is known for its luxury. Nicholas's set of gifts were found from the royal family's collections over the years and were worthy of Alex's status.

"No, your gift will impress the British."

It’s not that George looks down on the British. In terms of aesthetics, the British are really not good at it. Many of the famous jewelry pieces of the British royal family were purchased at low prices through various channels when the Russian Empire fell. To put it bluntly, they were second-hand goods of unknown origin.

These are regarded as treasures by the British royal family, which shows how poor Britain's heritage is.

For a country that started as a pirate, its background is a joke.

On the night of the 29th, the train arrived in the Netherlands and transferred to the "Polaris" to continue to London.

London held a grand welcome ceremony for Nicholas, and the "Polaris" was treated with a salute from the Royal Navy.

What made George unhappy was that the British did not prepare cars, so Nicholas, George, and Sergey all had to take a carriage.

Nikolai had no objection to the ride. He only had Alex in his mind now and didn't pay much attention to everything around him.

Neither George nor Sergey wanted to ride in a carriage. Since Ya Er was assassinated, the Russian royal family had a natural resistance to carriages.

"Hope to God, no one throws anything on the carriage."

Sergey's words were unlucky.

Someone did throw it.

But instead of throwing bombs, flowers were thrown.

Although the relationship between the Russian Empire and the United Kingdom is not very good, the British still show great goodwill towards the Russian Crown Prince.

The engagement of the Crown Prince was a big event. Nicholas came to London with him. In addition to George and Anne, there were also Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich, Grand Duke Vladimir and his wife, Sergei and his wife, Pavel, and Ya Father Neshev, and Russian teacher Schneider.

The engagement ceremony was not held in London, but in Coburg, Germany.

Because while Alex and Nicholas were holding their engagement ceremony, Alex's brother Ernst was also holding a wedding.

Ernst's wife was Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg Gotha. This marriage was another tragedy. The cause of the tragedy was Kirill, the son of Grand Duke Vladimir.

Melita divorced Ernst in 1901 and later married Kirill.

Let’s not talk about the future. At least for now, Melita and Ernst are a loving couple. Their birth dates are exactly the same, so this marriage is blessed by everyone.

Alex has some problems. She tries to convince Nikolai to get engaged without changing her faith.

How is this possible?

The state religion of the Russian Empire is Orthodox Christianity.

Not only the Russian Queen, but all princesses who marry Russian Grand Dukes must convert to Orthodox Christianity after marriage, regardless of their previous circumstances.

"Damn the British. Alex must have been bewitched by the British, so he changed his mind."

Nikolai's love for Alex is blind.

George was not surprised at all.

Alex's various behaviors in St. Petersburg showed that all the rumors about Alex were not groundless. The future queen was indeed a bit unique.

Ella and Annie immediately went to persuade Alex.

Ernst and Alex's uncle Alfred and aunt Maria also joined in the persuasion.

Crown Prince Albert invited Nicholas to watch the opera "The Bird Seller", which was a performance specially prepared for Nicholas.

George is also troubled with affairs. Compared with two months ago, the situation in the Far East is deteriorating.

Half a month ago, the "Akitsusu" protected cruiser was completed and joined the Japanese army in active service. Japan has completed all pre-war preparations.

The Qing Empire remained indifferent.

The reason is that after the Russian Empire took control of Goryeo, Japan lost the springboard to attack the Qing Empire. In the view of the Qing Dynasty, if Japan wanted to launch a war, it could only be done with the nearest Goryeo.

George was speechless.

No wonder the Qing Empire gave up Goryeo to the Russian Empire so easily.

It turned out that it was hoped that Goryeo would become a barrier between Japan and the Qing Empire.

But how is this possible? Japan has reached the point where it has to launch a war, and Goryeo will not stop Japan's ambitions at all.

A week ago, Japan invited the Qing Empire’s Beiyang Fleet to visit Japan.

The Qing Empire also had this intention, hoping to use the Beiyang Fleet to deter Japan.

The visit is scheduled for a month later.

George realized immediately that the Japanese were about to take action.

Japan is a country that has no credibility at all and will do whatever it takes to win. George can almost predict that Japan will definitely launch a surprise attack on the Beiyang Fleet during its visit to Japan.

As long as the Beiyang Fleet is eliminated, the long coastline of the Qing Empire will be completely unprotected.

George sent a telegram to Ye Luoxin, asking Ye Luoxin to remind the Qing Empire to be careful of Japanese sneak attacks.

This telegram attracted the attention of the British side.

Since wireless telegraphy had not yet been developed, communication between George and Vladivostok was conducted through the London telegraph system.

Both George and Ye Luoxin used passwords. Although the British monitored George's communications, they only got a bunch of garbled codes that seemed to have no logic.

This made the British very curious.

(End of this chapter)