I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 326: Study hard

George doesn't care, Mikhail dreams of developing the land on the south bank of the Amur River.

The same goes for Germany. William II dreamed of turning the Jiaodong Peninsula into a German overseas colony.

Therefore, any attack against the Qing Empire will arouse strong concern from all countries.

The Qing Empire is described as a big cake. If Japan takes one more bite, the Russian Empire and Germany will take one less bite.

For the same reason, if the Russian Empire wanted to launch a war against the Qing Empire, it would also arouse the vigilance of other countries.

To put it bluntly, all countries regard the Qing Empire as their own private territory. Even if they cannot annex the Qing Empire for the time being, they will not allow other countries to annex the Qing Empire.

This is the fundamental reason why the Qing Empire can still maintain its rule.

The origin of this matter can be traced back to the Qing-France War.

The results of the Qing-France War showed that even if you can't win on the battlefield, you can still get the results you want through blackmail at the negotiation table.

George continued to burn the fire.

George is sometimes curious. The enemy has already attacked the door. Shouldn't he repel the enemy first and then discuss other issues?
The Qing Empire did not.

The Qing-Japanese War was raging, but the internal disputes about this war within the Qing Empire were growing.

Compared with the Russian Empire, which repeatedly used blackmail to cause great harm to the Qing Empire, the Qing Empire was still more willing to deal with the Japanese who had never eaten any good pork.

“Does London know now about the Japanese army’s massacre of civilians in the Qing Empire?”

Crown Prince Albert did not want to broach the topic.

George disagrees. If you don’t want to mention it, just don’t mention it. This is St. Petersburg.

George was helpless and wanted to send Cossacks to help the Qing Empire fight the war.

Mu Linde's basis is that since the Qing-Japanese War broke out, the Qing Empire's troops fighting against Japan were all from the Huai Army, a direct line under Li Zhangtong's command. Reinforcements from various parts of the Qing Empire were slow, which resulted in the nominal Qing-Japanese war. The war was actually the Huai-Japanese War.

George ignored the internal strife in the Qing Empire. On the day after Nicholas's wedding, Prince Albert held a dinner at the British Legation in St. Petersburg, and George accompanied Nicholas there.

It's hard to say about reinforcements.

After the Sino-Japanese War broke out, Mu Linde, who had a deep connection with the Westernizationists of the Qing Dynasty, provided George with information that the Sino-Japanese War might be the Qing Empire using Japan to weaken the strength of the Westernizationists.

In order to support the Qing Empire in its war with Japan, George was even willing to provide loans to the Qing Empire in exchange for money and guns.

The Sichuan-Sichuan region is too far from Liaodong, so it is understandable that it will take a long time.

Albert had to respond.

"Then prove it with actions."

But when the Japanese army besieged Liugong Island, the Qing troops in various parts of the Jiaodong Peninsula showed no signs of reinforcements, causing Liugong Island to become an isolated island. This is difficult to explain.

Therefore, George reminded the Qing Empire through Mu Linde that they must hold on and resolutely not surrender.

Now that this goal has been achieved, the Qing Empire does not want to fight at all, but only wants to seek peace.

But this was impossible, because the Qing Empire would worry that it would be easy to invite gods but difficult to send them away.

As the biggest threat to Britain, George certainly cannot let the British get what they want.

Nicholas did not let the Japanese go, saying that the British government had made a very smart investment.

Japan's domestic conflicts have become very acute. Since the outbreak of the war, Japan's domestic conflicts have become more acute and prices have skyrocketed. If this situation continues, Japan will soon have to stop its offensive.

The transportation within the Qing Empire was backward. After the Qing-Japanese War broke out, the reinforcements mobilized from Sichuan and Sichuan have not yet set off. It is estimated that it will take at least a year to reach the battlefield.

"Or is it that London wants to turn the Qing Empire into a British colony?"

This is just Mu Linde's personal judgment. It's hard to say what the truth is.

George doesn't talk nonsense to the Japanese either.

After Otsu was assassinated, Nicholas hated the Japanese deeply, so Prince Akihito was smart and did not take the initiative to get close to Nicholas.

Albert's face was ashen and he said nothing.

Japan is actually fighting a very difficult battle.

The news sent back by Mu Linde was not optimistic.

George made the matter clear and immediately attracted everyone's attention.

According to Mu Linde's inference, the Qing Empire hoped to weaken the strength of the Westernization faction through war.

"That's absolutely not the case!"

George's attitude is very clear. Japan can taste the meat, but if it wants to take the meat away, don't even think about it.

Within the Qing Empire, in addition to the Westernization faction headed by Li Zhangtong, there was also the Qing faction headed by Emperor Shi Weng Tonghe.

The results of the Qing-France War proved that the Qing Empire was now a big fat piece of meat with no ability to defend itself, and all countries wanted to take a bite.

Prince Akihito is also there.

Britain's so-called "mediation" allowed the Qing Empire to recognize the true face of the British. So in early November, the Qing Empire went to the American Minister to China, Tian Bei, hoping that Tian Bei would intervene to mediate.

Tianbei was indeed willing to mediate, but the Japanese had not yet achieved the goal of completely wiping out the Beiyang Navy, so they refused to negotiate on the pretext that the negotiators sent by the Qing Empire did not have enough authority.

"Your Majesty, this is not the theme of our banquet today."

Didn't the Japanese blockade Weihaiwei, preventing any ships from entering or leaving?

George did not believe in evil, so a Korean transport ship flying the flag of Yuriev's family emblem was sunk by a Japanese warship when it forcibly broke into the war zone.

George is not in a hurry, he will write down this account first.

George wanted to wait until the war was over before settling accounts with the Japanese.

Unexpectedly, Nicholas was more anxious than George.

"What are you going to do?"

Nicholas was ready for a good show.

"What else can we do to make the Japanese lose money——"

George remembers this battle. "That's not worth much—"

Nicholas was disappointed.

"Well, the ship is worthless, but there are 10 tons of gold on the ship -"

George didn't dare to ask for more. 10 tons of gold cost about 1300 million rubles.

"puff--"

Nicholas sprayed champagne all over the floor and looked at George with dull eyes.

"Where did you get so much gold?"

Nicholas knew that it would not be difficult for George to come up with 10 tons of gold.

The Republic of Transvaal has been doing business with Amur for the past two years, and it has used almost this much gold to pay for goods every year.

But having 10 tons of gold is one thing.

Whether there was actually gold on board was another matter.

The ship is currently at the bottom of the sea. With current technology, it is impossible to fish it out.

George has the final say on what's on it.

"You are too cruel!"

Nicholas felt that George was going to miscalculate this time.

Let’s put it this way, adding up the warships built by Japan’s Soso Sou, they are not necessarily worth 1300 million rubles.

If the Russian Navy can spend 1300 million rubles now, it can start construction of two latest battleships immediately.

"Just wait and see, after a while you will feel that I am missing more."

George knew how big the Japanese appetite was.

Now no one knows how big the appetite of the Japanese is, nor how much money the Qing Empire can squeeze out.

After the Qing-France War, the Qing Empire compensated France with 5000 million francs, roughly equivalent to 1880 million rubles.

In 1881, the Qing Empire and the Russian Empire signed a treaty, in which they compensated the Russian Empire 900 million rubles.

These are basically within the understandable range.

During the Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Empire compensated Japan with 2 million taels of silver.

Two hundred million!
George could imagine how red the eyes of the great powers would be after this number was exposed.

Don’t even mention Japan.

For the Russian Empire, this was extremely wealthy.

Before George could get this huge fortune, news came from Amur. As soon as Governor Ignaev took office, he couldn't wait to propose the implementation of a local council system in Amur.

George really didn't expect that this old man could be so capable.

Ignaev was forced to resign as Minister of the Interior because he proposed to reopen local councils. He was attacked by widespread public opinion.

It's been 10 years since this happened.

George never expected that Ignaev had not given up yet.

Perhaps Ignaev felt that Nikolai and Yasan were different, so the matter took another turn.

Nicholas didn't know much about the local council, so he brought the matter to the Imperial Council for discussion.

"Someone may have forgotten how much influence the local council system has brought to the empire, so this is absolutely impossible."

Pobedonostsev, who had just returned from Amur, was firmly opposed.

When Pobedonostsev was in Amur, he was very satisfied with the power structure of Amur. He once called the stability of the Amur region a model for the empire.

Ignaev has also made progress. He does not propose the full implementation of the local council system, but hopes to use Amur as a pilot. If the local council system is successful in Amur, it will be implemented nationwide.

"Past experience shows that we need to be cautious about this matter."

Current Interior Minister Durnovo also disagrees.

“The local council system is a source of trouble!”

General Shelevan, who only knows the police system, also has no favorable impression of the local council system.

"George, what do you think?"

What Nicholas valued most was George's opinion.

"We must first understand that although we all know the shortcomings of the local council system, the voice within the empire for the local council system is getting louder and louder."

George knew that reopening the local council system was the interest of all classes within the empire.

This matter actually has nothing to do with ordinary people.

But it has a greater relationship with the gentry and the emerging bourgeoisie.

To put it simply, in addition to the ruling class within the Russian Empire, other classes also very much hope to have a normal channel to express their interests.

"So what, the call may not be correct."

Pobedonostsev wasn't quite sure what George meant.

Through Amur, Pobedonostsev knew that George was against the local council system.

"Yes, but what cannot be ignored is that parliament is an effective way to divert social conflicts."

George suggested that the imperial ministers take a look at how the British government deceived the British.

Britain's current constitutional monarchy allows the British royal family to maintain a detached status. Whenever there is a problem, the first person to be pushed out is the prime minister.

In the Russian Empire, it was usually the Tsar who took the blame.

(End of this chapter)