I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 486 Driver
It was much easier to get promoted in the Qing Empire than in the Russian Empire.

Before Milyugin's restructuring, captaincy in the Imperial Russian Army was the ceiling for civilians. Many old men had served in the army for 25 years. No matter how much they contributed, they could only retire with the rank of captain.

The current situation is not much better than before. Senior positions in the military are occupied by nobles. Mid-level and low-level officers are not available unless they graduate from a military academy. It is impossible for someone like Zhang Yuting, who came from a rough background and became a senior officer in one or two years, to be a senior officer in the Russian Empire. happened.

Zhang Yuting was also lucky. Before the outbreak of the Russo-Japanese War, he was still a commander. After Zhao Erxun took office, he invited the army to buy military morale. Zhang Yuting was promoted to commander, and was later appointed as commander.

During the restructuring of Guandong, the first thing the new governor did when he took office was to bribe these local snakes in Guandong. Zhang Yuting's official position was still promoted.

For Amul, it is not a good thing for a reckless hero like Zhang Yuting to rise too quickly, as he can easily lose control.

Unlike Zhao Erxun, who is an official, Zhang Yuting is from Guandong, and his roots are in Guandong. He can use some means to climb up, but he will not completely sell off Guandong.

As Zhang Yuting's worth has been rising, Paul's influence on Zhang Yuting has become smaller and smaller.

The British were indeed bad people. Seeing that there was no hope of resuming work at the Fengtian Iron Mine, Christian sold his shares to the Americans and cashed out.

It’s okay not to sell it to the Guandong Mining Company. If it’s sold to the Americans, it’s because Guandong is not chaotic enough.

This money was not given directly to the Qing Empire, but was used to run schools in the Qing Empire in the name of developing cultural and educational undertakings.

Although the British guy is superior, George is still superior.

George only returned to Amur at the end of September. When he returned from the hot East India to Vladivostok, where snow was about to fall, George was still a little uncomfortable.

The Americans were also evil-minded. Before informing the Qing Empire about the incident, they first launched a media campaign to make it known to everyone. As a result, the Qing Empire was completely passive and could not afford the money.

Compared with the humid and hot East India, George still likes Vladivostok with its distinct four seasons, which is cold and dry.

In fact, it contains evil intentions.

In mid-August, the United States returned US$8 million from the Boxer Indemnity to the Qing Empire for the development of cultural and educational undertakings.

No matter what, Amur must store food for winter in summer, and the environment forces people to make progress.

The environment in East India makes it too easy for people to slack off. Even if the Cossacks who have just immigrated to East India are full of fighting spirit, they will degenerate into another form within two or three generations at most.

The Americans didn't feel bad and continued to spend money.

The United States also suffered heavy losses in the Russo-Japanese War, and all its investments in Japan were in vain.

The shares sold to the Americans were returned to George's hands. Mikhail was overjoyed and immediately arranged for the Fengtian Iron Mine to resume work.

Sounds like a good thing, right?

If possible, the Qing Empire would rather not have this money than let Americans carry out remote breeding.

Before the Sino-Japanese War of 1894-1894, Japan's Toa Doubun Academy trained a large number of spies and played an important role.

Americans are going around under the banner of "open door" and will intervene wherever they can.

Schools run by Americans must be managed by Americans. After all, Americans are responsible for the education of the Qing Empire, and the Qing Empire cannot get involved.

Americans have always been pure. No matter what they do, they always do it from a profit perspective.

The Fengtian Iron Mine is obviously a big hole. As long as George is unwilling to resume work, it will be useless to gather an Eight-Nation Allied Force to go to Fengtian.

When the British sold their shares to the Americans, in order to prevent the Americans from interfering, they required the Americans not to sell their shares to the Russians. The Americans did not sell their shares directly to the Russians, but to the French.

The French fell again, and the initial restrictions disappeared.

Like the Americans, George is also farming remotely.

The difference is that George is doing remote farming work in Germany.

After the emergence of all-heavy artillery battleships, Europe opened up as George wished, but the effort was not enough.

Who can the 280mm main gun of the German "Nassau" class battleship hit? It can't hit the French Navy, let alone the Royal Navy, which has strong ships and powerful guns.

William II was ambitious and hoped to develop overseas interests and expand the living space for Germany.

Britain was pursuing and blocking the expansion of the Russian Empire, and would not allow Germany to challenge Britain's global colonial order.

The pace of British warship building is indeed fast. Last year, it just started construction of three "Bellerophon" class battleships. This year, it started planning for the "St. Vincent" class, with the same number of three ships.

When the news reached Germany, public opinion was in an uproar.

In the pre-Dauntless era, the Royal Navy relied on years of accumulation, and the gap in strength was indeed disappointing.

After the Russo-Japanese War, all-heavy artillery battleships were born, and everyone was back on the same starting line. Since Germany wanted to develop overseas interests, how could it lag behind the British Empire in building warships?

Since the middle of the year, some radical German media have published numerous reports, hoping that Germany will continue to build more and more powerful battleships so that it cannot be left behind by the Royal Navy.

There are also sensible media who use the Russian Empire as an example and hope that Germany will continue to strengthen its army and not be distracted by its navy.

These rational voices were immediately suppressed with overwhelming force.

The Russian Empire gave up its navy because its three major fleets were completely annihilated. The strength it had accumulated over the years was destroyed, and it had to give up.

Warships are easy to handle. A fully heavy artillery battleship costs only more than 20 million, which is not much more expensive than previous battleships.

The Russian Empire borrowed 9 million rubles from the United Kingdom to rebuild its finances. If all this money was used to build warships, the Royal Navy would not be enough.

The three major fleets were completely wiped out. The most critical problem was that the navy's officer echelon was gone.

If there are no warships to build, no one will have to be cultivated slowly. It takes ten years to cultivate trees and a hundred years to cultivate people. By the time a new generation of naval officers is cultivated, the day lilies will be cold.

Since its unification, Germany's strength has increased rapidly. By the beginning of the 20th century, its overall strength was almost the same as that of the United Kingdom.

Germany needs a broader living space, German goods need a market, and Germans also want to open up colonies around the world and become global citizens like the British.

Britain's external strength and internal inadequacy were completely exposed in the Boer War.

The Russian Empire suffered a great loss in strength in the Russo-Japanese War. Although it turned defeat into victory in the later period, the problem of internal power imbalance became more and more serious and it was too busy to take care of itself.

Feng shui is turning, this year in my house, the sun has never set across the world for more than a hundred years, it is time for Germany to lead the world.

If Bismarck was still here, Germany would certainly not have expanded to this extent.

Now Germany's racing chariot has lost its driver.

(End of this chapter)