I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 560 Balkan Sequelae
The day after the banquet, Georgi set off for Marmara, the home port of the Mediterranean Fleet.

George had to stay in St. Petersburg because of Joffre's unexpected visit.

There was no need for Joffre to be present at celebrations like the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Romanov dynasty; this was a stage for diplomats.

Since the end of the Rovno exercise last year, Joffre has had basically no contact with George. On the contrary, Foch has been in frequent contact with George.

Just half a month ago, Foch proposed to George that he hope George could invite French troops to participate in this year's Rivne exercise.

George called Foch back and said that if the French army wanted to participate in the Rivne exercises, it would need to apply to the Russian Empire through formal channels.

Whether to invite the French army to participate is a matter of George's words, but Germany's attitude needs to be considered. George does not want to overly provoke the Germans.

Joffre's visit was due to negotiations between Britain and Germany on the arms race that had taken place a week earlier.

The arms race intensified, placing an increasing financial burden on Britain and Germany.

People of insight in Britain and Germany also gradually realized that if the arms race continued, it would ultimately end in war, which would undoubtedly be a disaster for Britain and Germany.

So since last year, the British Navy and the German Navy have been in frequent contact, trying to end the arms race in a peaceful way.

Germany's arms race was primarily directed against Britain.

Once the arms race stopped, Germany would shift its main focus from the navy to the army, which put Joffre under great pressure.

So Joffre's purpose in coming to George was very clear, which was to find a way to destroy the ties between Britain and Germany and to keep the arms race going at all costs.

Joffre probably felt that once Germany changed its direction, the Russian Empire would be under the same pressure as France, so Joffre believed that the Russian Empire should act immediately and put appropriate pressure on Germany.

George was speechless.

George was the Minister of the Navy, and Joffre hoped that the Russian Empire would actively join the arms race and force Germany to build more battleships.

Speaking of battleships.

France decided to build the Courbet-class battleships in 1911, and revised the plan the following year to build a total of four ships.

The four battleships are under construction and are expected to be commissioned before the end of next year.

George was curious.

France, which has always prided itself on its strength, has just started building the first-level all-heavy artillery battleships, and it can't bear this?

France built Courbet not because of Germany, but because of Italy.

In January this year, Italy's first all-heavy artillery battleship "Dante Alegre" was officially commissioned.

Three more "Count Cavour" class battleships are under construction on the Italian slipway.

"Russia already has seven all-heavy artillery battleships in service, and four more are under construction. We have done everything we can. Instead, you should take action immediately. Even if you can't show any performance in the navy, you should strengthen the construction of the army and air force."

George also has his own private goods. If France wants to strengthen its army and air force, it must increase its purchases from the Russian Empire.

After the Rovno exercise ended last year, France began to contact the Russian Empire to discuss the purchase of army tanks and air force bombers.

The French were very cunning and wanted to import technology from the Russian Empire and produce it in France.

George was willing to transfer technology, but required France to first purchase armored vehicles and bombers worth 100 million rubles from the Russian Empire before discussing the transfer of technology.

"The situation in Paris is different from that in St. Petersburg. Every franc we spend is subject to the review of the budget committee."

Joffre actually cried poor to George, but France was a creditor of the Russian Empire.

After the Russo-Japanese War, France took the initiative to borrow money from the Russian Empire and increased its investment in the Russian Empire.

In the past five years, more than one-third of foreign investment in the Russian Empire came from France.

George now finally understood why the Russian Empire chose the faraway place instead of the near one.

It's really a debt of gratitude.

"We are the same. The Duma deputies are all stingy and mean Grandets—"

George and Joffre were of the same mind on this issue and complained about Congress together.

Xiafei's expression was a little ugly.

Grandet is French.

"You should persuade Congress to use the money from foreign investment for military construction. Building warships is better than paying compensation."

George took the initiative to give Joffre advice.

"Our investments are all in Russia—"

Xiafei rolled his eyes at George, saying he had never seen anyone so selfless.

George just laughed.

The Russian Empire had no shortage of investments.

This is no longer the era when the Russian Empire had to drag the French to invest in loans to the Qing Empire. Even if there was no French consortium, there was still the Siberian Bank and the Yusupov family. With the little money that France invested in the Russian Empire, the Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg could just drink less champagne and organize fewer salons every year, and they would have everything.

The three major countries investing in Russia are France, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Germany, once the largest trading partner of the Russian Empire, has invested less and less in the Russian Empire in recent years.

This is still due to Stolypin's agricultural reform. After Stolypin's reform, Russian agriculture has become stronger and stronger. Last year, the Russian Empire had a bumper harvest, and its grain output was one-third more than the total of Argentina, the United States and Canada. More than half of the world's horses are in the Russian Empire.

The Russian Empire exported half of the world's grain.

Egg exports also account for 50 percent of the world's total.

To prevent the impact of Russian agricultural products on German agriculture, Germany stopped importing pork from the Russian Empire last year.

Since his cousin in Berlin was so disrespectful, Nicholas retaliated by stopping importing industrial products from Germany.

As one thing grows, the other shrinks, and Germany's influence on the Russian economy naturally becomes smaller and smaller.

Joffre mentioned foreign investment, probably to remind George not to anger France, the big moneybag.

George didn't take it seriously at all. France was the boss before the investment, but how much profit he could get after the investment, or even whether he could get any profit, would depend on Russia's attitude.

For the Russian Empire and France, the one who owes money is the boss.

After all, it is France that needs the Russian Empire now.

Joffre came from afar, so as the host, George must show some appreciation.

So George held a reception for Joffre at the Admiralty Building.

What made Xiafei feel relieved was that this time the champagne was not contained in a military iron barrel, but in a crystal basin.

It really is a basin. Such a large piece of crystal is very rare, but it is made into a basin.

Joffre felt that these Russian grand dukes were hopeless.

Georges had not yet invited Joffre to visit the Amber Room.

The Amber Room was built by the Germans.

In 1701, King Frederick I of Prussia began to build the Amber Room in the Berlin Palace, which took ten years to complete.

Although the area of ​​the "Amber Palace" is only 55 square meters, its building materials are all made of amber, which was 12 times more expensive than gold at the time.

The "Amber Room" is also decorated with diamonds, gems, gold and silver foil, with a total weight of more than 6 tons. It is known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

In 1716, Peter the Great visited Berlin and praised the Amber Palace highly.

The then King of Prussia, Frederick William I, gave the "Amber Room" as a gift to Peter the Great. From then on, the Amber Room became a national treasure of the Russian Empire and was placed in the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg.

So when the French say that Russians are extravagant, it is simply because they lack knowledge.

Nowadays, all European royal families, even those from small countries with few people, are extravagant.

In addition to George, those attending the banquet from the Russian Empire included little Nicholas and Nicholas' brother-in-law Alexander.

Alexander's current position is Deputy Commander of the Air Force.

Kirill, who was repeatedly disliked by George, was finally stuffed into the Navy Ministry by Nicholas and served as deputy commander of the Baltic Fleet.

This is a sinecure, the kind where you just get paid but don't do any work.

Alexander is still quite active. He is currently in charge of the Air Force training and receives training with the pilots.

It is said that George, the Minister of Air Force, cannot actually fly a plane, which once again proves the corruption of the Russian royal family.

Compared with the past, the safety of aircraft has been greatly improved. Last fall, Captain Amur Gitkov flew a transport plane from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg, setting a record for the Russian Air Force.

George originally planned to take advantage of the situation to open a regular route between Vladivostok and St. Petersburg.

Unfortunately, when Gitkov was returning, his plane crashed due to a sudden snowstorm, and the safety of the plane was once again questioned.

George, there is nothing much to say. When promoting new things, there will always be various difficulties, but as long as you keep working hard, difficulties will only make you stronger.

Joffre tried to persuade young Nicholas at the reception.

Nicholas the Younger was very dissatisfied with the conservatism of the French Army.

After the Franco-Prussian War, France built a line of defense along the Franco-German border to resist German invasion.

France's current military thinking is centered around this line of defense, hoping that Germany will give up when faced with difficulties.

Where can Germany retreat?

Russian Empire!
George also did not remind Joffre that Germany already had the "Schlieffen Plan" against the French defense line.

Even if George reminded them, the French would most likely not formulate an offensive plan, but would include the Franco-Belgian border in the defense line.

Nicolas the Younger stimulated Joffre with Alsace and Lorraine, two regions that originally belonged to France but were ceded to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War.

"We will get Alsace and Lorraine back sooner or later."

Joffre was in a bad mood. In his opinion, the generals of the Russian Empire were living a life of drunkenness and the prospects of the Franco-Russian alliance were worrying.

Halfway through the reception, George received a telegram from Vasily that a conflict had broken out between the Korean vassal troops stationed in the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Greek army.

George knew that war would break out in the Balkans sooner or later, but he did not expect the conflict to come so soon and so early.

What made George happy was that the Goryeo vassal army was more capable than the Greek army and did not suffer any losses in the conflict.

(End of this chapter)