I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 562 There’s something wrong with your brain
The Russian Empire is amazing, and some things are simply hard to explain.

George was calm enough. Initially, he was determined to only provoke an arms race and never get involved in it. But now the Russian Empire has 11 ships, including all-heavy artillery battleships under construction, second only to Britain and Germany.

Even so, Churchill and Joffre were still not satisfied. They hoped that the Russian Empire would continue to increase its efforts and would not stop until it had brought the Russian Empire to its knees.

George had nothing much to say. The "Gangut" class battleships had been put into service and the "Queen Maria" class battleships were under construction. A few days ago, George ordered the "Russia" battleship to be transferred to the Mediterranean Fleet to continue to strengthen the strength of the Mediterranean Fleet.

After the arrival of "Russia" in the Mediterranean, the Mediterranean Fleet will have three all-heavy artillery battleships, surpassing the British Mediterranean Fleet to become the most powerful fleet in the region.

The Siberian Fleet, which had been upgraded to the Pacific Fleet, did not gain nothing. George transferred the two battleships that Japan paid as compensation to the Russian Empire to the Far East to strengthen the strength of the Pacific Fleet.

In this way, the main battleships of the Baltic Fleet and the Mediterranean Fleet will be all heavy artillery battleships. Although the absolute number will not be large enough, the combat effectiveness can be fully guaranteed.

George still ambushed Churchill and Joffre. Although the "Queen Maria" class was nominally a battleship like the "Gangut", in fact, according to British standards, the "Queen Maria" class with reduced armor should be a battlecruiser.

The main guns of "Queen Maria" are the same as those of "Gangut", both of which are 12 52-caliber 330mm guns.

Due to the reduction of armor, the displacement of "Queen Maria" dropped to 21000 tons, and the maximum speed was increased to 26 knots. In the 10-knot economic speed mode, the endurance of "Queen Maria" is 7500 nautical miles.

Churchill believed that the Russian Empire needed at least two levels of eight dreadnoughts to put enough pressure on Germany and force Germany to withdraw from the arms race.

George did not directly object, but the Russian Empire had its own national conditions. Building ships was easy, and the Russian Empire had plenty of slipways. Where would the money come from?
George did not hide it and said directly and openly that the Russian Empire was concentrating on strengthening its army and had no spare capacity to build new ships.

Churchill didn't care, but Joffre felt a chill all over his body.

The Russian Empire's army was already strong enough, and its consecutive defeats of Japan and the Ottoman Empire fully demonstrated the combat effectiveness of the Imperial Army.

Russia is also continuing to strengthen its army, purchasing more armored vehicles and bombers, and building up armored forces and air forces.

The stronger the Russian Empire becomes, the more cautious the Allies will be, and the more dangerous France will become.

The money used by the Russian Empire to build the "Empress Maria" class was borrowed from Britain and France.

Joffre didn't want to be a sucker again.

Churchill was even more wronged.

France only paid half of the money to build the "Queen Maria", and the other half came from Britain.

The money for Gangut was all paid by Britain.

Although this money is borrowed, it will have to be repaid sooner or later.

But Churchill felt that he was being wronged because he used the funds that originally belonged to the Royal Navy to strengthen the Russian Navy.

"You spend 5 million rubles on education every year, so why don't you have money to build warships?"

Churchill was furious and questioned the sincerity of the Russian Empire.

The Russian Empire was not short of money; it just didn't have the money to build warships.

Not only does Russia have to invest 5 million rubles in education every year, it also has to relocate 50 people to Siberia every year. Farmers in remote areas of Russia have already begun consuming luxury goods such as champagne, while workers in Britain and France are still working in sweatshops in darkness.

An embarrassing reality is that the workers' movement in Britain and France is no less than that in the Russian Empire. In terms of strikes alone, they are even more frequent, more extensive and larger in scale.

France's way of dealing with the workers' movement was to sacrifice officials, with the prime minister and ministers being the victims.

Britain was brutally suppressing it, and Churchill himself was an expert at suppressing the workers' movement.

Relatively speaking, the Russian Empire was the European country that treated the lower classes of people the best.

So the workers in St. Petersburg should be taken to the factories in Paris and London to let them feel what the real iron fist of capitalism is.

"Because Russian children also want to receive a Harrow-style education."

George almost pissed Churchill off to death.

Harrow School was Churchill's alma mater.

Churchill was a typical problem student when he was young. He attended St. George's Boarding School for Children of the Nobles, Thomson School, and Harrow School. After graduation, he wanted to go to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, but he failed the entrance exam three times and entered through the back door.

Churchill was born into the Duke of Marlborough's family. His father was the founder of the Primrose Society of the British Conservative Party and had served as Chancellor of the Exchequer. His mother was the daughter of Leonard Jerome, a shareholder of the New York Times, a millionaire who had once dated Edward VII.

Harrow School, where Churchill studied, was founded in 1572. It is one of the most famous secondary schools in the UK, and the students enrolled are either rich or noble.

If Harrow School is used as a standard for the Russian Empire, then 5 million rubles per year is indeed not enough.

"Your Excellency Grand Duke Yuriev, your attitude is irresponsible."

Although Churchill came from a top aristocratic family, he was actually a hard-working person with no gentlemanly manners at all.

"I am Grand Duke Yuriev of the Russian Empire. I am not responsible to Britain." George's nickname "Barbarian" was given by the British.

I'm a fucking barbarian, it's normal to be irresponsible.

Churchill didn't get what he wanted from George, so he turned to Nicholas.

Nikolai showed the strong respect he deserved for his "Uncle God of War" and never interfered in the construction of the Russian Navy.

While the two admiralties were arguing in St. Petersburg, changes were taking place in the Kingdom of Greece.

On March 3, the new deputy commander of the Russian Mediterranean Fleet, Georgy, led a fleet headed by the flagship "Russia" to visit Thessaloniki.

When the construction of "Russia" started, there were many rumors. Some said that "Russia" was equipped with 20 350mm main guns, some said that the maximum speed of "Russia" was as high as 30 knots, and some said that the armor of the command tower of "Russia" was 500 mm thick, the strongest in the world.

Compared with the rumors, the "Russia" after completion was disappointing. The 12 main guns were not 350mm, but 330mm like the "Yuriev", and the caliber was 45 times.

The maximum speed is only 24 knots, and the armor of the conning tower is only 300 mm, which is almost the same as the "Queen Elizabeth" class battleship that the UK just started building late last year.

etc--

The Queen Elizabeth class has just started construction.

The "Russia" has been commissioned.

According to British standards, main guns with a caliber exceeding 305 are considered super dreadnoughts.

Therefore, all heavy artillery battleships of the Russian Empire, including the earliest built "Yuriev" and "Romanov", should be super dreadnoughts.

After the Russo-Japanese War, the ambitious Greek Navy also attempted to build its own dreadnoughts.

The Greek Navy was not strong enough to build dreadnoughts, so it contacted Britain, hoping to purchase them.

Unfortunately, the British offer was too high and the Greek Navy could not afford it, so the plan was forced to be shelved.

The main guns of "Yuriev" and "Romanov" were only 8.

The "Russia" has a back-mounted triple-barreled gun, with a total of 12 330-gun guns, so when the "Russia" sailed into Thessaloniki, the dock was crowded with people welcoming the "Russia" and Georgy.

Although Georgy is the deputy commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, he is a Greek prince.

The Greeks are actually not that sensitive about serving in foreign armies. Constantine I's eldest son, George, the current Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Greece, once served in the Prussian army.

It was precisely for this reason that when Constantine I was deposed in another time and space, the Allies did not agree to George's succession to the throne, and instead allowed Constantine's second son Alexander to succeed to the throne.

Alexander also had a bad life. In 1920, when he was walking his dog in the garden, the dog was attacked by a monkey. In order to protect his dog, Alexander was bitten by the monkey while driving away the monkey, and then died of sepsis.

After arriving in Thessaloniki, the first thing Georgi did was to go to the place where George I was assassinated to pay homage. He also said that he would use his own money to build a church at the place where George I was assassinated to pray for George I and the destiny of the Kingdom of Greece.

This decision immediately won the favor of the Greeks, and at the same time as this news spread across the country, the news that German instructors would soon arrive in Greece also spread.

On the evening of Georgi's arrival in Thessaloniki, Greek Prime Minister Venizelos held a welcome banquet for Georgi at the palace of the former Ottoman Sultan.

Venizelos expressed deep concern about Constantine's invitation to German instructors.

"It turns out that my father's decision was right. The Kingdom of Greece should not lean towards any side. Maintaining a neutral position is more conducive to the interests of Greece."

Georgi's ideas coincide with Venizelos'.

"Valdemar's closeness to the German-Austrian alliance led to the siege of the Kingdom of Bulgaria during the Balkan Wars, and Germany did not provide support to the Kingdom of Bulgaria."

Georgy was wrong. It was not that William II did not want to provide support, but the war ended before the Kingdom of Bulgaria could receive German aid.

"Inviting German instructors will drag Greece into the abyss of war. Every rational Greek has the obligation to stop your Majesty's wrong decision."

Venizelos took no sides between the Entente and the Central Powers, and his decisions were based solely on Greek interests.

If the Kingdom of Greece was not surrounded by the Entente, but was under the protection of the Central Powers.

Then Venizelos would choose the Allies without hesitation.

In this situation, Venizelos could only think that Constantine had a hole in his brain.

"The arms race between the United Kingdom and Germany has entered a fierce stage, and we are running out of time."

Deep down, Georgi remains a staunch Greek.

(End of this chapter)