I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 710 Military Industry Brothers Want to Eat

Age doesn’t really matter. Most European royal families have older husbands and younger wives, and they only get married after they’ve had enough fun.

When George first met Li Tuo, he thought Li Tuo was a child because Li Tuo was short.

Later, George found out that Li Tuo was not only two years younger than George, but also married his teacher's daughter at the age of 9. When George met Li Tuo, Li Tuo was already married.

This situation is consistent with George's understanding of the Koreans.

Li Tuo did not stay in Constantinople. After his proposal to marry Alexandra failed, he quickly returned to Goryeo to succeed to the throne.

Queen Min's health was not good either. She had been bedridden for a long time and her life was coming to an end.

This winter was destined to be uneasy. Shortly after Li Xi's death, Yerohin and old general Yangkov died one after another. Then Guchkov was assassinated at Yangkov's funeral. The assassin was an officer from the Caucasus.

Guchkov was lucky enough to survive after being hit in the left chest by a bullet fired from an officer's pistol and receiving emergency treatment in the hospital.

There were rumors in Constantinople that Guchkov's assassination was George's way of getting rid of him.

George didn't know whether to laugh or cry when he heard the rumor.

If George really wanted to get rid of the donkey after it had served its purpose, there was no need to go through so much trouble. He could have done it perfectly without leaving any evidence.

It is not time to kill the donkey now, because the mill will never be fully used.

Although Guchkov had a stain, George was so satisfied with his performance after becoming the Minister of Justice that he almost forgot about Guderian.

Guderian now serves as mayor of St. Petersburg.

St. Petersburg is one of the four major municipalities of Russia, namely: St. Petersburg, Moscow, Vladivostok, and Constantinople.

Witt went to visit Guchkov on behalf of George, hoping that Guchkov would recover soon.

To Witt's surprise, Guchkov moved his office to the ward and continued to work there.

George was very pleased and decided to portray Guchkov as a role model and focus on publicity.

Guchkov once served as a minister of the Provisional Government and was also a steel tycoon in the imperial era. He was very influential internationally.

Russia's liquidations over the past two years have involved millions of people and have attracted widespread attention internationally.

Guchkov can attest that Russia’s liquidation was restrained and not one-size-fits-all.

The international community is paying attention to Russia's liquidation, and Russia is also paying attention to the workers' movements in Britain, France and Germany.

The French workers' movement has not yet subsided, and the number of provinces where strikes have broken out has increased from 22 to 27.

Shortly after the establishment of the Bavarian Republic, it was destroyed by the Weimar government. During this process, the Weimar government and the Junker nobles within the German army reached an agreement.

The Weimar government exchanged the German army's support for the Weimar government for not reforming the German army.

After the Paris Peace Conference, Germany could only retain 10 army and 1.5 navy. After the streamlining of the German army, more than half of the current German army are officers.

The situation in the UK is worse than in France and Germany.

In 1916, Ireland launched the Easter Rising under the leadership of the Brotherhood in order to fight for independence.

Although the uprising was eventually suppressed, it became an important milestone on the road to Irish independence.

The "Fourteen Points" proposed by Wilson in 1918 gave the Irish hope for independence again.

In January this year, most Irish MPs elected in the general election at the end of last year refused to serve in the British House of Commons. They formed their own Irish Parliament and issued a unilateral declaration of independence in the name of an independent "Republic of Ireland".

As a result, the Irish Republican rebels began to attack officials sent by the British government and British supporters.

From January to July this year, more than 1 British officials and British supporters were killed.

The rebels also blew up 19 warehouses and more than 100 vacant camps to prevent them from being used by the British army.

The Royal Irish Constabulary and the Guard went into action frantically, arresting members of the resistance, confiscating their property, and executing them without trial.

These atrocities not only failed to frighten the Irish, but instead aroused increasingly intense resistance from the Irish. For a time, the British Isles were in turmoil.

Britain's colonies were also in turmoil.

During the world war, in order to win the support of overseas colonies and dominions, the British government promised to give the colonies and dominions more rights after the war.

After the Paris Peace Conference, when it was time for the British government to fulfill its promise, it went back on its word and only made perfunctory remarks on minor details, such as tax rates, and refused to truly fulfill its promise.

Forget about colonies like India.

South Africa, Canada and Australia are all countries composed mainly of descendants of British colonists. They are essentially British. Why should they endure exploitation at home?
During the World War, overseas dominions such as South Africa, Canada and Australia made great contributions to the British Army. Australia alone sent 50 Australian and New Zealand Army Corps to fight in Europe.

What the white people living in the dominions wanted was independence, not tax cuts.

The British government was in trouble both internally and externally and was forced to convene an Imperial Conference in London to discuss the above issues.

Compared with Britain, France and Germany, which were all trapped in their own troubles, Russia, which had just experienced the world war and civil war, cherished the hard-won peace and devoted all its energy to developing the economy.

Witte estimates that Russia's economic data this year will increase by at least 30% compared to last year.

This is mainly because industrial production in the Russian and European regions has been greatly damaged and has almost started from scratch, so there are only so many. Next year, some factories in the Russian and European regions will be put into production, and the Russian government will also start a new batch of key projects, which are also mainly based on infrastructure construction, focusing on improving Russia's power supply level.

Nearly 30 years have passed since the first Lighting Fair was held in St. Petersburg, and there are still many towns in Russia without electricity.

It would be fine if it was just a small town in a remote area, but there was no electricity in a town less than 100 kilometers away from St. Petersburg. George didn't know what to say.

George decided to equip every town with a population of more than 10000 with a power plant to solve local power supply problems.

With electricity, we can promote lighting systems, develop household appliances, and raise the living standards of Russians to a higher level.

Witt had a splitting headache. How much would this cost?

In order to develop its economy this year, Russia has raised more than 150 billion rubles through various channels, all of which have been invested in domestic construction.

If we follow George's plan and equip every town with a population of more than 10000 with a power plant, it will probably cost another 150 billion.

George doesn't think the problem is that serious.

Electricity supply requires phased investment, not a large amount at one time. If we build a thermal power station this year and a hydropower station next year, George's requirements can be met in ten years at most.

But even so, the first investment will require at least 20 billion rubles.

Witt's eyes were almost green with envy. Where could he get so much money?

George asked Witt to contact Joseph.

The Dolgorukov family has withdrawn hundreds of millions of dollars from the US stock market, which is used to buy Russian bonds.

Joseph knew how to sell high and buy low, and Wall Street financiers were not stupid either. Morgan Jr. asked Joseph to take it easy, hoping to stabilize him while he ran away first.

Like the Dolgorukov family, the Morgan family and the Rockefellers were all buying low and selling high. Having all this money lying in bank accounts was totally against the interests of the financiers. Wealth needed to flow in order to play its due role.

"Why bother with all this? We can just print money!"

Little Nicholas' understanding of finance is not even as good as that of an elementary school student.

Can't say the same.

Don't have too high expectations of the European elite; many times their ways of solving problems are a bit naive.

The Germans, who are known for their rigor, deal with insufficient purchasing power by printing money.

As a result, the exchange rate of the German mark to the US dollar soared from 1914 marks to one dollar in 4.2 to one million German marks to one dollar in August 1923.

By November, the mark's value had fallen further to 11 trillion to the dollar.

This is the consequence of printing money directly.

After the new ruble was issued, the gold content of the ruble was determined to be 0.5 grams of gold.

If Russia starts printing money crazily, the gold content of the ruble will completely collapse, causing an irreparable blow to the country's credibility.

Unless George wants to make a quick buck and run, don't do it.

Now Americans are the only rich people in the world. If Russia wants to raise the funds it needs for reconstruction, it can only find a way from the United States.

Of course, George did not place all his hopes on the United States. Although the economies of Britain, France and Germany were hit hard during the world war, Europe's wealth did not disappear, but instead increasingly gathered at the top.

Some time ago, Russia was planning to build a natural gas pipeline, which caused a sensation in Paris. Within just one month, the 1.5 million rubles issued by the Russian government were snapped up.

Some question whether there is enough of a market for natural gas in Paris.

The key to this issue lies in whether there is someone pushing it forward.

Everyone knows that natural gas is cleaner and cheaper than coal, the key is whether it is useful.

France does not produce natural gas at all, and the proportion used is indeed not high.

But if the natural gas pipeline can be laid to Paris, every household in Paris will be able to use natural gas within half a year.

Just some time ago, a natural gas well was discovered in Pennsylvania, USA, which spews out more than 6000 million cubic feet of natural gas every day.

The news immediately triggered an investment boom in the capital market, with 300 new companies established within six months.

If nothing else, if natural gas from Russia could free London from its winter smog, George would immediately become a god among the British.

George doesn't want to be God, he just wants to be a bad guy.

So what George supplied to Britain was not natural gas, but arms.

The Irish resistance grew more and more intense, but due to lack of weapons and ammunition, they were unable to launch a larger-scale attack on the British government.

Amur had business dealings with the Irish Brotherhood in the United States a long time ago.

On October 10, Michael Collins, Minister of Finance of the Republic of Ireland, arrived in Constantinople, hoping to get help from Russia.

George would definitely not show up for such a thing, so the person who contacted Michael Collins was Julien, the head of the Amur Military Industrial Group in Constantinople.

(End of this chapter)