I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 752 The Old Guys Are Almost Dead

After fighting the British for so long, the Egyptians began to learn their lesson. They no longer demanded that Britain transfer the jurisdiction of the Suez Canal to Egypt. Instead, they invited the League of Nations to send troops to the canal zone to ensure its security.

This request was strongly supported by Russia, France and Italy. The League of Nations General Assembly voted on it. Although most countries voted in favor, Britain still vetoed Egypt's proposal with its veto power.

The veto power of the League of Nations is not a special right of non-permanent members, but belongs to all countries.

This is the fundamental reason why the League of Nations has been deteriorating since its inception.

The Russian State Duma does not have a veto and strictly follows the principle of minority obeying the majority.

The State Duma was one of the first government institutions to move to Alexandria, and the Duma building is located on Peter the Great Square in the city center.

After more than a year of relocation, most Russian government agencies have moved to Alexandria, and George's official residence is located near Catherine the Great Square.

Compared with St. Petersburg and Constantinople, Alexandria is not only a pure political center, but also the best carrier for verifying nationalism.

Under the call for free trade, the concept of small government is more popular in European and American countries. Politics and military serve the economy, and the government lacks the ability and means to intervene in the economy.

After the civil war, Russia established an economic system dominated by the state. Industries that occupy an important position in the overall economy, such as the defense industry, transportation, energy development, education and medical care, are all dominated by the state, and social enterprises headed by Yuriev, Yusupov, Dolgorukov and Romanov are in a subordinate position.

This fundamentally changed the economic model of the imperial era, and the role of the Russian government in the operation of the national economy became increasingly prominent.

Although this model caused some controversy when it was first established, its benefits are still obvious.

If there had not been unified organization and dispatch for last year's drought and snowstorm, the losses caused would have been countless times more serious than they are now.

After canceling the preferential policies for foreign investment, Felix continued to strike hard at the financial industry.

The tragedy of Deutsche Bank aroused Felix's vigilance, and Felix decided to nationalize all banks in Russia and limit private banks' intervention in the national economy.

The bank most seriously affected was the Siberian Bank.

Due to the special relationship between the Siberian Bank and the Yuriev family, Felix took the initiative to explain to George, hoping that George would set an example.

"Nationalization does not mean separating Siberian Bank from the Yuriev family, but rather that government agencies send staff to supervise Siberian Bank, making it more in line with Russia's overall interests and not becoming an obstacle to the development of the national economy like Deutsche Bank did."

Felix's sword cut accurately on the economic lifeline of the big family.

Only Felix could push this matter forward; Witte and Guchkov would never dare to do so.

"The operation of Siberian Bank must be supervised by the Amur Oblast government. If you can ensure that you only supervise and do not interfere, just like the Amur Oblast government, Siberian Bank can become part of the National Bank."

George was easier to talk to than Felix had thought.

Like Amur Heavy Industry, Siberian Bank is the core asset of the Yuriev family.

George has transferred part of Amur Heavy Industries' shares to the Russian government, thus becoming qualified to accept state orders. This rule itself was established by George.

During the imperial era, Amur Heavy Industries was a private enterprise under George's name. Strictly speaking, the empire did not share in the dividends of Amur Heavy Industries' development.

This was not George's selfish motive, but the privilege of the Grand Duke of the Empire.

After the civil war, the Russian government stipulated that private companies would not be able to obtain Russian state orders.

In return, the Russian government will take out part of the profits handed over by Amur Heavy Industries and reallocate it to Amur Heavy Industries as rewards and R&D funds.

The same goes for the Siberian Bank. After becoming part of the National Bank, the Siberian Bank can monopolize Russian finance. Other banks will either prosper if they obey me or perish if they go against me.

"George, we can't always be right. In the long run, we can only rely on the system to ensure that the rules we designed can continue to operate."

Felix understands the dangers of privilege better than George.

"You are right, do as you envision."

George will firmly support anything that is beneficial to Russia.

Not everyone puts Russia first like George. Every decision made by the Russian government will affect the interests of some people.

For example, the shareholders of the Russo-Asian Bank.

George himself didn't know that this bank, which was established because of the Middle East Railway, was still in business.

Unlike the Siberian Bank, Daosheng Bank's main business has always been in the Far East, and it also has branches in Russia.

Daosheng Bank was jointly established by Russia and France. The main shareholders on the Russian side were Nicholas the Younger and Dmitry who was far away in Persia.

Dmitry inherited his shares from Grand Duke Sergei.

Another portion of the shares were confiscated by the Provisional Executive Committee during the civil war, and after the civil war, these shares were inherited by the Russian government.

Young Nicholas reacted strongly to this incident and returned from Geneva to Alexandria to see George.

"The farm was confiscated, the franchise was taken back, the salary was cancelled, and now even the investment is forcibly acquired. How can an old man like me survive?"

Although little Nicholas was not as extravagant as some people, he really could not survive without one or two million rubles a year.

Of course, Nicholas Jr. was not as miserable as he said. Nicholas Jr. had 2500 million rubles in deposits in the Bank of Siberia alone, and his annual interest income alone exceeded 250 million.

That’s right, the current annual interest rate of the Siberian Bank is a terrifying 10%.

Little Nicholas' family also has a collection of countless expensive artworks. When they really have difficulty making ends meet, they can just sell one piece of art, which would make them basically financially independent for an ordinary person.

So what little Nicholas really missed were the privileges of the imperial era.

"It's not a takeover, you can still enjoy dividends, and maybe even more than before."

George tried his best to look after the interests of the old guys.

Although little Nicholas lived a good life, many of the grand dukes who went into exile abroad had become ordinary people.

Russia has now changed salaries into living allowances, with the Grand Duke level receiving a fixed monthly allowance of 1 rubles.

Compared with the Imperial Russian era, the Grand Duke's income was much less, but compared with ordinary people, it was still an unattainable high salary.

However, this benefit is only applicable to the Grand Duke himself and does not benefit his relatives. One less person dies, one less person.

“Don’t we need commercial banks to supplement state-owned banks?”

Little Nicholas is not just an individual; he represents the overall interests of the old aristocracy.

“Yes, but commercial banks must also operate under the supervision of state institutions.”

George clearly distinguishes between public and private affairs. Without public interests, he cannot be stable; without private interests, he cannot live.

Little Nicholas hesitated to speak, as many things in Russia are doomed to fail in the light of day.

During the Imperial era, a lot of gray funds in Russia entered Russia through commercial banks and became a source of funds for rebels.

After the banking industry is regulated, the source and destination of every sum of funds will be clear, and the profits of commercial banks will plummet.

"You should be very clear that only a stable and strong Russia can better protect our interests."

George warned little Nicholas not to take risks.

"If there's no benefit, what's the point of protecting it?"

Little Nicholas was heartbroken. What he had done against Balfour in the League of Nations was of no use against George.

Little Nicholas played a rough and tumble game in the National League, throwing three-pointers at everyone he met.

Without the support of a strong Russia, little Nicholas would not be able to succeed.

"Compared to Nicky, we are already very lucky—"

George asked for wine and he and little Nicholas got drunk.

Compared with last year, the Dnieper River Basin has enjoyed good weather and a bumper grain harvest this year, and Russia has resumed exports to Germany.

Prices in Germany have not yet stabilized and the cost of bread continues to rise.

The German government classified the beer hall incident as a riot, but the initiator, Moustache, was not sentenced to death, but only to five years in prison.

The prison where Little Mustache served his sentence was not a cold and damp cell, but a spacious and bright villa. In prison, Little Mustache could not only meet with relatives and friends, but also had a secretary and a cook. It was more like protection for Little Mustache by the Weimar government than imprisonment.

In early September, the British rotated their troops stationed in the Canal Zone. Tens of thousands of Egyptians took the opportunity to pour into the Canal Zone and occupied the British military camps.

London was furious and decided to send more troops to the Canal Zone.

Nicolas the Younger and Clemenceau jointly issued a warning to Britain, reminding London not to provoke World War II.

On September 9, Cairo fell into chaos. At the invitation of the Egyptian government, the League of Nations formally decided to send troops to Egypt.

At this time, Fuad I was visiting Russia.

"The model of the canal company has seriously violated the interests of the Egyptian government and Egyptians. Over the past few decades, the canal company has received returns equivalent to dozens of times its investment, but the Egyptian government has not been able to share the benefits of the canal. This is unfair."

In an interview with the Constantinople Journal, Felix publicly fired the first shot in overthrowing the British and French colonial order.

Fuad's attitude was more radical than Felix's. He expressed strong accusations against the British and French colonists to reporters.

Although the Suez Canal Company paid 1860 million pounds for the construction of the canal, Egypt paid the price of 12 Egyptian lives for the construction of the canal, with an average death toll of 738.5 per kilometer.

After the canal was built, the profits allocated to Egypt were only equivalent to one percent of the canal's revenue, which was completely disproportionate to Egypt's efforts.

Egypt’s demands are actually very simple, just to increase the dividend ratio.

Even this humble request was ignored by the canal company.

(End of this chapter)