I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 101 Understand Caesar and become Caesar

February 2th is a special day. The Oak Legion was officially established on this day. The Tsar came in person to participate in the founding ceremony of the Oak Legion.

Something else happened that day.

News came from France that there is evidence that the French have overcome the stability problem of smokeless gunpowder and are currently secretly equipping magazine-type rifles based on smokeless gunpowder.

This was a bolt from the blue for Ya San.

George was not surprised.

Like Russia, the French have been studying how to stabilize smokeless gunpowder, but for some reasons, the progress lags behind Russia.

Not only the French, George believed that the British and Germans were also studying smokeless gunpowder, and the progress was not slow.

Russia completed the research on smokeless gunpowder almost a year in advance, but failed to take action, thus wasting this year.

George didn't know if Yasan would regret it, and hoped he wouldn't make similar mistakes again in the future.

"Yesterday, my father lost his temper at the State Council and scolded the guys who were opposed to the production of smokeless gunpowder. The minister of munitions who had just taken office was dismissed, and the official in charge of military production was sent to Siberia. Su Jie Igin is investigating this matter, and some people suspect that the French have stolen our stabilizer formula." Nicholas brought bad news, and the Tsar was furious and lay dead.

George doesn't care much about this issue. The key now is not to pursue responsibility, but how to correct mistakes.

"So can smokeless gunpowder be produced now?" George wanted to know what excuses the opposing guys had.

If you don't take action, it will be too late by the time enemies equipped with magazine-type rifles come knocking on your door.

"This issue is still under discussion-" Nicholas sighed, pursuing responsibility will not solve the problem, the problem still exists.

"Haha——" George really didn't understand what those imperial ministers were thinking.

In fact, it is not incomprehensible.

The thinking of these important officials of the empire was probably the same as that of the wise men in the late Ming Dynasty who were unwilling to donate their money to the court, but left it to Li Chuang.

The rise or fall of the empire has nothing to do with me. Even if the empire falls, the ministers and princes and nobles of the empire will still be members of the upper class in exile as long as they still have money in their hands.

They probably did not expect that it was not the Ottomans or the Germans who destroyed Russia, but the Russian workers and gray animals.

Queen Maria had so many precious jewels, but she didn't take any of them with her when she went into exile. She was eventually so depressed that she had to rely on charity to survive.

After Nicholas abdicated, he was unwilling to leave Russia and insisted that the Romanov family still had the support of Russians. In the end, the family died in a basement in Siberia.

Those bourgeoisie who opposed the Tsar were later liquidated, their wives and children were separated, and their family wealth was dispersed.

Even those who personally overthrew the empire did not escape the purge in the following years.

There's really nothing new under the sun.

The ministers may not care about the rise and fall of the empire, but the tsar must.

In the evening, George came to Gatchina again, and this time Ya San took the initiative to invite him.

"George, you are right." Ya San was not in good spirits, and his qualifications were not enough to cope with the current complex situation in Russia. "We still have a chance." George had no time to be depressed, France had just started, and Russia was not too far behind.

"I often wonder what my father would do if he were still alive." Yasan's eyes were bloodshot, his clothes were wrinkled, and his whole body smelled of alcohol. He looked like he had just been fished out of a wine vat.

George shut up, he is not qualified to judge Ya Er.

"Dad, I have money. If you need it, I can give you my money." Nicholas volunteered.

Asan touched Nicholas' head with a gentle smile.

"George, I heard that you are researching heavy machine guns and magazine-type rifles?" Ya San has an informant around George, and George has known about this for a long time.

"Yeah, I'm going to make a lot of money with heavy machine guns." George didn't hide it. Russia doesn't like heavy machine guns, but some people do.

After the success of the Maxim machine gun, Maxim traveled around the world with his machine gun and sold it to various countries. The British government did not arrest Maxim as a traitor.

The American company Smith & Wesson designed the No. 6000 revolver for Russia. Russia only purchased of them, and then produced them in Tula. Because of this matter, Smith & Wesson is still in litigation with Tula. The U.S. government and Russia The government didn't interfere.

A professor at the French Academy of Arts in Lanson, he went to work as a tutor in the Russian court; Maxim, an American, couldn't make it in the United States and went to England to invent the Maxim machine gun.

During this period, the exchange of talents in Europe was very frequent. Don't apply the situation during the Cold War to this era.

George's heavy machine gun is almost successful. The biggest problem is that the bullets often jam due to inappropriate bullets. However, this problem will be solved after using smokeless gunpowder. George is confident enough to steal Maxim's patent.

"I didn't take your advice on smokeless gunpowder. Do you have anything to say?" Ya San probably wanted to ask if George had any resentment.

"I just feel sorry for missing this opportunity -" George's words made Ya San happy, but what George said next made Ya San frown: "-But I have to say that some old guys have been sitting on their bodies for too long. , they just want to lie on the empire’s body and suck blood, and they cannot create any benefits for the empire. Such worms should be sent to Siberia.”

It was rare for George to show his sharp edge, so he naturally had resentment, but it was not against the Tsar, but against those who ignored the interests of the empire for their own interests.

"I'm very happy that you finally learned to consider issues from the perspective of the royal family!" Yasan's words alerted George. Has he never considered issues from the perspective of the royal family before?

Thinking about it carefully, it seems that there really isn't.

Most of the time, George considers issues from the perspective of his own interests. If he considers the empire, it is incidental.

However, this is not a matter of principle. If a man does not serve himself, he will be punished by heaven and earth. While George pursues personal interests, he does not harm the interests of the empire. This is fundamentally different from those moths.

"Bring your rifle over here and let me see it. If it's valuable, I'll buy it." Ya San didn't mind if George made money, he would make money for anyone.

The next day, George came to Gatchina with Joseph and the magazine-type rifle he designed.

When he walked into the Gatchina Palace, Joseph was in a panic. He never thought that one day he would actually walk into Gatchina.

And it was personally invited by the Tsar.

The magazine-type rifle designed by Joseph has been improved many times and its performance is becoming more and more perfect.

The problem mainly focuses on materials. With Russia's current metallurgical level, it is difficult to produce steel suitable for manufacturing magazine-type rifles.

(End of this chapter)