I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 190 Schiff’s War

Almost at the same time as the Meiji Restoration began, the Qing Empire launched the Westernization Movement. Of the three East Asian countries, only Goryeo did not take any action.

It's not that Gao Li can't, it's that she doesn't want to at all.

Min Yongyi led a delegation to visit Europe and the United States, and the changes he brought to Goryeo were nothing more than changing from being dependent on the Qing Empire to being dependent on the Russian Empire. This country has never tried to truly control its own destiny and is accustomed to relying on others.

Since it is destined to be a dog.

Why not find yourself a strong master.

This doesn’t sound nice to say, but that’s what it actually means.

"How old is Super Duke Yurievsky?" Emperor Gaozong and Li Xi were not at ease with George. Age was always George's flaw.

Although George is the younger brother of the Tsar, George, who was born in 1872, is only 15 years old this year even according to Eastern calculations.

Min Yongyi was ordered to organize and train the new army at the age of 20. He was already considered to have achieved success at a young age and held a high position.

George, the 15-year-old military commander——

No matter how you look at it, it's a bit too childish.

"Ambition does not mean age. Super Duke Yuriyevsky is a genius. He behaves in a very orderly manner, with orders and prohibitions, and clear rewards and punishments. A few years ago, he joined the Guards with the Crown Prince of the Russian Empire and is now a member of the Russian Army. There are many famous generals in the Russian Empire who have defeated long-famous generals in the Russian Empire many times in the Rivno exercises held every autumn in the Russian Empire." Min Yongyi had met George and was deeply impressed by him.

"how can that be?"

"He is the Tsar's younger brother."

"In ancient times, Gan Luo worshiped the prime minister at the age of 12——"

The Goryeo monarchs and ministers present were talking a lot. George would be very surprised if he were here, because they all spoke Chinese.

In October 1446, the fourth generation monarch, King Sejong Yi Sang, promulgated the "Hunminzhengeum". From then on, Goryeo finally had its own written language.

Although writing existed, it was not promoted. The Goryeo government and the public were still proud to use Chinese, especially the Goryeo elite. If they did not know Chinese, they would not be able to communicate with others.

"Have you met Princess Yurievskaya?" Concubine Min was full of curiosity about Yekaterina.

"The princess is mainly responsible for education and medical care. She is busy with official duties. We only met her once and did not discuss it in detail." Min Yongyi hesitated to speak. It was because the women of the Russian Empire were too tough.

Concubine Min of Goryeo interfered in politics, causing outrage in Goryeo. Concubine Min's brother and mother were assassinated.

If Concubine Min also imitates the Catherines in the history of the Russian Empire, Korea will never have peace.

"Vladivostok——" Concubine Min started to speak, but was interrupted by Min Yongyi.

"In Russia, Vladivostok is called Vladivostok." Min Yongyi was worried that Concubine Min had violated a Russian taboo.

"What does it matter? Russians don't understand Chinese." Concubine Min still didn't understand George well enough.

I don’t know much about the Qing Empire either.

Otherwise, there would be no way to escape and enter Russia.

"It is rumored that Super Duke Yurievsky is a unique language genius. He is proficient in more than ten languages. He was once the language teacher of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of the Russian Empire. He should not be underestimated." Min Yongyi reminded Concubine Min, Don't underestimate the world's heroes.

After all, women have long hair but short knowledge.

"Do you think Super Duke Yurievsky is sincere?" Concubine Min hoped to get the advice she wanted from Min Yongyi.

"When I was in Vladivostok, I discussed labor matters with Mikhail, the uncle of Super Duke Yuriyevsky. The construction of the thousands-mile-long Trans-Siberian Railway is expected to take more than 10 years, so Russia intends to increase its efforts to recruit construction workers from our country. From this point of view, the Russians are sincere." Min Yongyi recommended people by himself. Since there are When asking for help from others, you must be sincere.

Concubine Min finally felt relieved. If she was sincere, then we could talk.

George is indeed sincere. As long as Concubine Min and Emperor Gaozong Li Xi are willing to cooperate with George's work, George can provide protection for the Goryeo royal family.

Because Concubine Min and Emperor Gaozong harbored different ambitions, Datou wanted to abolish the monarch and establish a new one. This was completely against the interests of the Russian Empire and must be resolutely stopped.

Japanese activities in Goryeo are rampant, and the chaos in Goryeo in recent years is more or less inseparable from the Japanese.

Next, the Russian Empire will also increase its influence on Goryeo.

George still starts from what he is best at.

There are tens of thousands of Korean workers in Vladivostok. If you select the right ones for training, they will become qualified servants.

Let’s not talk about the combat effectiveness of the Koreans.

There is no problem with the will to fight. Whether they are fighting with the Japanese or the Americans, the Koreans perform very well.

Fighting the Americans refers to the Vietnam War.

George handed over this job to Ye Luoxin.

George hoped that Ye Luoxin would train at least 1000 new Goryeo troops to send to Goryeo at the right time to protect the Goryeo royal family.

No matter how much it is, it's not impossible. The main reason is that I'm worried that Goryeo won't be able to support it. With Goryeo's little income, if George sets up an infantry division according to Fu Tuan standards, Goryeo's finances will probably go bankrupt. Witte's inspection work went very smoothly. He was very interested in George's engineering corps. If the engineering corps system could be implemented in the Russian army, many problems could be solved.

The army is different from construction workers. The salary of soldiers is at least much lower than that of workers.

If the Russian Empire used a large number of engineering troops to build the Trans-Siberian Railway, then the cost of building the Trans-Siberian Railway would be reduced a lot.

However, the army and construction companies are different. If the army is turned into an engineering force, it may trigger a strong backlash from the military. On this issue, Witte took the initiative to ask George for advice.

"This is easy to handle. Figure out who is in favor and who is against. Keep those who are in favor and retire those who are opposed."

George's words shocked Werther. Compared with George, the generals of St. Petersburg were simply saints.

Werther now finally understood why so many people insisted that George was the Romanov family member who most resembled Alexander II.

To put it simply, George and Ya Er are both barbarians.

Looking at George's style of doing things, he does look very much like a barbarian. Those who follow me will prosper, and those who go against me will perish.

"If something is good for the empire, then everyone who opposes it is the enemy of the empire." The character created by George is black and white, and there is no neutral faction.

Given the current situation of the Russian Empire, if George is given 20 years and waits until George kills all the current elites of the Russian Empire, then George may really be able to use a relatively safe way to promote the transformation of the Russian Empire in the direction that George hopes.

But even if George could survive until that time, the European powers would not give Russia 20 years to allow the Russian Empire to develop peacefully.

Through the Juwen Island incident, the true face of Britain has been completely exposed. As long as the British Empire still exists, the Russian Empire will not be able to achieve a real breakthrough from the Far East.

Regardless of the smooth development of Vladivostok in recent years, that is because Vladivostok has not attracted outside attention.

In other words, the development of Vladivostok, hidden in the shadow of the huge Russian Empire, cannot yet pose a threat to the balance of power in East Asia, so Vladivostok has gained an opportunity for relatively stable development.

Peaceful times do not last long.

The United Kingdom has noticed the development of Vladivostok, so it hopes to establish a consulate in Vladivostok to assess the threat level in Vladivostok.

If this requirement is not met, Britain will sooner or later target Vladivostok as a potential threat. This is the fundamental reason why George insists on promoting the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Communication between Vladivostok and St. Petersburg is now entirely by sea.

The strength of the British Royal Navy far exceeds that of the Russian Navy, so the connection between Vladivostok and St. Petersburg is seriously threatened by the Royal Navy.

After the Trans-Siberian Railway was completed, George could avoid the threat of the Royal Navy.

After all, no matter how powerful the battleships of the Royal Navy are, they cannot go ashore.

For George, the biggest advantage now is that Britain will not target the Russian Empire until at least it supports Japan to defeat the Qing Empire.

Calculated this way, there is only less than eight years left for George.

George's most important task now is to complete the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway within eight years.

"Duke, if your words are spread back to St. Petersburg, will they have a very serious impact?" Witte reminded George to be careful with his words and beware that walls have ears.

"Haha, there are just the two of us here - oh, the three of us, so if this word gets out, it can only be you." George was not worried about Peter, his words were actually a warning to Werther.

In the era of Nicholas II, Werther was famously a neutralist.

Although Werther tried his best to defend himself in his autobiography, blaming his behavior on the influence of the times.

But Werther's personal mark in the era of Nicholas II was too distinct, and many facts cannot be refuted.

"Duke, you can't do this-" Werther was dumbfounded and accidentally boarded George's pirate ship.

"Let me ask you, do you want more power?" George used coercion and inducement to lure him.

"Of course, who wouldn't want to -" Werther would not have accepted the Tsar's appointment if he had not had a desire for power.

"Then you must also know the significance of building the Trans-Siberian Railway to you, the director of the Railway Department." George has the chance to win, and he is not afraid that Werther will not take the bait.

"Deputy Director——" Witte seemed to be correcting him, but he was actually making conditions.

"Be patient, my friend. The Trans-Siberian Railway will take ten years to build." George is patient. He is still young and is not in a hurry.

Someone is anxious.

While George and Witte were discussing the role of the Corps of Engineers, Jacob Schiff from New York, USA, walked up the gangway of the Dolgorukov onto the Vladivostok pier.

Jacob Schiff was a German who immigrated to the United States in 1865 and married the daughter of Solomon Loeb, president of the Kuhn-Loeb Company.

When Solomon Loeb died last year, Jacob Schiff became president of Kuhn-Loeb.

This man is very powerful. In Europe, some people call the Russo-Japanese War Schiff's War.

(End of this chapter)