I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 204 Grand Prize

The grand dukes were not engaged in production, but received hundreds of thousands of rubles in salary from the empire every year. Together with the income from the fiefdom, the profits and dividends from various commercial investments, it could easily reach millions of rubles.

Ordinary Russians work hard all year round and can only earn a hundred and ten rubles. After deducting living expenses, there is not much left. This is the fundamental reason why the Tsar was frequently assassinated.

George had no objection to the princes doing business. Money only makes sense if it flows.

But the way the princes did business caused extremely serious damage to the empire.

If the princes were doing business honestly like George, even if they were operating a monopoly, as long as taxes were paid on time and salaries were paid on time, the conflicts within the empire would not be so acute.

No way to make money.

In other words, the princes who don't want to make "hard-earned money" not only focus on the bit of meat on their plates, but also care about what's in the pot.

They will fight anyone who dares to touch their flesh.

Ya'er moved, so Ya'er was assassinated.

Just as Ya San was about to move, the special train derailed.

Nikolai is not afraid of tigers like a newborn calf, and George will not let Nikolai fight alone.

It should be said that compared with Ya Er and even Ya San, Nikolai's qualifications are somewhat mediocre. He does not know where to start to change the status quo and nationalize the privately operated railways.

George has an idea.

The Russian Empire's investigation into the derailment of the Tsar's train was not thorough, and it is extremely irresponsible to hastily conclude that the switchman made a mistake.

The person responsible for investigating the matter was Count Vorontsov Dashkov.

George decides to reopen the investigation into the derailment of the Tsar's train.

"This matter is over, what's the use of pestering us again and again?"

Nikolai disapproved of reopening the investigation. For him, the derailment of the special train was like a nightmare. Nikolai did not even want to recall it.

"Can a small switchman derail a royal train?"

George firmly believed that there must be something hidden behind this incident.

Even if there is not, there must be.

The Tsar train derailed on a route owned by South Western Railways.

The South Western Railway Company happened to be the company with the most stubborn attitude towards the nationalization of railways.

The reason why George wants to reopen the investigation is that the boss of the Southwestern Railway Company is a Hebrew.

Oh, it's the Hebrews again.

Why are there Hebrews everywhere?

Nicholas spread his hands.

Isn't it a reasonable explanation that a drunk railway switchman made a mistake and caused the Tsar's train to derail?

It does sound reasonable.

But when the Tsar's special train derailed, only one railway switchman was punished, which is unreasonable in itself.

"Bolki Railway Station is owned by the Southwestern Railway Company, so the Southwestern Railway Company bears unshirkable responsibility for the derailment of the special train. I think the person in charge of the Southwestern Railway Company is suspected of plotting to assassinate the Tsar."

George knows how to investigate.

The process is not important, the conclusion is not important, not even the truth is important.

The original sin of the Tsar was that he was the Tsar and must be responsible for all the mistakes of the empire.

The original sin of the South Western Railway Company boss——

There is no need to refer to original sin.

George believed that as long as he investigated the Southwestern Railway Company, he would get what he wanted.

George didn't believe that any of the railway tycoons in the Russian Empire these days had a clean butt.

A Hebrew man can actually own a private railway in Russia.

This sentence doesn't seem clean.

"George, it's not that serious."

Nicholas was startled by George's words.

If George's method of investigation was followed, many heads would fall.

"Nikki, if you have to sacrifice the owner of a private railway company to benefit all Russians, how do you choose?"

George didn't like Ya Er's boil-the-frog-type improvement approach.

I don’t even like Ya San’s behavior of reversing history because of fear of change.

Nicholas was not a qualified czar, but his trust in George was unparalleled.

What George gave Nicholas was not a multiple-choice question. There was only one answer to this question.

Leaving Gatchina Palace, George and Nicholas went to find Werther.

Before Witte entered the Ministry of Transport, he worked for the South-Western Railway Company and was the general manager of the special railway company, earning fifty thousand rubles a year.

Werther was compiling a report on his trip to the Far East for submission to the Tsar.

Witt did know a lot about the South Western Railway Company.

Just as George thought, no one in the Russian Empire in this era can really stand up to scrutiny.

"The biggest problem of private railway companies is not lack of capacity or disrepair, but deception."

The biggest advantage of Witt is that he will work for whomever he supports, and he will never do it half-heartedly. Since Werther was now working for the Tsar, Werther sold all the dirty stuff about the railway company.

"The Imperial Railway Affairs Bureau has a Finance Department and a Freight Department. In addition, there is a Freight Committee responsible for reviewing the freight rates of major railway companies, and a Freight Affairs Conference responsible for handling related matters——"

Witte gave George a detailed introduction to the structure of the Russian railways.

"The empire is too large, and conditions vary from place to place, so the Freight Commission only stipulates the maximum price for railway transportation freight, but does not regulate the minimum price."

"In order to compete, the major railway companies have significantly reduced freight rates. However, in addition to freight rates, there are also various ancillary expenses, which has caused huge losses to the empire's finances."

Witte estimated that the Russian Empire's railway losses amounted to 4800 million rubles per year.

When he heard this number, Nicholas's expression was ferocious.

George and Nicholas work hard to make money, how much per year?
  What Nikolai and Georgi received together was only 500 million rubles.

The major railway companies' freight charges alone caused losses of 4800 million rubles to the empire every year.

These people——

Kill!

"Not all the money earned by private railway companies is taken away by the company bosses. Officials of the Railway Affairs Bureau must be filial, and members of the Tariff Commission must also take care of it. The annual dividend paid by Southwestern Railway Company is as high as 200 million rubles, which must be turned over. The tax revenue from the state treasury is only a measly 20 rubles."

"very good!"

Nicholas's hands were shaking.

"George, then arrest all these people and send them to Siberia in your own way!"

With Nikolai's support, George can finally go big.

What makes George angry is that the boss of Southwestern Railway Company is not in Russia, but lives in France.

Okay, probably this Hebrew named Levi Bernstein also knew that he couldn't stand the investigation, so he didn't dare to stay in Russia at all.

There was nothing left to say, and George sent Yankov secretly to France to bring Levi Bernstein back to St. Petersburg.

run?
  As long as George is willing to look for him, he can catch him even if he goes to the end of the world.

Yankov was so talented at this kind of thing that he brought Levi Bernstein's family back to Camp Oak in just one week.

George immediately interrogated Levi Bernstein.

The Hebrews are all very smart.

Levi Bernstein never admitted that he had anything to do with the derailment of the Tsar's train.

Not even admitting that he is responsible.

"The route and timetable of the Tsar's train are the responsibility of the Minister of Transport. The Tsar's train is also managed by people sent by the royal family and is inaccessible to others. So that incident was completely accidental and there was no conspiracy."

"21 people died and 37 were injured. Even if this incident has nothing to do with you, you must still be responsible for it."

George brought Levi Bernstein back from France not to reason with Levi Bernstein.

In George's view, regardless of whether he is a second or third grader, he is too tolerant of certain groups in the Russian Empire.

If this were to be replaced by my Qing Dynasty, Levi Bernstein would be a fattened pig. He must be killed when it is time to kill him, otherwise he would eat nothing during the New Year.

Levi Bernstein still didn't know George well enough.

"Duke, how can you say that?"

"Well, let's talk about South Western Railway's freight rates."

George's reopening of the investigation is just an excuse. The key is to nationalize the railways.

"Freight rates are set by the Freight Rate Committee. South Western Railway Company has no pricing power at all. South Western Railway Company's freight prices are already the lowest among all railway companies in the empire."

Levi Bernstein thought he was perfect.

"In the past few years, I have sent things by rail from St. Petersburg to Odessa many times - I had a chat with Vishnegradsky some time ago, and guess what I discovered?"

George sneered.

Vishnegradsky was the Chancellor of Finance.

The freight rates of the South Western Railway Company are based on two sets of accounts. The accounts used to determine taxes are very low and there is almost no profit at all.

George's freight payments to Southwestern did not match the accounts used by the Treasury to determine Southwestern's taxes.

There's no way to explain this.

George still underestimated the shamelessness of these Hebrew merchants.

"Duke, operating a railway in the empire is a risky and complicated matter. Yes, the taxes paid to the empire by the Southwestern Railway Company are not much, but the money was not taken away by me. Instead, it was taken away by some people in St. Petersburg. Big shot takes it.”

Levi Bernstein put it clearly.

Yes, South Western Railway has evaded taxes.

But the reason lies not with Levi Bernstein.

If you want to know the reason, go back and ask your brothers and uncles.

"So, you're saying South Western Railway doesn't make money, right?"

George used his spear to attack his shield.

Let’s not talk about who took the money. As a businessman, if you don’t make money, what are you doing?
  "It can't be said that it doesn't make money. There are still some meager profits."

Levi Bernstein yelled that something was wrong. If George continued to struggle with this issue, Levi Bernstein would have to donate the Southwestern Railway Company to the empire.

Since your company is not making money, then just let it be run by the empire, and the empire will give you a grand certificate. How about that?
  (End of this chapter)