I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 207 The Fox's Tail Finally Revealed
  Compared with George, who goes to Vladivostok every year, Nicholas is just a country bumpkin who has never traveled far.

In this era, there was no Internet or TV, and Nicholas didn't like reading newspapers and magazines. As a member of the royal family, Nicholas' definition of good things was different from ordinary people.

If George's warehouse was full of rubles and gold.

Not to mention Nicholas, even George looked down on himself.

Things like Shu brocade and Su embroidery have rich cultural meanings even in the 21st century, an era of extremely material development, let alone this era.

"It's too tacky to give her jewelry or anything like that. The key point is that you don't have anywhere to show it if you give it to her, so why not give her something she can use every day, so that you both will be happy."

George's words were equally selfish.

Nicholas was new to love and wanted to give the best things in the world to his lover.

This is understandable.

But Nicholas was not yet a tsar.

But Jin Shang is a very frugal person. He is not willing to throw away his clothes even when they are torn. He has been mending them for three years. If he knew that Nikolai was so generous, that would be okay.

The story about Alexander III wearing old clothes is not a fiction. George saw with his own eyes the maid sewing clothes for Asan in the Gatchina Palace.

There was even more than one patch on the dress.

There is a way that goes up and down.

Even the tsar is so frugal, and the crown prince should be considerate of people's livelihood and not waste too much energy on women.

It would be fine if this were the concubine.

A ballerina, for Nicholas, was obviously just a casual romance. I don't know when the whole family was sent away like that Malinka.

Malinka's family did not die, but were sent abroad. It is said that Yasan returned a sum of money.

"George, you are such a good man—"

Nicholas inadvertently sent George a good guy card and left with a cart full of gifts.

The good man George called his life secretary De Yang and asked De Yang to get rid of all the jewelry without paying any attention to it.

Recruitment for the Oak Division is underway and progressing smoothly.

Although many Cossacks have gone to Siberia or further to Vladivostok in the past two years, there are still many Cossacks waiting for the Tsar to recruit.

The Oak Division has 1.5 people, and its treatment is equivalent to that of the Guards, which is second to none in Russia.

So when they heard that the Oak Division was recruiting troops, the Cossacks who signed up to join the army were very excited. It took less than half a month to get all 1.5 soldiers in place.

The Oak Regiment was expanded to the Oak Division, and the size of the Oak Camp was also expanded accordingly. George prepared to build a cement factory in St. Petersburg to prepare for future construction.

For a legion of more than a thousand people, the requirements for dormitories are not high, and wooden houses are basically sufficient.

For a force of more than 10,000 people, buildings are easier to manage and more cost-effective.

Nicholas's understanding of buildings is granite and marble, which are expensive, require a long construction period, and have high requirements for materials.

If reinforced concrete is used, not only will the materials be easier to obtain, but the construction cycle will be faster, and management, heating, and power supply will be more convenient, so cement plants are urgently needed.

There is also the Lighting Supplies and Petroleum Products Expo held in St. Petersburg this summer, which George also attaches great importance to.

This is the world's first expo related to lighting supplies and petroleum products.

Vladivostok's cars and airplanes will be unveiled to the outside world for the first time at this expo.

George's light bulbs are also the focus of the expo.

If you know yourself and your enemy, you can win a hundred battles. The expo will be held in September, and George has already begun to collect relevant information about his competitors.

There is no need to collect information about aircraft. Only Russia in the world is conducting research in this area, and it is far ahead.

The car's main rivals are Germany's Benz and Daimler.

Benz's car has already appeared in Germany and successfully obtained a patent in Germany.

Dailem has developed a motorcycle, which has a broader market prospect than Benz's car.

Although the products of these two companies have promise, they pale in comparison to Vladivostok's cars.

Benz and Daimler's cars are still very primitive and are still far from commercialization.

Cars in Vladivostok have already begun to be sold on the market. About 150 cars were sold last year, and production can be doubled this year.

In terms of lamps, George's biggest competitor was Edison of the United States.

Edison is sparing no effort to promote his electric light and DC power supply technology to various countries.

George has better light bulbs, but no power supply technology.

But George knew that the technology that would be more widely used in the future would be alternating current, not direct current.

This is enough.

George does not need to worry about the training of the Oak Division. Demet, Andrei, and Vasily are all very mature officers. When George is not in the Oak Division, the daily management of the Oak Division is carried out by Chief of Staff Maslov. Responsible, he is also a serious and responsible person in his work, and has initially gained George's trust.

Fearing for the Tsar's health, George visited Gatchina Palace every day.

Ya San is a very drunkard. He drinks ten bottles of champagne every day. He starts drinking it as soon as he opens his eyes. Even the medicines prescribed by the doctor are taken with champagne.

How can this be possible? Healthy people will be destroyed if they are created in this way. After all, George was still one level away from the Tsar, and Nicholas was more suitable to persuade the Tsar.

"I tried to persuade him, but the effect was not good."

There was nothing Nikolay could do. Stubbornness was a common problem in the Romanov family.

"Where's the queen?"

George had many methods. The Tsar would not listen to his son, but he had to listen to his wife.

Nicholas was silent.

queen--

The Queen and her old lady are busy giving a ball.

The Tsar was a simple man and never liked extravagance. In order to prevent the Queen from holding a ball, the Tsar even disbanded the palace band, and the Gatchina Palace was indeed quiet for a while.

The Empress was greatly frightened during the Borki incident. After returning to St. Petersburg, the Empress began to let herself go, enjoy herself in time, and forget about the Tsar's orders.

The empress was quite smart and did not hold a ball at the Gatchina Palace. Instead, she spent most of her time at the Anitshkov Palace, which was far away from Gatchina.

The Tsar probably felt guilty for the Queen because of the Bolki incident, so he did not restrain the Queen's behavior during this period.

George had to admit that this family was weird.

In June, according to tradition, the Tsar and Empress left St. Petersburg for a vacation in Denmark.

Nicholas' work is even busier. He has to attend imperial meetings, listen to reports from important ministers of the empire, meet with envoys from various countries, and be deeply involved in the management of this huge country.

George could not help much. He was not qualified to participate in the imperial meeting, and the imperial ministers did not like George.

Because of the railway, George offended too many people.

In July, Milyutin finally returned from Bulgaria.

Milyutin came to say goodbye to George, who was appointed governor of Amur by the tsar and was about to leave for the Far East.

Kolv's activities were very effective. He finally left Amur, but he was unable to be transferred back to St. Petersburg. Instead, he went directly to serve in the Governor-General of the Steppes.

Milyutin hopes to strengthen communication with George, and his work is inseparable from George's cooperation.

"In recent years, increasing the population will definitely be the top priority in the Amur region. Without people, there will be no development. I have many ideals, but they require sufficient manpower to be realized."

George is very satisfied with this appointment.

Milyutin can be said to be one of the people George is most familiar with in the Russian Empire. George learned a lot from Milyutin during his two trips to the Balkans.

Milyutin's prestige in the Russian military is unmatched.

After Milyutin takes office, at least the Siberian Fleet will no longer create obstacles for Vladivostok.

"In this case, why are you so harsh on immigrants from Europe?"

George remembered that on his first trip to the Balkans, George seemed to have discussed this issue with Milyutin.

"I am not so harsh on all immigrants from Europe. If immigrants from Europe can obey the arrangements, work honestly, and do not cause trouble, they can also enjoy the development benefits of the Amur region."

George's attitude has always been firm, and in troubled times, we must use heavy codes.

"The Empire will start construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway next year. Is Vladivostok capable of guaranteeing the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway?"

This was the main reason why the Tsar sent Milyutin to Amur.

"All I can say is, I'll do my best."

George didn't finish his words, but he was actually quite confident.

Last month, the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk was opened to traffic. The railway between Khabarovsk and Yuriev is currently under construction. Although the distance of this section is not as long as the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, the terrain is more complex. , the construction is more difficult. If it is to be opened to traffic within this year, it will be very difficult.

The good news is that after last year’s construction, Vladivostok has trained a group of relatively experienced construction workers and technicians.

The blasting technology of the Futuan engineers has also been greatly improved compared to last year, and their ability to solve problems is stronger.

After the beginning of this spring, all the steel equipment arriving in batches from the United States and Europe were sent to Yuriev, and some important departments in Vladivostok also began to move to Yuriev.

George introduced Yuriev to Milyutin, hoping that Milyutin could understand George's arrangement.

“Is it necessary to build a new city between Vladivostok, Khabarovka and Nikolayevsk?”

Milyugin really didn't quite understand.

"Last year, there were only three cases of information leakage in Vladivostok. In the first two months of this year, 3 similar cases have already occurred."

George had a last resort.

This year, George can clearly feel that certain external forces have strengthened their intelligence penetration into Vladivostok.

If the Qing Empire and Japan were not behind these information leaks, then it was definitely the United Kingdom or the United States.

Schiff is in the United States, helping Vladivostok sell bonds related to the Trans-Siberian Railway. The first $500 million raised has been transferred to George's account at Citibank in the United States.

Due to the financial exchanges, Schiff also logically proposed that he hope to send people to Vladivostok to supervise the use of these funds.

The fox's tail finally appeared.

(End of this chapter)