I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 261 Granting St. Petersburg the Handle

It’s hard to say how much the Tsar trusted George. Nicholas trusted George.

In Nicholas's case, as long as George does not rebel, George will do whatever he wants. Even if George wants to move back to the Winter Palace, Nicholas will not refuse.

Nicholas asked George for the Oak Park, and George gave it to him without hesitation.

If George asked Nicholas for a winter palace, Nicholas would give it to him.

Their relationship is just so good.

George's attitude towards the Tsar was also very clear.

George opened the Amur for Vorontsov to look at as he pleased. If he wanted to go to Yuriev, he could go there at any time after traffic resumed.

As for George’s seemingly rebellious words——

Well, the Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg drank too much, and some of their words were more outrageous than George's, and their actions were more ridiculous than George's. They didn't see what the Tsar did to them.

Some people will definitely say that the reason why the Tsar did not care about those grand dukes was because those grand dukes did not have the ability to threaten the Tsar.

If you want to put it this way, no one should do anything, and the empire must be a stagnant water to be satisfied?

The Tsar was not stupid, he definitely had the precautions he should have, and it was the same for everyone, not just for George.

If even George, a super duke who works hard, pays taxes honestly, and is focused on going south to expand territory for the empire, will be suppressed.

I'm afraid the Tsar is not a fool.

The Tsar was not stupid at all. Not only did he not punish George for some of his rebellious words, but he also asked George to wait for Nicholas in Amur.

Nicholas has grown up. According to the tradition of European royal families, Nicholas wants to travel around the world to increase his experience.

Amur was the most important stop on Nikolai's round-the-world journey, and this was another action by the Tsar to counter the rumors.

The Germans, who have a dark mentality, think that by throwing out "yellowization", they can drive a wedge between Amur and St. Petersburg.

That's because the Germans don't know how good the relationship between George and Nikolai is.

Now that Nicholas is coming to Amur, George is not in a hurry to return to St. Petersburg, and George finally knows what summer in Vladivostok is like.

George has always been in Amur in winter and St. Petersburg in summer. In his subconscious, Vladivostok has always been a land of ice and snow.

The highest temperature in Vladivostok can reach 30 degrees in summer, and the average temperature is between 19 and 25 degrees, which is much more comfortable than St. Petersburg.

After the beginning of spring, Vladivostok gradually becomes colorful.

The colors of Siberian forests are extremely rich, and they are not just green. They include blue clouds, green grass, fir, red pine, and birch forests. They are beautiful everywhere.

It's still summer, and in autumn, when the colors are more layered, Siberia is even more stunningly beautiful.

George had no time to enjoy the view.

A year's plan begins with spring, and this saying is most appropriate in Vladivostok.

Throughout the winter, people in Vladivostok were eating, drinking, having fun, and doing nothing.

After the beginning of spring, the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk became busy. Trains ran day and night, transporting various materials used to protect the Trans-Siberian Railway and railway workers to Khabarovsk.

George had not been to Khabarovsk yet, so he took the train to Khabarovsk with Vorontsov.

It is different from the Tsar's special train.

George's special train is reinforced with fine steel, and all furniture in the special train is fixed and cannot be moved.

The corners of the furniture are wrapped in genuine leather and sponge, so even if they are bumped into, it won't be very painful. The speed of the special train is also very fast, driven by two locomotives in tandem.

Vorontsov was surprised.

In order to ensure safety, the Tsar's special train had certain speed requirements and could not run too fast.

When the Russian Empire began to build railways, the maximum train speed was only 30 kilometers per hour. Therefore, the railways in the European part of the Russian Empire did not consider the issue of trains speeding up. This also paved the way for the derailment of the Tsar's special train.

The railway route between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk is almost straight. Even if there are bends, they are big bends and there will be no sharp turns.

In order to achieve this, when they started to build the railway, the engineers of Fu Tuan did a lot of preparation work, clearing roads through mountains and building bridges when encountering water.

All the bridges in Vladivostok are iron bridges, which gave Vorontsov a deeper understanding of Vladivostok's industrial capabilities.

"Amur imported more than 10 tons of steel from the United States last year, and this year's imports are estimated to exceed 20 tons."

George was honest. The reason why Amul has developed so fast is entirely because George spent money bit by bit.

Vorontsov said nothing and kept looking at the Qing Empire on the other side of the Amur River through the car window.

The railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk was built along the Amur River, and on the other side of the river was the Qing Empire.

It was already spring and the flowers were blooming. There was an endless plain on the other side of the river, but there were no people living there.

Vorontsov understood almost instantly why the colonial pioneers of the Russian Empire never forgot to go south.

The Qing Empire had the largest population in the world.

Vorontsov knew that land annexation within the Qing Empire was very serious. Every year, countless Qing people were displaced because they had no land.

The Qing Empire did not allow Qing people to enter this area and allowed these lands to be deserted. It was difficult for Vorontsov to understand this behavior.

"So, that's why you went south?"

The journey south that Vorontsov talked about was completely different from George's journey south.

"What's the point of talking about this now -"

George didn't want to discuss the issue.

St. Petersburg has stated its attitude on the issue of going south many times. George can just stick to his Amur and there is no need to expand territory for the empire.

As the train goes north, there is a train station every dozens of kilometers along the way. Residential areas are being built around these train stations, and the land around the train stations also shows signs of reclamation.

This is what building a railroad is all about.

Without railways, colonial development had to rely on rivers, which was subject to seasonal restrictions.

With the railway, immigrants can settle down and develop along the railway.

Siberia is so big that hundreds of thousands of people can't even make a splash if they pour in. It was only after Vorontsov came to Vladivostok that he realized that relying solely on the power of the Russian Empire, he would never be able to develop Amur within a hundred years.

Therefore, George had to introduce Qing people and Koreans to develop Amur.

Rather than what the German media calls yellowing.

“There is still too little farmable land in Amur.”

Vorontsov knew where Amur’s upper limit was.

The Amurdo Mountains are not farmable in the traditional sense.

With the land that Amur has now cultivated, it is possible to feed one or two million people, but it will not be able to support any more.

This is why the Tsar was not worried about George's threat.

With only one or two million people, it is completely unable to threaten the Russian Empire with a total population of more than 100 million people.

That's why the Tsar was so wary of George going south.

On the other side of the Amur River are uncultivated wastelands.

If George crosses the Amur River, the population that the Amur region can carry will increase significantly, which is something St. Petersburg never wants to see.

Coincidentally, George still needed to import people from the Qing Empire, so he was unwilling to go to war with the Qing Empire.

Then wait.

At least until the Trans-Siberian Railway is opened to traffic, the Russian Empire and Amur can gather strength for the next stage.

"It doesn't matter. Once the railway is completed, these problems will no longer exist."

George deliberately gave St. Petersburg control.

When Vladivostok develops to the point where there is not enough food to eat, George will transport food from Europe to Amur to meet Amur's daily consumption.

Doing so would certainly increase Amur's dependence on St. Petersburg.

But otherwise, George would not be truly trusted.

Vorontsov finally breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as Amur still needs St. Petersburg, George will not rebel.

(End of this chapter)