I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 292 Unqualified Allies

The strategic misjudgment was too fatal.

From the perspective of the Russian Empire, I simply don’t understand why Japan wants to develop its military power.

Counting the Russian Empire into the equation, the four East Asian countries, the Russian Empire and the Qing Dynasty, are both in power. The Russian Empire, the Qing Empire, and Japan are obviously unable to handle it.

Then it can only be Korea.

But Goryeo is now clinging to the thigh of the Russian Empire, and the Russian Empire will definitely not sit idly by if it attacks Goryeo, so Ye Luoxin firmly believes that Japan does not dare to attack Goryeo.

George did not say that Japan would attack Korea, and the Japanese did not dare.

Japan also did not dare to launch a full-scale war against the Qing Dynasty, nor did it have the ability.

However, Japan not only has the ambition to take a bite out of the Qing Empire through war and obtain the first pot of gold in the primitive accumulation of capital, but it is also very big.

In April last year, the "Chiyoda" armored cruiser was completed by the United Kingdom and officially joined the Japanese Navy.

In January this year, the "Yoshino" started construction at the British Armstrong Shipyard and is expected to be completed next year.

"We must take this issue seriously!"

As long as the UK does not want to see its investment go to waste, once a war breaks out in the Far East, the UK will definitely do everything possible to create difficulties for the Russian Empire.

By then, even if the Russian Empire has millions of troops in Europe, it will be unable to quench its thirst.

The Japanese Army has just passed an expansion plan to increase each division to 1.5 people.

But if Goryeo continues to expand its military, George will not be able to stand it, let alone the Goryeo government.

George's question silenced everyone.

George tried his best to exaggerate the Japanese threat theory, and his purpose was very simple, which was to expand the military.

Japan does not want to put its eggs in the same basket, but there are only a few countries in the world that are capable of providing financial assistance to Japan.

While the navy is building ships crazily, the army is also expanding crazily.

Just past July 7, the "Akitsusu" protected cruiser designed by the British and built by Japan was launched at the Yokosuka Naval Shipyard in Japan.

"If there is a need in the Far East, can our troops in Europe reach the Far East as quickly as possible?"

So George didn't believe it if there was no British help in this.

If the UK wants to reduce risks, it must attract US capital.

So there is only one question left, who is Japan going to attack?

In 1884, Japan formed six regular divisions based on the old army, each with a strength of about 6 men.

Including reserves, the number of troops Japan can mobilize in wartime has exceeded 20, which is far beyond the limit that Japan's national strength can bear.

War clouds are thick in East Asia. Even Goryeo is expanding its army, but the Amur Military District has only one army. How can this be done?

It is impossible for the Russian Empire. In order to build the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Russian Empire has to borrow money from the United States and has no ability to lend money to the Japanese.

Another incident happened in July. Jacob Schiff, who had been disgraced in Amur, began to help the Japanese government sell bonds in the United States.

Milyutin fully realized the seriousness of the problem.

If you look at it this way, the 20,000 new troops trained by the Amur Military Region to help Goryeo are far from enough to guarantee the safety of Goryeo.

Even if the Russian Empire is good at taking advantage of the situation, it must have the ability to take advantage of the situation.

With the development of science and technology, the exchanges between the Qing Empire and Europe and the United States are also increasing day by day. Now it is no longer the era when one could expand territories through blackmail.

In the past, it was George who proposed military expansion to St. Petersburg in the name of the commander of the Amur Military District.

For some reason, the Amur Military District’s application for military expansion has never been approved by St. Petersburg.

This time, Milyutin applied in the name of the Governor of Amur, and finally got St. Petersburg's consent.

Don’t think it’s just St. Petersburg’s outpouring of kindness.

This summer, as usual, the Tsar and the Queen went to the Queen's hometown of Denmark for vacation.

After arriving in Vredenburg, near Copenhagen, the Tsar fell ill with influenza accidentally contracted while hunting.

The Tsar's condition was serious and there was a possibility of developing pneumonia.

The Russian Empire was now under the supervision of Nicholas, so the Amur Military District got the opportunity to expand its military.

George didn't care how the opportunity came.

It doesn’t matter when the military expenditures for military expansion will arrive.

The day after St. Petersburg agreed to the expansion of the Amur Military District, the Amur Military District expanded the Fu Tuan into an infantry division. The strength of George's troops finally exceeded 10,000.

The Vladivostok Infantry Division is organized based on the Oak Division, with three infantry regiments and one artillery regiment, plus auxiliary troops, with a total strength of 1.2.

There is no need to worry about the soldiers. There are already more than 10 Cossacks in the Amur region, and it is easy to recruit from them.

Based on the strong requests of Yerosin and Vasily, the Vladivostok Infantry Division also recruited more than a thousand Koreans and Chinese, which was a huge improvement.

Although the Cossacks are world-famous, there are always hidden dangers in discipline, and the Cossacks are best at cavalry, not infantry.

Yeluoxin himself was a Cossack and highly respected Cossacks.

But after coming into contact with the Koreans and Chinese, Ye Luoxin had to admit that the Chinese and Koreans seemed to have better potential than the Cossacks in terms of becoming excellent soldiers.

East Asians are unparalleled in terms of discipline and obedience. The Korean soldiers trained in the Amur Military Region had no problem persisting in the field for half a month despite the isolation of logistics. The Cossacks would be unbearable for a week, not to mention half a month.

The Chinese are even more awesome.

The Amur Military Region implements a universal military service system. Although the Fu regiment does not have Chinese soldiers, there are reserves.

The training intensity of the Amur Reserve is not much different from that of the Fu Tuan. The Chinese soldiers in the reserve not only did not starve when they received wilderness survival training, but also gained a few pounds, and some even made a small fortune.

During the field survival training of the Amur Reserve last year, many Chinese soldiers came across natural ginseng during field survival training. The most expensive one was purchased by the Yuriev Palace for 500.

In addition to ginseng, high-end fur is also very rewarding.

There are even big insects——

It can only be said that the wild resources in the Amur region are too rich.

How the hell is this wilderness survival training? It is clearly an initiative to open the royal gardens to give reservists a chance to make a fortune.

Since it was Ye Luoxin's strong request, George had no reason to object.

Just Koreans.

There are more and more educated people in Vladivostok now. Many primary school graduates cannot enter middle schools to continue their studies after graduation, so they choose to study technology or work as artillerymen in the Vladivostok garrison.

The Vladivostok Garrison and the Amur Military District are not the same system and are mainly responsible for the defense of the Vladivostok fort.

Even though these Chinese only have primary school education, their learning ability is amazing and they can become qualified artillery soldiers as quickly as possible.

Today's artillery is known as the "scientist branch".

Even in the Russian Empire, artillery is extremely valuable. There are only three brigades of the Guards in the entire empire's professional artillery.

Therefore, the artillery regiment of the Vladivostok Infantry Division was the first to form combat effectiveness.

They are already at the division level, and it would be inappropriate to use 75mm field guns again.

Therefore, the artillery equipment of the Vladivostok Infantry Division was replaced by 120 mm heavy artillery.

Before that, the Russian Empire only had fortress guns, or naval guns with a caliber of 120 mm, and 9-pounder guns with a caliber of 104 mm.

The 120mm heavy artillery produced by the Vladivostok Arsenal adopts a new gunpowder and liquid-pneumatic retention structure. The rate of fire is increased from 1 round to 5-6 rounds per minute, the range reaches 9 kilometers, and the weight is 1.9 tons. It is currently advanced in the world. level.

The Vladivostok Infantry Division is equipped with a total of 24 120 mm artillery pieces.

Milyujing was helpless.

Milyutin wanted to expand the Fu Tuan and try to conduct an overall transformation of the Russian Army.

If the expansion of the Fu Tuan can achieve its goal without spending too much cost, then Milyutin will promote the Amur experience to other military districts of the Russian Empire.

The 1.9-ton artillery has high requirements for road traffic, and it also needs to be towed by a car.

This directly cuts off the possibility of promotion.

The car is easy to talk about.

The Trans-Siberian Railway has not yet been completed, and only Amur has the ability to build roads as well as the Trans-Siberian Railway.

In a word, there is still no money.

Not only was the empire short of money, Mikhail's personal finances were beginning to be in crisis.

In May 1879, French engineer Lesseps obtained the right to dig the Panama Canal from the Colombian government.

In 1881, Lesseps formed the Panama Canal Drilling Company and issued a large number of shares, totaling more than 30 billion francs.

Everyone can see the benefits of building the Panama Canal.

Therefore, Mikhail also purchased a lot of shares in the Panama Canal Drilling Company, totaling nearly 10 million francs.

It can be said that most of the money Mikhail has earned over the years has been invested in the Panama Canal Drilling Company.

Lesseps's estimate of the project costs was seriously insufficient. After the canal started, Lesseps issued new stocks many times to continue to raise funds.

In mid-July, the Panama Canal Drilling Company suddenly declared bankruptcy due to debts of 7 billion francs.

At this time, only one-third of the project progress has been completed.

Then a scandal broke out in France, claiming that Lesseps used large amounts of money to bribe officials, parliamentarians, and newspapers and public opinion circles through bank intermediaries in order to issue stocks.

Officials involved in this matter include three former prime ministers, as well as the famous Radical Party leader Clemenceau, as well as important officials such as the Minister of Public Works, the Minister of War, the Speaker, and 200 members of Parliament.

Clemenceau alone made illegal profits of nearly 100 million francs from the Panama Canal digging company.

As soon as the news came out, the whole of France was plunged into great turmoil.

Mikhail's investment also came to nothing.

"So why are you putting your money in France instead of in bonds issued by the Governorate of Amur?"

Ekaterina has only one comment on Mikhail's stupid behavior: He deserves it!

"When I started buying Panama Canal stocks, Amur was not yet George's fiefdom."

Mikhail was also aggrieved. Who would have thought that a Frenchman with thick eyebrows and big eyes could also lie to others.

(End of this chapter)