I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 333 Thousand Islands
Hua Village has been extremely lively these days, and there is an endless stream of people coming to congratulate him. George doesn’t even know where he got so many relatives.

As members of the royal family, so forget the princes.

But even the seven aunts and eight aunts of the Grand Duchess came to join in the fun, which George really didn't expect.

Who says Europeans are not sociable?

That’s because people don’t want to talk to you.

The little Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess grew up quickly, and they grew white and fat in just a few days. The elder sister's name is Alexandra, and the younger brother's name is Boris. Both names were given by Ekaterina. of.

The name Alexandra has no special meaning.

George's brother who died in infancy was called Boris.

To Easterners, this seems unlucky.

Ekaterina believes that this is the continuation of life.

At the beginning of its establishment, the principal of Daosheng Bank was 600 million rubles.

George didn't care, he could be called whatever he wanted, as long as the children could grow up healthily.

The bank's board of directors has eight directors, including five from Russia and three from France.

On August 8, Alexandra and Boris were baptized according to the Orthodox tradition. Nicholas and Alex attended as the godfather and godmother of the two children respectively.

Alexeyev should be very happy. Nicholas named a newly commissioned armored cruiser "Yureyev" and equipped it with the Siberian Fleet.

On August 8, under the joint mediation of Britain, France, Russia, and Germany, Japan and the Qing Empire reached an agreement. The Qing Empire paid Japan 15 million taels of silver in exchange for Japan returning the Liaodong Peninsula to the Qing Empire.

Now with an additional 3000 million, the Qing Empire's need for loans becomes even more urgent.

Anne felt a little regretful, but it didn't matter. Anne and George were still young and still had a chance.

In order to avoid causing concerns in other countries, Dowson Bank came forward to undertake the construction project of the Middle East Railway, and then handed over the project to the China Eastern Railway Company headquartered in Vladivostok, thus minimizing the expansion of the Russian Empire in the Far East.

The compensation of 2 million taels of silver had already overwhelmed the Qing Empire.

The first chairman was Duke Ukdomsky, who accompanied Nicholas on his travels around the world.

It was precisely because of this loan that the Qing Empire agreed to have Russia build the Middle East Railway.

After the baptism ceremony, George made preparations to return to Vladivostok.

On September 9, Witte took the initiative to invite a French consortium to establish the Sino-Russian Daosheng Bank in St. Petersburg.

"Yuryev" will, together with two light cruisers, escort the "Dolgorukov" back to Vladivostok.

If George were still in St. Petersburg, he would definitely laugh at Werther to his face for overestimating his abilities.

The purpose of Daosheng Bank is not for loans, but for the China Eastern Railway.

In addition to the Eastern Railway, another major task of establishing Daosheng Bank was to issue 100 million ruble bonds for the Qing Empire.

The investors of Daosheng Bank are the International Commercial Bank of St. Petersburg, the Siberian Bank of Vladivostok, as well as six financial institutions including French Bank Hodinger, ABN AMRO, Lyon Trust Company, and National Discount Bank of Paris.

The Russian Empire had to issue bonds to build its own warships. The treasury was so poor that it couldn't even pay salaries, yet it dared to promise to help the Qing Empire issue bonds. Financial people are really brave.

The main reason why Werther dared to promise to help was because of George, a wealthy man.

George's ability to amass wealth was well known, and in just a few years the Bank of Siberia had become the most powerful bank in the Russian Empire. In addition to asking George to help sell bonds, Witte also wanted the Bank of Siberia to assist the Imperial Treasury in promoting the silver ruble.

Silver ruble is paper ruble. To put it bluntly, it is paper.

Prior to this, Russia's rubles were all gold rubles, which were directly linked to gold. The currency value was quite strong. Prices throughout the Russian Empire did not fluctuate much for a hundred years.

In the past two decades, the financial situation of the Russian Empire has continued to deteriorate, and the gold ruble has gradually become unsustainable. It is imperative to introduce the silver ruble.

St. Petersburg began to issue silver rubles last year, but the issuance of silver rubles was not smooth. In just ten months, the value of the silver rubles has depreciated by more than a quarter.

What makes Witte very unhappy is that the Bank of Siberia still does not accept silver rubles. This is also an important reason why the implementation of silver rubles is not progressing smoothly.

The reason why George returned to Vladivostok before the two children were one month old was to avoid Werther's harassment.

Another reason is that you can’t miss this gluttonous feast.

Don't even think about silver rubles. It's OK to help issue bonds. Although the interest of 4% is not much, the key is that it can indirectly influence the customs of the Qing Empire through borrowing, which is very beneficial for Vladivostok products to enter the Qing Empire.

Many of the raw materials needed by the Vladivostok factory were directly imported from the Qing Empire, especially Chinese medicinal materials and raw silk. Only the Qing Empire could meet the needs of Vladivostok.

A long time ago, George purchased land in the south of the Qing Empire through Mulinder to provide Vladivostok with industrial raw materials.

Because of the conservativeness of the Qing landowners, this work did not proceed smoothly.

If the Qing Empire officially comes forward, the situation should change.

On September 9, the "Dolgorukov" arrived in Vladivostok.

From last year to now, George has been away from Vladivostok for as long as one year and eight months.

He will not stay long this time, and will go to St. Petersburg next spring to attend Nicholas' coronation ceremony.

Nicholas' coronation ceremony will be held on May 5 next year.

What George cares most about is definitely the military.

After Nicholas came to the throne, the Amur regular army expanded to two divisions. The commanders of these two divisions were Andrei and Vasily. Yerosin served as the deputy commander of the Amur Military District. When George was away in Amur, the Amur military was led by Yerosin. Xin is solely responsible.

The current total strength of all regular troops and reserves in the Amur region exceeds 5. The offensive is insufficient, but the defense is more than sufficient.

Although the Amur River Fleet is under the banner of "inland river", it also includes Sakhalin Island within the patrol range, so one destroyer is far from enough. Yeroshin believes that the Inland River Fleet must have at least 11 destroyers to fully guarantee the Amur River Fleet. Benefit.

"I think we should take back the Kuril Islands from the Japanese at the right time, so that we can open up fishing grounds to Hokkaido and have better food security."

Ye Luoxin sees food security as a lifeline.

There is enough food in Vladivostok now.

As the population gradually increases in the future, Vladivostok will sooner or later become increasingly dependent on external inputs.

In 1875, the Russian Empire and Japan signed the Sakhalin and Kuril Islands Exchange Treaty in St. Petersburg.

The treaty confirmed the sovereignty of Sakhalin as belonging to the Russian Empire, and Japan gained sovereignty over the entire Kuril Islands.

Since then, Japan's territory has expanded northward to Jimshou Island, which is only 11 kilometers away from the Kamchatka Peninsula.

(End of this chapter)