I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 366 The enemy’s hatred is my glory
The Pacific Fleet has received the three sisters of the "Petropavlovsk" class and will return to the Far East in April.

The new battleships Japan ordered from Britain will not be delivered until 1900 at the earliest. Before then, the Pacific Fleet will become the most powerful fleet in the Far East.

As a branch line of the China-Eastern Railway, the South Manchuria Railway between Bingcheng and Dalini is also under construction and is expected to be opened to traffic in 1904.

This branch line was stopped by the Qing Empire after the Russian Empire established the "Kwantung Province".

After the establishment of the "Kwantung Province", Dalini will become the frontline against Japan, and the Amur Military District will become the rear area. St. Petersburg's support for Amur will definitely decline.

The promotion of the Amur River Fleet to the Siberian Fleet was Nikolai's compensation to George.

However, for George, this compensation has mostly symbolic meaning and has no substantial benefits.

George didn't care about the benefits.

The benefits of the Imperial Navy are not easy to get either. George does not want those so-called heavy cruisers that are often 1.3 tons and equipped with 203 mm main guns.

The two newly built shipyards at the Vladivostok Shipyard are both 10,000-ton class. After completion, they will build the Vladivostok version of heavy cruisers for the U.S. Navy and the Siberian Fleet respectively.

So George simply recruited 3000 people from the Amur reserves and sent them to Dalini to strengthen Dalini's defense.

Alexeyev is still thinking about the two "Borodino" class battleships at the Vladivostok Shipyard.

"The Vladivostok Shipyard will definitely go all out."

George didn't know what to say. It would only take British shipyards at most three years to build a battleship of the same level.

"It won't be until October at the earliest."

"Borodino" is one of the eight battleships to be built in the "Great Naval Plan", and its first ship "Borodino" has already laid the keel at the St. Petersburg Shipyard.

"The efficiency of the St. Petersburg Shipyard is too slow. It actually takes 6 years to complete the project. The Vladivostok Shipyard cannot be like this."

Although George would not send regular troops to Dalini, St. Petersburg's request could not be ignored.

Even if Alexeyev didn't say anything, George wouldn't delay.

The firepower is almost the same, only two 2mm secondary guns are missing.

The first thing Alexeyev did after returning to the Far East was to take the three sisters to Vladivostok for maintenance.

Alexeyev was very happy and invited George to visit the three sisters.

The power of the Three Sisters is only 11250 horsepower, and the maximum speed is only 16.5 knots, which is significantly different from Japan's fastest battleship of 18 knots.

George was not very interested in the three sisters.

The 1.5-ton shipyard in Dalini has not yet been built.

If it takes six years to complete, then it will not be in service until 6. I don’t know if it will be able to catch up with the Russo-Japanese War.

Alexeyev was dissatisfied with the St. Petersburg shipyard.

There is no way around this. The displacement of the Three Sisters is as high as 1.15 tons. In the entire Far East, only Vladivostok has a shipyard for maintenance.

“When can work start in Borodino?”

George would not give a specific timetable.

George had to meet the needs of the Pacific Fleet first.

George also wants to free up the slipway as soon as possible to start construction of the dreadnought. If he can catch up with the Russo-Japanese War, George will give the Japanese Navy a surprise.

Battleships are indeed a man’s dream.

At least the way Peter looked at the three sisters was full of longing.

Compared with the three sisters, the light cruisers of the Siberian Fleet are as thin as paper.

So at the banquet that night, Peter drank a few more drinks.

"What is there to envy about this kind of battleship? It's not like you haven't seen the Duke's plan."

Andre comforted Peter that there would be battleships.

"I know, but I just don't accept it!"

Peter was in a bad mood.

After Peter came to the Siberian Fleet, he introduced George's methods in the Guards to the Siberian Fleet. While leading the fleet officers and soldiers to train hard, he was also studying hard to become a qualified naval general.

In the pre-dreadnought era, due to the inconsistent caliber of the artillery, salvo fire could not be carried out. When warships fought, they relied more on the proficiency of the gunners rather than relying on technological bonuses.

Peter did not attend a military school, was not from the Navy, and did not receive a systematic education.

Although this did not affect Peter's ability to become a qualified naval admiral, the way the officers of the Pacific Fleet looked at Peter still deeply hurt Peter's self-esteem.

In the era of the Siberian Fleet, no one cared about the Pacific Fleet. Like Siberia, only naval officers with no background or who had made mistakes would be assigned to the Siberian Fleet.

With the three sisters joining the Pacific Fleet, the Pacific Fleet ranked first among the three major fleets of the empire and became the most powerful fleet in the empire, finally gaining the attention of St. Petersburg.

The new deputy commander of the Pacific Fleet, Boris Vladimirovich, is the second son of Grand Duke Vladimir.

The captain of the second ship "Poltava" of the Three Sisters is Grand Duke Dmitry Konstantinovich, the son of Grand Duke Nikolayevich.

Alexeyev's adjutant was George's old acquaintance, Mikhail, the younger brother of Prince Oldenburg.

Let's not talk about whether it is good or bad for so many archduke to swarm into the Pacific Fleet. Han Gongliang is catching up with the Guards.

Compared with these princes, Peter was a complete wild man, and it was normal for him to be laughed at.

The Siberian Fleet even inherited its name from the Pacific Fleet, so it is indeed not qualified to be proud in front of the Pacific Fleet. "Then work harder and become the best naval admiral in the empire. Don't live up to the Duke's expectations of you!"

Andre has high demands on Peter and does not allow Peter to give up on himself.

George wouldn't allow it either.

The next day George called Peter to the Yuriev Palace and gave him a scolding.

"Who are you showing off your self-pity? Can you give me some eye drops? Do you still remember how you promised me when you went to the River Fleet?"

George knows that Peter has emotions, which is a good thing. Only when you know your shame can you be brave.

George would be disappointed if Peter failed to recover from such a small shock.

Even George, the Tsar's closest uncle, would be hated by others. When Peter parachuted into the Siberian fleet, many people were also dissatisfied.

"I remember that I guaranteed that the river fleet would become the most disciplined, bravest, and most loyal fleet in the empire!"

Peter had fire in his heart and light in his eyes.

"Excellent! If you can do this, the Siberian Fleet will be the most powerful fleet in the Empire."

George also held his breath.

Alexeyev brought his three sisters for maintenance, which was also a show off and a demonstration.

In May, the keel of the second "Borodino" class battleship was also laid at the St. Petersburg Shipyard. The name of this battleship was scheduled to be "Prince Suvorov".

Vasily was very unhappy and complained to George, not wanting the name "Duke Suvorov" to be tarnished.

"Suvorov is at least a battleship, Yuriev is a cruiser. What did I say?"

George had even more reason to be upset.

After the three sisters served, Alexeyev used the "Petropavlovsk" as his flagship, and the "Uriev" was abandoned.

The performance of the "Yuryev" is indeed not good. Whether it is firepower, power, or armor, there is a considerable gap between it and the Vladivostok Heavy Cruiser.

Now "Yuriyev" is often parked at the berth and rarely goes to sea once a month. Even the officers of the Pacific Fleet dislike "Yuriyev" and are unwilling to serve on "Yuriyev".

"How about we bring Yuriev over for modification and use it as the flagship of the Siberian Fleet."

Vasily came here to scold him for nothing.

"Why don't you swap with Peter and become the commander of the Siberian Fleet?"

George, my brother-in-law, also didn't get a tile for three days.

"No, no, no, I'm just saying-"

Vasily is just cheap.

"Next month's joint exercise, if the Talisman master loses, you have to be careful!"

George did not forget to practice this magic weapon.

When Amul only had one division of Talisman Masters, George would organize internal confrontation exercises every year.

After the establishment of the Harbin Division, the confrontation between the Talisman Master and the Harbin Division became the highlight of the annual exercises, with both sides winning and losing.

In this year's exercise, the Siberian Fleet will also join and the Pacific Fleet will be invited to participate. The Imperial Navy and Army Ministry will also send personnel to observe.

What George didn't expect was that the Japanese were also very interested in the exercise and offered to send troops to participate.

George refused decisively and never thought of taking the opportunity to steal the teacher.

Japan has kept a low profile in the past few years since the Sino-Japanese War. Apart from ordering battleships and cruisers from Britain, it has basically made no major moves.

George never ignored the Japanese threat.

After the intervention of the Three Kingdoms and the return of Liao Dynasty, Japan learned from the painful experience and used the indemnity from the Qing Empire to cultivate its internal strength and improve its national strength, hoping that one day it would avenge its past humiliation.

Of the Qing Empire's compensation, 1000 million was used as education funds, 1000 million was used as disaster relief reserves, and another 2000 million was turned over to the emperor and became the emperor's private property. The remainder was used to expand armaments and develop military industry.

With the compensation from the Qing Empire, the large number of shell companies established in Japan in the early days of the Meiji Restoration finally made substantial progress.

The year before last, Japan invested 1920 million yen to purchase steelmaking equipment from Germany and rebuild the Yawata Steel Works in Hachiman Village, Fukuoka Prefecture.

Japan itself has no iron ore, so if you want to make steel, you can only purchase iron ore from abroad.

In East Asia, Japan mainly purchased iron ore through the Russian Empire and the Qing Empire.

Amul, don't even think about it, George won't sell even a tael of iron sand to Japan.

Therefore, Daye Iron Mine in the Qing Empire became the helpless choice of Yawata Iron Works.

Only then did Japan discover that Daye Iron Mine also refused to sell iron ore to Japan.

The Japanese were shocked and angry. The steel plant that had spent a lot of money to rebuild was starved to death because there was no raw material!

Daye Iron Mine did not dare to offend the Japanese, and only then did the Japanese know the reason.

Just last year, the Vladivostok Iron and Steel Works of the Russian Empire signed a supply contract with Daye Iron Mine to purchase all the iron ore from Daye Iron Mine.

This means that even if the production of Daye Iron Mine increases, the Japanese will not be able to buy it.

Almost instantly, George replaced Tsar Nicholas, the mastermind of the Three Kingdoms' intervention in Liaoning, and became the most hated person in Japan.

(End of this chapter)