I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 382 Is there going to be a war? marvelous!

Compared with the development of armaments, the construction of East India was more important to George.

Although the sale of mining rights to mineral resources along the Eastern Railway has brought a large amount of revenue to Vladivostok, it has also exposed the contradiction between St. Petersburg and Amur.

In April, Japan and the United Kingdom have begun to contact each other about the Anglo-Japanese alliance. Once the alliance is signed, Northeast Asia will become a new powder keg.

For the Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg, the Far East was just their playground of adventure.

Amul is the foundation of George.

Now there are East Indies.

Compared with Amur, East India, which is far away from the Eurasian continent, is safer, has equally rich resources, and is not troubled by the climate. It is really the perfect rear area.

On September 9, William McKinley, the 6th President of the United States, was shot while attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo and died in the hospital.

On the 14th, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, who had met George once, succeeded William McKinley as President of the United States.

"Governor-General of East India?"

Kanunnikov's eyes lit up.

On the 16th, the two heavy cruisers ordered by Theodore Roosevelt from the Vladivostok Shipyard passed the acceptance of the U.S. Pacific Fleet and were successfully delivered.

With large numbers of Russians traveling to the East Indies, the demand for education in the East Indies was increasing rapidly.

George kept smiling. There was no governor-general in East Indies.

Two other heavy cruisers have been launched and are expected to be delivered next summer.

What worries George is that it may have to wait until 1904 for the Siberian Fleet to receive the warships.

George needs a suitable person to help him handle East India-related affairs.

George immediately sent a congratulatory message to Theodore Roosevelt and sent him a large gift package.

Vladivostok University has begun considering establishing a branch in East India.

Kanunnikov came to Amur earlier than George and experienced the entire development process of Amur.

Kanunnikov’s words fully prove why Russia has been so clumsy until the 21st century.

After successively annexing Sabah and Sarawak, East India will enter a period of stable development. It is more suitable for Kanunnikov to govern East India than Marco.

"Are you interested in serving as a consul in East India?"

"Awesome! You don't know how much I miss the tropical beaches. The winter in Amur is so hard. My old arms and legs hurt so much in the winter that I want to die——"

"The industrial potential of East India is no less than that of Amur. It is rich in resources, has sufficient labor force, and is not subject to climate restrictions. It can work all year round. All the resources needed to develop industry can be provided locally in East India."

After this batch of warships was completed, it was the turn of the Siberian Fleet.

Marco's loyalty is okay, but his ability is slightly lacking.

The battleships and heavy cruisers currently being built at the Vladivostok Shipyard are built for the Russian Pacific Fleet.

Looking at it this way, it is urgent to expand the Coconut City Shipyard.

Kanunnikov, who served as the rector of Vladivostok University, was very interested in East India.

At this time in 1901, the population of the Russian Empire exceeded 1.3 million.

One hundred years later, Russia's population was 1.4 million.

Compared to the Arctic Circle, the tropics are simply paradise.

Kanunnikov went to the East Indies happily.

George also had to build the railway in the ice and snow.

With the experience of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Middle East Railway is progressing very quickly. Before winter, the Eastern Line of the China Eastern Railway, the section between Vladivostok and Ice City was opened.

Compared with the Eastern Line, the progress of the Western Line and the South Manchuria Railway is slightly slower.

George is not in a hurry. The Trans-Siberian Railway will also be opened next year. This is George's biggest achievement since his rebirth.

However, the Trans-Siberian Railway also has many problems.

In June this year, workers on the Western Line of the Trans-Siberian Railway went on strike again, and construction came to a standstill. Not only did there be no progress throughout the year, but some sections of the railway were damaged and had to be repaired and reworked at the same time.

The environment in Siberia is really bad. Many wooden bridges will bend under the weight of trains after a period of time. To ensure safety, the bridges have to be demolished and rebuilt.

The railway track was originally built on permafrost. Sometimes in summer, the entire track disappears without a trace due to the melting of the frozen soil.

There are many reasons why railroad tracks disappear.

It may have been swallowed up by the melting permafrost, or it may have been resold by workers.

Let's talk about reselling, it sounds ridiculous.

However, a report last year showed that only about 20% of the coal stored in Omtsk was used for train consumption, and the rest was resold by workers to support their families.

The quality of the road section in charge of the Amur Military District is still very good.

St. Petersburg is hard to describe. Not only are the rails not up to standard, they are also single-track and can only carry three trains a day.

Whether these three trains can reach their destinations on time is still unknown. Accidents often occur in winter when trains plunge into snowdrifts. Each time, the locomotive has to be dug out with a shovel. Train delays are commonplace.

Last year alone, when the Western Line was opened to traffic, there were a total of 127 accidents caused by poor environment and human error.

Nicholas became Tsar and appointed George the commander-in-chief of the Trans-Siberian Railway. George's current task is not only to continue to build the railway, but also to wipe Nikolai's butt and repair those problematic sections.

After George became the commander-in-chief, the first thing he did was to reorganize his staff.

Excluding road construction workers, after the Trans-Siberian Railway is opened to traffic, at least 1.5 railway employees will be needed to maintain railway operations.

The part about being close to a big city is easy to say.

It is difficult to recruit suitable employees for small stations in the wilderness. In some sections, the employees are even robbers and murderers.

George fired all those with criminal records and recruited railway workers from the Qing Empire and Goryeo road construction workers. While providing them with the same treatment as Russian railway workers, he promised that they could become Russian citizens after five years of work.

This move was very effective. Compared with those robbers and murderers, East Asians had a better sense of obedience and were hard-working. They soon became qualified railway employees and performed their duties to maintain railway operations.

George constructed all the repaired sections in accordance with the standards of the Eastern Line, using heavy rail with stronger carrying capacity, expanding the single track into double track, and re-planning the line.

During the construction of the eastern line, George sent engineers to use a large number of explosives to clear the way for the railway, blasting mountains and building bridges when encountering water. The speed of the train far exceeded the design requirements.

On some sections of the Western Line, due to cutting corners and extensive use of sharp turns during construction, trains had to slow down when passing, and the speed was only about 20 kilometers per hour.

George demolished all these jerry-built road sections and rebuilt them, so the already stretched funds were seriously insufficient.

In the first nine months of this year alone, the additional funding for the Trans-Siberian Railway exceeded 9 million rubles.

It is expected that at least an additional 1.2 million rubles will be needed until it is fully operational.

As finance minister, Witte also racked his brains for the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Now the Trans-Siberian Railway has been linked to the dignity of the Russian Empire, attracting worldwide attention.

On October 10, Britain and Japan initially reached a treaty with a total of six articles, each of which was aimed at the Russian Empire.

The most critical one is: if one of the contracting states goes to war with other countries, the other party should strictly maintain neutrality; if one of the allies is at war with two or more other countries, the other party should provide military assistance.

This article is obviously aimed at the Russo-French alliance.

The covenant has not yet been formally signed and will require approval by the British and Japanese governments before it will come into effect.

George was still quite curious.

Even if France did not join the war, where would Japan have the confidence to challenge the Russian Empire?

Now that Britain's malevolence against the Russian Empire was clear, George stopped pretending.

On October 10, East India began to build forts and forts on Bataan Island.

Bataan Island is located at the throat of the Strait of Malacca, across the sea from the Lion City and 20 kilometers away from the Lion City.

If George puts the train guns produced by the Vladivostok Arsenal in Bataan, the entire exit of the Strait of Malacca will be covered by the firepower of the train guns.

The Straits Settlements were the first to notice the construction on Bataan.

London immediately protested to St. Petersburg.

George has become largely immune to this level of protest.

Britain is still trapped in the Boer War and cannot escape, and its military expenditures for the war have exceeded 1.5 million pounds.

The latest British Duncan-class battleships cost about 150 million pounds each.

1.5 million is equivalent to 100 Duncans.

In May this year, shortly after the death of Queen Victoria, the Australian Parliament convened for the first time in Melbourne, which meant that the Australian Federation was about to be established, and Britain's control over Australia was rapidly weakening.

It was precisely because of the establishment of the Australian Parliament that Britain had to seek to end the Boer War as soon as possible.

Otherwise other colonies will surely follow suit.

This would explain why Britain wanted to form an alliance with Japan.

Because Britain is now unable to block the Russian Empire and can only rely on Japan to fight against the expansion of the Russian Empire.

This is simply a shame for the empire on which the sun never sets.

What George can do is give Britain another slap on the face.

Building a fort on Bataan Island can directly block the Strait of Malacca when necessary. If the Royal Navy wants to pass the Strait of Malacca, it all depends on George's face.

Sadly, there is nothing the UK can do now but protest.

However, George also kept a secret and did not disclose the fortresses and forts on Bataan Island. He announced to the outside world that he was only building a military camp on Bataan Island.

Bataan was a territory in East India.

George built a military camp in his own territory, and Britain had no right to object.

On issues related to the core interests of the British Empire, Britain did not reason with George at all. British Prime Minister Salisbury directly issued a war threat to the Russian Empire in the British Parliament. If George did not give up building a military camp on Bataan, then Britain would We will reserve the right to take all actions to safeguard our own rights and interests.

Britain was more than a threat.

On November 11, British Foreign Secretary Henry Charles visited the Ottoman Empire.

On the 20th, Nicholas sent a telegram to George, asking him to return to St. Petersburg as quickly as possible.

Nicholas was not afraid, but trembling with excitement.

(End of this chapter)