I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 567 Back Garden

Russians are very realistic. They will stick with whoever can make them live a good life.

Let’s not talk about people from other places for now. If George became the Tsar, the Amur people would definitely not object.

Referring to the situation in the Amurs, don’t people in St. Petersburg want to live the same life as the Amurs?
Not to mention the common people, even the aristocracy would not object, because the aristocracy did not want to live a life like that in St. Petersburg where they were afraid to go out without a gun.

George did not spend Christmas in St. Petersburg, but returned to Vladivostok before Christmas.

George has been in St. Petersburg for the past two years, so rumors have spread in Amur. Some said that the empire was going to change George's fiefdom from Amur to Moscow, some said that George was going to Bulgaria to become the emperor, and some even said that George had been assassinated in the Balkans, and the one in St. Petersburg was a fake George.

George could only say that Russians have a very rich imagination. No wonder there are new plays performed in theaters in St. Petersburg every month.

St. Petersburg has changed a lot in the past two years. Not only are there street lights on the streets, but the Kronstadt Naval Base also used a military radio station to conduct a broadcasting experiment two months ago, playing several songs including "God Bless Russia."

The changes in Vladivostok are even greater.

Compared with the Russo-Japanese War, the port of Vladivostok has completely changed from military to civilian use, with only one military dock retained. There are usually no warships docked there, and even the artillery batteries have been transformed into tourist attractions and are open to the public.

The city of Vladivostok has become much larger, and its population has grown rapidly in the past two years. Especially after the fall of the Qing Empire, immigrants from the Qing Empire flocked in, causing Vladivostok's population to directly exceed one million.

When George went to St. Petersburg, there were still large tracts of uncultivated wasteland next to Peter the Great Bay.

Today, the coast of Peter the Great Bay is a neatly planned residential area, with more than 15 people living in the area.

"The situation in the Qing Empire is very bad now. Warlords are fighting each other, refugees are everywhere, and a large number of Qing people have to flee. The population of the Kanto region has increased tenfold compared to five years ago. Our exports are also growing rapidly, especially military supplies--"

Mario was very happy that under his leadership, Vladivostok's economy did not decline and the handover was a perfect success.

"What's the situation in Korea and Japan?"

George has no time to take care of the Qing Empire now, as the Russian Empire is preparing to survive.

"Goryeo is fine, but Japan has lost two kings in the past three years—"

George was shocked by Mario's understatement. No wonder he had heard little news from Japan in the past two years.

After the Russo-Japanese War, Japan was under British-Russian joint administration.

In addition to loans from Britain and reparations from the Russian Empire, Japan also owed a lot of foreign debts to the United States, France, Germany and other countries.

Japan is now in a completely messed up state, with no money left and no life at all.

Compared with other countries, the Russian Empire was relatively kind to Japan.

In order to get Japan to pay back the money, Britain organized Japanese women to work overseas, doing any job that could make money.

Not to mention other regions, it is a tradition in the Nanyang region for Japanese women to go abroad in groups to sell their stuff. There is nothing much to say.

Japanese maids are extremely popular in Vladivostok, especially among the wealthy people from the Qing Dynasty who immigrated to Vladivostok in the past two years. If a family does not have three or five Japanese maids, they would feel embarrassed to say hello to others when they go out.

The way the United States made Japan repay its debts was to organize Japanese men to work in the United States. The status of Japanese workers in the United States was no different from that of slaves, especially in southern plantations, where they were quite popular.

The Russian Empire's way of making Japan pay back its reparations was through conscription.

George transferred three infantry divisions from Japan to Bulgaria this year.

There are still more than 20 Japanese soldiers serving in Kanto and East India.

Even Ye Luoxin admitted that the quality of Japanese soldiers was better than that of Korean soldiers.

In terms of brutality, Japanese soldiers were on par with Goryeo soldiers.

But in terms of endurance and obedience, Japanese soldiers performed better than Korean soldiers.

George instructed Ye Luoxin to double the size of the Japanese and Korean vassal armies from their current level this winter and next spring.

“Is the situation in St. Petersburg tense?”

Yerohin has been looking after the family in Amur for the past few years and doesn't know much about St. Petersburg.

Judging from the newspapers alone, the situation in St. Petersburg was not only not tense, but was very good, and the entire empire was at its unprecedented peak.

"Berlin and Austria have been expanding their military forces. The arms race between Britain and Germany has entered a fierce stage. The conflicts between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Balkan countries have intensified. Now Europe is like a powder keg. It only takes a spark to explode."

George is now just watching the fun. As long as the Russian Empire follows George's plan and stands on the defense, the Russian Empire will be invincible.

The Russo-Japanese War and the Balkan War fully demonstrated that a long mobilization period is extremely disadvantageous to all countries. The Russian Empire has a "quick shooter" like George. Before you complete the mobilization, George has already finished the battle.

After the Balkan War ended, the Austro-Hungarian Empire simulated the Balkan War and concluded that if George treated the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the same way as he treated the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire could only last for two years at most.

This was based on the premise that Germany would fully assist the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Without German help, Austria-Hungary could have held out for no more than six months.

George didn't know how Austria-Hungary played out.

If George were in command, without Germany's help, the Empire could capture Vienna in a month at most.

Even with Germany's help, if we don't count the losses, it will only take three months at most.

This time seems familiar.

"In the past few months, the Hidaka Corps has suffered heavy non-combat losses in Bulgaria, to the point where their combat effectiveness has been affected."

Ye Luoxin was worried. The biggest problem facing the Japanese and Goryeo vassal armies was acclimatization.

This problem is actually easy to understand. It had already appeared when Amur formed the Goryeo vassal army.

There was a huge gap between the living standards of the Koreans and the Amurs. Many Koreans had never eaten meat before joining the army. Even the strongest Koreans seemed a little malnourished in the eyes of the recruiting officers.

The treatment of the Amur army was already very good, and delicious food was common. The Koreans, who could not even afford plain soup on weekdays, needed more than half a year to adapt to the food standards after they entered the military camp.

The eating habits of Bulgaria are different from those of the Amurs. After the Hidaka Corps arrived in Bulgaria, thousands of soldiers were hospitalized due to illness at the peak period, and hundreds of them have died from various diseases so far.

George had no good solution to this situation. He could only strengthen logistical and medical support to minimize non-combat losses.

Although the cost of vassal soldiers is relatively low, the training cost is much higher than that of Cossacks.

The Cossacks received military training from a young age and could become qualified soldiers without much training.

The vast majority of Japanese and Korean vassal troops had never had any military experience before joining the army, and it took at least six months of complete training to become a qualified soldier.

The soldiers who were trained so hard did not die in the battlefield, but died of diarrhea.

Even if George believed in the Japanese threat theory, he could not accept this.

George now deeply understood the feelings of Americans.

In another time and space, after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, the United States wanted to kill all the Japanese.

After the U.S. military occupied Japan, they discovered that the Japanese were really obedient and easy to use, and they were far better than all the blacks and Mexicans.

George is the same now.

Ye Luoxin's problem is easy to solve, but Andrei is difficult to appease.

After Vasily went to Bulgaria, only Andrei was left among George's most trusted people to look after Amur.

Ye Luoxin is old, so it is normal for him to stay at home to look after the house.

Like Vasily, Andrei was resentful for missing the Balkan War.

"Don't worry, I'll let you fight as much as you want next."

George's military expansion in East Asia was prepared for Andrei and Vasily.

Nicholas was still on guard against George, otherwise he would not have allowed George to stay in the navy and prevented George from interfering in the Guards.

Even if the Empire now has 11 all-heavy artillery battleships, the direction of the war can only be determined by the army.

Therefore, the Hidaka Army is George's biggest support.

"You said that two years ago—"

Andre was angry, so when the winter came this year, a rice-grabbing incident broke out again in Kyoto, Japan, and it was suppressed forcefully by the Japanese army.

"How are things in the East Indies?"

George finally remembered his back garden.

George had many backup plans. If St. Petersburg was lost, he would retreat to Siberia. If he could not defend Siberia, he would continue to retreat to the Amur. If he could not even defend the Amur, George would simply go to sea.

"It's too hot in the East Indies. You're always sticky all year round. Compared to Coconut City, I still prefer Vladivostok's distinct four seasons."

Andre had no idea that George was asking about the situation in the East Indies.

There's actually nothing to say about this.

The Dutch ran away, the British retreated to the Straits Settlements, and the United States hypocritically bribed the Filipinos, hoping to turn the Philippines into the next Hawaii.

The native people of East India are either dying or fleeing, and their proportion of the total population is even lower than that of American Indians. The current population of East India has exceeded 150 million.

These 150 million are a fixed population.

If the various foreign workers working in East India are included, the total population will directly exceed 500 million.

George still had to send a telegram to Witt, reminding him to control the population ratio and strictly limit population input.

The current policy of East India is to release 1000 naturalization quotas each year. Only if the conditions are good enough can one be qualified to become a true East Indian.

The naturalization quotas for the past two years have basically been snatched away by Qing people.

There was no way. Compared with the hard-working Japanese and Koreans, the Qing people were rich. It was still very cost-effective for the rich in the Qing Empire to simply spend money to buy a quota and immigrate to East India with the whole family.

(End of this chapter)