I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 572: The Tsar’s Envoy Was Killed
Ferdinand's purpose of visiting Catherine was to influence George through Catherine.

We are all going to be in-laws, so it is reasonable for George to give more help to the Kingdom of Romania.

Catherine would not give George any advice on this matter. Her desire for power was not as strong as Maria and Alex.

Catherine did not care about the situation in the Balkans. She only cared whether Polis was happy in the Bulgarian Kingdom.

Even if Boris did not come to Bulgaria to be king, he would be the future Grand Prince Yuriev and have an extraordinary status.

Although the king is good, it is really embarrassing to be the king of a small country with a small population. Catherine hopes that George can help Polis realize his dream of "Greater Bulgaria".

After politely seeing Ferdinand off, Catherine couldn't help but feel worried about her eldest grandson.

In Catherine's view, the Bulgarian Kingdom was too weak, which was very different from what she had imagined.

Just as Catherine found it difficult to understand the Bulgarians' mentality of inviting someone to be king.

In the evening, Boris had dinner with Ekaterina. Ekaterina had no appetite and only ate a little.

Catherine, who was born in 1847, was nearly years old, but she was still in good condition, energetic and quick-witted. Because Anne had accompanied George to live in St. Petersburg for the past two years, Catherine often won at the card table.

"What you call weak is compared to the Empire - the problem is, how many countries can compete with the Empire?"

Bolis did not think that the Bulgarian Kingdom was weak. If the Bulgarian Kingdom was strong, it would not be his turn to be king.

"You should find a way to unify the Balkan Peninsula."

Catherine had high expectations for Polis.

"Then I'll be exhausted--"

Polis was still in shock. The Ottoman Sultan must have had a lot of trouble coordinating the interests of the various ethnic groups in the Balkans.

"Let your father help you."

Catherine was willing to sacrifice her son for her grandson.

“I think it’s good now.”

Boris was not deceived and was satisfied with the current situation.

George's dissatisfaction grew stronger.

There was growing opposition in St. Petersburg to George's decision to send Hidaka's vassal troops to the Kingdom of Bulgaria. With such an opportunity, why not let the Cossacks go?

After George's military reform, the requirements for conscription became increasingly stringent, and only the best Cossacks had the opportunity to join the army.

Countless Cossacks in the empire who had no way to join the army were crying out for food.

George, on the other hand, recruited Koreans and Japanese into the army on a large scale. The discrimination was too obvious.

On the way back to St. Petersburg, Witt took the initiative to bring up this issue with George.

George did not stay in East India for too long. He picked up Witte and immediately returned to St. Petersburg.

"I learned a saying in Coconut City: those who are not of my race must have different hearts. The Koreans and Japanese are not really submitting. We must be careful with them."

Witte has made great progress in the past two years. Compared with Stolypin, Witte's biggest shortcoming is that he has no experience in local governance.

After graduating from university, Witte entered the Odessa Railway Bureau through the Minister of Transport, Prince Bobrinsky. He soon showed outstanding talent at work and came into the attention of Yasan with his book "Principles of Railway Freight". Within just two years, he became the Director of the Imperial Railway Department and Chairman of the Freight Committee.

Stolypin started his political career in the Ministry of State Assets. He had served as a member of parliament and governor and had rich experience in governing. Therefore, after becoming prime minister, Stolypin quickly got into the swing of things.

"I didn't recruit the Cossacks because I didn't want them to become cannon fodder. They should play a bigger role." The entire empire -

Or rather, in the whole world, only George knew how cruel the upcoming world war would be.

"The Empire is trying to avoid war, but war doesn't necessarily have to happen."

Witte was surprised. Was the great Grand Duke Yuriev so arbitrary?

This can't be blamed on George.

There are clear hierarchies in the military. George, as the Minister of the Navy, Grand Duke Yuriev, is at the top of the food chain. No one dares to disobey George's orders. If this situation continues for a long time, even the most stable people will lose themselves.

"No matter what, the Empire must be prepared to face war."

George didn't want to fight either, but the wind would not stop even if the tree wanted to be still.

This time, George brought a fleet to Constantinople. There were 21 ships carrying supplies, a considerable portion of which were weapons and ammunition.

These weapons and ammunition were not aid to the Kingdom of Bulgaria, but were supplies stockpiled for the World War.

In another time and space, the First World War lasted from 1914 to 1918, and the Russian Empire withdrew from the war in 1917.

The Russian Empire was no longer called this name at that time.

Even if the Russian Empire perished, George would never give up access to the Black Sea, so Constantinople became the distribution center for supplies of the Russian Empire in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean.

"It looks like war is inevitable."

Witt smiled bitterly. His comeback this time was still not going well.

Nicholas was even less fortunate.

After the Austro-Hungarian Empire annexed Bosnia and Herzegovina, it put forward a brilliant suggestion. In order to win over the Slavs in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Austro-Hungarian Empire considered changing the two-dollar system to three-dollar system, giving the Slavs a certain political status and satisfying their demands.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire was originally a constitutional dual monarchy.

Now that two dollars has become three dollars, we can start trying the federal system.

This decision was strongly opposed by the Kingdom of Serbia.

It should be noted that Serbs living in Bosnia and Herzegovina only account for 40% of the local population and do not have an absolute advantage.

Therefore, the Kingdom of Serbia, under the banner of saving the Serbs, asked the Austro-Hungarian Empire to allow Bosnia and Herzegovina to be independent, but this reason was not very sufficient.

In order to mediate the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and the Kingdom of Serbia, Nicholas sent special envoys to try to eliminate the risk of war.

What Nicholas did not expect was that after the envoy arrived in the Balkans, he suddenly fell ill and died in the Austro-Hungarian embassy.

When the news reached St. Petersburg, Nicholas' first reaction was that the envoy he sent was assassinated by the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

But if you think about it carefully, it doesn't seem to be the case. Even if the Austro-Hungarian Empire wanted to take action, it would not be stupid enough to do so in the Austro-Hungarian embassy.

So, the Serbs are also suspects.

"The murderer cannot be a Serb, he must be an Austrian. We should mobilize immediately and teach the Austrians a lesson."

Little Nicholas shouted wildly that George was not in St. Petersburg now, and Little Nicholas was the number one person in the St. Petersburg military.

(End of this chapter)