I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 675 Ignatiev's Gift

After the new century, especially after the Russo-Japanese War, George's name resounded throughout Russia. Like Suvorov back then, he became an idol in the hearts of all young Russians.

In the minds of young people, the Tsar is the representative of the corrupt autocratic system and must be overthrown.

But if George were Tsar, the situation would be completely different.

Nicholas lived in the deep palace for a long time. To prevent assassinations, he went in and out of the palace in armored vehicles and never appeared in public. In order to maintain the so-called "mystery" of imperial power, he was so high and mighty.

George expanded the territory, fought Japan and then the Ottoman Empire, broke the British blockade, seized an outlet to the Black Sea for the empire, and created a huge family business from scratch. In every aspect, he is a role model for young people.

Let’s not worry about whether George built his business from nothing or not, let’s just talk about how big his family business is.

In order to attack the Tsarist system, some ulterior motives of the St. Petersburg media frequently compared Vladivostok and St. Petersburg, concluding that Vladivostok was a hundred times better than St. Petersburg.

Then the young people in St. Petersburg realized that the future of the empire lay in the Far East.

George was once ridiculed as a "prodigal son" by the St. Petersburg aristocracy because of the high wages of Vladivostok workers.

Then the workers in St. Petersburg realized that a person could really work hard to not only support his family but also have time to enjoy life.

The original intention of the 8-hour work system is: 8 hours of work, 8 hours of rest, and 8 hours of free time.

Whether the system is reasonable or not really has nothing to do with the system.

Russians still miss Emperor Yeshiva and Peter the Great, which fully proves that it was not the Tsar who people hated, but Nicholas.

George arranged for Ignatiev to work in the Ministry of the Interior as Witte's deputy.

The next day Ignatiev gave George a big gift.

Due to the surplus grain collection system implemented by the Provisional Government, farmers in inland areas of Russia fell into hardship and were in urgent need of assistance.

Ignatiev used to be in charge of land affairs in the Ministry of Internal Affairs and was familiar with members of peasant delegations from all over the country.

On August 8, a delegation of peasants from Crimea arrived in Constantinople.

Yuri, the head of the delegation, brought George bread and salt as a sign of the highest courtesy.

When he saw George, Yuri knelt down and wanted to kiss George's boots according to tradition.

George pulled the white-haired and bearded Yuri up from the ground, saying that he was not worthy of such a great gift.

Yuri looked at George with tears in his eyes and murmured to himself: "Similar! So similar!"

George's height is 1.9 meters, the same as Yaer's.

Relatively speaking, Nicholas is a little shorter, especially when he stands with George and little Nicholas, they look like two adults with a child.

"Your Majesty, please save your child——"

Yuri burst into tears, and the rest of the delegation followed suit.

Even Ignatiev started to weep.

George glared at Ignatiev. What do you mean?
Ignatiev has a clear conscience and he hopes George can listen to the voice of the people and not isolate himself from the world like Nikolai.

It took a while for Yuri and the delegation members to calm down. After sitting down again, Yuri complained to George.

"Many families have completely run out of food. Men have enlisted in the army and died on the battlefield, leaving only women and children to struggle to make ends meet. Many elderly people, in order not to burden their families—"

Yuri's words made George realize how dire the situation was.

The miserable plight of the peasants was only briefly mentioned in Witte's report in a few words.

This is the writing style that Witte formed during the Nicholas era, reporting good news but not bad news.

"Hasn't the relief food been distributed yet?"

George questioned Ignatiev.

Ignatiev spread his hands and asked: I've only been here for a few days.
George finally understood how Taizong felt when he suffocated the bird to death in his arms.

It's really hard to mess with honest people.

At noon, George invited the peasant delegation to lunch, and Yuri began to wipe his tears again, feeling full of emotion.

Yuri is 70 years old this year and has served four generations of tsars.

Although Yuri means "farmer", in fact Yuri is a landlord and owns more than 500 acres of land.

500 Russian acres, equivalent to more than 8000 acres.

During the Ya Er period, Yuri had met Ya Er as a member of a peasant delegation, so Yuri burst into tears when he saw George.

The peasant delegation was warmly received by Ya Er, who not only hosted a banquet for them in the Winter Palace, but also allowed the delegation members to take away the tableware they used as souvenirs.

The tableware bears the royal emblem.

Yaer treated farmers well, so he won the support of farmers.

At Ya Er's funeral, peasant delegations were sent from all provinces and governorates across the country.

The flowers in Yaer's hand were presented by the farmers' delegation.

At the end of Nicholas' reign, a peasant delegation also came to meet him and make representations to him.

Court physician Botkin recorded the scene.

The peasant representatives were taken to the Tsarskoye Selo and waited for half an hour before Nicholas finally arrived, surrounded by court ministers and guards.

The peasant representatives bowed to Nicholas, but he didn't even look at them. He took out a piece of paper from his pocket and read a few words dryly. Then the peasant representatives were taken away.

Botkin did not record the details of Nikolai's speech, but one of his sentences was: I pardon you. Pardon!

Is it a crime for the farmers’ delegation to petition?

Nicholas ignored the peasants and was abandoned by them.

George still attaches great importance to the farmers' delegation. After all, there will be no stability without agriculture.

After Stolypin's reforms, most farmers lived a good life. They had leather shoes to wear, meat to eat, money to buy wine, and they also began to have money to buy high-end tableware. Their living standards continued to improve.

After the establishment of the Second Provisional Government, rumors spread that all land would be nationalized, which made the farmers very worried.

George assured the farmers' representatives that not only would the land not be confiscated, but support for agriculture would also be increased.

Russia has a vast territory and a sparse population, a high per capita land ownership, and a heavy reliance on labor.

The world war caused Russia to lose tens of millions of people, all of whom are young and middle-aged laborers. If no solution is found, it will definitely have an impact on Russia's agricultural production.

George's countermeasure was to increase the popularization of agricultural machinery.

Machinery can replace labor to the greatest extent. One tractor can replace ten oxen. George was deeply impressed by Russian female tractor drivers in some Russian promotional brochures.

The price of tractors is still relatively expensive.

This involves agricultural loans, and it requires cooperation from multiple departments to help farmers solve this problem.

Yuri was stunned. George's plan was more perfect than he had imagined.

Before coming to George, the limit of Yuri's fantasy was that George would provide food for the farmers to get through the winter.

After listening to George's plan, Yuri wanted to kiss George's boots again.

This time George didn't pull it up because all the delegation members surrounded him, touched his clothes, and some tried to pull the buttons on his clothes.

On George's buttons was the coat of arms of the Yuriev family.

George asked Christie to prepare a gift for each member of the delegation.

The gifts were not very valuable, just a pipe and a silver stainless steel hip flask.

The golden badges on the pipe and hip flask made all the representatives ecstatic.

I definitely won’t want to use this thing when I take it home. I’d rather keep it as a family heirloom, and take it out to show off to my friends years later: I once had dinner with Grand Duke Yuriev!

Dining with the Grand Duke is certainly not as pleasant as dining with the "Tsar".

So Yuri knelt on the ground and asked George to ascend the throne, and he would not get up unless he agreed.

George looked at Ignatiev.

Ignatiev waved his hands hurriedly and said, this was not arranged by me.

After much persuasion, the representatives were finally sent away.

George also did not forget to arrange accommodation for them so that they could play in Constantinople for a few days before leaving.

There are still many places to visit in Constantinople. Despite repeated official warnings, the common cold has not attracted the attention of the people of Constantinople.

Russians are not afraid of death, so why are they afraid of catching a cold?
Most members hid their pipes and hip flasks in their suitcases and were reluctant to use them.

Yuri's son Dimitri was showing off and playing with his pipe in his hand, so he was beaten by Yuri.

The delegates spent a week in Constantinople before returning home.

When Yuri returned home, he found that while he was in Constantinople, George had sent his family enough food and fuel for the winter, as well as cotton clothes and boots.

Yuri decided to go to Constantinople again in a few days to give George a newborn lamb.

Although Yuri didn't know George very well, he knew that George would definitely like this gift.

George doesn't care about the value of the gift, what matters is the thought behind it.

As time went on, more and more people came to Constantinople to ask George to ascend the throne, including not only peasant representatives and representatives of the legions, but also delegations of workers from the Amur.

Although Amur is the old nest of Grand Duke Yuriev, does that mean the workers in Amur are not workers?

Vasily, Brusinov and others also sent telegrams to George, hoping that George could make up his mind as soon as possible.

The Second Balkan Army had captured most of Moscow, and Vasily assured George that the fighting would be over within the next week.

Moscow was the last stronghold of the Second Provisional Government. The members of the Second Provisional Government were doomed to fail and led the army and the Second Army in fierce and brutal street fighting.

The vanguard of the Second Army was caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.

Vasily became furious and ordered the air force and artillery to carpet bomb Moscow. At the same time, he ordered armored vehicles to be the vanguard to eliminate all enemies who dared to resist.

On August 8, the battle of Moscow finally ended with the capture of the last stronghold of the Second Provisional Government.

Vasily sent people to turn Moscow upside down, but they couldn't find Nicholas.

Bronstein was not found either. Some said that Bronstein had died in a shelling on the 19th and his body was completely lost.

Some people also say that Bronstein escaped in disguise when the city was broken and has gone into exile abroad.

The most outrageous thing is that some people say that Bronstein abducted Nicholas' princesses and lived in seclusion with them somewhere in Siberia.

This is nonsense. Bronstein is not good-looking and most princesses would not like him.

(End of this chapter)