I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 709 How Can a Dog Son Be a Match for a Tiger Girl

George didn't want to target little Nikolai. What he really wanted was to rebuild the spiritual world of the Russian people.

The Russian nobles, represented by little Nicholas, have a very poor spiritual world. Concepts like home, country and the world are simply not in their consciousness. If you talk to them about the stars and the sea, all they understand is that after I die, I don’t care about the flood.

The situation of other countries was not much better. The Paris Peace Conference had not yet ended, and a new round of arms race had begun, this time between the United States and Britain.

During the Paris Peace Conference, U.S. Navy Secretary Daniels announced that 137 warships would be built within five years to "build the most powerful and best navy in the world."

The British don't like to hear this. I worked so hard to defeat Germany, not to let you, a rebellious son, take the throne.

Lloyd George then declared that Great Britain would rather spend its last penny to maintain its naval superiority over the United States or any other country.

This statement may seem tough, but in reality it is weak. What it really means is: Do you still want the money that Great Britain owes you?

George was eager for the British to fight with the Rednecks, so he added fuel to the fire and announced a new version of the large navy plan.

The new version of the Great Navy plan is to build 10 more ships in two batches based on the current 10 all-heavy artillery battleships, bringing the total number to 20 ships.

After obtaining the port on the Jutland Peninsula, Russia officially upgraded its Baltic Fleet to the Atlantic Fleet and successfully broke through the blockade of the Danish Strait.

The Pacific Fleet currently has only two battleships, which is totally inconsistent with Russia's status. George plans to transfer all four "Gangut" to the Pacific to strengthen the Pacific Fleet.

As a result, the Mediterranean Fleet will not even have a battleship, so the first batch of five battleships will all be equipped to the Mediterranean Fleet.

Britain, the United States, and Russia successively launched shipbuilding plans, and France and Italy were not to be outdone. For a time, new versions of shipbuilding plans from various countries were freshly released, and the level of excitement was even greater than before the outbreak of the world war.

The crazy shipbuilding of various countries has caused concern among people of insight. In an interview, Witte called on all countries to remain rational.

Churchill retorted, exposing the Russians' hypocrisy and saying that Russia was the culprit for provoking a new round of arms race.

Witte did not argue with Churchill. Instead, he sold the two battleships that Japan paid to Russia as compensation after the Russo-Japanese War to Japan for 2000 million rubles.

During the Paris Peace Conference, Japan paid Russia 10 billion rubles in one lump sum, finally paying off its indemnity to Russia in exchange for Russia's withdrawal from Japan.

After Japan's independence, national defense needs increased rapidly, especially naval construction, which was put on the agenda again.

After the end of World War II, Russia carried out a major military reduction and the size of its navy also needed to be reduced, so the two sides hit it off.

George could only sigh: The only lesson mankind has learned from history is that mankind will not learn from history.

During the Imperial Russian era, George advocated not participating in the arms race.

Nicholas had no opinion and was misled by Vladimir and Alexei, and eventually embarked on the path of expansion.

When it comes to George, his so-called "new naval plan" is a complete smokescreen.

Russia does plan to build warships, but not battleships. Instead, it plans to build transport ships and supply ships, and even two hospital ships.

It is true that Russia is going to retire its warships. Not only did it sell two completely outdated battleships to Japan, but Witte is also negotiating with Romania and Greece to promote Russia's "Gangut" class and "Queen Maria" class battleships.

Ferdinand was still very considerate and purchased a "Queen Maria" class battleship at the original price as the flagship of the Romanian Navy.

Georgi is wavering, contacting Russia on one hand and Britain on the other, which is a bit like betting on both sides.

Since Georgi's stance is not firm, don't blame George for being ruthless.

On September 9, the Ottoman Empire declared war on the Kingdom of Italy on the grounds of recovering its territory.

The Kingdom of Italy urgently asked for help from Britain, France and Russia, but all of them ignored it.

During the Paris Peace Conference, Britain, France and Russia did not meet the territorial demands of the Kingdom of Italy, sparking strong protests from the Italians.

In July this year, the Kingdom of Italy failed to claim the port of Fiume, and bloody conflict broke out between Italians and French living in the port of Fiume.

Britain had long been dissatisfied with Italy because Italy did not agree with Britain during the Paris Peace Conference.

George ignored the Italians.

The Ottomans all knew to give gifts to little Nicholas, and it was impossible for the Italians to make the money-hungry Cossacks work for them just by talking.

Vasily sent reinforcements to the Anatolian Peninsula to prevent the war from spreading to Russian territory.

Georgy had a bad feeling and came to Constantinople again to ask George for help.

"I'm sorry, Georgi, the current public opinion is very unfavorable to you."

George also believes that it is necessary for Georgi to stand firm.

Now, not only the Ottoman media, but also the British and French media are hotly discussing the brutal revenge of the Kingdom of Greece against the Ottomans during the World War.

The focus of Russian media attention is a woman who calls herself Anastasia.

A week ago, Paris police rescued a woman who fell into the Seine. The woman claimed to be Nicholas' fourth princess Anastasia, which attracted widespread attention.

Not only Russians are concerned about the fate of Nicholas' family, but the French are even more concerned.

After George learned about this situation, he immediately sent the Russian ambassador to France to visit.

The result disappointed George, the woman was not Anastasia at all. Although the person was a fake, the fate of Nikolai's family once again attracted the attention of the Russian media.

Little Nicholas offered a reward of 100 million rubles for the whereabouts of Nicholas' family.

No matter whether they are dead or alive, as long as you provide the whereabouts of Nicholas' family, you can get the money.

George did not offer a reward. He vaguely seemed to remember that in another time and space, the bodies of Nicholas' family were not found until the 20s.

In October, the first snow fell in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

After a year of hard work, Russia's situation this winter is much better than last year, and the economy continues to improve.

Last winter, George requisitioned a large amount of grain from the Amur and East India to ensure that there was no large-scale famine in Russia and Europe.

This autumn, Siberia's grain production reached its highest level since the outbreak of the World War, not only meeting the needs of Russia and Europe, but also resuming exports to Europe.

The infrastructure construction has achieved remarkable results. With the resumption of railway traffic between St. Petersburg and Moscow, the entire Trans-Siberian Railway has been opened. Goods from Amur have effectively guaranteed the economic development of the Russian and European regions.

Industrial production is gradually recovering. The arsenals, led by the three major ones, are striving to transform into civilian industries, with light industry as the focus, mainly to ensure people's livelihood.

A number of key projects, represented by the Bosphorus Bridge, are under intensive construction. Because too many workers are needed, there is a labor shortage in many areas.

This year, Russia has seen its first baby boom since the outbreak of World War II, with more than 700 million newborns expected throughout the year. This figure is the highest since the World War, but still has not reached the level of 1914.

In 1914, a total of 770 million babies were born in Russia.

What made George most dissatisfied was that because Russia's medical institutions were severely damaged during the world war, the neonatal mortality rate had increased significantly compared to before the war.

In Warsaw, the mortality rate among newborns this year is over 30 percent.

Compared with Germany, Russia's infant mortality rate is already very low.

More than two-thirds of newborn babies in Berlin died last year.

The main cause of infant mortality in Russia is disease.

In addition to disease, hunger also tortured German babies.

George's next most important task is to do everything possible to improve Russia's medical level.

"We have built new medical schools in major cities such as Constantinople and St. Petersburg, Moscow, Warsaw, and Kiev. The situation will improve in five years at the latest."

Witt is more optimistic. He believes that this matter cannot be rushed and one cannot become fat in one bite.

Objectively speaking, if Russia's medical level can be raised to a higher level within five years, it will be a remarkable political achievement.

But George was not satisfied. He thought that even without enough medical students, Russia could actually do better.

During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale, the goddess of the lamp, reduced the death rate of wounded soldiers from 42% to 2% simply by improving the hygiene level of nursing. If Russia increases its attention to hygiene levels, the death rate will also drop rapidly and significantly.

The Russian military already has a relatively mature program for health care.

However, the Russian government turned a blind eye and did not promote it across Russia.

Witt was filled with deep regret. In the past two years, he had focused most of his energy on the so-called "national affairs" and neglected the people's livelihood.

George's focus has been on the influenza pandemic in the United States in the past two years, and he didn't notice that the neonatal mortality rate was so high.

Of course, the high neonatal mortality rate is also closely related to the American influenza pandemic.

"Before the end of the year, we need to develop an effective health system to at least solve this problem from an institutional perspective."

George, it's not too late to start now.

When she returned home in the evening, Alexandra volunteered to go to the worst place in Russia.

The worst place is not Warsaw or Moscow, but remote areas like the Caucasus.

Annie disagreed, and the mother and daughter had a big fight.

George received the bad news in the evening that King Lee Hee of Goryeo died of illness in Vladivostok on October 10th.

Before Li Xi was buried, rumors suddenly spread that Li Xi was poisoned by Russia.

George ordered Guchkov to investigate.

Guchkov's investigation has not yet produced any results, and Li Xi's son Li Tuo once again proposes to Alexandra.

Li Tuo will succeed to the throne on January 1920, 1 and become the King of Goryeo.

George rejected Li Tuo's request without even thinking about it.

Li Tuo was born in 1874, just two years younger than George.

(End of this chapter)