I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 711: Attack and Defense
After the end of World War II, Russia's demand for military industry plummeted, and the Amur Arsenal was forced to transform from military to civilian use.

The factory that produced armored vehicles switched to producing tractors, the factory that produced artillery shells switched to making fireworks, and seamless steel pipes and natural gas pipelines were seamlessly connected.

The factory that produces light weapons has no way to transform, and the workers are almost starving to death.

During the World War, Russia produced more than 3000 million rifles. By the end of the war, the Amur Arsenal alone produced more than 80 rifles per month.

Due to the proliferation of civilian weapons in Russia during the civil war, Russia's civilian weapons market has been saturated for at least a decade.

The more critical issue is that although Russia no longer needs weapons in the short term, these factories cannot be disbanded and a certain productivity must be retained in case of emergency.

During the World War, the brothers in the arsenal worked hard in three shifts day and night. Not to mention making a fortune, their income was second to none in Amur. It was no problem for one person to support a family.

After the end of World War II, the Amur Arsenal also carried out large-scale layoffs, retaining only the best Russian workers. Those workers from Korea and Japan had to be laid off, even if they had excellent skills and no problems with their work attitude.

Even so, the workers' income has dropped significantly.

In order to find orders for the arsenal, Julien and other sales staff racked their brains.

To say something that may not be politically correct, Julien hopes that the war will never end so that his brothers in the factory can have food to eat.

Michael Collins was not only the Minister of Finance of the Republic of Ireland, but was also responsible for intelligence work. He was one of the founders of the Irish Resistance and the future father of the Irish nation.

The actions of the Irish rebels were supported by the Irish Brotherhood in the United States, and Michael Collins was even able to obtain loans from the United States through the Brotherhood.

Michael Collins hoped to obtain rifles, heavy machine guns, and explosives from Russia to support the Irish Republic's resistance.

Julian is of Chinese descent and his Russian name is Julian, so when he introduced himself to Michael Collins, he called himself: Julian Yu.

Julien suggested to Michael Collins that, considering the situation of the Irish rebels, he should adjust the shopping list to include pistols, light machine guns, and grenades.

Compared with rifles, pistols and light machine guns are easier to carry, and grenades are easier to carry and use than explosives.

After verification, Collins accepted Julien's advice and had to admit that the Russians were more experienced in rebellion.

However, Julien was not experienced enough in foreign exports. The ship carrying weapons from the Amur Arsenal was seized by the Royal Navy, and the captain and 12 crew members were arrested by the Royal Navy.

The good news is that before the ship was forced to stop, the captain threw all the weapons and ammunition on board into the sea, and they were not seized by the Royal Navy.

The bad news is that when the Royal Navy was capturing the ship, the captain rammed the Admiralty's boat, causing the boat to capsize and killing a Royal Navy sailor.

Russian Ambassador to the UK Kolrutansky immediately went to the British Admiralty and demanded the immediate release of the arrested crew members.

The newly appointed First Lord of the Admiralty, David Beatty, rejected Kolrutanski's request on the grounds that the investigation had not yet been completed.

Kollutanski in turn demanded that the Royal Navy effectively protect the rights of the captured captains and crew.

This time David Beatty didn't refuse.

When the news reached Constantinople, George was also helpless.

This is the consequence of being too rough and being caught.

How can such a thing be delivered to your door? If it is entrusted to an uninformed third party for shipment, even if it is caught, it has nothing to do with the Amur Arsenal.

Little Nicholas had no choice but to go to London.

Kollutanski visited the families of the deceased sailors and gave them a hush money in the name of condolence money in exchange for the families of the deceased sailors not pursuing the matter.

This is very important, otherwise if the families of the deceased sailors continue to be interviewed by reporters, the impact of this incident will become more and more serious.

What made George feel relieved was that the British government was still very rational and did not hype up the incident.

On the contrary, the French media's attention is a bit unusual. They keep adding fuel to the fire on both sides and hope that Britain and Russia will also fight.

Although the UK tried its best to downplay the impact of the incident, Lloyd George called Witte as soon as possible and asked Witte to punish the relevant companies and strictly prohibit similar incidents from happening again.

Witte held high the banner of "free trade", saying that this was a business behavior of Russian companies and had nothing to do with the position of the Russian government.

The Russian government's position is certainly highly consistent with that of London.

Faced with a tough guy like Witte, Lloyd George had no good solution. On the one hand, he instructed the Royal Navy to step up underwater operations and retrieve the objects thrown into the sea by Russian ships as soon as possible to confirm the illegal behavior of Russian companies.

On the other hand, the British media was warned not to add fuel to the fire during this sensitive period.

For a long time, Britain, from top to bottom, has been portraying Russia as an unreasonable polar bear and slandering Russia.

In the past, the Russian Empire had a very difficult time facing Britain's pursuit and blockade.

Now Russia has completely broken through the British blockade, but Britain has been severely damaged by the world war, and is trapped both internally and externally, with a change of offensive and defensive situations.

In the past, it was Britain that exported to Russia.

Now it is Russia's turn to export to Britain.

In early November, Lloyd George learned that the Irish rebels had begun using Russian-made explosives.

Lloyd George met with little Nicholas, who had just arrived in London, and asked him to give an explanation.

"What to explain? Explain why Russian explosives appeared in Britain? You ask me, who should I ask?" Little Nicholas drew inferences from one example.

During the world war, both Britain and France purchased large quantities of military raw materials from Russia, including explosives.

Russian explosives were not only sold to Britain and France, but also flowed into Germany through Denmark.

In short, there are many ways for the Irish to obtain Russian explosives, except purchasing them directly from Russia.

Lloyd George's hands were shaking with anger.

A few days ago, the Royal Navy finally fished out a box of grenades from the sea.

Now that there is evidence and witnesses, the Russians should admit it, right?

Little Nicholas sneered and directly threw a bunch of data to Lloyd George, proving that from January to March 1919 alone, Russia sold as many as 1 million grenades to Britain.

In other words, young Nicholas believed that the Royal Navy was framed.

The so-called catching the person red-handed means catching both the person and the goods together, and evidence cannot be supplemented later.

If this kind of evidence were useful, little Nicholas could find countless evidence to prove that the demise of the Russian Empire was caused by Britain.

Not only did Nicholas Jr. deny that the box of grenades had anything to do with the captured crew members, he also urged the Royal Navy to release them as soon as possible.

"They have killed a Royal Navy sailor and must be punished accordingly."

Lloyd George was in a bad mood and was ready to fight for his life.

But this is probably unlikely.

Although the Russians' methods are crude, they are wealthy and have paid enough hush money. Now even the families of the deceased sailors have given up on pursuing the case. The British government is holding on to the case because it is worried that Russia will continue to support the Irish rebels.

Among the world's major guns, the British Army suffered a total of 75 casualties. If the Commonwealth Army is included, the total number of casualties exceeds 120 million.

The British government doesn't care if one or two people die.

The Irish rebels were what the British government was most worried about.

Britain is now clinging to its overseas dominions and colonies and is unwilling to let go. If Ireland gains independence in this way, it will become the best example for overseas dominions and colonies.

See? I'm only demonstrating once how to gain true independence through violence.

Whether Ireland is independent or not does not actually cause much harm to the British government.

If South Africa, Canada and Australia follow suit, the Commonwealth will collapse completely.

"Okay, if you have the ability, send them all to the guillotine!"

Little Nicholas is a scoundrel. If you dare to touch a hair of theirs, just wait and see how the Irish will deal with you.

Lloyd George was in a dilemma.

If this matter is not investigated, it will definitely encourage the arrogance of the Russians and make the Irish more unscrupulous.

If we get to the bottom of it, we're afraid Russia will become even more aggressive.

These are just weapons and equipment. What if Russia sends people to Ireland?

Many people in the Provisional Government and the Provisional Executive Committee held dual citizenship of Britain and Russia.

As the saying goes, if the enemy can go somewhere, I can go there too. Regardless of whether those "rebels" who hold British nationality are sent by the British government, they must have a relationship with the British government.

There's no point in keeping this matter at a stalemate.

So Lloyd George asked King Georgy of Greece, who was visiting London, to mediate.

What Georgy meant was that as long as Nikolai Jr. promised to impose constraints on Russian companies, London could pretend that nothing had happened.

Little Nicholas was holding a grudge because he had failed to force Georgy to cede Corfu and Crete two months ago.

Now that Georgi was delivered to the door, little Nikolai immediately turned into a hair dryer.

"Do you think that with the strength of your Kingdom of Greece, you are qualified to speak between Russia and the United Kingdom?"

Little Nicholas' words made Georgi blush.

Although the Kingdom of Greece is indeed not as powerful as Russia and Britain, you are being so blunt. Aren't you being too disrespectful to me as a king?

"Your Majesty, I have to remind you that as a Balkan country, if you forget your own position, you will not only be embarrassed, but also hurt."

Little Nicholas reminded Georgi not to forget that there had been wars within the Balkan League.

In the Second Balkan War, the Kingdom of Serbia, Romania and Greece surrounded Bulgaria and forced it to give up the benefits it had gained in the First Balkan War.

Now the Balkan Alliance is also in a mixed position of offense and defense.

(End of this chapter)