I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 86 The first meeting with the Minister of Finance
  The relationship between Russia and European countries is not good. Under normal circumstances, it is difficult for George to get help from European countries.

Catherine had greater freedom in France than in Russia.

Even if Nicholas became Tsar, Nicholas would not be able to give George much support, because Russia's focus is in Europe.

George may be able to get some help from France and Britain in developing Vladivostok.

In the eyes of outsiders, Catherine is the reviled widow of the Tsar, and George is a hostage forced to stay in St. Petersburg. Therefore, if Vladivostok develops rapidly, it will not only be a bad thing for the Russian Empire, but It might cause trouble to Xiao Qiang.

George hopes that Catherine can bring advanced European technology to the Far East as much as possible to lay a solid foundation for George, so that George can flex his muscles when he becomes an adult.

On the 26th, participating troops arrived in Rivne one after another.

The troops participating in the exercise included not only the Guards, but also local troops and Cossacks. George finally knew what the troops other than the Guards were like.

Milyutin's military reforms divided the Russian military system into field troops and local troops, as well as reserve troops and auxiliary troops.

The field force has a total of 47 divisions, plus 47 artillery brigades.

Local troops are composed of fortress garrison, local troops, and reserves.

The reserve army is only formed during wartime. The auxiliary forces are composed of military police, training teams, hospitals, etc. The Cossacks and the servant armies of various dependent countries are all included in the reserve army.

In addition to the above-mentioned parts, Russia also has a large-scale national militia group as a supplement to field troops and local troops.

The purpose of the Rivne exercise is to examine the coordination and cooperation among various units, with field units being the main object of inspection.

As the most powerful unit of the Russian military, the Guards have only appeared as the finale in the military parade at the final stage of the exercises in previous exercises.

This year, due to the bet between George and Constantine, the General and Xie regiments will appear in the confrontation phase of the second part of the exercise. The confrontation between the General and Xie regiments has also become the biggest highlight of this exercise.

As the largest exercise of the year, as many as 50,000 troops participated in the Rivne exercise.

The concentration of so many troops in Rivne immediately attracted the attention of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

At the same time that the participating troops began to assemble towards Rivno, the Austro-Hungarian Empire troops also began to assemble towards Lemberg in the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Lemberg is the future Lviv, 150 kilometers away from Rivne, and is currently under the control of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

In 1873, the Russian Empire signed secret treaties with the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire respectively, and the first Three Emperors Alliance was formed.

The first Three Emperors Alliance lasted for three years and was suspended in 1875.

German Prime Minister Bismarck was a key figure in promoting the Alliance of Three Emperors.

In order to stabilize Russia's domestic situation and get rid of the dangerous situation of isolation, the three countries re-allied in June last year for a period of three years.

The Alliance of Three Emperors was not a comprehensive alliance. The Second Alliance of Three Emperors agreed that when one of the contracting states fights against a fourth state, the other two states should abide by the principle of neutrality in good faith and try their best to localize the conflict; any changes to Turkey's European territory It must be jointly agreed by the three countries; the three countries recognize the principle of closing the Bosporus and Dardanelles Straits, ensuring that Turkey shall not use the straits for military activities by any belligerent country.

It is not difficult to see from the above terms that the Three Emperors Alliance is not so much an alliance as a defense against each other.

When the Three Emperors Alliance was first concluded, it was stipulated that when a country was invaded by an enemy, its allies must send 20 troops to support it.

The Second Alliance of Three Emperors did not involve this part at all.

In addition, these covenants were signed in secret and were not announced to the outside world. Therefore, the Three Emperors Alliance set a very bad example for Europe. From then on, secret agreements between countries continued to appear, causing endless troubles.

George hopes to increase his understanding of the Russian military through the Rovne exercise. So since the participating troops arrived in Rivne one after another, George took Nikolai to the train station to observe every day.

The Guards were light cavalry and could march to Rivne on their own.

However, the artillery can only take the train, otherwise the artillery can drag the artillery to Rivne, and the exercise will have to be held next year.

At the train station, George met Sergey Witte, the general manager of the South-West Railway Company.

Werther is 33 years old this year. Although it is the first time for him and George to meet, George has been famous for Werther for a long time.

The Alliance of Holy Brothers that appeared earlier was proposed by Witte.

Witte had also previously suggested building the Trans-Siberian Railway, which left a deep impression on George.

What surprised George was that the Southwestern Railway Company where Witte worked was not established by the Russian Empire, but a private company.

"How can the railway allow private control?" George really couldn't figure it out. Nicholas I and Alexander II were not stupid kings, so they didn't know why they made such a big mistake on the railway.

"Is there any problem with privately funding the construction of railways and obtaining the right to operate railways?" Witte defended his employer, otherwise he would be unemployed.

"Of course there are problems. A time limit should be set for the railway operating rights. As the country's most important transportation lifeline, the railway cannot be controlled by private individuals for a long time." George refuted Witte from an imperial standpoint.

Nicholas had never seen George argue with anyone, and he was curious about who won and who lost.

"So how many years is appropriate? Fifty years, or a hundred years?" Werther set a trap for George.

"Oh, ten years at most." George was not fooled.

"Then no one will be willing to invest in building railways." Witte laughed, apparently very proud of his employer.

"If you were asked to be the transportation director of the southwest region, what would you do?" George was still very interested in Witte, the finance minister of Nigeria during the Second World War.

"I don't want to be the director of transportation. The salary of the director of transportation is too low——" Witte attaches great importance to money. No wonder he can be the finance minister.

"George, what is the salary of the transportation director?" Nicholas did not expect that Witte, a private employee, was qualified to dislike state officials.

George didn't know either.

In 1888, Assan hoped that Witte would serve as the director of transportation for the southwest region.

Witte declined the Tsar's call because the salary of the Director of Southwest Transport was only 8000 rubles, which was not enough.

At that time, Werther's annual salary was fifty thousand rubles.

The Tsar was helpless. On the basis of the director's salary, Witte was given a private subsidy of 8000 rubles per year. Witte reluctantly accepted the Tsar's call.

What impressed George most about this story was not the amount of Werther's salary, but the fact that the Tsar was actually willing to recruit Werther with private subsidies instead of imposing an order.

If the Tsar issued an order, Werther could only respond.

But the Tsar did not do this, but fully considered Werther's situation, which was indeed rare.

(End of this chapter)