Chapter 1012 Germination
Russia has a vast territory and rich resources, but currently the resource that East Africa is most "dependent" on Russia is oil. More than half of the oil resources are taken away by East Africa every year, so the Tsarist Russian government naturally uses oil as bait to a certain extent. attracted the attention of Ambassador Crowe.
But just note that although East Africa is short of oil resources, it is not like Germany, which is almost non-existent. Moreover, East Africa currently has many foreign sources of oil.
"As a friend, tell me honestly whether Russia has encountered any difficulties recently." Ambassador Crowe said.
He had a vague feeling that the mentality of the Russian government has changed now. This is not the attitude of the Russian government in the past.
"Alas, for Russia, the difficulties have never ended, and that is financial pressure. Lack of money has always been our biggest difficulty in Russia. In recent years, due to the economic crisis in other European countries, countries and private individuals who are willing to borrow money are more Less." Count Caddell said.
The economic crisis is not just hitting Russia. Other countries naturally need cash to stabilize their economies. On the other hand, under the economic crisis, the economic crisis has caused Russian companies to go bankrupt, default on debts, and bad debts are also more serious. This Not only does it reduce the source of revenue for the Russian government, but it is also not conducive to Russia's borrowing from the international community.
Various factors have led to the current vicious cycle of Russia's economy. Of course, even if the economic crisis is coming to an end, it will not be worse than in the past few years. But now Russia is borrowing more money than before, which makes Crowe think that it must be There is something abnormal inside Russia that I don't know about.
After all, East Africa and Russia are "not familiar". In the past, Russia's main financial backers were Western European countries. Now they can't wait to get three melons and two dates from East Africa. It is obviously a sign of hunger.
After all, East Africa is not active in the international financial market, especially in the commercial field. Negotiations can almost only be done with the East African government or East African state-owned enterprises or banks, which makes it the hardest to get money from East Africa.
If it were an ordinary businessman, if Russia offered oil resources as bait, he would have jumped off it long ago. Regardless of whether what Russia offered was a trap, driven by interests, there is no business that European and American businessmen would not dare to do, and the East African government There is no such initiative, except for the Hechingen Foundation under the royal family.
In fact, most of the institutions such as East African state-owned enterprises and banks are subordinate institutions of the East African government, so they are more cautious in lending to foreign countries.
So Ambassador Crowe believed that before coming to him, the Tsarist Russian government had already encountered obstacles from other countries or capitals, but Count Caddell was obviously unwilling to disclose the main purpose of the Russian government.
So Ambassador Crowe said: "Count Caddell, I need to communicate with the country about this first. If possible, come back in three days and I can give you an answer."
Count Caddell: "No problem. We in Russia are very sincere this time. I am waiting for the good news from your country!"
...
After seeing off Count Caddell, Ambassador Crowe sent news back to the country and sent people to the Russian government to inquire about the news.
The internal situation of the Russian government is relatively easy to obtain. With just a little intervention, Ambassador Crowe vaguely understood the Russian government's plans.
In a telegram to the country, he wrote: "At present, Russia's economic crisis has been smoothly passed, and Russia's active borrowing from various countries is obviously not to deal with the remaining heat of the economic crisis."
" According to some Russian officials and the embassy’s understanding of recent internal meetings of the Russian government, Russia is likely to raise funds for the construction of the Siberian Railway, or to prepare funds for launching a war.”
"In recent years, the Russian government has become increasingly dissatisfied with the Far East issue, especially the competitive trend between Japan and Russia after the Far East Naval War."
"The two countries have sharp disagreements over the Korean Peninsula and the northeastern Far East issue. Contradictions, Russia's dissatisfaction with Japan had been foreshadowed as early as the late 1990s, but the sudden outbreak of the economic crisis in the early 20th century left the Russian government with no time to think about and was temporarily unable to confront Japan. ""And there are also problems within Russia. A group of knowledgeable people pay more attention to Japan and do not look down upon Japan because of Russia's vast territory, rich resources, and strong national power. Therefore, there are currently four forces within the Russian government, namely the tsar, the war faction, the peace faction, and the centrist faction. "
“The war faction has expanded recently. On the one hand, the economic crisis has ended, and Russia has become aggressive, so this is in line with Russia’s performance in history. On the other hand, the social conflicts caused by the economic crisis have not yet Eliminate that this time the Russian government may intend to use war to resolve the conflict. "
"As Russia's best decision-maker, the Tsar's attitude plays a decisive role, and recently the Tsar has been closely connected with the domestic war faction... Therefore, it is very likely that the Russian government’s frequent actions this time are aimed at targeting Japan.”
Through various data recorded by the embassy and by bribing Russian insiders, Ambassador Crowe had a rough judgment on the Russian government's thoughts, and he passed his judgment back to his home country.
Rhine City.
Ernst also received the news from the embassy, and soon he discussed it with his officials.
“Ambassador Crow’s words are more in line with the current situation in Russia. Throughout Russian history, wars are launched almost every once in a while, which is in line with Russia’s war cycle.”
Russian History It is the history of war, and it has records of fighting with neighboring countries, from Finland in Northern Europe, to the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East, and finally Japan, which is now confronting the Far East, forming a perfect arc.
Outside this arc, there are two supporting points, the United Kingdom and the United States, which are used to constrain Russia's activities in their respective spheres of influence.
Japan is a chess piece supported by Britain and the United States and used to offshore to balance Tsarist Russia and the Far Eastern Empire. Therefore, even if Japan's economy is in dire straits, under normal circumstances, Britain and the United States will also impose certain restrictions on Japan. level of support.
After all, if Japan is not supported, the Far Eastern Empire or Tsarist Russia will become bigger, which will ruin the plans of both countries.
Japan's shortcomings, namely lack of resources and narrow area, have become advantages at this time. Both the United Kingdom and the United States can drive Japan with more confidence.
In fact, this is also the case in the history of previous lives. Even if Japan suffered a lot of evil in World War II and eventually conquered Britain and the United States, the United States still supported Japan after World War II and served as its own country to contain the Soviet Union and later Russia and the United States for a long time. As the chess piece of the Far Eastern Empire, if Ernst was an American or British, he would definitely support Japan and use it to weaken the Far Eastern Empire or Russia.
"Your Highness is right. Nicholas II should be a more traditional Russian monarch, very different from his father Alexander III. During the period of Alexander III, Russia was also in a rare period of peace, and the economy was relatively prosperous. But this is very abnormal for Russian tradition.”
As far as East African officials are concerned, Tsarist Russia is a country that loves aggression. In fact, East Africa’s reputation in the international community is not much better. .
It’s just that since the 1990s, East Africa has changed. It’s almost impossible to see the East Africa that jumped up and down in the past. Russia, after experiencing the brief peace in Alexander’s previous life, has now returned to its old ways.
So the East African monarchs and ministers who stand on the moral high ground can ridicule Russia without any scruples, while ignoring the large amount of territory East Africa has gained through expansion since the mid-19th century, as well as the tens of millions of black slaves currently serving East Africa. .
To put it bluntly, if the Tsar had so much free labor, he would not keep an eye on the gray animals for plucking them. The gray animals are his own people after all, and foreigners like black people , it is also their honor to be driven.
(End of this chapter)