Chapter 124 Let’s wait until next year to capture him alive
Ekaterinburg is the most important smelting center in Russia, and Russia’s first smelting plant is located here.
The bomb factory Nikolay mentioned was not just a simple assembly of bombs, but a super factory integrating smelting, casting, and production. Even the required gunpowder was produced by itself.
Such a super factory was abandoned because the products it produced were no longer needed by the military. George gained a new understanding of the industry of the Russian Empire.
It’s not that Russia is incompetent, but that it is very capable. No one can tell how many similar things the Empire has done.
What else could George do? Since the factories were abandoned, George could just reluctantly take them over.
After all, the factory is the property of the empire and cannot be taken for nothing.
Nicholas said hello to Finance Minister Bungi, and George got this abandoned factory with an area of 11.5 square kilometers for 1,000 rubles.
To be precise, there should be a total of 8 factories within an area of 11.5 square kilometers.
This factory not only produces bombs, but also produces the wooden boxes in which the bombs are placed.
There is even a railway within the factory area, connecting to the Russian Imperial Railway network through Yekaterinburg.
Compared with bombs, George paid more attention to smelting and casting.
If the exercise was not still going on, George would have loved to have wings and fly to Yekaterinburg to organize the resumption of production.
The exercise is about to run out.
Clearing the site is not an easy task. Winter is coming. If the site cannot be cleared before winter, the exercise will have to wait until next year to continue.
During the clearance process, the Guards discovered some people of unknown origin. This situation attracted the attention of the Tsar. The Tsar ordered Police Inspector Shebeko to investigate these people. If they were working for foreign countries, all of them would be sent to Siberia.
George did not welcome noble officers to Siberia.
Criminals are still very welcome.
Mikhail's immigration work in the Far East was not going well. The biggest resistance came not from the Qing Empire, but from his counterparts in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands.
The British and Dutch colonies in Southeast Asia also needed a large amount of labor.
Britain and the Netherlands had small populations and could not provide enough labor to the colonies, so they also turned to the Qing Empire.
The United Kingdom and the Netherlands have a long history of hiring labor from the Qing Dynasty, which was recorded before the outbreak of the First Opium War.
After the Second Opium War, the Qing Empire was forced to recognize the legalization of Chinese workers going abroad, so even if George did not find Zeng Jize, he could still obtain labor from the Qing through formal channels.
Although the method is formal, the process is inhumane.
The United Kingdom, the Netherlands, the United States, Portugal and other countries were involved in the atrocities of illegal employment of labor in the Qing Empire. They collaborated with the Qing Dynasty's "labor recruitment bureau" to rob the population by kidnapping, deception, threats and other means. It was so serious that even the then Governor of Hong Kong, Bao Ling, had to admit that the lawless atrocities caused by collecting piggy coolies and trafficking them overseas had reached an unimaginable level.
The people of the Qing Dynasty relocated to their new homeland. Without using these illegal methods, they would not be able to obtain enough labor from the Qing Dynasty.
Even so, the workers "recruited" by the labor recruitment bureau every year are still unable to meet the needs of the colony.
Russia’s attempt to get a share of the pie at this time immediately aroused opposition from “businessmen” in Britain, the Netherlands and other countries.
When Mikhail first arrived, he did not compete with the British, Dutch, Portuguese and American businessmen in the southeast. Instead, he set up the recruitment bureau in Vladivostok within the German sphere of influence in the Qing Dynasty.
No matter how evil Bismarck was, Russia and Germany were also nominal allies.
The allies wanted to open a recruitment bureau within Germany's sphere of influence, and the Germans found no reason to oppose it.
Mikhail would pay corresponding remuneration to the German colonial authorities for every person he recruited through the recruitment bureau.
This method was a great success. This year Vladivostok received about 3,000 workers from the Qing Empire through this method.
These 3,000 people are all under the age of 30 and are generally malnourished, but have no serious diseases. As long as they are given adequate nutrition, they are all healthy laborers.
Mikhail offered them a salary of 10 kopecks a day.
Although 10 kopecks is not much, it is 3 rubles per month.
In Siberia, the price of land redemption is only 3 rubles per dessia.
So this salary is indeed not much for workers in St. Petersburg.
But it is already high for Siberian workers.
The key point is that if Mikhail is really giving, he will not deduct without reason, let alone find ways to earn back the workers' pitiful salary.
In the plantations of the British in Southeast Asia, they would grow plants that could not be written and sell them to the workers. While earning back their wages, they also made the workers dependent so that they would never be able to leave.
Mikhail still has a bottom line and will not do such unscrupulous things. The living conditions of Qing workers in Vladivostok cannot be said to be superior, but they are also very different from their lives in the Qing Dynasty.
At least my stomach will be full.
In addition to recruiting workers, Mikhail's work is progressing smoothly this year.
Ten thousand acres of land have been cultivated and can be fully cultivated next spring.
The talent of the Chinese in farming is unparalleled. Some of the land that was cultivated relatively early has already produced a harvest this year, and the harvest is gratifying.
The level of farming in Russia is not high. Even compared with countries at the same latitude, the output is about half lower than that of countries at the same latitude.
Among all European countries, Russian land ranks last in wheat harvest volume.
Denmark can harvest 193.6 poods of wheat per dessiat (one pood is 16.38 kilograms), Germany 127.4, and Russia only 42.6——
The wheat cultivated in Vladivostok this year, calculated in dessiatines, Each dessiatine can harvest 90 poods. This is with almost no management, because the workers in Vladivostok spend most of their time opening up wasteland and have no time for management at all. They depend entirely on the weather.
After counting this year's grain production, Mikhail happily told George that next year Vladivostok will be self-sufficient in grain and will no longer rely on transportation from Europe.
George placed higher demands on Mikhail.
How can we be self-sufficient with only wheat? The workers in Vladivostok cannot only eat wheat. The nutrition must be balanced. The key is to have meat. Not to mention having meat for every meal like the farmers here in Eastern Europe. At the very least It also has to be meaty.
It is not difficult to do this.
Recruitment has just started this year and there are not enough manpower.
More workers will arrive next year, and by then the four collective farms will be able to start raising poultry and livestock on a large scale.
Throughout the summer, the sailors of the Siberian Fleet were logging, and the lumber in the lumberyard was piled up, enough to build a house.
The wood cut down by the sailors last year was ready for use after a year of drying. Mikhail ordered people to build a wheel kiln, which can burn 200,000 bricks at a time and takes 15 days.
Urban construction has a huge demand for building materials. Bricks have many functions. They can not only be used to build houses, but also to pave roads. The Siberian fleet has a greater demand for bricks.
In 1871, the port of Vladivostok was built, and the construction of forts and military camps around the port began simultaneously. This work is still in progress and will take at least ten years to complete.
Prior to this, the Siberian fleet built forts using stone as building materials. In the era before large machinery, quarrying was a very difficult job, so the progress of the fort was slow and could not meet the requirements of the military.
With bricks, construction speed can be greatly accelerated.
The best thing is that kiln burning can also be done in winter and is less affected by weather conditions.
And Lun Kiln is not picky about food, no matter what material is used, as long as it can burn.
The sailors of the Siberian fleet have been cutting wood all summer, so there are many things to burn in Vladivostok, which is enough to build ten more wheel kilns.
Mikhail did not use wood to burn the kiln, but coal.
This is not ordinary low-quality coal, but high-quality anthracite coal that can be used in warship boilers.
Warship boilers are actually not picky, any coal can be used, but inferior coal will cause great damage to the equipment due to insufficient combustion, so warships must use the best anthracite coal.
Another advantage of using anthracite is that it does not produce heavy smoke, which is more beneficial to the survival of warships.
The survey team discovered a high-quality coal mine producing anthracite coal less than 50 kilometers away from Vladivostok.
So Mikhail fired the kiln with anthracite coal.
This caused great indignation among the Siberian fleet.
Part of the anthracite burned by the Siberian fleet was imported from the Qing Dynasty, and part of it was transported thousands of miles from Europe to Vladivostok.
The production of high-quality anthracite in the Qing Dynasty was insufficient. In addition to the Qing Dynasty's own navy, the Japanese Navy also purchased large quantities for use by the Japanese combined fleet.
Here I have to praise Eastern Bismarck’s business spirit.
Before the Sino-Japanese War broke out, Japan ordered 30,000 tons of high-quality coal from the Qing Empire.
At that time, the Qing Empire's navy used low-quality coal for its own use, and all high-quality coal was exported.
After the Qing-Japanese War broke out, some people suggested stopping the export of this batch of coal to Japan.
Master Li thought that the Qing Dynasty could break its promise, so this batch of coal was exported to Japan normally to supply the Japanese Navy.
Mikhail is not an enemy.
But the efficiency of using high-quality anthracite to burn the kiln is indeed very good, and a waste of money is a real waste of money.
After Mikhail learned the importance of anthracite, he immediately stopped this foolish behavior and not only supplied anthracite to the Siberian fleet, but also exported anthracite to Japan.
The profit brought by anthracite to Vladivostok this year is only 15,000 rubles.
But don’t worry, with the gradual increase in production, the profits from anthracite will become more and more.
George was a sinister guy. After learning that Vladivostok could produce anthracite coal, George asked Mikhail to go to the Qing Dynasty to purchase high-quality anthracite coal and drive up coal prices.
The price of anthracite in the Qing Dynasty has gone up, and Japan has to increase its purchases in Vladivostok. Both the Qing Dynasty and Vladivostok are making money, and Japan will have to pay greater costs to maintain the combined fleet.
George is really not helping the Qing Dynasty, but for Russia.
There will eventually be a war between Russia and Japan.
Shebeko is still very efficient. The investigation results show that there are indeed people hired by foreigners to observe the specific process of the Rivne exercise.
This situation immediately attracted the tsar's attention.
In previous years, observers from various countries were invited to participate in the Rivne exercise. The Rivne exercise has a certain deterrent nature.
This year’s Rivne exercise did not invite observers from various countries, so some people are curious about the content of the Rivne exercise. This is normal.
The Tsar solved the problem in a simple and crude way and ordered all residents within a hundred square kilometers around Rivne to be relocated. This work must be completed before the start of the Rivne exercise next year.
After the Rivne exercise begins next year, participating troops can shoot and kill any idlers during the exercise.
On September 30, the Tsar awarded George a first-class medal of "St. Andre" at the summary meeting of the Rovno exercise. George therefore became the youngest recipient of the "St. Andre" medal in Russian history.
Nicholas is the second youngest. He also received a first-class medal of "Saint Andre".
Brushinov also gained something. He received a second-class "St. George" Medal and was appointed commander of the 3rd Cavalry Division.
The 3rd Cavalry Division was a member of the Guards, and Brusinov was able to achieve success in one fell swoop and gained the attention of the Tsar.
George also had the opportunity to become a division commander.
Considering that in next year's exercise, George will fight with a regiment against a division, George can only stay in the Oak Regiment.
Nikolai left the Oak Regiment after the Rivno exercise, and George officially became the leader of the Oak Regiment.
He is also the youngest legion commander in the history of the empire.
Nicholas is also the second youngest.
George did not return to St. Petersburg with the troops. Instead, he took a train to Yekaterinburg. He wanted to inspect his property for very good reasons.
Yekaterinburg is 2,300 versts from Rivne (one verst is 1.0668 kilometers), and it takes 7 days by train.
This time George did not take a military train, but a civilian train.
Civilian trains are also divided into grades. George chartered two carriages alone, one for George's own use and one for the members of the Guard
Only then did George realize how expensive transportation costs are in Russia. .
George has always known that transportation in Russia is backward.
But to what extent he lags behind, George has no personal experience.
George took a train before, either a military train or a royal train with Nicholas, and the journey was smooth.
Civil trains are not qualified to be special. The trains stop and go. It takes 7 days to travel 2,300 versts, and this does not include the cost.
Russian railways are mostly privately controlled, and railway charges are extremely high. The cost of transporting wheat by railway will increase by one percent for every 30 miles traveled. To transport wheat from Yekaterinburg to Rivne, wheat The price will be 76% higher than that in Yekaterinburg.
This can also explain why the circulation of materials in Russia is so difficult.
For George, there is a more important question.
St. Petersburg is 10,000 kilometers away from Vladivostok. The railway is winding and winding, and the final length must be more than 10,000 kilometers.
Even if it only counts 10,000 kilometers, according to the cost of material circulation in Russia, the cost of transporting materials from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg will increase by 333%——
What kind of business is this? Vladivostok The wheat sent to St. Petersburg is more expensive than the local beef sold in St. Petersburg, so only a fool would buy it.
There is only one way to change this situation, and strive to nationalize the railways and firmly control the railways in the hands of the empire.
(End of this chapter)