Chapter 127 Father and Son Bureau
From little Nicholas to Alfred, George brought in more and more stakeholders to build his business empire step by step.
You can't make enough money, you have to eat your food one bite at a time, eat your own meat, and don't even leave a mouthful of soup for others, it will only turn into soap in the end.
Nicola's trust is George's greatest reliance.
But Nikolai’s trust alone is not enough to allow George to have unimpeded access to Russia. Any feelings will change over time, and only interests are eternal.
"I just said abandoned, not given away." Werther was not even afraid of George, let alone Alfred, the captain of the Tsar's bodyguard.
"Even if it is given to Super Duke Yurievsky?" Alfred, the old silver coin, started to fan the flames again.
“Make a price——” George broke the situation with force.
Isn’t it just a train station? Even if the lion opens its mouth, how much can it ask for?
George also underestimated the greed of businessmen.
"10,000 rubles." Werther is not a lion, but a hippopotamus.
“This guy is crazy!” Alfred laughed. He thought 100 rubles was too much.
“1000——” George counter-offered, the price of 1,000 is neither more nor less.
A train station is worth some money, certainly more than 1,000 rubles.
But it’s not as much as 10,000 rubles.
The last time he came to Rivne, George had already given Witte a chance.
This is the second time.
Witt did not agree immediately. His pen turned wildly between his fingers and he looked at George with a slightly complicated look.
"Can I ask, why do you want to buy this train station?" Werther didn't know what George had in mind.
“I want to buy it!” George pointed out that a person is stupid and has too much money.
"Deal!" Werther did not hesitate. He felt that an unknown danger was approaching.
Witt was still very efficient in doing things. The Rovne train station was indeed almost abandoned. There were less than ten staff members left. George stayed at the train station for a whole morning. Except for a group of rats, George was no longer there. No creatures were seen.
"Why did you buy the train station?" Alfred still doesn't know why George bought it.
If it is a big city like St. Petersburg, the train station is indeed very profitable.
There are no residents in Rivne now. Except for the annual drills, no one comes to Rivne at all. What are you doing in this ghost place?
"I don't want to see him." George said casually. What do you mean by no rules?
This means that the exercise has already begun from the moment the participating troops arrive in Rivne.
George wanted to make a very deep impression on the participating troops.
And it is a pity that Rivne is abandoned. It is one of the three largest black soil belts in the world. The land is extremely fertile. It only takes 40 days for the food grown to be shipped from Odessa. You can reach Vladivostok.
The most important thing is that through his trip to Yekaterinburg, George has realized how high the logistics costs in Russia are.
Since George wants to develop industry, George must have a certain degree of bargaining power.
So Rovno is just the beginning, George will buy more train stations next, until George becomes one of Russia's railway tycoons.
The train station cannot be abandoned in George's hands and needs staff to maintain it. George called Ye Luoxin and asked Ye Luoxin to send a telegram to St. Petersburg and ask Ivan at Lake Ladoga if he would like to come to Luo Xin. Work at Vno railway station.
Lake Ladoga was the first stop for George and Nicholas to recruit soldiers when the Oak Regiment was established. George was deeply impressed by the poverty of that Cossack village and always wanted to do something for them.
The Cossacks were not engaged in production, but only in fighting. George never found any opportunities.
Now the opportunity has finally come. Rivne is near the border, and the Cossacks are not useless. Hunting in Rivne is better than fishing in Lake Ladoga.
Ivan proved how willing he was with his actions.
The day after Yelokhin sent the telegram, Ivan arrived in Rivne with all the members of Volkovo Village, a total of 407 men, women, and children.
When the villagers of Volkovo arrived in Rivne, they had only the last set of clothes left on them, and they pawned almost everything they owned in order to raise enough money to travel to Rivne. .
Looking at the longing eyes, George felt like he was carrying more and more things.
Four hundred people is a bit too much, but it's not like there's no room to accommodate them.
Most of the time, Russians are a bit stubborn.
The Tsar ordered the area around Rivne to be emptied, and the Guards went out frantically to move all the residents, including the small town of Rivne, directly creating an uninhabited area of about 100 square kilometers. district.
George can actually understand it.
Demolition is a very profitable thing no matter when it happens.
People can move away, but houses cannot.
So there are enough houses in Rivne now, which can accommodate another 400 people.
“This is the most fertile land in the world. You can grow anything you want and you won’t starve to death. Do you know how to farm?” George still didn’t understand the Cossacks well enough.
"Yes, yes--" Ivan burst into tears. It's not that the Cossacks don't farm, but that there is no land for them to farm.
The empire has been inherited for 300 years, and land annexation is very serious. George's manor in St. Petersburg has a lot of wasteland, but as long as George does not allow it, no one dares to open up wasteland in George's manor.
There is a lot of wasteland in Siberia, but it is sparsely populated and the protection provided by the empire is insufficient. Every Cossack household has no surplus food. Even if they can reclaim the wasteland in Siberia, they still have to survive the first coldest winter.
The plight of the Cossacks is really not caused by the lack of efforts of the Cossacks, but by the concerted efforts of the entire empire.
The tsar needs cheap soldiers, factory owners need cheap labor, and the nobles who own the most land would rather let the land lie in waste without generating any profits, nor take the initiative to develop it, euphemistically calling it pastoral scenery.
They never thought that the Cossacks, whose lives were not guaranteed, were the most unstable group within the empire, just like the workers.
In 1917, there was a workers' uprising in St. Petersburg. The Guards who were ordered to suppress it refused to fire, and the Tsar lost his last guarantee.
The vast majority of the Guardsmen, like the revolting workers, were Cossacks.
George hopes to find a way out for the Cossacks, let those who are willing to fight fight, and those who are willing to farm farm, and let the rebels—
Let the rebels go to Siberia, George welcome.
"Then go, you can choose the houses here as you please. I have only one request, no matter what, you must abide by the laws of the empire." George would not let it go, he brought these Cossacks from Lake Ladoga to When Rovno comes, he must take responsibility.
This is also a duty to the empire. After Ivan left, George found that his personal guard Ivan was also in tears.
"What's wrong with you?" George, like Nicholas, cares about the people around him, and he doesn't want to be stabbed in his sleep.
"Duke, thank you-" Ivan shed more and more tears. In George's impression, he was a person who never shed tears.
“Ivan is my father.” Ivan’s words surprised George, who didn’t even say hello to his father just now.
George didn’t understand.
"I am no longer his son, but your guard." Ivan's words shocked George. Are all Cossacks so cold-blooded?
Not really.
It’s not that Cossacks don’t value family ties, but in the traditional sense, joining the army means becoming a monk. Loyalty and filial piety cannot be both. Since you choose to be loyal to the tsar, you should cut off the relationship with your original family.
This is why many veterans would rather wander in the city than return to their hometown.
"What crazy talk are you talking about? If you don't even want your father, how dare I keep you by my side?" George never goes against the laws of nature and human ethics. Russia doesn't know how harsh it is to the Cossacks. Such a twisted tradition has formed.
The first batch of soldiers of the Oak Regiment came from the village of Volkovo, and these soldiers are now serving in the Oak Regiment. George approved a three-day family leave for these soldiers that day, and paid each of them 50 rubles, allowing them to go home to visit relatives.
After the order was issued, George had to accept the allegiance of Volkovo soldiers in formation at the door of the station commander's office.
The lives of Cossacks are as cheap as ants. No one has ever done this.
The Cossacks who died on the battlefield did not even have tombstones. They were buried wherever they died.
Severely injured Cossacks could only receive pitifully small pensions and were unable to maintain their lives. Many people had no choice but to commit suicide.
After all, there are only a few Cossacks like Ye Luoxin who have the ability to support Paoze.
One of the consequences of Milyutin's restructuring was that a large number of young and strong Cossacks were homeless in the city. They had nothing and no worries, like lonely ghosts, and only had hatred for the empire.
George could not just watch the situation continue to worsen. Before leaving St. Petersburg, George told the military that if possible, the soldiers who retired this year would be sent to Vladivostok. George promised to give them generous treatment and would not let them They live on the streets.
George’s original intention was to reduce hidden dangers.
The military directly refused.
I don’t know how many people in Russia are looking at the veterans every year. They are the best workers. They have just left the army. They have simpler ideas, are easiest to manage, and are the easiest to be satisfied.
Some factories in St. Petersburg will even lay off some workers before the retirement season to prepare for welcoming veterans.
As for how the laid-off workers will live, it is not a question they have to consider.
Ivan - Old Ivan was very efficient. On the second day after arriving in Rivno, he selected 50 young people for George to drive.
These 50 people are all 30 years old and half are men and women. The first task George gave them was to clean.
The foundation of Rivne Railway Station is quite good. The walls of the waiting hall are made of stone, the roof is made of glazed tiles, and the glass on the door is occasionally damaged. After replacement, it will not affect its continued use.
After the snow on the platform was cleared, George noticed that the platform was actually paved with stones. It was just because no one had cleaned it for a long time that it was muddy all over.
The boys are very hard-working, this will be their future work place, George offers them a salary of 10 rubles per person per month, which is higher than the salary of the Guards.
The girls' salary is 6 rubles. They are conductors and waiters, and they are responsible for the sanitation of the waiting hall and ticket hall.
Although the salaries were different, the girls didn't care. George prepared brand new uniforms for them. After the ticket hall and waiting hall were cleaned, the environment was clean and bright. In such an environment I am happy working without getting paid.
The young men are responsible for the work on the platform. They have all received military training and are all qualified security personnel. George asked them to be vigilant, especially to strangers.
Witt originally wanted to evacuate all the staff, but George asked Werther to leave at least one stationmaster, one telegraph operator, and one switchman to maintain the normal operation of the train station.
Witt didn't deliberately seek trouble. He was a smart man and knew where George's bottom line was. If he continued to anger George, Werther would be in trouble.
The station manager that Witte left behind was named Nasimov, 49 years old, who had been working in the railway department since he was 14 years old.
Russian railways have only started a few years ago. Counting the time, Nassimov was already working in the railway department almost when Russia started to build railways.
George offered Nassimov a salary that was twice that of the Southwestern Railway, and Nassimov happily jumped to George's railway company.
George's railway company is called Rovne Company.
After arranging the work at the train station, George and the Oak Group met and officially started training in Rivne.
The first training content is the confrontation between battalions.
Ye Luoxin and Andrei were unfortunately drawn into the father-son game, and they had to decide the winner within half a month.
There are no rules for the exercise. The two participating parties compete within an area of about 50 square kilometers. George serves as the commander-in-chief of the exercise, Alfred is the observer, and Demit and Vasily watch the entire process to prepare for the next exercise.
In order to avoid unnecessary casualties, Ye Luoxin and Andrei need to report the combat plan to the headquarters two days in advance.
As soon as George got the plans from both sides, he convened a team of officers for a war game.
Ye Luoxin is mature and prudent, and his plan is more traditional. He honestly advances from the starting point to the center, looking for Andre for a decisive battle.
Andre's army was in danger. He sent a company as a scout on the first day to first determine Ye Luo Xin's position and prepare to set up an ambush against Ye Luo Xin.
"How are we going to fight? Are we really going to shoot?" Alfred was dumbfounded. He had never seen this kind of confrontation before.
"Demeter, tell him how to fight-" George did not answer such a simple question.
“No need to shoot, as long as Ye Luoxin’s troops step into Andre’s ambush circle, it can basically be determined that Ye Luoxin’s entire army has been annihilated.” Demit is familiar with the road, and this is not the first time that the rubber regiment has been carried out. This kind of confrontation is an exercise.
"How is this possible?" Alfred did not think that Yeluoxin's troops were powerless to fight back.
"How is this impossible? If my troops are ambushed, my troops will be completely annihilated." Demeter has suffered a loss. The Oak Group is now really capable of defeating the enemy in a short time. An equal number of enemies are destroyed.
There is a saying in the art of war: if you are ten, you are to surround it, if you are five, you are to attack it, and if you are twice as many, you are fighting.
This is the experience of the Cold Weapon Age. If you don’t keep pace with the times in the Hot Weapon Age, then you will die.
(End of this chapter)