Chapter 185 It’s useless to tell you
Ferdinand and Queen Victoria are relatives and are currently serving in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Joseph I is his uncle, the King of Portugal is his uncle, his godfather is the Emperor of Mexico, and his mother She is a French princess with a very prominent status.
Because of this, Ferdinand was opposed by the Russian Empire.
The Bulgarian Parliament also did not like him. Clemont told Milyutin that if George could not be made the Grand Duke of Bulgaria, then could King Carol I of Romania also be asked to serve as the Grand Duke of Bulgaria.
George was stunned by Clemont's bold proposal.
By letting Carol I serve as the Grand Duke of Bulgaria, wouldn't Clementine be worried about Bulgaria being annexed by Romania?
Milyugin was still very rational. He did not agree to this request and told Clemont that there was no rush for the candidate for the Grand Duke and that he could take his time to find one.
George is anxious, winter is coming, and according to usual practice, George wants to go to Vladivostok this year.
Unfortunately there is no reason.
Last winter, because of the tense relations between Russia and Britain, George urgently led a group of rubber regiments to Vladivostok for reinforcements.
This year, thanks to the joint mediation of Germany and the United States, the controversy over Jumun Island has basically subsided. After the Siberian Fleet stated that it had no intention of building a military port on Jeju Island, the United Kingdom stated that it would gradually evacuate Jumun Island next year.
Now that the conflict between Britain and Russia has basically eased, George seems to have lost his reason to return to Vladivostok this winter.
Things took a turn for the better at the end of September. The Tsar sent an inspection team to Vladivostok to inspect the construction of the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk to prepare for the start of the Trans-Siberian Railway next year.
As the lord of Vladivostok, George should accompany the inspection team.
Yes, after more than ten years of debate, the Tsar finally made up his mind to start building the Trans-Siberian Railway.
What prompted the tsar to make up his mind was the seemingly settled Juwen Island incident.
In the Jumun Island incident, Britain relied on its powerful Royal Navy to almost force the Siberian Fleet to abandon the Jeju Island it had acquired. This made the Tsar very dissatisfied. For the Russian Empire, Britain What he did was almost humiliating.
If there is the Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia can quickly increase its troops to Vladivostok from the European region without being restricted by the Suez Canal.
This is the real reason why the Tsar was determined to build the railway.
From this perspective, George would also like to thank the British for their actions.
Otherwise, I don’t know how long it will take for the Trans-Siberian Railway to be completed.
What surprised George was that the person leading the inspection delegation was actually Witte, the former general manager of the Southwestern Railway Company.
Witt no longer works for the South Western Railway Company, but works in the Imperial Ministry of Transport as deputy director of the Railway Department.
George didn’t like Werther and couldn’t help but make fun of him after seeing Werther.
“Don’t you dislike the low salary of government officials? Why did you accept this position?”
George remembered that Werther worked at the South-West Railway Company and his annual salary was tens of thousands of rubles.
"The empire is nationalizing the private railways. If I don't accept this position, I will lose my job——"
Witt acted very smart and answered George's questions honestly.
This is also related to George.
The year before last, George suggested that the empire nationalize the railways. How could such an important means of transportation be in private hands?
Asia San has also begun to pay attention to this issue in the past two years. With the development of the Russian economy, high transportation costs have placed an increasingly heavy burden on the Russian government and Russian enterprises. So starting from the beginning of this year, the empire began to take back the railways. State-owned.
Witt used to work in a private company, and George had no control over it.
From now on, George will be in charge. If he offends George, George can destroy Werther's job at any time.
"Hahahaha, you know, I still like the way you were unruly and unruly before."
George started playing tricks again.
It's a pity that Werther didn't understand.
It doesn’t matter if you don’t understand, as long as George is happy.
Also shipped in Odessa were two sets of steelmaking equipment, one produced by the Ural Machinery Plant and the other dismantled from the Obukhov Steel Plant.
If the entire Trans-Siberian Railway starts construction, the output of the Vladivostok Steel Plant will not be enough to meet demand, and production must be increased.
This summer, the supply of rails was very tight, and Mikhail had to urgently order a batch of rails from the United States to prevent the project from stopping.
Vladivostok's steel production is now only 15,000 tons. Even if all of it is used to produce rails, it will not be able to meet the needs of the Trans-Siberian Railway.
In order to shorten the railway construction time as much as possible and open it to traffic as soon as possible, construction must start from Vladivostok and Chelyabinsk at the same time, so increasing production is the top priority.
There are currently two steel-making furnaces in operation in Vladivostok, and four steel-making furnaces are under construction and are expected to be completed before the end of the year.
In addition to these two sets of machines, two sets of machines ordered from the United States have arrived in Vladivostok this summer.
Before next spring, machines ordered from France and Germany will also be shipped one after another.
Under the most optimistic scenario, Vladivostok's steel production can be increased to at least 100,000 tons per year within three years.
George is quite satisfied with this speed.
Witt was not satisfied, but shocked.
In 1886, the steel output of the entire empire was only 650,000 tons.
The key is that this output is theoretical output and has never been reached in actual production. Last year, the total steel output in the Russian Empire was only 500,000 tons.
If the steel production in Vladivostok exceeds 100,000 tons, it will also be a huge improvement to the industrial capacity of the Russian Empire.
The problem arises. All day long, George encouraged the Tsar and Nicholas to nationalize the railways, nationalize the arsenals, nationalize the land illegally occupied by the Grand Dukes, and so on. Anyway, everything in the Russian Empire belonged to the Tsar.
But in Vladivostok, George didn't care about any good things and just poured them into his bowl. This was too double standard in the eyes of Werther.
On the ship heading to Vladivostok, Witte tentatively proposed to George whether the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk could also be managed by the imperial railway department.
"Okay, I don't want much. As long as 50,000 rubles per kilometer, I will hand over the railway to the treasury."
George really didn't want much. 50,000 rubles was the cost calculated by the empire after repeated calculations. It really can't go any lower.
As for how much money George spent on himself?
That’s not important. Even if George doesn’t spend a penny, it’s still George’s own ability.
The empire wants to build a railway for 50,000 rubles per kilometer.
This money may not be enough.
“Didn’t you say in St. Petersburg that one kilometer only costs 20,000 rubles?”
Witt had a firm stance. When working in a private company, he thought wholeheartedly about his boss.
Working as an official in a state department, the tsar is his boss.
“You heard it wrong!”
George's current character is that of a savage.
"Duke, do you have any way to save some costs for the empire?"
Witt has not yet entered the state and is not very good at being an official.
"Yes, I can tell you the method, do you dare to use it?"
George said it in front of the Tsar and the imperial ministers.
But why did the final cost calculation still cost 50,000 rubles per kilometer?
I can't understand this. Wei specifically said that as the finance minister, he, the deputy director-general, can't even serve for a few days.
The boat went to Cyprus to pick up Catherine and headed east along the Suez Canal.
“Business is not very good this year, and there is actually no money left in the account——”
The look of Ekaterina Versailles is almost the same as George’s.
There is indeed not much money left this year, less than 10 million.
But how much did you spend this year?
The railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk alone cost 10 million rubles.
This is not finished yet. It will cost at least 2 million until it is completed.
The construction of Yuriev also cost about 5 million. This is just the beginning. In the next ten years, it is estimated that this amount will be spent every year.
The construction of Vladivostok is also devouring a large amount of George's funds. Vladivostok University alone spent a small amount of 100,000 this year, which is just the cost of laying the foundation.
There is not even a middle school in Vladivostok now, and even if a university is built, there will be no students.
Mozhajsky estimated that just like the periodic table of elements, it would take ten years in Vladivostok to see the establishment of Vladivostok University.
This is not a problem for Mozhaisky.
This summer, Mozhaisky has brought his family to Vladivostok and is preparing to settle in Vladivostok.
Almost all the experts and professors who arrived in Vladivostok at the same time as Mozajsky made the same choice.
Although Vladivostok is not as prosperous as St. Petersburg now.
But anyone who has seen the panoramic view of the Vladivostok City Hall Building will be moved by George's ideals.
George could never meet anyone, so he just described his dream to the other person.
So George asked Mikhail to build a panoramic sand table in the Vladivostok City Government Building. If he wanted to know what Vladivostok would look like in the future, just go and see the sand table.
The sand table is indeed more direct and more vivid than verbal description.
There is definitely no military port in the sandbox, but the fort is reserved as a landscape.
Not only does every step of the way in Vladivostok bring a scene, but the density of parks and green spaces has also reached an astonishing level.
In particular, the University Town of Vladivostok, which covers an area of more than 20 square kilometers, allows people to fully feel George's ideals and ambitions.
The current St. Petersburg University does not have 650,000 square meters.
20 square kilometers is 20 million square meters.
The size of the area doesn't matter, Siberia is a big place, Vladivostok is George's fiefdom, the circle can be as big or small as you like.
The Key University City is built on the beautiful Peter the Great Bay. It has a unique location, which is rare.
As we all know, places with beautiful scenery are usually rich areas.
George did not leave the most scenic places in Vladivostok to the rich, but to the school. This decision touched almost everyone. Many people even took the initiative to write letters to their relatives and friends, inviting them to come to Vladivostok. play.
Of course, all expenses were reimbursed by Vladivostok officials.
(End of this chapter)