Chapter 187 This is all going to be a volume
Facing the Russian Empire, Goryeo was humbled to the ground. It would rather cede territory and dream of being protected by the Russian Empire.
It’s not that the Russian Empire doesn’t want to, it’s that it can’t, because it really can’t defeat Britain in the Far East.
As long as the Russian Empire has a chance of winning in the Far East, based on George's understanding of the Tsar, there is a high probability that the Tsar will not be so patient.
Although Goryeo failed to get the protection it wanted from the Russian Empire, Concubine Min and Gaozong did not give up.
This year Vladivostok needs a large number of road construction workers in order to build railways.
Concubine Min and Gaozong opened the door to facilitate the transportation of labor to Vladivostok, exceeding 50,000 people at the peak.
It is precisely because of the participation of Korean laborers that the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk is expected to be completed within this year.
Since the Korean people are so sensible, George has no reason to refuse people thousands of miles away, so Korea became the first other country to have a liaison agency in Vladivostok.
See clearly, it is other countries, not just East Asia.
Witte has been staying in Vladivostok for a week, not only inspecting the Vladivostok subway, but also inspecting the Vladivostok Steel Plant and the Vladivostok Machinery Factory in detail.
After learning that the iron ore used in the Vladivostok Steel Plant came from mines near Vladivostok, Witte proposed to Mikhail that he hoped to inspect the Vladivostok mine.
“Aren’t you here to inspect the railway?” Mikhail didn’t want Werther to go to the mine.
The mines in Vladivostok have too many secrets to be made public.
If Werther goes to the mine, George will have to consider leaving Werther in Vladivostok forever.
"Yes, I have to make sure that the mines in Vladivostok can meet the needs of the Trans-Siberian Railway." Witte did not realize how excessive his request was.
Mikhail did not dare to make his own decisions and took the initiative to report to George.
George handed Werther to the Yuriev Palace and asked about Werther's purpose.
"If we only determine the scale and output, then I can tell you now that the raw material supply in Vladivostok can fully meet the needs of building the Trans-Siberian Railway." George certainly did not let Witte Go to the mines or you'll be in big trouble.
Last year, because the death rate of prisoners sent to Siberia was too high, someone in St. Petersburg filed a black warrant against George. The Tsar even inquired about it personally.
If Werther went to the mine and knew the specific conditions of the mine, George would be criticized even more seriously.
"Duke, this issue is very important. I need specific data before I can report to His Majesty." Witte insisted.
“Okay, you can go, but I want to remind you that the mines in Vladivostok are accessible but not accessible. If you must go, then stay in the mines for the rest of your life. "Okay." George was indifferent. If you are willing to die, I will be willing to bury him.
This matter is actually not troublesome.
In the 19th century, despite the prosperity of Vladivostok, leaving the urban area, there are barren mountains and mountains everywhere.
Siberia's wild animals are well-known, and the wild environment is extremely harsh. In such a bad environment, it would be normal if something unexpected happened.
"Why can I enter but not exit?" Witte asked.
George gave Werther a look and let Werther realize it for himself.
After leaving Yuriev Palace, Witte did not go back to his residence, but went to the Vladivostok Steel Plant.
In the past few days, Werther made several new friends at the Vladivostok Steel Plant. One of them was Rakitski from the Pyrenees, who was Werther's fellow villager.
Werther came to Rakitsky for a drink. He was half drunk before he asked his question.
"Sergey, Sergey, you just met me, otherwise you would have been arrested by now." Rakitsky lowered his voice, guarding against the fact that walls have ears.
“Why?” Werther really didn’t know what taboo he had committed.
“There used to be Qing people, Koreans, Japanese, and prisoners from St. Petersburg in Vladivostok—” Rakitsky said. This is actually not a secret in Vladivostok. .
“Where do you think they are now?”
"Are you mining?"
"No, they are buried in the abandoned mine."
Rakitzky's words made Witte shudder.
No wonder George and Mikhail didn't let Werther go to the mine.
If this gets out, it will definitely be a big scandal.
"Super Duke Yurievsky doesn't want the outside world to know too much about Vladivostok. You know, we are surrounded by our enemies. If the enemy finds out our strength, then we will be in danger. "
Witt silently picked up the cup and drank it all. This is also true.
"The Duke is the younger brother of the Tsar, will he betray the empire?"
Witt shook his head, George may be a little deviant, but he will certainly not betray the empire, at least so far, all the glory of George , all brought by the empire.
"Isn't that enough? In the past few years in Vladivostok, I have only learned one thing, and that is to work hard and do only what you should do." Witte was taught, Rakitsky's status is not prominent, he is just an ordinary engineer.
Today Rakitski taught Witte a good lesson.
George didn't care about the content of Werther's work. Werther was a member of the Tsar, and there was nothing shameful about what George did in Vladivostok. As long as Werther didn't seek death himself, then George would do as Werther did.
Winter is approaching, and the last fifty kilometers of the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk have not yet been completed.
“Three bridges need to be built in these 50 kilometers and a mountain must be blown up. It will definitely not be completed this year.” 45-year-old chief engineer Danila is a lecturer in the Department of Architecture of St. Petersburg University.
The average life expectancy of Russians in this era is actually less than 35 years old.
It’s amazing.
I have touted Russia's various tricks before. All farmers have begun to eat meat and wear leather shoes, workers work half of the year and rest half of the year, have the largest standing army in the world, and so on.
How come the average life expectancy is suddenly less than 35 years old?
Can’t you get used to the good life and can’t figure it out?
Actually it's not.
Russia is not the best country of its time, but it is by no means the worst.
Russian farmers during this period could eat meat, but there were also Cossacks who lived in poverty, and homeless people with no fixed abodes. The economic development was extremely uneven.
Not only Russia in the 19th century, but also the United Kingdom in the 19th century, the level of economic development was extremely uneven, leading to the Great Irish Famine, which led to a quarter of the Irish people starving to death. This was only 20 or 30 years ago. The thing is, isn’t Britain an empire on which the sun never sets?
Russia is rich in resources.
But at the same time, the environment in Russia is very harsh, and the medical level is also seriously backward. Every winter in St. Petersburg, there are countless people who freeze to death due to drunkenness in the wild.
How can the average life expectancy be increased?
So in Russia, a 45-year-old university lecturer is extremely rare.
Although Danila is only a lecturer, everyone who knows Danila knows that he was qualified to participate in the professor selection 10 years ago, but for some reasons, he has always been in the position of lecturer. It’s been a waste of time so far.
Vladivostok was a meritocracy, so Danila was appointed chief construction engineer, responsible for construction work in the entire Amur region.
"Then let the workers go home and rest early. We will wait until next spring." George did not rush the construction deadline. Winter construction is too dangerous and difficult. The ground is as frozen as steel, and there is only a white spot when hit with a pickaxe. Why don't you just take a vacation?
“Some work can still be done, such as worker training.” Danila did not want to waste half a year. Although the railway cannot be repaired, there is still a lot that can be done.
After the railway is repaired, it still needs staff to operate and maintain it. Among other things, train drivers always need to be trained.
Speaking of train driver——
This was George’s dream career in his previous life.
Think about it, you can sit in a locomotive and see all the great places, without spending a penny, and still make money.
The key is to work for three days and take three days off, and you can retire early. The benefits are simply too numerous to mention.
Although railway repairing is not a high-end job, it is still a technical job, and the efficiency of skilled workers is always much better than that of novices.
"This part has to wait. Only by joining the Russians can you be eligible for our training." George didn't want to train Koreans.
The Koreans employed in Vladivostok were hired through the Korean government, so these Koreans could not become Russian citizens. Even if they died of exhaustion and illness, their bodies had to be sent back to Korea for burial.
So if Danila wanted to train workers, they could only be Cossacks or new immigrants.
"If we are going to start building the Trans-Siberian Railway, we will need more workers, so it is necessary to train them in advance." Danila did not want to train these Koreans, after all, among them Most of them can’t even understand Russian.
But the Cossacks and new immigrants have either already entered the factory or are working on the farm, and they are not willing to work as road construction workers.
The job of building railways is too dangerous. In June this year, nearly a hundred people were injured or killed due to a blasting error. Therefore, Mikhail paid a large sum of money to the Korean government.
When railway workers are repairing the railway, they need to be protected by Fu Tuan soldiers, otherwise they may be attacked by wild animals in the wild at any time.
Even the protection of soldiers cannot ensure safety. Almost every month, road construction workers acting alone are killed by wild animals.
So now the road construction workers have learned to be smart, even if they go to the toilet, they must go together.
"Danila, this is not a problem you should be concerned about." George laughed. As long as the Trans-Siberian Railway starts construction, there is no need to worry.
The construction period of the Trans-Siberian Railway is expected to be more than 10 years.
To put it bluntly, even George is not sure how many of these road construction workers will survive until the Trans-Siberian Railway is opened.
When Americans built the Pacific Railway, they claimed that there was a corpse of a Chinese worker under every sleeper.
The environment in Siberia is harsher than the mountainous areas in the United States, the construction period is longer, and the scale is larger.
When the Trans-Siberian Railway is completed, George will be able to accept it as long as there are not two bodies buried under one sleeper.
(End of this chapter)