Chapter 295 It’s all the fault of the Japanese
When the British army was struggling on the Malay Peninsula, it was snowing in Vladivostok.
The news about rising prices in the "Vladivostok Daily News" caught George's attention.
George vaguely remembered that in 1888, the prices of goods were low and stable, and they had not changed much in more than ten years.
Price in Vladivostok is also very stable. Taking beef as an example, the price of one pood has been around 1.1 rubles for several years.
1 pood is equal to 40 Russian pounds, which is approximately 16.38 kilograms.
Based on beef, the price of white sugar is ten times that of beef, rye is twice cheaper than beef, and the price of vegetables is about the same as beef.
Whether prices are stable is related to the happiness index of Vladivostok residents, George asked Anna directly.
“Every year when winter comes, prices will rise to a certain extent, which is normal.”
Anna is still Ekaterina’s housekeeper, and she is also responsible for the procurement of Yuriev Palace. Anna is in charge.
The price increase that Anna mentioned does not have much impact on the lives of ordinary people, because ordinary families will stock up on supplies needed for winter before the arrival of winter and try to reduce the frequency of going out in winter.
It has no impact on Yuriev Palace.
According to usual practice, the materials needed by Yuriev Palace are provided by the Imperial Palace, or purchased through special channels, and will not be affected by market prices.
It is precisely because of this that George is even more worried.
With the development of the economy, there are more and more industrial workers in Vladivostok. The families composed of these industrial workers, especially the dual-income families, do not have the conditions to store materials, so their lives will be affected by price fluctuations. Serious impact.
Prices in Vladivostok in winter are about twice as high as in summer.
These are just basic living supplies.
If it is a commodity from tropical areas, such as fruits, the price is more affected by the season.
George asked Anna to read the newspaper. After reading it, Anna thought the newspaper editor was alarmist.
George didn’t think so and took the initiative to find Milyutin.
Milyutin secretly told George: The Russian Empire has no money!
The Russian Empire has undergone a complete transformation in recent years, building the Trans-Siberian Railway, and spending huge sums of money to nationalize private railways. What little wealth has been saved in the past ten years after the 10th Russo-Turkish War , was finally spent completely.
After Asan fell ill, Nicholas supervised the country.
Nicholas's character is a bit over-achieving, and his ears are soft and he cannot listen to flattery.
Some time ago, the Imperial Council reviewed the financial plan for 1893. With a stroke of his pen, Nicholas decided to rebuild more than 30 warships, including 6 new armored cruisers, at a total cost of 15 million rubles.
George should be very happy about this news, because two of the armored cruisers were built for the Siberian Fleet, and one of them was named "Yuriev".
Since the formation of the Siberian Fleet, it has never accepted armored ships, and there are even very few new ships. They were all eliminated by the Baltic Fleet and the Black Sea Fleet, and it was the Siberian Fleet’s turn.
George is really not happy, because St. Petersburg issued 110 million rubles of government bonds on the pretext of building warships, which became the main reason for the rise in prices this winter.
There is nothing wrong with building warships.
But building a warship for 15 million rubles and issuing bonds for 110 million rubles is completely different from Amur's issuance of bonds for the Trans-Siberian Railway.
"Who can blame this? You complain every day that the empire does not pay enough attention to Amur, reminding the empire to pay attention to the threat of Japan. Now that the empire pays attention to it, you are not happy!"
What Milyugin really means is, what are you doing? So difficult to take care of.
George had nothing to say. It took me a long time to figure out that I was the culprit of rising prices.
“At least His Highness did not use military funds to repair the garden. Thank God!”
Milyutin was amazed by the Qing Empire.
Even the Russian Empire was wary of Japan, but the Qing Empire was indifferent. No wonder the great powers like the Qing Dynasty so much.
What George can do is remind Mikhail to ensure the supply of supplies in the market. As long as there are sufficient supplies, even if prices fluctuate, it will not cause public resentment.
The problem of workers is actually easy to solve, because most of the workers eat in the collective canteen, the children eat in school, and there is no fire at home. It doesn’t make much sense whether to stock up on supplies or not.
Compared with neighboring countries, the situation in Vladivostok is the best.
Needless to say, the Qing Empire had no people on the other side of the Amur River, so there was no reference at all.
The price of goods in Goryeo has always been unstable. In the past, it was sucked by Japan, but now it is sucked by Amur. Goryeo has become accustomed to it.
Japan's military expenditure accounts for more than 35% of Japan's government expenditure -
The latest data is already 40%.
Japan grabs rice every winter, and the situation this winter should be more serious.
Vladivostok consumes a lot of supplies, but the sources of supplies are also very rich. Not only can they be allocated from Europe, but they can also be imported in large quantities. At least there is no problem in the supply of basic living supplies.
To put it bluntly, when there were no bananas in the past, carrots could also be eaten as fruits, and they were even more nutritious.
However, in the right way, it is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but it is difficult to go from luxury to frugality.
I am used to eating bananas, but I don’t really want to eat carrots.
Mikhail has also thought of many ways to ensure the supply of materials. The large farm is Mikhail's confidence.
Potatoes are still grown on farms in Vladivostok, but potatoes are becoming less and less important in the dietary structure of Vladivostok people, and poultry and livestock account for an increasing proportion.
After the scale of family breeding, it plays an increasingly important role. Who would want to eat potatoes if there are eggs? The supply of pork is increasing, the price is cheaper than beef, and it is more popular in the market.
There are also cheaper aquatic products in the Vladivostok market. The price of dried salted fish is almost the same as that of rye.
Prices in Vladivostok only rose regularly, and newspapers began to complain.
The price of food in Goryeo has skyrocketed, but the Goryeo government has not taken any action.
Many years ago, a man named Cui Jiyu in Goryeo founded an organization called "Dongxue". Based on folk beliefs, it absorbed the essence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism to fight against the invasion of Christianity.
In 1864, Cui Jiyu was executed, and the activities of the Eastern School went underground.
Before winter, the Tonghak sect asked the Goryeo government to lift restrictions on Tungxue, but the Goryeo government refused.
So George received news that the Eastern School was brewing new political ideas and demanded that Goryeo expel all foreigners except the Qing Dynasty.
Since it is all foreigners, then Russians are naturally among those to be eliminated.
After George learned the news, his first reaction was not to be impressed by how capable the Koreans were in causing trouble, but to suspect that there was Japanese involvement in the matter.
This is not George’s prejudice.
In East Asia, no matter what happens, you can find the reason for not running away from the Japanese.
(End of this chapter)