Chapter 326 Learn from it
George doesn’t care, Mikhail dreams of developing the land on the south bank of the Amur River.
The same goes for Germany. William II dreamed of turning the Jiaodong Peninsula into a German overseas colony.
So any attack against the Qing Empire will attract strong attention from all countries.
Describe the Qing Empire as a big cake. If Japan eats one more bite, the Russian Empire and Germany will have to eat less.
For the same reason, if the Russian Empire wanted to launch a war against the Qing Empire, it would also arouse the vigilance of other countries.
To put it bluntly, all countries regard the Qing Empire as their own private territory. Even if they cannot annex the Qing Empire for the time being, they will not allow other countries to annex the Qing Empire.
This is the fundamental reason why the Qing Empire can still maintain its rule.
The origin of this matter can be traced back to the Qing-French War.
The results of the Qing-France War showed that even if you cannot win on the battlefield, you can still get the desired results through blackmail at the negotiation table.
The Qing-Japanese War was raging, but the internal disputes about this war within the Qing Empire were growing.
George is sometimes curious. The enemy has already attacked the door. Shouldn't he repel the enemy first and then discuss other issues?
The Qing Empire did not.
In addition to the Westernization faction headed by Li Zhangtong, there was also the Qing faction headed by Emperor Shi Weng Tonghe within the Qing Empire.
After the outbreak of the Qing-Japanese War, Mu Linde, who had deep connections with the Qing Dynasty’s Westernizationists, provided George with information that the Qing-Japanese War might be the Qing Empire’s attempt to weaken the Westernizationists with the help of Japan. strength.
This is just Mu Linde's personal judgment. It's hard to say what the truth is.
Mu Linde’s basis is that since the Qing-Japanese War broke out, the Qing Empire’s troops fighting against Japan were all from the direct Huai Army under Li Zhangtong’s command. Reinforcements from various parts of the Qing Empire have been slow to move, which means This led to the nominal Qing-Japanese War, but in reality it was the Huai-Japanese War.
It’s hard to say about reinforcements.
The transportation within the Qing Empire was backward. After the Qing-Japanese War broke out, the reinforcements mobilized from Sichuan and Shu have not yet set off. It is estimated that it will take at least a year to reach the battlefield.
The Sichuan-Shu region is too far from Liaodong, so it is understandable that it will take a long time.
But when the Japanese army besieged Liugong Island, the Qing troops in various parts of the Jiaodong Peninsula showed no signs of reinforcements, causing Liugong Island to become an isolated island. This is difficult to explain.
George ignored the internal strife in the Qing Empire. On the day after Nicholas's wedding, Prince Albert held a dinner at the British Legation in St. Petersburg, and George accompanied Nicholas there.
Prince Akihito is also here.
After Otsu was assassinated, Nicholas hated the Japanese deeply, so Prince Akihito was smart and did not take the initiative to get close to Nicholas.
Nicola did not let the Japanese go, saying that the British government had made a very smart investment.
"Your Majesty, this is not the theme of our banquet today."
Crown Prince Albert did not want to bring up this topic.
"Does London know now about the massacre of civilians by the Japanese army in the Qing Empire?"
George disagrees. If you don't want to mention it, just don't mention it. This is St. Petersburg.
Albert’s face was ashen and he said nothing.
"Or does London want to turn the Qing Empire into a British colony?"
George continued to be angry.
The results of the Qing-France War proved that the Qing Empire was now a big fat piece of meat with no ability to defend itself, and all countries wanted to take a bite.
George made this matter clear and immediately attracted everyone's attention.
“No such thing!”
Albert had to respond.
"Then prove it with actions."
George's attitude is very clear. Japan can taste the meat, but if it wants to take the meat away, don't even think about it.
As the biggest threat to Britain, George certainly cannot let the British get what they want.
This battle for Japan is actually very difficult.
Japan's domestic conflicts have become very acute. Since the outbreak of the war, Japan's domestic conflicts have become more acute and prices have skyrocketed. If this situation continues, Japan will soon have to stop its offensive.
So George reminded the Qing Empire through Mu Linde that they must hold on and resolutely not surrender.
In order to support the Qing Empire in its fight against Japan, George was even willing to provide loans to the Qing Empire in exchange for money and guns.
The news sent back by Mu Linde was not optimistic.
According to Mu Linde's inference, the Qing Empire hoped to weaken the strength of the Westernizationists through war.
Now that this goal has been achieved, the Qing Empire does not want to fight at all, but only wants to seek peace.
The so-called "mediation" of the British allowed the Qing Empire to recognize the true face of the British. So in early November, the Qing Empire went to the American Minister to China, Tian Bei, hoping that Tian Bei would intervene to mediate.
Tian Bei was indeed willing to mediate, but the Japanese had not yet achieved the goal of completely wiping out the Beiyang Navy, so they refused to negotiate on the pretext that the negotiators sent by the Qing Empire did not have enough authority.
George was very helpless and wanted to send Cossacks to help the Qing Empire fight the war.
But this is impossible, because the Qing Empire would worry that it would be easy to invite gods but difficult to send them away.
Compared with the Russian Empire, which repeatedly used blackmail to cause great harm to the Qing Empire, the Qing Empire was still more willing to deal with the Japanese who had never eaten any good pork.
George doesn’t talk nonsense to the Japanese either.
Didn’t the Japanese blockade Weihaiwei, preventing any ships from entering or leaving?
George did not believe in evil, so a Korean transport ship flying the flag of Yuriev's family emblem was sunk by a Japanese warship when it forcibly broke into the war zone.
George is not in a hurry, he will write down this account first.
George wanted to wait until the war was over before settling accounts with the Japanese.
I didn’t expect Nicholas to be more anxious than George.
"What are you going to do?"
Nicholas is going to watch a good show.
“What else can we do to make the Japanese lose money——”
George remembers this battle. "That's not worth much -"
Nicholas was disappointed.
“Well, the ship is worthless, but there are still 10 tons of gold on the ship——”
George didn’t dare to ask for more, 10 tons of gold is about 13 million rubles.
“Pfft——”
Nicola sprayed champagne all over the floor, and his eyes were dull when he looked at George.
“Where did you get so much gold?”
Nicola knew that it would not be difficult for George to come up with 10 tons of gold.
The Republic of Transvaal has been doing business with Amur for the past two years, and almost this much gold is used to pay for goods every year.
But having 10 tons of gold is one thing.
Whether there is actually gold on board is another matter.
The ship is currently at the bottom of the sea. With current technology, it is impossible to fish it out.
George has the final say on what is on it.
“You are too cruel!”
Nicholas felt that George was going to miscalculate this time.
Let's put it this way, the warships built by Japan's Soso are not necessarily worth 13 million rubles.
If the Russian Navy can spend 13 million rubles now, it can start construction of two latest battleships immediately.
"Just wait and see, after a while you will feel that I am missing more."
George knows how big the appetite of the Japanese is.
Now no one knows how big the appetite of the Japanese is, nor how much money the Qing Empire can squeeze out.
After the Qing-France War, the Qing Empire compensated France with 50 million francs, which is approximately equivalent to 18.8 million rubles.
In 1881, the Qing Empire and the Russian Empire signed a treaty, indemnifying the Russian Empire of 9 million rubles.
These are basically within the understandable range.
In the Sino-Japanese Sino-Japanese War, the Qing Empire compensated Japan with 200 million taels of silver.
Two hundred million!
George could imagine how red the eyes of the great powers would be after this number was exposed.
Don’t even talk about Japan.
For the Russian Empire, this is also extremely wealthy.
Before George came to this huge wealth, news came from Amur. As soon as Governor Ignaev took office, he couldn't wait to propose the implementation of a local council system in Amur.
George really didn't expect that this old man could be so capable.
Ignaev was initially attacked by public opinion because of his proposal to reopen local councils, and was forced to resign as Minister of the Interior.
It has been 10 years since this happened.
George never expected that Ignaev had not given up yet.
Maybe Ignaev felt that Nikolai and Yasan were different, so the matter took a turn for the better.
Nicholas didn't know much about the local council, so he brought the matter to the Imperial Council for discussion.
"Someone may have forgotten how much influence the local council system had on the empire, so this is absolutely impossible."
Pobedonosce, who just returned from Amur My husband firmly opposed it.
When Pobedonostsev was in Amur, he was very satisfied with the power structure of Amur. He once called the stability of the Amur region a model for the empire.
Ignaev has also made progress. He does not propose the full implementation of the local council system, but hopes to use Amur as a pilot. If the local council system is successful in Amur, it will be implemented nationwide.
"Past experience shows that this matter must be done with caution."
Current Interior Minister Durnovo also disagrees.
“The local council system is the source of trouble!”
General Shelevan, who only knows the police system, also has no good impressions of the local council system.
"George, what do you think?"
What Nicholas valued most was George's opinion.
“We must first understand that although we all know the shortcomings of the local council system, the voice for the local council system within the empire is getting louder and louder.”
George knows that reopening The local council system represented the interests of all classes within the empire.
This matter actually has nothing to do with the common people.
But it has a greater relationship with the gentry and the emerging bourgeoisie.
To put it simply, in addition to the ruling class within the Russian Empire, other classes also very much hope to have a normal channel to express their interests.
"So what, the call may not be correct."
Pobedonostsev was not sure what George meant.
Through Amur, Pobedonostsev knew that George was against the local council system.
“Yes, but what cannot be ignored is that parliament is an effective way to transfer social conflicts.”
George suggested that the imperial ministers take a look at how the British government deceived the British.
The current constitutional monarchy in the UK allows the British royal family to maintain a detached status. As long as there is any problem, the first person to be pushed out is the prime minister.
In the Russian Empire, it was usually the Tsar who took the blame.
(End of this chapter)