Chapter 349 The Consequences of Provoking the Cossacks
Vladivostok has quite a lot of experience in city construction. The three main cities of Amur, Vladivostok, Khabarovsk, and Yuriev, have all been deeply transformed and even built from scratch. .
The reconstruction of Dalini is similar to the original Vladivostok, almost equivalent to starting from scratch.
Unlike Vladivostok, Alexeyev hopes to transform Dalini into a fortress solely for military purposes and serve as the base camp of the Siberian Fleet.
Vladivostok is not a completely ice-free port. The outer port will still be frozen in winter, and ships must rely on icebreakers to clear the way.
Dalini is a real ice-free port. If it can be connected to Amur by railway, Kanto State will become a reality.
Alexeyev’s dilemma is that the Imperial Navy cannot provide enough funds, and the support for the Siberian Fleet is seriously insufficient.
So Alexeyev also needs a loan from the Bank of Siberia.
This time, the property of the Siberian Fleet was used as a mortgage.
Vladivostok and Temple Street were the former home ports of the Siberian Fleet. At least part of the ports were theoretically owned by the Siberian Fleet, and the Governor of Amur had no jurisdiction.
Now Alexeyev voluntarily gave up these rights and transferred all the naval ports in Vladivostok and Temple Street, as well as the concessions in Busan and Nagasaki to Amur in order to obtain loans from the Bank of Siberia.
George was very curious.
The Siberian Fleet does not belong to Alexeyev. The fleet, including its home port, is the property of the empire. Does Alexeyev have the right to make the decision?
Alexeyev did not talk nonsense and directly asked the St. Petersburg Navy Department to issue documents to Amur.
George's heart moved.
Everything else didn't matter, George was still very interested in the concession in Nagasaki.
In 1890, the Siberian Fleet renewed its contract with Nagasaki, extending the lease period of the concession to 1900.
After the Qing-Japanese War, the Japanese government repeatedly requested that the lease be terminated early and the Nagasaki Concession be taken back.
After the Siberian Fleet was stationed in Busan, it was no longer necessary to go to Nagasaki for the winter, and the role of the concession was no longer indispensable to the Siberian Fleet.
When Nicholas traveled to Japan, George went to the Nagasaki Concession, and his impression of the concession was not good.
Nagasaki has concessions from many countries, including Britain, France, the United States and Russia. Although the concession in the Russian Empire is in a better location, its situation is the worst, with almost nothing except the most basic facilities.
With the arrival of Vladivostok enterprises in recent years, the Russian concession has finally seen some improvement. Major enterprises have invested in Nagasaki, and the Bank of Siberia has also opened a branch in Nagasaki.
So even to protect the interests of Vladivostok enterprises, it is necessary for the Amur Military District to take over the Nagasaki Concession.
"The loan is OK, but the construction work of Dalini Fortress must be fully handled by Amur Construction Company, and the Siberian Fleet is not allowed to interfere."
George knows how greedy Alexeyev is , if Alexeyev is put in charge, it will be thankful that half of the funds can be allocated.
"How can this work?"
Alexeyev did not want to give up.
“It’s easy to leave without seeing him off!”
George doesn’t talk nonsense.
Building a fortress costs hundreds of millions, which even the Bank of Siberia cannot afford.
Although George did not know much about the process of the Russo-Japanese War, he knew the outcome of the Russo-Japanese War. If George did not prepare in advance, the Russian Empire's investment in Dalini would eventually become Japan's spoils of war.
The Far East now is different from the Far East before.
When Ya San granted Amur to George, the grand dukes of St. Petersburg were all waiting to see George's joke.
Not only was George not discouraged, but he also built Vladivostok into St. Petersburg of the East, allowing the Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg to truly realize the potential of the Far East.
With the extension of the Trans-Siberian Railway, the connection between the Far East and St. Petersburg is getting closer and closer. Petrov and Kotuno are just the beginning. More and more people will reach out to the Far East next.
No matter who comes, Amul must belong to George, and even Nicholas will not reach out to Amur.
South of the Amur River, everyone depends on their own abilities.
George can care less about Vorontsov.
Alexei's identity is the same as George's, and George is still his younger brother.
Then if the Queen Mother sends someone here, will George get enough support from Nicholas?
Impossible.
No matter how much my uncle kisses me, he cannot kiss my dear mother.
The Trans-Siberian Railway has not yet been opened to traffic, and those who come are Vorontsov and others, and the real powerful people are still waiting and watching.
George must plan ahead so that he can gain an advantage in future competition.
Alexeyev did not persist for long, and soon gave in, entrusting all the construction of Dalini Fortress to Amur Construction Company.
The first batch of initial funds for the construction of the fortress was paid by the St. Petersburg Admiralty, which was only 1 million rubles, which was far from enough.
George is not in a hurry, there are no drawings of the fortress yet, and the entire construction period is expected to take up to ten years.
Alekseev simply transferred the jurisdiction of the Nagasaki Concession to the Amur Military District.
After the Amur Military District took over, before George could send anyone to Nagasaki, the Japanese government stated that the way the Siberian Fleet transferred the Nagasaki lease to the Amur Military District violated the agreement between the Siberian Fleet and the Nagasaki region. According to the agreement, the Nagasaki District will take back the concession.
George laughed out of anger.
Give it a try!
On April 15, the troop transport "Victory" from the Amur Inland Fleet sailed into Nagasaki Port, and 150 Cossacks from the Vladivostok Cavalry Division entered the Russian concession in Nagasaki.
Kasav, the local president of the Vladivostok Chamber of Commerce in Nagasaki, warmly welcomed the arrival of the Cossacks and held a banquet for the leading officer Shemak at the chamber's headquarters that night.
"Thank God, you are finally here. You must teach these yellow monkeys a lesson."
Kasav is very dissatisfied with the local government of Nagasaki.
"A few days ago, more than a hundred Japanese samurai almost broke into the concession and had some conflicts with the Koreans we hired. Two of our people were injured. After calling the police, the Nagasaki local government actually did not give an announcement until the next day. The reply was extremely perfunctory, and there was no news after that.”
Best, the secretary of the Chamber of Commerce, is of French descent and has become a citizen of the Russian Empire.
“Didn’t you fight back?”
Shemak was surprised. Kasav was a standard Russian, and he was from a noble family. Best looks at Kasav.
Kassav's old face turned red: "The injured are Koreans, not us Russians -"
"Does the Siberian Fleet care about it?"
Shemak still doesn't know much about the Nagasaki Concession. situation.
"I said, the injured are the Koreans!"
Kasav emphasized again.
Xie Mark didn't ask any more questions. As a businessman, being friendly makes you rich.
That’s good, otherwise what would the Cossacks be doing?
Beside the Russian Concession is the British Concession, and on the other side is the French Concession. If you do not pass through the British Concession and the French Concession, there is only one way to enter the Russian Concession.
This road was heavily fortified by Shermark.
On the second day after arriving in Nagasaki, Schemaak led a group of Cossacks, accompanied by Nestor, on their first patrol.
The Russian Concession is only 3.7 square kilometers and has two main streets. One is Kaiser Avenue, where the offices of major companies in Vladivostok, the former Siberian Fleet headquarters and military sanatorium are located, and the other is an entertainment street that specifically provides services to the officers and soldiers of the Siberian Fleet.
There are not many Russians working and living in the Russian Concession. There are only more than 100 people in total. Most of them are employees from Korea and Japan. There are about 600 people in this part. The entire Russian Concession has a population of about 1,500 people.
Such a small number of people really cannot withstand the impact of the Japanese.
The key concession area is a mixed bag of dragons and snakes, with everyone there. Caesar Avenue is a little better. There are many Japanese ronin in the Entertainment Street with ball-topped robes and swords on their waists.
“Why are they able to carry weapons with them?”
Schemaak is not sure about Japanese habits.
"This is their tradition. They carry two knives with them, one for killing and one for suicide."
Nestor has been living in Japan for several years, and he has no doubts about this. The Japanese know better.
"From now on, any Japanese in the concession is not allowed to carry weapons."
Xie Mark eliminates any hidden dangers.
"That's impossible!"
Nestor thought that Shermark didn't understand the Japanese too well.
Semarak felt that Nestor did not understand the Cossacks too well.
This team of Cossacks led by Schemaak and their war horses are carefully selected. The Cossacks are all over 1.8 meters tall, and the war horses are carefully bred Russian military horses - Orlov Quick Step horse.
The average height of Japanese people nowadays is less than one and a half meters tall.
So in front of the tall Cossacks, the Japanese ronin was really just like a tramp.
Siemark kept his word, and immediately two Cossacks walked towards the street with their arms crossed, looking at the ronin with hatred.
"Get out! Get out of here, don't show up here!"
The Cossacks have a arrogant attitude and chase people away as soon as they come up.
“Jili Guala——”
Ronin doesn't understand Russian.
The Cossacks also couldn’t understand Japanese.
A chicken talks to a duck.
Fortunately, there was a Japanese translator accompanying me.
"General, they won't leave. They say this is Japan and it's us who should leave."
The translator could speak, and Shemak's military rank was only that of major.
“Can your saber be used only for cutting meat?”
Xie Mark was impatient.
Although it has entered the era of hot weapons, the saber is still the standard equipment of the Cossack cavalry.
Whoosh!
A Cossack cavalryman drew his saber, pointed at the ronin and shouted sharply.
“Get away or not!”
The ronin’s face turned pale, and the hand holding the handle of the knife was trembling.
The other Cossack did not draw his sword, but drove his horse directly towards Ronin.
Several ronin suddenly rolled and crawled, extremely embarrassed.
Snap!
The Cossack's riding crop struck the Ronin hard on the face.
Whoosh!
A ronin finally couldn't bear the humiliation and was forced to draw his sword.
The Cossacks present cheered and pulled out the rifles in their saddlebags.
"Wait, wait a minute -"
Nestor did not expect that the situation would intensify to such an extent.
Xie Mark had a cold face and didn’t say a word.
The Cossacks ignored Nestor at all and only obeyed the orders of their superiors.
Boom——
The gunfire finally rang out.
(End of this chapter)