Chapter 482 You can’t blame me
In St. Petersburg, Grand Duke Yuriev is just one of many grand princes. When people in St. Petersburg mention Grand Duke Yuriev, they are even a little secretive and do not want to talk more, as if they want to talk more. , it’s like the secret police will come to your door.
The "St. Petersburg people" here refer to the St. Petersburg nobles. Joao Lyon does not know the attitude of the St. Petersburg civilians towards Grand Duke Yuriev.
He, a Frenchman, does not need to know.
After arriving at George's territory, João Lyon realized why Cotunno repeatedly emphasized in the telegram: In the land of the Far East, it would be difficult to move forward without the cooperation of Grand Duke Yuriev.
Ice City, a city that only appeared because of the China Eastern Railway, should theoretically be dominated by Daosheng Bank or the China Eastern Railway Company.
But in fact, the headquarters of Daosheng Bank in the Far East is not in Bingcheng, and the China Eastern Railway Company has no say in Bingcheng. Cotuno even has to organize train schedules according to the needs of Amur Enterprises.
It won’t work otherwise.
In fact, the scale of Ice City in the early 20th century was not large. In another time and space, after the fall of the Russian Empire, a large number of Russians fled to Ice City and settled in Ice City, and the city gradually prospered.
After the Russo-Japanese War, with the withdrawal of the Russian troops from Kwantung, the Qing Empire sent personnel to take over, and Bingcheng was also within the handover range.
The administrative efficiency of the Qing Empire was even worse than that of the Russian Empire. It had been more than half a year since the Russo-Japanese War ended, and the officials who took over Bingcheng had not yet arrived, leaving a brief power vacuum in Bingcheng.
At this time, the China Eastern Railway Company should be temporarily taken over to maintain the normal operation of the city.
The China Eastern Railway Company is so poor that it is almost selling trains to make a living -
No, it is already so poor that it is selling trains to make a living. It really has no ability to maintain the operation of a city.
So during this period of time in Ice City, the Amur Enterprise Confederation, dominated by the Bank of Siberia, was in charge.
On the night that João Lyon and Rotstein arrived in Ice City, they did not check into a hotel directly operated by Daosheng Bank or China Eastern Railway Company. Instead, they stayed at the Siberia Hotel, a subsidiary of the Siberia Tourism Group.
Joao Lyon and Rotstein did not ask why. Since Cotunno made such an arrangement, he must have his reasons.
The hotel has complete facilities and all supporting facilities. Most of the service staff are young girls from Korea.
After a sumptuous French meal in the hotel's French restaurant, Joao Lyon and Rotstein returned to the room and talked about their trip to the Far East.
“There is something wrong with Cotuno, he should be primarily responsible for the plight of the Eastern Railway.”
Rotstein disliked Cotuno.
In other words, Rotstein dislikes all Russians.
Rotstein is a Hebrew.
Although the Russo-Japanese War has ended, the oil drain from the Russian Empire has intensified, with no sign of relief.
Not only did St. Petersburg fail to formulate effective measures to protect the Hebrews within the empire, it actually added fuel to the fire and blamed the selfishness of the Hebrews for the main responsibility for the empire's failure.
In Rotstein's view, it is the nature of businessmen to pursue profit and cannot be blamed.
This is not the first day that the Hebrews experienced national hardship. In times of peace, the Hebrews also lent money, bought low and sold high, passed off inferior goods and hoarded them.
Not only the Hebrews, but the Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg are also experiencing difficulties in making money.
Everyone is doing the same thing, so why should the Hebrews pay for the failure of the empire if it comes to light?
So the responsibility for what happened to the Hebrews in the Russian Empire lies entirely with the Russian Empire. The Hebrews just did what they should do and should not be blamed.
"The most important issue now is not to hold people accountable, but how to turn the China Eastern Railway from losses to profits."
Joao Lyon is quite sane.
Cotunno is definitely responsible, but it is not that easy to hold Cotuno accountable.
Of the 7 directors of Dowson Bank, 4 are Russians and only 3 are French.
So don’t talk about holding Cotunno accountable. Even if you just change a general manager, you need the approval of the board of directors.
For some well-known reasons, the heads of Dowson Bank and China Eastern Railway can only be Russians.
So substitution cannot fundamentally solve the problem.
Now Joao Lyon has to suspect that the borrowing from the Qing Empire was a big hole deliberately dug by the Russians from the beginning.
The five big and three careless Russians actually got the idea?
Joao Leone now knows that it is the most fatal thing for an honest person to deceive others.
"The Qing Empire, or the British, or the Americans, who cares!"
Rotstein hoped to let the Qing Empire disrupt the situation, otherwise the Eastern Railway would be a dead end.
“——If we want the China Eastern Railway to be profitable, we must muddy the waters and break the situation where one company is the only one.”
Joao Lyon frowned and thought hard.
Rotstein’s words sound reasonable.
But it’s not that easy to muddy the water.
Both ends of the Middle East Railway are blocked by Amur, and the South Manchuria Railway, the only passage southward, is now also controlled by Amur.
This is not only a dead end, but also a desperate situation.
George dominates the Far East, even if St. Petersburg remains silent.
Once the Daosheng Bank introduces British and American forces into northern Kanto, St. Petersburg's attitude will change. George was the Grand Duke of the Russian Empire.
If Daosheng Bank dares to cheat, Nicholas, who is furious, will kill Daosheng Bank.
So the cleverness of the Hebrews is just a little clever. It is fundamentally unworthy and they deserve to be squeezed out by the Russians.
"Kuantong already has a British treaty port. The Americans proposed an open door and want to disrupt the situation at every turn. The Germans must not want to see the Russians monopolizing Kantong——"
Luo Terstein clicked in a circle, seeming to have forgotten that France was still an ally of the Russian Empire.
The Russians have become so ruthless that they even cheat their own allies.
If the British and Germans dare to reach out to Kanto, they may be eaten alive by the Russians.
From the Boer War to the Hinchou War to the Russo-Japanese War, all countries in the world have recognized one fact: whoever strikes first will die!
The Boers received widespread support from European and American countries during the Boer War, and the sun never set. After the Boer War, they had to switch from strategic expansion to strategic contraction.
The Qing Empire declared war on the whole world in the Xinchou War, which ended with defeat and compensation.
The Russian Empire was also targeted by the whole world during the Russo-Japanese War, otherwise Japan would not have been able to obtain so many loans easily.
Moving forward, France also encountered opposition at home and abroad during the Qing-France War. Not only did it fail to win on the battlefield, but the cabinet was also forced to collapse.
If it doesn’t work this way, it won’t work that way either. To untie the bell, you must tie the bell.
Joao Lyon and Rotstein only stayed in the Ice City for one day, and set off for Vladivostok the next day.
Starting from Bingcheng, passing through Xuecheng, crossing Suifenhe, and entering the Russian Empire.
Although the Qing Empire had opened its borders, most of the immigrants were around Fengtian. Ice City had not yet been fully developed, and remote areas were still deserted.
Entering the territory of the Russian Empire, people gradually began to appear on both sides of the railway. Logs were piled up on the roadside waiting to be transported. There were large machines at work in the fields in the distance. João Leon knew that they were tractors produced by Amur. .
In just twenty years, Amur has gone from needing grain from St. Petersburg to supporting St. Petersburg. The promotion of large-scale agricultural machinery has played a major role.
Tractors, which are still rare in France, can be seen almost everywhere in Amur. Within 20 kilometers of the train, Joao Lyon saw no less than 10 tractors.
The train continues forward and meets the Siberian Railway at Ussuriysk (Twin Cities).
It was almost 600 kilometers from Ice City to Ussuriysk, and Joao Lyon and Rotstein saw few trains along the way.
The train stopped at Ussuriysk railway station for 3 hours.
In these 3 hours, at least 8 trains passed through Ussuriysk Railway Station, heading to Vladivostok and Khabarovsk respectively.
There is no train heading to Ice City.
The only ones driving from the Ice City were Joao Lyon and Rotstein.
"Damn, how long are we going to stay in this damned place?"
Rotstein seemed to be very uncomfortable since the train entered the Russian Empire.
"The capacity of the Siberian Railway is tight, and the Amur train has priority."
Cotunno is not surprised. He had previously suggested that Joao Lyon and Rotstein arrive in Ussuri After Moscow, transfer to the Russian Empire train to Vladivostok.
Joao Lyon disagreed and insisted on taking the train of the China Eastern Railway Company.
Just wait.
Three hours later, the train finally set off.
This time, without Cotuno's reminder, João Lyon and Rotstein noticed that the train was moving much faster than before.
This is not a mechanical problem. The locomotive has not been replaced. It is still the locomotive of the China Eastern Railway Company.
“The railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk was started earlier than the Siberian Railway, with higher standards and faster speed——”
Cotunno is already in the Cao camp and his heart is in the Han Dynasty. It would be a good idea to work in the Bank of Siberia.
At this time, the China Eastern Railway was a single line and could only travel in one direction.
The railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk is a double line, and its transport capacity is more than double that of the Middle East Railway.
The construction standards of railways are also different. When George was building this railway, he sent out engineers to blast mountains and build bridges when encountering water. They tried to ensure that the rails were as straight as possible, so that the speed would naturally increase.
The standards of the China Eastern Railway are the same as those of the Siberian Railway. Just make do with what you can, and try to reduce costs as much as possible. Naturally, the speed cannot be improved.
There's nothing we can do about it.
The Eastern Railway was built by Daosheng Bank, and the total cost was only 6 million rubles. It would be great if it can be repaired.
George paid for the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk, and there was no upper limit at all. After the Russian Empire decided to lay the Siberian Railway, George used the funds from the Siberian Railway to build the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk. Upgraded a level.
So purely in terms of standards, the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk can be said to be the highest quality railway in the Russian Empire.
Higher quality than the railway between St. Petersburg and Moscow.
(End of this chapter)