Chapter 560 Balkan Aftereffects
The day after the banquet, Georgi set off for Marmara, the home port of the Mediterranean Fleet.
George had to stay in St. Petersburg because of Joffre's unexpected visit.
A celebration like the 300th anniversary of the founding of the Romanov dynasty does not require Joffre to be present to congratulate. This is a stage for diplomats.
Since the end of the Rivne exercise last year, Xiafei has basically had no contact with George. On the contrary, Fuxi has been in frequent contact with George.
Just half a month ago, Foch proposed to George that he hope that George could invite French troops to participate in this year's Rivne exercise.
George called back to Foch. If the French army wanted to participate in the Rivne exercise, it would need to apply to the Russian Empire through formal channels.
Whether to invite the French army to participate is a matter of George's words, but Germany's attitude needs to be considered. George does not want to overly stimulate the Germans.
Jiafei's visit was due to the negotiations on the arms race held by Britain and Germany a week ago.
The arms race is intensifying, placing an increasingly heavy financial burden on Britain and Germany.
Insightful people in Britain and Germany have gradually realized that if the arms race continues, it will eventually end in war, which will undoubtedly be a disaster for Britain and Germany.
So since last year, the British Navy and the German Navy have been in frequent contact, trying to end the arms race in a peaceful way.
Germany's arms race was mainly aimed at Britain.
Once the arms race stops, Germany will shift its main focus from the navy to the army, which puts Joffre under a lot of pressure.
So Joffre's purpose in coming to George was very clear, to find a way to destroy the connection between Britain and Germany, and to continue the arms race no matter what.
Jia Fei probably felt that once Germany turned, the Russian Empire would be under the same pressure as France, so Jia Fei believed that the Russian Empire should take immediate action to put appropriate pressure on Germany.
George was speechless.
George is the Minister of the Navy, and Joffre hopes that the Russian Empire will actively join the arms race and force Germany to build more battleships.
Speaking of battleships.
France decided to build the "Gourba" class battleship in 1911, and revised the plan the following year to build a total of four ships.
These four battleships are under construction and are expected to be commissioned before the end of next year.
George was curious.
France, which has always prided itself on its strength, has just begun to build the first-class full-heavy artillery battleship. Is this unbearable?
France built the "Guba" not because of Germany, but because of Italy.
In January this year, Italy's first all-heavy artillery battleship "Dante Allegli" was officially commissioned.
There are also three "Count of Cavour" class battleships under construction on the slipway in Italy.
"Russia already has 7 all-heavy artillery battleships in service, and 4 more are under construction. We have done everything we can, but you should take action immediately, even if you can't continue the navy If France wants to strengthen its army and air force, it must increase its procurement efforts from the Russian Empire.
After the Rivne exercise ended last year, France began to contact the Russian Empire to negotiate the purchase of army tanks and air force bombers.
The French are very thieves and hope to introduce technology from the Russian Empire and produce it in France.
George can transfer technology, but requires France to purchase armored fighting vehicles and bombers worth 100 million rubles from the Russian Empire before discussing technology transfer.
“The situation in Paris is different from that in St. Petersburg. Every franc we spend must be reviewed by the budget committee.”
Joffre actually cried to George about poverty. France is a creditor of the Russian Empire— —
After the Russo-Japanese War, France took the initiative to borrow money from the Russian Empire and increased its investment in the Russian Empire.
In the past five years, more than one-third of the foreign investment in the Russian Empire came from France.
George now finally understood why the Russian Empire chose to stay far away.
It’s really short-handed.
"We are the same, the Duma members are all stingy and mean Grandet——"
George and Joffre had the same position on this issue and complained about Congress together.
Xia Fei’s expression is a bit ugly.
Grandet is French.
"You should persuade Congress to use the money from foreign investment in armament construction. It is better to build warships than pay compensation."
George took the initiative to give Xiafei advice.
“Our investments are all in Russia——”
Xia Fei gave George a big look. He had never seen someone so sacrificial for himself and others.
George just hehe.
The Russian Empire has no shortage of investment.
Now is no longer the era when the Russian Empire's loans to the Qing Empire had to attract the French to invest together. Even without the French consortium, there was the Bank of Siberia and the Yusupov family. France invested in the Russian Empire. For a little money, the Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg drink less champagne every year and organize less salons, and that's all.
The three main countries investing in Russia are France, the United States, and the United Kingdom.
Germany, originally the largest trading partner of the Russian Empire, has invested less and less in the Russian Empire in recent years.
This also stems from Stolypin's agricultural reforms. After Stolypin's reforms, Russian agriculture has become stronger and stronger. Last year, the Russian Empire had a bumper agricultural harvest. The grain output was one-third more than that of Argentina, the United States and Canada combined. More than half of the world's horses are in the Russian Empire.
The Russian Empire exported half of the world's total grain exports.
The exported eggs also account for 50% of the world's eggs.
In order to prevent the impact of Russian agricultural products on German agriculture, Germany stopped importing pork from the Russian Empire last year.
Since his Berlin cousin was so disrespectful, Nikola responded by stopping the import of industrial products from Germany.
As one goes, Germany's influence on the Russian economy will naturally become smaller and smaller.
When Xiafei mentioned foreign investment, he probably wanted to remind George not to anger France, a big financial backer.
George didn't take it to heart at all. France was an uncle before investing. How much profit can be obtained after the investment, or even whether it can be obtained, depends on Russia's face.
For the Russian Empire and France, it is the boss who owes money.
After all, France now relies on the Russian Empire.
Xia Fei came all the way, and George, as the owner, must express his gratitude.
So George held a reception banquet for Joffre at the Navy Building.
What makes Xiafei even more gratified is that this time the champagne is finally filled with crystal basins instead of military iron barrels.
It is really a basin. Such a large crystal is very rare, but it is made into a basin.
Xiafei felt that the Russian princes were completely hopeless.
George has not invited Joffre to visit the Amber Palace yet.
The Amber Palace was built by the Germans.
In 1701, King Friedrich I of Prussia started building the Amber Palace in the Berlin Palace, which took ten years to complete.
Although the "Amber Palace" covers an area of only 55 square meters, the building materials used are all made of amber, which was 12 times more expensive than gold at the time.
The "Amber Palace" is also decorated with diamonds, gems, gold and silver foil, with a total weight of more than 6 tons, and is known as the "Eighth Wonder of the World".
In 1716, Peter the Great visited Berlin and was full of praise for the Amber Palace.
The then King of Prussia, Frederick William I, gave the "Amber Palace" as a gift to Peter the Great. From then on, the Amber Palace became a national treasure of the Russian Empire and was placed in the Catherine Palace in St. Petersburg.
So the French say that Russians are extravagant, simply because they are not knowledgeable enough.
No one of the current European royal families, even if they are small countries and few people, is not extravagant.
On the Russian Empire side, in addition to George, there were also little Nicholas and Nicholas' brother-in-law Alexander.
Alexander’s current position is Deputy Commander of the Air Force.
Kirill, who was repeatedly disliked by George, was finally recruited into the Admiralty by Nicholas and served as deputy commander of the Baltic Fleet.
This is a sinecure, the kind where you only get a salary and do no work.
Alexander is still quite active. He is currently in charge of the training of the Air Force and receives training with the pilots.
Speaking of which, George, the Minister of Air Force, actually cannot fly a plane, which once again proves the corruption of the Russian royal family.
Compared with before, the safety of aircraft has been greatly improved. Last autumn, Captain Dzitkov of Amur flew a transport plane from Vladivostok to St. Petersburg, setting a record for the Russian Air Force.
George originally planned to take advantage of the situation and open a fixed route between Vladivostok and St. Petersburg.
Unfortunately, when Zitkov was returning, the plane crashed due to a sudden snowstorm, and the safety of the plane was once again questioned.
George has nothing to say. When promoting new things, you will always encounter various difficulties, but as long as you continue to work hard, difficulties will only make people stronger.
Joffre tried to persuade little Nicholas at the reception.
Little Nicholas was very dissatisfied with the conservativeness of the French Army.
After the Franco-Prussian War, France built a defense line along the German-French border to resist German invasion.
France’s current military thinking is based on this line of defense, hoping that Germany will retreat despite difficulties.
Where can Germany retreat?
Russian Empire!
George did not remind Xiafei that Germany already had the "Schlieffen Plan" against the French defense line.
Even if George reminds them, the French will probably not formulate an attack plan, but will include the French-Belgian border in the defense line.
Nicholas the Younger stimulated Joffre with Alsace and Lorraine. These two regions originally belonged to France and were ceded to Germany after the Franco-Prussian War.
"Alsace and Lorraine, we will get them back sooner or later."
Xiafei was in a bad mood. In his opinion, these generals of the Russian Empire were in a state of intoxication, and the prospect of the Franco-Russian alliance was worrying.
Halfway through the reception, George received a telegram from Vasily that a conflict broke out between the Koryo servant army stationed in the Kingdom of Bulgaria and the Greek army.
George knew that there would be a war in the Balkans sooner or later, but he did not expect that the conflict would come so quickly and so early.
What pleased George was that the Goryeo servant army was more capable than the Greek army and did not suffer any losses in the conflict.
(End of this chapter)