Chapter 690: Take it
Since the outbreak of the world war, boomerangs have come one after another, making people dizzy.
Under the banner of the "Fourteen Points" and determined to subvert the order through the League of Nations, Wilson was played like a monkey by Lloyd George and Clemenceau.
Clémenceau, who is known as the most democratic, quickly settled the controversy in the Russian way. Wilson only took 10 minutes to complete the work that Wilson had not completed for a whole month.
Clemenceau did not discuss it, did not give anyone a chance to speak, and voted by a show of hands as soon as it came up, which was a complete mess.
The League of Nations was successfully established. Wilson seemed to have won the game, but in fact he messed up and ceded the right to speak to Clemenceau.
Clemenceau, who was born in 1841, is 78 years old. His time is more precious than everyone else and cannot be wasted on boring nonsense.
Clemenceau divided the participating countries into four levels. The first level is Britain, France, Russia, the United States, and Italy. They have the right to participate in all meetings.
The second level is the partially belligerent countries. Bulgaria and Romania belong to this level. They can only participate in meetings that discuss issues related to them.
The third category is countries that have severed ties with the Allies, such as Peru and Bolivia. They can only send representatives to attend the conference if the issues discussed directly involve these countries.
The fourth category is neutral countries and countries that are about to become independent. They can only participate in relevant meetings by invitation.
Referring to the establishment process of the League of Nations, Clemenceau reduced the scope. Britain, France, Russia, the United States, and Italy each sent two representatives to form the Supreme Council (the Big Ten) to deal with various issues. , come up with solutions first, and then submit them to the League of Nations Assembly for a vote.
So the League of Nations was reduced to a voting machine that could only raise hands.
George was not surprised at all by this situation. Panzi is just a placebo for the weak. The essence of this world is that the weak eat the strong.
The situation in the State Duma is similar to that of the League of Nations. If the purpose of Disai is thoroughly implemented, then there will be nothing to do and no work can be advanced.
With the end of the world war, Russia began to disarm.
Russia’s current army has a total of 3.2 million people, including 1.4 million Kohri Corps.
The Gaori Corps was easy to handle and was reorganized into an engineering corps on the spot, continuing to contribute to Russia's construction.
The Russian army only retains 600,000 people, 50,000 air force, 150,000 navy, and 400,000 army.
This was not the result of the Duma discussions, but George's decision.
If the question of how many troops should be retained was left to the Duma for discussion, no result would be reached within ten years of discussion.
George held a meeting with Navy Commander Peter, Army Commander Brusinov, and the newly appointed Air Force Commander Ruziski, and it took only an hour to come up with a disarmament plan.
As weapons and equipment become more and more technologically advanced, the size of the army is of little significance. George focuses his main energy on cultivating a team of officers.
The officer team includes professional officers and technical non-commissioned officers, which are the core of the army and have no service period.
The enlistment age for soldiers is 18 years old, the service period is 2 years, and they have to stay in the reserve for 10 years after retirement.
As soon as the plan came out, many people's positions immediately became unfirm.
In the past few months, there have been overwhelming calls from Constantinople for George to ascend the throne, and the enthusiasm of the Duma members has been particularly high.
In the Nicholas era, as long as Duma members were elected, they would automatically enter the aristocracy and begin to enjoy privileges.
This is the fundamental reason why the Duma members want George to ascend the throne.
Duma deputies demanded not only benefits, but also power.
George's "arbitrariness" immediately aroused opposition from some Duma members.
George is very cool.
Since the Duma members demanded power, George handed over the salary standards of officers and soldiers to the Duma for discussion.
As the Speaker, Igor proposed to directly transplant Amul’s salary system.
This proposal was opposed by most MPs.
As we all know, Amur's military personnel are well treated, with the standard being twice the minimum wage in Amur.
The minimum wage standard is to allow a working Amur to live with dignity.
Dignity means being able to rent a house, afford food, and being able to hang out with relatives and friends and watch movies every now and then.
The reason for the parliamentarians' objection is that Amur has strong economic strength and has private subsidies from Grand Duke Yuriev, so it is no problem to provide such high welfare benefits.
Amur had only four divisions at first.
According to the standards set by George, Russia's 600,000 people spend more than 400 million rubles on salary alone every year.
This does not include other expenses.
If all is taken into account, it will be at least 1 billion rubles per year.
Is Russia’s security worth 1 billion rubles?
This question is a matter of personal opinion and wisdom.
The reason why many lawmakers object is that since the same effect can be achieved by spending 500 million, why spend 1 billion.
For a week in a row, the Duma did not discuss the results, and George's patience was exhausted.
Actually, 1 billion rubles is not much.
Russia’s annual tax revenue from vodka is about 2 billion.
This 2 billion is not only enough to support the army, but also an education system.
George not only wants to improve the welfare benefits of military personnel, but also wants to extend Amur’s minimum wage guarantee system to all Russia.
Due to the severe devaluation of the ruble during the world war, the current minimum wage in Amur is 360 rubles with reference to the currency value of the new ruble.
Before the provisional government was overthrown, many workers in St. Petersburg still received a salary of 120 rubles per year, which was about the same as 20 years ago.
So the overthrow of the provisional government was not unjust at all. Seeking benevolence and gaining benevolence is the right thing to do.
The Duma also discussed the minimum wage guarantee system.
The result was as George expected, it still failed.
Except for the military representatives in the Duma, most of them are bourgeois representatives, and they are certainly unwilling to increase spending.
Even though the original intention of these expenditures is to protect their own interests.
So don’t believe in the so-called long-term vision of the elite. As long as self-interest is involved, everyone can only see as far as the tip of their nose.
George called a meeting with Werther and Igor to determine the responsibilities of the Duma. It would be a mistake to let the Duma discuss the minimum wage.
The role of the Duma should be to discuss whether a minimum wage should be fixed.
What the standard is should be determined by the government led by Witte.
This way the problem can be easily solved.
Should a wage protection system be established?
That certainly should be the case, there's no denying it.
It will be easier once we get to Werther.
There are too many people in the Duma. Even if people want to criticize, they can't find the specific person responsible.
Witt is the first person in charge. If the minimum standards are too low, Witt will become the target of public criticism.
“I am not the first person in charge, Kerensky is——”
Werther was afraid of being scolded, so he plucked himself clean.
"Kensky died yesterday in St. Petersburg due to a cold."
George succeeded in making Werther dumbfounded. The donkey died before the grinding was finished.
Witt had no time to grieve for Kerensky, because he felt that he too was like a donkey spinning around a millstone.
“Shel, if you don’t want to be scolded, set higher standards.”
Igor smiled, feeling relieved that nothing had happened.
"It's easy for you to say that! Setting relatively high standards will offend another group of people."
Witt was furious, and the old man was not afraid of losing his teeth when he said sarcastic remarks.
"What should I do? As long as I do something, I will definitely be scolded——"
Igor spread his hands, it was not easy to level the bowl of water.
"It's so difficult to just go from making money lying down to making money standing up?"
George also knows that some people have hard-to-satisfy desires.
Since it can’t be filled in evenly, then don’t fill it in.
During the Nicholas era, George suggested to Nicholas countless times that the living security for Russians, especially workers, should be improved.
Nicholas also tried to do this, but failed every time because of too much resistance.
George knows how Russia historically solved this problem.
During the World War, Russia's domestic industrial production was severely damaged, and now it is just like a blank piece of paper waiting for development.
George approached Felix and Guchkov and asked them to sell the steel plant under their name to the Russian government.
Guchkov agreed quickly because he knew that if he did not agree, he would end up like Kerensky.
Felix hopes to form a joint venture and retain a portion of the shares for the Yusupov family.
George has no objection in principle.
But if they want to retain part of their shares, the Yusupov family has to share part of the reconstruction costs.
“You should think carefully. Retaining shares means taking on corresponding responsibilities, and it is impossible to make a profit in a short period of time.”
The short period George refers to is at least “ten years.” is the span.
There are many workers in the steel factory.
After the minimum wage guarantee system is established, the profitability of the steel plant will drop to a level that is unbearable for the Yusupov family.
"George, the Yusupov family is also part of Russia."
Felix's level is much higher than George imagined, and he is worthy of being the man favored by Yusupova.
Then do it like this.
Not only the Yusupov family's steel factory needs to be renovated, but also the textile mills, flour mills, oil fields and even the manor owned by the Yusupov family must be completely renovated.
Werther offered an olive branch to Felix at the right time, hoping that Felix would serve as Minister of Industry.
Felix happily agreed.
George was curious.
In the Nicholas era, both Stolypin and Werther invited Felix to join the cabinet many times, but Felix never agreed.
Felix doesn’t explain.
If Nicholas was still Tsar, Felix would never leave the country in his life.
With Felix's leadership, Russia's reconstruction has finally entered the fast lane.
Witt's character is a bit soft and not suitable for charging into battle.
Felix took drastic measures and wanted to nationalize all Russian heavy industries from the very beginning.
There is no need to emphasize the role of steel in industrial production. Without enough steel, revitalizing industry is empty talk.
Felix went to George and asked him to nationalize the steel factory owned by the Yuriev family.
“Since you tricked me, I can’t let you go!”
Felix and George want to hurt each other.
“I gave you the opportunity to leave your name in Russian history, why did I trick you?”
George disagreed with Felix’s statement. Isn’t it just a steel factory? go!
(End of this chapter)