I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 185 It’s useless to tell you
  Ferdinand was related to Queen Victoria and was currently serving in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Joseph I was his uncle, the King of Portugal was his uncle, his godfather was the Emperor of Mexico, and his mother was a French princess. Her status was extremely prominent.

Because of this, Ferdinand was opposed by the Russian Empire.

The Bulgarian Parliament did not like him either. Clemont asked Milyutin if George could not be made the Grand Duke of Bulgaria, then he could ask King Carol I of Romania to also serve as the Grand Duke of Bulgaria.

George was stunned by Clemont's bold proposal.

By letting Carol I serve as the Grand Duke of Bulgaria, wouldn't Clementine be worried about Bulgaria being annexed by Romania?

Milyutin was still very rational. He did not agree to this request and told Clemont that there was no rush for the candidate for the Grand Duke and that he could take his time to find one.

George is anxious, winter is coming, and as usual, George wants to go to Vladivostok this year.

Unfortunately there is no reason.

Last winter, because of the tense relations between Russia and Britain, George urgently led a section of the Oak Regiment to Vladivostok for reinforcements.

This year, thanks to the joint mediation of Germany and the United States, the controversy over Jumun Island has basically subsided. After the Siberian Fleet stated that it had no intention of building a military port on Jeju Island, the United Kingdom stated that it would gradually evacuate Jumun Island next year.

Now that the conflict between Britain and Russia has basically eased, George seems to have lost his reason to return to Vladivostok this winter.

Things took a turn for the better at the end of September, when the Tsar sent a delegation to Vladivostok to inspect the construction of the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk to prepare for the start of the Trans-Siberian Railway next year.

As the lord of Vladivostok, George should accompany the inspection team.

Yes, after more than ten years of debate, the Tsar finally made up his mind to start building the Trans-Siberian Railway.

What prompted the tsar to make up his mind was the seemingly settled Juwen Island incident.

In the Jumun Island incident, Britain relied on its powerful Royal Navy to force the Siberian Fleet to abandon the Jeju Island it had already acquired. This made the Tsar very dissatisfied. For the Russian Empire, what Britain did was similar to humiliation.

If there is the Trans-Siberian Railway, Russia can quickly increase its troops to Vladivostok from the European region without being restricted by the Suez Canal.

This was the real reason why the Tsar was determined to build the railway.

From this perspective, George would also like to thank the British for their actions.

Otherwise, I don’t know how long it will take for the Trans-Siberian Railway to be completed.

To George's surprise, the leader of the inspection delegation was actually Witte, the former general manager of the South Western Railway Company.

Witte is no longer working for the South Western Railway Company, but is working in the Imperial Ministry of Transport as deputy director of the Railway Department.

George didn't like Werther and couldn't help but make fun of him after seeing Werther.

"Don't you dislike the low salary of government officials? Why did you accept this position?"

George remembered that Werther worked at the South-West Railway Company and his annual salary was tens of thousands of rubles.

"The Empire is nationalizing the private railways. If I don't accept this position, I will lose my job——"

Werther acted very smart and answered George's questions honestly.

This is also about George.

The year before last, George had suggested that the empire nationalize the railways. How could such an important means of transportation be in private hands?
  Asia San has also begun to pay attention to this issue in the past two years. With the development of the Russian economy, high transportation costs have placed an increasingly heavy burden on the Russian government and Russian enterprises. So starting from the beginning of this year, the empire began to take over the railways. State-owned.

Witt used to work in a private company, and George had no control over it.

From now on, George will be in charge. If George is offended, George can destroy Werther's job at any time.

"Hahahaha, you know, I still like your unruly look before."

George started playing tricks again.

It's a pity that Werther doesn't understand.

It doesn’t matter if he doesn’t understand, as long as George is happy.

Also shipped in Odessa were two sets of steelmaking equipment, one produced by the Ural Machinery Plant and the other dismantled from the Obukhov Steel Plant.

If the entire Trans-Siberian Railway starts construction, the output of the Vladivostok Steel Plant will not be enough to meet demand, and production must be increased.

This summer, the supply of rails was so tight that Mikhail had to urgently order a batch of rails from the United States so that the project would not stop.

Vladivostok's steel production is now only 1.5 tons. Even if all of it is used to produce rails, it will not be able to meet the needs of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

In order to shorten the railway construction time as much as possible and open it to traffic as soon as possible, construction must start from Vladivostok and Chelyabinsk at the same time, so increasing production is a top priority.

There are currently two steel-making furnaces in operation in Vladivostok, and four more steel-making furnaces are under construction and are expected to be completed before the end of the year.

In addition to these two sets of machines, two sets of machines ordered from the United States have arrived in Vladivostok this summer.

Before next spring, machines ordered from France and Germany will also be shipped.

Under the most optimistic scenario, Vladivostok's steel production can be increased to at least 10 tons per year within three years.

George is quite satisfied with this speed.

Werther was not satisfied, but shocked.

In 1886, the steel output of the entire empire was only 65 tons.

The key point is that this output is theoretical output and has never been reached in actual production. Last year, the total steel output in the Russian Empire was only 50 tons.

If the steel production in Vladivostok exceeds 100,000 tons, it will also be a huge improvement to the industrial capacity of the Russian Empire.

Then the problem arises. George spent his days urging the Tsar and Nicholas to nationalize the railways, nationalize the arsenals, nationalize the land illegally occupied by the Grand Dukes, etc. Anyway, everything in the Russian Empire belonged to the Tsar.

But in Vladivostok, George didn't care about the good stuff and just poured it into his own bowl. This seemed to Werther to be too double-standard.

On the ship heading to Vladivostok, Witte tentatively proposed to George whether the railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk could also be managed by the imperial railway department.

"Okay, I don't want much. As long as 50,000 per kilometer, I will hand over the railway to the national treasury."

George really didn't ask for much. Fifty thousand rubles was the cost calculated by the empire after repeated calculations. It really couldn't be lower.

As for how much money George spent on himself?
  That's not important. Even if George doesn't spend a penny, it's George's own ability.

If the empire wants to build a railway, it costs 50,000 rubles per kilometer.

This money may not be enough.

"Didn't you say in St. Petersburg that one kilometer only costs 2 rubles?"

Witt was firm in his stance and when he was working in the private sector, he cared wholeheartedly for his boss.

As an official in a state department, the tsar was his boss.

"You heard it wrong!"

George's current character is that of a savage.

"Duke, do you have any way to save some costs for the empire?"

Werther has not yet entered the state and does not look like an official.

"Yes, I can tell you the method, do you dare to use it?"

George's words were spoken in front of the Tsar and the royal ministers.

But why did the final cost calculation still cost 50,000 rubles per kilometer?
  Unable to understand this, Wei specifically said that as finance minister, he, the deputy director, could not serve for more than a few days.

The ship picked up Catherine in Cyprus and headed east along the Suez Canal.

"Business is not very good this year. There is actually no money left in the account——"

The appearance of Catherine Versailles is almost the same as that of George.

There is indeed not much money left this year, less than 1000 million.

But how much did you spend this year?
  The railway between Vladivostok and Khabarovsk alone cost 1000 million rubles.

It's not finished yet. It will cost at least 200 million until it is completed.

The construction of Yuriev also cost about 500 million. This is just the beginning. It is estimated that this amount will be spent every year in the next ten years.

The construction of Vladivostok is also devouring a large amount of George's funds. Vladivostok University alone spent a small amount of 100,000 this year, which is just the cost of laying the foundation.

There is not even a middle school in Vladivostok now, and even if a university is built, there will be no students.

Mozajsky estimated that just like the periodic table of elements, it would take ten years in Vladivostok to see the establishment of Vladivostok University.

This was not a problem for Mozajsky.

This summer, Mozhaisky has brought his family to Vladivostok and is preparing to settle in Vladivostok.

Almost all the experts and professors who arrived in Vladivostok at the same time as Mozajsky made the same choice.

Although Vladivostok is not as prosperous as St. Petersburg now.

But anyone who has seen the panoramic view of the Vladivostok City Hall Building will be moved by George's ideals.

George could never meet someone, so he just described his dream to the other person.

So George asked Mikhail to build a panoramic sand table in the Vladivostok City Government Building. If he wanted to know what Vladivostok would look like in the future, just go and see the sand table.

The sand table is indeed more direct and more vivid than verbal description.

There is definitely no military port in the sandbox, but the fort is reserved as a landscape.

Not only does Vladivostok have one sight every ten steps, the density of parks and green spaces has also reached an astonishing level.

In particular, the University Town of Vladivostok, which covers an area of ​​more than 20 square kilometers, allows people to fully feel George's ideals and ambitions.

The current St. Petersburg University does not have 65 square meters.

20 square kilometers is million square meters.

The size of the area doesn't matter, Siberia is a big place, and Vladivostok is George's fiefdom, so the circle can be as large as it wants.

The key university city is built on the beautiful Peter the Great Bay, and its location is unique, which is very rare.

As we all know, places with beautiful scenery are usually rich areas.

George did not leave the most beautiful places in Vladivostok to the rich, but to the school. This decision touched almost everyone. Many people even took the initiative to write letters to their relatives and friends, inviting them to visit Vladivostok.

Of course, all expenses were reimbursed by Vladivostok officials.

(End of this chapter)