I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 337 Foreign Orders
Emperor Gaozong and Concubine Min did not dare to offend George, and they also did not dare to offend Alexeyev.

In the eyes of Emperor Gaozong and Concubine Min, Alexeyev and George were both high-ranking officials of the Russian Empire, and both had the ability to decide the life and death of Goryeo. They only had a few railway cannons, and they were given to them. Anyway, the Goryeo government was not needed. To pay, you can get a loan from the Siberian Bank.

The unit price of a train gun produced by the Vladivostok Arsenal is 32 rubles.

This price includes trains, which is approximately equivalent to 2000 rubles per ton.

To be honest, the price is a bit expensive.

Today's battleships cost almost 1000 rubles per ton. The train guns in Vladivostok are twice as expensive as those on battleships. I don't want to buy them.

If Gaozong and Concubine Min were allowed to choose, they would definitely not buy it.

But the choice is not with them, they don’t even have the right to bargain, and it’s not even their turn to decide how much to buy.

Alexeyev decided to build the railway himself, so there were a total of 10 train guns including the railway. Alexeyev's budget was 1000 million rubles.

The Russian Empire built the Trans-Siberian Railway at a cost of only 5 rubles per kilometer.

George has no control over how much it will cost to build the railway in Busan.

Can’t the same model be transplanted to Goryeo?
The Siberian fleet wanted a cruiser, but they couldn't find a temple with a pig's head, and now they finally found a ready-made victim.

George was naturally more satisfied.

The three train guns currently in service in Vladivostok all have some problems. The best gun is always the next one.

One of the light cruisers from the Vladivostok Shipyard only costs 500 million rubles, and 1500 million rubles can buy three of them.

Of these 1000 million rubles, after deducting the 320 million used to buy artillery, the remaining 680 million can be used to build 136 kilometers based on the cost of the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Think about the "Petopavlovsk" that cost 800 million rubles and has not yet been built. It is all a piece of cake.

George only hopes that the final cost of the "Petopavlovsk" will not exceed 1200 million. Otherwise, from an economic point of view, it is better to buy it directly from abroad.

What George never expected was that Alexeyev not only refused to take action, but also continued to work hard because he had tasted the sweetness.

Although the total budget required a total of 1000 million, when Goryeo went to the Bank of Siberia for a loan, a total of 1500 million was borrowed.

After selling 10 train guns in one go, George even wanted to give Alexeyev a medal weighing one ton, even gold.

After George learned about this situation, he could only sigh that these people really knew how to play.

Battleships are too expensive to buy.

The warships of the Aceh Sultanate are managed by the Amur River Fleet.

But George was not qualified to laugh at Gao Li.

In Gaozong's view, in order to strengthen Busan's defense, Vladivostok actually sent its active train guns to Busan as a priority. This cannot be described as friendship, and even brothers can't do it.

After receiving the order from the Siberian Fleet, Vladivostok conveniently sent all three existing train guns to Busan, and Mikhail also received a wave of gratitude from Emperor Gaozong.

Japan next to Goryeo is about to form a fleet of six and six. In order to protect its own safety, Goryeo would not go too far by forming a fleet.

Because Japan has not paid compensation, more than 20 Japanese merchant ships have been seized by the Aceh Sultanate, and the port of Coconut City can hardly stop.

George didn't know why Busan needed such a long railway. Anyway, the railway built specifically for train guns in Vladivostok did not exceed 30 kilometers in total length.

After all, one ton of gold only costs 77 rubles.

George doesn’t care, as long as you dare to buy, I dare to sell.

The pressure on Gaozong and Concubine Min became increasing.

Not all Koreans wanted to be attached to the Russian Empire.

In other words, not all Koreans can endure the unrestrained oppression of the Russian Empire.

Although Amur was also squeezed, it was much better than the Qing Empire and Japan, and it was acceptable to the Koreans.

Alexeyev went too far. He actually demanded 10 million from Goryeo for a mere 1500 train guns. When the news spread back to Goryeo, it caused a stir.

Now Alexeyev has bought another cruiser, and not just one, but three at a time. If this news gets back to Korea, public dissatisfaction might boil over.

George also had to consider the feelings of the Korean people, so the Bank of Siberia rejected Korea's loan application.

In recent years, Goryeo has borrowed money from the Bank of Siberia many times due to military expansion and domestic construction.

The loan to buy a train gun was secured by the income of Korean laborers, and the Bank of Siberia agreed to lend.

In other words, Goryeo now has nothing to mortgage.

Alexeyev was very angry. Couldn't the bank lend money without a pledge?
So Alexeyev came to George again.

"Isn't it a good thing for Korea to buy a cruiser?"

Alexeyev didn't understand very much. What's wrong, you can only eat meat, and I can't even drink soup?

Alexeyev did not go to the UK to buy a cruiser, but purchased it from the Vladivostok Shipyard. The Vladivostok Shipyard still made the majority of the profit.

Alexeyev's role as a handler must also be beneficial.

Apart from anything else, if this deal can be completed, the kickback from the Vladivostok Shipyard alone will be enough to make Alexeyev rich.

George was worried about fishing in dry waters.

Goryeo's human resources are very important to Amur. Alexeyev is an exiled official. Even if Goryeo is full of chaos, Alexeyev will not care.

But George had to care.

"Of course it's a good thing——"

George agreed.

"Then why doesn't Siberian Bank lend money?"

Alexeyev knew about George's relationship with the Bank of Siberia.

"I believe that Siberian Bank must have their reasons."

George did not interfere in the running of the Bank of Siberia.

Alexeyev was very angry and went back to Gaozong again.

Concubine Min went to Yuriev Palace to cry.

After going back and forth, George finally became impatient.

Since you are so good at doing things, then go and do things in the Qing Empire.

One of the conditions for the loan from the Russian Empire to the Qing Empire was that the Qing Empire would lease the Liaodong Peninsula to the Russian Empire as a military port for the Siberian Fleet.

That's why Alexeyev worked so hard just to make a profit before leaving.

If George doesn't tangle with Alexeyev, he still has debts to collect.

The Japanese did not have much more backbone than the Koreans. They persisted for less than a month before agreeing to George's request to compensate Amur for its losses in the Sino-Japanese War.

Although 3500 million rubles was not much compared to the compensation paid to Japan by the Qing Empire, this amount of money still made the hearts of all Japanese bleed.

If we say that Goryeo's treaty treaty was Russia's first humiliation to the Japanese.

Then after the intervention of the Three Kingdoms and the return of Liaoning and the indemnity with Amur, it is logical for Japan to continue to expand its military.

After the New Year, the Japanese Navy's Chief of Ship Administration Sasou Sasaka submitted the "10-Year Naval Development Plan" and officially launched the Sixty-Sixth Fleet Plan.

Alexeyev was finally satisfied. This time he did not have to ask anyone. St. Petersburg had to respond to Japan's Six-Six Fleet.

The content of the Sixty-sixth Fleet is: with six battleships and six armored cruisers as the core, the tonnage of the Japanese Navy's main battleships will reach 13 tons. Together with the auxiliary ships, the strength of the Japanese Navy will exceed that of other navies in the Far East. Sum.

The news reached St. Petersburg, and Nikolai and Alexey unanimously decided to quickly increase the strength of the Siberian Fleet to the extent that it could suppress the Japanese Navy.

This means that in the next few years, the number of main warships in the Siberian Fleet will quickly exceed that of the Japanese Navy.

This is also good news for the Vladivostok Shipyard, because many orders will quickly flow to the Vladivostok Shipyard.

The Vladivostok Shipyard received an inquiry from the Navy Ministry one week after Japan adopted the "10-Year Plan for Naval Development".

Since you are building a boat for yourself, the price will definitely be cheaper than selling it to Koreans and Acehnese.

George generously gave me a 10% discount.

Alexey was very dissatisfied and believed that the price given by the Vladivostok Shipyard was too expensive.

Compared with the price quoted by the St. Petersburg Shipyard, the Vladivostok Shipyard is indeed more expensive.

But George has his reasons.

The best armor currently available at the St. Petersburg shipyard is the Harvey armor.

The armor used by the Vladivostok Shipyard is nickel-chromium alloy steel, and its protective power is 30% higher than that of Harvey armor.

Due to the adoption of many new technologies, the rate of fire of the rapid-fire guns produced by the Vladivostok Arsenal is much higher than that of the artillery produced by the three major manufacturers. These artillery would not be sold at all before, and there was no place to buy them if they had money.

The power system used by the Vladivostok Shipyard is also more advanced than traditional steam engines, with greater horsepower and faster speeds.

With so many advantages added together, George can justify a 50% price increase, let alone a 10% discount.

What George didn't expect was that after Alexey learned the news, his first reaction was not to be happy, but to suspect that George was bragging.

Is alloy steel so easy to develop?
Are the artillery produced by the Vladivostok Arsenal more powerful than Krupp?

As for the power, there is no problem. The Vladivostok Shipyard and the British Parsons Marine Steam Turbine Company have not yet finished talking.

George didn't waste any time and shipped a piece of marine armor steel and a twin 203 artillery piece to St. Petersburg for Alexei to verify.

As for the negotiations with Parsons, they have actually come to an end. The two parties have reached an agreement on the technology transfer price, and only some details have yet to be determined.

Of course, George also made two preparations.

If Alexei does not want warships that apply a lot of new technologies, George can also organize production according to the standards of the Navy Ministry.

Under the same conditions, George is confident that he can complete production tasks faster.

Such a thing as "Petopavlovsk" will never happen in Vladivostok.

There are three ships of the same type as the "Petopavlovsk", all of which were started in 1892 and have not been launched for four years. George does not know what the St. Petersburg Shipyard is doing all day long. No wonder they cannot receive foreign orders.

(End of this chapter)