I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 341 Blooming everywhere

George learned of the tragedy before a celebratory ball held by the French Embassy for Nicholas.

After the tragedy, Nikolai's first reaction was to stop the celebrations and go to the church to pray for the victims.

Empress Dowager Maria advised Nicholas not to do this.

Vladimir and Sergei also believe that the celebrations should not be affected, as this is related to the dignity of the royal family.

George reminded Nicholas that even if the celebration is not cancelled, compensation must be provided to the families of the victims in a timely manner.

Nicholas decided to pay a pension of 1000 rubles to each victim's family, and went to the French Embassy that night to attend a celebratory ball held by the French Ambassador to Russia, the Marquis de Montebello.

The ball was not open to the public. The only people invited were senior officials and diplomatic officials from various countries stationed in St. Petersburg. No one discussed this matter at the ball.

In fact, at this time, the impact of this incident was not great, and the celebrations in Cordan Square were not affected.

However, the next day, some situations related to the French Embassy Ball began to circulate in Moscow. Some people claimed that Nicholas and the Empress were "particularly energetic when dancing, indifferent to the tragedy that had just happened, and felt at ease."

George had communicated with Witte about railway bridges. All the bridges on the Amur side were iron bridges, but the St. Petersburg side was still a wooden bridge without any improvement.

Vladimir, Alexei, Paul, Nicholas the Younger and other grand dukes claimed that if Sergey was punished, they would resign from all positions.

After the tragedy occurred, the relevant investigation had actually begun.

Nikolai did not want to punish Sergei.

On June 6, Nicholas held a banquet in the Kremlin to thank guests from various countries who came to the ceremony.

Public opinion has not subsided. Many people pointed the finger at Queen Alex, thinking that she was a "disaster". "Wherever she goes, disaster will follow."

On the 9th, when Nicholas was driving to the German Embassy to attend Prince Ladolin's banquet, someone shouted on the roadside: "Don't go to the ball, go to the funeral, and find the murderer!"

On the 7th, it was at Vladimir’s house.

George didn't know what Nicholas thought.

These things did not affect Nikolai's mood. On the 15th, Nikolai took the "Polaris" to visit Britain, France, and Germany, and George also left to return to Amur.

Due to the persistence of the Empress Dowager and Sergei, a series of subsequent celebrations were not affected.

On the 5th, Sergey’s house held a large reception.

George reminded Danilov to be more vigilant and to investigate these rumors and find out who was behind it.

Instead of taking a boat this time, George traveled by train along the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Since the coronation ceremony was held in Moscow, there is no doubt that the person most responsible for the accident is Sergei.

To be honest, when George learned about this situation, George was quite moved.

The 6th is a reception at the British Embassy in Moscow.

Nikolai finally chose to make peace and did not punish Sergey in any way. He only punished a few insignificant officials to cope with public opinion.

Danilov had no time to worry about anything else. His elites were all in Poland, suppressing the Polish uprising.

As for the efficiency of St. Petersburg, George really had nothing to say. The railway on the Amur side was almost built to reach Lake Baikal, while the railway on the St. Petersburg side had only been built to Altai, and the project progress was seriously lagging behind.

In terms of line selection, St. Petersburg can also save as much as possible and reduce the amount of work as much as possible. In order to accommodate the terrain, many places have to make sharp turns. This is fine in the short term, but it will cause serious consequences for future railway speed increases. Influence.

George no longer has any extravagant hopes. As long as the railway is still under construction, even if it only builds one kilometer a day, it will be opened to traffic one day.

The good news is that with the extension of the railway, some sporadic villages have appeared along the line. It is hoped that more and more people will settle in Siberia in the future and participate in the development of Siberia.

With the railway, the speed is really fast. It used to take at least half a year to travel between Vladivostok and St. Petersburg, but now it only takes 3 months.

George received the sad news in Chita that the Foreign Minister, Prince Lobanov Rostovsky, had died suddenly due to illness.

While in St. Petersburg, George also participated in negotiations with the Qing Empire with Lobanov. At that time, there was no abnormality in Lobanov's body.

Lobanov's death did not affect the development of the Eastern Railway.

When the Georges were still in St. Petersburg, Mikhail couldn't wait to send people to explore along the Middle East Railway, and formulated a grand cross plan from Vladivostok to Chita, and Khabarovsk to Dalini.

The intersection of these two railway lines is Ice City.

Mikhail was ambitious and made Ice City the center of Amur's southern expansion. He planned to build Ice City into the second Vladivostok according to Vladivostok's drawings.

This plan was opposed by Alberman, general manager of the Far East Branch of Dowson Bank.

Elbermann, like Rotstein, the general manager of Dowson Bank, was a German-Hebrew.

Although the China Eastern Railway was confirmed to be constructed by the China Eastern Railway Company, the management of the China Eastern Railway belonged to Dowson Bank, and Alberman refused the China Eastern Railway Company's involvement in Ice City.

Mikhail was very angry, had a big quarrel with Elberman, and broke up.

George is not angry. Witte and Li Zhangtong determined that the construction of the China-Eastern Railway will start within 12 months after the agreement is reached, and the entire project will be completed within 6 years.

There are still some details about the China-Eastern Railway that have not been completed and require further discussion. For example, there is huge controversy over whether to use Qing-style narrow gauge or Russian-style broad gauge.

The railway between Khabarovsk and Dalini has not yet been built. It is too early to build an ice city now.

There is also some controversy over the cost of the China Eastern Railway.

Referring to the cost of the Trans-Siberian Railway, Witte and Li Zhangtong ruled that the cost of the Eastern Railway was 6000 million rubles.

But when it came time to pay, Daosheng Bank began to refer to Amur's cost and was unwilling to pay according to the standard of 6000 million rubles.

"If we don't pay, we won't start work. It's that simple."

George was not in a hurry, it was the Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg who were anxious now.

After the signing of the "Qing-Russia Mutual Assistance Treaty to Defend Enemies", the whole city of St. Petersburg was excited. Some people compared the "Qing-Russia Mutual Assistance Treaty to Defend Enemies" with the "Aihui Treaty", which placed the entire northeastern region of the Qing Empire under the sphere of influence of the Russian Empire. .

This is actually true. Once the Middle East Railway is completed, the entire area north of the Middle East Railway will become the sphere of influence of the Russian Empire.

Although Li Zhangtong and Witte agreed that only the land along the Middle East Railway was eligible for Russian development.

But this clause was obviously ignored, and the Grand Dukes of St. Petersburg would certainly not be bound by the treaty. When George was still in St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg had established a large number of companies related to Kanto, preparing to participate in the development of the Kanto region.

St. Petersburg has now begun to use "Kandong Prefecture" to refer to the northeastern region of the Qing Empire.

The Ministry of Interior of the Russian Empire directly applied the immigration policy of the Russian Empire to develop Siberia to the areas along the Middle Eastern Railway. If any Russians are willing to immigrate to the areas along the Eastern Railway, each person can be granted 100 acres of land.

100 dessiatines is equivalent to 1635 acres.

The news reached Vladivostok, and within just one day, more than 2000 people signed up to immigrate to areas along the China-Eastern Railway.

The people of Vladivostok were also Russians and could also enjoy the imperial immigration policy.

Only some early immigrants in Amur obtained land. Now immigrants in Amur cannot obtain land. If they want to get land, they have to go to Central Siberia.

George didn't stop him, he just went to open up wasteland if he wanted to. One person had more than a thousand acres of land, even if he had agricultural machinery, he would be exhausted if he wanted to develop it.

On August 8, Anne successfully gave birth to a baby boy, whom Ekaterina named Alexander.

Nicholas immediately sent a telegram to George to express his congratulations. He, Alex, and the eldest princess Olga, who had just turned one year old, were still traveling in France.

Olga is in good health, but will not escape the shadow of hemophilia unless Alex gives birth to a healthy baby boy.

But this possibility is very small.

There was no threat of hemophilia on George's side, and the three children were all healthy. After Alexander was born, Ekaterina took Alexander to her side, staying with Alexandra and Boris, giving George and Anne allowed plenty of personal space.

Although Anne felt relaxed without her children around, she also had problems with her mother-in-law.

Seeing what Yekaterina meant, she wished that Anne would have one child a year, preferably twins.

George and Anne were in agreement on the matter.

Jiang Xi has reminded George and Anne that frequent childbirth will have a great impact on Anne's health. Anne must rest for at least two years before considering pregnancy.

George didn't care, three children were enough, and the task of spreading the branches of the Yuriev family would be left to Boris and Alexander in the future.

"When Alexandra and Boris are older, we'll have to take them over and we can raise them ourselves."

Anne did not want Catherine to work too hard.

Ekaterina really had nothing to say about her child. She changed diapers 24 hours a day without any help. She wanted to be with her child every second and never let her child out of her sight.

Now Anne is even beginning to worry that Ekaterina's doting on her children will affect her future education.

"It's so close. If you want to see your children, you can go there. It's not like you're not allowed to see them."

George did not think that Ekaterina was doting on her children.

Ekaterina was very strict with George and the others when they were young.

But this is not certain, after all, there is still a relative from another generation.

"That's still different."

Anne didn't want to miss out on the joy and fulfillment of motherhood.

Raising children is like living life. They grow up accidentally. The cutest years are only in the few years when they are young. When they are older and have their own thoughts, all kinds of problems will come one after another. When one of them is not good, the number will be useless.

With Catherine and Anne around, George was not worried about his children's education, but he was a little worried about the Vladivostok Parliament.

Like St. Petersburg, after Amur implemented the local self-government parliamentary system, various factions sprouted up overnight, and George attached great importance to this area.

(End of this chapter)