I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 38
  Although academicians have high status and good benefits, they are not like the princes who can work part-time here and there. Their income from positions and fiefdoms is huge, and their income is ultimately limited.

Academicians are also laymen, they also have to eat, drink, and have sex, have relatives to take care of, and friends to move around. Who doesn't love the shining silver ruble.

10 rubles is not a small number, it is just George's personal reward.

Once stable smokeless gunpowder is successfully developed, Yasan will also be rewarded.

This also means huge social and personal honors, both public and private, and the academicians have no reason to refuse.

George is not just talking nonsense. As long as someone is willing to take on this task, George will pay 10,000 rubles of research funds in advance. Regardless of success or failure, this fee does not need to be returned.

George did not even limit the number of tasks, let alone send someone to supervise the use of funds.

These conditions were so tempting that Alfred was a little tempted.

"George, can I participate?" Alfred also wanted to earn these ten thousand rubles.

George sneered and didn't answer, "Who are you? Don't you have some AC numbers in your heart?"

Alfred didn't just want to make ten thousand.

"Although I don't know how, I can find someone who can -" Alfred's eyes blinked wildly as if he had a convulsion.

How smart George was, he immediately understood what Alfred meant.

"Go on -" George was looking forward to seeing what kind of teeth this guy could spit out.

"I know some people in France are conducting research in this area. Their lives are very difficult. I will entrust this matter to them and only give them 5000 rubles. That's enough -" Alfred was so proud that he didn't even think about it. Talk about rewards.

Even the research funding is only half, and awards and other things have nothing to do with the French.

France's emphasis on talents is indeed far less than Russia's.

Russia's tradition of valuing talents dates back to the time of Peter the Great.

Russia before Peter the Great could be described as poor and weak. At that time, even Poland could press Russia to the ground and rub it.

After Peter the Great came to the throne, he made determined reforms, improved the welfare benefits for military personnel and scientific researchers, recruited a large number of high-quality talents from Europe, and made a qualitative leap in national strength. This is why Russia is today.

After the French Revolution, freedom was indeed free, but the entire country also became a mess.

Without the support of the state, the living environment of high-level talents in France is very bad. Even the professors of the French College have gone to the Hermitage to work as tutors, which is evident from the situation.

Before George could cooperate, a crutch suddenly flew over.

Alfred blurted out a classic Chinese curse, and the guy actually hid behind George.

George reacted quickly, held the crutch in his hand, and used the inertia to hit Alfred hard with the crutch.

"Ouch~~~" Alfred's scream was much worse than the sad Wangcai.

"Asshole! If the French succeed, do you think the French will tell you their research results honestly? What the hell, why are you not ashamed? You have no sense of shame at all -" the old academician cursed People came and talked incessantly, Alfred's eyebrows were drooping, and the bastard chanted sutras without listening.

With a smile on his face, George took the initiative to give the crutches back to the old academician.

Alfred glared at George with a horrified expression.

Good people are fooled by you!
  "Honorable——" The old academician looked at George as if he were a philanthropic boy.

"Just call me George. Don't be too angry. This guy has had brain problems since he was a child. He blinded this big man in vain-" George's words made Alfred furious. He wanted to refute but was afraid of being beaten, so he was unable to get angry.

"George, don't believe what this bastard says. Our Academy of Sciences has taken this job, and we don't need your reward -" The old academician took over the job, and the colors of the academicians next to him changed. You don’t want it, but we still want it.

That’s one hundred thousand! One hundred thousand! ! !

"Rewards must still be given, and efforts should be rewarded. The empire has never let down everyone who made a contribution-" George's words were not meant for the academicians, but for the tsar.

The academician was very satisfied with George's attitude. He patted George's hand and smiled happily: "You will also be rewarded."

The academicians were very kind. They did not form a team and get a start-up capital from George, as George imagined.

If he really wanted to do that, George would give him money, but his respect for the academicians would have to be lowered to a lower level.

The old academician took the lead and decided to set up a research team to jointly tackle the problem.

This is the mode that George is most familiar with.

On the way back to Gatchina Palace, Alfred was filled with resentment.

"What I meant was to help you save money and create a sense of crisis among the academicians. You idiot didn't understand my intention at all and hit me with a cane - if there is not one box, no, ten boxes of St. Louis, this matter is not over. ——”

That's the way it is with Russians, if one case of champagne can't fix anything, ten cases will do it.

"Don't even think about it. Do you know how much a bottle of St. Louis costs? Don't go too far -" George really didn't feel sorry for the money, but that things are rare and valuable.

If something is too easy to get, you won't cherish it.

St. Louis is like that.

The same goes for friendship.

Men's friendship is so strange. Some people feel like old friends at first sight, while others are enemies.

Although George and Alfred didn't know each other for a long time, it can be described as hitting it off at first sight, and they ran in both directions.

I don’t know how Alfred replied to Yasan. Yasan was quite satisfied with the current progress. He left the matter to George and then took his wife and children to Denmark for vacation.

Denmark is Maria's natal home, and every summer, Asan's family goes to Denmark for vacation.

Nicholas did not go. He was the crown prince and could not leave Russia at the same time as the Tsar. If anything happened to Yasan in Denmark, Nicholas would ascend the throne as quickly as possible.

A country cannot be without a master for a day.

Georgi was very sad. He did not want to go to Denmark and wanted to stay in St. Petersburg with Nikolai.

The day after Asan left St. Petersburg, Nicholas came to George's manor and invited George to live with Nicholas at Gatchina Palace.

"Stop joking, do you want me to be beheaded by your father?" George firmly refused. The palace was like a dragon's den and a tiger's den to him.

"Then I will move in with you." Nicholas' trust in George has reached the level of dependence.

"No, you still have to attend the state meeting -" George also refused. He did not want to turn his manor into Gatchina Palace.

After becoming the crown prince, Nicholas must attend state meetings and begin to contact government affairs.

Ya San went to Denmark for vacation, and Nicholas even had to preside over a state meeting. He was now equivalent to the prince superintendent of the country and the most noble person in the entire empire.

"Then you come with me, I will be bored by myself." Nicholas retreated again and again. If George refused again, Nicholas would be sad.

(End of this chapter)