I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 39 Doing Business with the Prince (Wish all brothers a happy double holiday)

When Ya'er was alive, George, as Ya'er's favorite prince, had never been exposed to the State Council. At that time, it was Alexander who attended the State Council with Ya'er.

Nicholas just wanted to have company so he wouldn't be too lonely.

But he never thought about the impact that George's participation in the state meeting would have.

Only the crown prince is eligible to attend state meetings with the tsar.

Nicholas is not married yet and does not even have an heir. Is he planning to pass the throne to George?

George broke the matter apart and crumbled it, and Nicholas finally fell silent.

It’s not easy to be a crown prince.

Seeing Nicholas looking sad, George must find a way to make Nicholas happy.

Although the Tsar went on vacation, he did not relax his education of Nicholas, so George's task became even heavier.

Every morning, George would go to Gatchina Palace early in the morning, drag Nikolay out of bed, and take Nikolay with him for morning exercises.

Nicola did not have the habit of morning exercise and was quite resistant to the sport of morning jogging. George promised to play with Nicola after the morning jog, and Nicola reluctantly got up from the bed.

Little did Nicola know that running was addictive.

Facing the morning glow, accompanied by the breeze and the crisp and sweet chirping of birds, breathing the fresh air with the smell of earth, grass and flowers, running freely in the sun, and feeling the positive feedback brought by the body, it does not take too long, you will Fall in love with this sport.

After his morning run, Nicola drinks an extra glass of milk and eats an extra egg for breakfast every day.

In the morning, Nikolai has to preside over the state meeting. This is the most painful moment of Nikolai's day.

He was said to be hosting, but in fact he was just attending. He couldn't understand it at all, and no one explained to him that when the imperial ministers discussed government affairs, they would not ask Nicholas for his opinion. Nicholas was like a statue in the conference room. , just a mascot.

Statues of gods are more important than Nicholas, because statues are the spiritual sustenance of Russians.

After finally waiting until the end of the State Council meeting, Nikolai could finally let himself go. The entire afternoon belonged to Nikolai himself.

That's not right. Nicholas's time is arranged by George. At most, George will make some adjustments according to Nicholas's requirements. He has to learn what he needs to learn and see what he needs to see.

"What does the Academy of Sciences do?" Nicholas actually didn't even know the Petersburg Academy of Sciences, and he was worse than George.

This cannot be blamed on Nikolay. The Tsar and Maria protected Nikolai very well. Nikolai spent most of his time in the Gatchina Palace before. It was only after Ya Er was assassinated that Nikolai gradually expanded his social circle.

George actually just learned about the existence of the Academy of Sciences.

In George's impression, Imperial Russia is decadent, outdated, feudal and ignorant, and all adjectives are related to barbarism and backwardness.

Before getting to know those academicians, George really didn’t know that Russia already had academicians in 1745.

1745 was the tenth year of Qianlong's reign in our Qing Dynasty.

"The Academy of Sciences is the highest scientific research institution in the empire. I have an investment in the Academy of Sciences. Do you want to count on your share?" If George wants to make a lot of money, it is best to bring the crown prince into business together.

Smokeless gunpowder is too important for George to keep it all by himself. If there are not enough important people involved, George may not even be able to save his capital.

The most important person in the empire was definitely the Tsar.

The next most important person is Nikolai.

The Tsar is a dragon and it would be foolish to go into business with him.

Nikolai is a young dragon, at least ten years away from being fully formed.

It’s enough to earn more than ten years, and it doesn’t matter if you give it all to Nicholas later. George will definitely have new sources of wealth by then.

"Okay -" The young dragon was so simple that he agreed without even asking what kind of business it was.     This is trust in George, and it is also self-confidence.

Who in Russia dares to deceive the crown prince?

As long as they can catch Nicholas's line, many people are willing to work in vain, but they can't find a temple with a pig's head.

George would never cheat on Nicholas.

Compared with Nikolai's trust, this thing is nothing.

The academicians are still very reliable. They are making rapid progress and have already begun experiments.

There is really not much mystery in scientific research. Most of the time it is boring repeated experiments.

Whether smokeless gunpowder is stable depends crucially on the ratio of stabilizers. There is no shortcut to this task, and we can only rely on a large number of experiments to find the best ratio.

The Academy of Sciences is full of scientific research dogs. The academicians only determine the direction. The students of the Academy of Sciences and the assistants of the academicians are responsible for the next work.

George was sensible, and even though he had the Tsar and Crown Prince as his backers, he was not empty-handed, and he pulled a whole cart full of gifts.

When they met for the first time, George noticed that several academicians were in poor health, so the gifts he gave them were supplements.

Frontline researchers also need to take supplements, and all George prepares for them are cigars and vodka.

St. Louis is prepared for academicians, one box per person.

What surprised George was that Nicholas ignored his investment and was very interested in St. Louis.

"Is this your investment?" The way Nicholas looked at St. Louis made George slightly disappointed. Your focus is wrong.

When you come to the Academy of Sciences, shouldn't you care about the health of the gray-haired academicians?

Even if the academicians don't have a few days to live, shouldn't they express condolences to the scientific research dogs who are fighting on the front line? They are helping you make money.

George brought Nicholas to the Academy of Sciences, and also wanted Nicholas to understand the current situation of education in the Russian Empire.

Russia attaches great importance to high-level talents, but not enough to basic education.

In 1881, Russia's total population was close to million. This number did not include Finland, because Finland and Russia were two countries.

Among a population of 100 million, no more than 5% are educated, and the remaining 95% are illiterate and cannot even write their own names.

During the era of Catherine the Great, various educational committees were established, but Catherine never allocated funds to the educational committees, so the committees existed in name only and it was difficult to carry out their work.

Educational expenses across Russia are borne by local governments. The education funding borne by the empire is approximately equivalent to 1.5% of the total fiscal budget.

In comparison, more than 30% of the fiscal budget is invested in the defense and military fields.

As a result, education is in an embarrassing situation.

As a son of an aristocrat, Andrei would go hungry while studying in the military academy, which shows the backwardness of Russian education.

During the Second Era, serfdom was abolished and education for ordinary people was strengthened, which achieved certain results.

The Asian third place is not as good as the Asian second place. It is purely a reversal of history.

George now only hopes that Nicholas can pay more attention to education, so that the empire may still have a chance of survival thirty years later.

　A new month has begun. Please collect it, vote for it, and read it. Yutou, who has reformed his evil ways, urgently needs your support——

　　
  　
  (End of this chapter)