I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 96 We r Tired of logging

Throughout October, George attended four weddings, not including the tom's wedding.

After the Rivno exercise, the 4th company officially became Nikolai's guard, and Oroga from Nikolay's Cavalry School became Nikolai's new adjutant.

Olga was the son of Nikolai's tutor Olengland, and one of Nikolai's childhood playmates. In 1879, Olengland no longer served as Nikolai's tutor, and Olga followed Olengland. Leave Nikolai's life behind.

After the 4th company became Nikolai's guard, George was surprised to find that he was alone, with only three officers, Yelokhin, Demet and Andrei, under his command.

Due to his outstanding performance in the exercise, Demit was promoted from captain to captain, and Yelokhin and Andrei were also promoted from second lieutenant to lieutenant.

After the 4th company was transferred to Gatchina, the huge military camp became empty, and George was not in a hurry. He had received a transfer order from the military department, and after Christmas, George would report to the St. Petersburg Military District.

"Go home, go home, see you after Christmas." George gave Demeter a holiday, and he also wanted to go back to Oak Manor with Ye Luoxin and Andrei.

"I remember coming to my house to play chess with my grandpa when I have time -" Demeter was very happy. He had gained a lot this year.

George also gained a lot.

"Why go to the St. Petersburg Military District?" Ye Luoxin was unhappy. He didn't want to leave the Guards.

"If you are willing to stay, I can go to the legion commander." George did not force it.

"Duke, no matter where you go, I will always be with you." Ye Luoxin immediately expressed her loyalty.

Back at the manor, George finally received Mikhail's telegram.

Mikhail set off from Odessa at the end of August and arrived in Vladivostok after 8 days.

In Mikhail's opinion, the situation in Vladivostok was terrible.

Vladivostok was established as a town in 1875 and upgraded to a city in 1880. By 1882, the population of Vladivostok was only 1.1.

It was a surprise to George, because among the 1.1 people, more than 4000 were Chinese.

The remaining 7000 people are not all Russians. In addition to the prisoners who were distributed, there are also immigrants from Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as well as from Korea and Japan.

In addition to the permanent residents, there are more than 1 hired workers in Vladivostok, mainly from the Qing Empire and Goryeo.

"——The situation is terrible. There is almost no business here. The whole city - it is hard to imagine that this is actually a city! Because Vladivostok is so small, the largest and only commercial enterprise here is a small department store—— The term department store is not quite accurate, because there are definitely not a hundred kinds of goods sold in this store, only some low-quality daily necessities."

Mikhail's desire to talk was so strong that he actually wrote a letter and sent a telegram. He didn't know how much the telegram would cost.

"People here are either criminals or Cossacks, and the security is very chaotic. Yesterday I saw a man kill another man on the street. What surprised me was that everyone present except Henry and me People are accustomed to it and do what they should do without any impact.”

Henry is Mikhail's entourage, a young French guy, handsome and very capable.

"There is no city government and no police station here. You can see that all the people in uniform are sailors of the Siberian Fleet. I feel like I have returned to the remote countryside before the abolition of serfdom. I identified myself to General Stark. General Stark welcomed me, but he couldn't do much to help me. I stayed in the sailors' barracks because there wasn't even a hotel in the damn place, and God forbid the barracks were packed with snow in the winter."

Eduardo is an officer of the Siberian Fleet. "General" is an honorific title, not a military rank. In order to get the support of the Siberian Fleet, George went to his fourth uncle, Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich, who was the marshal of the navy.

Grand Duke Nikolayevich had been the governor of the Caucasus for 20 years, and this year he just took up a post in the Admiralty. He was a lucky man, having experienced four czars in his life. It can be seen that the uncle is in a bad mood.

George was very happy. For him, the more backward Vladivostok was, the better.

George did not reply to Mikhail's telegram. If he should say anything, George had made it clear to Mikhail in Rivno.

We still have to give the support that needs to be given.

After Mikhail went to the Far East, the person in charge of the champagne business was replaced by George's second uncle Julian.

Julian and Ekaterina are shopping for food and daily necessities in Odessa and Nice respectively.

These food and daily necessities will be sent to the Far East one after another in preparation for construction starting next spring.

In 1861, Russia promulgated the Immigration Law "Conditions for the Settlement of Russians and Foreigners in Amur and Primorye Provinces" and used various preferential policies to attract foreigners to immigrate to the Far East and participate in development.

According to this law, all foreigners can legally settle in the Far Eastern provinces of Amur and Primorye.

Vladivostok is part of Primorye Voivodeship.

Although Russia has promulgated laws for immigrants, its policies are not perfect, and the protection provided to immigrants is far from enough. When new immigrants arrive in the Far East, they have no houses, no food, and only 100 acres of bare, undeveloped land. If there are no other guarantees, When winter comes, if you don't freeze to death, you will starve to death.

This is why no one wants to go to Siberia.

George's reply to Mikhail did not mention immigration. One hundred dessiatines was equivalent to more than 1600 acres. George was not so generous. If new immigrants wanted to obtain land, they had to buy it from George.

Although George's salary is not high, the profit from selling wine is still very considerable. It is conservatively estimated that George earned more than one million rubles just selling champagne in Russia last year.

Now in 1882, the daily salary for hiring a skilled worker in St. Petersburg was only 100 kopecks, which was exactly one ruble.

If it's a handyman, it only costs 70 kopecks.

There is a huge salary gap between different regions, with wages in remote areas being about 20% lower than in St. Petersburg.

Workers in Vladivostok are paid even lower, and if they are foreign workers, it is two-thirds lower.

If you calculate it this way, immigration is far inferior to employment.

The situation in Russia is special. Farmers only do farm work for half a year and have to stay home all winter.

George would not let people work for half a year and rest for half a year. The hired hands on the farm could work as workers in the factory in winter.

Construction workers have work all year round. Most of the houses in Vladivostok are built of wood. As long as the materials are sufficient, construction can also be done in winter.

Due to the large demand for wood, Mikhail's task this year is to set up a lumberyard.

Timber resources throughout Siberia are extremely abundant. To describe them as inexhaustible cannot be overstated. Whether it is building a house or building roads, a large amount of timber is needed, so logging is one of Mikhail's most important tasks this year. .

(End of this chapter)