I'm playing whack-a-mole in Siberia

Chapter 98 Who Are You
  Alexei was very generous and gave the crown prince a green light, giving him whatever he asked for.

Even so, George was still very dissatisfied because all the artillery pieces sent by Alexey were 4-pound copper cannons.

"Do you want a 9-pounder gun? That is heavy firepower at the battle level. Our regiment is too small." Nikolai is very satisfied. The caliber of the 4-pounder gun is 87 mm, the gun mount weighs 800 kilograms, and the maximum range is 3400 meter, is Russia's most advanced artillery currently.

Like individual weapons, Russia also lags behind European countries in heavy weapons.

The current artillery of the Russian army are all copper artillery, and there are no steel cannons. Even so, these artillery are all imported and cannot be produced in Russia.

"How is it possible? All our artillery is imported?" George was surprised. It turns out that Russia's heavy industry is not developed.

George's impression of Russia has always been that it is top-heavy, with developed heavy industry and backward light industry.

Unexpectedly, the Russian Empire happened to be on the other side. Light industry was passable, but heavy industry was seriously lagging behind.

"We can still produce some smoothbore cannons." Nicholas also felt a little embarrassed.

George didn't know what to say. Smoothbore cannons were a technology of Suvorov's time.

Now is the age of rifled guns.

"What are you doing in Tula?" George only knew the Tula Arsenal.

"The arsenal has been producing Berdan rifles for the past few years, which is the kind we use now." Nikola has no choice. Tula's production capacity is limited. Russia's three major arsenals are all producing Berdan rifles at full capacity.

The size of the Russian army is the largest in Europe and can also be said to be the largest in the world.

This has resulted in the Russian army's equipment upgrading being very slow. Even bayonets have to be discussed many times at state council meetings, let alone rifles and artillery.

In 1870, Russia decided to install the Berdan II rifle.

The Sestroretsk Arsenal in St. Petersburg, the Tula Arsenal in Moscow, and the Izhevsk Arsenal in Sarapur are Russia's three major small arms production bases.

The three major arsenals went all out, and by the eve of the Tenth Russo-Turkish War, only the Guards and nine other divisions were equipped with new rifles.

Up to now, there are still a considerable number of Russian troops equipped with Berdan-1 or older rifles.

Even the replacement of rifles is so difficult, and artillery is even slower.

George didn’t want to say that after smokeless gunpowder became popular, Russia would have to continue to change its equipment, because the Berdan II rifle was about to be eliminated.

"This won't work, this will never work." George was disappointed.

The operation of the bronze cannon is very complicated. 12 artillerymen work together, and it takes two minutes from loading to firing.

Nicholas's expression was actually very proud.

George didn't know what other countries' artillery was like.

France installed a 1897mm field gun in its troops in 75, with a maximum rate of fire of 30 rounds per minute.

In other words, the Russian artillery fires one shot, and the French artillery can fire 60 shots.

This is too fast!
  "Why?" Nicholas didn't know how shocked George was.

"Nothing, we still have time." George was thankful that the French Miss No. 1897 would not be commissioned into the army until .

Since you can't gain an advantage with equipment, think of other ways. Russia's best source of soldiers is not serfs or free people, but Cossacks.

Ye Luoxin was a Cossack before joining the Guards. After George talked with Ye Luoxin, he learned that the life of the Cossacks was not rich, and the lives of many Cossacks were even very difficult.

The Cossacks did not produce or pay taxes. Their only mission was to fight for the Tsar and receive rewards in exchange for military exploits.

In other words, if Russia does not fight, then the Cossacks will have no jobs and no income.

"A Cossack family has at least six or seven children, with many brothers and sisters. The education they receive is all related to combat. Every Cossack is a war machine. However, in peacetime, most Cossacks cannot even raise children. None, joining the army is their only chance." Yelokhin was born in the Cossacks and knew the Cossacks very well.

George didn't expect the Cossacks to be so pitiful.

It would be too one-sided to only listen to Ye Luoxin's words. George would have to conduct on-the-spot investigations to know whether the Cossacks were worthy of trust.

It's easy to investigate. There are some Cossack villages on the shores of Lake Ladoga north of St. Petersburg.

Lake Ladoga is the 15th largest lake in the world, covering an area of ​​1.8 square kilometers. This lake is rich in fish resources. The Cossacks living here will at least not starve to death.

"The Cossacks are not good at farming. When the empire does not need the Cossacks to fight, the Cossacks make a living by hunting. There are fewer and fewer places for the Cossacks to hunt. The places with the most abundant prey become the private hunting grounds of the nobles. The Cossacks can only go there. The most remote areas.”

George and Nikolay followed Yelokhin to a Cossack village called Volkovo, which had about 400 people.

Unlike the tall and magnificent palaces in St. Petersburg, the houses here are generally very small. George and Nicholas walked into a house at random, and Nicholas was stunned by the appearance of the room.

There were no stickers on the walls. The four walls and the roof were all blackened by smoke. The floor was full of cracks and covered with thick dirt, and the original color could no longer be seen.

In order to better keep warm, the stove did not have a chimney, which caused the room to be filled with smoke. The small windows covered with pig urine could only let in a little weak light at noon.

The table was hewn with an axe, and the workmanship was rough. The dirt on it was only scraped off with a knife every major festival.

There were two or three earthen jars containing some unknown liquid with a foul odor.

There are some dark leftovers in a wooden bowl on the table. Several used wooden plates have not had time to be washed. There is also a wooden animal trough in the corner of the room, and an older child is using vigilance. He looked at Nicholas and George with his eyes. On the bed behind him, there were two crying babies lying on the bed.

"Who are you?" The little boy's clothes were very shabby, and he was holding an even more shabby but sharp dagger in his hand, which was the last weapon of the Cossacks.

"Where are your elders?" The tall Ye Luoxin had to lower her head to enter.

"They went to chop wood-" the little boy's voice was trembling, Ye Luoxin was putting too much pressure on him.

George and Nicholas exited the room, looking at each other in silence.

Nicholas originally thought that the living conditions of the farmhands in Oak Manor were poor enough.

I didn’t expect that the real bottom class would be so miserable.

"What have we done all these years? Those ministers should really come here to see it." Nicholas was very angry. He believed that the ministers had not fulfilled their responsibilities.

George said nothing.

The Romanov family bears the greatest responsibility for the current situation in the empire.

George, Prince Yurievsky, was also responsible.

(End of this chapter)